Was it around my third playthrough?
In any case, this too had happened when I was still a newbie and had not been playing Lost Elder for long.
I had been wandering around Free City Vertas as usual.
Then it happened.
『P-please find my husband’s corpse...... No, at least find one of his belongings.』
Out of nowhere, a widow NPC gave me a quest.
She asked me to find the last trace of her husband, who was presumed to have died on the journey to Dark City Dawnguard.
“Oh, perfect. I was about to head to the Uncharted Lands anyway......”
Click—.
Taking it as a stroke of luck, I accepted the quest.
In truth, it was a commonplace occurrence for those crossing the Uncharted Lands to lose their lives.
Especially at this point, when the world’s destruction was accelerating.
Naturally, the number of people who wanted to know whether their missing family members were dead or alive had increased, and I thought this request would be one of those common quests as well.
“Huh? Wait a moment.”
But the further I progressed with the quest, the more I sensed that something was amiss.
“No matter how I look at it, these traces......”
It was a truth I learned later.
The NPC’s husband had not died after being swept up in an unfortunate accident.
And his death had been the first signal flare announcing that the end of the world had begun.
***
Hummm, hummm—!
The Silk-road, which protected those traveling through the Uncharted Lands.
For a long time, it had been considered a sacrosanct Safe Zone.
The barriers, which used Magic Stones as their raw material, punished approaching monsters, and the monsters instinctively began to avoid this road.
One mercenary who knew this shouted loudly.
“D-do not panic! The barrier is operating perfectly!”
There was only one situation in which the Silk-road became dangerous.
When the barrier failed because the supply of Magic Stones was unstable.
Therefore, as long as the barrier operated stably as it did now, an attack by any monster was meaningless.
THUD—!
......At least, that was the common sense people had known until now.
“Uh, uuuuh?”
But now.
That common sense began to collapse miserably.
***KRAAAAAASH—!***
The monsters crashed into the barrier without the slightest hesitation.
Blood and brain matter splattered in every direction, coating the barrier’s surface in filth.
“What are those things......?”
The mercenary muttered in a trembling voice.
Fear and confusion were mixed on his face.
THUD, THUD THUD THUD—!
Most of the monsters died instantly from the impact of striking their heads. The few that survived were crushed to death beneath the following horde.
Countless monster corpses piled up along the barrier.
“H-ha ha ha......”
Sighs of relief and awkward laughter burst out from all around.
“Are they idiots?”
“Puhaha! We worried for nothing! They are just killing themselves by slamming their heads into the barrier!”
But that false ease did not last long.
In the blink of an eye, the barrier was covered in the monsters’ blood and flesh. The number of monsters crashing into it kept increasing without end.
CRACKLE—!
At the very next moment, thin cracks appeared across the barrier.
“What......!”
Everyone’s faces drained of color.
“R-run at full speed, now! Increase the carriages’ speed as much as possible!”
The merchant company master shouted until the veins stood out in his neck.
“We will rush straight to Vertas like this!”
“......What?”
Confusion flashed across the mercenaries’ faces. But that confusion vanished in an instant.
Quick judgment was essential to survive in this world.
Before their minds could understand the situation, their bodies reacted first. Their survival instincts moved them.
“Get on! Get onto the carriages, now!”
Realizing the gravity of the situation, the mercenaries leapt one by one onto the moving carriages.
Only the will to survive burned in their eyes.
“Throw away the cargo and reduce the weight!”
Crash—!
At someone’s cry, the mercenaries began throwing the carriages’ cargo away.
Expensive goods spilled outside the carriages and rolled across the dirt, but no one paid any attention.
Not even the merchant company master, who had been transporting the goods.
‘Smart. They know how to abandon their greed at a time like this.’
It was a choice befitting a veteran.
It was a hair-trigger situation.
It would not have been strange at all if the mercenaries attacked the merchant company and seized the carriages right then.
If he had been greedy here, he could have lost his life to his fellow humans. It was better to give up the goods than suffer an ugly betrayal.
No matter how valuable one’s wealth, it was insignificant compared to one’s own life.
“Sir Gaon.”
Adelia’s voice reached me amid the chaos.
She held a sword that I did not know when she had drawn.
Adelia was staring intently at me, like a hunting dog waiting for its master’s command.
I replied in a deliberately calm voice.
“Wait and conserve your strength. It will not be too late to act once the barrier breaks.”
“Pardon? But......”
Glance—.
Adelia looked at the barrier.
The cracks were becoming increasingly distinct. It seemed she wanted to act before the situation grew any more dangerous.
Before she could continue speaking, I quickly cut in.
“Did I not say that this monster horde was not the end?”
“......”
“Do not make me say it twice. What we have to face is the culprit that caused this Monster Wave.”
Adelia bit her lip tightly for a moment, then nodded.
“......Yes. I will remember that.”
Rattle, rattle—!
The wheels turning precariously screamed with a deafening clamor.
The driver cracked his whip with all his strength, urging the carriages forward as fast as possible.
“Hya! Hyaaaah!”
Along with the driver’s shouts, the carriages began moving faster and faster.
But this was not enough.
Perhaps sensing that as well, the merchant company master kept anxiously glancing out the window.
‘At this speed, we will be caught before long.’
〔MP: 1/1〕
Glance—.
Instinctively, I checked the mana window. I had enough mana to use the skill.
If I used 【Soul of the Swordmaster】 right now, I could wipe out that entire monster horde.
The fact that even level 77 Adelia could annihilate a pack of Scavenger Wolves in a single attack said it all.
‘But......’
No matter what, I can’t use the skill rashly.
My trump card had to be conserved until the last possible moment.
