Ryan's voice finally cut off.
The black mist churned briefly before quickly returning to its original, deathly silence.
Only the wooden plate he had thrown back lay there, lonely at Milo's feet.
Dark red writing rapidly surfaced on the remaining wooden plates.
【Lookout dereliction of duty】
【Duty can be inherited mid-journey】
Before the pain in Reece's eyes could fade, he forced himself to snap out of the shock of Ryan's death, channeling all his emotions into the roots lunging at them.
The rest of the death caravan was still closing in, and the roots on both sides of the stone path were pressing in layer by layer.
He shattered an incoming corpse hand with a slash of his sword and barked hoarsely, “Milo, pick up the plate!”
Milo stared down at the plate by his feet, frozen in place as if pinned to the ground.
“No...” He shook his head frantically. “I can't. I really can't do this.”
His voice trembled and his knees buckled; he instinctively wanted to cover his head and squat down.
“Whether you can or not, you have to pick it up!”
Reece kicked away a black root coiling around a cargo chest and roared, “Ryan is dead! Someone has to take his place!”
Milo shuddered at his roar, but he still didn't dare to move.
The wooden plate felt like a venomous snake; the moment he touched it, he would be dragged into an even deeper swamp.
He was already the 【Witness】 and the 【Porter】.
If he added 【Lookout】 on top of that, he would die.
He would definitely die.
As Milo hesitated to accept the duty, a hand suddenly grabbed his collar from behind, and Kolo yanked him up.
She stared at him through her mask, her voice muffled as she spoke rapidly, “Haven't you always wanted to prove yourself?
“If you don't even have the courage to look clearly and call out warnings, how are you going to prove yourself?”
Milo's breath hitched. Kolo pressed on, “Do you want to be a coward forever?!”
These words slapped Milo hard across the face.
He was indeed a coward who feared death, and he was afraid no one would believe what he said.
But he was even more afraid that, in the end, he would truly accomplish nothing.
Ryan's wooden plate still lay on the ground, the dark red light flowing along its surface as if urging him.
Milo let out a roar. Summoning almost every ounce of courage he had gathered in his entire life, he bent down and picked up the wooden plate.
The moment the plate touched his hand, a flash of dark red light erupted.
The 【Lookout】 plate that belonged to Ryan turned into a beam of light in his palm, merging directly into the plate at his waist.
【Lookout duty confirmed】
When Milo saw the three duties listed on his wooden plate, he nearly lost his footing.
Seeing that the duty was confirmed, Rena immediately cast 【Purifying Light】 to force back several black branches lunging from ahead.
“Keep running forward! We're almost there!”
Reece cleaved through a root sweeping in from his rear flank, gritting his teeth as he roared, “Listen to her! Run!”
Milo panted heavily, his hands trembling as he shot a few branches, providing limited warning information to Kolo, who was fighting hard at the front.
“L-Left!” Milo shrieked, his voice cracking.
Several black branches burst from the mist, rapidly stabbing toward Kolo's blind spot.
The Soul Thread in Rena's hand suddenly shot out.
A silver-white thread flashed through the mist, wrapping around the black branches and tightening violently.
The black branches were severed into several segments, falling onto the stone slabs and twitching continuously.
Milo's eyes widened. He was certain he hadn't misseen.
That sharp thread had come from Rena's hand.
The original Rena only used a short blade to attack, and now that he thought about it, she didn't seem to have used her skills once along the way.
This was proof!
As long as he spoke about what he saw at the next road marker, this fake Rena would be completely exposed!
Milo's throat tightened. As if seeing a ray of hope, his pace quickened even more, though his gaze remained glued to Rena's back.
As they drew closer, the attacks along the path became increasingly frenzied.
Kolo was incredibly strong, but in the face of such relentless attacks, the wounds on her body, both large and small, continued to pile up.
Seeing this, Isolde fished two healing potions out of her bag.
She shattered one against Kolo's back and tossed the other to Reece in the rear.
Kolo's shoulders shuddered as she swung her heavy axe even more fiercely.
Isolde glanced at her remaining potions. The low-grade healing potions were entirely used up; now, she only had two high-grade healing potions and a single bottle of poison left in her hands.
The high-grade healing potions could not be used lightly; they were her final trump card to ensure they reached the finish line.
Reece panted heavily, severing a black root reaching from behind as he shouted ahead, “Rena! How much further to the end?”
The thick mist was torn open by the white light of the staff. Rena looked up, and the massive trunk of the Contract-Devouring Treant was becoming clearer and clearer.
Inside the cracks of the trunk, a dark red light pulsed rhythmically, and golden specks of light struggled to seep out like a dying sunset trapped in rotting flesh.
Isolde quickly estimated the distance: “Roughly eight hundred meters left.”
Reece let out a heavy, ragged breath from his throat.
Under normal circumstances, eight hundred meters was a distance they could cover in the blink of an eye.
