(266) Greater Fire Spirit
Translator: Tseirp
So that was a Fire Spirit ― not a soul or a ghost huh?
“Aren"t Spirits supposed to be good?”
“That"s not true. Spirits are very troublesome existences. Especially those called Greater Spirits, they are truly difficult. Greater Fire Spirits can cause volcanoes to erupt, Greater Water Spirits can cause great floods, Greater Wind Spirits can produce tornadoes, and Greater Earth Spirits can create large earthquakes. Moreover, new spirits will be born around their surroundings so if Greater Spirits were left on their own, humanity would probably not thrive to today"s extent. Incidentally, Greater Fire Spirits are Setolance-sama"s kin and the Fire Spirits should be under her rule.”
” … In that case, why would that Greater Spirit attack humans ― ”
“But did it actually attack?”
True, in fact, the army was attacking the Spirit instead.
Was it Setolance-sama"s command?
s.h.i.t, why won"t the army retreat?
“Neete, you should return first.”
“Master, physical attacks do not work on Spirits! Attack using magic! Also, Spirits are kind of the hands and feet of the Greater Spirits so you won"t get any experience points even if you defeat them.”
“All right.”
I jumped out after taking Neete"s advice.
I defeated each of the small fire spirits with Pet.i.te Water but I could not catch up with their rate of appearance.
Why wasn"t the army withdrawing?
I looked for the person wearing the most elaborate armor.
Perhaps that person ―
I ran toward the place where the man who seemed to be the commander was at.
“s.h.i.t!”
The guards were trying to drive away the spirits with their swords but the spirits would reform no matter how much they cut them. It seemed that swords were truly ineffective.
“Pet.i.te Water.”
I defeated the spirits with magic.
After I did that, the commander-like man with a short moustache caught his breath and said.
“Ththanks. You saved us. I am Marquis Yutings from the Shiraraki Kingdom.”
Marquis Yutings?
Wasn"t that the n.o.ble that Earl Paul introduced to me?
I didn"t realize at all that the Shiraraki Kingdom would partic.i.p.ate in this battle as well.
“I am Quasi-Baron Ichinojo, Earl Paul"s subordinate.”
I replied and handed a letter of introduction from Earl Paul.
“Oh my, that enigmatic Paul"s subordinate ― he"s doing his duty for the country in such a remote region.”
Marquis Yutings said before commenting on the spirit flying in the air with a tone of annoyance.
“Those d.a.m.n Dark-Elves, creating such a strange monster.”
“Considering that the Dark-Elves created it, it had ended up burning the Great Forest as well. I guess there is n.o.body alive in there now.”
“Hmph, that feels great.”
Another 10 spirits attacked as he said that.
“Pet.i.te Water!”
I used Water Magic and defeated the spirits but intentionally let one slip by.
That spirit burnt down Marquis Yutings" tent.
“Marquis-sama, the Dark-Elves have been destroyed. Please retreat immediately.”
I advised him but,
“It exploded!”
“The oil has caught fire!”
I heard the roaring sound of explosions and angry roars from afar.
That became the deciding factor.
“Ah — retreat! Sound the bells.”
Under Marquis Yutings" command, the army started retreating.
I announced that I would stay behind to protect the rear.
“I leave it to you, Ichinojo-dono! I will reward you with anything you wish if you return alive.”
Although the name was different, Marquis Yutings was still a marquis.
I defeated the small Fire Spirits looming over the retreating army without replying.
All that was left was to deal with the Greater Spirit.
There were no other Fire Spirits in the vicinity so I used the Hawk Eye skill to investigate my surroundings.
I looked for the place with the most Fire Spirits gathered and went in that direction.
I sensed enemy presence below the sand.
“Below? ― Dig!”
I shouted and dug the ground with my skill.
The sand below my feet disappeared and I fell.
There was a large ruin where I fell. The ruin was extensive and there were signs of something large colliding here and there. The Sand Wyrms probably used it as a lair.
It was a convention to have ruins below the desert sand.
And there was one more convention.
There would be a gigantic crimson red lizard there.
“Gigantic lizard ― a salamander after all.”
I was not too familiar with fantasy settings but I at least knew about the Four Great Spirits.
The Water Spirit Undine, the Wind Spirit Slyph, the Earth Spirit Gnome, and the Fire Spirit Salamander.
It was said that the Salamander had the appearance of a lizard.
The Salamander was even larger than the Fish Lizard boss I met at Florence.
“Water!”
I cast Water Magic. The water evaporated in an instant upon contact with the Salamander. It was not steam, it complete broke down to gas. The temperature was that intense.
In order to completely erase such a huge flame, the only way would be to throw it into the sea?
Of course, there was no way I could do that.
In that case ―
“Boost Mega Ice!”
Ice Magic — the Ice Magic that I cast completely confined the huge Salamander.
With this, it was sealed — of course, it wouldn"t be that easy?
“It"s moving?”
The Salamander was moving within the ice ― immediately after that thought came to mind, the ice shattered explosively.
… From my understanding ― the interior of the ice dissolved in an instant, evaporated and turned into gas. That gas increased the volume and since there was no outlet, the water vapor caused the explosion — that was probably what happened.
Using water was impossible, using ice was impossible — d.a.m.n, what can I do?
『Nothing is impossible』
“Setolance-sama!?”
I heard Setolance-sama"s voice.
『Ichinosuke-kun. Your attack weakened the Salamander. Hence I am now able to speak to you like this.』
“Setolance-sama, aren"t the Greater Spirits G.o.ddess-sama"s kin? Does that mean this Salamander is on a rampage under G.o.ddess-sama"s will?”
『This is certainly a Greater Spirit but it is not my kin. The Greater Fire Spirit is a primordial existence in this world from long before us G.o.ddesses and humans came to live in this world. A long time ago, the G.o.d of Creation wanted humanity to prosper so the G.o.d sealed the primordial Greater Spirits before giving rise to us G.o.ddesses and the Greater Spirits who are kin to the G.o.ddesses. Please weaken the Salamander a little more. After you do that, we will do something about it.』
“Do something about it —”
I was unsure about the amount of magical power I had remaining.
Then, the Salamander spat out high-temperature flames from its mouth.
“s.h.i.t, Tornado Slash!”
I created a Tornado Slash with my hand. Even if I couldn"t cut the Salamander with physical attacks, I could deflect the flames back at it!
The Tornado Slash swallowed the flames and became a whirlpool of flames before colliding with the Salamander. Naturally, the flames couldn"t defeat the Salamander.
I first had to escape from there but the sand below my feet was hard to step on.
I used the Sand Hardening skill below my feet to harden the sand and leaped up through the hole.
The moment I escaped to the surface, a pillar of fire burst out from within the hole.