Chapter 92

Chapter 92

92nd Episode: The Hunt .”..Laila.” In my dream, I felt like someone was calling my name. In a world of complete darkness, only a murky voice echoed in my ears. Curious, I strained to listen, and the voice became clearer. “Laila, it’s your turn.” “…I’m awake.” It was Charka. I stretched, shaking off the stiffness, and saw the red-hot bonfire and the still-dark cave. I glanced outside; it was still night. “Have you ever stood guard duty before?” “Yes, roughly.” While marching and escaping through the Mesheen Great Forest with El and Emily, we used to take turns standing guard every night. I was too tired to do it on the first day, but after that, I had enough energy to manage. However, even though I nodded, Charka kindly explained what to do. “If anything happens, just shout.” “…That’s pretty simple.” “Simple things tend to become complicated when they add up. Don’t fall asleep, and hold it in even if you need to go.” “Yes, I understand.” Going to the bathroom… Ahrum suddenly came to mind, but I felt a little sorry to use her like that. I’ve gotten so used to it that I sometimes forget Ahrum is inside me, but I don’t forget how useful she is. Last time, I didn’t even need a sanitary pad thanks to Ahrum. Ahrum is an all-purpose slime that can handle laundry, washing, and cleaning, so she has many uses. I wondered why there wasn’t something like this on Earth. “Then, good luck.” Charka said briefly and then covered himself with a blanket. I was the last one on guard duty, so he didn’t have much time to sleep. I wondered if he could fall asleep, but seeing him snoring less than a minute after covering himself with the blanket, it seemed like I was worrying for nothing. “Krrr…” “….” Listening to the orc’s snore, which resembled an animal’s cry, I blankly stared outside the cave. The sounds of insects chirping and the occasional howling of wolves echoed through the quiet darkness.

-Crackle, crackle.

I pushed a log into the burning bonfire and watched the dancing flames. Looking at the sparks that occasionally flew out, I smiled bitterly. The faces of my friends, now fading in my memory, flickered in the darkness. Only three out of thirty are left. Perhaps I could say there were already three, but I thought it was all thanks to luck. I couldn’t even guarantee when I could find the others, and I didn’t even know if they were alive or dead. And, to be honest, there was no reason to find them. I was forcing myself to find a reason, but it was only because I had nothing else to do, so I had no choice but to look for them. Just as I give a reason to live in order to survive, I gave a reason to look for them. Because we’re from the same world, because we know each other, because they must have learned martial arts. “…But maybe there’s a reason for at least one of them.” I chuckled to myself and threw another log into the bonfire. // While walking through the Mesheen Great Forest again after dawn, we encountered a strangely shaped monster. “Qwaeeeek!!!” That it looked strange was only my perspective. Charka, Mien, and Eira seemed familiar with the monster, as they took out their weapons as soon as they saw it. “That’s an Axolotl.” “Is it a common monster?” “Relatively.” Charka answered my question calmly and swung his axe as if testing it. El and I also drew our swords, but Charka raised his hand to stop us. “Just watch this time.” He muttered softly and ran towards what he called an Axolotl. The Axolotl was a four-legged, giant catfish-like monster, but it looked more grotesque than strange, with a broad, giant lizard-like appearance and a body color as dark as rock, unlike goblins. “Qwee!!” The Axolotl saw Charka rushing towards it and opened its mouth wide to stick out its tongue, but Charka was one step ahead, twisting his body to the side and swinging his axe at the incoming tongue. “Hrmph!!”

-Thwack.

“Qwaeee!!!” The shout and the sharp axe blade sliced through the Axolotl’s tongue in one go, and the creature let out a painful groan. In response, Eira, who had been waiting behind, shot an arrow.

-Thunk!

“Kweeeek!!” The arrow, flying with a whistling sound, pierced the Axolotl’s eye, and the monster screamed and thrashed wildly.

-Whoosh!

The Axolotl, having lost one eye, swung its huge tail around, but Charka dodged all of the Axolotl’s tail attacks with agility that belied his large size. After a while, he took advantage of the Axolotl missing its third tail attack and swung the axe he was holding with great force.

-Crunch.

