Chapter 354: Saving the Suffering

There weren't many people on this teleportation array.

After landing, they quickly scattered and vanished.

Rod also pretended to leave, but in fact crushed a magic ring of 【Greater Invisibility】 and secretly followed behind the tracker.

Tally didn't come along on this outing; without her shadow spells to help, it really was a bit troublesome.

Whether slipping into shadows to tail someone, or 【Shadow Tracking】 for positioning, both are quite decent skills, and not easy to detect.

Rod had never been good at this kind of operation.

Fortunately, the middle-aged woman tailing him wasn't a mage, and never noticed someone hanging far behind her.

The route passed a river.

On both banks of the river one could clearly see that there had once been a stretch of grassland, but now it had been flattened by volcanic ash, dull and lifeless.

The river water, meanwhile, was terribly murky, mixed with volcanic ash, so heavy it couldn't even make the sound of flowing water.

A sky-filling curtain of ash draped the entire world in a thick grey filter.

Even Rod felt his nose growing uncomfortable.

He could only pull out his spellbook, learning an 【Air Filter】 spell as he went while tailing the fellow ahead.

Luckily, it was only a second-tier spell.

A casual glance or two and he'd learned it.

"No girl by my side, so boring."

Rod sighed, and couldn't help missing Tally, who loved to cuddle up to him.

He tailed her the whole way.

The tracker arrived at a stretch of forest, inside which were several makeshift camps; through the perforated tent-cloth one could see quite a few dust-covered survivors within.

With winter coming and no food, and the water source polluted, the hardship of ordinary people was easy to imagine.

The middle-aged woman tracker delivered some food and supplies to them.

Then she headed on to the next gathering point.

Same thing—delivered some food and supplies, over and over.

"Mm."

Rod found it boring.

He had originally hoped that by tailing this person he might find whoever was behind it all.

But as things stood, tailing her like this wasn't getting anywhere; it would be better to just have his slime Blackie act, and let it fire off a 【Memory Devour】 directly.

As for her rescuing these refugees...

Rod didn't feel much moral burden—someone who needed killing still needed killing.

I'm no 【Hero】 in the mouths of the half-deer folk; I can't manage to keep the whole world in my heart for every little thing. Take care of myself first.

"Huh?"

Speak of Cao Cao and Cao Cao arrives.

Rod had originally planned to make his move and deal with that middle-aged woman after this gathering point.

But when he turned his head, he was startled to see a half-deer girl.

And beside her stood a woman in a silver helmet, gripping a silver steel spear.

This woman was fierce in presence, her eyes sharp, the spiritual power within her body solid and refined—at a glance, a standout among those of the same tier.

They were distributing food.

The refugees, meanwhile, called her "hero" with every sentence.

Clearly, this was a 【Hero-Blesser】 and 【Hero】 pairing.

"Indeed, places like this are especially prone to producing heroes who save the suffering... Hm?"

That fierce woman suddenly looked up.

Her gaze, like lightning, locked firmly onto Rod's position.

Then, with a flick of one hand, her silver vambrace became a blur; a streak of jade-green refined light shot out, crossing space in an instant to arrive before Rod, stabbing straight at his neck.

Rod reacted extremely fast, sidestepping with almost prescient ease and dodging cleanly.

【Precise Prediction】 had let him see her move ahead of time.

Boom!!!

The great tree behind him burst apart in splinters, a hole punched clean through it.

It was a straight-bladed, emerald-green short knife.

After piercing the tree, the blade's force showed no sign of fading; it only paused mid-air for half a second to bleed off momentum, then spun backward to stab at Rod's back.

At the same time—

A massive steel spear, its shaft twisted into a savage serpent shape, brutish and enormous, had already come sweeping across, its momentum surging, the sound of it tearing through the air fierce and tiger-like.

Pincer attack, front and back.

Rod met the fierce woman's icy gaze and bared his teeth in a grin.

Blue-white spiritual mist spread like raging flames, then detonated!

A colossal bronze dragon war-soul swelled and erupted on the spot like a tidal wave!

The surrounding trees were instantly smashed apart, tumbling backward, then driven upside-down into the earth.

"ROAR!!!"

A dragon's roar erupted a moment later.

A great blank space was instantly blasted open in the grey curtain of volcanic ash by the sound wave.

The fierce woman's face changed drastically.

Dodging was no longer possible; she could only watch helplessly as she slammed head-on into the bronze dragon, which had become as solid as matter, and was sent flying backward.

BOOM—!!!

She crashed into the ground, gouging out a churning furrow like a tilling machine.

But she was rich in combat experience and knew one must never turn one's back on the enemy, so she used all her strength to adjust her posture mid-flight, casually spat out a mouthful of bloody foam, and continued to face the foe head-on.

Yet when she looked again in the man's direction, there was no one there.

Only a splash of exploded mud remained on the ground.

The woman slowly straightened up, her frowning face full of defiance.

"Lady Grey! Are you all right?!"

The half-deer girl hurried over, looking at her 【Candidate Hero】 covered in mud, deeply worried.

She cast a Dust-Cleaning spell and pulled out several bottles of healing magic potion.

The woman named Grey took a deep breath and stopped the half-deer girl from opening the magic potion.

"Keira, no need. The current environment in Kava Country makes it hard to purchase magical supplies, so use them sparingly."

"But but... Lady Grey even spat blood!"

"It's nothing, just a minor wound."

She raised her hand toward the distance.

A moment later, the emerald-green straight-bladed short knife flew back accurately into her hand.

She examined it.

She discovered a tiny notch had appeared on the blade.

She couldn't help feeling heartache.

"That bad guy is seventh-tier? He couldn't even be taken down by Lady Grey?"

The half-deer Keira said indignantly.

She only felt that man was utterly detestable, for actually causing her backup hero to be injured!

"No, that person hasn't reached seventh-tier."

"Impossible! Lady Grey is publicly acknowledged by the Heavenly Court Flower Kingdom as invincible below seventh-tier! He must have used a treasure to hide his tier—just look at his sneaky, head-in-the-clouds appearance and you'll know!"

Grey did not deny it.

She also somewhat believed that no sixth-tier could have put her at such a disadvantage.

If they faced off again next time, the victor remained uncertain.

She looked up at the survivor camp, which had been blown into a mess by the shockwave, and a wave of disgust toward that person rose in her heart.

To possess such strength and not help ordinary people take shelter was one thing, but to actually destroy the few shelters they had to such a state.

Despicable.

Deserving of death!

Grey suppressed the surging killing intent in her heart, admonishing herself not to be affected by such a petty wretch.

But for no reason, she asked such a question:

"Keira, did your 【Hero Judgment】 react to that person?"

The half-deer girl was also surprised she would ask such a question, and shook her head.

"Not at all. How could such an evil, annoying bad guy possibly be a 【Hero】? Only a righteous envoy like Lady Grey deserves the word 'hero'!"

"Indeed... What are the conditions for the next 【Hero Judgment】?"

"Oh wait, Lady Grey, I cannot guide a hero's deeds. Only when you decide what you want to do and succeed at it will the conditions for 【Hero Judgment】 appear and unlock stronger power... So, Lady Grey, what do you plan to do next?"

Grey pondered for a moment.

"After the super-volcanic eruption in the Twilight Mountains, a new labyrinth entrance was blasted open, and a group of brutal monsters ran out. There are rumors that those monsters have appeared in the nearby Black Cloak Mountain. I plan to go clear them out."

(End of this chapter)