*sluuuurp*

Gotta love drinking oolong tea while gazing at a massive ruby bridge.

Why stress over a hypothetical theory like the thump-thump's supposed identity? All Disasters are crazy in the beginning, so why care now? It's stranger that Glavras and that chimera-armor Disaster didn't have any relationship to some myth or legends.

Ahh, the tea's delish...

It didn't take long for us to cross the bridge and store the carriage in a parking lot for them. I could have just placed it in the storage, but I'm too tired to attract more attention than needed. Especially when I found out that the Adventurers Guild offered free parking space for adventurers that are waiting to enter the city.

Oh, and the bicorns were sent back for the moment. No need to force them to stay when they got nothing to do here.

We arrived at a bad time, as the gate needed to be closed until tomorrow. Not that big of a problem, as we easily found an inn with rooms enough for us all. After checking in, we went into tourist mode, looking at the small city that had been formed around the gate. But, our group's more for dumplings than flowers, so we found a tavern that served outdoors so that Levi could join us.

"Ahh, this is life." - Garami

The menu was what I and Marc considered Chinese cousins, from stuff like noodle dishes to stir fry. Marc had a simple mild curry, while Mira tried out a ramen dish under Marc's recommendation. Lily wanted the Lion's Head dish but turned disappointed when she only got the pork meatball with vegetables. She still loved the dish, that glutton. As for me-

"As if. No one would order something like that if they enjoyed their life. What was that red mess anyway?" - Mira

...As for me, I tried out their authentic mapo doufu. It was one of the spiciest dishes in my second life, but it was better than I expected. So much for trying to break the isekai-cliche about all the food being delish. Well, Lily finished her dish in a hurry and got a taste of mine... that's the worst "ahh"-moment I've ever witnessed. 

"I get that Levi could survive it, but what trick did you pull?" - Marc

Our super-dragon was currently asleep beside our table after having eaten a mega-portion of the same mapo doufu. Both of us got curious when we saw it on the menu, so why's only me getting the burn for having eaten it? 

"Don't tell me you picked up [Fire Resistance] or something?" - Mira

"I didn't. The only new skill I have is the [Gutting] skill I picked up to help with my part-time job at the Guild's dismantler. That, and I upgraded some skills, like [DEX Enhancement (Small)] to normal." - Garami

I trained in many types of crafts as training for the Alchemist exam after all. My fingers still remember the pain from cutting myself while dismantling the hydra-turtles, or when I pricked myself while working at the tailor. Just as I was reminiscing about the good(?) times, that came up:

=====================================================================

Location Quest: [Zhū Què Bridge], Southen Invasion

Description:

A horde of Earth Elementals is approaching the Zhū Què Bridge. Take up arms and protect the bridge!

Quest giver: Machina Guardian, Vermillion

Objective:

• Defeat, or fend off, the Earth Elementals approaching the bridge: 0/361
• Defeat, or fend off, the Gnomes leading the Earth Elementals that are approaching the bridge: 0/4

Bonus Objectives (for each party):

• Defeat 10 or more Earth Elementals.
• Defeat 50 or more Earth Elementals.
• Defeat 100 or more Earth Elementals.
• Defeat 1 or more Gnome(s).

Individual rewards for completing the main objectives: 

• Vermillion's Feather.
• Monsters one has defeated in this Quest.

Rewards for completing bonus objectives:

• Defeat 10 or more Earth Elementals: 1 Earth Spirit Stone
• Defeat 50 or more Earth Elementals: 1 Fenghuang Tower Shield
• Defeat 100 or more Earth Elementals: 1 Skill Scroll: [Revival Flames]
• Defeat 1 or more Gnome(s): 1 Spell Scroll: [Earthquake]

=====================================================================

"Huh? What's that?" - Lily

"Welcome back. And I don't know." I said to Lily, who had finally woken up after the mapo-shock.

"I know, I know! It's a specialty of Baoshi's four gate bridges! Each bridge has three roads leading to the bridge, and sometimes monsters gather an army to assault the bridge through one of those roads. The four Machina Guardians are more than enough against them, so they let adventurers take a crack at the monsters first." - Mira

"You sure are knowledgeable about this." - Marc

"I missed an attack when I traveled through the first time, so now's the time for revenge!" - Mira

"But Earth Elementals, aren't they living rocks? Won't your weapons break on them?" - Garami

"Let's skip this fight!" - Mira

Too easy. The other adventurers didn't feel the same, as they stormed to the other side of the bridge to set up barricades and wait for the Elementals.

