Chapter 305
Chapter 235 - (Chapter 305): Altar 4
Year 7447, Month 7, Day 10
A ma.s.sive amount of air springs forth with my left hand as the starting point.
That spreads out in a cone shape and raised up into the air as turbulence.
The surrounding trees that were hit with waves from it bent back and forth twisting and shaking.
My ears popped from the rapid change in air pressure.
While still maintaining some amount of direction it arrived at the target {Wyvern} in an instant.
The {Wyvern} that was caught in the vortex of turbulence lost it"s balance.
A flood of purple beams rushed there.
All of the beams rapidly moved up and down erasing my spell.
However, just as expected while even more sparkling particles were left behind almost all of them including those were scattered upwards and aren"t remaining!
Without a moment"s delay I sent lightning flying.
Even if it was only for a moment it was swallowed up by the super turbulent air and while it barely managed to avoid crashing my lightning flew towards that sort of flying lizard.
"Gyaoooo~n!!"
This time for sure my lightning hit the {Wyvern} without being obstructed by the shining particles and caught it with bluish-white shining tentacles.
And then, the beams started flooding again but it was already too late.
I don"t know if it"s because of the damage or because it"s muscle stiffened up from the lightning but the {Wyvern} started falling with it"s wings spread out halfway.
"Finish it off!!!"
After yelling that I started running towards the place where it seems to have fallen with my bayonet in hand.
Everyone"s started regrouping from the surroundings.
Along with the breaking of branches I heard a loud thud! as a sound similar to tremors could be heard.
"Over here!"
I heard Toris"s voice from the shadow of a treetop a bit ahead.
By the time I arrived Angela had stabbed her broadsword into an eye of the {Wyvern} and was gouging it out like crazy.
"Did you finish it off!!?"
Someone asked but Angela is moving the grip of her sword in her right hand like she"s mad and punching the side of it"s head with the small spike attached to her shield.
The {Wyvern} isn"t moving.
【Condition: Shock Injury.Internal Bruising.Puncture Wound】
【HP: -9(612) MP: 25(25)】
"Angela, stop already."
It"s already on the verge of death. It already can"t do anything at all.
"Hie..gu"
Angela let out a small scream while moving the sword stabbed into it"s eye and continued punching it with the spike of her shield with a thud~thud.
Hyun~ and someone"s arrow came flying but was deflected by the scales covering it"s long neck.
Is it Kamu?
"It"s already fine, Maruso. Stop."
Toris embraced Angela from behind to restrain her and after taking his left glove off with his mouth touched the {Wyverns} head with it to check it"s status.
"It"s dead."
Tors reported to me as I finally got close to it.
【Condition: Death】
【HP: -76(612) MP: 25(25)】
"Hiu..Ha..Ha..."
Looking at Angela"s face and it"s crumpled with tears.
She must have been quite terrified.
I wonder if it fell right nearby the place she was hiding?
I"m sure that would be pretty shocking.
"It"s already safe, the {Wyvern} is dead."
Miduchi grabbed Angela"s hand and helped her stand up.
"Ah..Ma..Mad..am..Already.."
"Yeah, Marus
o. It"s already safe."
It seems Angela was able to recover her composure.
"Don"t let your guard down. There should still be something out there."
I gave the warning to everyone.
The cage of lightning bolts is still going strong as if nothing happened.
Though the four pillars of seven-colored light that had risen up have disappeared there should still be over 20 beings remaining that fired those beam spells to erase my magic.
We can"t let our guard down after just finishing off the {Wyvern}.
"It"s fine to put off this things magic stone for now. Rather than that, let"s move to a place that"s easy to defend. We"ll move to just before that plaza from just now."
We should move to the place just before entering that plaza.
Not only is it possible to secure visibility of one side but we can hide ourselves in the deep forest.
.................................
After waiting on standby while observing the surroundings for a few minutes and we could tell something was approaching.
