SSS-Rank Awakening: My Talent Multiplies Everything novel Chapter 184

Chapter 184: Shepherd’s Burden.

Kael stared at the notification screen for several seconds.

"Fuck."

He rubbed his forehead.

"Damn my luck."

Another protection trial.

Of all the possible objectives the Tower could have given him, why did it have to be this one again? Kael hated protection missions.

Unfortunately, complaining wasn’t going to change anything.

Kael immediately spread his senses across the surrounding forest, carefully examining everything within his perception.

Only after confirming that there were no enemies nearby did Kael relax.

A little.

He still wasn’t foolish enough to lower his guard completely.

His gaze shifted toward the caravan behind him. Kael began counting the featureless humanoid figures, his brows gradually rising as the number continued climbing.

There were quite a lot of them.

More than thirty.

Kael stared at the group for a moment before a strange sensation suddenly appeared within his mind.

A map.

His consciousness immediately focused on it.

A clear route was displayed within his mind, beginning from their current location and ending at another point deeper within the forest.

"Oh."

Kael studied the map carefully.

"So I’m supposed to lead them from here to that location to complete the trial?"

His brows furrowed as he looked back toward the featureless humanoid figures.

"But how am I supposed to make them move? Do I have to actually interact with them or something?"

Kael walked toward the caravan, his eyes scanning the strange NPCs as they moved around the parked carriages and horses. They appeared to be waiting for something, although none of them seemed capable of expressing anything through their completely featureless faces.

Kael scratched his cheek.

"Uhmm."

He looked toward the forest.

Then toward the caravan.

"Let’s get it going."

The moment the words left his mouth, something unexpected happened.

The featureless humanoid figures immediately began moving.

Several of them climbed into the carriages while others organized the horses and equipment. Within moments, the entire caravan had begun preparing itself for departure as though Kael had just given them a perfectly ordinary command.

Kael froze.

His eyes widened slightly.

A small spark of hope ignited within his heart.

Perhaps...

Just perhaps...

This wasn’t going to be as terrible as he initially thought.

If these NPCs actually listened to his instructions, then maybe the Tower had finally decided to show him some mercy.

Maybe this protection trial wouldn’t be so bad after all.

----

Two hours later.

"Fuck."

Kael cursed for what felt like the hundredth time.

"No, seriously. Fuck."

It was bad.

No.

It was extremely bad.

The NPCs did follow his instructions, but only when everything was calm.

The moment something went wrong, every single one of them seemed to lose every functioning brain cell they possessed.

Kael’s fist shot forward.

BOOM!

His punch struck a wolf-like creature directly in the head, the impact completely obliterating its skull and sending its body backward in an explosion of blood and flesh.

"Monster!"

"AHHHHHHH!"

"AHHHHHHH!"

"AHHHHHHH!"

The high-pitched screams came from behind him almost immediately.

Kael’s expression twitched.

He turned around just in time to watch the featureless humanoid figures descend into complete chaos. Several of them abandoned the carriages and scattered in different directions, their movements completely irrational as panic overtook them.

Kael’s eyelid twitched.

"Not again."

This.

This was the shit he had been dealing with for the past two hours.

The journey itself had actually been going surprisingly well. Kael had carefully followed the route displayed on the map while guiding the caravan through the forest, and despite the environment being filled with monsters and even the occasional group of bandits, none of them had posed any real threat.

Most of the monsters were low level.

The bandits were even weaker.

Kael could detect them long before they reached the caravan and eliminate them before they became a genuine problem.

That part was easy.

The caravan was the problem.

Every single time a threat appeared, one of the NPCs would immediately scream.

"Monster!"

"Bandits!"

"We’re under attack!"

And every single time, the reaction was exactly the same.

Chaos.

The moment they realized something dangerous was nearby, the featureless humanoid figures would abandon whatever they were doing and scatter in every possible direction.

Some ran into the forest.

Some hid beneath the carriages.

Some simply sprinted away without any particular destination.

It would have been funny if Kael wasn’t responsible for keeping every single one of them alive.

The problem was that there were actual dangers throughout the forest.

If one of the NPCs ran directly into a monster, Kael had to save them.

If another ran in the opposite direction, he had to save that one too.

If three scattered at once, Kael had to move between them at ridiculous speeds while simultaneously keeping track of everything else around the caravan.

After rescuing them, he then had to calm them down and reorganize everyone before continuing the journey.

Then another threat would appear.

Then someone would scream.

Then everyone would scatter again.

Then Kael would have to save them.

Again.

And again.

And again.

At this point, Kael wasn’t sure whether the Tower was testing his combat ability or his patience.

He was beginning to suspect the latter.

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