ALL NOVEL Chapter 37
Chapter 37 – Miracle of the Outskirts (7)
“Fortunately, there seems to be hardly any damage. Even before we showed up…”
The appearance of the glitch was swiftly dealt with. Chieftain Balun, who arrived a bit late, sighed upon seeing the corpse of the glitch slowly turning to black ash and disappearing.
In truth, it wasn’t that he arrived late, but rather that Riena, who had come a step ahead, had immediately cut down the enemy.
‘She’s gotten much stronger. Perhaps even more so than her teacher.’
As Balun watched Riena catching her breath, he recalled her teacher, the tribe’s head warrior. That person was undoubtedly the most exceptional among the tribe, the strongest warrior Balun knew. He had also been responsible for training Riena, the daughter of the chieftain.
However, Riena had surpassed mere martial arts; she had absorbed skills from the game, aspiring to reach a level beyond the techniques used by the existing strong. No one had tread this path before, but she embraced anything for her growth.
“There doesn’t seem to be anything around, Chief.”
“For a while, we’ve only focused our reconnaissance in the west we came from. Do you know if there’s anything in the east or north?”
Surveying the dark forest, Balun asked a soldier who had just completed a patrol around the vicinity what lay beyond this point.
“We lived nearby, but I’m not well acquainted with places further east…”
The soldier shook his head. None of the other residents seemed to know what lay beyond the village’s eastern edge.
There was a forest to the east of the village, but no one knew what lay beyond it.
“The folklore in our village says that the land to the east is cursed, and indeed, this grassland is considered such, so hunting was rarely done there.”
“A curse. Even if such a thing exists…”
Balun chuckled at the testimony. The unidentifiable monster glitch that had just appeared was akin to a curse itself. But that curse wasn’t the only thing present in this land.
Divinity. The kind of divinity Balun envisioned was also present here.
‘I will need to investigate the east as well.’
Glancing at the modest village where the castle walls had only just begun to take shape, Balun made his decision.
There was a high probability that they would settle here and, even higher, that they would fight to protect it.
Thus, it was essential to investigate what lay nearby for safety’s sake.
“Are you saying we should investigate the eastern forest?”
“Not just to patrol it as we do the west; we must learn what is present there.”
Balun returned to the village and spoke with Res, who was in charge of the reconnaissance team before going to bed.
Thanks to that, the next dawn, before the sun had fully risen, the reconnaissance team split in two: half continued their usual patrol on the western front, while the other half headed to the less explored forest.
“Do you think there’s an enemy to the east?”
“Probably no rival tribe. However, if the black monsters emerge from that direction, we need to know what’s over there.”
As the reconnaissance team rode off, Shura, still half-asleep and yawning, asked him a question, to which Balun explained his reasoning for this choice.
“Now that I think about it… those black monsters have likely been here even before we arrived.”
“I can’t be certain, but that’s likely.”
“Does that mean that someone has been fighting them for longer?”
“Hmm?”
But when Shura mentioned “that person” in the conversation that followed, Balun was slightly taken aback. It was something he hadn’t thought about.
If they considered ‘that’ ambiguous existence as a divine protector of theirs, it certainly meant they would need to know more about it.
‘When did they arrive in this land? What exactly do they want? There’s still so much I don’t know.’
Balun pondered with a serious expression. All he knew was that they liked gold and communicated their will through various physical gestures.
“We will continue to be with that being. If they’re not beside us, they must be watching us from elsewhere, so we simply need to fulfill our duties.”
“W-wait!”
“Look! That being is always watching us.”
As the sun began to rise, Balun and Shura’s bodies lifted into the air. They were being taken into a game world teeming with monsters.
To an outsider, it might seem like punishment to be forced to fight against an endless horde of monsters, but if something could be gained from that struggle, the tale changes.
“Riena hasn’t arrived.”
“She was probably called elsewhere.”
The two landed in a familiar castle. This was the land where Riena had slain the boss monster, Deus, parting the dark clouds to allow a beam of sunlight to shine through.
Though Riena had not come, Balun instinctively recognized that the hunt mode in which they found themselves was meant for experience farming. He suspected that Riena, no longer needing to grow stronger, had gone to a higher place.
“This is a trial imposed upon us. Just as the warriors of the past trained themselves through hunting and training, we must train through this trial bestowed upon us. Other warriors will surely come here in the future.”
Balun interpreted the experience farming in hunt mode as a divine trial for his awakened traits. Not merely training, but a trial bestowed by the divine. Though it was just a matter of wording, the difference was significant.
Shura’s eyes widened, and her heart raced. Being a chosen warrior became an immense source of pride that suppressed her fears.
“Look, they’re coming.”
