I Became a 6★ Gacha Character

Obviously, the unidentified horde charging toward us had over 140% probability of being a monster wave, given that we were in the north.

After all, what bandits would directly charge at high-rank killing machines escorted by 19 knights and warhorses, in a top-class magically-enhanced carriage driven by two armored knights and bearing a noble family's crest, all to target some noble lady's soft behind?

If such bandits existed, martial arts novels would have forest bandits beheading emperors and collecting tolls in the imperial palace, while in fantasy novels the Demon King's army would get their supplies pillaged trying to invade human nations, bringing world peace.

"They're running chaotically along the ridge. Not maintaining formation... they're not targeting us. Running like hunted beasts."

"Raid! It's a raid!"

Grace calmly analyzed from inside the carriage. Proving her point about their chaotic approach, a familiar voice called from outside - the Ice Cross Knights' scout-type character shouting.

Han Se-ah immediately started controlling her camera outside, while I leaned my upper body out the carriage window, practically hanging off the moving vehicle.

A dangerous position that would shatter a normal person's neck from the bumps alone, but for a high-rank warrior it was no different than standing normally. Like a meerkat perched on the window sill, I stretched my neck out to see chaos in the northern conifer forest.

"That's a lot of something."

The ridge was densely packed with sharp-needled conifers, though not too steep. At the forest's edge, monsters were charging recklessly, shaking trees violently and sometimes even shattering them.

Like reeds swaying chaotically when beasts run through them, an absurd number of monsters were charging through, bodily smashing thick trees.

The impact shook snow from branches creating blizzard-like conditions, while younger or rotting trees snapped at the waist and toppled. Amidst this came unfamiliar death screams - either something tripped and fell, or got caught while fleeing.

"That's not orcs or goblins, what is it?"

"Seems like yetis, but can't tell what's chasing them."

The following knights spurred their horses to gather around our carriage and answer my question. Yetis - they were mob monsters from Heroines Chronicle.

Even lazy mobile games can't just recycle goblins in all four directions. Sure, there were stupid games like Farming Man Online or Color Monster Paint, but Heroines Chronicle took its illustrations and designs seriously.

Only the designs though - the balance and business model were fucked up, those bastards.

Anyway, yetis were warrior-type mobs common in the north. About 2.5m tall hairy humanoids with log clubs, if I remembered right. As I tried recalling those hazy old memories, Han Se-ah's camera finally caught them.

"Those are yetis? They look very... generic. Though I guess orcs and goblins look pretty standard too, so yetis don't need to be special. Guess you need to be like an ogre to look impressive."

-Why make wave fodder monsters special lol

-But isn't that the standard yeti look? Big hairy unga-bungas

-Like an upright gorilla grew winter fur

-Damn they must be strong though, shoulder-checking small trees down

-Why critique yeti fashion when we should find out why they're acting like this?

Standing about 3m tall with straight backs and long arms reaching their knees, muscular bodies barely hidden by long white fur, crude clubs in hand.

Exactly the yetis I remembered from Heroes Chronicle.

The only difference was that these usually stoic mob monsters were running with their fur flying, faces twisted in terror. With dozens of them, they could raid a small farming village like checking their kitchen fridge, so why were they so scared?

Han Se-ah's camera caught something ghostlike as she panned around responding to viewer comments.

One yeti vanished with a whoosh after tripping on a broken log while fleeing terrified, followed by another who slowed to regain balance after getting tangled with a fallen companion. Though the scene passed too quickly for Han Se-ah or viewers to notice, I saw it clearly.

"Ah shit, stop the carriage and nobody move!"

"Understood, but what's happening?"

"Just stop before horses get caught up and die!"

Giant Worms and Wyverns - why the fuck were they hunting together?

※

I once saw an internet post - not before becoming Roland, but while web surfing thanks to the Goddess - about wolves and bears becoming friends. Comments argued interspecies cooperation improved hunting success rates or made crude jokes about crossbreeding.

Never thought that would apply here.

"Worms? Giant Worms and Wyverns cooperating, what..."

"Indeed, something's stirring the clouds up there. And there's strange weak vibrations underground, different from the yetis' footfalls."

Giant Worms and Wyverns. Being northern creatures and white like the yetis, we could call them Ice Worms and Ice Wyverns.

Giant Worms were massive underground worms. Like the ones we met in the tower's cave levels, they opened huge mouths fitting their huge bodies to swallow prey whole. They attacked by tunneling up from underground like dolphins leaping from water.

Wyverns needed no explanation - dragon-type monsters resembling pterosaurs. They hunted like birds of prey, diving at incredible speeds to smash and peck apart their prey. Both types were harder to handle than ogres.

Because unlike warrior-types, these bastards were hit-and-run monsters.

"Ah, so that's why you said stop the horses."

"Don't know about the rest, but if they just snatch horses and run, they're hard to catch."

Ogres were violent warrior-type monsters confident in their strength and size. Even their tactics were simple like attacking from behind while moving or at night, so you could face them head-on.

But Giant Worms tunneling underground to leap at mana signatures and Wyverns diving from the sky at spotted prey never fought fair.

As high-rank monsters they were tough too, but their hunting strategy was ignoring obviously powerful and scary humans like me to snatch delicious soft targets like horses and flee. From the perspective of 3-5m monsters, horses were naturally more appealing than humans.

Anyone would target easier prey given the choice between small, tasteless prey that could hurt you versus large, delicious prey you could swallow whole with meat to spare.

"How'd you notice so fast? Maybe because I've never seen them before, but I couldn't tell until Roland mentioned it."

"...When I was with Rebecca's Mercenaries, we had a Wyvern that only snatched horses from our supply wagons. Must have attacked humans before - it never targeted people, just snuck down at night to grab horses and run."

"Ah, you... experienced it."

So this collaboration between these dogshit and bullshit monsters created a perfectly maddening situation.

To avoid Wyvern dive-bombs you'd need caves, but enter caves and Giant Worms would collapse them to swallow you whole.

To avoid getting dragged underground by Giant Worms you'd need high rocks, but climb exposed areas and Wyverns would swoop down.

Like fighting game veterans crushing people with high-low mixups from hell, Giant Worms and Wyverns forced a bullshit choice between sky and underground. While targeting supplies and horses rather than tanks.

'Just eat the yetis and fuck off.'

Memories surfaced of humans pulling wagons after all our horses died. I'd hoped dozens of yetis would satisfy the two monsters' appetites, but maybe Han Se-ah's misfortune blessed the party.

The yeti horde running diagonally along the ridge finally crossed the road to Sibedev domain in their escape.

Ignoring the rumbling horses and sword-drawn humans stopped on the main road, they tumbled down the ridge in panic and fled across to the opposite hill.

"...Their movement changed, seems they're noticing us."

"Everyone off the horses! They'll target them!"

"Hero! We might lose the carriage even if not the horses!"

Then the monsters hunting them one by one from sky and ground sensed us too. No need for stealth or cover - how could they miss over twenty horses standing exposed on the main road?

Which asshole created the fantasy setting of monsters preferring livestock meat? Just let them eat the mana-rich, big yetis.

As I drew my warhammer full of rage and irritation, rumbling vibrations shook beneath my feet as shadows appeared overhead.