“B-boss——! I think they’re catching up!”
Fleeing for their lives through the forest, the remaining bandits panicked as they noticed the birds startled into flight behind them.
Tch! Useless fools!
The Boss cursed his men silently, weighing his options.
His underlings stood no chance of outrunning Rank C adventurers. Should he abandon them and flee alone? No...... Even on his own, he couldn’t match the adventurers’ jungle experience—he’d be caught sooner or later.
......I have to take a gamble!
The Boss suddenly stopped in his tracks.
“Boss, why’d we stop?”
The bandits stared at him in confusion.
“Why run? We’ll be caught eventually! Better fight back!”
“Huh——? Fight back? With just us?”
The bandits pointed at themselves, dumbfounded—as if saying, “Boss, have you lost your mind?”
The Boss gritted his teeth in anger.
“You idiots, follow me! They haven’t locked onto our exact position yet—let’s hide somewhere!”
“O-oh, right!”
The bandits stumbled after the Boss as he sneaked into the dense jungle.
......
“Stop——!”
Alec held up his hand, and the pursuing adventurers came to a halt.
“Something’s off. Did they split up? No...... They’re hiding!”
“The bastards are in hiding! But they can’t be far. Spread out and search——!”
The adventurers scattered through the jungle, Hulim Heyerar included.
She glanced around. The forest looked the same in every direction, easy to get lost in.
But for Hulim and the seasoned adventurers, that wasn’t a problem.
The real challenge was finding the hidden bandits.
“Should I climb a tree to look?”
She quickly dismissed the thought.
The forest was too thick—even from the treetops, she couldn’t see what was below.
“Wait, there’s a spell that can......”
Hulim suddenly remembered a magic Semiris had taught her.
As one of the oldest beings in the world, Semiris mastered countless ancient and modern spells. Many of the ones she’d passed on to Hulim were rare—even lost—to the current era.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Spells like Earth Palm, Ice Construct, and the rarely used Shadow Stealth were already uncommon today.
And the truly lost spells included Water Breathing, and——
“【???????????????????????????????????????????????????】”
“——Wind Messenger Bird!”
A surge of wind elements converged into a bright glow before Hulim. From the glow, a small, glowing green bird emerged.
The bird fluttered around her, agile and lively.
Even though she’d used this spell many times, it still felt incredible every time.
Because she could share the Wind Messenger Bird’s vision, seeing two perspectives simultaneously.
“Go——”
At her command, the bird shot into the sky, piercing through the tree canopy. In its vision, the world suddenly opened up—endless trees stretched as far as the eye could see.
Then the view plummeted rapidly, passing through layers of leaves to reveal the dark forest of tree trunks—nearly identical to Hulim’s own view.
Hulim controlled the bird, darting through the jungle to track the bandits.
In mere moments, she’d searched a 500-meter radius. If the adventurers—who usually risked their lives crawling through dangerous terrain—knew about this, they’d be green with envy......
“Hm——, this is......”
She paused the bird’s vision, locking onto some suspicious tracks.
“Yes, these are definitely human footprints. They must be nearby.”
Hulim directed the bird to search the area around the tracks, while moving quickly in that direction herself.
Before long,
“Found them——!”
The bandits’ figures appeared in the bird’s view.
Hulim raised her wand.
“No...... We’re still too far. Sending a signal might mislead the others. I need to get closer first.”
She lowered her wand and continued approaching the bandits......
“Boss, they’re searching everywhere! What do we do? We’ll be found sooner or later!?”
The bandits were panicking. They knew hiding was only a temporary reprieve.
“Shut up! Can’t you see I’m trying to think!?”
The Boss snapped. But despite his words, he was panicking internally—no plan came to mind.
“This is close enough......”
Hulim checked the distance to the bandits. They hadn’t moved, so she raised her wand above her head.
Whoosh——!Boom——!
A fireball exploded high above the forest.
The scattered adventurers looked up simultaneously, spotting the glow through the leaves.
“Found them! Let’s go——!”
......
Staring at the fireball exploding nearby, the bandits froze in shock.
“What the hell? We’ve been found!? But where is he!?”
They glanced around, but saw no one.
“You idiots! The signal came from over there! Why would he be here!”
The Boss cursed, his expression darkening.
“Whoever this is must have spotted us, but didn’t want to alert us—so they pulled back to send the signal......”
“Huh?! Boss, what do we do now? Run again?”
The bandits stared at him blankly.
“Run run run! That’s all you know how to do! He’s right behind us—how can we run!? If we’re going to flee, we need to take him out first!”
“Take him out......”
The bandits exchanged glances. They had no courage to fight at this point.
The Boss laughed bitterly at their cowardice. But bandits were always greedy and afraid of death—he couldn’t expect much.
“You fools! Didn’t I just say he hid to send the signal!? That means he’s weaker than us—otherwise, he wouldn’t be hiding! Can’t you get that through your thick skulls!”
“Oh! Right! You’re so smart, Boss!”
The bandits suddenly realized.
“......”
The Boss didn’t bother responding.
“What are you waiting for? Move! Do you want the adventurers to come greet you!?”
“Yes!”
Reassured that their enemy was weaker, the bandits’ fear faded. Besides, if they didn’t take him out, he’d keep exposing their position. For a moment, murderous intent flared in their eyes.
Yet as they marched forward, none of them noticed a figure falling behind—growing farther and farther away until it stopped completely......
Ps：Having a bit of a mental block, so I’ll grab a coffee and clear my head. I’ll try to post 1-2 more chapters today—double happiness for the weekend!!
