I had to look up what a group of monkeys was called. Did you guys know that they"re a “troop”? Apparently, they can also be a “barrel” or “cartload”? Anyways, enjoy the chapter~ Chapter 12: Monkey and Meteor Shower
The low hills meandered across the auburn land.
As usual, there was hardly a blade of gra.s.s on this land.
Goltarou and I headed along this long, wide road stretching east to west as we searched for the human settlement.
We found this road immediately after we encountered the black demon.
It appeared that it had been waiting in front of the road to ambush us.
The headless corpse of the demon released a fine, black cloud of dust before dissolving into a liquid.
That was an unexpected end for any living creature, but what came to my mind first was the way the golems I created crumbled.
Was that black demon also created via wizardry?
I don"t recall such a spell being described in any of the introductory books. But then again, they were just an introductory book, and I had only read the one about general wizardry and the intro to the Earth Attribute.
Even the splattered blood on Goltarou disappeared as it evaporated.
But, the black creature might have been dirty.
Therefore, I used a wet cloth to wipe Goltarou"s entire body clean.
By the way, the water used to wet the cloth came from sealed ceramic pot Goltarou had filled to the top with water and carried in the basket on his back. I believe this pot took up the most s.p.a.ce in the basket. This would have been an unbelievably sloppy transport method, but Goltarou"s super-powered sense of balance allowed for this; he carried this basket as easily as an elementary student carrying an empty book bag.
It appeared that Goltarou really loves having his entire body wiped.
That reminds me; a lot of dogs enjoy a good brushing…
Although Goltarou was the type to never voice a selfish demand, he did show a bit of desire when it came to having his body wiped. Whenever I went to take a bath by myself, he would bring the cleaning cloth himself. Likewise, whenever I had to do any kind of washing, he would wait behind me and lightly pull on my sleeve.
That was why I swore to polish his smooth, snow-white body at least once a day.
Goltarou has been taking care of me ever since he was created. This was the least I could do.
Rather, if you look at the actual amount of work being done, I would technically need to wipe his body at least 70 times a day. Still, I think the fact that he enjoys having his body polished is quite cute.
But, it"s like that—golems are really like dogs…
Speaking of dogs, did you know that this world has monkeys?
As we walked along the road, I had noticed some of them appearing on the top of cliffs and rocky slopes.
These monkeys, size-wise, were similar to that of a j.a.panese macaque.
They were brown. Well, monkeys were usually brown creatures. But, in this world, the “brown” didn"t refer to their fur.
It seemed that these monkeys had a layer of brown skin…hardened over their body.
It almost looked like a bunch of stones was glued on them.
When I first saw them from a distance, I was shocked, thinking that these were monkeys covered in scales.
But, after getting a closer look, I saw that their skin had just keratinized. I concluded that such a species of monkey existed in this world and became a little relieved.
I operated on fundamental common sense, so I would be surprised to see a scaled monkey even in another world.
Monkeys made of stone? Hmph, impossible.
I had mentioned a blue, jelly monster before, but that was just a joke. If a slimy invertebrate had come after me at super speed, my mind would have rejected everything and displayed a beautiful lakeside scene backed by some cla.s.sical music like those technical difficulty screens.
In fact, the reason why I easily accepted the presence of wizardry after my first accident was because I wouldn"t what to do if I couldn"t. But that being said, I still was unsure what kind of spell was used to turn that gate and book cover black.
I approached one of the monkeys.
Ah, they seem friendly.
But, I"m sorry.
As a proud man of culture, I cannot allow myself to feed wild animals.
It would only bring about negative effects on the people of the area.
It"s not that I particularly hate monkeys.
While I do think that a monkey having lumpy skin is a bit disturbing, I won"t discriminate against animals for their superficial appearance.
Friendly creatures are good things.
“Fufu. This guy"s cute!”
It was right at that moment I spoke those words.
Goltarou kicked the monkey into the air with all his strength.
