Chapter 120: Logistical Lunacy

They’d been lucky enough to avoid any of the Ruins of Evercrest’s mini-bosses, making for a fairly uneventful march to the Totem. Along the way, they’d even picked up quite a few late summons, as well as those who had been unfortunate enough to appear outside their original path but were drawn in by the noise of the march.

In any case, they’d finally made it back to the Mountains of Spring.

Ash crested the ridge, an army of Dragonkin at his back.

‘You’ve got to be shitting me…’

The sight before him was gloriously horrific.

He had about four-to-five hundred following him.

As far as his eyes could see, several times that number littered the hillside, with a very overwhelmed Éloi trying to bring about a semblance of order. Quite the Herculean task, given that the heavy rainfall made it hard to hear as it was.

Immediately upon spotting him, the masses began chirping, their voices blending together and overtaking the pattering rain.

“Is that him?!”

“Is that our Champion?!”

“Look at him, it definitely is!”

“What’s with his fashion sense…?”

“I don’t know, but that crown is sick! I want one!”

‘This…’

Ash had figured there would be a lot of them, but seeing the numbers put into perspective was another matter entirely.

Activating [Focus], Ash sprinted into the rain, weaving through the crowd as it parted before him, then held his hand to the Totem’s side.

[Quest!] – [Feed the Totem Common-Ranked Logs] (2/100)

[Quest!] – [Feed the Totem Common-Ranked Marauder Tendons] (2/25)

[Quest!] – [Explore Foreign Territory] (69.9%)

CENSUS:

[???] – [?]

[???] – [?]

[Dark Elf] – [1,121]

[???] – [?]

[???] – [?]

[Demon] – [3,084]

[???] – [?]

[Harpy] – [20,800]

[???] – [?]

[Crawler] – [2]

[???] – [?]

[???] – [?]

[Dragonkin] – [49,690]

[Undines] – [1,090]

[Salamander] – [3,978]

[Ghouls] – [33]

‘Oh…’

From what he’d discerned, the numbers beside other races were determined by how many individuals the Dragonkin had collectively seen. The Dragonkin count, however, represented how many existed in total.

‘49,690…’

Ash quickly theorized that there were likely around 50,000 Dragonkin total, with the remaining few hundred either not yet having completed the tutorial, having failed it, or having been killed after finishing transmigration.

‘Are there 50,000 of every race…?’

That wasn’t something he could conclude so easily.

Not to mention, Ash was under the impression that the entire population of Earth, or at least most of it, would be transmigrating.

Even if there were sixteen races with roughly fifty thousand members each, 800,000 total seemed a bit… low.

‘What if it’s not all at once? What if they’re summoned in waves?’

That was something he felt he’d learn in time.

Finally…

There were several identified races on the list, each with a varying number of individuals spotted.

Judging by those numbers…

‘Assuming the Dragonkin were all summoned relatively close to the Totem, then the number encountered could roughly indicate how close another race’s Totem is.’

That was a bit broad and speculative, but how else would he explain the Dragonkin having identified over 20,000 Harpies?

Speaking of other races…

Most of them were intuitive, but…

‘I wonder what the “Crawler” are.’

And what about the Ghouls…

‘Are they… dead?’

Zombies?

Unfortunately, Ash didn’t have the luxury to ponder that at the moment. The thousands of eyes staring at his back wouldn’t allow it.

[Focus] ended, and Ash marched back up to the ridge, the sea of people once again parting to let him through. Just as before, the Dragonkin choir sang freely as they gazed upon their Champion.

“What now?”

“Aura…”

“Hey, Mr. Champion, do you know what’s going on?!”

A few of those who had been following him soon joined in.

“Bro, trust me, don’t ask him that.”

“He’s weird, but strong as hell!”

Finally, beneath the pouring rain, Ash spun to face the majority of the crowd. As loud as he could, he shouted:

“Do your best to acclimate yourselves to this world. Go through the system interface, read all you can. Join together in groups of five and never relax; know that a monster may ambush you at any moment.”

By some miracle, the crowd quieted in a feeble attempt to hear him. Still, it was clear his voice would be drowned out by the rain, so the message would have to travel by word of mouth to reach the back of the mass. Thankfully, Ash didn’t have some convoluted order for them.

Continuing, Ash said:

“I will set out to look for more Dragonkin. I only have one true request: do not actively seek out a fight and do not engage in combat with other players… Until I return, if you have any questions, direct them towards that man.”

Ash pointed at a horrified Éloi, who stood with his mouth agape, pointing at himself as though screaming, ‘Me?!’

Ash turned to the man next to him, Jalen.

“And you…”

“Uh, yes?”

“Make sure everyone understands my order.”

Jalen stammered a little.

“W-why me?”

“Because you’ve witnessed more than them.”

Jalen hung his head as he looked over the crowd.

“Is that so…”

Many of them had likely spawned within the Mountains of Spring, close to the Totem, and had yet to witness the reality of this world.

Especially since the only truly dangerous monsters, the Marauders, were hunters that wouldn’t dare attack such a large group so recklessly.

With that, Ash walked into the Ruins of Evercrest once more, taking a different route this time.

There, he found quite a few more Dragonkin and a few additional Salamanders.

He put on the best display he could, one-shotting what he needed to and declaring himself Champion. After directing the Salamanders towards where he had last seen the larger group and giving them the same warning, he returned to the Totem.

Then, once again… he repeated the search.

That was what Ash did for the rest of the day.

By the time the rainfall finally stopped, the entire mountainside was populated by Dragonkin for as far as his eyes could see.

‘This… is a logistical nightmare.’

Without modern technology, his voice wouldn’t even reach those at the far edges of the crowd.

Not to mention, he had to somehow organize tens of thousands of people…

‘If they find out who I am…’

Ash sighed, then summoned the [Stone Throne] and [Evercrestian Recurve Bow] before activating [Focus].

Stepping onto the stone seat, he angled the bow toward the sky, drew the string back, and fired a fully empowered shot into the air, using the black streak as a flare.