All five walked the beaten road, passing by the stacks of neatly cut cobblestone, undoubtedly prepared for pawing it, without anything bothering them.
Honestly, that was a rather lucky turn of events, as it wouldn't be unusual for travelers to have at least one or two encounters on their way.
As they approached the foot of the mountains surrounding Koboldia, the five travelers were greeted by a sight none expected.
First, it seemed that the Kobolds built a wall alongside the mountaintops, significantly increasing the defenses of their settlement.
Secondly, a tunnel must have been dug under the mountain for the convenience of travel in and out of the settlement.
And lastly, two bulky but short tower-like structures were on both sides of said tunnel…
"...?"
…the towers that sprung to life, with mechanical sound, turning around and unfolding in a complicated manner until they were pointing towards the surprised travelers.
"Hey… is it just me, or do they look kind of like some weird cannons…?"
Melinda furrowed her brows, staring through the open rail at the round stone tablet with intricate symbols carved into it like some sort of wheel of fortune on the other side.
*CLICK*
Suddenly, the stone tablet with symbols moved, rotating slowly until it locked in place, and the symbols aligned with the rail lit up with brilliant red light.
"Hold up…!"
*WHOO* WHOO* WHOO* WHOO* WHOO* WHOO*
Zane perked up, raising one hand towards the construction, but the next moment, the fully automatic autonomous magic turrets began an indiscriminate onslaught of fireballs.
"!!!"
With Melinda leaning back with a shocked expression, Zane had barely any time to step in front of her, covering her with his body in the wake of…
*THUMP*
"ST-ONE RAMPART!"
Catherine stomped her foot and roared through her stutter, casting a spell that erected a massive wall between their group and the magic turrets, sealing the latter one off together with the entrance to the tunnel.
While she was focused on the front, her back was covered by Ross, who turned the opposite way with his shield raised and the steel mace at the ready.
"...whew…"
As the fireballs exploded against the barrier, causing the stone to tremble but hold up regardless, the black-haired girl slouched as she breathed out.
"I… I th-thought th-this was a f-fr-friendly settlement…"
Catherine mumbled timidly, looking at Melinda with a confused expression.
"I-it is! It is! Isn't it, Zane?!"
"I have no idea what could have happened. During my last visit around two months ago, everything was normal."
The flustered gold-haired girl cried out and looked up at her monstrous companion, who shook his head, no less shaken than she was.
"They also did not have access to the type of knowledge necessary for constructing something like that."
He added with his expression turning grim.
"...!"
While others didn't quite understand the meaning behind that statement, Melinda's face turned pale, and her eyes widened.
"...that's it… I'm carpet-bombing their whole continent…!"
"No, no, no, no, no!"
The gold-haired girl clenched her teeth, leaning down and scooping a handful of dirt and small stones with rather clear intentions of using them as projectiles, but the panicking Zane hurriedly grabbed her wrist.
"Wh-what is going on…?"
The situation turned so bizarre that Bjorki stopped crying and asked, looking between the other four as if she was watching a speed-up tennis match.
"If Sophia or one of her lackeys dared to even BREATHE at one of those girls…!"
"INCOMING!"
Melinda bared her teeth in a furious growl but shouted over her, shifting his weight to brace for an impact.
"!!!"
The next moment a smudge of yellowish-brown marked the path of a projectile that shot out from the path they had to their current spot, with no warning or the sound of a launch.
*WHAM*
"BHH-HH…!"
Ross's shield was struck by the sandstone-colored ball that matched its size, causing the hooded Pigkin Orc to let out a strained snort…
"BU-HIIIIIIIII!"
*WHAAM*
…before gritting his teeth and shield-bashing it to the ground with a spirited growl…!
"UGH-agh…!'
The projectile turned out to be a kobold who unrolled inside the small crater her impact created and whimpered, all incapacitated and wobbly.
"HMPH!"
"DON'T!"
Ross breathed out steam from his nostrils and followed up the shield bash with a powerful downward swing of the steel mace, marginally faster than Melinda could scream out…
*twack*
"...!!!..."
The next moment, though, a giant hand with pale fingers, thin and long like the legs of a spider, blocked the attack, and the Pigkin Orc froze up with goosebumps and cold sweat all over his body caused by some horrifying presence just behind his back.
*plop* *ksssss*
A line of drool dropped from somewhere above Ross's shoulder, and it started melting the ground the moment it touched it…
"..."
Ross slowly breathed in and out, staring at the palm that stopped his mace and wasn't injured or even scratched in the slightest.
It's unnerving proportions that were all wrong, the forearm connecting to an elbow that then connected to another forearm, and then another elbow… several elbows, actually…
"...!"
After swallowing his saliva, Ross slowly looked up...
Facing the owner of the freakish arm. A pale-skinned, white-haired monstrosity whose parted lips appeared to go all around its head showed rows upon rows of jagged teeth the length of combat knives and a pair of distorted tower-shield-sized venomously green eyes that seemed completely void of any reason…!
"Shhe thold yhou… to nhot athack…"
"..."
The monstrosity that could swallow the Pigkin Orc in a single bite wheezed, and the sensation of its scorching breath caused Ross to shiver and huddle up in horror.
"AAACK! W-WH-WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE?!"
"..."
Bjorki's shrill caused the monstrosity's attention to shift from the Hooded individual to her.
The humongous creature twisted itself back, making it seem as if its ribcage was as segmented as its arms, and then…
"Whaht ahh yhou lhoohing ath…?"
"H-hiiiii…!"
The monstrosity asked, opening its jaws much wider than before and revealing the reason for its broken speech - it didn't really have a tongue. Instead, inside its mouth, a pair of meaty, skinless arms with three clawed fingers each was growing out from the depths of its throat in its place - causing the disguised girl to let out a high-pitched scream as she plopped to the ground with her knees buckling down, and began to crawl back unable to face away from the nightmarish creature.
"Zane! She's looking at you because you are clearly losing control!"
"!!!"
But before the situation turned from a nightmarish sight into a scene of carnage, the gold-haired girl stepped in front of the trembling Bjorki and called out with a flustered expression, making the monstrosity flinch.
"N-no! I swear that I'm still in control!"
In a blink of an eye, the monstrosity was gone, and in its place, Zane rushed over to Melinda and assured her in a hurry.
"..."
"Believe me."
Melinda lowered her gaze with an upset expression but said nothing, resulting in Zane leaning all the way down to look up at her face and say with a reassuring smile.