Chapter 69
“You managed to find them after all.”
The knight looked at Joshua with surprised eyes.
Even people who lived in the mine often beca lost in there.
Yet, the boy had found the people at once in such a complex place.
“I was lucky.”
“You were lucky?”
The knight swallowed hard.
He had many things he wanted to ask the boy, but he decided not to ask.
“What do you plan to do from now on?”
“I intend to go to the passage we ca through.”
“Understood. I’ll call the people together imdiately.”
Joshua watched the knight leave.
After a short while, he headed back to the side path they had entered through with the group.
The walking speed slowed down, perhaps because the column had grown longer.
There were over twenty people in total.
Furthermore, most of them had beco as weak as possible from their long life in the caves.
They weren't even equipped with weapons or armor.
Whenever a fork in the road appeared, a sense of anxiety crept in.
It would be difficult to block the zombies if they appeared.
He contemplated using [Shield], but [Clever] opposed it.
The consumption of mana was high.
It wouldn't do to use up even what was necessary to protect himself.
‘I can make use of that situation.’
With the leader Derek gone, the Moonlight Knights were in a state of confusion.
The knights remained bystanders.
They were simply letting themselves go with the flow.
Soone was needed to lead them, and a person suitable for that role ca to mind.
‘Adela must overco this. Only then can she awaken as the nad character known as the Ice Witch.’
He looked at Adela, who was following from behind.
[Debuff - Trauma (dium)]
Trauma had developed in her due to several failures.
To grow, she had to get rid of that.
“Leo.”
I signaled to Leo, who was walking ahead.
It was a passage they had passed through once.
With the boy's sense of direction, there was no problem even if he was put in charge of the lead.
“You’re planning to go to the back, aren't you?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you have a way? It’s not like the will that wasn't there will spring up just because you comfort people who are like living corpses.”
“You’re not telling not to do it.”
Leo avoided his gaze.
Soon, he continued speaking while letting out a sigh.
“It’s just that I don't feel good looking at them.”
“That’s only natural.”
“Are you fine?”
“Yes.”
When I nodded with a blunt attitude.
The boy looked at with eyes clouded with guilt.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“Aren't you holding it in for our sake?”
I furrowed my brows.
The fact that my personality had beco cold was largely influenced by [Steady Nerves].
I never thought of this as uncomfortable.
There was no stress either.
Rather, I was grateful.
“It seems there’s a misunderstanding. I’m not holding anything in.”
“Don't lie. You're suffering inwardly, aren't you?”
“Suffering?”
“Because you have to whip yourself to survive in a world like this. I thought you were the type to do it well, but I thought there was a limit.”
Talleon, who was listening to the conversation, also looked this way with sympathetic eyes.
I spared my words.
“Think whatever you want.”
I grumbled with a voice mixed with annoyance and turned my gaze to Gavinu.
There was sothing I wanted to ask the boy.
“Gavinu, I’m sorry, but there's sothing I’d like you to do.”
“What is it?”
“I’d like you to collect the items seen here and there along the path.”
“What kind of items do you an?”
Looking around, I found an item that needed to be picked up.
It was a ball shaped object rolling on the floor.
“Items like this. They’ll be in various places, so collect as many as possible together with Talleon.”
“What are they used for?”
“They're bombs.”
“Bombs?!”
“They're mining bombs brought to be used when mining ore or breaking through hard rock.”
“Isn't there a danger that they’ll explode if handled carelessly?”
“They aren't the type that explode by lighting a fuse or by being impacted.”
As a demonstration, I dropped a bomb down.
Thud!
Gavinu's eyes widened and his mouth hung open.
“It’s a mana bomb that explodes through a spell sequence. So, be at ease.”
“I’m grateful you showed to put at ease, but an explanation would've been enough from now on. I thought my heart was going to drop.”
“Right.”
“Do you plan to use them for sothing by any chance?”
“Naturally, I should use them to deal with zombies.”
Gavinu swallowed hard as he received the bombs.
“I’ll collect them as I see them.”
“I’m counting on you.”
The boy moved away.
He approached his friend Talleon.
I turned my body and went back the way I ca.