“Kweeek!?” The blade of the giant battleaxe accurately sliced through the Axolotl’s front leg, and the creature’s body staggered and fell. However, its long tail had not lost its momentum, so as soon as he landed a hit, Charka retreated far back without attacking further. Following him, Mien chanted a spell as if she had been waiting for it. “Fulga ro Telum.” “Kweeee!!” A stream of blue lightning stretched out from the jewel at the end of the staff and struck the Axolotl, causing it to scream and tremble all over. Taking advantage of the Axolotl’s momentary paralysis, Charka approached again and swung his axe at its catfish-like head.

-Slice.

With more than half of its neck cut off, the Axolotl’s body slumped powerlessly. Watching the party’s fluid teamwork, El muttered in admiration. “Amazing…” Charka tied up the Axolotl’s feet, drawing its attention to himself, and cut off its leg to stop its thrashing. Then Eira accurately hit a vital spot, enraging the Axolotl, and Mien cast her magic, taking advantage of the Axolotl losing a leg and collapsing. They were all veteran adventurers, and seeing it firsthand, I had no choice but to agree. The way they coordinated without planning in advance was something you would only see in a team that had been working together for a long time. I muttered softly, looking at the fallen Axolotl. “…Is it dead?” For something that looked so strong, it was a rather anticlimactic end. …Or so I thought. “Qwaeeeek!!!” As if lying, the Axolotl raised its body on three legs and began to thrash wildly again, swinging its tail. The way it thrashed so violently with half of its neck dangling was like watching a resurrected undead. El, who was watching the scene, flinched and muttered, looking at me. “Laila, don’t tell me you used a resurrection spell…” “No, wait, that’s nonsense.” …Surely not. Thinking that, I looked at Mien, and she shrugged as if it were nothing and replied. “Axolotls are similar to Qwaidons in that they have tremendous regenerative abilities. They can regenerate their bodies if they lose their tails, legs, or tongues, and they can even move for a while even if their necks are cut off. Some individuals can even regenerate their heads.” “…Is that even a living thing?” “It moves, so it’s a living thing.” Mien answered simply and chanted the spell again. Just in time, Charka had cut off another of the Axolotl’s legs, so the Axolotl couldn’t avoid Mien’s magic. “Fulga ro Telum.”

-Zap!

“Kweeeek!!?” Once again, a stream of lightning struck the Axolotl, causing it to tremble again and slump its body. Charka, as if used to it, approached the fallen Axolotl and completely severed its dangling neck.

-Splatter!

The catfish-like head split in two, and a fountain of blood erupted that could be seen from afar. But that was only for a moment.

-Flap!

The Axolotl, with only two legs and a torso left on one side, wriggled and swung its tail around. “Eek!?” Whether it was because it was grotesque, El, who was watching from the side, flinched as if disgusted. And I, too, didn’t show it, but I couldn’t help but be amazed by the Axolotl’s absurd vitality. “Does that thing ever die?” “Well, it’s actually hard to kill it physically. It still moves even if you pull out its heart, and it breathes through its skin even if you pierce its lungs.” “…There are things like that roaming around in the Great Forest.” “But usually, it dies after being zapped with lightning about three times. Or you have to burn its muscles with a torch to keep it from moving.” I nodded, listening to Mien’s additional explanation. …Being an adventurer is a tougher job than I thought. In the end, the Axolotl stopped moving only after Mien cast her lightning magic two more times. After that, we watched Eira approach the Axolotl’s corpse with a dagger and extract the Core. “…It’s not going to move again, is it?” El asked, looking at the Axolotl’s torso with a face that said he was worried the corpse might start running around, and Eira tilted her head and replied. “Well, I’ve heard of some Qwaidons regenerating in that state before, but I don’t know about this one.” “…..” When I heard the news that Sartun had lost the Qwaidon from Muren, I just thought they were dimwits, but I think I need to change my mind. With that much regenerative power, I could see how they could lose it. Honestly, who would think that the lump of meat in front of me would come back to life? When we made disgusted faces at Eira’s answer, Mien came over and added an explanation. “But if you take out the Core, it won’t be able to regenerate here. The Core is the source of all monsters.” The Core, an organ that generates magic power on its own, was the most valuable of the materials that could be obtained from monsters. It could be said that the reason why monsters can maintain their large bodies or unleash attacks that consume a lot of energy while requiring very little food is because of the Core. “Here.” Eira took the Core from the Axolotl’s corpse and handed it to Mien. Mien took the Core, turned the pages of her spellbook to cast a spell, and put it in her space expansion pouch. After the simple battle, the preparations naturally followed. After washing off the bodily fluids on our bodies and weapons and finishing the rough preparations, Eira shouted to the party in a lively voice. “That’s about it for the side income, now we need to get down to business, right?” As she said, our goal was the trolls, not other monsters. We only hunted the Axolotl because we ran into it. El and I looked at each other and nodded as if renewing our determination, and glanced at the Axolotl’s corpse as we passed by.

