Antagonist Protection Service-Chapter 181 - The Augury Tower (8)

181: The Augury Tower (8)

181: The Augury Tower (8)

‘――That’s six.’

Raising the Holy Sword from the freshly-cleaved corpse of one of the short furry monsters I decided to call ‘Gremlins’, I didn’t bother sparing the irritating bugger so much as a glance, instead moving my attention to the last of the lot that was the first to greet me upon my return.

Naturally, having witnessed all his brethren run down and slain, the little thing could do nothing but flee, doing its best to throw back poison gas grenades and shoot toxic darts in my way while it swung from vine to vine and jumped tree to tree.

Needless to say, such futile attempts weren’t the least bit threatening, and as I kept my intense gaze pinned to it, practically boring holes into its tiny back as it fled.

The reason I had never bothered using the Black Wisp was because of the jungle’s inconvenient layout making it impossible to shoot more than a certain distance without being blocked by something like vines, branches, tree trunks, or just a wall of thick plants.

For the Gremlins who liked to hide behind trees, up in branches and underneath brushes, there was no way I’d be able to hit them from dozens of metres away, and that was even excluding their tendency to run and jump around like monkeys, treating the impossibly difficult terrain of the jungle as their playground.

The same was true this time, although I probably could have gotten at least one good shot off if I tried.

But, I intentionally held it.

Because now I could carry out my plan to the highest chance of success.

‘Keep running, little shit.

You won’t escape for long.’

Inwardly, I restrained myself from going too hard after it, making sure the Gremlin was able to stay within a certain distance of me, but at the same time not get too far away that I was unable to sense it or catch up to it if I wished.

Maintaining that pace, I trailed it, slashing through plants and hopping over brushes for who knows how long, until eventually, the Gremlin’s intense and constant exertion must have been catching up to it, as its speed gradually faltered.

‘Reached your limit, huh?’

That was fine.

I covered a lot more distance than I expected, perhaps having got just a little used to dealing with the horrid, uneven ground filled with roots and plants I initially had a hard time not tripping over.

Before long, the Gremlin collapsed, crashing into the side of a tree and falling from exhaustion.

I, on the other hand, who managed my speed and worked to moderate my breathing from the beginning, still had more than enough juice left in me to keep going.

‘I think that’s as much as I’ll get out of this one.’

Casually approaching the fallen monster, I brought the Holy Sword down without much enthusiasm, swiftly ending its life.

Thereafter, shaking the blade to rid it of some of the blood that covered it, I took a seat on a nearby root and recovered my stamina, taking some cloth from Storage to wipe down the Holy Sword from blood in the meantime.

I had already spent some time cleaning it when I returned to Earth since it didn’t possess the same Automatic Cleansing property as the Villainous Blade, but the logic behind choosing to use this sword instead was for two reasons.

First, it now possessed Indestructibility, meaning no matter how reckless I was or what I did with it, the blade would never chip, which was invaluable.

I didn’t want to use the Villainous Blade against some smallfrys like these and wind up getting it accidentally damaged in an irreversible way, so that was one.

And secondly, I purely found it easier to wield the Holy Sword than the Villainous Blade.

Because the Holy Sword weighed next-to-nothing, it was light and easy to swing without requiring a lot of muscle and effort, and using it didn’t tire me out easily, whereas the Villainous Blade was unnaturally heavy perhaps due to the material, meaning my stamina would diminish far more rapidly if I used it.

Those were the two reasons why I decided to use the Holy Sword over the Villainous Blade, and I thought that was unlikely to change any time soon unless I grew physically strong enough to wield it without concern.

Well, or unless I was facing a Protagonist.

In any case, after resting in that place for a while, I was able to get back to full capacity without trouble.

Even after that, I waited, and before long―

Rustle~

―More prey had come.

‘Welp.

Time to get started.’

Standing up, I took up the Holy Sword and immediately took off, beginning the massacre once more.

This time, I managed to catch them quicker than even I expected, and all but one of them were put out like flies before thirty minutes had passed.

Again, I let it run a certain distance ahead of me while I measured my speed, “chasing” it down without much concern, and again, it collapsed a while later, promptly falling to the other side beneath my sword.

I repeated this process, which was undeniably mind-numbing, for just over a day.

‘…Hm?

Wait, is that…?!’

Ultimately, after letting the Gremlins lead me one-by-one, I caught a glimpse of something huge beyond the trees in the distance.

Blending in with the surroundings using camouflage, an entire Gremlin encampment was identified.

‘It worked…!’

Halting in my tracks, I activated Sneak and hid behind a tree as I watched the last Gremlin I had been trailing scurry off into the base hidden within a cluster of trees.

After all this time, I finally found what I was searching for.

Or well, I was completely confident that what I was looking for, the ancient relic, could be located within this Gremlin settlement.

Approaching slowly, I moved carefully to ensure that I wouldn’t be detected.

I didn’t think the Gremlins would be able to discover me when I was trying to hide like this, thanks to the Draconic Shadow’s presence concealment, but I couldn’t be too cautious.

Infiltrating the camp and confirming the existence of literally hundreds of Gremlins living there, I clenched my fists and gulped, slowing my pace even further.

There were a number of makeshift tents that made up the camp, and in the centre of it all, a shoddy structure bigger than them all stood.

‘There.’

Most of them were only big enough tents to shelter creatures less than half my height, but the one in the middle was like a two-storey house, indicating right away that it was a place of interest.

Sneaking closer, I successfully avoided all encounters, managing to slip inside the central tent without an issue.

Then, exploring the inside, where only a couple Gremlins could be found, I soon found it.

A stone orb, wrapped attentively in layers of cloth and leaves, and placed gingerly atop a leather cushion.