Ch.318The Final Blow NPC. (3)

[Long time no see, Naiad.]

[Greetings to you, Spirit King.]

Siltra Beastkin Chief’s cave, home to the highest-ranking water spirit. A giant glowing white figure literally appeared out of nowhere, yet the highest-ranking water spirit showed no surprise and slowly bowed her head.

[Hmm. If you’re asking how I’ve been, I was on the verge of disappearing.]

[I see. Yet for someone who says that, you appear remarkably healthy.]

[Well, various things happened.]

[Is sharing spiritual energy with the Spirit Master until now what you call ‘various things’?]

[…Don’t ask when you already know.]

The Spirit King scratched his head embarrassedly at Naiad’s words, looking almost human. Clearly, this must be the influence of living near humans for so long.

[Hehe. I apologize. You’ve been carrying that chicken coop woman around, yet you come to see my face after nearly 2,000 years. I couldn’t help but jest.]

[Isn’t that partly your fault? You’re the one who promised to stay in the beastkin village to keep your contract. And don’t call the highest-ranking fire spirit a chicken.]

[That chicken coop calls me rotten water, so we’re even.]

Naiad smiled gently at his words, just like a human would. If he had lived near humans for a long time, she had lived beside beastkin for thousands of years, so it was natural they would adopt similar mannerisms.

[So, what brings you here? I would be truly delighted if you said you came to see my face.]

[Well, that’s part of it. But you must already know. About Groundskeeper Jack.]

[Ah. I thought it might be something like that.]

As the Spirit King got straight to the point, Naiad slowly submerged herself in the cave’s water and waited for his next words. As if she already knew what he was going to say.

[…I owe him many favors, and instead caused him harm. If I don’t repay him, the name of Spirit King will rot.]

[Yes, you disrupted his cycle for three months, I believe. The Spirit Master is truly a troublesome person.]

[You can’t expect my sister to understand human concepts of time. For us spirits, three months is nothing.]

[However, for humans—for people—three months is enough time for the end of a cycle to change.]

Having said that, Naiad raised both arms from the water and began drawing up water from throughout the cave. The amount of water gathered was far more than what should have been possible from the small pool in the cave—a massive body of water large enough to fill the entire cave gathered at the ceiling until it nearly touched the Spirit King’s head. Despite drawing up so much water, the pool in the cave didn’t diminish at all.

[What do you wish for? Create what you desire and take it.]

[You don’t intend to make it yourself?]

[Hehe, you jest. How could something made by someone like me possibly help him on his journey?]

[If you put your heart into it, I believe it would be the finest creation in spirit history.]

Naiad thanked the Spirit King for his words but simply smiled gently, as if urging him to make it himself. Well, it would be more meaningful if he created it personally.

[Then excuse me.]

[Haahn~!!]

When the Spirit King placed his hand in the water gathered by the highest-ranking spirit, a sensual sound echoed through the cave. Ignoring the sound, the Spirit King began infusing his power into the water, slowly gathering and condensing it with spirit techniques.

-Shwaaaaaaah!!!

As the water covering the entire cave received various spirit techniques and began to condense, two objects started taking shape above his enormous hand. And then…

[Aaah…!!]

[…Bear with it a little longer. It’s almost done.]

The Spirit King calmed Naiad, who despite having a body made of water, let out a high-pitched sound with a slightly reddened face. Eventually, he created a pair of glowing blue gauntlets and a sword.

[Haa, haa. Your hand skills are excellent.]

[That’s not a good choice of words. It could be misunderstood.]

[Yes, I’ll rephrase. I was satisfied with just your hands. Your technique is superb.]

[……]

At her more explicit words, the Spirit King shook his head, and Naiad smiled, saying this proves she is more favored by him than the “chicken coop.” Changing the subject, the Spirit King presented the equipment he had created.

[Thank you. Thanks to you, I’ve completed an excellent masterpiece.]

[Hehe. It’s the child of the Spirit King and me. Surely the strongest in spirit history.]

[…You’ve changed quite a bit since I last saw you?]

[Beastkin have more mating experiences in their lifetime than ordinary people. My knowledge has expanded in that area.]

Unable to directly say it was not good knowledge to have expanded, the Spirit King patted Naiad’s head as she emerged from the water. Well, this too must be part of the cycle.

[Well, I’m sorry to just take care of business and leave, but I can’t delay repaying my debt any longer…]

[Your destination is that groundskeeper, right? Then, I’ll send you there.]

[Ah, no, wai-…]

He was about to say he would go himself, but a water path had already connected from the cave’s lake to the entrance, leaving the Spirit King hesitating nervously. No, this is…

[Unless you’re the highest-ranking wind spirit, nothing is faster than my water path. You know that even over short distances, I’m faster than that one.]

[No, the safety…]

[That Groundskeeper Jack rode it just fine. Since you said you have no time, I’ll shoot you off right away.]

