The setting sun had disappeared into the western sky, and night had fallen.
The explosions caused by the Bronze Demon had finally stopped the flashy pillars of fire that had risen from the large hole, and only the light from the lighting created by Aisha’s magic was making the fine light rain that had fallen on the mountain path appear fantastic.
“Thank you, Merylou-kun …… Good grief, I didn’t expect it to self-destruct.”
Souya thanked Merylou while putting the Mithril Saber in a scabbard and sweeping away the ashes that had fallen on his business suit.
“I sensed that a large number of fire spirits had been released from the bronze demon’s sword, after all …… It’s a good thing I had the earth spirits dig a hole just in case.”
It seems that Merylou had sensed the signs of the explosion through spirit power sensing.
Souya was able to escape the explosion by dropping the Bronze Demon into the large hole created by the spirit arts. The action she took could be called the best solution to get out of the situation.
Souya was planning to use a magic called telekinesis to keep the burning sword away from him, but the transition to the explosion was so fast that he was not sure if he could finish the chant in time. Even if he did, there was a possibility that the flames spread by the explosion would spread to the trees and cause a forest fire.
In order to avoid such a risk, I was about to cancel the chanting of the magic, rely on the Goddess’ blessing that can bring me back to life, and offer myself to block the explosion, but thanks to Merylou’s quick thinking, I didn’t need to do that. I guess I have her to thank for that.
“Souya, you were about to break out of your chanting and lean in …… Are you telling me that you could take that explosion up close and not die?”
Merylou was not pleased with the results of her achievements, but her expression remained stiff, and her strong speech showed a little anger.
“You have to trust us a little bit …… I’m sure you’re just trying to keep your friends out of it.”
There was a brief silence.
Souya took off his glasses, which were fogged up by the light rain, and looked Merylou in the eye.
“I didn’t mean to underestimate you guys. I’m sorry if that’s how you see it.”
Souya bowed his head to Merylou, then continued.
“…… And to answer your question. That explosion will not kill me. Even if I receive it at a close distance and my body explodes. So I thought the best thing to do would be to offer myself and stop it. I’ll admit that I was a bit self-centered …… I’ll be careful from now on.”
“Stop kidding me. You idiot.”
“You once told me, Merylou-kun. “Don’t be nice” …… You’re the same. Well, I guess we’re both new at this…”
Souya smiled thinly, put his hand lightly on Merylou’s head as they passed each other, and walked slowly toward the wagon where Peryton was.
◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇
“Souya-san, Merylou-san. You’ve done a great job. There was a huge explosion, but are you okay?”
Peryton seemed to be still excited about the battle that had just taken place.
He said he had fought goblins before, but this was probably the first time he had encountered a demon.
“It is thanks to Merylou-kun that we were able to prevent the damage from the explosion …… I’m afraid I couldn’t interrogate the bronze demon to find out its purpose, but we’re able to get rid of it, so let’s call it good.”
“Yes. But for a Bronze Demon to be here …… If it wasn’t for you guys amazing skills, everything could have ended here. I can’t thank you enough.”
The bronze demon was originally a monster that all silver-class adventurers had to deal with. I guess it was too much for the other three bronze-class.
In fact, it’s highly likely that only the two of them could have handled that self-destructive attack.
“Thank you for the hard work, Souya-san …… Are you injured anywhere?”
Mia held up the Cleric’s Staff and asked fearfully.
She had also neutralized the small demon Imp with a new sacred art of the Earth Mother Goddess Mikaela called the Favour Circle.
It wouldn’t work against a strong opponent, but the fact that she was able to calmly deal with the monster was a sign of growth.
If she was as good when she was about to be assaulted by the thieves meadows before, she would probably be able to handle them just as well.
“Don’t worry. It’s nothing serious. But it was a close call. I have to thank Merylou-kun for that.”
When Souya looked at Merylou again, Aisha, her round glasses fogged up by the light rain, was bowing to her.
“Thank you, Merylou-san …… I was …… um, very impressed.”
She failed to kill the small demon Imp with the magic bullet, and was rescued by a blow of an arrow shot by Merylou with hair’s breadth when she was about to be slashed with the sickle.
“…… No. It was my fault for letting it get so close to Aisha. Shooting the magic bullet wasn’t a bad choice. Don’t worry about it. The lighting helped, too.”
Merylou had been backing up Aisha closely.
She had a problem with her lack of physical strength, but she seemed to have done the best she could in the battle.
The only thing that prevented her from killing the small demon imp was her lack of practice in magic. She was still lacking the ability to construct a good quality magic missile.
“Thank you for your hard work, Tat-kun. You seem to be quite skilled.”
Tat, a grass elf, Grasswalker, had killed two small demon imps.
He seems to be more experienced in combat than I expected, and his quickness and dexterity allow him to handle himself and his weapon very well. The only drawback is that he is not strong enough to handle large weapons due to his child-like build.
“I’m not as good as you, Souya-niichan. It’s a good thing I have a soft enemy that my dagger blade can penetrate …… Anyway, that was a hell of an explosion …… I wonder what it was? Was it a special magic sword?”
Tat muttered in wonder. Souya was also caught off guard by that suicide attack. It’s not as if the Bronze Demon’s level of destructive power could cause it, and as he said, he may have been holding a special magic sword in his hand.
