Volume 2 - Chapter 17 - Tall trees are vulnerable to gale

[T/N: Title is 喬木は風に弱し which is a japanese idiom, I asked around and tried using english idioms like “The bigger you are, the harder you fall” and “Tall trees are the first to shatter in a storm”, but they don’t exactly match the original idiom, hence the stupid sounding title. It means something along the line of “standing out will make one weak”, the title is referenced both literally and metaphorically in this chapter]

In a smooth, unhurried motion, Kun climbs up a nearby tree with his external frame that his packs are secured to and sets it on a branch. Gui runs under the tree and lifts up one of his hind legs.

[T/N: Since the peddler’s rack translation doesn’t do it justice, it’s one of the seatless frames thing they used in various parts of china, korea and japan in the past. They look like this and is made out of bamboo or other wood]

*mugi*

The gray fox releases a confused whine.

[T/N: Do I need to explain this part to you guys?]

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll leave a mark. Prepare an ambush! You guys get ready too!”

*kaka kaka*

In a flash, Gui disappears up another tree with the sound of wood being lightly scratched. The other three look at the graceful blur, completely in awe.

“How the hell is he that fast with an animal avatar?”

“Worry about that later, shut up and get ready!” Bell dashes by with her reply and with a *pa* makes a big leap onto a large tree branch in another location with her halberd drawn and extended.

*hyun*

A gust of wind appears suddenly behind Rick, ending with a mass of aquamarine hair on another tree branch.

“Need a hand, Rick-ni~? I’ll promise to keep your pants on~”

“What?! No! I can do it!” Finding another tree in a different direction surrounding the clearing, Rick jumps up at a large tree and with a *shin*, grips onto its trunk with hands that freeze over on contact. With the continuous sound of ice shattering and forming, he quickly makes his way up to a branch as well.

The group is now partially surrounding the clearing, forming a rough semi-circle.

“What’s going on, Kun?” Bell looks at Kun’s figure sitting on another tree’s branch, with her right hand on her ear.

“Remember that scholar that joined us?”

“Yeah, what about him?”

“The village he was staying at got attacked by a horde of Huntsmen Rabbits and a group of players.”

“And? … wait, you don’t mean…”

“Yep.”

“What the hell is wrong with these people?!” *shhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii* The angry hissing sound can be heard by everyone that’s sitting on the various tree branches. “They are going to pay for ruining my nap!”

“Rick was right, you and Gui will definitely get along.” The young man recalls Gui’s grumpiness when a greenhorn accidentally woke Gui up not too long ago.

“What was that?”

“Eh, nothing, share the info with Till and decide on a plan of action, I’ll do the same with Rick.”

After relaying the information to Till and Rick followed by a short discussion, the group agrees to just kill the users and deal with the monsters somehow. If all else fails, Till would go into the air and wait until the monsters leave to pick up any items that drop from their deaths.

*sha sha*

“Brother, this is bad, it’s the long prey that’s coming.” The gray fox appears on a higher branch above Kun after the rustling of some branches and leaves.

“Long prey?”

“The ones that killed one of our sky-thief that can’t fly.”

“Oh, snake?”

“Snack?”

[T/N: Snake? Snake? SNNNAAAAKKKEEE!!!! Couldn’t resist, sorry. Onto the actual note, Kun asked Gui “ああ, 蛇?” which is pronouce as “aa, hebi(へび)? - Oh, snake?”, Gui isn’t sure of the word, ended up asking “えび?” -the hiragana is used to denote that Gui is childish/bad with words, a continuation of the trend from the Gui chapters, everything Gui says is pretty much hira *sobs*- which is pronounced “ebi? - Shrimp?”. Since the sound wordplay fails to translate, I chose snack… cause I can swear Gui is more pig than fox, thus the pun is kinda preserved while keeping it within Gui’s character. I actually thought that (えび) was a typo until I realized the pun like 5 minutes later. Eh... let me know if I shouldn't mention stuff like this, since it's boring to most people :P anyways]

“It is ‘S-N-A-K-E’, got it? Alright, good work, then just focus on the bad people and stay away from the long prey, okay?”