Of course, the one who noticed and gave out the warning was Bel.
"There should be one of something with four legs from the left..and four legs from the right as well, I guess...from further in to the left..It"s hard to tell..There"s something coming from even further in to the right as well. Other than the close ones on both sides it"s still too far so I can"t tell."
At the very least there"s a total of 4 of them huh...
"Miduchi, do you know they might be?"
Ralpha asked Miduchi.
That"s right, Miduchi"s special knowledge often shows it"s true worth at times like these.
"I can"t even begin to guess.."
As expected it seems to be difficult.
However, if she can"t guess it then I"m sure it"s impossible for anyone else.
I can hear a rustling sound in the distance and feel the presence of some kind of animal approaching.
Simultaneously there"s a breath like "Bufo~"
The sound of something being crushed like crunch~crunch~snap.
"What"s that sound.."
"No clue?"
Ralpha and Kimu were talking in a low voice.
"Somehow it sounds like something is being destroyed.."
"I wonder if it"s breaking rocks or something?"
Zulu and Gwine are talking as well.
Hearing that and it certainly does sound like it.
"Bel! The number of legs it has is four right!? It"s not two, three, or eight right!!? It"s important!! Tell me for sure!"
Hearing their conversation Miduchi asked Bel in a panic.
What is it?
"Nn..I guess so. There should be four legs on both sides, I think."
Bel replied with her eyes closed while concentrating on her eyes.
"You"re certain right!?"
Miduchi"s eyes started turning bloodshot from excitement.
What in the world is it?
"Three? Wai..Wait just a minute..The two nearby certainly have four legs."
Bel firmly replied after opening her closed eyes.
"We don"t have any room to spare! Everyone if you see something like a cow whether it be with a bow or spells attack it all at once! Absolutely do not approach it until we weaken it! It"s no good to be gathered together as well! Dear you use wind magic to somehow disperse the air!"
If I were to disperse the air something like a bow wouldn"t hit right!?
"That sound! In the worst case it might have petrification breath! No matter what you and I mustn"t be hit by the attack!"
Before I could say any complaints Miduchi said some surprising details.
Hearing that fear ran across everyone"s faces.
"Bel you too don"t use the gun but use magic as much as possible! Kamu-san it"s fine if you try to hold it back. Other than that running into the forest is no good because the footing is bad. We need to run around in a wide area and somehow finish one off without a doubt!"
Even if you say magic, that beam will...I guess it won"t be erased immediately and as long as it has no visibility it can"t fire the beam.
"In any case if it has four legs then it"s still quite a bit better than eight legs. {Spread}!!"
Miduchi ordered with a strong tone of voice.
Reflexively all of us ran in different directions.
It was just a bit of information but I"m sure she must have thought of something.
...............................
The first one I saw was the one that was approaching from the left. I reflexively hit it with {Fire Arbalest Missile} and everyone"s spells cleanly hit so it ended up falling over without being able to do anything.
Various places on it"s body have keratinized and it has blackish skin that from a glance looks like the sh.e.l.l of a turtle.
It has two large horns growing from both sides of it"s head and looks exactly like a cow the so-called {Gorgon}.
I"ve heard about it.
The moment the next one showed it"s face in the plaza approaching from the right I fired off a spell.
It was able to evade several of them but Miduchi and mine had {Missile} added to them so they hit without a problem.
We won"t give them any time to spit out the breath of petrification.
However, the two that appeared after that were a problem.
They petrified all of the trees along the sides of the plaza while making crunching noises.
Then they charged into the plaza we were in while smashing through the petrified trees.
Both of them at the same time!
Both of them spit out grey {Petrification Breath} while going to the left and right at a ferocious speed, they approached while avoiding the attack spells Bel, Toris, Gwine, and Ralpha fired!
Freeze them?
Before it solidifies they would be able to spit out breath faster.
It"s obviously impossible.
"Bufo!!"
Every time they spit out breath I use wind magic to disperse it.
