Objectively speaking, a strange lady who looked at most in her early to mid-twenties, no matter how much she held a gun, wasn't soone you could entrust your life to. If Esperanza hadn't imdiately slaughtered the monsters threatening them as soon as she appeared, if she hadn't taken down several monsters while speaking, the resistance would have been much fiercer than now.
"Let's all go for now. It's still better to go to the mansion where other people are."
"It's not like there's another way, and the church has already collapsed."
"Even if we go to the mansion, is there any other option besides dying there......"
Nevertheless, the conclusion was to go. People who had been sitting collapsed one by one got up. People who had lived in the sa village since birth had good unity. They found things to do just by looking at each other's eyes. The injured were laid down as injured, children were carried by their parents, and children separated from their parents were carried on the backs of strong people, forming a formation that was reasonably good for movent.
"We're here!"
When the mansion people arrived, they shared brief but warm reunions. They had been separated for barely more than an hour, but this hour was ti when they couldn't guarantee their family's lives.
"Jerry, did you see my mother? She wasn't hurt, was she?"
"No need to worry. She's fine. She's probably cooking in the mansion kitchen right now. Ah, Miss Hunter. Miss Cordelia asked
to please make sure there are no casualties."
Esperanza, who had been watching from a distance like an observer and only shooting approaching monsters occasionally, nodded.
To Esperanza they were botherso strangers, but to Cordelia they were precious territory residents and neighbors she had known all her life. If the sa thing had happened in Avondale territory, Cider probably would have said the sa thing. Probably. ......He would have, right?
"Why do you ask?"
"It's nothing. Let's hurry and depart."
"Everyone let's go! Move quickly!"
Young n and won who were essentially simple farrs but looked quite soldier-like when equipped with magical weapons led the territory residents. Esperanza slaughtered the group of monsters targeting the crowd of people from the very back. She skillfully avoided the spurting blood and fluid, targeting only vital points.
"Not enough......"
She had finally been able to start proper anti-monster combat, but she couldn't move properly for fear of people getting hurt. Her body, already tensely drawn in combat mode, was clamoring to fight quickly.
"Miss Hunter, you said you'd abandon stragglers, but you're taking care of them from the very back."
A villager who had unintentionally ended up at the very back row while carrying a sleeping five-year-old spoke to Esperanza.
"If soone sits down saying they can't go on, I'll leave them behind, but if they say they'll move but it's just not going well, that can't be helped. Still, try to put in a bit more effort."
"......Alright. It's not going well though."
The woman who had been moving her feet quickly several more tis smiled weakly. Carrying a heavy child while already scraping the bottom of her stamina, her feet wouldn't move just because she set her mind to it.
"Soone from the front co and take this child!"
When Esperanza raised her voice, a young man ca running hastily.
"I'll carry him."
"This person seems to need carrying too."
"No way! That's ridiculous. I can go on my own. Thank you."
It was obvious she'd fall behind soon, but Esperanza let the woman maintain her bravado. The mansion would appear after about 20 more minutes of walking anyway. If she could just hold out until then.......
"Dear God."
The woman muttered weakly. Deep despair was soaked in. It was the sa for others. The feet that had been walking diligently toward the mansion had stopped as if nailed down, just staring at the giant life form that had co from the forest.
It was a giant made entirely of rock. The level of rock giants that appear in C-grade dungeons was all the sa anyway. Defeating it would be no trouble at all. The problem was.......
Esperanza glanced back. Fight a giant that spits rocks from its mouth while taking all those people along? I'd rather die than suffer.
"Move quickly. I'll lure it away, so you carry this person. The rest of you...... you know how to use weapons, right? Especially that thing—even on the lowest firepower setting, it'll kill most creatures. So you take my position."
Esperanza positioned the sturdy man who was struggling to hold Cider's modified gun at the back end of the group where she had been, then shot at the rock giant. When she shot lightly with weak power as if poking it, the giant that had been spitting rocks turned its gaze this way.
Rock giants are stupid. Because they're rocks. Esperanza took off her robe and waved it so the giant could see, then ran toward the forest, the opposite direction from the group.
"Don't dawdle and go!"
Esperanza, who had shouted at the people who kept looking back and delaying because they were worried, stomped her foot and jumped high. Grabbing a tree branch and swinging around, using that montum to climb onto the giant's shoulder, Esperanza without hesitation shoved her gun into the hole presud to be the giant's eye and fired. Bang!
