The root was of green color, and the pressure its mana emitted was terrifying. Hazel then realized how sorely mistaken her team was. This was in no way a low-mid-tier monster.
She braced herself for the attack as she sent her mana to the rune card her mother gave her. Before she could activate it, however, the scenery changed in front of her eyes.
"Kira, stall for time!" A familiar voice rang in her ears; she looked up at the person embracing her in a daze. However, she couldn't see anything behind his crossed helmet. She wanted to voice out his name, but flames erupted on the battlefield, sending her words down her throat.
"Dammit!" Marco roared in anger as a root had dug itself deeply into his shoulder blade from the back. The other tanker had dashed and helped him to get away, but the skin was already green-colored. He was sweating bullets as the pain seemed unbearable.
"We should retreat!" The earth mage shouted as he kept using his ability to make the ground underneath Rachel and the healers afloat. It seems he was competent enough to use his power to manipulate the soil into hardening and making it float. However, this was an unnatural use of his ability as his mana drained like water from a cracked bottle.
"Dammit! Healers, what are you doing?! Do your jobs for god's sake!" Marco kept trying to defend himself against the roots, but his strength weakened because of the poison. The healers used their abilities and began healing him, but the poison was too strong to be healed quickly.
Arthur, who was behind the helmet, looked at the scene with a calm gaze. Roots kept attacking everyone from underground while they tried to defend themselves against it. He could see the monster underground through his Detection rune. Judging by its life-force, it was even a bit stronger than Kira.
"We need to run." He told Hazel the reason he came here was to warn the group. He was drifting through the forest when he heard the scream the monster issued. He decided to venture deeper under the protection of Kira, but he was surprised to meet Hazel so soon. It has only been ten days since they last met.
Before they could hold a conversation, the ground shook even more as the monster's true form started emerging. Everyone fled the scene and retreated far away to witness the figure of the monster that had appeared.
It looked like a giant nut with roots protruding from everywhere. The roots swarmed around it, and the tree from earlier was no merely the top of its head.
The group, Arthur, and Kira looked at the monster with a serious expression. The monster's roar followed the brief silence which shook the surrounding.
"You need to leave," Arthur told Hazel, knowing she has figured out who he was. He signaled to Kira, and the latter rushed to his side, and he was about to flee as well. Kira might hold the monster off, but Arthur had no chance of even surviving a single attack.
"Stop! Let's kill it together!" Seeing that the wolf and the man were about to leave, Marco shouted in urgency. Arthur paused for a second and looked at him.
"Together? With your current state?" Even though he wasn't a doctor, he could feel the fluctuations of Marco's lifeforce through the detection rune. He might be in danger, but Arthur doubted he would be any use against the monster.
Furthermore, he wouldn't trust these guys no matter what. The last time he joined them, he ended up with a dagger on his throat.
"This happened because of you! I got hit when I was defending against you!" Marco shouted in hysteria. If Arthur knew anything about poisons, he would have said that the toxins reached this guy's head.
"I never attacked you. Remember?" Arthur turned around at that and was about to leave. Before he told Kira to sprint forward, he heard the conversation behind his back.
"Let's retreat." The earth mage voiced out, clearly making a rational choice. However, he was only met with an infuriated Marco.
"No one is retreating! We'll steal the plant and flee afterward!"
"Marco, this is too risky. Some of us might die!" The tanker who kept silent until now spoke up.
"Shut up! If anyone retreats, I'll make sure Erin won't let them off! Now assume formation."
The rage Arthur felt when he fought Lian came back. It was this unreasonableness, this arrogance, this inconsideration that made his blood boil. Why did these people belittle lives so much? Doing everything they felt like, using their powers like this, do they think of themselves as gods? If that were it, then he would shoot such gods down.
"I changed my mind." His voice left the helmet far icier than he ever heard it. "Since you're willing to die, why don't I help you?"
He took out the curved sword he picked up from Joe's storage. It was better than his previous one since it was a peak-primitive sword. Since it seemed to be some type of Sabre, Arthur had some difficulties adjusting to it. It didn't matter right now, anyway.
This world kept challenging him time after time, and he was sick of it. He was not about to leave this self-conceited prick to endanger the lives of these people by pushing them here. Especially not when his friend was involved.
"What?" Marco snapped his head at him with amazement. The veins on his neck were bulging from both anger and poison. He hysterically laughed as he pointed his sword at Arthur.
"You think you can take all of us?" Marco knew they were outnumbering him, so his confidence soared. Arthur kept silent as he surveyed the rest of them. All of them had hesitant expressions, only Hazel looking at Marco with anger.
"Me? No, of course." Arthur shook his head. He raised his hand as he caressed Kira's leg and laughed. "However, this big boy here sure is hungry," Kira growled at Marco revealing its fangs.
The wolf was a giant one, as Arthur couldn't even touch its chin when it stood up. Being stared at by such a creature, Marco gulped down and swallowed his words. Arthur kept talking, not caring about Marco's pale face. "Plus⊠we have one more friend, right behind you."
It was then that the monster reached them and roared angrily. The roar spooked Marco out of his wits as he fell to the ground on his butt in fright.
"R-run! Let's go! Now!" Marco started shouting and sprinting away. The others looked at him in dismay before they started following him. After all, they took shelter in the camp, and Marco was one of the henchmen.
Arthur stood there watching them leave, as he didn't want to create more trouble for Hazel. As she passed by, she pushed something into his hand without anyone noticing.
"Thank you again, ArthurâŠ" She paused her steps and looked at him. "This time, let me join you." Arthur stared back as he remembered this look in her eyes. He pulled his hand and shook his head.
"You should go." He refused her intention of joining him. Fearing others might see her next to him, he jumped to Kira's back and sprinted into the distance. Even though he was stronger than ten days ago, the camp was still safer. Furthermore, he was still an outsider.
***
Arthur jumped from Kira's back and landed in front of the pub. For some reason, he felt a heavy sense of loneliness as he knew no one was inside. He remembered the scene when the people at the camp sat together and laughed as they ate, and he couldn't help but feel a bit lonely.
Seemingly feeling his emotions, Kira walked over to him and licked the back of his head. Arthur laughed at this and shook the feeling off. He stroked Kira's neck, and it seemed to enjoy it as it closed its eyes.
'This is good enough for now.' Arthur looked at this scene and thought to himself.