Heroine Survival Vol 6 Chapter 15

The Master of the Ancient Ruins

「Chako-neechan……. Is everyone, okay……」

「They’re surely okay.」

The dwarf Rana clasped the hand of the cat beastman Chako anxiously.  The dark elf Noi was looking like he was going to cry, even so he glared  at the outside firmly as the only boy present.

The youngest kid the dog beastman Nar went outside along and didn’t  come back. Everyone was all worried for Nar and wanted to go look for  him, even so the three kids remaining here were aware that waiting home  was also an important role.

Because that was what they were taught by Ron and Lena who went out searching……and also by Aria who returned after that.

(……Aria-san)

Chako was slightly scared of Aria. She had cured Noi’s sickness and  risked her life to save Chako from Munza Gang. But even knowing that,  when she stood in front of the girl who she knew was living in a way  that was even harsher than that of adult, she would shrink into herself  wondering if she would get scolded for being so powerless.

Aria was harsh to herself and also to other people……surely she was a person who was kinder than anyone else.

She was a person who could risk her own life for someone else.

It was because Aria was like that, Chako was scared to tell her that Lena went outside to search for Nar.

Lena was the person who Aria wanted to protect the most. She was also  feeling concern for Chako and the other children, but it was Lena who  occupied the deepest place inside Aria.

Aria and Lena had no duty to protect Chako and the other children.  Lena chose to save Nar because she had set her sight on a bigger world  that Chako couldn’t see, but how would Aria feel seeing Lena who she  wanted to protect the most taking such dangerous action?

Would Aria get angry with Lena?

Would Aria become disillusioned with Chako and the others for dragging them into danger?

When she told Aria about why Lena wasn’t here, Aria silently listened to her words before calmly nodding.

Chako considered Aria’s feeling and wondered whether she had to tell  something to Aria. She then mustered her courage and when she was about  to speak up, Aria suddenly put her hand on Chako’s head and gently  patted her.

──Leave it to me──.

It was immeasurable just how much that short sentence managed to calm down Chako and the others.

Her words were that powerful to make them felt like that. Aria  understood that even just believing in friend and waiting for them to  come back was scary.

Aria should be wishing to rush off to Lena’s side as soon as  possible, and yet she took the time to pat the head of Chako and the  anxious children first.

Chako thought that perhaps she ought to at least say something about  Lena, even if just a word to Aria who was like that. She tried to raise  her voice, but she saw it just for an instant within the light……Aria’s  face seen from the side was slightly smiling as she headed outside.  Chako felt the bond between the two and swallowed back her word.

「Aria-san……I leave everyone in your hand.」

***

When I returned to the tower, I heard the story from Chako and rushed out to the desert again.

I might be wrong because this was the doing of a child, but if Nar  was looking for red grass to be used in alchemy, I had several ideas of  the place where a kid might be able to reach.

Around an hour had passed since Elena and Ron left the tower. There  should be no monster in this area that was beyond their ability to  defeat, but the stampede’s influence drove the monsters to drift out  from the ruins, so we couldn’t let our guard down.

Besides, there were also suspicious groups moving around, just like  the dark elves and Cruz people who I saw at the town. Their motive was  unclear but it mustn’t be anything good.

I drank the mana recovery potion that I created and restored my mana  capacity that had decreased until now. At the same time I used body  strengthening to sprint through the desert.

If the two were moving while searching for Nar, they shouldn’t have  gone that far. I was running with triple the speed of the average person  while directing mana into my eyes too. I focused on the flow of mana  flowing in the air and faintly saw the water and darkness magic  particles. They came from monster corpses, so I was convinced that  something was going on in this direction.

If the two headed to a place where a lot of red grass grew, they  would need to take a detour going around a rocky place. But I had no  business with the safe route.

「──Iron Rose──」

After I whispered that name, my pink hair changed color to ashen iron  color that was like burning ash. The light residues that my hair  scattered form a trail behind me like a comet. The flowing scenery that  entered my eyes accelerated up.