“Yes, brother!”

*sha sha*

The gray fox disappears from sight after walking to the end of his branch and jumping over to another tree.

“Rick, we are dealing with snakes.” Although he’s unable to see the party, Kun looks toward the tree that Rick’s hiding on with his right hand to his ear.

“Snakes?” Rick scrunches his eyebrows. “Since we’re near the Norman Kingdom, they are probably the level 62-68 territorial Marsh Vipers (沼沢毒蛇) and non-aggressive Emerald Pythons (緑玉蠎).”

“You can’t normally train those though…”

[T/N: Referring to gathering the monsters ala MMO term]

“No idea, but that’s what I remember from the bestiary.”

“Alright, let the others know.” Dropping his hand, Kun proceeds to secure his pack and sword to the branch. He grabs a piece of rag, he wraps it around the head of the rod before drenching it with a container of tallow. Afterward, he places his hand onto the trunk of the tree, he casts «Flame» for a brief second to leave a scorching black mark accompanied by a burnt smell.

*GIE* *dottaa*

A man screams out in surprise before crashing into the ground with a gray mass on his back. The elvish looking man lands face first since he was already running when he got jumped on and lost his balance. He tries to look up, but the mass on his back steps on his head before dashing off into the clearing, disappearing into the trees on the other side.

“The hell was that?!”

“Is that one of those jungle cats?”

“Move it! Move it!” A man and another elf helps to drag their fallen comrade off the leaf littered ground and resume running.

“Shit! Use that clearing to gain some ground, these mobs are gaining on us.” A man with a squirming burlap sack on his back shouts at the others. There’s a total of 35 men, all of them are either carrying a sack over their shoulders or armed with bows and arrows. About 10 meters behind them, the damp jungle floor is rustling and weaving as though it’s alive.

*pasha pasha*

The men rush into the clearing in a staggered line.

*guwa* *zuzoo*

One of the men steps into a puddle hidden by the leaf litter and screams. *dote* The bag falls onto the soft floor and its content rolls out. Numerous fist sized eggs with green speckles roll out.

“Help!”

“Leave him! Move move move!”

“AAHHHhhhh…”

Within moments, the fallen man is swarmed by numerous three meter long pythons, with broken arrows in their bodies, as they quickly squeeze his limbs and torso in coordination with one another.

*pyu* *pyu* *pyu* *pyu*

*funnn funnn* *funnn funnn*

*dote* *dote* *dottaa* *dottaa*

“Arrrrgh!”
“AAAH!
“Fhu…!”
“…!”

The sounds of arrows and strong gusts of wind rip through the air before sending four men faltering to the ground as a result of the ambush.

“What the hell? Are we under attack?”
“I don’t see anything though!”
“Don’t tell me this place is haunted…”
“This is just a game! Like hell this place is haunted. Keep moving!”

“Leave whoever falls, we need to complete this quest somehow! Mov-” The man, who was giving out orders since earlier, become silent and clutches his throat in shock. A moment later, he’s sent spiraling into the air toward the direction where they came from.

“WHAT IS HAPPENING?”
“JUST RUN!”

The remaining 29 standing men panic from the unexpected situation of being attacked and losing their leader suddenly. Like a headless dragon, the body becomes chaotic without guidance. Some of the men decide to drop their sacks and run for their lives while draw their weapons and look at the trees frantically instead.

“Gggggarh…”
“AHH!”
“Eeeeek?!”
“Heellppp!!”
“Oh my god, oh my god, nooo!”

Screams fill the air as more men clutch at their wounds with hands over them while the ones already on the ground plea uselessly towards the various snakes who either crush them to death or bite them repeatedly with their venomous fangs.

