"About how many people?"
"Around thirty."
"No torches... I think it might be a guild."
There was no firelight in the direction Sigrdrífa indicated. For humans to gain vision like moon elves at night through their own skills alone was absolutely impossible, but they could achieve it through external means. For example...
"Night Owl Potion?"
The well-informed Trafalgar deduced the reason.
"What's that?"
"A potion that makes the user's vision like that of nocturnal animals... You know how some animals are active at night and rest during the day, right? They have special visual systems that allow them to function normally in low-light environments. As long as you take Night Owl Potion, nighttime activities won't be hindered by vision problems."
Night Owl Potion was fairly widely used among humans, and the cost wasn't high either. Setting aside small guilds, medium-sized guilds generally trained one or two [Alchemists] whose job wasn't combat but to provide sufficient potions for the guild to use during missions. For instance, Night Owl Potion didn't last the entire night, but continuous consumption was another matter, and there were no side effects either.
Over thirty adventurers simultaneously taking Night Owl Potion definitely wasn't a coincidentally gathered group of adventurers. Torches would make them more conspicuous during night.
They were probably trying to avoid exposure, but they really underestimated Sigrdrífa.
"What should we do, Anna? Should we take a detour?"
"Their position is right in our path..."
After Carol Cat asked, Sigrdrífa added her own observation.
Given the existence of [Detection] skills, adventurers' capture range couldn't be simply defined as their visual range. Sigrdrífa and I were fine, but Carol Cat and Lily's [Stealth] skills weren't outstanding. Especially Lily's stealth was only at novice level—adventurers with even modest detection abilities could easily spot Lily.
I couldn't carry anyone other than my master during stealth, which was why our escape had been so full of hiding and dodging.
...But we couldn't continue like this.
I made up my mind and made a request to Trafalgar.
"Lord Trafalgar, may I presumptuously ask how many people your mount can carry?"
"I have some status, so while my mount looks ordinary, it's actually a legendary steed. Endurance isn't a problem—carrying two people won't affect its speed at all."
After saying this, Trafalgar probably guessed my intention and added another comment.
"Plus one small child, I think, would be no problem at all."
"Then, could you please take Rifa and Lily?"
"Anna! You're going to..."
Sigrdrífa grabbed my wrist—she had misunderstood my meaning.
"I'll catch up to you all, don't worry, Rifa."
"Are you planning to... break through head-on?! But Anna, you're all alone..."
"Stop talking nonsense and get on the horse."
Trafalgar acted most swiftly. Without asking why, he directly picked up Lily and placed her on the legendary steed.
Sigrdrífa bit her lip. She chose to trust me, sitting behind Lily while also preventing her from falling off.
I gave Baron Trafalgar an instruction, and he immediately spurred his horse forward, charging straight toward the adventurer team.
I took a deep breath, then applied wind element magic to my feet.
Just like when I had escaped from Rothschild before, I launched myself into the sky.
Carol Cat had once explained that beastkin who climbed the steep Mount Olympus without using magic were honored as heroes. Climbing peaks in the game carried the same dangers as the real world—besides facing altitude sickness and harsh environments, you had to constantly watch out for...
Not falling to your death.
Occasionally players would stand at high places and use the fact that adventurers could revive at will to enjoy a so-called "leap of faith."
Apparently, the leap of faith came from a game from the previous century—gracefully jumping from high places, using soft materials like hay stacks as cushioning to land safely. Later, the requirement for safe landing gradually disappeared, and any death-defying high-altitude jump came to be called a leap of faith. (TN: Assassins Creed.)
The Eternal Pacificus was no exception. Whether players or adventurers, jumping from high places meant facing the consequences, and since adventurers could revive, they were slightly more likely to die from falls than NPCs.
After reaching a height that would guarantee killing any adventurer, I scattered my chains from the air like a goddess scattering flowers.
"Huh?!"
The adventurers looked up in unison. Thanks to the Night Owl Potion, they could see it was me clearly.
"Anna?"
"Then Amaryllis is..."
[Hook Lock]!
I used the Hook Lock skill on all thirty-plus adventurers simultaneously. Although I planned to use gravity to eliminate the adventurer group, thinking about it carefully, the game's physics were really strange. I wouldn't fall due to the adventurers' weight; instead, I could use the skill to pull them all into the air at once. I really didn't know what Sir Newton would think after seeing this scene.
To prevent any adventurers from using partial phase-shifting to escape, I wrapped each person with more than one chain.
"There are way too many chains!"
"This isn't realistic! Can someone even carry this many chains?"
"Never mind that—we're going to fall to our deaths! Quick, use Wind Wall!"
I retracted my chains, and the adventurers began falling one by one. Some adventurers tried to use wind magic enhancement like me to maintain themselves in the sky longer. Unfortunately, this required extremely high-level precise control. Several adventurers flailed around a few times before having to honestly fall down.
However, they could use Wind Wall as a barrier to avoid the fate of falling to their deaths.
But actually... I could deliver finishing blows.