After it"s scattered it seems to lose quite a bit of it"s effect or disappears.
However, if things keep up like this let alone freezing them I don"t even have the time to hit them with attack spells!
It seems Miduchi is desperate behind me as well.
"Kimu! With your spear!"
I heard Kamu"s shout.
"Sure!! Leave it to me."
Kimu replied to that like alpha and omega.
They must be trying to finish it off with Kimu"s spear or Bel"s spells while Miduchi defends against the breath.
Because the bow and arrows are useless Kamu who threw it aside early on and Zulu are gallantly charging at it and acting as decoys.
On my end Angela and Ralpha are acting as decoys while Gwine and Toris are acting as attackers with spear and spells.
However, whie Gwine"s spear is a magic weapon it"s not as long as the one Kimu uses and Gwine"s body isn"t very big either.
Inevitably her reach will be shorter and the burden for that portion falls on the decoys.
I want to use attack spells but there"s no one else here with a high enough level of wind magic to disperse that breath.
Even on the other side there"s no one but Miduchi.
Toris"s {Stone Bolt} hit it"s front leg by chance and if Angela hadn"t seen that as an opportunity and landed a clean hit it probably would have taken a lot more time to finish it off.
Angela landed a number of attacks consecutively until Gwine"s spear stabbed into it"s side and Ralpha split it"s head open.
Somehow we were able to defeat the one over here.
How are things on Miduchi and the others end?
I turned around while controlling my mana.
"Aaaahhh~!!"
It was just as Kamu"s small body was sent flying.
I spontaneously canceled the attack spell and ran towards the direction Kamu was sent flying.
Putting aside the breath if she were to be stepped on..!
And then the worst case scenario unfolded.
"Guo"
Next Zulu"s large body was sent flying and hit me so even I was sent rolling.
And then flew into Miduchi just like that.
"Hiii!"
"Ah, my hand, my hand is..!!"
Kimu and Bel were hit by the petrification breath!
Before our eyes the two of them gradually turned into nonspeaking statues.
Their equipment and weapon remained just like that without change.
s.h.i.t!!
"Bel!!!"
Toris ran over towards Bel.
"Stop!!! If you get close then even Bel will be attacked!!!"
Miduchi yelled from below me.
Zulu, move!!
I sent Zulu flying with all of my strength and then started controlling my mana again as I stood up.
"Ieeeee~i!!"
Angela went charging in while letting out a scream with fighting spirit and cut through the neck of the {Gorgon} with her broad sword.
............................
We released Kimu and Bel from being statues right away using the spell {Remove.Petrification}.
It seems the two of them were unconscious while they were changed to stone.
The moment their bodies returned they went half into a frenzy.
But, it seems they understood the situation soon after and regained their composure.
After that I healed Kamu and Zulu"s injuries.
Also, at the same time as the {Gorgon} died the cage of lightning bolts disappeared.
However, since the cage of lightning bolts disappeared I wonder if that means that beam was fired by the {Gorgons}?
I tried using {Identify} on them but they only had the special skill {Petrification.Breath}?
Let alone a magic special skill, they didn"t have a single skill that might be related to that beam.
"{Status Open}..But, it"s strange."
I couldn"t help but say my doubts out loud.
"What is?"
Ralpha replied.
"That beam of light right?"
Bel said. That"s right.
"It seems like it would be best to remain cautious for a while longer."
Toris agreed as well.
"Miduchi-san do you have any ideas?"
Gwine asked Miduchi but she didn"t know either, or rather she had too many monsters that it could be so there was no way for her to determine which.
Truly so.
I"m sure every monster that can use magic would be a candidate after all.
For a short while we were on guard while remaining careful of the surroundings but nothing in particular happened after that.
For the time being we decided it was safe so I ordered the two slaves to gather the magic stones from the {Wyvern} and {Gorgons}.