Birds fluttered up into the air.
Grrrrowl, the giant writhed in pain making sounds like rocks colliding. Esperanza's body fell lightly from the giant's shoulder like a fallen leaf. Landing on a reasonably thick tree branch instead of bare ground, Esperanza looked back.
She could see people beginning to climb the hill. There were almost no monsters once they got there, but just in case.
She shot at the rocks the swaying giant spat out. The huge rock crushed and broke trees. Esperanza stepped on the falling tree trunk and climbed up the rocks the giant threw like stairs.
She had the illusion of making eye contact with the giant's empty eye sockets. The gears inside the gun made a rough sound as they responded to magic power. Her heated hand pulled the trigger. This ti aiming precisely at the vital point between the eyebrows, not the eye.
A bright blue beam pierced the rock giant's vital point and even pierced through innocent tree roots. As soon as she landed on the ground, she took a shooting stance again. A red cross shape appeared on the rock giant's body. The corner of her mouth rose as if drawn up.
3, 2, 1.
It was the heart. Confirmation kill. Along with the eye-stinging magic beam, magic power dropped rapidly from Esperanza's status window in the corner of her vision.
Thud. The giant turned into dozens of rocks. It crumbled from the top. Esperanza went "eek" and moved away from the giant's corpse at maximum speed. Those rocks—if they hit wrong, it would be a serious injury.
Certainly with better weapons, the speed of defeating individual monsters was fast. In comparison, magic consumption didn't increase much. Even though she had rushed sowhat because of the villagers who hadn't yet entered the mansion.
Defeating a rock giant in just two shots. She liked it.
Indeed, actual combat was the best way to check the performance of magical weapons. It was incomparable to wild boars that were only good for barbecue.
[Combat Mode ON]
Combat Disabled 0
Status Abnormalities 0
Deaths 8
[You have defeated the Rock Giant. The dungeon's boss recognizes you.]
Right. The boss will appear soon now. It will appear within at least an hour or two. After killing the boss and cleanly clearing out the weak ones, the dungeon conquest will be finished. You could do it in reverse order too, but as a result of Esperanza conquering thousands of dungeons during her seven years of playing the ga, this was more convenient.
"Let's see."
From a Hunter's perspective, rock giants weren't monsters you particularly wanted to conquer. They were troubleso but had no real rewards. Since they were creatures made entirely of rock to begin with. No matter how much you smashed and broke them, rocks were just rocks.
If you searched the collapsed rock giant's body carefully, you could find crystal stones. But at a ti like this, she couldn't waste ti on such things. Esperanza passed the pile of rocks without hesitation and ran toward the mansion. The white booster under her feet flashed each ti it stepped on the dirt.
??????°??☆????°??????
From a distance, the procession of villagers looked like a water drop. Most people were gathered in the middle, while the elderly, children, and families accompanying them gradually slowed down.
"Just hang in there a little more. The mansion is right there."
The young man guarding the very back according to Esperanza's instructions said. Though the intent was unclear, even that sounded like urging. People nodded while reading the room. But no matter how much the bodies exhausted since the church tried to exert themselves, it only resulted in getting slightly faster, and proportionally their breathing beca rougher.
Bang. The young man shot at an approaching monster. The monster struggled and drew in rough breaths.
One shot, two shots, he retreated backward while firing rapidly. About half bounced off the tough hide, but several properly hit vulnerable parts. After a long standoff ended, having barely defeated the monster, he wiped the sweat from his forehead.
So this is what magical tools are like. He'd had opportunities to handle regular guns a few tis, but this was completely different. No recoil and clean, and even with the power set low, the monster died after a few shots. A hunting shotgun wouldn't even have tickled it.
"I defeated it. Don't worry and hurry on!"
His voice was filled with strength.
"Thank you. What would we have done without you?"
"It's nothing special."
His shoulders rose. The nobles monopolize these things among themselves. Weren't these the kind of items that people like them, who frequently encountered bandits or wild beasts, needed more than the hothouse flowers living in Nine Holder? That lady who had shown great prowess earlier had only seed outstanding because her weapon was good. He chuckled.
It wasn't just one or two anyway, so just one.......
"Help over here!"
Lost in thought, he was startled by a monster with a red-hot iron beak. It had two pairs of wings, and its claws were red like heated iron too.
"What is that!"
The young man fired his gun. However, when the bird flapped its lower wings, the magic bullet dropped powerlessly with a thud.
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