In search of the monster village (part 2)

"Grrrrrrr!"

Judging by its tail tucked between its legs and ears laying flat against its head, the wolfman tribesman was terrified, but even so, it bore its fangs and growled at the towering Earth elemental...

"...?!"

Which Lesia could not understand in the slightest – not that she even tried in the first place.

"GÓRYAAAA!"

*WHOOOSH* *CRACK*

The Earth elemental roared and swung its massive arm that turned out to be so brittle that the hand part of it broke off...

...but thinking like that was precisely why the rock monstrosity's Skill was so effective...!

*WHOOOSH*

"ARF?!"

*WHAM*

The part that broke off turned into a projectile that hit the dead center of the frightened wolfman tribesman's body, not only slamming it to the ground but actually pinning it down as it wrapped around the canine-type beast's body, knocking it unconscious.

"GÓRYAAA!"

Seeing its victim incapacitated, the Earth elemental let out another bone-chilling roar...

"!!!"

And turned towards the hiding spot of Lesia and the black-haired boy, causing the girl to shiver uncontrollably.

"Nghhh...! Mfgh...! Ghhhh...!"

The dark-brown-haired girl began whimpering subconsciously while fidgeting, unable to bear the pressure of the rank B monster facing her way.

She simply had to do something, anything! But what exactly? What could she even do?

To have a chance with a rank B monster would require an A rank adventurer, and she was mere C rank and Scout Class to boot! None of her skills were good enough to even scratch the defense and sustainability-oriented creature like the Earth elemental!

There was a chance of her escaping if the monster fully focused on the wolfman tribesman that it captured, but that clearly wasn't the case already, so the only other way to allow that would be...

"..."

Lesia stopped trembling, and her eyes widened as she slowly turned her head towards the silent black-haired boy crouching by her side.

...if she used him as a decoy, she had a chance to survive...

Yeah... Yeah! That's right!

She played an important role in the quest all about localization and subjugation of the great threat to the humans within the eastern region of the Anterllen kingdom!

Even trying to compare the weight of her life to the life of this random villager was ridiculous!

She had a purpose, she had a mission, and hundreds of lives depended on her survival!

Literally, no one would blame her for casting aside some dead weight if that enabled her to save herself!

"...Hide presence. Quick step. Shadow step. Silent step. Power boost. Speed boost..."

Lesia made her choice and lowered her head while muttering the activation words for her Skills, using a few new ones aside from reactivating the ones she had on – just in case.

"Don't blame me for this..."

The dark-brown-haired girl whispered, leaning close to the black-haired boy, placing her hands against his back and pushing as hard as she could!

*RUSTLE*

"...?"

She watched him raise his brows in shock as his face moved away, feeling absolutely no remorse in sending him to his death as a decoy...

[You've been detected]

"...eh...?"

But right when she was about to sprint away into a mad dash, a simple notification brought her back into reality, and she realized that her feet weren't touching the ground.

"...why am I the one...?"

"GÓRYAAAAAAAAA!"

The unintentionally airborne girl muttered in disbelief, trying to understand why she was the one shoved into the air, but all of her thoughts were chased out of her head at the sound of the Earth's elemental roar.

"!!!"

*WHOOOSH* *CRACK*

But even though she realized she had to do something, it was already too late as the monster swung its other hand and sent out another projectile that shot through the air with a whistling sound.

*WHAM*

"GU-HUAAAGH...!"

The pile of stones connected to one another with moist soil slammed into Lesia's torso, sending her slamming against the nearest tree, pushing out the content of her stomach back into the light of the day in the same orifice it entered.

"Gbu...! Gbu-hueeeegh...!"

While the stones composing the projectile moved and wrapped around the girl's body and the tree binding them together, the unfortunate victim kept throwing up with the bile stained with blood splashing against the ground below.

"...erdrive..."

*UMPH* *WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM*

"Gufuagh...!"

Lesia managed to overhear the black-haired voice from the side a fraction of a second before a shockwave of unknown origin crashed against her body, chipping off most of what little HP she had left, causing her to cough out and choke on whatever was returning from her stomach.

*WHAM* *WHAM*

*WHAM* *WHAM* *WHAM* *WHAM* *WHAM* *WHAM* *WHAM* *WHAM* *WHAM* *WHAM*

As her head dropped down limply, the barely alive girl could not be bothered to wonder what the relentless barrage that each hit produced an earth-shattering sound could be.

At that point, everything was going dark for her, and death at the hands of the Earth elemental seemed certain.

*thunk* *crack* *wubwubwub*

All of a sudden, something hit the top of Lesia's head and shattered, engulfing the girl's body in a warm green light that seemed to be seeping inside of her through her skin.

"!!!"

Within seconds, Lesia's HP recovered to one-third of its overall worth, snatching the girl right out of the jaws of death.

*WHAM*

*WHAM*

*WHAM*

*WHAM*

*WHAM*

While Lesia was trying to wrap her head around what kind of miracle just happened, the slamming became more methodical. It really sounded as if it wasn't something random and actually had a rhythm.

Instead of looking up to check what was going on, the Scout decided to act as if she had lost consciousness and dropped her head floppily while attempting to chip away enough of the rocks to sip away from her bindings.

No matter whether that really was a miracle or just a coincidence, she didn't want to waste this chance just by acting up and wasting that chance.

"GÓRYAAA! ÓRYAAAA!" *WHAM* *WHAM* *WHAM* *WHAM*

"...!"

Each time that the Earth elemental roared, the powerful blows would follow as if to shut it up, making Leasia flinch and tremble each time.

"...damn it... damn it...! Who is that?! What is that?! Did a group of monsters show up to save their comrade? Or maybe the monster village spawned their own champion? If a Rank B champion monster showed up, then Erol would not be enough...!"

Unable to bear the pressure that not seeing what was going on put on her, Lesia began muttering to herself.