The Return of Lilietta - Chapter 107

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 107

Lillieta aimed the harpoon-equipped Silvergrass above her head. The harpoon fired with a suppressed sound and embedded into the thick tree branch she had spotted earlier.

A cord made of Oaths connected the harpoon to the barrel. She took a deep breath, tensed her arms, and gritted her teeth.

Swoosh, the cord contracted and naturally lifted her body up to the tree branch. She swallowed the groan that escaped involuntarily.

‘I really can’t avoid swaying completely.’

As her body swayed, excruciating pain shot through her thigh where the horn was embedded. However, instead of writhing in pain, Rita took another deep breath and used her arm strength to pull herself up onto the branch in one motion.

Though she used her arm strength as much as possible, she couldn’t completely avoid using her legs. Blood gushed out, completely staining one side of her grayish-blue dress red.

“…!”

Only after sitting astride the branch and leaning her back against the tree trunk did a thin moan escape her lips.

“Hah….”

[Anxiety: User, are you alright? Even now, if you send a signal to the Creator….]

‘It’s fine. I just need to treat it now, why would I send a signal.’

Rita roughly wiped away the cold sweat dripping down and took out healing potions and bandages from her reticule. She frowned as she examined the spot where the horn was embedded again.

‘If I just pull this out, I’ll really have massive bleeding. Even with a tourniquet, the hole is too big….’

She wasn’t sure if healing potions could handle it. Even if they could, it would be dangerous if there was too much bleeding while it healed.

‘Or should I try using Oath concentrate? Oli said that would be more effective for me. If it heals quickly, the bleeding would decrease too….’

While pondering which method would be better, multiple presences were caught in her widely spread detection range.

‘What?’

Rita put down the bandages and looked toward the direction where the presences were rushing, holding Silvergrass.

Soon, the forms of approaching figures were revealed through the dense trees and thickets. What was increasing in real-time was a horde of countless monsters.

[Casting: Casting temporary camouflage magic. Duration 30 seconds. Will continue repeating.]

‘Thanks, Grace. Good thing I climbed up the tree. But those things… why are they like that? It feels like they’re running away from something.’

All kinds of monsters were running frantically in one direction. As if there was something very frightening in the opposite direction.

‘Don’t tell me.’

At that moment, rumble, the ground shook and birds flew up from the forest. Simultaneously, Grace reported in a stiff voice.

[Received: 6km northeast of Central Camp, Named ‘Crawler’ appeared, Tritoma Team 3 engagement started, ‘Beast’, ‘Witch’ participating.]

[Analysis: This signal was sent by the Creator, ‘Witch’ to all Beacon members. The location is 1.5km northeast from the user’s current position.]

In preparation for the Frontier Festival, Olivia had distributed small hand mirrors to the Beacon squad members. They were magic tools that could exchange brief messages, and at the portable level that she, not being a Transition-type Oathbinder, could create, that was the best option.

However, in Lillieta’s case, since Grace had built-in communication functions, she didn’t need to receive additional tools.

‘Luca and Oli started fighting a Named?’

So another demon beast appeared after all?

Even with Duke Adickl present? What exactly is Pascal’s purpose?

‘No, let’s discuss this kind of thing together later.’

She hurriedly looked toward the northeast direction. The direction the monsters had fled.

Beyond the canopy of dense trees, something huge was raising its head.

Overwhelming presence and enormity felt even from a distance. Hard and reddish hide that looked like rock from a glance. Bumpy joints and an elongated body. At the end of that body, a cave-like mouth that contracted then opened to reveal countless teeth.

‘It really is a Crawler, damn it.’

It was the first Named demon beast that the six remaining Beacon members had subjugated after Kraken. A demon beast where an earthworm had been corrupted by magic and became grotesque and gigantic, it was troublesome to subjugate for different reasons than Kraken.

‘That rock-like hide deflected all our bullets.’

That thing even deflects the sword energy of Augmentation Pact Holders. The shell’s defense is among the highest even among countless Named. Moreover, it has more troublesome characteristics.

‘Its teeth are poisonous and its saliva is ridiculously acidic. Because of the saliva that melts people just by contact, you can’t approach through the mouth which is the only weak point, and the hide is damn hard, but if things go wrong it can even burrow underground to hide….’

The memory of the terrible struggle to catch it was vivid. How many times they had to track it again as it swam underground to escape.

