“Golden Vow!” “Grace of the Erdtree!” The two consecutive flashes of blinding golden light made Kalé unable to open his eyes.
Before he could open them, he was suddenly pinned to the ground by a massive force.
“Kalé!” Mia cried out in alarm.
A giant bat suddenly burst through the gap in the ruined house’s roof, pinning Kalé directly to the ground.
That was it!
The flying creature that had been on her mind, making the wind sound—it was a giant Man-faced Bat!
It had attacked the ruined house where the three were staying along with the rats!
Amia lost control.
The startled donkey rampaged through the house in terror, knocking Mia down.
The girl, who had been sent rolling, scrambled up and immediately shouted: “Wilden!” The Soldier looked back and saw the donkey charging toward him.
With lightning speed, he pulled back the Tower Shield and dove to the side.
The donkey charged out the door, its massive momentum carving a path through the dense crowd of rats.
The sounds of crushing and bones snapping were incessant.
Rats leaped onto the donkey, only to be bucked off by the frenzied beast.
Amia disappeared into the night.
The rats rushed in, each one as high as Mia’s knee.
The girl scrambled up quickly.
At this moment, she couldn’t care about how disgusting the rats were.
Wilden drew the two Straight Swords from his waist, stirring up a storm of blood and gore among the rats, while Kalé was still struggling with the Man-faced Bat.
The bat was almost as large as Kalé.
The nomadic merchant could only use his arms to block the bat’s sharp claws.
He shielded his face with his arms, and the sharp claws tore through his clothes, leaving deep wounds on his arms.
But the next moment after each wound appeared, it would heal rapidly accompanied by a golden glow.
This was the blessing given to Kalé by the Prayer Mia cast—Grace of the Erdtree, providing continuous and significant recovery of vitality.
But the pain prevented Kalé from noticing anything unusual about his body.
He struggled and rolled on the ground, finally managing to reach the sword within the instrument he had dropped.
Grabbing the head of the instrument used as a hilt, Kalé, in a life-or-death moment, swung the sword upward with all his might— “Screeech—” The Man-faced Bat let out an incredibly piercing scream as that one strike severed its pair of claws on the spot!
“Ignite!” Noticing Kalé’s disadvantage, Mia had already joined the fray.
Scorching flames instantly engulfed the Man-faced Bat, turning it into a rising fireball.
The Man-faced Bat howled in agony.
Even with the protection of the Prayer, Mia’s eardrums throbbed from the sound.
To end its suffering, and to end her own, Mia raised her spear and stabbed down hard into the fireball rolling on the ground.
“They’re afraid of fire!” Suddenly, she heard Wilden’s voice.
Without a second thought, Mia gripped her spear with both hands, skewered the fireball on the ground that had stopped moving, and pushed it toward the door.
“Let go—” Wilden said.
Mia immediately withdrew her spear, and the Soldier reached out directly toward the Man-faced Bat that was burning all over, grabbed it by the neck, and forcefully hurled it out the door.
All the rats scrambled to avoid the path where that fireball flew through.
Wilden propped one hand against the door, watching the retreating tide of rats.
Just like that, it was over.
This sudden battle could be described as coming and going in a flash.
“It seems that bat was their leader,” Wilden said thoughtfully.
Bats are just rats with wings.
This statement was, roughly speaking, correct.
Mia wiped the fine beads of sweat from her forehead.
“Oh right, Kalé!” She immediately ran toward the merchant still lying on the ground.
Kalé had taken off his hat, which looked quite like a Santa hat, and was staring blankly at a corner of the night sky through the gap in the roof.
“Are you alright?” Mia’s head appeared at the edge of the night sky.
“I…” Kalé only then recovered from the previous battle.
He sat up, looking at his hands over and over; the sleeves on both arms had long been shredded and were even stained with a lot of blood, but his arms?
They were as smooth as new.
He picked up his self-defense cane-sword; the blade clearly had a notch in it, and the severed claw of the Man-faced Bat still lay on the ground, radiating residual warmth.
The merchant, born of the Nomadic People, looked up at the two people beside him; the effect of the Prayer had not yet vanished, and he could see the golden light enveloping Mia, Wilden, and even himself.
And, he could feel that power bestowed upon him.
“What is this?” “My Prayer.” Mia hadn’t yet realized why Kalé was so surprised.
“…Your Prayer…” Kalé murmured.
“The protection of the Erdtree; luckily my Prayer was timely,” Mia said thankfully.
In the instant right after the protection was applied, Kalé had been pinned to the ground by the Man-faced Bat.
If not for the effect of the Prayer, this nomadic merchant who dreamed of finding the Great Caravan would be dead by now.
“…” Kalé stood up without a word.
“I’m going to find Amia.” “Wait, let’s go together.” “I’ll go alone.
I know how to find her, and she’s just been spooked; it’s better not to look for her all together.” Out of concern for Kalé’s safety, Mia was about to object, but she met his very determined gaze.
“Alright…” Mia eventually agreed.
“But you’d better take this!” The young girl handed the spirit calling bell and the case containing the Lone Wolf Ashes to Kalé.
“If you encounter danger, ring this bell.
I don’t know if it will work…
you can also shout loudly; Wilden and I will rush over immediately.” “Thank you.” Kalé took the spirit calling bell and the ash box.
“Be careful,” Wilden reminded him as he headed out the door.
Kalé nodded, holding a torch he had picked up from the campfire as he walked into the night.
He walked forward for a distance, then suddenly stopped and looked back at the dilapidated shack, which looked even more pitiful after the attack.
“Your…
Prayer?” He murmured to himself, turned back around, and began to search for the donkey’s tracks.