Chapter 83
Anaye’s Son (1)>
Midway through Zone C. I ran in a straight line from the entrance of the Poison Swamp to the center.
Even though she could run perfectly well on her own, Canis insisted on being carried. After bickering with her, an hour had passed before we finally reached the middle of Zone C.
“Will it take long to find it?”
“No~ I’ll find it in no ti.”
Instead of resting, we walked at a pace that felt more like a stroll. Even with a gas mask on, Canis led the way with her characteristic bouncy steps.
Around her, a pure white baseball bat floated in the air. She was playing with it, spinning it around with magic.
“What’s this even for, though?”
“A weapon.”
“Hmm.”
Canis tilted her head for a mont, then resud playing with the bat. It was the weapon we had received from the workshop.
A weapon crafted from the horn of a Hellhorn Bull. I had ordered a blunt weapon, yet what appeared was a baseball bat I was familiar with from modern tis.
‘She whined about how hard it was.’
They had stubbornly cut and shaped that tough horn. The bat grew thicker toward the end, forming an octagonal shape.
It was a weapon densely embedded with spike-like protrusions.
‘Even Anaye was satisfied.’
There had been no rejection from Anaye, who had refused every other weapon. The fact that there was no reaction ant Anaye approved of it.
“What’s this thing embedded here?”
While twirling the bat, Canis tapped the purple tal set into it. A circular purple gem was embedded at the end of the handle.
“No idea. The workshop owner said he bought it cheap from a peddler. Apparently, every attempt to carve it out just bounced off, so it gave him a headache.”
“What about its na? Usually the maker gives it one.”
“Candra.”
“What does that an?”
“I think he said it ant shining moon.”
“What’s the connection~”
“He said there wasn’t one.”
“……Seriously?”
Canis asked as if she couldn’t believe it. I nodded heavily. I had no idea why soone would give it a na with no relation at all.
“If we’re going to keep using that workshop, we might need to think it over~”
Canis handed the bat. It was ti to hold the weapon now. Despite its appearance, it was a decent one.
It was slightly heavy, but I liked how snugly it fit in my hand.
“More importantly, what are you planning to use the gathered materials for?”
“Research? There’s a spell I want to use, but I need the ingredients~”
The first thing we did upon arriving in Zone D was thoroughly search the surroundings. What Canis intended to gather was the nectar of a dangerous plant called the Climbing Thorn Flower.
It was a plant with a powerful hallucinogenic toxin. The start of this request was to find the bees called [Climbing Thorn Bees] that collected nectar from those flowers.
“You’re going to get arrested at this rate.”
“Davide’s safe anyway~”
The nectar of the Climbing Thorn Flower was an illegal material banned not only by the Academy but also by the Imperial House. If we were caught, we had agreed that Canis would take all the bla.
“I hear sothing.”
“Climbing Thorn Bees?”
“I’m not sure about that, but I hear the sound of insect wings.”
“Hmm~ Shall we go take a look?”
After circling the outskirts of Zone D, we heard rapid wingbeats. There weren’t many insect-type monsters in Zone D, so there was a high chance it was a Climbing Thorn Bee.
With a thin layer of crystal covering her entire body, Canis moved without restriction. There was no need to worry about infection from small wounds, so our movent speed increased significantly.
“That’s a Climbing Thorn Bee?”
“Yeah~ That’s right. Didn’t you take the hunting class in your first year?”
“I did.”
“……Huh. Then why don’t you recognize it~”
A bee the size of a human head bustled about. Pressing ourselves close to the bushes, we quietly observed the Climbing Thorn Bee.
“We just follow that thing?”
“Yep~ Climbing Thorn Bees only collect nectar from Climbing Thorn Flowers. If we follow that one, we’ll find the flowers~”
The Climbing Thorn Bee was fairly nimble. Not impossible to track, but easy to lose if we slipped up. There was a reason Canis had wanted to secure plenty of ti.
Stalking a monster. It was an experience you couldn’t buy even with money.
“When is that thing going to move?”
Watching the bee wander around the area for over ten minutes, I yawned. Canis, who had been sitting against a tree to rest, also let out a sigh.
“Hey, hey. It’s moving. Let’s go.”
Even while dragging her feet, her gaze remained fixed on the bee. When it finally left its original territory, I quickly urged Canis along.
Just as expected, the Climbing Thorn Bee flew elsewhere. We gladly followed behind it. The poisonous fog could make us lose sight of it in an instant, so we moved quickly.
