The Kicked Out S-Rank Appraiser Creates The Strongest Guild - Chapter 94

Chapter 94   Agility Seal

The “Grand Fire Dragon Fafnir” lay leisurely in the crater of the volcano, sensing Yugan’s approach.

A swordsman with terrifyingly high agility.

The scout report from the “Wyvern” described these traits of the approaching enemy.

The “Grand Fire Dragon Fafnir” surveyed its minions sleeping around it.

There were likely a hundred “Fire Dragons” that would awaken and come to its aid with a single roar.

However, would that be sufficient against an enemy with such high agility?

The mass of “Fire Dragons” could serve as a barrier and potentially limit Yugan’s speed, but it wouldn’t completely prevent him from landing a strike.

After some contemplation, the “Grand Fire Dragon Fafnir” took a dull, shining orb known as the “Dragon Core,” along with wolf flesh and bones, dragon scales, and its own blood, and immersed them in the magma.

After a while, a monster with dragon scales, wolf fangs, and supple limbs emerged from the magma.

A new type of dragon specialized in high agility had been born.

Dashing through the wasteland, Yugan arrived at the grey expanse at the base of the “Grand Fire Dragon Fafnir.” His sixth sense began to blare warnings.

(Danger!)

This intuition was honed from surviving countless battles.

It told him that more than just the “Grand Fire Dragon Fafnir” awaited him ahead.

A new threat was lying in wait.

(If I proceed, I’ll surely be killed!)

Moreover, the enemies weren’t only the “Grand Fire Dragon Fafnir” and its minions.

Even if he managed to escape them, he would still have to traverse the wasteland alone and face the thieves waiting beyond the “Metal Line.”

Surviving such tough battles, especially after fighting the “Grand Fire Dragon Fafnir,” seemed impossible.

Realizing this, Yugan turned and quickly retreated back the way he had come.

The “Grand Fire Dragon Fafnir” sensed that the approaching threat had retreated.

It seemed the enemy had detected its preparations just in time.

While pondering how they had been discovered, the “Grand Fire Dragon Fafnir” decided to release the newly created dragon species to pursue Yugan.

The monster, equipped with the legs of a wolf and the scales of a dragon, quickly scaled the cliff-like crater with its extraordinary agility and chased after Yugan.

At the mining site, the deputy of the “Crescent Knights” was being questioned by local adventurers.

They had noticed Yugan’s absence.

“Hey, what’s going on? Explain!”

“Why hasn’t Yugan shown up?”

“Calm down. Yugan will be back soon. He’s not far.”

“Then tell us, where did Yugan go?”

“That’s… something I can’t disclose…”

“Why can’t you tell us? This is suspicious.”

“Don’t tell me he ran off by himself?”

“Don’t joke around. Without Yugan, this alliance is just a ragtag group. How are we supposed to get back?”

“Please calm down. We guarantee your safety.”

The deputy, exasperated, tried to placate the local adventurers.

(Seriously, they’re useless but their demands are endless. Yugan, what were you thinking, going off alone in a situation like this?)

The deputy’s concern wasn’t just the locals’ unrest.

Even the young members of the “Crescent Knights” were growing increasingly irritated with the local adventurers’ attitudes, openly expressing their frustration.

At this rate, a clash seemed inevitable.

The deputy glanced towards the mountain peak.

Five days had passed since Yugan headed towards the summit.

By now, he should have encountered the “Grand Fire Dragon Fafnir,” but there was no sign of the expected clash between the S-class monster and the S-class adventurer.

(What on earth happened to you, Yugan? Don’t tell me you got taken down.)

While the deputy was worrying, a dark figure accompanied by swirling dust was approaching rapidly from above.

It was Yugan.

“Yugan! Thank goodness you’re safe!”

The deputy’s relief was short-lived as his expression quickly grew tense.

Yugan was drenched in sweat and gasping for breath, clearly having escaped from a life-threatening situation.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“No, but more importantly, are you okay? You don’t look well.”

“I’m fine. But we need to leave immediately.”

“What?”

“The minion of the ‘Grand Fire Dragon Fafnir’ is chasing me.”

(A minion of the ‘Grand Fire Dragon Fafnir’? Does that mean there’s another formidable enemy besides Fafnir and its ‘Fire Dragons’?)