“Archers! Ther-” One of the elven archers spotted where the invisible attacks are coming from, trying to get the others’ attention. Which quickly made him the target of both Rick’s and Till’s attack and quickly eliminated.

*pyu pyu pyu pyu pyu pyu*

Six arrows are let loose toward the general direction of where Rick is hiding as the man gets sent flying onto his side.

*do do do do*

Four of the arrows lodge themselves into the tree trunk where the youth was a moment ago while the other two fail to reach their mark.

“Ahahahahaaha, what a bunch of morons!” Rick makes a run deeper into the trees with a curved path as he taunts them.

“That son of a bitch, KILL HIM!”

*WWWAAAAAAAAAAAA*

About half of the remaining men roar in unison and head into the trees in a straight line toward the direction where their attacker is heading, hoping to cut him off.

“You idiots! He isn’t alone!” A tall, bearded man that has reached the end of the clearing turns back and shouts at his comrades. “Just get outta here! The rest of you, follow me!” The man runs off into the jungle with five others, away from the trees where the ambush was laid and the clearing where the snakes are finishing off his fallen comrades.

Ever since Rick’s cover was blown, he has been intentionally fleeing deeper into the jungle with Bell and Kun somewhat in between the pursuers and himself. Till on the other hand is busy slamming the still panicking people in the clearing, as well as sending the stranglers of the pursuing group into the horde of snakes.

“Good luck, Bell!”
“All yours bro!”

Rick sends two PMs quickly as he continues to run inside the jungle, paying extra attention to the floor to avoid any puddles.

*NNYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAA*
*KAN*

A loud, cat-like screech echoes throughout the jungle before a massive metallic ring overpowers every other sound in the area, causing all kinds of birds to take flight and flee over the canopy.

“Ah, son of a bitch!” Bell shakes her right hand to get rid of the numbness. She had jumped from the branch and slashed down at one of Rick’s pursuers after receiving his PM. Combining her weight and the force of gravity, it wouldn’t be surprising if she had bisected the victim. Who would have known that the man would happen to wear a mithril helm. Unfortunately for the man, the helm only stopped the halberd from cutting through, not the impact itself, which happens to end up focused into his neck, crushing it. The man can only collapse forward with a *guuku* gurgle as a result.

“Fuck!”
“What the?!”
“GET HER!”

The men quickly slash their weapons at her.

*fyu*

A dagger flies directly towards Bell’s face, who drops to one knee to evade it. One against many is usually disadvantageous, the problem is, this isn’t like usual. The pursuers didn’t surround the target, the target ambushed the pursuers! This means that the ambusher has the advantage of surprise and favourable terrain! Revealing a menacing grin, the felinoid leaps up toward a tree branch before jumping from one branch to the next.

*sha sha sha*

*NYAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahaha*

The rustling of the trees is completely overpowered by her taunting laughter which fills the air momentarily before fading slowly.

“Gather around… it’s too dangerous to be alone!”
“What the hell man, what the hell, I didn’t sign up for this!”
“I think we should just leave the guild afterward man, shit! First we lost everything in the war against the [Monochrome Blades] and now this! This god damn guild is cursed!”
“Wait, where’s Frederick?”
“Shit, Bernhard and Torsten are gone as well.”

The men put their backs against each other’s and start looking around, with their [Villain] symbols above their heads overlapping one another. The group that was formed to chase the archer in the tree has shrunk by more than half! This was of course done by Till, who picked off one pursuer after another, sending them into the snakes whenever she had the chance. Using a combination of «Air Hammer» into their mouth to silence them and a modified two-fold «Air Lance» to send them flying, she was able to pick them off like turkeys and send them to reptilian hell. Using cover and the near invisible spells of the «Wind» element, the so called weakest of the weak elements is proving its effectiveness!

The snakes have finished off everyone in the clearing and are moving in their direction, there are only two groups left, the hunters who became the hunted and the group that ran away. Seeing that there’s no one else left to pick off, Till sends bursts of wind into the canopy above the men.

