Ch.92Chapter 92 – Crocodile Hunt (3)

After flying from the magic tower to the request location, I was able to meet up with the local mage immediately upon arrival.

This mage, as it turned out, was something of an ecological surveyor dispatched from the magic tower. That’s how he had noticed that monster populations were gradually decreasing for unknown reasons, which prompted him to request additional personnel for investigation.

After hearing the full story from him and agreeing to investigate alongside the guild request, we headed straight for the forest.

“The air is quite nice here.”

When Haven spoke leisurely, one of his party members nodded.

“Reminds me of Emiris God’s hunting grounds.”

“Ian, don’t say things like that. Words can become reality, you know.”

While Haven’s party members were chatting idly, I looked at the rest of our companions. Beatrice was casually surveying the surroundings, though I noticed her hand moving toward her pocket several times as if she wanted to smoke, only to stop herself.

‘At least she’s not smoking here.’

A fire in the forest would be disastrous. Despite her impression as someone who might just smoke as she pleased while feigning ignorance, it seemed she knew when to exercise restraint.

Meanwhile, Sarah and Christina had somehow ended up together, chatting excitedly.

“There’s no sense of tension at all.”

Anyone watching would think we were on a picnic rather than entering a forest to hunt monsters or conduct an investigation.

“Well, I suppose that’s what happens when everyone’s experienced.”

Beatrice commented leisurely. Her observation wasn’t wrong—Haven’s party consisted of veteran adventurers, and both Christina and Beatrice seemed to have done adventuring work as a side job before meeting me. Indeed, most of our group was quite seasoned in adventuring.

“Ugh… should I not have come…?”

Eina, the only one who had never worked as an adventurer before, was looking around nervously.

She was an experimental subject like me, so she should be able to immediately detect and respond to monster movements.

‘She’s more timid than I expected.’

I was starting to think adventuring might not suit her temperament. Just then, a strange sound reached our ears.

-Crunch crunch

“Eek!”

“What’s that sound?”

Seeing Eina and me immediately go on alert, everyone else stopped in their tracks. The relaxed atmosphere instantly vanished as everyone quietly readied their weapons and listened for the sound.

“Something scratching against rock. That way.”

Haven was the first to indicate the direction, and everyone followed behind him.

“I thought Kay’s senses were incredibly sharp back at the mine, but Eina is no slouch either.”

“Ah, well…”

“Maybe she’s as strong as Kay?”

As Ravi made this comment while following Haven, Eina responded somewhat shyly.

“Ravi, quiet.”

When Haven spoke quietly from the front, Ravi just shrugged and continued following silently.

We pushed through the undergrowth while remaining vigilant, and soon discovered our target monsters.

Their appearance was very simple.

Giant alligators.

They even seemed to live in groups, as there were four of them together.

One of them had a rock in its mouth and was chewing on it.

-Crunch crunch

‘So that’s what was making the sound.’

I hadn’t realized it was teeth scraping against rock.

We quietly looked at each other, then readied our weapons for battle.

The alligator that had been chewing on the rock suddenly turned its gaze toward us.

Soon it spat out the rock and cried out.

-Keeek!

“That’s quite an odd sound.”

Before I knew it, I had made that comment, and the alligators turned toward us.

Soon they were facing us directly.

They showed no signs of attacking yet, perhaps because of our numbers.

Instead, the alligators were clashing their jaws together while watching us.

“But don’t alligators usually come from swamps?”

Sarah nodded at my question.

Then she spoke.

“Usually yes, but these monsters live on land.”

“Why?”

“They have a habit of moving around to catch prey.”

“Basically, when they’re hungry, they wander around and chew on dirt and rocks too.”

Beatrice interjected. She usually fought with her fists, but this time she had stones floating above her hand.

I was watching this for a moment when Beatrice, noticing my gaze, smiled at me.

“Do you know why they’re clashing their jaws while looking at us?”

“Why?”

“That’s their signal for being hungry.”

As soon as Beatrice finished speaking, the four giant alligators began charging toward us.

“They’re quite fast for their size!”

I took out a bow and arrow instead of my halberd and shot immediately.

The arrow flew straight and successfully pierced one alligator’s eye.

-Kiaaaa!!

“Oh, nice shot!”

Beatrice said as she extended her hand toward the alligators.

“I’d love to throw a fireball, but…”

“Wouldn’t that cause a forest fire?”

“That’s why I couldn’t smoke earlier either.”

Having apparently found her target, Beatrice flicked her hand.

“At least this won’t cause anything to burn.”

With her words, a rock flew through the air.

Flying at a speed similar to an arrow, the rock suddenly grew larger before breaking apart into sharp fragments.

The fragments then embedded themselves in one alligator’s head.

Sarah’s magic missile, which she had prepared at some point, also collided with the same alligator and exploded.

“Oh, excellent. That’s a splendid magic missile.”

“Th-thank you.”

