3 bar menu

Beast Tamer Who Got Kicked Out From the Hero’s Party Chapter 120 Part 2

CHAPTER 102 PART 2

So they would keep on relying on that man’s abilities for as long as they were going to cross the mountains here, and then just as they had planned from the beginning, they would cut all the ties that they had with that man.

Not knowing that Arios was thinking of such things in his mind, the Adventurer proceeded to the front of the pack in a really good mood.

They occasionally had to cut branches and such other things from the trees for Arios and the others to be able to follow the man’s lead, but it was actually quite an easy of a task.

The Bloody Bear in the lead was big and sturdy, so it just walked forward and made a reasonable path for everyone else to follow.

The other monsters were also so afraid of the Bloody Bear that they would never even dare to approach them at the current moment.

So far, the trek across the mountains was relatively easy.

With this, they would be able to accomplish their request without any problems.

…… Or that was what he thought at the time.
　

***

After an hour or so, Arios and the others reached the summit of the mountain.

The summit was a wide and open space and had a good view of the surrounding mountains and the rest of the natural scenery.

There was also a small open space at the summit where the Hero’s Party could sit down and have a short break.

In the middle of the open area of the mountain’s summit, there was a small shrine that could be seen.

It was a wooden shrine erected on a flat stone foundation.

There was nothing else besides that shrine at the summit, so it was a pretty lonely sight to behold.

「Here we are, Hero-sama.」

「Thank you very much…… Aggath. And Rin and Mina as well. For the time being, I would like you to be on the lookout for any other people that might come in here.」

「Roger that.」

Aggath nodded his head and turned back a bit the way they had just come.

Rin and Mina scattered from side to side, going in opposite directions.

「Alright.」

Arios then looked at the shrine.

It looked so tattered that it looked as if it would break any moment, just by someone merely touching it.

「…… Say, can you send your monster over there really quick?」

「H-Huh……? I mean, yeah, but…… Why?」

「Come on now. Just do it.」

「O-Okay, alright. Here it goes.」

The Adventurer followed Arios’s instructions,even though his words and tone of voice did not make the slightest bit of sense to him.

He ordered the Bloody Bear to move right next to where Arios was standing.

But……….

「GAOOOHHH!!!」

As it tried to approach Arios at the side of the shrine, the Bloody Bear’s body was bounced off of an invisible wall.

For a moment, the air trembled and a purple light ran through the air in the place where the Bloody Bear made contact with it.

「W-What the……!? What just happened!?」

「Hmm, I see. So that’s how it works, huh?」

The Adventurer was visibly flustered by the unexpected happening, but Arios was as calm as ever, as if he already knew what was going to happen.

There was a barrier around the shrine to keep the monsters from approaching it carelessly.

That’s why even though the shrine was erected so deep in the mountains, it was still intact and was not destroyed by monsters or raging elements.

Was there any value in protecting such an old and tattered shrine with a strong barrier like that?

A person who knew nothing about such things might have actually wondered about that.

In fact, the Adventurer looked mighty confused, and had no idea what just happened.

However, the same could not be said for Arios.

Because he knew that this shrine had some great value to it.

Or to be more precise, the thing that was being safeguarded inside of the shrine.

Arios then drew his sword.

「H-Hero-sama? What are you doing?」

「Stand back if you don’t want to get hurt. I am going to tear that shrine apart right now.」

「H-Huh? What the……?」

「The moment I will destroy the shrine, its protective barrier is sure to become undone as well, which is bound to leave some aftershock. And we wouldn’t want you to be caught in that blast, since you still have the job of showing us the way back home. It would be a hassle if you were to get hurt unnecessarily, so just stand back and maintain a safe distance from the shrine for the time being.」

Arios said in a as-a-matter-of-fact voice, and the Adventurer was blatantly dismayed by the meaning behind those words.

「W-What!? Why!? Why are you going to destroy that shrine!?」

「Because this shrine is where they safeguard the piece of equipment that is imperative to the success of my mission.」

A ring called the “Tears of Heaven,” a legendary piece of equipment which was dedicated to a lonely mountain shrine on the southern continent.

With this information, Arios and his team hired Adventurers that would help them to scale the mountain and reach this exact location.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have come all the way to a remote and desolate place like this.

「O-Oh no…… This is bad…… This is a really bad idea, I tell you……」

「…… At the current moment you are merely a hired help. Does that mean that you wish to get in the way? You wish to get in the way of my mission?」

「N-No, I didn’t mean it like that…… But it’s said that the people of the village at the bottom of the mountain erected this shrine many years ago…… and that its power is supposed to be keeping ill omens and bad luck away……」

「Haah……」

Arios let out a bored sigh.

「Isn’t that just some sort of local superstition?」

「No, I don’t think so. It’s actually quite plausible that……」

「If this shrine is supposed to prevent disasters from happening, shouldn’t it be more important?　But…… Take a look at it. Its a ruin. A wreck. There is no respect for it at all in the way it was built. How could such a shrine contain power to ward off disasters?」

「B-But……」

「And even if there was some mysterious entity sealed up inside of that place, it’s not my enemy. Who do you think I am? I am the Hero, god damn it!」

「……………」

Arios said in a strong tone, as if he wouldn’t allow a rebuttal at all.

Looking defeated by Arios’s flawless logic, the Adventurer closed his mouth.

With the Adventurer silenced, Arios nodded in satisfaction.

And then………he swung his sword down at the shrine.

「HAAH!」

CRUMBLE!

With a loud sound, the entire shrine collapsed on the spot.

The air around it trembled and the Adventurer shrank in fear of what was to come.

But then…… It was just that. Nothing else ended up happening.

Nothing more happened, only silence dominated the entire summit.

「…… See? Told you that nothing would happen.」

Arios moved towards the wreckage of the broken shrine and took out a ring from the inside of it.

It was the legendary piece of Hero’s equipment, the Ring of Heaven.

With this, the Hero’s Party had no other business at the mountain summit.

Next order of business was to get off the mountain and continue on towards their next destination.

…… It was exactly at that time.

「…… Kusu, kusu, kusu.」

A child’s innocent laughter could be heard resounding across the entire summit area.