“I’m~ out of breath.”
I was fine, being unaffected by the Poison Swamp, but Canis clearly disliked the thick poisonous fog filling the surroundings.
“This doesn’t seem right.”
“Hm?”
As we moved carefully yet quickly, we heard far more wingbeats than before. It wasn’t just one or two.
The sound of wings grew closer and closer, so we stopped talking. Canis, who had been about to question , stiffened slightly as she heard it too.
“Looks like a nest.”
“That’s troubleso~”
Canis visibly looked disappointed. Just when it seed like this would be the end of it, sothing even more troubleso appeared.
A massive structure, ford by connecting the gaps between enormous trees with beeswax. The nest of the Climbing Thorn Bees greeted us.
“Davide~ Did you bring Candela?”
Canis suddenly asked about Candela. I always carried the glass orb bombs with . Since I never knew what might happen, I made sure to bring the most powerful ones.
It seed Canis was considering attacking the nest. With Candela and her magic, it might be possible.
“I did bring them, but you should know each one costs 25 Nuckle.”
However, I didn’t want to use Candela in a fight we didn’t really need. We could just wait a bit and follow a Climbing Thorn Bee that strayed from the swarm.
It would take a little longer, but there was no need to step in and invite danger.
“If it’s just honey we need. What a sha~”
“It’s huge. To hit them all at once, we’d need about ten. And the honey would probably burn from the current.”
Still, there was so lingering regret. Canis was already getting irritated by the poisonous fog, and I too was starting to feel frustrated from not having swung my weapon even once.
I wanted to fight sothing solid and sturdy. Insect-type monsters like those were tricky, annoying, and not fun.
“Vibration.”
“Hm?”
“I can feel vibrations from the ground~ What’s going on?”
Canis, who had the earth attribute, noticed the anomaly first. She quietly placed her hand on the ground and circulated her mana.
“Sothing extrely heavy is moving at an incredible speed~”
“Which direction?”
“Hmm. Huh. It’s coming this way?”
I imdiately grabbed Canis and climbed up a suitably large tree. Reaching a sturdy branch, I surveyed the surroundings.
“That way.”
Canis slipped neatly out of my grasp and, sitting on my shoulders, pointed in a direction.
She could have just sat on the branch, but she had to make it unnecessarily troubleso like this. Grumbling, I looked toward where she pointed.
“Well, would you look at that.”
Just as she said, a massive cloud of dust was visible even through the poisonous fog. Despite being up in a tree, I could feel the trendous vibrations.
“It’s coming.”
I shifted into a stance that would let flee at any mont and stared toward the source of the tremors. The trees forming the forest collapsed as sothing approached.
“It’s a Hellhorn Bull~”
What revealed itself was a gigantic horn exuding overwhelming presence. Its body was far larger than the Hellhorn Bull I had encountered in the Poison Swamp before.
“It’s enormous. Much bigger than the last one.”
It was easily the size of a small building, and its massive horn was as thick as a great tree. The Hellhorn Bull let out a trendous roar, then suddenly lowered its stance.
“That crazy bastard.”
In the next instant, its colossal body soared into the air. An act one might simply call a jump. The mont I saw it, I imdiately threw myself backward. Canis activated a shield spell, layering crystal over it as well.
—Boom.
After the initial impact, I couldn’t hear anything else. What I felt instead was an overwhelming shockwave that could easily be called an earthquake.
With just a slight leap and fall, the ground flipped over, and the aftermath surged outward. It wasn’t enough to break Canis’s sturdy shield, but the force sent us rolling several tis.
“What about the Climbing Thorn Bees?”
“They’re alive. The buzzing got faster. They’re clashing.”
After dispersing the surrounding dust with a swing of my bat, I focused on the sounds. I could sense the rage of the Climbing Thorn Bees, suddenly struck by an attack.
I wondered if that single strike had killed all the Climbing Thorn Bees, but they truly were creatures that inhabited Zone D.
“What about the nest?”
“We should check. If the nest is still intact, we can use them against each other.”
I didn’t know why the Hellhorn Bull had attacked the Climbing Thorn Bees. Nor did I care to know. What mattered was that we might be able to finish the request sooner than expected.
If I had to choose, fighting a Hellhorn Bull was far more entertaining than dealing with Climbing Thorn Bees. Seeing grin boldly, Canis shook her head.
“You got hit first. You’re just going to let that slide?”
