The World Dragon's Heir

Chapter 390: Move Under Cover

As the day wore on, the rain seemed to get even worse.

"You know, with as bad as this storm is, it might be wise to move before it ends. If we move to another manor house on the far side of the army, we can get a third beacon set up. Then, we can use the evening to get dried out, and repeat it tomorrow, if it’s still raining." Dominic suggested.

As one, the adventurers turned to look at the pouring rain outside.

"While that is sound logic, actually going out there to make it to the next location is going to be the issue. We’ve got rain gear, but that wind is brutal." Wiz noted.

Amie shrugged. "I can put a barrier over the group to block the wind. As long as we stay low and close, nothing will notice us moving through the grass."

The big berserker got to his feet. "Alright, let’s get going before we lose motivation. Is everything packed up?"

Dominic nodded. "I cleaned up after dinner, so if you don’t have any dishes or belongings out, we’re good to go."

Everyone had packed up after their meal, in case it stopped raining. They all knew that they would need to move the moment that it did so that they could make it to another location before the monsters started getting active again.

Out into the storm, Dominic led the group, with Amie right at his side and a barrier over their heads that was muting the wind, but which did not stop the rain.

It wasn’t that she was incapable, but a dome of deflected rainfall in a storm this intense would surely be noticed from some distance away, whereas a group of adventurers crouched low in the long grass was far less threatening in the dim evening light of the storm.

So, miserable and wet, the team rushed to the location where the next Barony manor should be, five kilometres away, on what the map indicated was atop a terraced hill, the same way as many others were built, for the purpose of vineyards or other crops.

"There is someone in that building." Amie noted as they approached, creeping through haphazard corn crops.

"The question is if they’re unlucky, or if they’re enemies." Bella commented dryly, already knowing what the answer was most likely to be.

You would have to be insanely unlucky to be travelling the wilderness and just end up at a Barony Manor that was only a kilometre or two from an army of a hundred thousand monsters.

"Drop the spell, in case they’re sensitive to magic. All the shutters are closed, so they’re not looking out. I will sneak up and go say hello while everyone else hides in the field." Dominic offered.

The wind nearly battered them all to the ground when the spell was deactivated, but the lack of active spell use would make it harder for a mage to detect their approach, should that be who was hiding inside.

Dominic had to rely on the bonuses from [Monstrous Strength] to keep him moving, even when crouched low in the potato fields after he left the corn.

The wind was definitely stronger than it had been, and Dominic smiled as he felt the bite of magic on his skin as he passed through the wind barrier.

There were definitely mages in that building.

The sound of wood slamming against wood caught his attention, and Dominic carefully circled the house, using the stone wall around the yard to stay out of sight.

The back door was off its hinges, torn free by the storm and a faulty latch.

But Dominic didn’t move right away.

If it was a new development, someone should come to try to fix it, and that would give him the advantage of knowing his enemy.

After half a minute, someone finally came to the door and awkwardly pulled it back into place, then cast a [Repair Item] type spell on it that reattached the door to the hinges.

Someone in tattered Skiple Royal Academy Robes.

Dominic took advantage of the repaired door to rush forward and duck under the front porch, out of the rain.

Then, an alarm began to blare.

The mages inside must have set a perimeter around the building, and his approach had tripped the alarm. The noise was constant and blaring, a terrible setup for an alarm unless you were sleeping, which at least some of them obviously weren’t.

Above him, the shutter slammed open, and Dominic heard someone cursing with a heavy accent.

"If that was another damned Goblin tasked with passing us messages, I’m going out and killing that Ogre Lord." The voice complained.

"What Goblin would even make it here past the wind barrier? It’s probably one of those hounds again. The Yeti Clans have no respect at all, and they’re nearly as difficult to control as the Trolls were." A female voice countered.

"Just put a barrier up and get out there. Find what triggered the alarm." The man demanded.

With much grumbling, the woman retreated, and then a few seconds later, Dominic heard the front door open.

He could still see the man through the open shutter, so it was the female mage who had gone out into the storm. That would make this one the Elder of the Sect, and the priority target.

With one of his new pistols in his right hand, Dominic launched himself out from under the porch and into the open window.

The mage’s hands flared with magic, but Dominic was faster, and the pistol flashed just as the sound of thunder rolled across the plains.

Blood leaked from the mage’s forehead as Dominic pulled him out of the window, then dragged him under the porch. That should keep him for a second, while Dominic searched for the female.

Annoyed, the woman circled the house, looking out over the fields as the rain battered her barrier.

"Where the fuck are you? Get out here, you retarded green beast." She shouted as she rounded the corner near the back door.

She was on the final side of the house, and there was no sign of whatever had tripped the alarm.

It had to be fairly large, a cat or rabbit wouldn’t trigger the spell.

But she couldn’t see much through the rain on her barrier, and nothing was answering.

She turned the final corner, and was about to go back inside when she sensed something behind her.

"Nice day for fishing, isn’t it?" Dominic greeted her, and the mage froze in shock.

Then, his pistols flashed and her barrier shattered.

"No, please!" Were her last words before the pistols fired again, and Dominic had a second body to dump under the wooden back porch.