He’s human and you shot him with this? If you ride this, you can’t even control your landing! The Spirit King, suddenly feeling his debt growing, squeezed his nonexistent eyes shut and surrendered himself to the water path. Delivering the items as quickly as possible would surely be the fastest way to repay his debt to Jack.

[Hehe. This is what female beastkin call supporting one’s mate. Now, off you go.]

[Y-yes.]

– WHOOOOSH!!!

A water droplet shot out from the cave entrance with three times the size and speed of the one that had launched Jack to the Grand Elder.

*

-CRACK!!!

“Urgh!! Just die already!! My tail fur is going to fall out!!!”

[RAAAH!! It’s mine!! I’ll eat it all back!!!]

“You pig!! Your opponents are us!!!”

-WHOOOOSH!!!

I concentrate and carve out one spot, and Luxuria blasts the gap I’ve created. Though my sword gets torn away when I cut through the flesh, the monster’s bloated body has shrunk considerably. At this rate, we might soon see what Luxuria called its main body—the black doll. But the creature, seemingly concerned about its shrinking size, started targeting the Ponia people it had vomited up. Damn it!! I really am going to go bald!! The skin between my tail fur is showing where I’ve been pulling it out!

[GRAAAAH!! NO!! I’ll eat what I spat out!! Give it back!!!]

“Ugh…!!! Damn, they said Avaritia was in the human realm!! If only she were here, she’d have good compatibility with this thing and could help!!!”

“What?! There’s another of the Seven Deadly Sins?!!”

-SWISH!! CRACK!!

“Ow!! Stop eating my sword!!!”

Its size has decreased. Its size has decreased, but the speed of its recovery—or more precisely, the recovery of its authority to bite and tear apart its surroundings—seems to have accelerated. Perhaps the closer it gets to its original size, the better it can control itself!! If so, can we kill it once the main body appears?!!

“We don’t need to kill it!! It’s vomited up most of what it ate in the human realm!! Unless someone deliberately offers it humans, it can’t recover immediately!! Just focus on cutting it down as much as possible!!!”

“I see. So we just need to cut it down. I’ll help!”

“Grand Elder!!”

The Grand Elder, who had regained consciousness, throws me a Ponia military sword and immediately begins slicing away at the flesh near the creature’s mouth with incredible momentum. As expected of Elven Vision Swordsmanship! But…!!

-CRACKLE!!

“Tch, does magic work?”

-BOOM!!

“I tried that too, but it’s less effective than swords!”

As expected. If you slash a few times, the sword gets torn away and disappears. The Grand Elder, after casting magic at the cracks he had cut, retreated and immediately picked up a fallen spear to throw at the monster, but stabbing attacks are completely ineffective. See? The part where the spear hit is actually swelling up more.

“Miho was collapsed beside me, but was the holy water operation—mixing sacred power and demonic energy—successful?”

“It was a great success. That’s why you’re still alive. But…”

“Hmm, the only thing it probably hasn’t eaten would be spirit techniques. Since I haven’t seen it use any, it likely hasn’t eaten spirits. But my spirit techniques are only low-level…”

Actually, I had thought about that too. It’s just that there’s no point in thinking about techniques we don’t have. I guess we have no choice but to keep gradually cutting it down and having Luxuria blast the cracks…

-POP!

“…Huh?”

“…What?”

“Uh, that wasn’t me?”

Hearing what sounded like a water droplet bursting in the sky, I look up to see Luxuria also looking confused, waving her hands to indicate it wasn’t the massive demonic energy she was holding. I thought maybe she had launched a weak attack due to exhaustion, but if she says it wasn’t her, then what was that sound…?

[RAAAAH!! I’M HUNGRY!! GIVE IT BAAACK…!!!]

[Disgusting. Die.]

-BOOOOOOM!!!

“Kyaaa?!!”

“Ugh?!! Chikuyo!!”

“Wh-what?!! I’m fly—!! Eeeek?!!”

A voice suddenly came from the sky, followed by an explosion of a pillar of fire causing an incredible flash that sent me flying without control. The Grand Elder caught me with magic, but Luxuria… she just flew away.

W-what the heck?! That impossible magic… no? Spirit technique?!!

-RUMBLE!!!

[A demon resembling that damn Wrath fellow. I got angry without realizing it and blasted it. Hmm, you there, beastkin. You’re the one who was with Jack, right? Where is Jack?]

And when I saw the glowing giant doll that had fallen in front of the pillar of fire turning its head toward me as I lay sprawled on the ground, I experienced cognitive dissonance. W-wait. Could it be…?

“S-S-Spirit King?!”

[Yes, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? About a month, no, two months?]

The Spirit King, who was half black and half white like a panda beastkin when I last saw him, now completely white, greeted me rather amicably after completely incinerating the Greed flesh mass we had been struggling to cut down.