“Ah mou! Why are these heroes coming!”
Deep Forest is experiencing a Hero Rush today.
Heroes have been invading incessantly since morning, and the monsters of the forest are busy intercepting them.
It’s the same even in the weakest forest, the eastern forest. For the most part the quality of the heroes is low, but a large number of novice heroes have come attacking one after another.
We of Dragon Knight were occupied with battle since morning.
By around noon we were completely exhausted. Terry is lying on the ground in the shape of the 大 character.
“Even though a strong willed magician onee-chan appeared, there’s no leeway to capture her even if we defeat her”
“There’s no helping it, it’s this season’s traditional promise after all”
“Fuubutsushi? What’s that? Something erotic”
It’s not erotic.
I privately retort Terry’s idea. Well then, let’s think about where best to start explaining from.
“To be exact, it’s the empress dowager’s birthday”
“Taiko? Is that erotic”
“It’s the king’s mother. When the previous king died, his son became king, the empress dowager-”
“A widow! It’s erotic after all”
Oi oi, you also go for that Terry.
Well, I only ever glanced at her, but as expected from royalty, she was a beautiful lady.
Royalty and n.o.bles have, for generations, married beautiful women, so the beauty genes been acc.u.mulating. Thoroughbred beauty.
The empress dowager is a human at the summit of that, so she’s obviously beautiful.
Even if she wasn’t a widow, she’d be an amorous woman.
While thinking those things, I continued my explanation of the Hero Rush.
“The current king appears to be a filial son. The empress dowager wants the monsters who bring humans harm to be exterminated, so in order to please the empress dowager, on her birthday every year the king orders the heroes. An order to report on the number of subjugations of monsters. So that’s why the heroes come attacking one after another like this”
“Hee, is that so”
“But you know, that’s annoying right”
Terry makes a fed up face. Well, yea.
It’s completely the convenience of humans, what’s more, a single part of the higher ups’ convenience”
From the monster’s point of view it’s a complete nuisance.
Well, they’re used to it though.
It’s already thought of like the weather of the season. The rainy season, or typhoon season, that sort of thinking.
“There they are! Monsters!”
“Easy score!”
The heroes came again while we were resting. This time it’s heroes with similar faces. They’re probably siblings.
The woman acts as the vanguard; she has no weapons and makes fists, a martial artist?
The man nocks an arrow on his bow from behind her; he’s planning to cover from afar huh.
“Terry, Lily”
“Leave it to me!”
“I’ll do my best!”
Dragon Knight reboot.
Terry brandishes his club, and Lily intercepts the martial artist with her trident.
I rammed the man who was shooting, and knocked him away as much as possible.
The Hero Rush is annoying, but it doesn’t become a trouble in the genuine sense.
Since it’s for the sake of pleasing the empress dowager, there are many more heroes than normal trying to do more than they can.
From the monster’s point of view, weaker heroes than usual are coming.
Their numbers are great, but their individual power isn’t that considerable.
These sibling heroes as well, the little sister is defeated by both Terry and Lily, and the big brother’s arrows are all melted by me who approached stealthily.
“Hehen, that’s the way things are”
“Let’s do the victory pose, the victory pose-Terry?”
“I can’t hold back anymore, I’m gonna go into that thicket for a bit”
Terry drags the woman martial artist they just defeated into the thicket.
Goblin, there’s no way noting would happen when there’s a fainted woman.
“Proceed in moderation~, there are still heroes coming after all”
I said to Terry who went into the thicket.
In the case of the empress dowager’s birthday, the rush is just getting started.
It’s no good to get carried way at times like these.
☆
“This is weird……”
When it became afternoon, the three of us who were repulsing heroes muttered so.
“Haa……haa……what, is weird?”
“More importantly……Ryu……are you ok?”
Terry and Lily are completely exhausted experiencing battle after battle.
Or rather the two had reached their limit fairly long ago. I secretly cast support magic, and casually healed them, so we’ve been able to somehow continue fighting.