*sha sha sha sha*

The rustling causes the gathered group of men to go stiff and to back away unconsciously as they stare at the tree branches with unease.

*siiiii* *siii* *fiiiii*

The distracted group of men finally notice the approaching hissing snakes right at their feet.

“Shit, shit, shit, shit!” One of the men breaks into a run, leaving his companions behind.

“Wait!”

*zubon*

The runner manages to get about 5 meters before a shadow falls from above, whacking him in the head with a rod. The ambushed man is stabbed repeatedly with the bottom end of the rod as Kun didn’t bring another weapon down with him. The wrapped rag softened the blows somewhat, but the impact was still able to stun the man. The man quickly becomes unable to fight back as Kun alternates strikes between the head and the genitals, completely destroying the man’s manhood and spirit.

“Another one?”
“Just how many of them are there?!”
“Grrr…!”

The men are gnashing their teeth, busy fending off the large pythons with green, geometric patterns and the thin, slender brown vipers as they slowly retreat. Running off would mean they will be picked off by an ambush, their only chance is to somehow conserve their strength and fight their way out!

“Kun! Behind you!”

*pyu*

The sound of arrow pierces the air as Kun drops and rolls forward in one motion.

*sssiiiiiiii*

The Marsh Viper hisses as it twists its body in the air, dodging the invisible arrow, completely missing Kun with its leaping surprise attack.

“«Flame»!” The young man, with leaves stuck to his clothing, gives a thumbs up before placing his right hand above the rod, setting it aflame.

*sssiiiiiiiiiiiii*

The snake starts hissing and swaying uneasily at the appearance of the flame.

“Be glad I don’t have any realgar or sulphur with me!” The black-haired young man waves the burning rod left and right in front of the viper, causing it to retreat with its body swaying, ready to strike if given the chance.

*Nyahahahahahaha*

A fiery red blur drops from the trees once more. Her halberd accelerating from the back of her heels, over her head, all the way to the front, her arched back springing forward forming a く with her legs spread apart, completing a full revolution.

*sasan*

The blade of her halberd cuts deeply into a man’s chest, three inches deep, completely cleaving through his leather cuirass and his sternum. Using the entrenched halberd as a pole, the felinoid somersaults over the halberd before swinging it upward, dislodging it from the man’s chest. The man’s corpse falls backward, completely destroying the men’s formation.

The jungle floor is now a free-for-all battleground between five men, a felinoid, and a horde of snakes. In the periphery, there’s the 1 vs 1 between Kun and a viper while Rick and Till act as support.

“Who the hell are you?! Why are you after us?!”

“Let me guess, ‘don’t you know who are?’ Geez, Rick is right, you people are just born villains.”

[T/N: I think she’s referring to v1c9 when Rick was enforcing the quarantine against the fake epidemic]

*hyuuu*

“What did you just s-” Before the man completes his sentence, Bell’s halberd cuts through the air, causing the man to dodge into his companions.

*zubari*

A python to the right of the felinoid has its head flipped backward, attached only by its skin, its body squirming chaotically on the ground.

“I said you guys are born villains, [Dawn’s Moonlight] scum.”

“[Monochrome Blades]?! Waaaaa!” The man charges at Bell with his sword raised.

“Don’t group me with those pieces of trash!”

*kan kan kan kan kan kan kan kan kan kan*

The whirling blade of her halberd dances with a crimson aura, repeatedly striking against the man’s sword. Seeing their chance, his comrades try to land some sneak attacks, but were all struck by the halberd, causing sparks to fly left and right.

*ssiiiiiiiiiiiii* *ffiiiiiiiii*

The snakes have them surrounded, but keep a safe distance from the fiery blur in their midst, their instincts telling them to stay away.

“Ahhhh!” A viper leaps into the air and bites a man’s neck from behind, causing him to scream.