The first person I encountered was Adela.
Hiding my hand so it wasn't visible, I drew a spell sequence and used [Analyze].
[Adela Grace]
LV 57 (Apprentice Mage)
Grade 7 Mithios.
Potential A
Inherent Skills - High Speed Spellcasting. Mana Analysis. morization. Blue Mystic Eyes.
Auxiliary Skills - Leadership (Low) diation and Encouragent (Low)
Her level was decent enough.
Her inherent skills were exactly as I knew them.
What was impressive was the fact that she had obtained auxiliary skills, which were acquired abilities.
Leadership and eloquence.
I thought they were traits suitable for her desire for improvent.
They were traces of her efforts to overco this hell in her own way.
Adela was always active.
And she was smart.
Her knowledge was at a level where she took first place in the entire school for the academy's written exams.
A strong woman who wanted to be honorable and noble by her own standards.
But right now, she had fallen into a quagmire of failure.
If she stopped challenging herself like this, I wouldn't be able to obtain the woman I needed.
“W-What happened?”
She reacted with a surprised voice.
“The column is disorganized. An accident will happen if zombies appear like this.”
Adela bit her lip and furrowed her brows.
“It can't be helped. It’s obvious who the people are relying on. If you're thinking of giving advice, give it to the knights, not .”
“You lead the people.”
“What?”
Adela had a flustered face.
While she was at a loss for words and hesitating.
the knight who was at the back approached.
“What are you talking about?”
The knight paid attention to the conversation between her and .
“I told her to organize the column.”
“Why are you telling Adela that? If it’s a matter like that, you should discuss it with .”
“I thought she should be the one to do it.”
The knight's eyes reflected inside the helt distorted.
“I’d like to ask the reason.”
“Because she was the one who sent the letter to the tower.”
“What! Then the person who sent the carrier pigeon without permission was you, Adela?”
The knight raised his voice.
They hated breaking the rules.
“Calm down. I wouldn't be here if that hadn't arrived at the tower.”
“Don't talk about it in terms of the result! Rules are important. Especially in an ergency like this.”
“So did you do nothing because Sir Derek was gone?”
The knight swallowed his words.
He broke into a cold sweat as if I’d hit a sore spot.
“Keep your thinking flexible. Otherwise, danger will always follow you even after you leave the mine.”
“Are you saying you'll set Adela as the leader just because I made a mistake?”
“Twenty minutes.”
“Huh?”
“That was the ti you had to straighten out the column. But you did nothing.”
“Kgh.”
“Let her try once. She might do unexpectedly well.”
The knight's face turned red.
His excited emotions subsided in front of my cold gaze.
As if to teach him that the chill he felt when we first t wasn't an illusion.
“Damn it, I’ll definitely hold you responsible if it fails.”
The knight turned away, and I was left alone with Adela again.
She narrowed her eyes like a cat and opened her mouth.
“What are you thinking? Did you think I’d be grateful for this!”
“There’s no need to be grateful. Because you haven't accomplished anything yet.”
“W-What.”
She growled, baring her teeth.
“You’re annoying.”
“Yep.”
“I see why you couldn't make a single friend and lived as a loner at the academy!”
“Building relationships would be helpful, but it isn't essential for survival.”
“You really don't want to lose a single word, do you.”
“A certain person I know says that like a habit too.”
Adela lowered her head and let out a sigh.
When she raised her head again.
Her expression had brightened a bit.
“What’s the reason you're trying to help this much?”
“I told you. I need your strength for my future survival.”
“Is that all?”
“Yes?”
“Never mind, I asked for nothing.”
She waved her hand with a dissatisfied face.
“Hey, I’ll ask just one thing.”
“Sure.”
“What’s a good way to give the first greeting when you beco a leader?”
* * *
Adela brushed her chest.
It was a feeling as if her excited heart and anxiety were mixed together.
“Please line up. And let know imdiately if anything unusual happens.”
The survivors followed her words well.
It was helpful that the knights followed without a word of complaint.
They must have wanted to avoid being disliked by Joshua.
“Big sis.”
Tania ca from the front.
“It seems the side path we entered through is blocked.”
“Really?”
