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Beast Tamer Who Got Kicked Out From the Hero’s Party Chapter 104 Part 2

CHAPTER 104 PART 2

「Are you alright, Rin!?」

「Y-Yeah, I’m okay! T-Thanks…… You saved my ass.」

「I told you to be extra careful and to never let your guard down.」

「T-This was just a coincidence! This will never happen again, I swear!」

「Hey, stop screwing around! There are still some more enemies left!」

「Yeah, I know, I know!」

Upon hearing Arios’s words, each one of his Party members readied their weapons again.

…….. After leaving the city of Horizon, Arios and his Party reached the town of River’s End, where the people of the city asked them for their help.

There were apparently signs of the early Stampede nearby, so they wanted them to take out the swarm of monsters while its size was still fairly manageable.

Right now, the Adventurers were completely out of the question to handle that kind of threat, so the people of River’s End had no one else to rely on……

But why should I, the great Hero, have to take care of such a mundane chore?

Although Arios initially showed some reluctance and adversity towards accepting that request……

The notoriety that they had created for themselves in Horizon was spreading to River’s End because of the various merchants and travelers coming in and out of here.

If this was the case, in time this would lead to the thing that happened to them in Horizon all over again, where the people of River’s End would essentially chase them away.

Therefore, he had no choice but to take on the task of defeating the monsters and trying to better up their reputation.

Normally, this was supposed to be a simple and not-at-all challenging request……

Taking on the Stampede would be a pain in the ass, sure, but…….

If it was only a precursor to the actual Stampede, then for Arios and his Party it shouldn’t be all that big of a deal.

It was just a matter of destroying some small fries with an overwhelming amount of firepower in a short amount of time.

It was supposed to be a quick and easy side quest.

…… Or so they have thought.

But how was it in reality?

It wasn’t actually that hard of a fight, but Arios and his Party were slowly being overwhelmed by the hordes of monsters that seemed to have no end to them in sight.

It was unlikely that they would lose if the battle was of the one-on-one type.

Even if there was more than one opponent, they wouldn’t be defeated all that easily for sure.

If their previous experiences were to be of any indication……

Arios would cut the enemies to shreds while Aggath would take on the enemies’ attacks and repel them.

Mina would provide cover, and finally Rin would wipe them out with her Advanced Magic that she was so proud of.

That kind of pattern was supposed to work flawlessly every single time.

But was that really going to be the case here?

When they tried to close the distance between them and the monsters, they would simply run away and lure them further in, as if they were toying around with them.

They would become separated by the waves of monsters, and then Arios’s Party would be picked out one by one, preventing them from grouping up and coordinating their actions.

Why wasn’t their usual strategy working?

At this rate, the scales of battle would start to shift further and further away from their favor.

Was that perhaps God playing some sort of a prank on them all?

(Either that…… Or perhaps……)

Inevitably, they couldn’t fight nearly as well as they would always do, and while Arios and the others were becoming more and more frustrated with the situation……

Aggath was the only one who was trying to analyze the situation in a calm and composed manner.

What we are now and what we were before.

What’s the difference?

…… It was simple: it was Rein’s presence.

Rein was unable to deal any kind of damage to the enemy.

And yet, the enemy targeted him and almost him exclusively, and ended up making it difficult for his allies to do their jobs properly and having to bail him out of harm’s way constantly.

But…… Isn’t it that they had this whole idea completely backwards?

Wasn’t Rein’s inability to do damage to his enemies simply because he was prioritizing support for his allies over dealing damage?

Him doing that was what would allow the other Party members to actually do their jobs correctly and coordinate their actions well.

And wasn’t Rein targeted because the enemy saw that Rain was the linchpin that was keeping this Party together?

(No…… There is just no way……)

No matter what, Aggath tried to deny that notion over and over again, deeming it simply ridiculous.

But the fact that he was trying to deny it didn’t mean that the thought would disappear from his head. Because once it was there, it was there to stay.

Rather, wasn’t that the right thing to do? He was beginning to think about it in such a way more and more.

Now that he has thought about it calmly, that’s what he was thinking about.

It was certainly true that Rein didn’t have the strength himself.

However, he was aware of that fact and was trying to support the Party in a different way, to make up for his own shortcomings.

Getting into the support role for his allies at the perfect time, and then sometimes daring to be targeted by the enemy to get hit so that he could spare some damage to his own allies……

In every sense of the word, wasn’t Rein actually a ‘shield’ for his comrades?

(…… No, I’m overthinking this matter way too much. There is no way…… It just cannot be……)

Aggath shook his head and dismissed his own thoughts, this time doing that for sure.

There was no way that such a thing was possible.

And if it really was the truth……

Wouldn’t it mean that they, who banished Rein from their Party, were nothing more but pompous morons, incapable of seeing the true nature of their current situation?

Such a thing would be truly unacceptable.

Aggath decided not to think about it any further for the time being.

***

「I’m going to wipe them all out at once!」

At Arios’ signal, Aggath, Rin Mina all pulled back.

Before he was even able to confirm whether or not his comrades managed to get back far enough, Arios unleashed his Advanced Magic.

「“Lunatic Bolt”!!!!」

An extremely huge and wide thunderbolt struck from the heavens.

Furthermore, lightning danced wildly to follow it all around.

The wild dance of raging lightning swallowed the swarm of monsters up and made them disappear all at once.

「Haah…… Haah…… I-Is it over……?」

Arios wiped the sweat from his brows and checked his surroundings.

Due to the type of magic that he had to use, there was a cloud of dust in the air and visibility was extremely poor.

It was impossible to see even a meter ahead of them.

They should have been wary of some stragglers or possible survivors, but……

「GAH!?」

「Arios, behind you!」

「What the……!?」

As if to take advantage of Arios having let his guard down, another Troll appeared from behind his back.

Raising its huge fist, it proceeded to strike a tremendous blow towards Arios……

「Nyan!」

「…… What?」

Something swiftly rushed through them all.

Immediately after that, the Troll’s head was crushed and it fell down, dead on the spot.

It died out as it was standing, and became a magic stone after a brief moment.

What had happened?

Arios looked around in a hurry.

However, the dust was still flying around and it was hard to tell what was going on.

「W-What’s the meaning of this…… What’s going on……!?」

He thought that he saw a slight cat-eared figure at the edge of his vision.