If I recklessly used 【Soul of the Swordmaster】 just because the situation was dangerous, I could be put in even greater danger.
‘......More than anything, until ‘that guy’ shows himself, I have to leave everything to Adelia.’
That was right.
For now, I should wait while trusting our Bus Driver.
Had I not brought Adelia along precisely to prepare for situations like this?
“I-it is breaking through! The barrier is breaching...... Aaaaargh!”
KRAAAASH—!
At that very moment, a massive explosion sounded behind us.
The Silk-road’s barrier had collapsed, unable to withstand the monsters’ repeated collisions.
“Damn it!”
The merchant company master clenched his teeth and cursed.
“Faster! Go faster!”
At his desperate shout, the driver cracked his whip once more.
RRRUMBLE—!
The ground shook. The vibrations of the monsters’ stamping feet traveled through the earth.
“Aaaaargh!”
Screams rang out from every direction.
The carriages that had started late or were at the rear of the procession were being swallowed up whole by the monsters surging in like a landslide.
The sound of carriages shattering and the monsters’ roars mingled with desperate screams.
THUD—!
Of course, our carriage could not escape the aftermath of that tsunami either.
“Adelia.”
At my call, Adelia immediately looked into my eyes.
Her expression said that, at a single command, she would rush out and sweep away the monsters at any moment.
......But you know.
As I said earlier, that was not what I needed you for.
“Protect me.”
KRAAAAAASH—!
The carriage body lurched violently once more.
Along with an ear-splitting roar, the carriage overturned.
WHOOOOSH—.
The world spun round and round. My body, suspended in the air, was flung right out of the carriage.
Even without using Ritardando, everything seemed to move slowly.
Adelia’s startled expression. The cargo scattering through the air. And the ground drawing closer and closer.
“Sir Gaon......!”
I heard Adelia’s desperate cry.
She closed the distance in an instant and pulled my body into a fierce embrace.
THUD—!
In the very next instant, a dull impact surged through my entire body.
***
Being caught in a Monster Wave?
A carriage overturning?
It was fine. All of that had been within my calculations.
Adelia had more than enough ability to protect me even in a situation like this.
“Urgh.”
There was just one thing.
What I had overlooked was that I couldn’t keep my wits about me even from ‘only’ this much.
In game terms and in terms of physical damage, my HP had not decreased by even one point.
Even so, this was my first time experiencing a situation where my vision kept flipping over.
......In other words, motion sickness.
“Hah, hah.”
Fortunately, I barely managed to hold back from vomiting disgracefully.
Instead, the sharp scent of blood roused my senses.
I slowly raised my upper body.
‘I’m so dizzy I could die......’
As I looked around through my spinning vision, a horrifying sight came into view.
Broken carriage wreckage and monster corpses were strewn in every direction.
The scene of blood and flesh covering the dirt resembled a terrible battlefield.
Whoosh—.
The surroundings, which had been utterly chaotic only moments before, became as quiet as a dead mouse.
That was right.
While I was lying there groaning, Adelia had dealt with the Monster Wave all by herself.
“Are you all right, Sir Gaon......?”
Gasp, gasp—.
At that moment, Adelia’s breathless voice reached me.
She was standing with her back to me. Wounds covered her body, and her torn armor was stained with blood.
Even so, Adelia merely stood there, holding her sword.
There was not the slightest tremor in her stance. It was as though she intended to protect me no matter what threat approached.
‘......And in truth, Adelia had protected me very well.’
She was in that state, yet my HP had not dropped by even one point.
“As ordered, gasp...... I...... protected you, Sir Gaon.”
Adelia continued speaking between ragged breaths.
Just as she had been in the game.
She did not even ask why I had suddenly ordered her to protect me.
Once she had said she would obey, she merely followed my orders faithfully.
The purpose did not matter.
‘Given that she herself has the most complicated past, it would be rude to ask about someone else’s first.’
Once again, I felt that choosing Adelia as my Bus Driver had been the best choice.
‘Well, that aside......’
I looked up at the dark night sky and murmured.
“......It is about time for it to appear.”
KIIYEEEEEK—!
A chilling roar echoed from the sky.
A massive shadow fell over our heads.
RUMBLE, RRRUMBLE—!
A fierce wind swept in, and storm clouds covered the sky in an instant. Lightning flashed from every direction.
“Ah.”
Adelia’s eyes widened.
Wearing a tense expression, she slowly looked up at the vast sky.
【Lv. 90】
Celestial Dragon Bird.
The incarnation of storms and thunder. The supreme ruler of the sky.
Its enormous body seemed capable of swallowing an entire mountain ridge, and each of its sturdy scales gleamed like lightning.
Its fearsome appearance, as though a dragon and bird had been fused together, was itself the manifestation of a disaster.
The aura of death it emitted was enough to make every hair on one’s body stand on end.
Ding—!
〔Mental Power ‘MAX’ Resists the Opponent’s Overwhelming Pressure.〕
The air around us grew heavy. The Celestial Dragon Bird’s pressure bore down upon the entire world.
Even I, with my Mental Power at its maximum, felt this way. What kind of pressure must Adelia be feeling?
“Wh-what in the world......”
As expected, Adelia muttered in terror.
“......Why is an Elder’s Divine Beast attacking humans?”
Ignoring her question, I issued an order in a cool voice.
“This is the second Trial, Adelia.”
━━━━━━━━━━━━
【Ritardando: True】
(Cooldown: 581 Seconds)
━━━━━━━━━━━━
“Hold out for exactly ten minutes.”
They say that a crisis is also an opportunity.
In that sense, this was an opportunity that would never come again.
‘If everything unfolds according to my design......’
From this moment onward, I would achieve tremendous growth.