Chapter Ninety-Nine: Caught Between Advance and Retreat

Three Ultra Earth Dragons alone slaughtered nearly half the mercenaries and caravan hands in less than half an hour. And the massacre was still going on, with more lives being taken every moment.

The red-haired girl captain, the shield-bearing boy, and the iron-club bruiser could do nothing but protect the caravan leader with all their strength, while watching the people around them die one after another with sorrow in their eyes.

“As long as we stay calm, there should still be a chance!” The red-haired girl sighed as she tended her own wounds, despair written across her face.

“We’re all amateurs here; there’s no way we could have worked together properly!” the iron-club bruiser named Reddy muttered.

“What do we do now?” asked the shield-bearing boy.

“It’s too late to save anything. We’ll do our best to get Mr. Matru out of here alive!” said the red-haired girl.

Matru was the caravan leader, the plump man standing beside them now, holding the reins of a pack horse.

“But we have nowhere to retreat to!” the iron-club bruiser said. “The three Ultra Earth Dragons have blocked both the incoming and outgoing routes!”

“Why don’t we take advantage of the dragons killing the others and quietly find a way out?” the shield-bearing boy suggested.

“Useless, Charlotte,” the red-haired girl said in a low voice. “Can’t you see? Whoever tries to flee, the Ultra Earth Dragons always kill those who leave the encirclement first. They won’t let a single person escape!”

“Then aren’t we doomed?” caravan leader Matru said in a trembling voice. “I never should have listened to their advice to save money. If we’d hired the Sword and Roses Company back then, what would three Ultra Earth Dragons matter?”

“Mr. Matru, our mercenary company isn’t actually weak. We just haven’t managed to coordinate properly!” the red-haired girl said, frustrated.

“Captain, is there any point in saying that now?” Reddy sighed. “Where are we supposed to run? Or should we just stay here and wait to die?”

The red-haired girl thought hard, then looked back over her shoulder. “I’ve got it! We retreat into the Monster Forest!”

“What are you talking about? There are even more terrifying things in the Monster Forest than Ultra Earth Dragons. Going in there will only mean a worse death! Even the Sword and Roses Company would never enter the forest carelessly!” Matru’s round face was full of despair. “I really should never have been so cheap!”

“What’s the point of saying that now? Don’t worry, Mr. Matru. With the three of us here, we can absolutely protect your safety!” the red-haired girl told the fat man. “But if we want to run for our lives, you’d better drop the pack horse. If you keep holding on to a terrified horse, we won’t get very far!”

“Don’t even think about it!” At the mention of abandoning the pack horse, Matru panicked at once. “I’ve already lost so much cargo. This horse is the one thing I absolutely cannot lose! It’s my last bit of capital!”

“Money or your life? Can’t you even tell the difference?” the red-haired girl snapped.

“If that money is gone, then I’d rather lose this life!” Matru shouted.

Faced with the stubborn Matru, the red-haired girl was beside herself with anger. In the end, she could only say, “Forget it! You can keep holding the horse if you want, but we have to retreat into the Monster Forest immediately and put distance between ourselves and those three Ultra Earth Dragons!”

“As long as I can keep my money, anything goes!” The fat man clutched the reins tightly, afraid of losing the horse.

“Fall back quickly!” the red-haired girl said, raising her sword to cover them. “Only in that direction will those Ultra Earth Dragons not pursue us. We have to seize this chance and get out of here at once!”

“Charlotte, cover Mr. Matru and get him inside first!” Reddy said. “The captain and I will hold the rear! Be careful; even more dangerous creatures lurk within the Monster Forest!”

“I understand!” The shield-bearing boy immediately led Matru, and together they pulled the pack horse toward the forest.

The red-haired girl and Reddy followed close behind, and the four of them gradually put distance between themselves and the Ultra Earth Dragons.

The Ultra Earth Dragons showed no interest in the four who had entered the forest and continued hunting the other mercenaries and caravan members.

Once they had retreated into the forest, the four tried to make a detour, following the forest’s edge and heading toward the road behind the Ultra Earth Dragons.

But after only a few steps, they discovered the nest of a giant centipede. Seeing the astonishing number of giant centipedes entrenched there, they decisively gave up and changed direction again. Yet the Monster Forest was dangerous everywhere; just after leaving the giant centipede nest, they immediately discovered the nest of a mountain giant rat, so they promptly turned around again and fled before being noticed.

Twisting and turning, the four of them finally lost all sense of direction. They went deeper and deeper, until they no longer even understood where they were.

“Awooo--!!”

When they came to a clear pond and wanted to rest a little and drink some water, a chilling howl suddenly rang out in their ears, impossible to tell whether it came from a wolf or a dog.

The four immediately went on alert, but when they saw the strange force surging in from all sides, all clad in iron armor and wielding iron spears, yet unmistakably with kobold faces, they were completely stunned and at a loss.

The kobold chief, large of build, directed his subordinates to surround them completely, then opened his mouth and let out a roar full of menace.

“We’re finished!” Matru clutched the pack horse tightly, sank to the ground, and cried bitterly with his head in his hands.

The red-haired girl gripped her sword tightly. “No matter what enemy we face, we fight until the very last moment!”

“Captain, wait!” Reddy said. “Creatures like kobolds could never have the intelligence to forge iron weapons and armor! And they wouldn’t have the intelligence to use them either! These kobolds are wrong somehow. Either they’ve mutated into intelligent beings, or they’re being controlled by some other intelligent creature. Maybe we can talk to them!”

“Really?” The red-haired girl, hearing this, raised her sword toward the kobold chief. “Sir, are you a kobold that has evolved intelligence?”

The kobold chief ignored her and continued to issue threatening growls.

“Looks like not!” The red-haired girl took a step back and watched warily as the kobold soldiers closed in. “Prepare to fight!”

“Captain, I think surrendering first would be better!” Reddy said. “There are too many kobolds; we can’t beat them. And they’re fully equipped, even more troublesome than the Ultra Earth Dragons. Rather than resisting pointlessly, we should go with them and see the intelligent being controlling the kobolds. Maybe that person is human like us?”

“But it could also be a high-ranking monster!” the red-haired girl said. “Or some unfriendly orc! Or maybe some wizard who kills without blinking...”

“Either way, we can’t escape. We can only gamble!” Reddy said helplessly. “I don’t think three people can defeat several hundred fully armed kobolds.”

“Captain, what do you think?” The shield-bearing boy looked at the red-haired girl.

“Charlotte,” the red-haired girl said after biting her lip and thinking for a moment, “put your weapon down.”