“Look there! I think the sound of wings flapping is coming out of it. And it’s also giving me a bad vibe, like I am being preyed upon. There’s something strange about it for sure!”
Amelia said as she pointed at a certain spot in the clouded and gloomy sky, which looked indistinguishable from the colour of the trees.
The gloominess present in the air haunted her too, as she felt that a predator had set its eyes on her, marking her as its prey.
And… she could instinctively tell that the predator who was out to get her was hiding in the massive cloud.
Everyone turned to look at where her finger was pointing.
A two-hundred meters wide and thirty-three metre long black cloud could be seen.
It was more than a few kilometres away from their current location, and it was lined with silver that glistened like flashes of lightning.
The worst part is, it was advancing towards them like a port-devouring rolling wave, rapidly and furiously.
Seeing what she was pointing at, Julian and the twins nervously gulped and subconsciously stepped backwards.
“It’s really strange.”
Delilah felt that she had seen it somewhere before and tried to remember where as she folded her slender but powerful arms with distinguishable muscle lines underneath her breasts.
Her eyes also narrowed, and now she looked as if she was a suspicious and thoughtful cat.
The cuteness bursting out of her at this moment was enough to kill and mesmerize.
If this was any other time, Roy would have admired her for a minute or so before moving his gaze away. He wouldn’t have moved his eyes away from her skin that was radiant like beams before that.
But the situation he found himself in demanded his absolute attention.
Thus, he spared no more than a glance at her formidable bosom and charming face.
“It looks like a massive cloud, but clouds don’t sound like that.” Roy’s hearing senses were excellent and he could discern that it was indeed the source of the sound of wings flapping like Amelia had guessed, and hence, not even for a second did he believe it was just a simple, flashy-looking cloud.
The twins gaped at it in silence. They had never seen anything like that. It seemed like the sky was an ocean and the rolling black cloud was a huge tidal wave that threatened to crash on them. They were extremely afraid of it and for good reasons.
“What is it really?” Julian gawked at it.
Everyone except for Arlo was wondering what it was.
Roy, being the cheat he is, scrutinized it thoroughly in order to get a better understanding of what it is.
『Ding! You have inspected the suspicious-looking thunder cloud.
『All relevant information about it has been copied from the mana database and transferred to you』
“Oh, experiencing a large amount of knowledge being thrust into my brain didn’t feel too bad this time.” Roy was pleasantly surprised. “Maybe I have gotten used to it.”
As knowledge foreign to him was drilled into his hippocampus region of his brain, a sharp pain stabbed him, but he was already so used to it that he didn’t yelp out in pain and remained rather clear-headed.
He was like a drug addict who had cleaned himself a hundred times and thus became immune to the unbearable pain caused by not touching drugs after using them a few too many times.
Except for a momentary change in his expression, he showed nothing to give himself away. It would be weird to see a person crying out for no reason, and he didn’t want to be the odd one out at this party.
He closed his eyes and unearthed his new memories and saw what could be described as utterly horrifying.
‘Far West is ridiculously dangerous.’ Roy frowned out of habit. He couldn’t help but do that when he found something ridiculous beyond belief. And this was one of those times. ‘Even a damn thing that looks like a cloud is enough to destroy baronies. What shit luck!’
Recognizing what it truly was, Roy’s heart thumped far louder than it ever had. But whether it was because of being afraid or not, it was yet to be determined.
“This isn’t a cloud. It’s a swarm of flesh rippers!”
He broke the news to his teammates.
Everyone realized that while it may have seemed like something harmless from afar, it was anything but that.
- Finding out what it truly was, the twins and Julian felt a chill down their spines.
A flash of brilliance flickered in Delilah’s eyes upon hearing what he said. At the mention of the monster’s name, she remembered where she had last seen the cloud.
“I remember where I saw this kind of cloud. It was detailed in the encyclopedia of beasts. When the rippers are out hunting, they usually travel in this manner. But that’s not what’s really important. What’s important is, a cloud this size can only be formed when around ten thousand flesh rippers are out on a hunt together. There’s ten thousand of them out to get us!”
Delilah didn’t hesitate to pour cold water on their heads. They needed to be aware of that. But knowing made them more horrified than when they heard that it was just a swarm of flesh rippers. They didn’t even know what rippers were. But the idea of fighting ten thousand beasts was something they could comprehend, and it made them almost pee their pants.