Beatrice smiled as she watched Sarah’s magic missile. Then she turned to me with a smirk.

“Hey, Helmet. Are you just going to stand there?”

“Who says I am!”

I charged at an alligator with my halberd.

True to what we’d heard about them eating anything when hungry, it rushed toward me with its mouth wide open.

‘So it just sees everything as food.’

I thrust my halberd toward the charging alligator.

-Thud!

As I blocked the alligator’s charge with my halberd, I felt a dull impact.

Its bulk wasn’t just for show—it was definitely heavy.

Through that brief collision, I calculated how strong the alligator was.

‘I can handle this.’

As the alligator charged at me again, this time I extended my arms and legs straight out.

I heard someone inhale sharply, and then I forcibly pried the alligator’s mouth open with my arms and legs.

-Kraa?!

The alligator seemed confused when its most powerful weapon was blocked.

Feeling it trying to pull its mouth away, I pressed down harder with my foot on its jaw to hold it in place, and gripped my halberd properly with one hand.

I held the halberd a bit shorter and struck the alligator’s face with the blade.

-Thwack! Thwack!

Naturally, the alligator’s blood splattered with each strike.

“Does that actually work?”

“Don’t get distracted, here it comes!”

I could hear Haven’s party fighting one of the creatures.

I was handling one, Beatrice and Sarah had another, and Haven’s party was dealing with one more.

That meant the remaining alligator was…

“Kyaaaah!”

Eina was facing it with a greatsword.

Judging by the light emanating from her body, Christina had cast a blessing to enhance her.

In that state, Eina was swinging her greatsword each time the alligator charged.

“G-get awaaay!!!”

Her terrified voice rang out.

Yet her body was handling the alligator just fine.

It was rather novel to see her kicking the alligator’s jaw and stabbing its head with her greatsword while maintaining a tearful expression.

Looking closely, it seemed like her body was moving on its own rather than by her conscious will.

Still, her movements were more than adequate for dealing with the alligator.

-Keeuk…

Eventually, the alligator that had suffered numerous injuries from Eina retreated.

Then it looked at Christina, who had her back turned as she was supporting Haven’s party.

“Christina!”

I shouted a warning to Christina, and she turned around.

The alligator began to charge, and just as I was about to rush forward—

“‘Protect the young lambs.'”

Christina chanted while extending her staff.

A shield made of golden light suddenly appeared in front of her.

-Thud!

The charging alligator collided with the shield and fell backward.

Christina then swung her staff again.

“Holy Arrow!”

Five arrows made of golden light appeared around Christina.

When she pointed her staff at the alligator, the arrows flew toward it all at once.

-Kieaaa!!

Wounds appeared on the alligator’s body.

Despite not being particularly vulnerable to holy power, the arrows tore through its hide.

As the five arrows passed through and embedded themselves, the pain must have been considerable, as the alligator thrashed about, unable to regain its composure.

Suddenly, Eina’s expression sharpened, and she didn’t miss the opportunity, quickly swinging her greatsword to deliver follow-up attacks.

“Oops.”

I let go of the alligator due to a sudden shift in weight.

By that point, I had struck it so many times with my halberd that it had been reduced to a mess.

I tossed aside what used to be an alligator and looked around once more.

“Going smoothly.”

Haven’s party had one, Eina and Christina had another.

With any luck, they would win at this rate even if left alone.

“Hey, Helmet! Stop lazing around and help us out!”

Beatrice called out, though she didn’t sound particularly urgent.

Looking over, I saw that Beatrice had moved to the front line and was driving her fists into an alligator.

Meanwhile, Sarah was landing magic missiles whenever she could.

None of the groups seemed to be struggling.

‘They probably don’t need my help.’

Maybe I should take a break.

“Helmet! If you keep slacking off, be prepared for tonight!”

“Kay?”

Beatrice’s voice rang out, and Sarah looked at me.

Her eyes were a bit scary.

“…I suppose we should end this quickly in case someone gets hurt.”

I readjusted my grip on my halberd and rushed toward the alligator that Sarah and Beatrice were fighting.

+

“Well, we’ve completed the guild request.”

Haven said as he tied the alligator heads together.

Apparently, the proof of extermination was either the tail or the head.

However, since the heads had more wounds compared to the tails, we unanimously agreed to submit the heads for the bounty and keep the hides intact.

“Hey, Helmet! Stop fooling around and help us skin these!”

That was Beatrice calling out as she and Sarah were skinning an alligator.

Looking to the side, I saw that Eina was also skillfully skinning an alligator with a knife.

‘She suddenly fought well earlier when her expression changed.’

I wondered if becoming an experimental subject had affected her personality somehow.

Now she was back to trembling as usual, though her hands moved efficiently as she skinned the alligator.

Perhaps something in her personality had changed during the experiments.

I approached the last alligator with a knife, and felt someone behind me.

It was Ian, one of Haven’s party members.

“By the way, Kay seems even stronger than before, doesn’t he?”

“You think so?”

