章 240: Chapter 232: A Job Well Done
Drake switched to his lightning endowment, pushing it hard as he grabbed Sah Ul', Clotho, and Atropos, willing his Elementals to grab the bus to move out of view.
Sah Ul' grunted uncomfortably when he finally stopped, letting her down.
Clotho and Atropos were much worse off than Sah Ul', their stats not nearly as high, and began wrenching to the side.
"Sorry about that," Drake grinned wryly, "Didn't mean to give you all whiplash."
They were out of view enough that Charlotte, Landin, Quetz, and Kalik Tu' couldn't visibly see them anymore, but Drake made sure to spread his aura enough that he wouldn't impede them while keeping an eye on the situation.
He was forced to leave the kids as soon as the first monster showed up and thankfully it was just a level 2 while they were still all together. Drake hoped that they would decide to stick together as one larger group.
His intention when picking out their classes was to use the highest rarity stones he had available for them. Natto had told him exactly how the Main Class Stones worked outside of the tutorial.
Back when he was still upgrading his own classes in the tutorial, he was unable to use the stones. Which seemed to be a feature of the induction into the system through the bloodbath. Each tutorial was meant to be as desperate as possible, forcing the new participants to use whatever was at their disposal as quickly as possible.
However, these kids would be different. Now that they had Drake, they would be able to pick their classes and it would be of Epic Rarity for each one. At level 10, or higher, but Drake didn't intend for them to go beyond 10, they would use the Main Class Stones like any other skill stone and upgrade their class.
And if his hunch was right because the system didn't recognize and upgrade you to F-Rank until after you had filled your sub-trees as well. They would be able to get some beefy titles while having the advantages of their Main Class Skills and Spells available or even before it.
But even with these things in mind, the kids still had to get past the initial hurdles. And Drake was honestly more nervous than he portrayed. Way, way, way, more nervous.
He snapped his fingers and willed his already conjured Elementals to return to him while summoning two more. In a few seconds, they appeared next to his group.
"I want you all to go and kill anything above level 3 in the area. Wait, you guys can't inspect anything, can you… Kill anything that is a monster and seems strong. Deter any people from entering this area as well. Those kids aren't ready for that type of thing just yet," Drake said with a grimace.
The Elementals sprinted off in different directions leaving behind footfalls filled with sparks of electricity, flames, and spikes of ice.
"Why would you keep people from the area? Are you worried they would help with the hunt, Patriarch?" Sah Ul' asked.
"No…" Drake sighed, "I'm worried they will take advantage of them because they're still low-leveled. I've seen what people are doing now that the world has changed and I won't take any chances on them getting taken. They have enough to deal with just trying to survive."
He turned to his side, Atropos and Clotho were finally able to stand after expelling their breakfast on the ground.
"Do you two want to wait for them? We can start accumulating the titles I talked about," Drake offered.
Atropos shook her head, "No, I will wait. It would not be a fair battle if I proceeded to get more ahead of Charlotte before she caught up…"
Drake's face furrowed into a confused expression, his head tilting to the side.
"What battle?" he scoffed, "Are you two fighting already?"
"A battle between women," Atropos replied matter of factly.
Clotho sighed from her side but nodded, affirming that he would wait as well, following his sister.
Drake shook his head, his attention brought back to the other four and the monster.
Someone had shot forward ahead of the others.
That has to be Kalik Tu', he's the only one who's got any sort of battle experience. The others are frozen in place… Makes sense though, they're still just kids. He thought.
His hand suddenly went white as he clenched his fist.
The boy had been doing fine but now he was pinned to a tree.
Drake's aura stiffened and his footing stumbled slightly as he fought back the urge to run forward to help him, his hair changing to green by second nature.
"What is it?" Sah Ul' asked, her expression stiffening.
"Kalik is having a tough fight. The others are too frightened to help," he said honestly.
A hand gripped his arm and Drake looked over. Sah Ul' looked at him with a concerned but cold expression.
"It is their hunt. Their right of passage. They must get through it on their own strength, Patriarch, and we must witness it, come what may. May the Mother bless their hunt…" she said in a low voice.
Sah Ul's hand trembled slightly and Drake realized despite her words she was worried as well. He took a long deep breath.
I was sure I had convinced myself to go through with letting them do this but I guess it's still heart-wrenching to just sit here and watch. I'll just have to trust that they have the conviction to get through this. He thought in his head but cursed himself.
"Yeah…" was the only thing Drake could manage for a reply as he focused back on his aura trying to discern the fight.
He watched the fight through his aura, another person finally rushing forward to aid Kalik. He couldn't tell who it was but he felt pride well up in his chest that someone from the group finally found the courage to break free of the chains of fear that restrained them.
Drake pumped his fist as he saw the monster squirm in pain, the kids had seemingly gotten a fatal blow even with one of them being thrown away last second.
"What? What happened?" Sah Ul' asked with urgency shaking him slightly with her grip.
"They killed it," he grinned and Sah Ul's hand tightened oh so slightly, a curve on her lips.
He gave a sigh of relief, ignoring the incoming notifications from his elementals as they killed monsters in the area.
The last few hours were torture in their own way. Forced to steel himself on what was to come while on the bus, trying to distance himself from the situation as best he could. He cared for the kids, he had saved them from desperate situations before.