“Amelia’s guess was right on point.” Roy looked at the maid he held dear in a new light. “They are planning to prey on us.”
The group was warned. Those who had weapons took them out. Those who didn’t could only charge up their spells. Julian tightened his grip.
“Lass, you have good eyes and a sharp mind.” Arlo praised the maid too, before looking at it a second time.
Arlo had sharp eyes, as he was potentially an aura grandmaster, and so when he took a second good and deep look at the cloud in the sky, he realized it was made of thousands of ferocious flying beasts grouped together and flying in the same fucking direction.
These flying beasts shared the same bodily structure as the bats in Roy’s previous life.
It’s just that there were many differences between them and normal bats.
They were of a black color and as large as freaking peacocks.
Their eyes were red as if they had been inflicted with rabies.
Their wings were wider than their damned bodies.
If a person from the modern world looked at them, they would be forced to wonder whether or not the bats were on steroids.
Strange runic lines were drawn across their bodies, stretching from their heads and going all the way back to the corners of their wings.
Some had 12, and some had 15 or more.
These lines determine their levels.
“The swarm is made of level 12 to level 19 flesh rippers. It isn’t something you guys can handle.” Arlo laid the truth bare to them.
The flying monster’s ears were pointy, and their claws were sharp like metal. But worse than that was that their bodies were sturdy and couldn’t be harmed by the attacks of a level 10 trainee. It was impossible for a small group like theirs to overcome them. Even an aura grandmaster wouldn’t tackle them head on.
Roy eyed Arlo and asked, “Are you still not going to help?”
“Nope.” Arlo shook his head and replied, “Sometimes we have to deal with unexpected situations. That’s a part of life. This is the first time you’ve encountered one. I won’t ruin this experience for you. Unless it’s absolutely necessary, I won’t interfere with this battle. You are on your own against them. Find a way to overcome this swarm. The only advice I have for you is, like vampires, they don’t like sunlight and are weak against garlic, pungent smells, and fire.”
Arlo wanted to see how Roy would make the impossible possible. That’s why he crossed his arms over his chest and stood still, signifying he had no intention of doing whatsoever.
“Only a fool would think of fighting ten thousand of them!” Julian cried out at the party, “What are we standing here for, guys?! Let’s run!”
After he turned in a direction opposite to the black cloud, and just as he was about to dash away, a voice boomed out from behind him. The words spoken were too much for him to handle and he halted, looking defeated.
“Running away isn’t an option.”
Wide-eyed and looking over his shoulder at Arlo, Julian dryly asked, “W-w-why?”
“Flesh Rippers are fierce predators of the wetlands. They have extremely sensitive noses. Once they catch on to a scent that’s different from themselves and their tribe members, they will hunt down whoever that scent belongs to across the wilderness. It’s our bad luck that they flew all the way here from their homeland and caught on to our scent. Now, they have designated us as their prey. Unless we get to someplace extremely bright, they won’t pull back. And it just so happens, there is no such place around us.”
Arlo explained, and they realized that it was better to fight than to run.
“Isn’t the warm lands a walking distance of four hours to our north?! Can’t we try running there and see what happens?”
Julian was panicked, and in his current state of mind, the only thing he could think of doing was running away.
The thought of putting up a fight didn’t cross his mind.
The warm land was the brightest area in the north. That was common sense. Creatures of darkness like the rippers couldn’t exist there.
Heck, they had actually gone around that place to reach the icy, cold lands from the wetlands.
“They are renowned predators for a reason. They are faster than us and they also have more stamina. Exposing our backs to them and running away would do us no good. It would just tire us out and make it easier for them to hunt us.”
“Besides, even if we start running now, they will catch up to us in no time.”
Roy and Delilah blasted his suggestion to bits.
Julian grimaced. “So… we have no choice but to struggle against them, heh.”
Roy suddenly said, “No, that won’t be happening.”
Delilah looked at him in surprise.
Julian eyed him and sensed a air of confidence surrounding him.
“I feel like you have a great plan to deal with them. Do you?”
“I do. I mean, they are weak to fire and who said we can’t create a huge one of our own to deal them a heavy blow?” Roy smiled.
Julian’s eyes lit up.
“How are you going to do that?” The twins questioned.
“Do as I say and they will be dealt with in no time.”
Roy just replied with that.
—–
Author here:-
Chapters length have increased for better immersion. But I will do my best to release 4 Chapters a day. Thanks for the support so far. Massive Action in the next chapter. Stay tuned!