Kyle ran on the road for a good while.
According to the sign, Hillscape was about 50 kilometers away from the Big Bazaar.
‘I don’t know what the fuck a kilometer is, but I know it’s smaller than a mile. Shouldn’t take too long to get there.’
“Make space!”
Kyle heard a shout from behind him and turned around.
Then, he saw a big beast pulling a wagon behind it.
“Oh, sorry!” Kyle shouted, jumping to the side.
The beast barreled past him, and Kyle resumed running.
‘Forgot I’m not the only guy on the road. Gotta watch out for fantasy cars.’
After some minutes, Kyle noticed a beast looking at him behind a couple of trees.
It was some kind of flightless big bird with a big butt.
When Kyle saw it, he sneered.
‘I don’t know why, but this does not look delicious.’
Luckily, the bird didn’t attack Kyle and just watched him run past it.
“That was a Calamity Bird,” Theodor said.
Kyle stopped running. “The fuck?” he asked. “That ugly and disgusting thing has such a cool name?”
“Calamity Birds are messengers of misfortune,” Theodor said. “They are where blood is about to flow.”
“Dude, are you yanking my chain?” Kyle asked. “That thing looked ridiculous, and you’re talking about it like it’s some kind of ancient and mysterious demon.”
“I do not have hands. I can’t yank any chains,” Theodor said with disdain.
Kyle rolled his eyes and continued running.
“Be careful,” Theodor said. “Calamity Birds are never a good omen.”
Kyle thought of the dumb face and the huge butt of the bird while thinking about its name.
‘Dude, why is this thing called a Calamity Bird? Trash Bird seems more appropriate.’
BOOM!
Kyle’s eyes widened as he saw a gigantic beast jumping out from the trees and chomping down on the big beast that had just barreled past him.
The beast was over ten meters long and had six claw-filled legs. In a way, it looked a bit like a hairless dog with black skin, but it was shaped more like a Komodo Dragon.
The next moment, two guards jumped out of the wagon the big beast was pulling and started to attack the weird dog thing.
‘Calamity Bird,’ Kyle thought. ‘I guess the name is fitting after all.’
There was a good kilometer between Kyle and the battle, and he just watched while he kept running.
What was he supposed to do?
He needed about two minutes to traverse such a distance.
One of the two guards used a long lance that was releasing green smoke, while the other one used two long swords surrounded by green Ether.
‘Hey, that guy also has a Wind Affinity,’ Kyle thought.
The weird dog thing stopped focusing on the beast and fought the two guards.
After a short scuffle, the dog thing fled back into the forest.
Surprisingly, it wasn’t very injured.
Sadly, they had been a bit too slow to react, and the beast that pulled the wagon died.
‘Well, that sucks,’ Kyle thought. ‘Fantasy car no longer working? Gotta call Triple A!’
“That was suspicious,” Theodor commented.
“How come?” Kyle asked as he kept running.
“Beasts don’t usually flee this quickly. Especially when there is a valuable corpse.”
The next moment, Kyle saw the two guards running after the escaping beast.
He also saw the leading merchant shouting at them to come back.
While he was running, Kyle just scratched the side of his head.
‘Never a dull moment in fantasy land.’
Then, Kyle saw three Calamity Birds charging out from the trees.
They immediately jumped onto the dead caravan beast and started to consume it.
The merchant kept shouting at them to stop, but he was powerless against the mighty Calamity Birds.
By now, Kyle was only 500 meters away from the crash site.
‘Oh! More is happening!’ Kyle thought as he saw three masked people jumping out from the other side of the road.
“Your money or your life!” one of them shouted.
‘Ah, bandits,’ Kyle thought.
Then, he looked at the three Calamity Birds.
‘I get why they’re called that now.’
‘I don’t wanna get involved in this.’
Kyle just kept running.
The merchant surrendered under the threat of the bandits.
Then, two of the bandits opened the wagon the beast had been pulling.
The greedy smile of the bandit was visible through his masked face.
BOOOOM!
Kyle’s eyes widened as he saw the bandit blow apart, his appendages scattering across the surroundings.
That explosion was weird.
Kyle didn’t see any fire or smoke.
It was like there was a huge pulse, and the next moment, the bandit just turned into pieces.
“Holliander!” one of the bandits shouted in terror.
‘Holliander? That’s a dumb name,’ Kyle thought.
By now, Kyle was less than 200 meters away.
The next moment, a silver-haired man wearing a robe and carrying a silver staff jumped out of the wagon.
“Sorcerer!” the leader of the bandits shouted before looking at the forest. “Call Dimpy back!”
‘Fucking Dimpy? I thought Holliander was a shit name,’ Kyle thought with a snort as he kept running.
The Sorcerer turned to the bandits, who both retreated back into the forest.
WHOOOM!
A shockwave left the Sorcerer’s staff.
It washed across the forest, breaking several trees into pieces.
One bandit managed to escape, but the other one turned into bloody shrapnel like the first one.
Kyle was only fifty meters away by now, and he made a wide berth around the crash site.
The Sorcerer turned to look at Kyle with narrowed eyes.
Kyle just nodded. “Howdy! Good luck with this mess!” he shouted as he ran past the crashed caravan.
The Sorcerer furrowed his brows.
Was Kyle part of the bandits?
No, probably not.
Judging by the armor he was wearing, he was probably not desperate for cash.
“Thanks,” the Sorcerer answered evenly as Kyle ran past him.
The next moment, Kyle noticed the Calamity Birds fleeing back into the forest.
‘Huh. Wonder what’s up with that?’ he thought.
Then, he heard something coming from his right, and his instincts screamed at him.
He looked over and saw the weird dog thing from earlier running out of the forest, charging right at the caravan.
The problem was…
Kyle was between the dog thing and the caravan.
‘Ah, I get it.’
‘Dimpy.’
‘No wonder it has such a dumb name.’
‘It’s a dog.’
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