Chapter 29: You only realize the importance of someone when they are gone.
From Una viewpoint.
“It"s nice to finally be outside but don"t you think this place is too barren? Look, there"s nothing here but rocks.”
“Tres, if you"re here to complain you better go back. We"re here on a mission. Not to fool around.”
She has always been like this, complaining all the time.
Her immatureness probably comes from her being the last one to be awakened.
“I know, but there"s not even a single monster here, you know. Shouldn"t there be large dragon and crow here according to the record?”
“Tres, they are not oversized dragon and crow, they are white wyvern and accurate crow. Besides, don"t you think it"s much better like this? They are both King-cla.s.s. Even if we encounter them, we only need to flee, understand?”
“Hm? No fight?”
“No, we don"t need to! Are you asking to die!?”
“You worry too much sis. Don"t you remember who trained us? She"s a monster herself.”
“…..That"s true, I guess.”
Seriously, how Ann did get so strong?
Every time I asked her about it, she always said it"s willpower. I still have no idea what she meant by that.
On the other hand, Dos, who"s been silent all this time, is on high alert.
…..I know it"s good to be serious but he should consider being more open with his family.
“….Sis, look.”
Murmured Dos.
Wah! That startled me.
After all, it"s been many years since the last time I heard his voice.
“What- what is it, Dos?”
Dos didn"t say anything.
Instead, he points to the top of the rocky mountain.
Hm, what is that?
“Could that be an accurate crow nest?” (Una)
“What?” (Tres)
“….. (Nod)” (Dos)
Dos silently nod.
Tres also looked at the direction Dos pointed.
There, stood a tower of rocks with a huge menacing nest on it. Surrounded by dozen of broken eggsh.e.l.ls.
But what"s more overwhelming than anything else is the torrent of magical power coming from it.
“…..The pressure is intense.”
Sweat trickled down Tres" cheek.
Dos stiffen.
Just by the exposure alone, it"s enough to make me broke into cold sweat.
Is this the true power of King-cla.s.s?
It gives off the same pressure as Ann and Pururu.
However, the magical power it emitted surpa.s.sed both of them….
Ann has always survived fighting against something like this…
Though every time she did, she never came unscathed.
That"s why she"s amazing.
“Let"s go before it noticed us.”
“Okay.”
“…… (Nod Nod)”
Both of them obediently follows me.
Tres who"s been frightened since a while ago is now holding onto my cloth.
My my my, who"s this cute girl here.
Seeing her like this makes me want to tease her a little bit.
“…..Tres, did you mean what you said before? Eh, what is this? Why are you grabbing on my cloth now? ….Could it be that you"re scared?”
“Umm, that"s because… I"m sorry about before sis. I spoke without thinking. You"re right, that thing is much stronger than me.”
Oh, what an honest child.
Her trembling way of speaking is so cute.
But what she said is not far from the truth.
It might be impossible for us but I don"t think that"s the case for our father…
After all, he"s a true monster.
In order not to be noticed by the accurate crow, we avoid the nest by taking a detour and moved to the north.
We kept walking to the north. It"s been an hour now.
We didn"t change our course because Ann"s map shows that we only need to move straight in order to arrive to our destination.
The Eld Desert map we"re currently using was transferred by Ann through memory transfer. She gave it to us while preparing our changing clothes.
Apparently, she made the map in secret without father knowledge.
Amazing.
For some reason, she also wants me to keep it a secret from him.
I didn"t force her to tell me why.
I just nodded at her request.
Nonetheless, Ann is a wonderful person.
She did a splendid renovation on the dungeon.
There"s no way for anyone to figure the trap she installed.
Before, the trap has already dealt with some few intruders.
Also, these clothes were made by processing the loot at the time.
Yes, that"s right, they were from filthy goblins.
I admire Ann"s att.i.tude to undertake dirty job by herself.
I also want to be someone like her.
…someone like an ant, fufu.
“Hey, how about we take a break here?”
Suggested Tres.
Right, we"ve been walking for a while now.
And according to the map, it will not be long before we reach the border.
“Okay then. This place also seems to be a good spot to rest. Dos, how about you too—“
I looked at Dos.
Eh, what"s with that stern look?
It"s as if he"s alarmed of something.
“Hm, what"s wrong Dos?”