"Hmm? Isn't the rewards a little weird?" - Lily

"The monster-part is because monsters defeated may fall from the bridge, so they added the corpses each individual has beaten to the reward chest. The more one contributes to the Quest, the more rewards one gets. That feather-thingy is something always given, a type of material item. The other Guardians gives something similar each time. And the bonus rewards are based equally on the monsters attacking, and the Guardian of the area." - Mira

"Hmm, is that so?" was my only reaction, as I focused on the adventurers storming across the bridge. 

"What if they fail to fend off the monsters?" - Marc

"Then it's the Guardian's turn to shine, so there's no biggie even if you fail the quest. There won't be any rewards in that case, so people's serious about winning." - Mira

"Really? Then why are even the guards participating?" - Garami

Several guys wearing the same Chinese armor were amongst the participants. Unlike the more carefree adventurers, the supposed guards had some grim faces. The people dressed in the Adventurers Guild's uniform shared this trait, so something must be up here.

"Huh? Oh, you're right. Wonder why?" - Mira

=====================================================================

Location Quest: [Zhū Què Bridge], South-Western Invasion

Description:

A horde of Zhu Rens is approaching the Zhū Què Bridge. Take up arms and protect the bridge!

Quest giver: Machina Guardian, Vermillion

Objective:

• Defeat, or fend off, the Zhu Rens approaching the bridge: 0/288
• Defeat, or fend off, the Zhu Jurens leading the Zhurens that are approaching the bridge: 0/2

Bonus Objectives (for each party):

• Defeat 10 or more Zhu Rens.
• Defeat 50 or more Zhu Rens.
• Defeat 100 or more Zhu Rens.
• Defeat 1 or more Zhu Juren(s).

Individual rewards for completing the main objectives: 

• Vermillion's Feather.
• Monsters one has defeated in this Quest.

Rewards for completing bonus objectives:

• Defeat 10 or more Zhu Rens: 1 Ash-Bird Gauntlet
• Defeat 50 or more Zhu Rens: 1 Spell Scroll: [Summon: Zhu Ren]
• Defeat 100 or more Zhu Rens: 1 Spirit Bamboo Spear
• Defeat 1 or more Zhu Juren(s): 1 Great Growth Regalia

=====================================================================

"Another one?!"

The adventurers couldn't stop themselves from shouting out loud when the second Quest was revealed.

"Wow, that's rare. Two paths at the same time." - Mira

"Hey, what's the monsters this time?" - Lily

"To put it simply, they're bamboo men. Like dolls made of bamboo canes for the trunk, limbs, and head." - Garami

Still nothing too interesting. A Growth Chimera can't attain the abilities of plant-type monsters, and the rewards ain't that good for us either, so we have no reason to charge in. Despite that...

"Excuse me, are you the members of the Adventurer Party Ignis Fatuus?" - Guild member

And yup, just as expected. 

"...Panda?" - Marc

The guy who had asked us just now the panda beastkin that had helped me with finding a place to park the carriage. 

"If you wouldn't mind-["But we do, so no thanks." - Garami]-would you... what?" - Guild member

"Hey, why not listen to him before refusing?" - Marc

"Because it's definitely gonna be something like asking us to participate in the Quest. Right?" - Garami

"Y-yes, just as you say. The rumors of Ignis Fatuus has reached our humble settlement, and we want to ask if you could assist us. The numbers of monsters are a little higher than we had expected, and with the gate closed, we cannot expect reinforcements any time soon." - Guild panda

"Sorry. We're here for business and recreation. We have already taken care of that serial killer bear, be happy with that." - Garami

The bounty for the bear was big enough to provide us a few weeks, and the mentioned rewards ain't good enough of a reason to start warring again so soon.

"In other words, the great Champion of Alvatria needs more than some simple Quest rewards if you want her to move." - Mira

Ooh, nice follow up. Mira's good at catching my drift with these types of plans.

"Well, that is..." - Guild panda

"Uhm, excuse me. You don't need to pay them for help if you can't afford it. That big bird is the Guardian of this town, so why not have it take care of the monsters?" - Marc

That idiot! Don't you know how to do negotiations? But he's not wrong, there's no need for the Guild to ask us for help if they have that Vermillion bird. And why's the panda turning white when Marc asked him? The others may not notice it cause of his fur, but with [Magic Sense] I can see that he's turning anxious. 