“Shit!” Another man spins around and swings his sword with an upward trajectory.

*sssssiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii*

The viper hisses and waves its body in midair, twisting out of the way of the sword.

“Please… antidote…!” The bitten man puts his hand over the wound as his neck starts swelling and is gradually turning purple.

Taking this opening, Bell spins around while releasing one hand from the halberd and lightly grasping it with the other, letting the halberd slip outwards with the centrifugal force, extending her reach.

*zan*

The halberd strikes the man in the side of the head, cutting through his cheekbone, causing blood to splatter on his comrade that tried to save him.

*fiiiiii*

*pyu pyu pyu pyu*
*kon*

A python stands up with its body and snaps down towards the felinoid’s exposed back. Before it can reach her, its head is rattled from some mass striking from the side while its body is spewing out blood from four different piercing wounds.

“Look, we surrender! Just don’t kill us, okay? Help us deal with these snakes or you won’t be able to get away as well!”

“Did you give mercy to people at that village on the Feian plains?” The colour drains from the men’s face. It was one of their more successful quests, but it was cruel and mercilessly done. They don’t know how she knows, but she knows!

“We can pay your group quest’s divine retribution, your quest’s reward and even a little extra, so why don’t we work together? I mean, those villagers were just NPCs anyways, not like they matter.” One of the other men tries to deduce the situation and take advantage of the other party’s greed and human empathy. It’s logical that a bounty would be set on them if their deed were uncovered. By removing the opposing party’s incentive to fight while appealing to their human nature, it should in theory stop them from attacking, as the reward is there without the risk.

“And you are just scum.” Bell gives them a smile that doesn’t reach her eyes while she pivots her halberd left and right, keeping her eyes on the snakes and the men.

The men give each other a meaningful look.

*waaaaaaa*

*ssssiiiiiiii*

*fiiiiiiiiiiii*

The men all attack Bell at the same time, the snakes -sensing the attack- join in to take down their biggest threat.

“Shit! «Rapidfire»!”

*pyu pyu pyu pyu*

“Get down~ Bell-ne~! «Downburst»”

*panpan* *shhhaa shaaaa shaaa*

The formless arrows pierce two men in their charge all of the sudden. At the same time, a clap is heard from above followed by violent shaking of the trees, with branches and twigs snapping off left and right. A heavy weight appears to push down on everything in a 5 meter radius around Bell, who flattened herself against the ground. It’s the same spell that was used when they fought against that pack of wolves in the hills! Although the force is slightly weaker as compared to then since the trees are blocking parts of it, it still manages to slam all the snakes and men into the ground. The damage, like with all «Wind Spells» is minuscule, but the «Spell»’s usefulness lies in its effects!

“NNNNNyyyyyYYYAAAAA!” The felinoid is the first to recover since she was ready for the impact, taking this opening, she leaps off the floor while on all fours, “«Heavy Strike»! «Heavy Strike»! «Heavy Strike»! «Heavy Strike»!”, cleaving the still stunned snakes into mincemeat.

*pyu pyu pyu pyu*

Rick likewise starts pouring on the long range attacks, “«Rapidfire»!”, pinning the men down. The manabow’s damage is weak, but it doesn’t matter since he doesn’t need to be able to kill.

*KOKI*

A loud sound of bone cracking is heard from Kun’s direction.

“AH?! AHH!” One of the men on the floor screams, completely surprised at the sudden pain in his buttocks. His surviving comrades turn to look at him while trying to get up.

“What the fuck?!”

A bodiless viper’s head is firmly attached to the screaming man’s right buttcheek. One of the men nearly passed out from the unexpected sight.

“Holy shit, Kun, the hell did you do to that snake?”

In Kun’s left hand is the improvised torch, in his right hand is a meter long viper without its head, blood dripping out where its head once was.

“Apparently these vipers really are no different from the snakes I had to deal with for my chicken coop.”

