Boom!
Boom! Boom!
Two consecutive explosions rang out, and Shane imdiately snapped his eyes open.
He quickly scanned his surroundings. There were no suspicious figures nearby, and the barrier showed no signs of being damaged. It didn't seem like he was the one being attacked…
He let out a small sigh of relief.
Maybe it was just so other adventurers nearby causing a commotion.
He rubbed his eyes and looked toward the other side of the campfire at Frieren. He froze for five seconds, then wiped his face and let out a long breath.
'Girl, that sleeping posture just shattered all my fantasies about elegant elf maidens.'
Taking advantage of the fact that Frieren hadn't woken up yet, Shane tidied himself up a bit and set off to catch so fish.
He figured he must've picked the wrong ones last night. This ti, he'd try smaller fish—starting the morning with so fish soup didn't sound like a bad idea.
Arriving at the riverbank, he scooped up so water and splashed his face. As he looked at his reflection on the surface, he suddenly stood up and looked toward the sky.
Several bird-type magical beasts were flying from the forest in the direction of Gostan City.
At the sa ti, two plus of thick smoke were faintly rising from that direction.
Not good!
Shane imdiately ran back to wake Frieren.
"Frieren, wake up! Sothing's happening over at Gostan City!"
Frieren was jolted awake, her hair sticking out wildly as if it had exploded. She opened her eyes groggily, looking like her body had woken up but her soul was still tucked in bed.
"There are a bunch of bird-type magical beasts flying toward Gostan City. I also heard two explosions—I don't know if they ca from the city gate."
Hearing this, Frieren looked up at the sky. Two distant bird-type magical beasts were still visible.
Her expression turned serious.
"I rember when we entered the city, the guards ntioned there had been unidentified attacks recently. Now it seems likely that monsters or demons are behind it."
"We can't let them destroy the city. We need to go back and help."
Shane wasn't surprised. He knew Frieren wouldn't stand by while humans were attacked by demons. He agreed with going back to help.
But…
"It'll take at least half a day to get back to Gostan City from here. If you carry , can your flight magic make it?"
"Flight magic can only be maintained for about half an hour at most. If I carry you, it'll be even shorter. There's no way we can make it. And we can't overuse it either—draining mana in advance would put us at a disadvantage if we run into powerful demons."
Shane nodded.
That raised the real question—how could they get back as quickly as possible?
Frieren was thinking about it too.
Her gaze passed over Shane and landed on a group of Terror Birds foraging in the bushes in the distance. A bold idea ford in her mind.
Following her line of sight, Shane looked over—and his face filled with horror as alarm bells rang in his head.
"No. Don't even think about it. That's impossible… I refuse!"
Fifteen minutes later.
Shane clung tightly to the neck of a Terror Bird as it sprinted down the road.
"Frieren! If I fall to my death because of this, you're taking full responsibility—!"
His furious shout was swallowed by the roaring wind.
Frieren, riding her own Terror Bird with clear enjoynt, watched Shane zigzag wildly ahead of her and curled her lips into a faint smile.
…
…
A journey that originally would've taken half a day was completed in just an hour thanks to the Terror Birds.
Not far from the city gate, the two dismounted and proceeded on foot.
The situation was far worse than they had imagined.
A massive hole had been blasted into the city gate. Weapons were scattered around, and there were bloodstains on the ground. Not far from the gate, another breach had been blown into the wall—half the city wall had collapsed.
Shane guessed the two explosions he had heard earlier had co from here.
As they stepped into the city, the district closest to the gate had been completely devastated. At a glance, Shane spotted the tailor shop they had once hidden in—the entire second floor had been shaved off, nearly reduced to rubble.
The other buildings weren't in any better condition.
Debris was everywhere, along with scattered fires. Fortunately, they didn't see any injured or dead civilians.
"Who goes there?!"
Suddenly, two soldiers rushed out from the side, their spears pointed rcilessly at the two of them.
Shane quickly raised the Adventurers' Guild mission scroll. "Don't misunderstand—we're adventurers returning to report our mission. What happened here? Do you need help?"
The two soldiers exchanged glances. One of them took the scroll and checked it, then nodded to the other.
"The city was attacked by demons. Injured civilians have already been evacuated to the city hall for shelter. You two should head there as well. All search and rescue operations are being handled by the guards—you don't need to worry. Please proceed to shelter as soon as possible."
"Where are the demons?" Frieren asked.
"We don't know. After attacking the gate and causing chaos, they disappeared. General Glux suspects they've infiltrated the city during the confusion and is leading troops to search the entire area. Don't wander around—head to the city hall imdiately."
With that, the two soldiers didn't linger and continued going door to door, checking the damaged buildings to make sure no civilians had been left behind.
Shane and Frieren exchanged a glance, both feeling a bad premonition.
Demons were skilled at disguising themselves as humans. If they had already infiltrated and were mixed in among the crowd, that would be disastrous.
Fortunately, the entrance to the city hall had magic capable of identifying demons—they had seen it before.
In that case, General Glux directing civilians there wasn't just for their safety—it was also to narrow down the area and flush out the infiltrators more quickly.
Boom!
Just as they were thinking, another explosion echoed from the northwest part of the city.
Boom!
Another explosion followed from the southwest.
Boom!
A third explosion ca from the southeast.
The continuous blasts proved that the demons had not been caught—they were still actively creating chaos!
Frieren grabbed Shane and used Flight Magic to lift them into the air.
From above, thick smoke billowed from the three locations, obscuring the details.
However, they could still see large numbers of soldiers rushing along the streets toward those areas.
"The demons are deliberately creating chaos—they must have so kind of objective…" Shane frowned as he speculated.
Frieren nodded.
"They're causing disturbances in different directions to scatter people and pick them off one by one. It seems they have a clever commander. This level of effort isn't their usual style—there must be sothing here they desperately want."
"Frieren, let's check the northeast."
"The northeast? There hasn't been any explosion there. Why go there?"
"Because of a diversion."
Hearing those words, Frieren's expression grew serious. After a mont of thought, she agreed with Shane's judgnt.
Demons typically flaunted their strength without restraint—massacres and destruction carried out in the most dramatic way possible. But this ti, they were sneaking around, hiding themselves, clearly avoiding direct confrontation.
What were they afraid of?
Afraid they couldn't win? Then they wouldn't have launched the attack in the first place.
If they weren't afraid of losing, then there was only one possibility—they were afraid of being delayed, or interfered with.
To avoid interference…
That ant the place without any disturbances was their true destination.
Frieren reached the sa conclusion Shane had.
At the sa ti, Shane recalled the adventurer's map he had seen earlier. There had been a blood-red skull marking on it that left a deep impression.
The unconquered dungeon—the Inverted Land—was located in the northeast corner of the city.
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