“It’s likely an A-class monster. Dealing with it while fighting off the thieves will be a real challenge.”

(I underestimated it. Thinking I could take down the ‘Grand Fire Dragon Fafnir’ alone was foolish. It’s not something I can handle on my own.)

“We’re ready to depart at any moment.”

“Good. Let’s move quickly.”

The alliance, now rejoined by Yugan, hastily packed up their belongings and began descending the mountain.

The thieves attacked immediately.

The battle unfolded similarly to the previous encounter.

First, the ‘Fire Dragons’ attacked, and the ‘Crescent Knights’ engaged them.

From the other side, the thieves’ archers rained arrows down, and the local guild took up defensive positions.

One of the local adventurers blocked the incoming arrows with his shield.

(Haha, no matter how many arrows they shoot at us, they can’t harm us from this distance. As long as I keep my shield up, Yugan will take care of the rest. It’s easy work. Huh?)

As he peeked through the gaps in his shield, he saw a magical glint among the enemy’s archers.

Immediately, a fireball came hurtling towards him.

It pierced his shield and shattered his armor.

“Ugh, AAAAAAHHHHHH!”

The warrior took massive damage and writhed in agony on the ground.

The ores he was carrying scattered around him.

“What the hell was that!?”

“No way! The ‘Dragon Gauntlet’!?”

“Got him.”

Zain, the attack mage wearing the ‘Dragon Gauntlet,’ smirked as he saw his fireball hit the enemy warrior directly.

“How’s it feel?” Jamil asked.

“Pretty good. Raoul did a great job.”

“And the power seems adequate,” Jamil said, looking at the writhing warrior.

While Zain’s ‘Dragon Gauntlet’ might not have the same one-shot-kill power against a ‘Fire Dragon’ as Sein’s gauntlet, it was more than enough to pierce the shields and armor of the C-class warriors in the alliance and deal significant damage.

“Alright, take them down one by one.”

“Roger!”

Once again, the ‘Dragon Gauntlet’ spewed fire.

This time, it blasted away another warrior’s shield.

The alliance side erupted in chaos.

“Eek!”

“This is no joke!”

“The ‘Dragon Gauntlet’? We weren’t told about this!”

They were visibly shaken.

“Move aside! I’ll handle this!”

Yugan burst out, pushing through the line of local adventurers.

(I’ll take down that ‘Dragon Gauntlet’ user!)

The thieves quickly reacted.

“Yugan’s here!”

“Focus your attacks on him!”

A barrage of arrows rained down on Yugan.

He deflected the arrows with his sword as he advanced.

Jamil sensed a slight anomaly in Yugan’s movements.

(Just a bit, but his agility seems diminished?)

“Zain, try hitting Yugan.”

“Huh? Wasn’t my job to take down the shield-bearers?”

“I want to test something.”

“Alright, fine. Here goes.”

Among the rain of arrows, a fireball was shot towards Yugan.

“HAAAAAAH!”

Yugan sliced the fireball in half with his magic sword, Granir.

“Damn, he cut through the explosive spell.”

“The power of his magic sword is still formidable. We have no choice. Let’s retreat.”

Jamil and Zain turned their backs on the battlefield and fled.

“You think you can escape?”

Yugan pursued them with all his might, but unarmed thieves blocked his path.

“Yugan-san, we surrender.”

“Please take us as prisoners.”

“Get out of the way, damn it!”

Yugan kicked away the surrendering enemies clinging to him, but the attack mage equipped with the ‘Dragon Gauntlet’ had already disappeared from the battlefield.

(A high-agility attack mage, huh? Damn, that’s troublesome.)

Yugan felt his legs growing heavy as he came to a halt.

(Damn it. Running up and down the mountain at full speed has taken its toll.)

“Looks like we managed to shake him off.”

Zain spoke to Jamil, glancing over his shoulder.

“Yeah, the ‘prisoner decoys’ did their job well.”

“But don’t you think Yugan seemed slower this time?”

“Just a bit, but it seems he’s exhausted some of his agility.”

(I wondered what he was doing for those five days without moving, but it seems he ran into some trouble. If that’s the case… heh, maybe I can take down the double-S ranked Yugan with my own hands.)