Asked Tres.
“……..It"s here.”
“What?”
A moment later, Tres was suddenly blown away.
I can barely make out what"s happening but it seems to be from Dos wind magic.
What on earth is going on?
At next moment, the ground where Tres stood before suddenly explode.
“Gigyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!”
A huge earthworm then popped out from the ground.
Not only that, but it also has a mouth with rows of teeth at the tip of its body.
“…..It"s the worm. This thing shouldn"t be here, we"re already far from father"s dungeon. It"s been tailing us!”
And it"s not alone.
One… two… there"s three of them.
I fail to sense them because it wasn"t until recently I learned the skill.
Who am I to fool. Actually, I"m bad at it.
“Sis, how strong is this guy?”
Tres, who was blown away, is now beside me.
Eh? How long you"ve been here?
“….. Let see. Judging by the size, it should be a low intermediate-cla.s.s at most.”
It also befits the magical power I sense from it.
“Yosh! Let"s go!”
“Eeh?!”
I was so surprise.
“Why are you too surprised? Can"t you see they are all pumped up to kill us?”
They"re definitely letting out an intimidating growl.
“But father told us to avoid fighting as much as possible!”
“It"s situational, sis! Right now, they"re not going to let us escape that easily!”
They"re already set their sights on us.
“….You"re right. Let"s—-“
“Look. Dos is already ahead of us.”
“Huh?”
The worm already got beaten by Dos wind magic.
….He may be quiet but he"s the fastest among us.
Wind swirls both in his hand and compressed into the size of a fist in the shape of a small whirlwind.
….That"s really packed a punch.
Somehow, I couldn"t connect to Ann.
The worm hit by the attack then explode, leaving its body juice splattered all over the place.
Eh, it turned out to be weak after all.
That"s totally not what I expected.
“It"s my turn now! I will not lose!”
As she said so, nine b.a.l.l.s of light appeared around her.
“Incinerate all, Great Flame!”
Intermediate magic 『Great Flame』.
The b.a.l.l.s then form a vortex of fire that heads straight to the second worm.
Naturally, it tries to avoid the attack after seeing what happened to its friend.
It starts digging into the ground.
Unfortunately,
“Don"t you think I"ll let you go away that easily.”
I push my hand forward.
And clench a fist in the air.
“Gyaoooo!?”
The body of the worm that tried to run away suddenly curled up like a shrimp.
Paralyzed, it was then swallowed by the Great Flame.
Without a scream, it burnt to a crisp.
I feel much stronger. I"m glad the training finally paid off.
“One more left.”
Slowly, I pulled out my sword.
Realizing it"s the only one left, it completely lost the will to fight.
Frightened of us, it curled into a ball.
However, there"s going to be no mercy.
Since you came all the way here, you might as well die.
Suu, I swung my sword to the side.
A moment later, the worm, which is about five miles away from us, was then torn in half.
It then collapses onto the ground without a sound.
After a three more swings, the corpse turns into smaller pieces.
I guess we"re safe now.
It"s completely dead.
“Wow, you"re so amazing!”
Although I nod at Tres remark, I still think it"s not enough.
Ann could easily dodge a skill at this level.
“I don"t want the sword father gave me to be dirty. So, this is the only way I can kill it.”
“Yeah, I also don"t want to dirtied the clothes Ann gave me.”
“…..”
Dos, on the other hand, stood silently in the gloom.
Oh, he"s covered in worm juice.
“Dos, come here. I"ll clean you with purification magic.”
We took a break for a while whilst cleaning Dos with magic.
But for a monster, the worm is quite a weak I must say.
Ann always reminds us to be on high alert.
『I almost died before. So, never let your guard down. 』(Ann)
She probably said so, so we don"t become careless and overestimate ourselves.
We"re not going to lose fighting something like that, Ann.
…..Still, we"re hardly nothing compared to you.
A few hours later, we managed to pa.s.s through the Eld Desert.
We had no choice but to take another detour in order to hide from the human lookout.
We continued walking without encountering anyone after that.
And moments later—
“I think this is the town.”
We found a town, the place where the human lives together.
In the dungeon.
MC: They"re strong omnomnomnom (while munching on the magic stone)
Ann: … I almost died fighting the same thing before. (Currently in a daze)
Pururu: Puu~