Chapter 1184 — Adventure
Blade of Dawn · Page 4 of 5
Lora raised her head and, while keeping watch on her surroundings, glanced at the companions before, behind, and to either side. She saw the several swordsmen who had set out with her and another hunter, and she saw the two druids in the party who were the most carefully protected. Finally, her gaze settled on the mage at the very center of the group—Old Master Mo Jin, who looked to be eighty or older, was striding briskly along among them, his expression one of great cheer.
Mages—that fragile yet powerful transcendent profession—should at all times, during operations, be protected at the very center of the marching or battle formation by teammates with stronger defenses. This was common sense that any adventurer should know and observe. But looking at that spirited old gentleman in the middle of the party... Lora really had found herself doubting her professional understanding more than once.
Did this elderly gentleman really need protection?
"We've drawn near the boundary of this squad's patrol zone," said a two-handed swordsman walking in front and serving as temporary leader, suddenly stopping—which also cut off Lora's train of thought. He took out a map imbued with enchantment effects and, using the flickering lines and points of light on it, confirmed the current positions of himself and his teammates. "Once we cross that low slope ahead, we'll reach the endpoint of this patrol. The area further on is the responsibility of other squads, so we can head back."
Lora breathed a slight sigh of relief, but her taut nerves did not yet dare relax completely. Keeping watch on the spaces between the stone pillars around her, she reviewed the mission she and her teammates bore: operating on the surface as support for the Tarlond dragon warriors, patrolling and confirming the routes the dragon warriors had opened up along the way, eliminating wandering monsters that had been lucky enough to escape the dragons' breath, and observing at all times whether new elemental rifts had appeared within the temporary safe zone, reporting them promptly.
And their entire series of tasks had only one goal: to assist the dragons in opening a safe route between New Agundor and the Crystal Rock Hills.
Unlike what Lora had initially expected, this was not a one-time job but a relatively long-term mission. The dragons could hardly open the road from Agundor to the Crystal Rock Hills in a day or two, so the entire task of clearing, securing, and pacifying the frontier might last many days.
"Honestly, I think this route is already safe enough," a one-handed swordsman could not help grumbling. Probably the days of continuous patrolling and the sparse, meager skirmishes had finally worn on him. "In all these days we've only run into a few wandering elementals—fewer than we'd get clearing monster nests around camp..."
The temporary leader could not help glancing back at the one-handed swordsman. "This is, after all, an area the dragons have already cleared once—it's only natural it's relatively safe. If you don't find it exciting enough, you can push on ahead; there's no shortage of monsters to practice on in the areas the dragons haven't gotten to yet..."
"On second thought, never mind—I'm not one of those sea sirens who can get sucked into a mechanical ship's engine and still crawl out of the cooling pool without a scratch..."
Listening to her companions' spirited banter, Lora felt her own mood relax a little. But just as a faint smile appeared on her face, a strange smell drifting suddenly into her nostrils made her frown again.
It smelled like sulfur, yet not so pungent; like scorched rock, yet more intense and vivid than that. Lora could not help sniffing hard again, and an inexplicable thought suddenly surfaced in her mind—
This smell—it smelled like pure flame.