Chapter 38 - The Tarragon Army

After inspecting the exterior of the structure, Adam turned to look over his shoulder and saw Aaron and Thalia cautiously walking around. The bizarre sight of pierced demons had stunned them to the core. After confirming that this is not an illusion, the duo brought the survivors outside.

It was then the entire crowd realised their geographical location.

Sandwiched between two mountains, the stronghold was long and stretched beyond their sight. The red soil supporting the raw stone constructs resembled the old-time settlements of human. Like a loosely-knit village, these orderless piles of rocks and stone reflected the wild and bestial attitude of the otherworldly residents.

Without wasting a moment, Aaron and Thalia guided the crowd into each building to salvage what they can obtain. Finding their rush to seek shelter natural, Adam stepped into the doorless crude construct.

"Simple yet sturdy construction." Adam nodded in appreciation as he walked into the chamber. The primitive arrangement of stones stacking over one another and interlocking them in a bizarre pattern was a sight to behold.

Even while touring across Earth, he hasn't come across such a visibly obvious yet structurally complicated method of the edifice. Adam evaluated as he applauded in his heart. At that moment, his solo journey across all the historical locations on Earth spanning over centuries flashed before his eyes.

"This world is indeed bizarre." What can he say about a world where the savage tribes depending on their brute strength possess intelligence enough to rival the buildings of the civilised races.

The dark room was a simple structure with very little illumination. Inside, there was some crude wooden clubs and shields piled up in a corner. But the most eye-catching feature was something else.

"Stairs."

With scotopic vision, Adam peered through the darkness and caught the sight of a set of steps going down into the ground. It wasn't guarded and was crudely constructed.

Prior to entering, Adam had already executed a Detect glyph. The only fiend standing guard for the storeroom was illustrated with an earth spike entering its ass and exciting its mouth.

With this knowledge, the earthling stepped into it.

Descending the stone-paved stairs, Adam entered a room that fitted the old mercenary's description of the storeroom.

"An entire heap...of weapons and armours."

Adam's eyes were wide upon witnessing a mound of metal objects. Swords, sabres, spears, glaives, whips, bow and arrows, shields... You name it, they were in that bundle.

Ranging from rusty old artefacts to polished unused instruments, the presence of Cold-Iron and Mythril armours among the pile elated Adam's heart. Rather than jumping into the stack, Adam returned to the surface and conveyed his finding.

"Lead the way, brother." The knight commander's attitude softened at once.

Aaron was initially astonished when Adam notified that he found the storeroom. Suppressing his disbelief, he asked the searching to lead the way and the crowd followed suit.

In the presence of the survivors, Adam couldn't execute the glyphs. That would give birth to suspicion of unknown magic never seen before. Even if they promised to never speak of it, we are considering humans and other races here. Well known for betrayal and backstabbing despite being civilised, Adam decided not to extend any magical support. But he did guide the disabled physically.

Once they entered the underground storeroom, they found themselves standing inside a well-lit area. Something was shedding light in the inside of the chamber and it was undetectable to the crowd's eyes.

At the first glance of the weapons and armoury, the crowd went bonkers and leapt ahead. The rustling and rattling of metal reverberated in the chamber and Adam instantly retreated to the surface, to check whether any person is roaming around.

This was the only disadvantage of Detect. It only conveyed the position of an object or a person at that very instant. If one is dealing with moving targets, then the method was no longer feasible.

Footsteps came to a halt near the large doorframe of the room. Adam leaned onto the wall while his eyes and senses scanned around. A faint smile of content bloom on his face as he appreciated the efficiency of the glyphs.

If not for such overpowered assistance, defeating a large number of fiends and spectres would only result in casualties of the innocent. Adam could never guarantee his own safety at such an event.

The jangle of weapons was fading in time and Adam peeked over his shoulder with his arms resting on his hip. At the same time, a series of footsteps approached him.

"I didn't have a chance to know your name." Thalia initiated the conversation with a smile. Adam scanned her from head to toe and detected a new pair of knight boots and thorn gauntlets along with a second sword strapped to her waist.

"Adam." It was clear as to why she's taking an endeavour to converse. Since it was Adam who found the storeroom, she couldn't afford to display disrespect and decided to exchange a few words.

"A one-word name. Are you perhaps a mercenary or an orphan?" Thalia had a tinge of curiosity in her voice.

Adam shook his head and replied, "Not a mercenary but an orphan wanderer. Travelling from place to place. I got dragged into this mess accidentally."

Thalia didn't reply anything and slowly took a step backwards. Her actions displayed hesitancy to continue the dialogue and Adam followed suit. He turned back to face the outside with his hands clasped behind his back.

"Stat-"

Adam was about to summon his status to see his development when a deafening cry resounded in the air.

ROAR!!

Adam had to admit that his nonexistent soul almost flew out of his body. A quick glance at Thalia conveyed that the elf soldier was visibly pale from the bellow alone.

A second later, something appeared in the distant sky like a black dot. Even after almost a minute, it remained the same. It was around that moment that Thalia realised what that was.

"The army!"

The exclamation barely escaped her throat as she pulled Adam to the inside of the room. The abrupt drag destabilised his footing and he fell on his rear. He quickly caught the sight of the trembling female's hands through the corner of his eyes.

"Thalia." Adam placed his hand over the elf's clenched fist and spoke softly. "Can you tell me what that is?"

The collected voice of request calmed her wildly beating heart as she stared at Adam. Taking a couple of breaths, she finally spoke, "That's the worst thing you could ever encounter in the Stygian Realm.

The Tarragon Army."

Adam felt an ominous premonition tingling in his heart as he heard her voice emphasising the term 'The Tarragon Army'. He grew curious and probed.

"Until a decade ago, we only knew about the fiends and the spectres. One day, an army entered our reality. Their strength and physique were on a whole new level when compared with the fiends.

The overworld named them the Tarragons.

At least 3 or 4 metres tall and housing an almost endless supply of stamina, these bipedal-beast hybrids were a walking catastrophe. And what makes matters worse are not their constitution but their ability to use magic."

"Magic? You mean..." Adam couldn't complete his words as Thalia interjected forcefully.

"Yes. They can generate mana in small quantities and store it in their body for later use. Furthermore, they consume spectres for restoring mana and fiends to alleviate fatigue."

The army was proceeding towards the stronghold with unwavering determination. This scared Thalia even more and she darted into the underground chamber. Within seconds, she surfaced with Aaron tailing her.

"We won't make it to the other side. Our only option is to hide and cut down the troops slowly. Thus, we might have a chance of escape."

At once, he pulled Adam by his wrist and dragged him to the underground chamber. The faces of the crowd were astonished and scared as well.

Adam noticed that the previously large heap of metal objects had been reduced to one-tenth of its size. There were only a few rusted pieces of chestguards and shattered gauntlets lying around.

I should have taken a few for myself before guiding them down here.

Regret enveloped Adam as soon as saw the status of the remnants on the floor. Even the most pristine piece among the bunch wouldn't be able to withstand a third of his strength.

Despair almost engulfed Adam's mind when his pupils caught the glimpse of something on the wall. He was truly surprised to see a set of weapons and armours he failed to detect previously.

Noticing Adam's widened eyes, Aaron followed his line of sight. As soon as he found the target, he walked to the earthling and spoke hushedly. "That, my friend is, a true treasure-tier armour."

These words simply quickened Adam's heartbeat.