I took a deep breath and ignored the safe route. In order to speed up  even more, I assigned the rose’s body strengthening to focus in speed.

「A Re(Quick)-!」

Because mana recovery potion disturbed the flow of mana, I was unable  to finely control Iron Rose, but that rough control was enough if it  was just for moving fast.

My body sped up even more and ran up the rocky wall even faster than a  rock falling from cliff. An earthworm-like monster attacked me midway  and I slashed it while passing through.

「Tsu!」

My strengthened search skill caught Elena’s presence at far away.

At the same time I also sensed multiple presences. A faint killing  intent……. And then I felt gathering mana in Elena’s presence. I quickly  switched my awareness for “combat”.

I couldn’t use throwing knife in my condition where fine control was  impossible. I took out a small crossbow from my Storage and loaded it  with steel arrow while leaping up on a rocky place. In less than a  second my sight caught a hooded man who seemed to be a dark elf and  judged him as enemy. I l fired my crossbow.

The arrow that I aimed toward the center of his face pierced the dark  elf’s right eye. In that instant, Elena’s carefully aimed ice spear  stabbed the man’s chest.

.

「Did I make you wait?」

「No, your timing were impeccable, Aria.」

.

Elena smiled even while letting out a relieved sigh.

It seemed that I barely made it in time. Ron’s eyes widened seeing my  sudden appearance. From how Nar and Ron looked, they didn’t seem to be  seriously injured. I turned my eyes toward the remaining Cruzian men  after seeing that.

「M-mister-!?」

「W-what happened!?」

「Someone’s on the cliff there!」

The Cruzian men started making a ruckus and one of them yelled while  drawing his bow. Seeing that equipment I judged that they were the same  like the groups I saw in the town.

The man fired his arrow. There were also someone else who tried to do  the same, but arrow wouldn’t work against warrior rank 4 and above. As  long as I didn’t let my guard down, I could dodge something like arrow  even after it was fired.

「He flew!?」

Without even running beforehand, I jumped more than ten meters to the  other side using only body strengthening. I didn’t need Iron Rose  anymore. The cloak that I threw away midair and the light residue acted  as bait while I dodged the arrow. I landed in front of them while  slashing the throats of two men who tried to switch weapon to bow.

「What the hell-!?」

「K-kill!」

「W-woman!?」

The remaining three──a Cruzian man in his forty and two Cruzian men  in their twenty. The man in his twenty was the slowest one to pull out  his weapon. The throwing knife that I pulled out and threw behind my  fluttering skirt was planted between his eyes.

「Aria-」

「Roger」

I heard Elena’s voice. I knew. I also had something to ask from them.

I stepped forward while fixing my grip on my black knife and dagger.  The man who yelled first took a step back to look for a way to escape,  while the other man was trembling in anger after his comrades were  killed. He then attacked with his spear.

「That man over there then.」

「Gugah」

It would take time to interrogate someone who held strong feeling for  his comrade. I pushed away the speartip that was thrusting at me and  cut the man’s carotid artery while passing him by. I slipped through  before blood could spurt out from the cut and approached the other man.  The last remaining man threw his spear toward me while easily turning  his back at me.

「Gua!?」

My weight type pendulum struck the back of his head. The impact made  the man tripped and fell on the ground. I caught the man’s spear from  the air and thrust it toward his neck.

「If you want to live then can you tell us everything that you know?」

***

「DOURYAA!!」

Jesha’s two-handed axe split apart the head of an ogre.

「Men! Show me your grit!!」

The adventurers under Jesha’s command had finished cleaning up the  first wave of stampede that consisted of the quick-footed monsters. A  lot of the monsters were low-ranked so there was no one who got  seriously injured.

But, the second wave had sand ogres that were characteristic of this  region mixed in. So people other than the shield bearers also started to  get injured from the clash against the rank 4 monster.

