The sun hovered over the mountain ridge.
After an hour of rapid marching, the dim sunlight fell on the hunting party's faces, their grim expressions practically spilling out.
Allen, Paul, and the others stood atop a towering tree. Below, monsters leapt upward, only to be sliced to pieces midair by light, sweeping blades.
Beneath them, the snow was dark with filth and blood.
On the mountainside, the slope spilled down between ridges into a deep valley.
Jagged peaks surrounded the valley, with only a single narrow 'mouth' as the sole exit — a bottleneck where they now stood, halfway up the mountain.
From their perch, the valley below glittered silver, waves crashing and blinding their eyes.
As Allen narrowed his eyes, the scene came into focus.
The 'waves' crashing from the valley floor were not water, but a surging tide of monsters. Snowflakes kicked up as they stampeded upward.
Allen's gaze settled on a calm little 'pool' amid the monster sea — the geothermal lake Paul had spoken of.
Rudy and Sylphy were already pale.
"We've been spotted…? The monsters are all charging this way…"
"Obviously."
Allen swung his blade, shredding the monsters climbing the trunk into a bloody froth.
Ten minutes earlier, they had already clashed with several groups of beasts. By the time they reached this geothermal lake valley, the monsters were attacking them ceaselessly.
Clearly, they had been discovered long ago.
Allen met Paul's grave eyes.
"The monsters are more numerous than expected. But being discovered is a good thing."
Rudy looked at him in shock, about to retort — but then Paul's calm voice came from beside him.
"In a sense… it is."
Rudy froze.
"What do you mean, being discovered is a good thing?!"
Allen pointed at the monster tide flooding the valley and turned to Rudy.
"What lies at the mountain's base?"
Rudy's eyes widened. The words felt strangely familiar, but at this moment he couldn't recall where he'd heard them.
"The base? The monsters' nest?"
"The mountain's base is our target. And now, without even needing to fight our way into the nest, the monsters are flooding up toward us. In that case…"
His words trailed off as his body stepped off the tree.
Allen suddenly dropped from the trunk, startling Rudy into looking down.
Allen landed in a gap amid the monsters below, his blade vibrating casually at his side.
The motion was slow.
But powerful!
In an instant, waves of force rippled from his feet, rolling outward in concentric rings.
Monsters were shredded and flung aside by the wind as his calm voice finished in Rudy's ears, thundering in his chest:
"…all we have to do is hold this slope and kill everything that comes. Isn't that a good thing, Rudy?!"
Paul's tired face seemed to relax as he watched Allen. He smiled, leapt from the tree, and called up to Rudy:
"Rudy! Plan change! We switch to a defensive formation. Allen and I will slaughter the oncoming monsters. You stay in the trees and provide magical firepower. Maintain it for one hour! After that, depending on stamina, mana, and the kill count, we'll decide whether to retreat or keep going. Don't be afraid — they're numerous, but weak. Allen and I can still carry you out after an hour!"
Rudy blinked and finally understood — this wasn't like the forest outside the village, where Paul and Allen had to protect the net, the villagers, the entire settlement, forcing them to hold the line and fight with restraint.
Now, in this remote valley, there were no villagers, no net, no 'hostages.' For Allen and Paul, facing a bunch of D-rank monsters was like two human lawnmowers trimming grass in a park. If not for conserving energy, they could flatten the so-called 'monster tide' on their own.
One was a senior-level swordsman from an S-class party, seasoned in countless labyrinths — where monster tides were nothing new.
The other was a freshly-minted Water Saint-level swordsman. Rudy still remembered the spar months ago, when Paul couldn't even touch Allen's sleeve and later admitted it. That moment had been a blow to Rudy's pride as a native-born 'genius.'
So what was there to fear?
A monster tide?
Just a little frost and wind.
If needed, Allen and Paul could just carry them out after an hour, right? Could D-rank monsters really stop those two?
Rudy's face brightened. He glanced at Sylphy, who was also slowly recovering and meeting his eyes.
Rudy grinned.
'Alright then. Just follow Paul's plan. So this is the experience of an adventurer… Using magic so flexibly in a fight, not just for offense, but even to build fortifications…'
"Doto (Earth Spikes)! Hyouketsu Ryouiki (Frozen Domain)!"
Sharp earthen spires erupted around the cleaned patch of ground below, forming an open-air 'battle fortress.' Paul and Allen immediately leapt atop the walls, mowing down the monsters that surged below like harvesting grain.
Inside the fortress, the blood from the shredded monsters froze into thick ice — a defense against burrowers.
Rudy raised his hand, upper-class water magic Roxy had taught him filling his mind.
"Hyou Soufubuki (Blizzard of Ice Spears)!"
Spears of ice materialized in the air around him and shot outward silently, piercing rows of monsters. Each spear often felled a dozen at a time.
Worth noting: powerful fire magic had been forbidden beforehand to avoid triggering an avalanche. So Rudy continued using quieter water spells.
Thanks to Rudy's immense mana and the meticulous plan, Sylphy barely even needed to cast.
Ten minutes.
Twenty.
Half an hour.
One hour.
By dusk, the slope from valley floor to cliffside had changed color.
One could no longer tell if it was blood —
Or the glow of the setting sun.
(End of Chapter)
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