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Cotton-elka Line of Defense – Part 03

The Forest of Deception was a dungeon in a section of the vast forest that stretched to the west of Cotton-elka. It was believed that the monsters from there would roam the woods and disperse. Now it seemed that several of them had gathered together and were making their way to Cotton-elka.

“There’s about a hundred of them. More than half are small fry: Branch Men, Leaf Monsters, Forest Rats, and Rogue Bees.”

Sara of the Four Eastern Stars brought the news. She went alone to scout the area around the dungeon and confirmed that the monsters were advancing towards Cotton-elka.

Adventurers who had just arrived in Cotton-elka gathered in the village square, while the villagers huddled together in the distance, looking hopeless.

Hikaru and Lavia were in the shadows of the closest house, using Group Cloaking to erase their presence.

“Lavia. Those monsters are ranked F and G,” Hikaru said.

Sara was right in calling them small fry.

These rankings, however, were based solely on a party battle against a single species; a completely different rating would be necessary for monsters coming at you in large numbers. Sara declared them to be small fry anyway so as not to discourage the adventurers.

“The rest are Lesser Basilisks and Woody Bats.”

The adventurers stirred.

“Hey, aren’t those rank E?”

“Dozens of them doesn’t sound good.”

They appeared to be adventurers ranked E and below.

There was a calm group of four, probably adventurers who took the kill quests. There should be a Rank D among them—Hikaru hoped so.

“I also spotted one Treant and one Lost Man. The Branch Men and the Leaf Monsters seem to be spawned by the Treant.”

The adventurers grew noisier. Both the Treant and the Lost Man were Rank D monsters.

“Should be a piece of cake,” a man said. “We can take care of the Treant and the Lost Man.”

“I was thinking we would deal with those two,” Selyse said.

“Whoa, whoa. I don’t care if you’re rank B or C, but this is Pond territory, and we’re here on an official commission.”

His other three companions backed him up. Selyse did not argue back; she was here purely as a volunteer, not official business.

“We, the Wild Horn, will take charge.”

The men strutted to the edge of the village. The other adventurers followed them; they were here to escort the villagers, but they couldn’t just sit idly by.

“Did you hear that, Lady Selyse?” They’re way weaker than you guys.” Pia was clenching her teeth so hard that her gums might start bleeding.

Paula shrank a bit. “What do we do?” she asked.

“We’re going out there, of course,” Selyse replied. “I want you girls to reassure the villagers. In times like this, it’s better to have familiar faces by their side than strangers.”

“I understand.”

And so the Four Eastern Stars also made their way to the outskirts of the village.

“Let’s go, Pia. Pia?”

“Men sure are awful.”

“I don’t think you can just lump them all together like that.”

“Are you talking about your beloved Lord Hikaru? What’s so special about that lanky twig?”

“Wh-What did you say?! I won’t let anyone insult Lord Hikaru, not even you, Pia. He saved us!”

“He’s fishy. Back when he saved you from the Goblins, they just retreated. He said he killed the boss with a poisoned rock, but how is that even possible? The same goes for what happened in the hut. How did he get inside? Maybe he was in on it with the adventurers.”

“I can’t believe you.” Paula, face red, was ready to pounce on Pia.

“Stop,” Priscilla slid herself between the girls. She might look to be in a perpetual daze, but she moved with the nimbleness of a hunter. “We can’t be fighting among ourselves when there are enemies coming.”

“S-Sorry.”

“I-I know that.”

Priscilla’s remark brought them back to their senses.

“Good. Let’s get everyone back to their homes. Then we’ll patrol around the village.”

The girls awkwardly hurried to the villagers.

“Wow, she hates me,” Hikaru said. He had witnessed the whole thing.

“The disrespect,” Lavia hissed. “I hate that girl,” She was angrier than Hikaru.

Hikaru calmed her down, chuckling. Then they followed the other adventurers.

---

A total of seventeen adventurers came from Pond. Four of them were members of a Rank D party called Wild Horn, who took the kill quest, and the other thirteen were ranked F to G, here for the escort commission. They left Cotton-elka, crested a hill, and made it to the entrance to the vast forest, where they encountered a pack of monsters.

The Wild Horn party stepped forward. Three members wielding melee weapons—swords and greatswords—charged in to scatter the enemies. As its name suggested, the Branch Man was a humanoid monster made of tangled branches. Standing just over a meter tall, its body was light and flimsy. A sword could easily cut it down.

Leaf Monsters were ball-like monsters made of rounded leaves. They ranged in size from as small as a soccer ball to over one meter in diameter. But they were also just as flimsy.

The Rogue Bee was a large bee, and the Forest Rat was a small critter that Paula and her friends had killed before. None of these monsters stood a chance against a Rank D party.

“Hahaha! So weak! Weak! Perfect for making money!”

