Humanity Return

Ch. 139 – Situations and Plans

“T-thank you once again Young gentlemen have come to help this little guy..”.

Leinn and Roland looked back and saw the man who was rubbing his palms with a stiff smile on his face.

The man was none other than the Mayor and Head of the largest group of Precious Stone merchants in the city, the richest man in Adamant City, Brock.

“K-we didn't expect someone like you both would get us out of this..”.

Brock wiped away the sweat that had soaked his entire face while trying to hide his nervousness with his smile. He was not a novice trader who could not control his emotions, but standing in front of the two young men had managed to make him feel extremely nervous.

It could happen because the news of the two of them had spread throughout the entire Fire Sect Continent, having even reached the other four major cities. This was also because Roland's blond hair was very conspicuous and not many people with black hair could reach Rank B, let alone Rank A.

“What problems are there?”

“T-no! T-of course t-no m-problem!”

Brock immediately shook his head strongly after seeing Leinn raise one eyebrow, looking extremely panicked. Actually the two young men were indeed the reason he felt nervous, but a feeling of fear also appeared when he shifted his gaze slightly.

“Ruff..”

“Caw”

Two giant Beasts, a wolf and a golden bird could be seen just waiting there.

Contracted Beast belonging to Aura Flameheart, Wolf Beast Rufus. And...

“Stop, Cotton”

“Caw”

Contracted Beast of Roland Azure, Bird Beast Cotton.

Leinn only looked at the exchange for a moment before returning to look at the huge inlet in front of him with a faint smile.

“Ya already, I go first”

“Ya”

Leinn waved his hand at Roland who had already folded his hands while staring at the stone mountain in front of him as well.

Rufus is seen noticing Leinn is ready and goes straight after her, with her body rapidly shrinking.

Eventually the human and Beast pair disappeared into the mountain's entrance hall, leaving behind two humans and one Beast alone.

“U-um, will that Young Master be fine...? He does not look to bring any lighting”

“Yes. Better you also go and prepare to evacuate, because we do not know what could happen next”

“Caw”

“B-well! S-good luck!”

Brock instantly turned around and ran with all his might after seeing the golden bird suddenly walk up to the two of them, instantly joined the group of others waiting for him and started running away from the place as fast as they could.

Roland simply turned his head to make sure they left before returning to pay attention to the large stone mountain in front of him, with a flat expression.

Crackle..!

But the lightning sparks that emerged from his eyes showed his tarry spirit that started to overflow out. His gaze moved towards the golden bird that was looking at him with a curious expression.

“We'll wait here, stop whatever comes up from that mountain”

...

Mountain Crawler, one of the most dangerous types of Worm Beasts ever recorded in the history of the Gaiafell Continent. They have an earthworm-like shape, if the earthworm is enveloped by a stone armor that covers their entire body and has hundreds of teeth capable of chewing ordinary stone like tofu at the end of its head.

A lot of things led to them getting that position, one of them was their race that would definitely have the strength of a Rank B-early if it reached the mature level and would continue to grow stronger as long as they could find a suitable Precious Material within their territory.

One other greater thing is that they spend their lives in the ground, or rather in the mountains of rock. Hunters who wanted to hunt them only had the option of waiting for them to come out, something that might not happen for several months. Or get into one of the holes they made and search for them straight away, something that has taken the lives of many reckless Hunters.

Sudden avalanches, attacks from the ground they are exposed to or from the ceiling, or even hallways that suddenly change and mislead them. It was all very dangerous for an ordinary Hunter who did not have a suitable Gift...

“Huh? This... Rank B-early?”

Leinn pulled out his sword from the stone wall he had just pierced and from there, a two-meter-long worm slid out and fell on the ground, motionless.

“Ruff”

Rufus began to sniff the stone body for a while, then licked it once.

“Ruff-pfht!”

Before starting to sneeze, trying to remove the taste of the stone on his tongue.

Leinn sheathed back his sword while looking at the Mountain Crawler body in front of him, then started stroking his chin. In his heart he began to praise again Aura, remembering that the girl seemed to have an information warehouse inside her head.

“Hm..”

Leinn had already received some lessons from Aura over the past week and he had gained a new ability formed from perception and comparison, the Beast Strength Gauge.

The Mountain Crawler in front of him was currently at one level before reaching maturity but strangely, he already possessed Rank B-early ability. This could only happen if he consumed a high quality precious stone.

“Come Rufus”

Leinn began to walk down the pitch-black passage again while processing all the information. So now he was at his best with a bit of an almost certain problem, according to the scenario shown by Aura.

Aura only spent an hour to provide all the important information, because at that moment she knew that they only had three possibilities that still mattered about the state of Adamant City back then.

A state, where the city is still fine and Mountain Crawler is still nesting inside the mountain without making any trouble. This meant that they had come quite early and had a little leeway in time to clear the Beast Nest within that mountain.

Circumstances B, Mountain Crawler can at any time come out of the mountain in large numbers to attack the city. This meant that they did not have much time and could only try to complete the mission for a short while before retreating, turning the hunt into a city defense.

Then C, where the Mountain Crawler is out and it's been rampaging all over the city. This means they have failed to complete the mission and evacuation of the population is a top priority.

The city was intact, and the mountain walls were still intact as well was a relieving sight for Leinn and Roland. So now they're both working on Plan A, so,

“Where is he..?”

Roland stood guard outside, and Leinn looked for the leader of the group.