-Twitch.

“….?” I wondered if I had seen it wrong for a moment, but I hadn’t. The Axolotl’s corpse was wiggling its two legs and trying to raise its body. No, it wasn’t just twitching, it looked so lively that it would start walking any minute if it had legs. “Hey, Eira?” “Yeah?” “That thing’s moving.” “Oh, don’t worry about it. It’s always like that.” “…..” Indeed, this must be the Mesheen Great Forest. I admired and averted my gaze from the Axolotl’s corpse, which was vigorously flapping its tail. // After our very impressive first battle in the Great Forest, we headed deeper into the Mesheen Great Forest for half a day. After taking a short break for lunch, we walked again for about an hour. It was around that time that Eira discovered something. “Wait a minute.” She raised her hand to stop the party and swept her hand across the ground covered with fallen leaves. “…It’s a trap.” According to her explanation, it was a trap made by the goblins living in the Great Forest. After listening to her explanation and looking again, the awkwardly covered fallen leaves caught my eye. Goblins were monsters that lived throughout the Mesheen Great Forest. Although they were at the bottom of the food chain, they used traps like this to catch other monsters. And the fact that we found such a trap meant that we could use it later. “Can we use it later when we catch the troll?” I asked, just in case, but Eira showed a skeptical reaction. “It’s possible if there’s a troll nearby, but…I can’t guarantee it.” We stuck a branch nearby so we could mark the trap and walked along the mountain path again. But even though we walked until the sun was setting, we still couldn’t find a troll. “…It’s not in this cave either, should we look somewhere else?” “Well, that’s not a bad idea, but…I think we should rest for today.” It wasn’t like we were aimlessly searching without any clues. Trolls have great strength and stamina, but their movements aren’t very fast. Even though they are monsters, they need to eat something to survive, so trolls’ prey is mostly slow and easy-to-catch monsters rather than wild animals. And if you’re talking about slow and easy-to-catch monsters, you can’t leave out goblins. Eira was looking for trolls based on the traces of goblins, but she couldn’t even find traces of trolls. In the end, we found another small cave and had to camp there for the night.

-Crackle, crackle.

Like yesterday, the party laid out blankets on the cave floor, lit a bonfire, and went to sleep, taking turns standing guard. Of course, I was on the first watch. It wouldn’t be easy to wake up in the middle of the night, but maybe they were being considerate because I was new. Other adventurer parties wouldn’t have done that. Is this what they call networking? I stared blankly at the burning bonfire, thinking silly thoughts. But networking is networking, and the request is the request. I was worried that we would be able to find the troll within the time limit if we continued like this. It was a problem that I couldn’t solve even if I worried about it, but it was my first request in the Great Forest, so I was a little nervous.

-Crackle. Crackle.

But it wasn’t like I could do anything special, so I had no choice but to relax. I pulled out my sword from my waist and poked at the innocent bonfire, passing the boring time. I wasn’t particularly tired, so I wasn’t very sleepy. Thanks to learning martial arts, I had plenty of stamina, and even if I walked all day tomorrow, it wouldn’t be a problem.

-Thump, thump.

Just as I was thinking that and poking at the innocent bonfire, I heard footsteps in my ear. “….?” The sound was coming from quite close, so I unconsciously turned my head in the direction of the sound. And then, for a moment, I couldn’t recognize the sight in front of me and tilted my head. “Khrm.” “….Huh.” At the entrance of the cave far away, something with a large body was standing.