Adela tried hard not to be surprised.
It was sothing she’d expected.
The vibration she’d been feeling since a mont ago was getting worse as ti went on.
“I told them there's another side path. However, to go that way, we have to go down, and I warned them to be careful because zombies can appear down there.”
“I see. Thank you for coming to let know.”
Tania smiled brightly and walked to the front.
After taking a deep breath, Adela turned her body and relayed the circumstances to the people.
Everyone had anxious expressions.
But she couldn't afford to be anxious herself.
“It’s okay. We can definitely get out! So let’s give it a bit more strength.”
She encouraged them by squeezing out her voice.
They also didn't want to cut off hope yet.
They continued to move with the feeling of clinging to sothing.
Several downhill paths continued.
The air felt colder as they went down.
“Grrr.”
A voice was heard.
Sothing wriggled in the darkness that the light of the torches didn't reach.
After a while, they attacked as if they had no intention of hiding their identity.
They were zombies.
It was noisy as if they had appeared from the back too.
“I’ll leave that side to you all!”
She had placed three knights in the rear.
She had no choice but to trust them.
She concentrated only on the situation ahead.
She created icicles with mana.
And she aid for the zombies' heads.
The icicles penetrated the heads and were lodged in the ground behind them.
Green blood was scattered on the floor.
“Ha!”
The knight beside her also didn't hesitate.
He quickly rushed out and cut down a zombie.
The one whose neck was cut staggered and fell forward.
“Aaaaah!”
A woman scread.
A single zombie that popped out suddenly at a fork in the road.
A young man of unknown na pushed the creature away.
The zombie rolled once on the floor and quickly stood up.
She had to help.
Reaching out her hand, she quickly fired an icicle.
The zombie twisted its body after seeing the direction the icicle was flying.
“……No way.”
Zombies are dull.
They don't know how to think.
Reflexes don't exist either; they are beings that just enjoy slaughter blindly.
The only exception was variants.
But the zombie before her eyes was different from the variants she knew.
It was an ordinary zombie.
She felt as if the knowledge she possessed was collapsing.
“Soone please help those people!”
Adela shouted.
She was confident in the speed of implenting spell sequences.
But right now, her head felt as if it were clouded by fog.
At this rate, she’d be late.
Therefore, she requested help, but everyone had their own opponent.
The other survivors were frozen in fear.
At this rate, the young man and the woman were in danger.
‘Am I going to fail again?’
Things that went wrong in the past under her leadership ca to mind.
Her breath was stifled.
It felt as if this despair would remain in her heart forever.
Bang!
A flash that felt like it would blind her eyes passed by.
Where the light subsided, the zombie that had been rampaging just a mont ago was turned to mush.
The shield shaped cluster of light disappeared.
The master of that magic slowly walked this way.
“Zombies continue to grow stronger. Don't be too flustered just because it avoided you.”
Adela was going to say thank you.
But he pointed out her mistake annoyingly.
Swallowing the words she was going to say.
She rebelled with a voice as if sha were rising.
“I could've handled it!”
“You say that, but your movents looked sluggish.”
“You saw it wrong.”
Joshua shrugged his shoulders.
Heat rose to her face seeing that nonchalant behavior.
“I-I’m serious!”
“Understood. What’s the damage situation?”
Adela turned her head.
The fast footed knights were examining the situation.
One of them ran over and reported.
He said there were only injured people and no deaths.
“It seems there’s no problem.”
“Keep your guard up, as situations like this can continue to happen until we reach the side path.”
After finished giving advice, he moved his steps as if to turn away.
“W-Wait a minute.”
Adela stopped him without realizing it.
He looked this way once more.
“Do you still have sothing to say?”
“I may have said those words just now, but I felt like I should say thank you after all.”
“If you're thankful, help out later.”
“How?”
She asked with eyes full of curiosity.
“There’s an enemy we must defeat to escape the mine safely. I’ll need your magic then.”
“Is it a zombie?”
“It is a zombie.”
“You talk as if you even know who that zombie is.”
Joshua swallowed his words.
He knew about the enemy they had to fight.
However, he thought it would be better not to reveal it in this place.
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