The Hero Turned Into A Potato And The World Fell To Ruin

"Ugh, I never expected I would still have to activate the third layer of magic," Yaine grumbled while scrutinizing the charred remains on the ground. "It's all turned to ashes. How are we supposed to research this?"

"There was any other choice. This monster's life force was too strong." Calidora crouched beside Yaine, poking at the blackened ashes with a stick. "It looked like it could regenerate infinitely, and burning was probably the only way to kill it."

"If it could really regenerate indefinitely, it wouldn't have burned away so quickly." Yaine sighed. "It was so disgusting I lost control and incinerated it. I should have been patient and zap it a little more. Perhaps some tissue could have been saved for studying."

"But something still doesn't feel right," Mervant said as he approached. "If this thing was so strong, why did it run away during the day?"

"Because it isn't the same entity." Yaine shook her head. "I never expected this plan to be effective, yet this thing still got caught. At that time, it seemed like something was off, so I made preparations in advance.

"Now it seems my hunch was right. It didn't struggle in the swamp and only started resisting once my spell was nearly complete. I can only assume it intentionally got caught, probably to devour us."

"Does that mean to say, regardless of these creatures' individual intelligence, there's at least this sort of highly dangerous one with comparable smarts?" Mervant frowned. "Ugh… I'm thinking, how about we just fly over? I can carry your student and Osar on one trip, then you and Nini on another. It'll just be two trips, but we'll make it."

"No, you guys aren't summoned beasts and have to stop for rest." Yaine shook her head. "Moreover, you two can't fly fast when carrying others. With rest stops counted in, it would still take at least three days to reach the swamp's center. You'd be in danger if you encounter an attack when resting. Don't forget, these creatures can come ashore."

"But at least the time spent resting would be shorter," Mervant argued. "In any case, encountering them would be trouble either way, so wouldn't the quicker method be better?"

"That might not necessarily be faster. Don't forget, you two would need to make round trips, and we don't know the current state of the city." Yaine shook her head. "Even if the city is fine, transporting two batches might take longer than if we all go together."

"But the question is, how do we go from here?" Mervant asked.

"I do have an idea." Yaine hesitated. "But I'm not sure…"

"Don't worry, just share it." Calidora smiled. "We'll all help you think it through."

"Alright." Yaine sighed. "I was thinking we could go by boat."

"By boat?" Mervant's eyebrows shot up. "Are you serious? You do know boats sink in swamps, right?"

"Of course, I know," Yaine said. "I'm talking about something like a sled boat. You get it?"

"Hmm, that does make sense." Mervant nodded. "The map did suggest finding swamp turtles to pull sleds. However, we don't have any turtles, so what's going to pull the sled?"

"That's why I hesitated to voice this idea." Yaine rubbed her temples. "Because the one to pull the sled boat would be a person. It might be a little degrading and could hurt someone's pride…"

Mervant paused, coming to a realization. He glanced at Liu Ji and then back at Yaine, asking in bewilderment, "Do you mean him? Like in the desert? That's fine. Given our urgent situation, we can't worry about the details. As your student, he ought to contribute."

Hearing this, Yaine stared at Mervant for a few seconds before bursting into laughter. "Exactly, it's only right he contributes!" While chortling, she stood up and patted Mervant on the shoulder.

"Yeah, right?" Mervant went on. "This concerns the lives of our other comrades. He's one of us now, so it's fine for him to contribute, right?"

"Mm, I think so, too. It's absolutely fine." Yaine beamed. "But Mervant, the one pulling the sled isn't him."

"Huh? Th-then, who is it?" Mervant was stunned.

"Of course…" Yaine tilted her head and said with a mischievous tone that surprised everyone, "It's you!"

"Pfft—!" Calidora couldn't hold back her laughter.

Mervant's smile faltered, and his mouth fell open in disbelief.

"Me? What the heck!" Mervant grumbled. "I mean, I can pull it, but it's not easy in this mud. This isn't ice. It's going to be tough."

"Don't worry, as long as you can pull, we will help you lessen the effort needed." Yaine grinned. "Since you agreed, let's get to chopping trees for the sled!"

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Just as Mervant had said, swamp mud wasn't like ice. Aside from the mud's natural resistive force, there would be weeds, rocks, uneven terrain, and various obstacles that would affect a sled's movement.

However, mud surfing was a different story.

During their journey, Liu Ji had demonstrated his ability to transform into a water elemental spirit to Yaine.

While Liu Ji was probably at a preschooler's level in terms of his mastery of magic, as a pure elemental spirit, he retained privileges impossible for humans to have.

And as mentioned before, in a certain sense, magic was essentially "wages" paid to elemental spirits for their labor.

But, as impressive as they might be, unlike pure elemental spirits, Liu Ji could work without compensation.

Of course, this only applied to basic element manipulation. Constructing spells still required mana consumption, which Liu Ji had to supply. This was also the reason mages provided massive amounts of mana as a core when summoning elemental spirits to assist with casting.

In any case, for Liu Ji, condensing water element to lubricate the surface was basically effortless. And under these circumstances, the only price of their cruise would be Mervant's stamina.

Calidora could also help with the pulling, but Mervant's pride meant he'd prefer to bear the burden alone, ensuring others remained in optimal condition for potential emergencies.

Just that… as the only skilled carpenter, Mervant felt weird seeing the wooden material in front of him.

After all, sled-pulling was typically the work of animals. While he didn't mind doing so under the circumstances, imagining a horse holding a saw painted an odd picture in his mind…