“And that is…?”

“You just grab them by the tail, swing them around and,” Kun makes a slow snapping motion with his right hand, “crack it like a whip.”

[T/N: By the way, this is real apparently, I was WTFing when I was translating this part]

The men’s expression went from pale to ghost white. Facing the felinoid who was able to fend them off was scary enough, now there appears someone who literally kills a monster in the mid-60s with his bare hands. The standing men simply drop to their knees, completely losing their will to fight and opt to log out rather than suffer the inevitable. The snakes, sensing their chance, pounce on the now lifeless bodies.

“I know you run a military training center and all that Kun… but what’s up with all your crazy techniques? I mean dual wielding is one thing… but killing snakes too?” Rick shakes his head in disbelief, this friend through chance is making him feel like his reality is a joke.

The young man shrugs, “Just something I picked up.”

“You… don’t just pick up things…” The youth takes a deep breath before releasing a long *fuuuuu* Snapping his head up from his sigh “Shit, not good. «Rapidfire»!”

Bell is slowly being overwhelmed by the snake horde. Since everyone else is out of range, they all start focusing on the felinoid. Till is of course helping her, but since «Wind Spells» don’t produce much damage, the only thing she can do is help keep the snakes at bay.

*pyu pyu pyu pyu*

The formless arrows fly through the air and head toward the vipers, coiled up, ready to pounce. As though the Marsh Vipers can see them clearly, they agilely jump out of the way.

[ED NOTE: VIPERS SEE HEAT, FEEL BAD FOR YOUR UPBRINGING IF YOU DON’T KNOW THIS. T/N: I’m not the meanie this time :P]

“Focus on the pythons! I’ll help Bell!”

“Got it!”

Kun makes a beeline towards Bell, making sure to avoid the puddles that are riddled on the jungle floor.

“Nya! NyanyaNYAAA!”

*hyuhhaa*

Bell spins with her halberd almost non-stop, while doing so, she struggles to breathe. If she slows down for too long, the snakes would definitely overpower her. Numerous scratches appears on her limbs, it’s just by sheer luck that the vipers never managed to sink their fangs into her.

“«Fireball»!” A ball of fire flies past Bell, causing a part of the snake horde to disperse. “Bell, use fire!” Kun appears next to her with only a blazing rod in hand.

“«Flaming Edge»!” The snake horde backs away from the two as soon as another source of fire pops up.

“Catch your breath, then deal with the pythons, I’ll get the vipers.”

*hyuhhaa*

Bell continues to breathe heavily, merely nodding her head.

Suddenly, Kun runs forward to the nearest viper with his burning rod in front of him.

*siiiiii*

The vipers jump out of the way as they become blinded by the burning flame.

*kyuu*

Thrusting out his right hand suddenly, Kun grabs onto one of the viper’s tails tightly.

*byun byun byun*

He spins the viper like a cowboy twirling a lasso above his head, causing even Bell to watch him out of the corner of her eyes.

*KOKI*

Without warning, he swings the snake forward before snapping it back, using it as though it’s a whip. A loud pop is heard as the snake in his hand goes limp, blood dripping onto the floor from where its head once was.

Bell raises an eyebrow, “Pass me that please.”

The young man tosses the snake carcass casually to the felinoid before moving with sudden motions toward the crowd of snakes, which is now extremely cautious.

*guku*

Hanging the headless snake above her mouth, Bell proceeds to drink the snake’s blood. “NYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH! Damn, wish I had some wine! Let’s do this!”

…
…
…

The snake horde shrinks rapidly as they kill the snakes one after another, Kun focuses on the vipers while Bell focuses on the pythons. Rick and Till provide support in thwarting any snake attacks. With the fire on their weapons and the support from afar, the snakes couldn’t even scratch them.

As the horde is about to be routed…

“Ahhhhhhh!” A stream of aquamarine falls from the trees, landing on the ground with a *dottaa*