“If I’m not mistaken, it feels like his strength has increased even since the centipede incident.”

After saying this, Ian sat down beside me and took out his knife.

Soon, we were both working to skin the alligator.

In no time, we had several alligator hides, and Beatrice smiled with satisfaction.

“These should fetch a good price.”

“Where are you going to sell them? Do you know a place that pays well?”

“Of course I do. Leave it to big sis here.”

Beatrice confidently thumped her chest.

Since I’d be going with her anyway, I’d need to keep an eye out to make sure we weren’t being scammed.

With everyone’s combined efforts, we organized the spoils from the hunted monsters.

We sorted them by part and placed them in large backpacks.

“It’s been a while since I’ve done this.”

Sarah spoke as she easily shouldered the backpack containing the heaviest parts.

The rest of the luggage was carried by Haven’s two party members excluding Ravi, and Eina, who had volunteered.

“They weren’t easy monsters, but your group took them down quite effortlessly.”

“We were just lucky.”

Haven smiled wryly at my response.

“Well then, let’s go. We’ll drop off the luggage first and then decide what to do next.”

The request to hunt the Giant Diles was complete.

However, we still had the magic tower’s request to fulfill.

Beatrice suggested that we had come deep enough into the forest to consider the investigation done, but I felt a pang of conscience and thought we should investigate a bit more.

“By the way, Christina, it seems like you’ve learned some new skills.”

“Ah, about that.”

Christina smiled and explained.

“For some reason, my holy power has increased. Plus, I can use it more powerfully when holding this staff.”

She began rubbing her cheek against the staff with a silly grin.

“I think it’s all thanks to meeting you, my benefactor.”

“Is that so?”

What did I ever do for her?

Feeling awkward, I looked away, only to see Beatrice grinning at me unpleasantly.

“What?”

Beatrice answered with a smile.

“Ah, youth.”

“Shut up.”

After that, Beatrice and I started exchanging insults.

Sarah, who was watching our verbal sparring with a wry smile, spoke up.

“Anyway, it all ended well.”

By then, Beatrice and I had reached a temporary truce.

Ignoring Beatrice, I responded to Sarah’s comment.

“Indeed.”

“The weather is so nice today too. It’s a really good day.”

Sarah added that it would be nice to go on a picnic.

The weather was that good today.

It felt like we could clearly see the sun in the sky.

“The weather really is nice.”

It was so clear that I could even see a black dot in the sky.

And that black dot was getting bigger.

“Huh? A black dot?”

What is that?

Just as I tried to get a better look at what seemed impossible—

-KRUAAAAAAA!!!

An unknown roar echoed through the air.

‘What?!’

I felt intimidated by the voice despite myself.

It might sound ridiculous, but my knees tried to buckle on their own.

I deliberately stamped my foot hard to regain my senses, and the strange feeling suddenly disappeared.

Looking around at my companions, I saw that many had fallen to their knees, unable to maintain their composure.

Only Beatrice, Christina, and I were fully alert.

“What? What are you—”

“Shut up!”

“‘Protect the young lambs!'”

Beatrice changed her expression and extended her arm.

Christina raised her staff in alarm.

In that moment.

Flames filled our vision.

A sudden heat wave hit us, and I instinctively raised my arm to shield my face.

Of course, it was useless. In such an inferno, raising an arm could hardly protect the body.

Yet I felt only slight heat, with no damage to my body.

“What’s going on?”

“What do you think? It’s a barrier.”

Beatrice answered irritably.

The shield of light that Christina had summoned was absorbing the flames, while a massive magic circle that Beatrice had deployed created a barrier that blocked the heat wave.

I could see the light shield slowly melting.

“What is that thing…?”

“…I don’t know.”

Beatrice answered while sweating slightly.

Soon the fiery hell ended, but the surrounding forest was ablaze.

Beatrice and Christina cautiously lowered their defenses.

Immediately, acrid smoke began to assault us.

“Ugh, *cough*!”

Haven started coughing.

Everyone else was coughing lightly too.

We had been fine until now thanks to the barrier, but once it disappeared, the burnt air invaded our lungs.

Everyone began coughing with pained expressions until Christina waved her staff.

“*Cough*… ‘Blessing of the clear sky.'”

As light emanated from her staff, the air became somewhat cleaner.

Breathing became easier.

“It’s a purification spell… *cough*… my first time using it, but it worked.”

I nodded at Christina’s words and gave one last big cough.

Thanks to the cleaner air, everyone stopped coughing.

One by one, they regained their composure and stood up.

“But why would a fire suddenly—”

Haven suddenly stopped mid-sentence.

His face began to turn pale.

“Hey, that’s…”

“Good Lord?!”

Ravi, one of his party members, also cried out, and soon we all looked in that direction.

The first thing we saw was a massive black body.

Hard-looking black scales.

‘This can’t be happening.’

I wanted to believe I was dreaming.

A black dragon was looking down at us from the sky.