=====================================================================

Location Quest: [Zhū Què Bridge], South-Eastern Invasion

Description:

A horde of Dahus is approaching the Zhū Què Bridge. Take up arms and protect the bridge!

Quest giver: Machina Guardian, Vermillion

Objective:

• Defeat, or fend off, the Dahus approaching the bridge: 0/430
• Defeat, or fend off, the Baphomets leading the Earth Elementals that are approaching the bridge: 0/5

Bonus Objectives (for each party):

• Defeat 10 or more Dahus.
• Defeat 50 or more Dahus.
• Defeat 100 or more Dahus.
• Defeat 1 or more Baphomet(s).

Individual rewards for completing the main objectives: 

• Vermillion's Feather.
• Monsters one has defeated in this Quest.

Rewards for completing bonus objectives:

• Defeat 10 or more Dahus: 1 Dahu Leather Armor
• Defeat 50 or more Dahus: 1 Skill Scroll: [Fall Resistance]
• Defeat 100 or more Dahu: 1 Fenghuang Armor
• Defeat 1 or more Baphomets: 1 Baphomet Horn Staff

=====================================================================

A third one?! That's all three roads then! And they're led by Baphomets? That's the worst! The other bosses were rank D, but these are at rank C!

The panda from the Guild looked like he was ready to faint when he saw the new Quest, and others looked like they were ready to skip town if not for all the roads being blocked by either the gate or the monster hordes.

"This... is bad." - Garami

"Aw come on! If Garami's giving up, then we're all outta luck! Don't you have anything against those Baphomets? They're demons like you." - Mira

"That doesn't mean I have some advantage over them." - Garami

What to do? The rocks are easy to beat, the bamboos are even easier, as I have a trump card against them, but the third group is a little too much. Especially when they're charging in at the same time as the other groups.

Dahus are simple goat monsters, so even the normal adventurers won't have a problem against them normally. But if the Baphomet enhances the Dahus with their magic, then the tide's gonna turn on them. We gotta take out those guys first, or there won't even be a ghost of a chance.

"...I think I have an idea or two." - Garami

"Really?!" - Mira, Lily, & Marc

"However, as said before, my services won't come cheap. 10.000 sol, plus free services from the Baoshi's Guild's dismantlers for a week." - Garami

"Y-yes ma'am! If that is all you wish for, we will gladly pay you for it!" - Guild panda

Score. The dismantling of Glavras was gonna cost a fortune, but now they're gonna do it for free. And an extra gold to boot! I jumped out of my seat and walked to the adventurers that had stopped their march to the three roads on the other side of the bridge.

"Alrighty, which of you guys are the leaders here? I got some nasty plans I wanna include you guys too, and you're gonna love them." - Garami

---

Half an hour later, the southern road.

It didn't take long for the adventurers to notice the Earth Elementals. The giants of rock covered the whole road while they marched towards the bridge.

"Visuals confirmed. Initiate operation 'Bowling Ball'." - Adventurer Leader

The adventurers moved away from the road. The Earth Elementals didn't care about the sudden change in the adventurers, nor could they figure it out. The gnomes leading the Elementals, on the other hand, looked at the adventurers, trying to figure out the reason for their movements.

Their doubts were instantly answered, by a large grey mass that came rolling down towards the Earth Elementals.

As the Elementals took up all of the road's space, they had no other choice than to take up defensive stances in hope of surviving the collision with the rolling entity. However, the mass suddenly caught fire, while lightning sparkled from it as well, along with something that looked like miasma.

The Earth Elementals couldn't even stop the mass' momentum as it broke through all the Elementals in its path. The Gnomes seeing this tried to jump out of the way, but the rolling mass changed course, aiming for the two Gnomes that had jumped to the left. Needless to say, the Gnomes were crushed, but they also managed to stop the rolling entity.

The surviving two Gnomes looked towards the adventurers with murder in their eyes, only to be hit with a blast of fire, lightning, poison, and miasma. The rolling entity, Levi the Undead Dragon, had given the remaining Gnomes her special quadruple-attribute breath when they had lowered their guard towards her.

However, the Gnome isn't a rank D earth-attribute Elemental for nothing. Without the physical force of her rolling, Levi didn't have the power to one-shot the Gnomes. However, two of them were more than enough. Levi, pleased with a job well done, ran back to the top of the road, dodging the fists of the Earth Elementals and the Earth Magic spells of the Gnomes, and passed by the adventurers, armed with hammers and other blunt weapons, who were ready to finish her job for her. As her master said, "we need to share with the rest if we want to stay on a good foot with them."