“Let’s go. Our task is to fight until we’re exhausted.”
As soon as they stepped outside the secret safe zone, the monsters that had regenerated inside the castle charged at them.
Balun raised the staff he had tightly gripped, leading Shura, not because he was inadequate, but because Shura had awakened abilities specialized for close combat.
Soon, their mana surged, and skills burst forth.
These skills were a miracle for them. Techniques that only seasoned warriors could use were now being unleashed by those who had recently awakened.
Even Riena, a skilled warrior, had initially felt tense when facing off against phantom soldiers, yet the skills of Balun and Shura dispatched them in an instant.
“Well done.”
That sight reflected back to Balun. Without needing to control their actions directly, he smiled faintly as he watched them fight on their own.
*
‘Today I can take it a bit slower, right?’
Despite it being a weekend, I had risen early ever since meeting them. I had fused with their lifestyle of being active as soon as dawn broke. Of course, the momentary drowsiness passed, and I had reached the point where I started to enjoy the fresh morning air.
Since transferring the trio to Dark Blood, I took a moment to observe them leisurely.
The resource gatherers were also clocking in to work inside the game, and Morin, who had begun building the castle walls yesterday, was tirelessly continuing the construction.
Only a few meters a day… But the village wasn’t that large yet. Even a few meters a day wouldn’t take too long, and it was possible to encircle the village with walls.
‘Is it because the glitch appeared?’
One noticeable change was that some of the scouts, who usually patrolled only the west, were now active in the eastern forest.
Shifting my monitor to the left to confirm the points received for the eastern reconnaissance, I turned my view to the right, where the reconnaissance team was active.
“—.”
To my eyes, it didn’t seem so dense a forest, but the scouts were cautiously scanning their surroundings with expressions that suggested tension. It’s clear that, after the glitch appeared last night, they were on high alert.
“Hmm?”
Then, at that moment, they spotted something that eluded their sight, a black spot resembling something around their route.
In a hurry, I zoomed in, revealing it to be a black crack that hardly matched the lush greens of the forest. This was surely different from the gate connecting to the game world that was opened in the village. Just by looking, an ominous feeling washed over me.
[Bug Nest]
“Crap.”
Out of curiosity, I right-clicked to check the info. The output was merely a single line. But that alone was shocking enough to warrant an exclamation.
I had discovered the nest of the fearsome looking bug monsters and the glitch.
“–?!”
Calming my startled heart, I then saw one of the mounted scouts activating their instincts and picked them up with the mouse, bringing them to the nest’s entrance. The horse, while realizing its master was absent, stood dumbly in place, and the scout screamed, flailing their arms and legs.
However, once I set him down in front of the nest, he unsheathed his sword only to instinctively step back from the nest’s entrance, seemingly chilled to the bone.
‘What do I do? Do we have to fight again?’
After delivering him back to the now panicked other scouts, he spoke to his comrades with a pale face, babbling about what he had seen.
As a result, the scouts immediately turned their horses around and headed back to the village. They had to deliver this news. To save them time, I dragged them and teleported them back to the village all at once.
Another battle was surely about to happen. There were definitely enemies inside that nest.
“What can we do?”
After clicking my tongue, I called back Riena, Balun, and Shura, who had just entered the game. The three, unaware of what was happening, were startled to see the scouts who were feeling nauseous from the sudden teleportation.
Ultimately, the game was just a means for both them and me. The real purpose was to stop the enemies trying to invade their village and my reality, especially the bug monsters.
‘Just as I thought.’
Upon hearing the situation, Balun nodded seriously, quickly arming the villagers.
If the nest of those creatures was right next to the village, it was only sensible to eliminate it before any stronger monsters emerged from there.
“—!”
With that, Balun readied himself, holding the staff that had made him a druid, standing firmly before the soldiers. I watched him with a tense expression.
Immediately, Balun looked up at the sky and began murmuring something. Perhaps it was a speech to alleviate the soldiers’ fears.
‘Is he talking to me?’
However, seeing their reactions and Balun’s behavior made me wonder if he was saying something to me.
If they regarded me as a special existence that assisted them through the game and various functions, it wouldn’t be too strange. They might be asking me to watch over them or bless them.
‘That’s not impossible.’
In the game, I could directly help them, but that wasn’t feasible now. So, offering what I could was the best course of action.
“–!?”
“—!”
I dragged them all onto the horse and lifted them into the sky. It was to save time and energy on the way there.
“—.”
As their feet left the ground, the horses freaked out, and some unfamiliar ones even closed their eyes tightly or trembled. However, the familiar ones, especially Balun, remained serious as they dangled in midair, looking down at the ground passing by as if they were in the middle of a battlefield.