And now he had to throw them into the deep end. It just didn't sit right with the old conventions that were so heavily ingrained in him. He knew very well that the old world was gone but even still it was difficult for him to tear away from it.
Then there was the new information he got from the troublesome construct at the center when they went.
He had grilled her for being the same as she was when Drake had been through his introduction. And he had a mind to just get rid of her if she didn't change quickly. Her withholding of information just because she was lazy, spiteful, or just plain evil would eventually get someone hurt or worse.
Drake had made sure to have one of the administrators that Rvul found to watch her carefully for the immediate future. He didn't need a construct that interacted with his citizens day to day mucking up the works.
But he digressed. The information he received wasn't anything unexpected but he was astounded that the Bounty placed on him had grown.
The title had not been updated and also didn't give many details but from what the construct was forced to tell him. The bounty was available at system centers under a special category for anyone to view.
And his was only growing, sitting at a whopping 5 B-Grade Monster Coins and apparently counting.
Drake had no idea who had placed the bounty or why, but if the bounty was available through the center and readily available to the people of Earth. It would be a major problem.
That woman from earlier might have been following us for the bounty even. I scared her away but would it have been better to just capture her and question her? He thought.
He was ripped from his thoughts once more, sensing that the kids were now moving away from the monster's corpse.
Drake smiled, "Good thinking. At least they aren't making the same mistake I did when I started out," he chuckled, "Alright let's follow them."
He waved to the small group as they followed suit in the snow, the orange of the setting sun beginning to cast its radiance over the white landscape.
They followed the group from a distance for nearly an hour, making sure to keep their distance to not influence any encounters they might have.
Then Drake noticed that one of the four began to trail off from the others.
"Where are they going? Did something make them separate…?" he wondered aloud.
Before Sah Ul' could probe him for an answer he held up a hand trying to make sense of the situation.
Another person stood looking between the separating groups for a moment before eventually flying off after the person who separated earlier.
That has to be Quetz. But who was the person earlier?
Drake decided to follow Quetz and the other, somehow getting a bad feeling about the group separating so soon, and just before dark fell.
He motioned for everyone to follow and he was glad he had decided to trail the separated two.
Once he was in range on the edge of his aura he could feel one of the two surrounded by four other monsters. He quickly tried to lunge forward but was stopped by Sah Ul'.
"Patriarch! What is happening?" she asked.
"One of them is being surrounded by monsters, whoever it is they won't be able to deal with four-on-one right now," Drake snapped back.
But Sah Ul's grip wouldn't loosen, "You have to let them fulfill their own hunt on their own merits. Trust in them Patriarch. That is the only way they will truly grow stronger," she told him, but Drake could easily see just how worried she was through her expression and trembling hand on his arm.
She was just as concerned for the kids as he was, but she still forced herself to let the kids take a step out of the nest on their own, even if it might get them hurt.
He bit back his growing urge to just step in. Whoever it was, was being surrounded taking a nervous step back.
And before he could voice his frustration, he saw the person thrown backward, dragged by the arm to a tree.
The ground around Drake shook. His jaw clenched as he fought back against himself to rush forward, even with Sah Ul' still holding him back.
Get up! He screamed in his head, but it was useless.
The kid was unresponsive for only a moment but that moment was long enough for a second monster to charge forward, skewering the poor kid right through the chest.
"NO!" Drake roared, the trees shaking around him, the snow freed from the leaves as they slipped off the branches.
His fingers dug into themselves, even penetrating his palms despite his Spirit Tattoos covering every inch of them.
"You better get up damn it! Don't you dare die or I'll kick the shit out of you!" Drake howled.
And as if the person heard him, he saw the kid rush into action raising their free arm into the air and bringing it down, the monster that pinned them writhing in pain from whatever was just done.
The person's free hand quickly touched the other boar holding them in place at the chest and Drake could feel the disturbance of magic.
Landin?! He thought in surprise.
Almost relieved, Drake let out a long-held breath.
Thank god he's alive, I didn't know that Clerics had an offensive spell. At least that means he has a healing spell as well. I just hope it's enough to keep him alive.
But Drake tensed again, and the last and final monster surged forward, closing the distance to Landin with frightening speed.
And Drake had had enough. Landin was spent and killed three monsters on his own. He'd done more than enough and it was time for Drake to step in.
However just as his foot left the ground, his hair brimming to life with palpable electricity. The monster slumped to the ground, sliding to a stop in front of Landin in Drake's aura sense.
He blinked blankly for a second, the next, someone fell from the sky right next to Landin and the monsters.
Q-Quetz?!
Drake was so surprised his mouth cracked open in a wry smile.
He saw as she got up only to slump forward as well. And Drake finally moved in front of them, a red vial in his hand.
"You did good you two. Let's just keep this a secret from everyone else," he said, trying to pour the liquid over them only for it to snag as if it was anchored to something.
He pulled up his arm looking at it with a cocked eyebrow, three people of various sizes hanging on for dear life.
"What the hell are you three doing?" Drake scoffed.
"T-trying to stop you!!" Atropos and Sah Ul' shouted, Clotho nodding vigorously.
クリエイターの想い 
Arthur_Inverse
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