The value of the {Wyverns} magic stone according to {Identify} was just over 890,000 by 123. The values of each of the {Gorgons} magic stones were slightly different but all four of them were around 200,000. If we sell them then it"ll be over 10,000,000 Z in just magic stones.
Also, it"s only obvious but we cut off the {Wyverns} thorn-like tail and carefully recovered it.
Miduchi carefully stored it away.
It"s supposedly filled with deadly poison after all.
But since it has the special skill {Venom} then wouldn"t it not normally have the poison?
Even when I tried using {Identify} on the tail we cut off it just came up as {Wyvern"s Tail-end} and even in the sub-window there wasn"t anything related to poison.
And then I realized it when we were recovering the tail but the {Wyvern}"s scales.
The largest ones were a diameter of 6~7 cm while the smallest were 4~5 cm and they"re a rounded diamond shape but that one floor guardian pattern was drawn on the surface of every single one of the scales.
There was no reaction using the {Cantrip} {Magical.Detection} but a slight reaction could be seen when using the spell {Detect.Magic}.
Everyone got really excited over this.
"If we make equipment using the scales of a {Wyvern} I can"t even imagine what kind of price they"ll be worth."
and it was also largely because of what Miduchi said,
"The lord of my home town Duke Zamu supposedly has armor made using the scales of a {Wyvern} that"s pa.s.sed down through the generations as their family heirloom."
And what Kimu said in a daze also spurred that on.
If it"s on the same level as the heirloom of a Duke family then it would be more difficult not to get excited.
It"s troublesome and will take some time but there"s no way we"d just throw it away.
We decided to gather all of the scales without leaving a single one behind.
And then after checking the status of the scales we gathered things got noisy again.
{Pure Breed Wyvern"s Scale}
A blackish brown scale with a slightly transparent tint.
Even after checking the sub-window of {Identify} there wasn"t anything particularly unusual.
Just in case we collected all 8 of the horns from the {Gorgons} as well.
{Gorgon"s Horn(Left)}
Something like (Left) are you making fun of me?
I thought that but it seems no one found it strange.
Though after thinking about it there"s certainly things with names like {Goblin"s Right Hand} or {Ork"s Eyeball(Left)}.
Somehow I just really don"t care anymore.
After that we decided to first try searching the area around where the pillar of light appeared.
It"s true the beams bother me but it can"t be helped thinking about things you don"t know.
We decided to just start by investigating a place where we might figure something out but there wasn"t any deeper meaning than that.
Relying on Gwine"s memory we went to the area where the closest pillar of light appeared but it was just a small 20 meter or so wasteland spread out and we weren"t able to discover anything suspicious.
It couldn"t be helped so we decided to try going to the next place where the pillar should have been but it was the same.
By this point the time was already past 12:00am.
"It"s about a good time but what should we do?"
Toris asked but we still can"t afford to rest.
On our way up to here someone brought up the possibility that the source of the beams might not be a monster but the several altars we saw along the way.
They have a different shape from the altars up until now and a certain word floated into the heads of all the reincarnated people including myself.
In other words, a machine.
Otherwise a magic tool or magic item.
We nervously tried approaching one of the altars.
However, the cage of lightning bolts didn"t activate and nothing happened just like the last time we approached them so there was no particular need to fear them.
Even investigating them from the outside we couldn"t figure out anything at all.
After making up my mind I decided to send the attack spell {Stone Cannon} flying into it and it easily broke apart.
There wasn"t any sort of mechanism inside it looked just like plain rock.
But, as expected everyone was completely exhausted.
Most likely, the monsters shouldn"t resp.a.w.n until around 10:00 tomorrow.
For the time being we should munch on some hardtack and take a rest in the teleport crystal room at the center of the room.
By the way, it"s unknown how much HP it had remaining but today"s MVP was Angela who finished off the {Wyvern} and furthermore dealt ma.s.sive damage to two of the {Gorgons} after that.
It seems like her level went up as well.