Because that thing writhed underground, buildings on the surface collapsed, making them suffer more from civilian rescue operations.

‘Rather than being dangerous… it was annoying because if you don’t catch it quickly, the surrounding damage becomes extreme, but it’s hard to catch it quickly.’

That damn Crawler writhed its disgusting body, stuck its head above the trees, then buried its head downward again. Thud, the ground shook like an earthquake.

Rita analyzed the battle situation while gripping the tree trunk.

It was extremely fortunate that the Crawler appeared in the forest rather than in the middle of the hunting grounds. It was also fortunate that the Tritoma special operatives discovered it faster than others and started engaging.

If they could catch that thing among themselves here, they could minimize the damage.

Conversely, if they made a mistake and let it escape, and it swam underground to pop out at Central Camp, there would be massive casualties.

‘We absolutely have to catch it here. But Luca and Oli alone will have trouble dealing with the Crawler.’

Luca Pascal had no previous experience facing a Crawler. At the time when Beacon subjugated the Crawler, he wasn’t a Beacon member yet.

‘Well, Oli will command so there shouldn’t be much problem but… holding out and enduring would be the best strategy. There’s insufficient firepower. It would be too much for the still-novice special operatives to pierce the Crawler’s shell.’

Ethan was tracking a suspicious servant, and against such a brutish and gigantic demon beast that pushes through with size, he had bad compatibility anyway.

Isaiah didn’t attend the Frontier Festival in the first place. As a commoner from another country, he had no justification to attend, and since there was a possibility of incidents occurring in the capital while everyone was at the hunting grounds, he took on the role of monitoring the city.

‘Gid is overseeing the hunting competition at Central Camp. It won’t be easy for him to leave his post.’

Rita bit her lip.

‘I need to participate in the battle. The problem is that my leg is in this state, so if I’m not careful I might become a burden… Ah.’

An appropriate strategy came to mind.

She stuck her head out and looked around, then found what she wanted.

The point where the Forest of the Sleeping Dragon met the mountain’s edge. A towering cliff.

‘From that height, I should be able to see the battlefield well.’

The cliff was fortunately not far from the tree she was in, and was in a direction that would bring her closer to the writhing Crawler.

‘The distance to the cliff is about 400 to 500 meters? Walking with this leg would be impossible, but I could use the harpoon gun. Since I’ve done it once, I can definitely do it. If I quickly treat just the outside with the horn still embedded to stop the bleeding and secure it with bandages….’

[Shock: User, what kind of absurd idea are you having right now?]

‘It’s a sufficiently realistic idea compared to running to the battlefield with this leg and becoming a burden.’

[Warning: Treating with the horn still embedded has a high possibility of infection, and when removing it later, secondary damage to the healed tissue could occur, doubling the pain and slowing recovery!]

‘It’s fine, healing arts are omnipotent so I don’t need to worry about future consequences.’

[Warning: The user has a constitution that resists healing arts!]

‘Ah, right, my constitution changed. Then, um… for me, Oath concentrate is a panacea so it’ll be fine.’

[Shock: User….]

‘Don’t worry, I calculate everything before doing only feasible actions.’

Rita moved her hands continuously even while conversing with Grace.

She cut the hem of her dress to expose her thigh, generously applied healing potion around where the horn was embedded, confirmed that the wound had healed somewhat and the bleeding had stopped, then firmly wrapped it with bandages to secure the horn so it wouldn’t shake.

Enduring the pain, she roughly wiped away the cold sweat that had beaded up and crafted another harpoon form with Oaths at the gun’s tip.

Grace, who had been continuously trying to dissuade her, finally spoke in an angry voice when Rita silently continued with her task.

[Anger: I deeply empathize with the Creator’s purpose in creating this artificial spirit. May this artificial spirit raise hell to fulfill its mission?]

With those words, a colorful butterfly that emerged from Silvergrass perched on the barrel, stiffly raised its antennae, fluttered its wings, and glared at Rita.

Regardless, Rita aimed the barrel with the newly formed harpoon toward the cliff and clicked her tongue.

‘You picked up bad language habits from Oli. Calm down, Grace.’

[Anger: Do I look like I’m in a state to calm down? To fulfill my created duty, this artificial spirit must stop the user’s insane antics by any means necessary—]

‘If you keep interfering, I’ll turn you off?’

[Lament: User….]

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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