The Path of a Black Sheep in a Fantasy World (BL)

Chapter 73

Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) by Journey~

The village outer circle, where the trio was currently running on roof, was meager and dry, speaking of centuries of abusive agriculture practiced. The huts-like houses were scattered around like the spare hairs left on a head starting to suffer from baldness. The construction was mediocre at best, seemingly realized in haste and poorly done so.

The inner circle of the village, while not exactly the most extravagant structural realization ever done, had at least more charm than the outer circle. The house somewhat looked more robust and it could be seen that a certain pattern had been thought of when putting them so close to each other, contrary to the outer circle.

The houses were still of friable materials though, looking like a gust of wind could blow them away, but they could support their weight well enough.

No animals nor humans could be seen nor heard, apart from the giant snake, which made the little family wonder if they had fallen into a trap, but soon enough, they could see villagers running silently on their tip-toe in the labyrinth-like village. It looked like the village was mostly composed of elderly people, dressed in rags like Ash was.

While they must have been receiving a support fund with the powerful monster living beside their village, which was a rule of the adventurers' guild, it looked like those people were big spenders. Adam could easily guess where the amount bestowed by the guild went each year, into sacrifices. The support fund may look tempting, but it was nothing but a meager amount sent to shut up the villagers' mouth.

It was easily spent buying slaves, and then the rest seemed to be used for food and the like. With how barren the lands were, and with the lack of live-stock, the village didn't seem like it had a steady income.

Adam ended his mental analysis of the village, coming to the conclusion that it was truly a shitty one. He already knew that once they would have killed the snake, the villagers would probably chase them away angrily, as they wouldn't receive the support fund anymore, not caring that their lives were in danger. He knew those types of people well, they preferred to wallow in self-pity and play the victim instead of trying to change their life.

Some people just didn't want to be helped.

"We will round it up from all sides and try to lead it outside of the village. Be cautious of the poisonous gas!" Adam shouted as Evan and Blaze, in his fox form, followed him up on the houses' roofs. The giant and the fox nodded, all three of them separating to surround the giant black snake. Their priority for now wasn't to defeat the beast, it was to rescue the villagers trapped in the poison.

They all still felt like they didn't deserve to be rescued after abusing Ash, but they had to compromise for now.

Adam easily spotted the snake, the monster bending down at ground level to try and swallow up some bastard. The beast grew frustrated however, as its head was too big to pass in small alleys, where the villagers were hidden. By the time it succeeded in breaking down the stone walls, the villagers had headed into another alley. They may be assholes, but they were smart, kind of.

Adam could see from his height that they wouldn't last that much longer as the numbers of alleys were limited, the village of small stature.

He was worried about the poison, but looking closely at their face, he could see a strange mask on their face's lower half. They must have developed a strategy if the snake ever attacked them. Still, with the way most villagers were starting to weaken, it wouldn't make them escape this confrontation alive.

It also made Adam's hair bristle as he realized that Ash hadn't worn this mask when he had run away to call for help. The kid hadn't seemed sick, but he should make sure that he wasn't infected when all this would be over.

The wind picked up, making dead leaves rustle as the poison spread further.

Adam ran above roofs, his feet nearly dancing as he avoided holes and obstacles on the poor structures. He inclined his body as he jumped from buildings to buildings, trying to go as fast as he could toward the snake.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Evan doing the same, coming toward the left side of the snake. To end the formation, Blaze was running behind the snake. Adam himself was at its right. They had practiced this kind of tactic a few times, but against smaller monsters. It was unknown whether this would work against such a beast. It looked like an A-Rank monster, maybe even a special class because of the poison. If monsters had unusual abilities, it could get a Special grade, which meant that it wasn't as strong as an S-Rank, but could be as dangerous and deadly.

Adam saw Evan waving at him, signaling toward a corner of the town. Squinting his eyes, the warrior saw a path that could be used to lead the snake away from the villagers and then attack him from above. He nodded, satisfied with this exit.

He passed the message along to Blaze and the family adjusted its formation to lead the snake toward the trap.

The first blow would be the testing blow, which meant that Adam, the quicker of them, would deal it. They couldn't be sure how the snake would react when attacked, it could try to avoid the pain and put distance between him and the foe, or it would feel insulted and try to attack its opponent. Their strategy would be adapted after knowing which one of the two behaviors it would exhibit.

Adam unleashed his spear and charged it with ice magic. He concentrated all the power at the tip only, forming a ball of churning magic. He had practiced on the journey new ways to use the spear. He had found out that it could be used as a catalyst to form stronger spells.

He pointed his spear at the snake's head, aiming at its eye. It would be great if he could blind it from one side. After making sure that the path ahead of him was straight and wouldn't make him trip, Adam unleashed the spell at the snake, his body recoiling from the aftermath.

A solid ball of ice mana flew toward the snake.

Hey dear readers, the fight started!

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(1 094 words)