“Of course~ not~”
Even as she said that, Canis looked eager. It seed she didn’t find this situation entirely bad either.
“The nest is half-destroyed.”
“That’s more than enough~”
About half of the Climbing Thorn Bees’ nest had been shattered. All the bees that had been hiding inside sward out and rushed at the Hellhorn Bull.
The Hellhorn Bull’s slow but terrifying attacks weren’t very effective against the nimble bees. Still, its attack range was so wide that many were caught in blind swings.
“Were they always that tough?”
However, the Climbing Thorn Bees’ attacks repeatedly failed to penetrate the Hellhorn Bull’s thick hide.
Though it was one against hundreds, the Hellhorn Bull held a slight advantage. Its two horns pierced into the ground.
When it yanked them upward with all its might, chunks of earth flipped over entirely, crashing down onto the bees.
“Looks like the Hellhorn Bull will win?”
“The exoskeleton’s tough.”
“Can we win?”
“Easily. If you support properly.”
Even watching the overwhelming performance of the Hellhorn Bull, my fighting spirit didn’t waver. I had faced one before, and my weapon wasn’t a blade.
I could ignore a certain degree of its tough hide, and I had already thought of a way to bring it down with Canis’s support.
“Looks like it ca for the honey.”
“Or maybe it’s being chased.”
The number of Climbing Thorn Bees rapidly dwindled. Though they moved nimbly to avoid direct hits, they had sothing to protect.
The Hellhorn Bull cunningly didn’t hesitate to attack the nest itself, and more bees sacrificed themselves to defend it.
The prolonged fight was nearing its end.
“What’s the plan?”
“A surprise attack. I’ll go with the strongest strike.”
“Hmm. And ?”
“Bind it. Make sure it can’t avoid the hit. If possible, force its mouth open too. And one crystal sword.”
I imdiately summoned the Holy Scripture of the Anaye Faith. The softly radiant scripture naturally drew the eye, but the surroundings were thick with poisonous fog and dust.
Canis ford a crystal sword and handed it to . It was far more refined and sturdier than before. I layered three Thunder Horn Marks onto the crystal sword and, at the cost of half my health, summoned the Lightning Spike of Anaye.
—Grrrk?
Sensing the sudden surge of imnse heat and Divine Power, the Hellhorn Bull, which had been savoring its victory, turned its head.
Before it could fully react, I dashed forward. The Lightning Spike took the shape of a spear rather than a sword.
It was the sa one that had once lted an entire swarm of Swamp Ants in a single blow. The startled Hellhorn Bull tried to move.
“Hmm. It’s fierce.”
Canis let out a strained sound as she activated her spell first. A massive crystal erupted from the ground beneath the Hellhorn Bull, forcefully lifting its enormous body.
With nowhere to plant its feet, the confused Hellhorn Bull tried to roll sideways, but before it could, the Lightning Spike fired.
Lightning raged like a storm and drove itself into the Hellhorn Bull’s flank.
Countless crystals shot up around the fallen Hellhorn Bull. They crossed over one another, sealing its movents.
“The inside was weaker.”
When I had killed one before, its outer hide had been tough, but the tissues inside were no different from an ordinary living creature’s.
Swiftly moving toward its head, I hurled the crystal sword into the Hellhorn Bull’s mouth, which had been forced open by Canis’s crystals.
The crystal sword sliced deeply through its uvula and vanished into the darkness. The real attack began after that. I snapped my fingers and activated the engraving.
Three explosions detonated so rapidly they sounded like one. The Hellhorn Bull’s body jolted violently, and acrid smoke burst out from the hole.
“It’s still alive?”
Even after the horrific attack of bombs exploding inside its guts, the Hellhorn Bull survived. As it forced its eyes open and began to rise again, Canis stared at it in fascination.
I imdiately summoned Lightning Armor and charged. The Hellhorn Bull swung its horn with all its remaining strength.
But faster than that, Canis cast her spell. A massive crystal shot up from the ground, slightly deflecting the horn’s trajectory.
—GRAAAAAAAH!
In that brief mont, I slipped out of the attack’s range and brought my entire body down onto the Hellhorn Bull’s head.
Struck by a lightning-wreathed blunt weapon, the creature let out a trendous scream and slamd into the ground.
“Ow. My hand.”
Landing back on the ground, I watched the Hellhorn Bull twitch weakly. I set the bat down and shook out my hand.
It tingled painfully.
That was how satisfying the killing blow had been.
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