Chapter 184

184 Watch your back, please! part Bob felt depressed, their current situation was too much for his kind heart to take. He hated seeing everyone suffer, he hated being forced to run away, but what he hated the most was that deep down he knew Luke was right.

There wasn’t much he could do to help, he wasn’t a healer and he wasn’t as strong as people thought. He did have the power to break a rock with his fists, but raw power meant nothing when he was at a disadvantage, and unfortunately, he had faced many enemies that naturaly countered his skills.

The only thought that crossed his mind over and over was how different things would be if he was able to actually cast any magic. Although he looked like a warrior and he wasn’t as smart as his companions, he was actually pretty good at using magic, at least on role playing games.

He always loved the idea of a magical power that ruled over the elements and the laws of physics, and the many ingenious ways of using it to overcome any difficulty that might arise. Bob couldn’t understand why would the god that summoned into this world decide he would have made a good warrior, he hated to harm others or inflicting pain, magic was powerful and it would have made it possible for him to defeat enemies without killing them, capture them or even run away easily.

Although Luke wanted to move by night only, they needed to hide before the enemies crossed the quarry or they would be easy prey.

Bob, along with Famine, helped in digging a small shelter, just big enough for everyone to fit in. Even though Bob wasn’t happy with his current class, it turned out to be really helpful in such situations because not even Luke with his high stats would have been ble to do it as easily and quickly as Bob.

Sera and Luke covered the whole with sticks and branches and placed some bushes on top. While it wasn’t impossible to tell it apart from the landscape, it didn’t stand out too much and it would certainly make it more difficult to detect them.

By nightfall everyone was ready to start moving again, they were almost certain that the enemies had lost track of them and they were already inside the woods.

Before heading south, they made sure to head west for a while, until the vegetation became denser and made them feel safer.

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The walk was tiresome and slow, but even if they were healthy they couldn’t simply run through the forest. This was also the first time Ryu wasn’t in the mood to appreciate the different plants and fruits on his path, despite the poison being out of his body he still felt the consequences, his organs were more damaged than a simple medicine like that could heal in just a day. He was barely able to walk and he pushed himself, breaking sweat and feeling ill.

They didn’t encounter a single beast in the way, and this time it wasn’t thanks to goblins because they were far from their territory. The reason why they didn’t find any beast wasn’t because there weren’t any, but because they were a big group advancing trough the forest at night with heavy steps and did little to nothing to cover their advance.

Beasts were smarter than people gave them credit for, as hungry as they could be, they would avoid strong opponents as much as they could and it was actually pretty rare to run into an apex predator in the forest.

It wasn’t like they weren’t doing their best to cover their tracks, it was simply because it was impossible with people being so hurt and tired.

When they finally felt the place was safe enough to start heading south, they made a ninety degree turn. It was a good thing that Anne was conscious now because even if she wasn’t able to walk in the front, she was able to lead the group by telling them an approximate direction.

No one had a compass, but Anne had spent longer than any of them traversing the forest, even Risa had trouble walking in the forest without being lost because she never ventured that deep into the woods.

As soon as the sun rose in the sky they set up camp, the cold night didn’t make their walk any easier and they were eager to get a hot drink and rest in the sun for a while. Luke, tired as he was after opening the way for everyone, did his best to set up the camp, easing Ryu’s labour so he was able to cook something for everyone.

Sera helped with the campfire and preparing the ingredients, but it was Ryu the one cooking. The smell of food cooking in the fire, the warmth of the sun and the soothing sounds of the forest did wonders for their morale, but also made them quite sleepy.

The only able bodied adventurer left in the party was Bob, and he was tasked with the watch duty.

His perception was nothing out of the ordinary, but it was better than being taken by surprise. Besides, his appearance was more than enough to scare most people and predators. After all, he was a lot bigger than the average adventurer.

There were no news until past noon, Bob had been nodding his head to the rythm of the forest sounds when a sound in the distance took him back from his daydreaming.

He quickly stood up and woke the rest one by one. If it was something urgent he would have sounded the alarm by shouting, but the sound seemed to be really far away, but also very loud and even if he couldn’t tell exactly what it was, he was sure it wasn’t something friendly.

No one said a word as they quickly grasped the situation. They didn’t even bother in trying to cover their stay in there, hiding a fireplace and removing tracks was difficult and it took a lot of time. Beides, if it was a beast following them it couldn’t care less about their tracks. If, on the other hand, it was people following them, it meant they somehow were able to pick up their trail and there was nothing they could do to hide.

They could only rely on one thing now, speed.