Chapter 74: Ineffective forced transport

The scene shifts to Leinata and Emilia’s side…

The two, who had been steadily walking while holding Xiruila, stopped in their tracks at that moment.

ding-dong

[Glaze Guild player Hui Mei has been eliminated.]

Emilia’s footsteps suddenly halted.

Beside her, Leinata’s eyes turned cold.

Hui Mei was eliminated…?

“What’s going on…”

The two immediately locked their gazes on the orange-haired girl Xiruila, who was tied up behind them, their eyes now carrying an interrogative tone.

Xiruila, her hands firmly bound behind her back with vines, had been obediently escorted along, not daring to move.

But just as the two looked at her, a system notification from the Falcon Guild also rang in her ears.

[Falcon Guild player Nailuo has been eliminated.]

Xiruila was completely stunned.

“Huh, huh?!”

Her orange-red eyes widened sharply, and she frantically shook her head, her voice filled with genuine panic and innocence.

“No, I don’t know either! I heard the notification too! Someone from our guild got eliminated too!”

“Does that mean Hui Mei and that guy each had a member eliminated at the same time?” Emilia frowned.

If so, Hui Mei was truly impressive.

Even though she was a newcomer, and her talent wasn’t suited for combat.

But…

Emilia felt something was off.

Two eliminations happening almost simultaneously was far too rare.

“We need to get there and check.”

Emilia’s voice was filled with urgency.

“Speed up.”

Leinata also indicated they should move quickly.

Hui Mei was already in trouble; she absolutely wouldn’t allow Nuo Ai’er to face any danger.

The three no longer lingered. They quickened their pace, swiftly moving through the winding forest path toward the stream.

After a brisk walk through layers of thick bushes, the view ahead suddenly opened up slightly.

Xiruila, who had been obediently leading the way and not daring to speak, now quietly whispered a reminder:

“Just past this forest up ahead is that boundary stream!”

The stream was the place where Hui Mei and Nailuo had fought and both been eliminated.

But the trio didn’t know that; Xiruila was just saying it.

They prepared to cross this last stretch of forest.

But just then—

Crack!

A crisp sound of a branch breaking suddenly rang out.

Above them, a thick branch snapped without warning, a dead twig falling straight from midair and landing on the dirt at their feet.

“Eep?!”

Xiruila jolted in fright, nearly jumping up.

Seeing their captive so scared and frail, Emilia shook her head helplessly.

“Don’t make a big deal out of nothing.”

“B-But it was really dangerous… If I got hit by bad luck, I might have passed out.” Xiruila said weakly.

Then Emilia flashed a confident smile.

“You don’t need to worry about that. I have the strong luck talent.”

“Strong luck?” Xiruila blinked.

“With me around, all accidental disasters will be avoided. No danger can stop us. Just relax.”

Leinata nodded slightly, confirming Emilia’s words.

With strong luck, even if there were any dangers ahead, they could safely dodge them.

However, no one expected that in the next second after Emilia finished speaking—

Plop.

A huge hornet nest, as big as a washbasin, detached from the branch right above Emilia’s head.

It fell straight down, landing less than half a step away from Emilia’s side.

A dark, dense mass.

The next moment, countless black-and-yellow poison hornets swarmed out, covering the entire area, buzzing fiercely and locking onto the three people.

Emilia, who had been so confident just a moment ago, froze as her composure shattered.

“Hornet attack—!”

“Eek! Help!”

Xiruila screamed, covering her head.

Fortunately, Leinata was quick to act.

She swung her enchanted short sword with force.

A condensed blade aura, vivid red like blood, slashed out, sweeping through all the incoming hornets.

Leinata instantly killed every hornet.

But Emilia stood there, plunged into deep self-doubt.

“How is this possible? My strong luck talent… has never made a mistake before.”

In Emilia’s memory, there had never been such an absurd case of actively attracting disaster.

Emilia was utterly baffled.

But the ridiculous bad luck was clearly not over.

Rumble—! Rumble—!

The forest ahead suddenly trembled violently.

Not just one, but several large trees simultaneously broke at their roots for no reason, their massive trunks crashing down, heading straight for where the three stood!

Leinata was instantly alert. She grabbed the other two and fled.

But the thick trunks seemed to be targeting Emilia, landing with a thunderous impact just inches away from her side, missing her by a hair.

The next moment.

“Ah!!”

Emilia hastily dodged sideways, but she stepped on a stone, twisting her ankle sharply. Her slender ankle immediately swelled red.

She stumbled and fell onto the soft pile of leaves.

Emilia: “No, impossible… I actually tripped on flat ground…”

One absurd misfortune after another came in succession within a minute.

But it wasn’t over yet.

The sky, which had been fairly clear, suddenly changed.

In an instant, dark clouds gathered, and then a blinding flash of lightning tore across the gloomy sky.

Rumble…

Then came thunder, and wind.

After that, raindrops began to fall, pelting down.

A downpour began…

Emilia’s ankle was injured, making it impossible to travel quickly, and the storm made searching impossible.

With no other choice, the three temporarily gave up moving and looked for shelter.

Fortunately, there was a small cave not far away.

“Let’s take shelter inside first.”

Leinata said in a deep voice, carefully supporting the injured Emilia, and brought the trembling Xiruila into the cave.

They were temporarily safe.

The atmosphere in the cave was particularly awkward.

Xiruila huddled in a corner, sneaking glances at the frustrated Emilia, her face full of question marks.

“Um… does your strong luck talent mean bad luck or…”

Xiruila asked weakly.

“It really is strange. Did the talent stop working?” Leinata said, arms crossed, also sensing something off.

Faced with the two’s confusion, Emilia sat on a rock in the cave, gently rubbing her swollen, painful ankle, and was silent for a long time.

She lowered her eyes slightly, quickly reviewing all the accidents and anomalies in her mind.

Everything seemed to be preventing them from crossing this forest and reaching the stream…

In an instant, all doubts cleared up!

Emilia closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she spoke slowly.

“I think I understand.”

“Understand what?” Leinata asked.

“My strong luck hasn’t failed. On the contrary, everything it did was protecting me.”

Xiruila: “That kind of protection is really strange?”

Leinata: “Emilia, what do you mean by that?”

Emilia said:

“Think about it. Even if my talent stopped working, could I really be that unlucky?”

“So, the only explanation is that the talent is still active.”

“And the reason it kept bringing me misfortune was to forcefully stop us.”

“Strong luck makes me avoid the worst outcome, so there’s only one possibility…”

“On the other side of that stream, there’s something very dangerous.”

“So dangerous that my strong luck decided it would be lucky for me not to go there!”

Emilia revealed the terrifying truth she had deduced.