NOVEL NEXT Chapter 45: (1)
You Must Have Plotted My Self-Destruction!
Year 5964 of the creation calendar, autumn. Even with winter approaching, the heat was still glaring as intense in the western part of the Purin Kingdom. Hero Kamui and his companions, who were under a mission to investigate the unusual phenomenon at the border region, had almost reached their destination.
The closer they were to the border, the lesser greenery on the wastelands was. The region had turned into a pandemonium where monsters were more active than they had ever heard. The cause was the disappearance of the demon tribes.
In the poor lands scattered around the kingdom, not a few settlements of demon tribes had been built there. This wasn’t the kingdom’s intention. But it had unintentionally brought benefits to the kingdom. Although the land was poor, the demons had no choice but to live there. In order to protect themselves, they naturally had to hunt monsters as well. These actions of the demon tribes had played a big role in controlling the increase of monsters in the kingdom. However, the disappearance of the demon tribes that had been occurring for a while now had upset this balance. The kingdom’s frontier areas, which were built with the slaves of the demon tribes as the foundations, suffered a chain blow on top of economic deterioration. And the western part of the kingdom, where Hero Kamui had arrived, was the place where the effect was the most apparent.
「Seriya~!」
Hero Kamui soared. As they passed by each other, flames gushed out of the body of the Tyrant Worm — a gigantic earthworm-type monster. A sword attack that was so polished to the point of almost invisible to the eyes. His well-honed swordsmanship was a testament to his growth. Due to the power of the magic sword of flame he wielded, the Tyrant Worm was engulfed in flames. It rolled on the ground in agony. Just as the flames were about to vanish, a shadow rushed toward it. In a flash, the shadow stabbed her short sword at the Tyrant Worm’s head. It was an attack by Tetsujin, an A-ranked guild member. Her swift movement had become even more refined, and that attack of hers just now was truly as fast as a lightning.
「Burn to ash!」
As soon as Tetsujin jumped back in response to the voice, the area around the Tyrant Worm turned into a scorching hell. It was an attack magic by Kaltovich, a Purinist. Unable to properly move its body, the tyrant worm failed to escape the range of her Combustion magic and its huge body promptly collapsed to the ground. The fact that she could display such a level of power despite unleashing only low-order attack magic, it was proof that her magic techniques had risen to another level.
「… There are still another ones ahead of us.」
As if the battle just now had never happened, Tetsujin moved forward in search of another enemy. In a matter of course manner, Kamui and Kaltovich followed after her.
Kamui and his companions continued to seek battles greedily. It was as if they were being chased by something. No, perhaps they were trying to catch up to something. For such them, such a place swarmed with monsters was a perfect training ground. Like fishes in the water, hero Kamui and his companions continued to hunt monsters. How high would they need to reach to be satisfied? Even the people in question themselves didn’t know. For the time being, they simply drowned themselves in battle.
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「–Look. The next one is coming, don’t let your guard down.」
The great sage Merlin said in an extremely flat tone. Promptly, hero Mikoto was attacked by a demonic beast Rabid Fang.
This place was the outskirts of the transit town Haburunayo. Kamui and his companions had finished their investigation and returned to the royal capital. Mikoto and Merlin refrained themselves from accompanying them in their investigation and decided to wait for them here. And then, in order to fight against the mysterious enemies, they chose the path to concentrate on their training.
「–Kuh!」
Managed to somehow evade the rabid fang’s enormous fangs, Mikoto jumped back and rearranged her stance. Compared to the rabid fang, her movement was exceedingly brilliant. Normally, she could dispatch such an opponent easily and safely. The reason she was unable to do so at the moment was because of the ring shining on her finger.
It was a piece of item that Merlin had created leveraging all of his wisdom. It was a ‘cursed ring’ which put a curse of decreasing all of their stats on its user. The curse had reduced her, a hero, to the level of a newbie warrior. Merlin, who was floating in the air, overlooked Mikoto, who was having a hard fight, under his eyes and murmured.
「Observe your enemy properly. Perceive their thoughts and read one step ahead. Should you be able to accomplish that, there’s nothing to fear against an opponent that is faster than you.」
The Spartan training by the Great Sage Merlin. He didn’t wish her to merely grow numerically stronger. The formidable enemies they might encounter in the future. He instinctively sensed that no matter how hard they trained, they wouldn’t be able to reach the monsters’ absolute power. Of course, they spared no effort to become stronger. However, that alone was overwhelmingly insufficient. That was why they were carrying out this training.
「You have to acknowledge it. The mighty being… and then, you have to engrave it on your body. The way to fight the mighty being….」
The source of one’s power lied in their knowledge. Speaking of the great sage Merlin, that was a natural conclusion. Using your knowledge to overturn the difference in power. This training was the groundwork to reach that goal.
「—wait, why aren’t you training as well?!」
Barely evading the rabid fang that was pouncing on her, Mikoto shouted.
「Well, even if I train my old bones now. I’ve already trained enough. For the time being, I’m intending to train your wits by continuously sending monsters toward you.」
Saying that, Merlin continued to efficiently look for opponents to train Mikoto. However, beneath that all, he was continuously simulating a plan to flip Mikoto’s skirt in his head. Truly terrifying Great Sage. His scheming ability was improving endlessly. In many ways, the hardships of the hero Mikoto continued.
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Ashen sky. A sky that was always enshroud in thick fog.
Ashen ground. A withered land where not even weeds could grow.
The ashen colored world seemed to go on forever thanks to the barriers. In such a world, there were three shadows. The group of three, Team Tanaka, were standing on a small hill. It had been two months since they were trapped in the sealed land. They had tenaciously survived there like cockroaches.
Phantom beasts which boasted power on a completely different level from the enemies they had faced thus far. Faced with their eerie appearances, at first Tanaka was ready to make his escape the moment he encountered one, but perhaps due to realizing that their power wasn’t as terrifying as their appearances, the thought ‘Looks like they’re well overdue their expiration date. Lucky.’ crossed his mind and now he saw them as nothing but experience points.
「–Looks like it’s about time.」
Tanaka let out these words while looking at the ashen horizon. Suke-san and Kaku-san were also gazing at it closely without letting their guards down. As though fog suddenly covered the world, phantom beasts emerged one after another. Before long, an army of more than ten thousand phantom beasts filled the horizon. Periodic outbreaks of phantom beasts. It was one of the few events that occurred in this empty, sealed land. Getting tired of eating the one year’s worth of food stored in the item box, this event had become their sole entertainment. Above all, though, this time was somewhat different. Their first combination technique. It was the day of it being unveiled to the world.