As the alliance descended the mountain, they were attacked by the ‘Fire Dragons’ again.

This time from the left side.

(Fire Dragons from the left… which means the thieves must be on the right!)

Yugan sprinted to the right side, leaping over the formation before the enemies could shoot their arrows.

He pinpointed a vantage point suitable for shooting and saw the enemies appear just as expected.

(These idiots keep repeating the same attack. I’m not falling for it again!)

But instead of a rain of arrows, countless iron spikes flew toward him.

(? What is this?)

The spikes were about the size of acorns, with four spikes protruding to form a tetrahedral shape.

Yugan swung his sword experimentally, and the iron spikes were easily blown away by the force of his swing, falling to the ground with a series of soft thuds.

“Hah! You think this kind of thing can hurt me?”

Yugan continued moving forward without concern, but the thieves showed no intention of stopping as they scattered iron spikes everywhere.

(What are these guys doing? They should know that throwing this stuff won’t hurt me. And they’re throwing it in all the wrong directions. What are they—)

Yugan felt a sharp pain in the sole of his foot and stopped.

He saw that an iron spike had embedded itself in his foot, causing blood to flow.

(No way, are these caltrops?)

By the time he realized it, caltrops had already been spread all over the area.

“Damn it!”

Yugan tried to blow the caltrops away with the force of his sword, but it didn’t have much effect.

(Damn. They’re trying to limit my agility with this. But if that’s the case, shouldn’t they also have trouble approaching me?)

Contrary to his expectations, the thieves walked over the caltrops with ease, getting closer.

(No way. How can they walk on this spiked ground without a care? Could it be—)

The thieves were wearing thick, black, glossy shoes.

These were ‘Iron Feet,’ equipment that nullified the damage from caltrops.

The thieves armed with bows descended into the valley and aimed at him from close range.

Jamil, looking down at Yugan from a high vantage point, grinned.

“Heh. Now he’s trapped like a rat. Shoot him from all directions with arrows and fire magic!”

Arrows were now shot at Yugan from close range.

“Damn it.”

Yugan tried to move to avoid them, but more caltrops pierced his feet.

“Ugh!”

The pain in his feet increased, weakening his legs.

(Damn it. My agility keeps dropping…)

Yugan had no choice but to fend off the incoming arrows and fire magic with his sword.

The thieves began to show signs of unease.

“What? He’s still blocking our attacks?”

“Calm down. Shoot him from closer range. His sword can’t reach us here.”

The thieves moved closer, aiming to shoot from point-blank range.

However, they were now within Yugan’s striking range.

When Yugan swung his sword, the thieves’ bows shattered even though his blade didn’t touch them.

The magic sword Granir could strike enemies several meters away from its physical reach.

The thieves scrambled to distance themselves.

“Back off! Don’t get close to him!”

“Damn it! Even after limiting his agility, we still can’t take him down?”

Jamil clicked his tongue in frustration.

“Hey, this is bad. At this rate…”

“I know.”

While they were struggling with Yugan, the ‘Crescent Knights’ were finishing their battle with the ‘Fire Dragons’ on the other side.

If this dragged on any longer, he would receive reinforcements.

“There’s no choice. Forget Yugan. Target those cowards at the back. Deploy the warriors!”

Warriors equipped with ‘White Wolf’ armor, long spears, and ‘Iron Feet’ moved past Yugan and the archers, heading toward the local adventurers.

Yugan could only grit his teeth as he watched the enemy warriors pass by.

In his current state, with his agility compromised, turning his back on the enemy archers to help his allies was too dangerous, even for an S-class swordsman.

(I can’t just keep defending.)

Determined, Yugan charged at the enemy archers, stepping on caltrops and enduring the pain.

Soon, both sides were embroiled in a fierce battle, inflicting heavy casualties on each other.

Blood and broken equipment flew through the air, and screams and shouts echoed across the battlefield.

The alliance and the ‘White Wolves’ fought for hours, dealing significant damage to each other. In the end, they restrained themselves from total annihilation, leaving the battle unresolved.

Afterward, both sides had to protect their wounded, preventing further skirmishes as they descended the mountain, each wary of the other’s movements.

Eventually, they returned to the city.