“Eh!? Wh…Gol… GOLLLLLL???”
The monkey flew through the air and smashed into a nearby cliff.
Its neck and limbs were all bent in strange directions.
It"s…it"s dead…
“Goltarou…Y-you….”
How could you do such a thing!
Tears filled my eyes as I objected, but I had suddenly noticed the abnormality in our surroundings.
There were a lot of monkeys now.
They surrounded us: along the roadside, in front of our path, and behind us.
—How long have they been surrounding us?
No, wait. Thinking back, I felt like the number of monkeys hiding above the cliffs and behind the shadows of rocks in my peripheral vision increased as time went on. Furthermore, they seemed to be moving in the same direction as us.
No way. Were they with us from the beginning?
Could they have been gathering together while maintaining a perimeter around us in the shadows throughout our journey so far…?
For what reason exactly? It was most likely to…
The same time the monkey went flying through the air, Goltarou stepped diagonally in front of me.
I looked at his white back.
Goltarou had already dropped the basket on the ground.
Oh? Ready for a fight, Gol?
One of the monkeys in the troop fiercely jumped and landed in front of us.
While raising a strange cry and baring its ferocious fangs, the monkey charged at us.
But, Goltarou easily knocked it aside.
The monkey was slapped with such fearsome strength that it died on the spot.
The silent corpse of the monkey was buried in the ground.
The white golem stood with an air of composure.
The enraged troop of monkeys rushed one after another to attack Goltarou and me.
The starting shot of war had risen.
Goltarou mowed through the monkeys at an earth-shattering pace.
Each time he released his white fist, a monkey"s corpse would dance through the air.
He was especially merciless to those individuals that targeted me. It was clear that he was using a heartless and cruel overkill method. Ugh, I don"t feel good…
In the meantime, what should I do?
While I frankly don"t think that Goltarou will fall behind these monkeys, what should I do to help?
I grew up surrounded by culture and morals, so I didn"t possess any wild gorilllike power that would overwhelm these monkeys by force.
In that case, should I use wizardry?
The spells I could use presently were [Create Pebble] and [Create Golem].
[Create Golem] was in every possible meaning out of the question. Furthermore, if I execute it poorly, there was the risk of fainting.
So, could I use [Create Pebble]? I could probably create a giant rock roughly several tens of meters large. And if I create it directly above the troop of monkeys, it should be effective. I might even be able to destroy a section of the troop.
But, the creation method was too much of a mess. The whirling storm of dirt particles raised by mana will completely block my front view. If such a situation were to occur in our current predicament, there was the possibility of a surprise attack or tripping Goltarou.
The final nail in the coffin for this method was the significant time lag between the spell"s activation and completion. I felt like it"ll take a lot of time. By the time the stone was created, a majority of the monkeys would"ve moved a considerable distance away.
As such, I can say that this spell wasn"t suited for combat.
Huh? Does this mean that I"m absolutely useless…?
Would this mean that I"m stuck as Goltarou"s gigolo?
Being stabbed by my heartless reality, I fell into despair.
This whole time, Goltarou had been knocking down monkey after monkey like a whirlwind.
I had noticed this before, but Goltarou was a bit overprotective when it came to me. He had prioritized my safety which led to us being completely surrounded by another large troop of monkeys. He was fully fixated on the monkeys behind me that he hadn"t moved away from the area. At this rate, he wouldn"t be able to break through to the enemy"s center.
Nevertheless, the difference in strength between Goltarou and each monkey was that between the sky and land.
On top of that, there didn"t appear to be any signs of Goltarou"s flashing movements slowing down.
The monkeys appeared to be showing signs of frustration at the growing mountain of corpses.
However, they didn"t back away after losing so many of their kind already.
The guys are terrifying.
Was this a matter of their temperament? Or could it be that they were truly confident that they could defeat us?
At this time, a monkey a head larger than the rest raised a roar from the rear of the troop.
I turned in that direction to have our eyes meet.
