“Huff, huff… All right! There’s a lot less of them now!”
The swordsman turned around, celebrating through his ragged breathing. The blade bee swarm had been reduced to a much more manageable number.
“I’ll end this with a big one,” Nora said as she began her incantation. “I’ll be out of mana after this, so I leave the rest to you.”
Siasha scattered larger stone bullets to buy her some time.
The blade bees flew faster to make up for the loss in numbers, but they were no match for the improved stone bullets.
Nora finished her incantation. A direct hit would wipe out the blade bee swarm completely.
“Y-yes, we’re saved! Urgh!”
The archer tripped over his own feet.
Perhaps it was the sudden relaxation of his nerves, or maybe he had just run out of stamina. Zig’s arms were occupied, Norton was in no position to help, and the swordsman was out of energy.
“Argh!”
The archer couldn’t recover and rolled across the ground. He no longer had the energy to pick himself up after running for such a long time.
Nora’s eyes widened and she hesitated as she recited her incantation.
If she cast her spell now, her comrade would be caught in the crossfire. If she didn’t, he was dead for sure.
However, she wasn’t so heartless that she could immediately decide to kill her comrade with her own hands.
This time, no one extended a helping hand—it was more like a helping foot.
“Better not die on me.”
“Huh?” The voice of salvation sent a chill of unease down the archer’s back.
He watched as Zig’s right leg came flying at him at full force and without mercy.
Zig planted his weight and the weight of two people on his shoulders on his left leg and swung his right leg in an arc like the reaper with his scythe.
“Fly!”
At that point, the archer felt closer to death than ever. No blade bee swarm, monstrosity, or bounty hunt came close. Zig’s leg went in a scooping motion, making direct contact with the archer’s chest. He let out a pained scream as the impact made a dull sound, sending him flying into the air. He probably said something too, but he was pretty much incoherent the moment Zig kicked him.
The archer flew diagonally from where Zig and the others were running. Blood spat out of his mouth as he spun in the air.
Norton and the other adventurer watched with mouths agape, but quickly snapped out of their reveries to resume their sprint.
The incantation was complete.
Nora unleashed her spell, unfazed by the turbulence Zig’s desperate kick produced.
A hot wind blew violently, and a vortex of flames suddenly erupted between Nora and the blade bees. Because they had no time to stop, the intense heat and swirling flames engulfed the blade bees.
The magic unleashed using Nora’s remaining mana was so powerful that it even turned the greenwood trees—which fed on mana and were resistant to fire—into charcoal. The flame vortex settled and disappeared after about five seconds. The heat remained, as well as a black ring on the ground where it had just been.
The blade bees were completely incinerated; the only thing left of them were the ashes blowing away in the breeze. The stragglers were quickly shot down by rock bullets.
Zig and the others finally stopped running after seeing that their pursuers were no more. Norton helped the archer down from the tree and stood guard as the swordsman tended to his friend’s injuries.
“Looks like we’re in the clear,” Norton said after checking their surroundings. He breathed a sigh of relief, finally allowing himself to relax.
“Huff, huff… Looks like…we made it.”
Zig was on his knees, taking deep breaths after putting the other two down from his shoulders. Even if he had been carrying two women, they were still fully grown adults and he had been running in full gear. It had been an ordeal even with Zig’s impressive stamina.
Siasha moved to tend to him, seeing that he was no longer able to move.
“Zig, are you all right?”
“Wa…”
“Water? Here.”
Taking the flask from Siasha with trembling hands, Zig chugged it like he was bathing himself. He coughed midway and splashed the rest of the flask’s contents on his head to cool himself off.
Siasha wiped him down as Zig groaned from lack of air. She used magic to replenish the flask and handed it back to him. He took it and slowly drank.
“Thanks.”
“Not at all.”
Zig expressed his gratitude, feeling well enough to speak, and Siasha returned it with a smile.
He slowly got back up on quivering knees and went to check on the archer he kicked earlier.
“Leslie, hang in there!”
“Urk… Radian…?”
The archer called Leslie was being slapped back to consciousness. He groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. The swordsman looking after him and inspecting his injuries was called Radian. Leslie’s armor needed to be taken off, but they couldn’t move him. Since it was an emergency, they cut the straps of his armor with a knife so they could carefully remove it.
“What a state.”
Radian winced when he saw the condition of Leslie’s armor. Archers wore light armor, but his breastplate was made of a tough material. It now had a huge dent in it after failing to absorb the impact to his ribs. This was not the kicking power of a regular human.
“Use this.” Norton gave him medicine provided by the guild.
“Thanks.” Radian promptly administered it, suggesting that he might have had experience handling it in the past.
Zig, the man who punted Leslie, appeared behind them. “He okay?”
“He’ll be hospitalized for a while, and probably would’ve suffered some lasting side-effects if he didn’t manage to land properly. Can’t say he’s exactly okay.”
Radian calmly relayed Leslie’s condition as he continued treating him, his back to Zig.
“I see.”
“But…thanks. If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t have survived that ordeal.”
“All in a day’s work. I didn’t want to damage the goods, though.”
“Don’t worry about it. With the situation we were in, you didn’t have much of a choice. There we go.”
Having finished his treatment, Radian got up and turned to Zig.
“I’m Radian. The one who flew through the scenery is Leslie, and the one who threw up on you is Eleonora.”
Zig introduced himself, shaking Radian’s hand.
“Zig. I’m a mercenary.”
He could tell from the calluses and strength of Radian’s hand that he was an accomplished swordsman.
“I’ve heard the stories. You helped Heinz out last time.”
“You know him?”
“We started around the same time and we’re in the same class right now.”
Radian had short brown hair, while Leslie’s locks were black and Eleonora’s red. The three adventurers had survived after Zig and the others’ great escape. One needed a great amount of bed rest, but no one was injured to the point where they could no longer be adventurers. Everything was still within Kirk’s completion criteria.
Norton got up once everyone finished catching their breaths and rehydrating.
“I think that’s enough of a break. We’re probably in the clear, but we’re finished if more blade bees decide to show up. I’m also getting worried about the rest of the rescue team.”
“My legs are still on fire, but you have a point. I never wanna go through that again…” Radian put away his flask, getting up after voicing a brief complaint.
Norton approached Zig, clearly worried about his condition.
“Are you all right? You definitely hustled the most out there just now.”
“I’m fine,” Zig answered casually and then stood up. “I have energy left to leave you all behind if it comes to it.”