---

At the same time as Operation "Bowling Ball" started, at the south-western road.

The bamboo men came swarming up the road. They looked like how Garami described them, as dolls made of bamboo canes. They had some hollowed spots where their eyes should be, but only a red light flashed there.

"Scary, scary, scary, scary!" - Marc

"Man up already. That's nothing against a real undead. Everyone, ready for the plan?" - Mira

"Yes!" - Magician adventurers

"Big ones! There are some big ones there!" - Marc

"Must be the two boss monsters that Garami talked about. Don't care, flush them away!" - Mira

"Massive Create Water!"

All of us who could use Water Magic used our spells at the same time, creating a small flood on the mountain road. The bamboo men were either washed away or stopped dead in their tracks while they waited for us to run out of MP.

"Alright Marc, your turn!" - Mira

"Argh, alright then!" - Marc

Marc pulled out the key to our plan from his [Demonic Vault], and-*Clang!*-what the!?

"S-saved by the barrier!" - Marc

One of the giant bamboo men had their hand shoot out like a spear, but Marc's skill, [Great Guard], had automatically activated, blocking the rocket bamboo-spear. A skill that blocks an attack a certain number of times a day's too strong, but this is Marc we're talking about. He needs it more than any.

"Don't just stand there, throw it already!" - Mira

"*sniff*, take this!" - Marc

The item that Marc threw crashed into the water stream created from the many Massive Create Water spells, and when it did, a magic circle appeared from it, releasing the move Garami had stored into it.

"Now go! Hydra!!" - Mira

The poison dragon charged towards the bamboo men, gaining a bigger body mass from the water stream until it had turned into a tidal wave of poison, mercilessly poisoning the bamboo men that came in contact with it to death.

"Hawawawawawa..." - Marc

Show some guts already. You arrived in this world just a few days ago, and you're already mass-murdering rank E and above monsters. Don't get freaked out cause some plant monsters are rotting before your eyes. ...Okay, you can freak out a little.

=====================================================================

EXP has reached the required amount.

Mira Aureola has reached LV39

Life attributes have been recovered.

All basic attributes have increased.

0.3 skill point(s) acquired.

 

EXP has reached the required amount.

Mira Aureola has reached LV40

Life attributes have been recovered.

All basic attributes have increased.

0.3 skill point(s) acquired.

 

Mira Aureola has reached the max level.

3.0 skill point(s) acquired.

 

Conditions satisfied.

Mira Aureola can now evolve.

Number of evolution options: 4

 

Conditions satisfied.

Acquired title [Plant Slayer]

=====================================================================

......IT CAAAME!!

---

After the operations, "Bowling Ball" and "Mountain Hydra", the south-eastern road

A sudden announcement that told me that my level had increased again told me that the other three had fulfilled their jobs. Just the right time, cause here comes the goats.

They looked no different from regular goats, except that they changed the length of their limbs as they walked. Behind them came the Baphomets. They looked like the illustrations back in my world, with a large, human body covered in black fur, with a goat's head and lower body, and black, bat-like wings.

I waited a little bit to make sure some of the Baphomets were in the line of fire, and... rocks away!

*Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-bang!*

The many sigils I had made on the mountain wall exploded due to the Detonation spell I had stored in them. A massive piece of rock broke off from the mountain wall and landed squarely on the three Baphomets that were in the front lines.

=====================================================================

EXP has reached the required amount.

Garami has reached LV17

Life attributes have been recovered.

All basic attributes have increased.

0.5 skill point(s) acquired.

 

EXP has reached the required amount.

Garami has reached LV18

Life attributes have been recovered.

All basic attributes have increased.

0.5 skill point(s) acquired.

=====================================================================

And another level up. Thank you Baphomets. No worries, I'm gonna give you some companions for your trip to the next world. I jumped down from the mountain wall which I had climbed on while using the Hologram spell to conceal me. I landed on the boulder that had crushed the Baphomets and looked towards the remaining two of them.

"What's the meaning of this?! You, spider demon! Is this your work?" - Baphomet (idiot)

"Well, duh? I got some help with this though. Never underestimate Architects. That is if you ever get the chance to any other bad deeds." - Garami

With that, I threw a Flashbang into the sky as a signal for the adventurers to charge at the Dahus. Now, time to go Demon Slayer on these guys!