Rumble~!
As she ran across the mountainous terrain with all her power to escape the forest rabbit lord and gnoll chieftain chasing after her, Scaly could not help feeling a shiver run down her spine as she heard the clear rumbling sound from behind her as the gnoll chieftains massive body barreled towards her.
Even without turning around to see it, she could tell that it was getting closer and closer with each passing second... And though she couldn’t hear the sound of the forest rabbit lord moving behind her, she was sure that it wouldn’t be that far behind the gnoll chieftain.
[Human, Fire Knight, lvl 31]
[Human, Trainee Acolyte, lvl 16]
As she continued her desperate escape, Scaly finally stopped a pair of humans along the way, with one of them giving off a rather intimidating aura, while the other seemed weaker than the average big forest rabbit.
A perfect distraction! That strong human should be able to buy me a bit more time!
Thinking this to herself, Scaly didn’t bother thinking twice about it, as she rushed directly towards the two humans.
"Hm? Is that... A lizard?"
Of course, given that she could see them, they could also see her, as the weaker of the two tilted his head in confusion upon seeing her rushing towards them. Not having noticed the two stronger monsters chasing her from behind.
"Lizard!? Why are you worrying about that tiny thing!? Can’t you see the forest rabbit lord and gnoll chieftain behind it!? We need to get out of the way! NOW!" Far less calm than the weak human, the stronger one yelled loudly as he forcefully dragged the weaker one out of the way to avoid Scaly and the two monsters chasing after her. Understanding very well that he wasn’t a match for gnoll chieftain or the forest rabbit lord.
"Ah? Ahhh!" Realizing this as he was being dragged away by his companion, the weaker human suddenly looked over and spotted the two powerful monsters before letting out a scream and fainting on the spot.
"Hah? You faint now!? Damnable useless acolytes! Why did I even take on the church’s request of training one of them?!" Seeing this, the stronger human cursed loudly as he wasted no time in throwing the unconscious human over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes before running back in the direction of the human settlement to avoid Scaly and the two monsters chasing her.
No! my distraction! Come back!
Seeing her distraction run away before she could make use of them, Scaly cried out internally as she continued charging towards the escaping human.
At least, given her current speed and the fact that the strong human was slowed down by carrying the weaker human that had decided to sleep for some reason, Scaly felt confident that she should be able to overtake them before the two monsters behind her could catch up to her.
"Why... WHY IS IT FOLLOWING ME!?" Glancing back only to see Scaly rapidly rushing towards him with the two terrifying monsters following close behind, the human knight of fire could not help panicking as he screamed out loudly. Not understanding where the lizard had come from or why it was so intent on chasing after him.
No matter what it was, he couldn’t do anything about it and could only continue escaping towards the frontier town in the distance with the trainee acolyte that he had been tasked with taking care of in tow.
As for throwing the trainee acolyte aside to increase his speed and guarantee his escape? He didn’t dare to even think about this, as he understood very well that the people from the church wouldn’t spare him if they learnt about what happened through some of their strange divine techniques and spells...
"Huh? What is that over there? Isn’t that Sir Galahad and that acolyte he is out training what ha- Ah?! Why is there a forest rabbit lord and gnoll chieftain here!?"
"No, more importantly than that, why are they both chasing after Sir Galahad!?"
"It looks like they are heading towards the town."
"Indeed, the adventures guild should learn about it soon and send someone out to deal with the situation. After all, the town is run by them, and any damage would cost them a lot to repair given that they would have to bring new materials into the dungeon..."
Not long after the chase began, the other humans who were out hunting for rocky mountain lions noticed the chase taking place, as they all stopped what they were doing to either get out of the way and not get implicated or just to see what would happen.
Given their distance from the chase itself and not daring to personally get in the way of what looked like a rampaging gnoll chieftain and forest rabbit lord, none of them managed to spot the relatively small lizard in between the escaping Sir Galahad and two monsters...
Swish-!
In the end, unknown to anyone but the gnoll chieftain, forest rabbit lord, and Sir Galahad, Scaly managed to successfully overtake Sir Galahad just as the two monsters were within less than five meters of her. Succeeding in her goal of turning the knight human into a distraction that the two monsters would have to go through before they could reach her.
"No! You! Don’t!"
Boom~!
Seeing this, Sir Galahad looked at the little lizard in front of him with bloodshot eyes, as he directly used a special skill that covered his body in a coat of fire. Increasing his speed enough to catch up with Scaly who was about to leave him in the dust-
"AHHHHH!? I’M ON FIRE!???!"
Of course, as a result of using this skill, the acolyte who had been unconscious the entire time so far suddenly screamed in pain as he was burnt by Sir Galahad’s fire. Not having the same degree of resistance that Sir Galahad seemed to have to the flames.
"Shut it! If I don’t use my skills, we won’t be able to escape alive! Use some of your healing abilities to prevent yourself from dying."
Thump!
Hearing the screaming of the trainee acolyte who had been lit on fire and was losing his hair and eyebrows at a speed visible to the naked eye, Sir Galahad took out a piece of cloth from his pocket before drenching it in some water from a puddle on the ground to prevent it from burning as he stuffed it into the mouth of the screaming acolyte.
"Mhmmm! Mhmhm!"
Tasting the dirty piece of cloth half covered in mud, the acolyte could not help screaming even louder than before. However, he quickly realized that he would really die if he didn’t do as Sir Galahad said-
Whoosh~
And so, with the muffled scream from the pain of being burnt alive, the acolyte used all of his power to cast healing spells on himself to prevent being burnt alive or suffering any permanent damage.
Of course, among the things that could be saved, hair and eyebrows were already too late, as they were gone by the point he started using his healing magic. Turning the trainee acolyte once proud of his beautiful blonde hair, bald. Making him look more like those suspicious looking old priests whom no one wanted to associate with...
Wha... How did he catch up and why is he on fire!?
At the same time, Scaly was panicking as she saw Sir Galahad suddenly get covered in fire as his speed increased, and he caught up to her.
Once again, the distraction that she had thought was going to work, ruined her plans.
Now, even if he would provide some help in dealing with the gnoll chieftain and forest rabbit lord, she would also be forced to stay behind and fight with them!
No! Those humans inside the human nest should have noticed us at this point in time! I’m sure that they are going to come out to try and stop the forest rabbit lord and gnoll chieftain before they have a chance to reach their nest!
Thinking this to herself as she looked in the direction of the frontier town that was now only a few thousand meters away from her, Scaly could not help hoping that a group of powerful humans would show up, something she would have never thought she would be hoping for when she had first decided to follow the bloody trail to the large gnoll tribe.
...
"Hm? A gnoll chieftain and a forest rabbit lord working together to chase down Sir Galahad and that acolyte he brought with him?"
"Yes... It looks like they are approaching the town and will be here in another few minutes."
"Haaa... How troublesome, I will go and take care of it before it causes any problems."
At the same time Scaly was hoping for a group of powerful humans to appear and scare away the gnoll chieftain and the forest rabbit lord, inside a large building at the center of the town, a large man that could barely fit through an ordinary door with his size, stood up with slightly annoyed expression before he began making his way outside.