Well that’s fine, in this weakest forest, Deep Forest Eastern Region, even covering for them I can fight without any problem.
Rather than that, the problem is that the monsters have been pushed back.
It’s still relatively ok here, but other places-just in case, I had been casting perception magic on the entire forest, but other places are being pushed back by the heroes.
Even if we say it’s the Hero Rush, this has never happened before.
“What going on exactly”
“Haa……c-come to think of it”
“Un?”
“The guys who were done in, they aren’t coming back huh. Normally, Mother Dragon-sama would immediately resurrect them though”
“-!”
Terry’s words were like as if lightning had come crashing down on my head.
Confirming with perception magic, it’s true that there are fewer monsters than usual here.
Usually, Kaa-san, who’s in the center of the forest, would use the forest’s magic power and resurrect the monsters who were killed in the forest, but the pace has slowed considerably.
The pace of resurrection has fallen, the monsters on the front line have gradually decreased, and then the heroes have pushed forward.
“But……why?”
Did something happen to Kaa-san? No, I can’t even imagine something happening to the Kaa-san.
She’s Mother Dragon after all, she’s a monstrous being who has until now crushed me with her forefoot and sent me to the next world after all.
There’s no way something happened.
Then what?
I further increase the range of my perception magic, and I take in information from the entire forest. I search to see if anything is happening somewhere.
When I do, within the the eastern forest-no it’s next to the entrance, so it’s outside, I discover that a large amount of heroes are gathering.
They number about 20, there are no signs of movement. They’re just standing there.
“Over there!”
I leave behind Terry and Lily and rush out.
“What’s wrong Ryu”
“Wait up Ryu”
The two called my name, but they seemed pretty exhausted and didn’t follow me.
I flew through the forest, releasing magic I weave between the trees.
In this Hero Rush, heroes who don’t move in order to subjugate monsters to please the empress dowager are really suspicious.
I went towards their location in a straight line.
They were gathered at the entrance of the forest.
There were many clerics within the roughly 20 heroes.
They were performing a large scale ritual there.
Using ritual equipment, drawing a magic circle, and offering up prayers.
“The dragon vein!”
I didn’t grasp it with perception magic, but exactly seeing it in person I comprehended it immediately.
This ritual is to suppress magic flow. A ritual to block the magic power’s current that can be called Deep Forest’s life line.
They’re blocking the flow here where the flow is thickest.
If they block the dragon vein’s magic power, then even mother’s ability to resurrect will slow down.
“A monster has come”
“What!?-what, it’s just a slime isn’t it”
“Get rid of it. Continue the ritual as is”
A single hero headed this way, but the others continued the ritual as before.
A correct judgment, when the weakest slime came for the heroes’ side it’s a correct judgment.
If it was as usual.
“Sheesh, what are the front line guys doing-”
I instantly kill the approaching hero, I kill him with a single magic bullet shot.
When they see the hero collapse like a puppet with its strings cut, the other heroes let out an uproar.
There are 18-no there’s one hiding underground, so there are 19 remaining.
Locking on to all of them I recite.
Within my mind I recite.
Condense, Pursue, Conceal.
Attribute is-Dragon!
I shot magic bullets at them all at once.
Without giving them anytime to counterattack, I killed them all instantly. Left unguarded, I destroyed the ritual’s magic circle.
Although I didn’t grasp it in the midst of battle, I understood that the interrupted flow of magic power has returned to normal.
The dammed up magic power returns to the dragon vein, and it flows to the center of the forest where the dragon-Mother Dragon.
Immediately the pace of monster resurrection goes up.
Good, like this they’ll be able to push back the heroes.
“Y-you……”
“Eh?”
I turn back at that voice, there was one person who survived the magic bullets.
They struggle to get up.
“You……what are you”
“……Ryu, a slime that tends to find things bothersome”
It looked like it would become troublesome, so I properly gave that hero a finishing blow. I returned to Terry and Lily as a common slime.
The forest, which had the dragon vein restored, defended against the Hero Rush until the end and repulsed the invading heroes.