Chapter 613: Escape From the Crystal Tree Forest

Watching the chaotic melee unfolding before them, Valerie and Verdell froze for a second wondering how to successfully disrupt the plans of the group of adventurers without being noticed by the other adventurers trying to relentlessly break through the barrier formed by this group.

Even if it was only a small number of adventurers trying to get through given how most of the other adventurers seemed busy dealing with the locals of the crystal forest in the form of an SS Rank Monster that had been drawn over by the loud commotion. For their plan to succeed. No one other than those dozen adventurers could see them.

"Finish and finish the crystal bunny off! The barrier can’t hold much longer; I will use the poisonous miasma to force them back!"

But as Verdell and Valerie were wondering how to make their move, one of the adventurers in charge of maintaining the prearranged magical barrier pulled out some small crystal and crushed it-

Whoosh~!

Causing a dark miasma to suddenly erupt before surging forth in the direction of the adventurers about to break through the magical barrier.

"Everyone! Fall back, it’s poisonous!"

"Damnit! How sly! These people are even using poison!?"

"What do you expect? These rats have clearly been preparing for this from the start!"

And with the dark miasma spreading out and shrouding the area, Verdell saw the opportunity he had been waiting for-

Swish~ Boom!

Throwing out a single powerful fireball that exploded directly on a weak point on the trap holding the crystal bunny.

Swish-!

An opportunity the crystal bunny took without the slightest bit of hesitation. Successfully breaking through the encirclement and trap before rushing off in the direction of Verdell and Valerie at a terrifying speed. Bypassing the two of them before they even realized the crystal bunny had rushed past them.

"Quick! Before they realize what has happened!" Though, compared to the stunned adventurers who had been about to kill off the crystal bunny, Valerie reacted far faster than them and pulled Verdell along as the two of them rushed off in the direction of the crystal bunny.

"That... I... AAAAAH! HOW DARE THEY!?" And only a few seconds after the two of them had run away did the enraged roar of the leading adventurer echo out as he realized what had just happened. Not daring to waste any time as he quickly eyed the adventurers around him, the meaning in that look being clear to everyone in their group, as they wasted no time rushing after Verdell and Valerie who already had a headstart.

Bang!

"Magical trap!? They trapped the path!?"

But barely taking a few steps, one of the adventurers walked into a magical trap. Forcing the rest to a stop as they realized they couldn’t recklessly charge after Verdell and Valerie.

Of course, Verdell hadn’t trapped the entire path and had in fact only left one magical trap, but... There was no way they would know that. All of it was to delay them a bit, even if just a few seconds as they realized there was no way for the path they had travelled only a few minutes earlier to have suddenly been filled with traps within the short span of time they had been dealing with the crystal bunny.

"There! They are trying to escape after killing the crystal bunny! After them!"

But by the time they realized there were no traps blocking them, the first few adventurers had managed to break through the poisonous miasma and saw them "escaping" from the scene.

By this point, it wasn’t just the few adventurers who had been trying to break the magical barrier that was present, but the adventurers that had been fighting the local monsters had also arrived after scaring off the locals. Meaning there were now several hundred adventurers who heard those words and instantly focused their attention on the escaping group of a dozen adventurers.

"""..."""

If we said we didn’t have the crystal bunny, would you listen to us...?

And as this thought emerged within the mind of the "escaping" adventurers, they could only silently increase their speed while cursing the two troublemakers who had ruined their original plans. Knowing that there was no way those adventurers now chasing them from behind would ever believe a word of what they said.

After all, in their eyes, they had trapped the crystal bunny and was about to kill it, when suddenly using the poisonous miasma that shrouded them from view.

And... By the time the miasma lifted, the crystal bunny was gone, and they were already in the process of "running away".

How was this not the behavior of someone who had already managed to kill off the crystal bunny and were now trying to run away with it?

"Curse those two damnable people!" In the end, the leader of the group could only silently curse Verdell and Valerie as he used all his strength to try and catch up with the two of them. Knowing that this kind of attention was already something he had planned for ahead of time. The main difference compared to the scene he had imagined was that he and his group would have the crystal bunny in hand. Making this kind of situation far more bearable.

Being targeted without even obtaining the crystal bunny was simply painful and the only thing that could make up for it was catching Verdell and Valerie. Obtaining the crystal bunny that the two of them were undoubtedly also aiming for...

And as the leader of the group of adventurers now carrying the burden of being the ones who successfully obtained the crystal bunny in the eyes of the rest of the adventurers within the crystal tree forest, some distance away from the chaotic escape that ensued back at the core of crystal tree forest, Verdell and Valerie both looked towards the trap that had been set up by Verdell with clear smiles on their faces.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The banging sound of the already injured and exhausted crystal bunny that had ended up rushing headfirst into the trap could be heard as it struggled trying to break free with little success.

"Quick, finish it off!"

"Sure~!"

Swish~ PTSH~!

And with the simple command from Verdell, Valerie happily stepped forward and pierced the head of the already exhausted crystal bunny. Killing it in one swift motion before handing the corpse over to Verdell, who smoothly stored it away inside his spatial bag.

"Good, let’s get going." Knowing they were limited on time as the commotion from the core of the crystal tree forest had already started getting closer to the two of them, Verdell didn’t hesitate in the slightest as he began running with Valerie following closely behind him.

Luckily, even though he was a rather high-level S Rank Adventurer, Valerie’s powerful physical stats were nothing to scoff at and she could keep up with him even though she was still only an A Rank Adventurer.

And so, the two of them began rushing back following the same path they had used to avoid the countless scattered along the way. Not just avoiding these traps that would have bought the adventurers chasing them from behind enough time to catch up with them, but Verdell also took the time to throw out a few simple fire traps along the way.

Magical traps that were amongst the simplest magical traps, as they were essentially just stationary fireballs that would explode whenever someone walked over them.

Deadly, sure, but easy to spot.

Still, the purpose of those traps wasn’t to kill the ones chasing after them, but instead just delay them a bit and make them more careful in the way they traversed through their own trap field.

In the end, by the time they left the core of the crystal tree forest and left the area covered in traps, they hadn’t seen those adventurers chasing behind them.

Still, the two didn’t dare slow down after leaving the core of the crystal tree forest.

On the contrary, the two of them increased their speed. Knowing only if they got back to the city would they be safe from those adventurers.

Because of this, for the following two days Verdell and Valerie slept as little as possible and spent most of their strength rushing through the crystal tree forest. Ignoring any monster that attempted to attack them along the way.

A decision that led to them getting back out of the crystal tree forest one day earlier than it had taken them to reach the core of the crystal tree forest.

Good for sure.

But...

The second they left the crystal tree forest; they found themselves faced with a large crowd of adventurers who had already gathered around the edge of the crystal tree forest.

The intention of these adventurers was clear, as they wanted to block the ones who managed to seize the crystal bunny. Having learnt about the situation from those inside the crystal tree forest ahead of time...