It looked like the monkey"s expression twisted into a distorted grin for a moment.
As if that was the signal, the monkeys surrounding us all raised their hands to the sky in unison.
A trail of dirt particles from the ground under the monkeys" feet ascended into the air. Each one of these trails wasn"t that thick. However, given the sheer volume of them, it looked like a backward flowing waterfall.
What was this? I had a really bad feeling.
When all of the particles had risen, the brown waterfall connecting the ground to the sky disappeared.
There were now numerous stones created in the air.
They weren"t the size created by [Create Pebble].
Rather, each one of them was like a rugby ball.
I"m sure that if I took one to the head, my skull will be broken and I would die instantly.
…Yup. This was the perfect size for combat, I know.
My pebbles(?) were not only unnecessarily large but they had no purpose.
But this wasn"t the time for admiration. This is bad. We"ll die.
The cl.u.s.ter of stones above our head was so numerous that it was like a solid dome in the sky.
And all of them began to simultaneously descend towards us.
This kind of saturation attack was clearly something Goltarou hadn"t expected.
There was explicit discomposure on his face when he looked up.
He turned to look at me with a fl.u.s.tered look.
In the next moment, my entire field of vision was wrapped in pure white.
Goltarou had rushed towards me at a blistering speed and covered me with his body.
For some reason, I had imagined I smelled the sweet scent of a girl.
But my thoughts weren"t focused on that at all.
Rather than my well-being, I was trembling with fear thinking about Goltarou who was covering me.
Was he acting as my shield?
Could he endure all of it?
I didn"t know Goltarou"s endurance?
I mean, would Goltarou himself know?
In all his battles, he had relied on his abnormal strength and speed to end everything in the first hit.
I hadn"t seen an enemy who continued to breathe after being hit by the first blow. This meant that his body never had to defend against anything.
At the very least, I don"t recall anything in the introductory books about raising this guy"s base"s strength.
—d.a.m.n, my Goltarou might die.
My head was gradually getting numb.
I don"t know why, but I saw the image of a small white dog lying on the road.
Its body was quickly turning cold after it had, for some reason, protected me—
I was urged by this impulse to do something desperate.
I stuck my hand out from one of the openings from underneath Goltarou and pointed my hand towards the shower of rubble.
The scream that left my throat was enough to tear my vocal cords.
It was a pitiful cry, but it was a desperate plea on my part.
“[Stop. Please wait.]!!!”
The area was engulfed by stillness.
No matter how much time pa.s.sed, the stones didn"t fall.
The monkeys gazed at the sky with dumbfounded looks.
All the stones had stopped mid-movement in the air.
It looked like time had stopped.
On closer inspection, the rocks that had been brown like the dirt on the ground were all “dyed black.”
“H, huh? What is this…?”
I popped my head in between the gap in Goltarou"s arm and looked up.
By the way, Goltarou"s embrace was very gentle. He left me with enough room to move, easily allowing me to stick my head out. If he had tightened his grip as he held me, I probably wouldn"t have been able to move a single millimeter.
But what was this phenomenon?
I tried moving my hand around while my palm was pointed at the sky.
With each flick and turn, the black stones in the sky obediently followed like subordinates in the army.
“Ah! I think I can manipulate them the way I want.”
I lowered my gaze back to the ground.
The monkeys were no longer looking at the sky.
Rather, their wide eyes were fixed on my face in shock.
You could say that their expressions were stained in the colors of fear and despair.
“…In the meantime, I guess I"ll return these!”
The plethora of black stone bullets in the sky rained down like a meteor shower on top of the troop of monkeys.
The stones pierced through each of the monkey"s skulls, penetrated their body, and crashing into the ground.
The earth shook in horror with each succeeding crash.
The thunderous roar, cries, numerous bursts, as well as the sound of breaking bones and the liquid being splattered continued for some time.
When the area returned to stillness, there wasn"t a single moving figure in sight.
The troop of monkeys was decimated.
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