Pseudo-monsters created by a Dungeon Master all had cores inside their bodies, no exception. When a monster’s life force was fully depleted, its body crumbled into ashes, leaving behind a core—a stone that contained magical power, such as a Spirit Magic stone. The party Wild Horn left behind mounds of ashes.

“O’ Spirits, heed my call. Flames rising higher than will-o-wisps, incinerate the approaching danger!”

The incantation was being recited by the last member of Wild Horn, a Spirit Mage.

“Flame Wall!”

As the monsters scrambled to the sides, about to slip past the other three members, a fierce wall of flames rose before them, over two meters high. Both the Branch Man and the Leaf Monster were vulnerable to fire. Flames spread to their bodies, leaping to the nearby monsters, burning them.

“Pretty good coordination,” Hikaru remarked, watching from atop the hill.

He was feeling somewhat thrilled. This was the first time he’d seen a decent fight from adventurers. Their superb tactic justified their big talk.

The escorting adventurers were doing fine too, as they only had to slay the occasional monsters that slipped through Wild Horn.

“Can they keep going and just kill them all?” Lavia asked.

“No. The problem starts here. Look.”

Just as the three members of Wild Horn were about to enter the forest, they abruptly turned around and retreated.

An adventurer who followed them close behind failed to react quickly, and was blown away.

A thick wooden arm emerged from the forest. It was a Treant, a gigantic, Rank D monster. It looked like a beech tree that was centuries old, with a trunk over one meter in diameter. There was a face on the hollow of the trunk. Its undulating roots acted as legs to support its body, and its branches moved freely like tentacles.

Teammates of the adventurer that was sent flying rushed to him and carried him away from the front lines. The Treant spread its branch out wide, revealing dozens of hanging bats. Woody Bats—monsters with half of their bodies transformed into wood.

A strange cry came from behind the Treant. It sounded like the pained squeal of an animal that had its neck twisted. Then, about ten Lesser Basilisks, monsters that were a hybrid of chicken and snake, appeared.

At this point, the adventurers here for the escort mission had no choice but to retreat.

“Shit!” a Wild Horn member cursed. “There’s more than just small fry!”

Sara had already notified them about the monsters beforehand. Ignoring her intel and charging straight right in would inevitably lead to this.

“Let’s deal with the Treant first!”

“Gotcha!”

“Magic!”

“Ready!”

Wild Horn had no intention to retreat. Two of the frontliners spread out to the left and right to keep the Woody Bats and Lesser Basilisks in check. They were attacking a bit then retreating, without killing the monsters.

The third guy was going up against the Treant. Hikaru guessed what they were going for.

“They’re buying time for the incantation to finish. Not bad…”

Hikaru took note of the strategy.

As soon as the Mage finished chanting, the man in front withdrew.

“Can they kill the Treant?” Lavia asked.

“Wrong move. It’s not the Treant that they need to watch out for.”

“What?” Lavia looked at Hikaru.

“Flame Lance!”

A magic circle appeared in the air, and a spear of flame as large as a tank’s gun materialized, then flew. The spear pierced the Treant cleanly. The man at the front was watching with his guard completely down.

Something closed in on him.

Hikaru had a clear picture of the situation from atop the hill. The reason for Wild Horn’s failure boiled down to one thing—they didn’t pay full attention to the intel that was provided to them.

Sara talked about one more monster. Like the Treant, it was also Rank D—the Lost Man.

An entity that moved while distorting space itself. It was so huge to be clearly visible from a distance. Had they stayed calm, they would have noticed it, but they were too focused on the intense battle.

“What—”

The man in front was grabbed by the leg and pulled down. The Lost Man revealed itself. A purple humanoid monster.

Suddenly, the monster screeched.

The Lost Man dropped the man. An arrow was stuck on its arm.

“Just in the nick of time. Aren’t you the lucky guy?”

The arrow was fired by Sara.

The Lost Man glared at her. It had three yellow eyes, with no hair. Sharp teeth lined its mouth.

“D-Damn it. Didn’t expect to be saved by you guys.”

“If you wanna show off, cool, but you’re gonna kill the other adventurers with the way you fight.”

The fire magic had almost completely consumed the Treant, but the Woody Bats swooped down toward the escorting adventurers. Serika’s wind magic took care of them.

Selyse was dealing with the Lesser Basilisk, while Sophie was using her Healing magic to heal the adventurer hit by the Treant.

“W-We’re here on a commission to kill monsters!” the Wild Horn member barked. “We didn’t do anything wrong!”

“Sure, if you actually managed to kill them,” Sara said.

“Fuck…”

The man couldn’t say anything back.

“Wh-What about the Lost Man?!”

“After I shot it with an arrow, it used camouflage to escape.” Sara shrugged.

Thus the first round of the Cotton-elka defensive battle ended—or rather, was coming to an end.