But on this path, the danger of every single step seemed to stretch out infinitely.
Gritting his teeth, he swung his sword to chop through the roots wrapping around a cargo chest, shouting, “Then let's charge through in one go!”
The four of them accelerated once more.
Kolo used her leaping ability to constantly defend both the front and rear, her heavy axe smashing through the blocking walls of branches, its blade dripping with black sap.
Isolde ran at the very front, the Holy Light of her staff keeping the road clear as Soul Threads shot from her hands, weaving silently through the mist like thin, cold spider silk.
As they rushed across a section of broken stone steps, a dull rumble suddenly echoed from behind, kicking up the surrounding decaying leaves.
Milo instinctively looked back. With just one glance, his face instantly drained of color.
“Behind us...” His voice cracked. “There's something behind us!”
Isolde looked back.
Countless black roots erupted from both sides of the stone path, surging into the air like an inverted waterfall.
They tangled and wove frantically in the mist, eventually condensing into a massive black serpent.
The creature had no real eyes, but a dark red crack split open on its head, revealing a golden pupil that looked exactly like the eye-tumor Ryan had shot earlier.
The surrounding stone slabs, rotting carts, and the severed limbs of the death caravan were all swept into its body.
The black serpent devoured the path behind it as it chased them, growing faster and faster.
Reece looked back at the black serpent, his breathing suddenly slowing.
Everything around him seemed to slow down. He looked at the backs of the three running ahead of him.
It felt just like the thrill of their usual cargo transport runs.
He heard his own breathing and looked down at his blood-stained hands, suddenly remembering the hand that had slipped from his grasp.
Similar things had probably happened more than once.
But Reece's chest felt heavily constricted, making it difficult to breathe.
The wooden plate at his waist caught his eye.
The dark red text of 【Cargo Escort】 glowed faintly in the mist.
Anyone from a caravan knew that bringing up the rear was neither the most glamorous position nor the safest.
But someone always had to walk at the very back. Someone had to keep an eye on the cargo and the team, and someone had to bear the risks of the rear.
Reece exhaled slowly, then ripped the wooden plate from his waist.
“Rena!” he shouted ahead. “Catch!”
The wooden plate sailed through the air from behind, trailing a line of dark red light.
Isolde tilted her head slightly. A Soul Thread shot from her hand, wrapping around the wooden plate mid-air.
With a sharp tug, the plate landed securely in her palm.
Milo witnessed this, a near-pathological gleam lighting up his eyes.
That was it! That was it!
He saw it again! Rena was a fake!
She was an imposter!
This time, he would definitely expose her true face in front of everyone!
By now, the wooden plate was burning hot in Isolde's palm, and text surfaced on it:
【Original Acting Caravan Master voluntarily relinquishes duty】
【Cargo Escort duty transferred】
【Duty confirmed】
Seeing Rena catch the plate, Reece finally let out a sigh of relief.
He stopped in his tracks, turning his back on the others to face the surging giant serpent alone.
Kolo sensed something was wrong. She skidded to a halt and whipped her head around, shouting, “Reece!”
Reece acted as if he hadn't heard. Gripping his broadsword with both hands, cold sweat dripped from his chin onto the ground.
The black serpent surged forward, its massive shadow looming over the stone path. A rancid, cold wind whipped through his clothes, making them rustle loudly.
Yet, he simply held his sword horizontally in front of him and slowly let out a breath.
“Don't get the wrong idea. I've spent my life in caravans. Bringing up the rear is just a habit.”
Kolo tightened her grip on her heavy axe, her eyes behind the mask visibly trembling.
The black serpent was already upon him. Reece raised his sword, facing the giant maw torn open by countless black roots, draining every last drop of his strength to rapidly charge up.
“Go!” he roared.
Kolo clenched her fingers.
The next instant, she spun around fiercely. Her heavy axe tore through the air with a whistling howl, cleaving open the wall of branches that was closing in ahead once more.
In the rear, the black serpent lunged at Reece, its body suddenly erupting with dark red light.
【Iron Spine Guard】
Reece's skill domain expanded. The serpent crashed violently into it, kicking up a ripple of red light.
Reece was forced back several steps by the impact. Gritting his teeth, he braced his sword with both hands and roared as he unleashed a second strike.
【Fissure Cleave】
His broadsword sliced deep into the serpent's head, tearing open a gash in the black roots.
The golden pupil contracted violently, and its forward momentum was finally halted for a few seconds—long enough for the three behind him to gain some distance.
Blood spilled from the corner of Reece's mouth, and the wounds on his arms burst completely open.
Hissing, the black serpent lunged again. Reece fought with all his might to block it.
Faced with an enemy of such overwhelming strength, the broadsword finally gave way under the strain, snapping right down the middle.
Reece stared down at it in dazed shock. Before he could react, the serpent completely ran over his body, burying the sound of fracturing bones beneath the crumbling stone slabs.
Rate on N.U.