「You guys too, give me a little more space!」

「We’re young miss’s bodyguard y’know? Don’t ask for something impossible!」

「Jilgan-san’ll murder us if we left young miss alone!」

The dwarves who had been Jesha’s long time subordinates replied to her yell with a laugh.

Sand ogre had the combat strength of lower rank 4, and there were  also some veteran among them which would require multiple rank 3 to be  dealt with.

There were also multiple rank 3 among the adventurers. Even so the  injuries started piling up because the majority of the high ranked  adventurers were staying around Jesha to guard her. Furthermore they  were all like her chaperone Jilgan. They all had known her ever since  she was little, so they prioritized Jesha’s safety more than her order  and would even ignore her command sometimes.

Right now the beastmen of Munza Gang were still doing hit and run so  none of them had gotten seriously injured, but at this rate there would  be no guarantee that things would keep going well.

「You assholes……」

Jesha was grinding her teeth in respond to the troublesome fatherly dwarves, but the next moment she wore warlike grin.

「No helping it then! Oi, tell those scurrying beastmen, gather the ogres at the center! I’m gonna take ‘em all at once!」

「「「OOOOOOOOO!!」」」

The adventurers’ cheered at Jesha’s roaring yell.

Four hours had passed since they fought the stampede. The number of  monster they had defeated had already surpassed five hundred. Right now  they also still had potions in reserve, and they had also refrained from  using the high class potion they bought from “Rose” as much as  possible. Normally even if a stampede occurred it would be over after  they defeated a thousand monsters, but who knew if it would be the same  this time.

There was a stretch of several hours between the first and second  wave. During that time they could treat the injury and recover stamina  and mana, but it was possible that even that wouldn’t be enough  depending on the composition of the third wave.

Even though Jesha was putting on a warlike expression, she was  starting to feel anxious inside toward the stampede that was showing no  sign of ending.

(……Tsk, I’m getting bad premonition.)

It felt like the monsters were stronger than the previous stampede.  She thought that it was because the monsters were in a state of panic.  The reason for that was most likely because that thing was approaching.

The objective of Jesha and her men was to subjugate it, but there was  also the suspicious behavior of the human adventurers. If the next  monster wave was also in the same scale then…….

(……I should have dragged “Rose” here too)

Jesha didn’t request adventurer Aria to come to face stampede was  because the dwarves were the main force no matter what and also because  she wanted Aria to prioritize producing potion.

But if Jesha could be honest, because she arbitrarily considered Aria  as her rival as a fellow woman and fellow rank 4, asking Aria for help  would be like recognizing that her strength was insufficient. She didn’t  want to do that.

She understood that it was wrong of her to be like that as a guild  leader, but as a mountain dwarf Jesha too was still a girl who just  became of age.

「Guild master! That!」

「What, the third wave……」

A female beastman scout rushed to Jesha’s location and turned her  attention toward the ruins. When she strained her sight, certainly she  could see sand cloud approaching this way from the desert, but that  wasn’t the reason why the female beastman looked pale.

The third wave was made up of relatively slow monsters like rock  lizard or sand lizard. They had hard scales but rank-wise they weren’t  strong enemy. But…….

「That’s……tsu!」

Behind them was a silhouette that was like a slow mountain, advancing  forward and driving on the monsters. Then its figure appeared from the  sand cloud that was hiding it from view like a veil.

Sleek scales with iridescent color with black as the base.

Four horns that were smoothly growing to the back.

Reptilian eyes with color that was a mix of gold and silver.

It was walking on four legs with its head lifted up calmly. Just the  height of its head would make them needed to look up at its huge body…….

The master of the ancient ruins Resvel, the earth dragon found its new “prey” and let out a roar that shook the earth.

.

『GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!』

.

▼Earth Dragon　Race：Low Ranked Dragon・Mythical Beast Rank 6

【Magic Power：３３４／３５０】【Stamina：７９２／８２０】

【Overall Combat Strength：４５５７】

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