Boom!
Boom, boom!
After two enormous explosions rang out one after the other, Shane immediately opened his eyes.
He hurriedly scanned the area. There were no suspicious figures nearby, and the barrier showed no signs of damage. It seemed he wasn't the one being attacked...
He breathed a little easier.
Perhaps some other adventurers nearby had caused the commotion.
He rubbed his eyes and looked across the campfire at Frieren. He froze for five seconds, then wiped his face and let out a deep breath.
Girl, that sleeping position of yours just shattered my fantasies about beautiful elf girls.
While Frieren was still asleep, Shane tidied up a little and set off to catch some fish.
He figured he must have chosen the wrong two fish last night. This time, he could try smaller ones. Having some fish soup in the morning sounded like a nice idea, too.
When he reached the river, he cupped some water in his hands and washed his face. But after seeing his reflection on the water, he suddenly straightened and looked up at the sky.
Several bird-shaped magical beasts were flying from the forest toward Gostan City.
At the same time, two plumes of smoke were faintly rising in the distance.
This was bad!
Shane hurried back to wake Frieren.
"Frieren, stop sleeping! Something seems to have happened in Gostan City!"
Roused by the noise, Frieren opened her eyes groggily, her hair sticking up in every direction. Her body had gotten out of bed, but her soul seemed to have stayed under the covers.
"A whole flock of bird-shaped magical beasts flew toward Gostan City. I also heard two explosions, though I don't know if they came from the city gates."
At Shane's words, Frieren looked up at the sky. Two bird-shaped magical beasts were flying past in the distance.
Her expression turned serious.
"I remember the guards mentioning that there had been some unexplained attacks recently. It seems monsters or the Demon Race might be behind this."
"We can't let them destroy the city. We have to go back and help."
Shane wasn't surprised by Frieren's words. He knew she wouldn't stand by while humans were attacked by the Demon Race, and he agreed that they should return to help.
But...
"It'll take at least half a day to reach Gostan City from here. Can your Flight Magic get you there if you're carrying me?"
"Flight Magic can only be sustained for half an hour at most. Carrying you might shorten that, so there's no way we'd make it. We can't overuse Flight Magic and waste our mana, either. That would put us at a disadvantage if we ran into powerful demons."
Shane nodded.
So now the question was how they could get back as quickly as possible.
Frieren was pondering the same thing.
Her gaze passed over Shane and settled on the Terror Birds foraging among the bushes in the distance. A bold idea came to her.
Shane followed her gaze. His eyes widened in alarm.
"No! Don't even think about it. That's impossible... I refuse!"
Fifteen minutes later.
Clinging to a Terror Bird's neck, Shane raced down the road.
"Frieren, if I fall off and die, you're taking full responsibility—"
His furious roar was swallowed by the wind rushing past.
Riding her own Terror Bird with an intrigued look, Frieren watched Shane lurching from side to side up ahead. She curled her lips into a faint smile.
The journey would have taken more than half a day on foot, but with the Terror Birds' help, they arrived in just an hour.
They dismounted not far from the city gates and continued on foot.
The situation was far worse than they had expected.
A huge hole had been blasted through the city gate. Weapons lay scattered nearby, and there was blood on the ground. Not far from the gate, there was another gaping hole in the wall, and half of it had collapsed.
Shane guessed that the two explosions he had heard had come from here.
After the two of them entered through the city gate, they found the nearest block completely destroyed. Shane spotted the tailor's shop where they had once taken shelter. Its second floor had been completely sheared off, and it had nearly been reduced to rubble.
The other buildings had fared no better.
Rubble was everywhere, and scattered fires still burned. Fortunately, they didn't see any injured or dead residents.
"Who goes there!"
Just then, two soldiers suddenly rushed out from the side, leveling their spears at the pair without hesitation.
Shane quickly raised the quest scroll from the Adventurer Guild. "Don't misunderstand. We're adventurers returning to the city to turn in a quest. What happened? Do you need help?"
At his words, the two soldiers exchanged a glance. One took the scroll and checked it, then nodded to the other.
"The city was ambushed by the Demon Race. The injured residents have been moved to the city hall for shelter. You two should head there as well. The guards are handling all the search and rescue work, so there's no need for you to worry. Please get to the shelter as soon as possible."
"Where are the demons you mentioned?" Frieren asked.
"We don't know. After the demons attacked the city gate and caused a commotion, they disappeared. General Glucks suspects they took advantage of the chaos to sneak into the city. He's leading his men in a citywide search. Don't wander around—head to the city hall as soon as possible."
With that, the two soldiers hurried off to inspect the damaged houses one by one, making sure no residents had been left behind.
Shane and Frieren exchanged a glance. They both had a bad feeling.
The Demon Race was skilled at disguising themselves as humans. If they had already infiltrated the city and were mingling with the crowd, that would spell trouble.
Fortunately, the city hall's entrance was protected by magic that could identify members of the Demon Race. They had seen it before.
It seemed General Glucks had sent the residents there not only for their safety but also to narrow down the search area and find the demons as quickly as possible.
Boom!
As they were thinking this over, an explosion sounded from the city's northwest corner.
Boom!
Another explosion rang out, this time from the southwest corner.
Boom!
A third explosion followed, this time from the southeast corner.
The series of explosions proved that the demons still hadn't been found and were continuing to cause chaos!
Frieren grabbed Shane and took him into the air with Flight Magic.
Thick smoke billowed from all three locations, making it impossible to see what was happening.
They could still see large numbers of soldiers hurrying along the streets connecting those areas.
"The demons are deliberately causing chaos. They must have some kind of objective..." Shane guessed with a frown.
Frieren nodded.
"Making trouble in different areas to split up the soldiers and pick them off one by one... It seems the other side has a clever commander. Going to all this trouble isn't like their usual style. There must be something here they really want."
"Frieren, let's check the northeast."
"The northeast? There hasn't been an explosion there. Why go that way?"
"Because they're using the chaos to draw us away."
At the words "draw us away," Frieren's expression turned serious. After a moment's thought, she agreed with Shane's assessment.
The Demon Race had never been shy about displaying their strength. When they massacred cities or wiped out entire races, they did it as spectacularly as possible. This time, though, they were sneaking around and keeping to the shadows. It was clear they didn't want a direct confrontation.
What were they afraid of?
Afraid they couldn't win? Then they wouldn't have launched a surprise attack.
Since they weren't afraid of losing, there was only one other possibility: they were afraid of getting held up—or, in other words, being hindered.
To avoid being hindered...
Wherever there was no chaos was where they were really headed.
Just as Frieren thought this, Shane had reached the same conclusion.
He also recalled the adventurer's map he had looked at earlier. A blood-red skull symbol on it had made a strong impression.
The uncleared dungeon, the Inverted Land, was in the northeastern corner of the city.
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