“…… It’s probably what they call the Fire Spirit Disintegration [Final Strike]. I’ve never actually seen one before, but I’m pretty sure it’s the same.”
When Tat muttered, Merylou interrupted him.
“I guess Fire Spirit Disintegration [Final Strike] is a form of spiritual art. Merylou-kun, if you have any ideas, please tell us.”
“Ohh. It’s a technique that is forbidden among the Wood Elves …… If you force a large number of fire spirits into a single vessel, seal it, and then release it, it will look like that …… I’m not good at fire spirits, though. But it’s still disgusting.”
Merylou’s childish expression distorts and said as if to spit, and kicked away the stone lying on the ground.
“In theory, any other spirit could do it, but only a fire spirit could produce such violent destruction. You have to be a very high-level user of spirit arts to do this …… I don’t think the Bronze Demon put that sword in there ……”
There was one thing that came to mind when she said that.
Souya recalled the story he had heard from Seran at Doga’s workshop the other day.
“…… If it’s a demon that’s skilled at fire spirits …… No way.”
Seran’s enemy, the silver demon with the red horn — I seem to recall that he was skilled in the art of the fire spirit.
“…… At any rate, let’s get going. The rain is getting heavier.”
Merylou pulled up the hood of her cloak.
As she said, the fine light rain was slowly turning into large raindrops.
The setting sun had disappeared into the western sky, and night had fallen.
The explosions caused by the Bronze Demon had finally stopped the flashy pillars of fire that had risen from the large hole, and only the light from the lighting created by Aisha’s magic was making the fine light rain that had fallen on the mountain path appear fantastic.
“Thank you, Merylou-kun …… Good grief, I didn’t expect it to self-destruct.”
Souya thanked Merylou while putting the Mithril Saber in a scabbard and sweeping away the ashes that had fallen on his business suit.
“I sensed that a large number of fire spirits had been released from the bronze demon’s sword, after all …… It’s a good thing I had the earth spirits dig a hole just in case.”
It seems that Merylou had sensed the signs of the explosion through spirit power sensing.
Souya was able to escape the explosion by dropping the Bronze Demon into the large hole created by the spirit arts. The action she took could be called the best solution to get out of the situation.
Souya was planning to use a magic called telekinesis to keep the burning sword away from him, but the transition to the explosion was so fast that he was not sure if he could finish the chant in time. Even if he did, there was a possibility that the flames spread by the explosion would spread to the trees and cause a forest fire.
In order to avoid such a risk, I was about to cancel the chanting of the magic, rely on the Goddess’ blessing that can bring me back to life, and offer myself to block the explosion, but thanks to Merylou’s quick thinking, I didn’t need to do that. I guess I have her to thank for that.
“Souya, you were about to break out of your chanting and lean in …… Are you telling me that you could take that explosion up close and not die?”
Merylou was not pleased with the results of her achievements, but her expression remained stiff, and her strong speech showed a little anger.
“You have to trust us a little bit …… I’m sure you’re just trying to keep your friends out of it.”
There was a brief silence.
Souya took off his glasses, which were fogged up by the light rain, and looked Merylou in the eye.
“I didn’t mean to underestimate you guys. I’m sorry if that’s how you see it.”
Souya bowed his head to Merylou, then continued.
“…… And to answer your question. That explosion will not kill me. Even if I receive it at a close distance and my body explodes. So I thought the best thing to do would be to offer myself and stop it. I’ll admit that I was a bit self-centered …… I’ll be careful from now on.”
“Stop kidding me. You idiot.”
“You once told me, Merylou-kun. “Don’t be nice” …… You’re the same. Well, I guess we’re both new at this…”
Souya smiled thinly, put his hand lightly on Merylou’s head as they passed each other, and walked slowly toward the wagon where Peryton was.
◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇
“Souya-san, Merylou-san. You’ve done a great job. There was a huge explosion, but are you okay?”
Peryton seemed to be still excited about the battle that had just taken place.
He said he had fought goblins before, but this was probably the first time he had encountered a demon.
“It is thanks to Merylou-kun that we were able to prevent the damage from the explosion …… I’m afraid I couldn’t interrogate the bronze demon to find out its purpose, but we’re able to get rid of it, so let’s call it good.”
“Yes. But for a Bronze Demon to be here …… If it wasn’t for you guys amazing skills, everything could have ended here. I can’t thank you enough.”
The bronze demon was originally a monster that all silver-class adventurers had to deal with. I guess it was too much for the other three bronze-class.
In fact, it’s highly likely that only the two of them could have handled that self-destructive attack.
“Thank you for the hard work, Souya-san …… Are you injured anywhere?”
Mia held up the Cleric’s Staff and asked fearfully.
She had also neutralized the small demon Imp with a new sacred art of the Earth Mother Goddess Mikaela called the Favour Circle.
It wouldn’t work against a strong opponent, but the fact that she was able to calmly deal with the monster was a sign of growth.
If she was as good when she was about to be assaulted by the thieves meadows before, she would probably be able to handle them just as well.
“Don’t worry. It’s nothing serious. But it was a close call. I have to thank Merylou-kun for that.”
When Souya looked at Merylou again, Aisha, her round glasses fogged up by the light rain, was bowing to her.
“Thank you, Merylou-san …… I was …… um, very impressed.”
She failed to kill the small demon Imp with the magic bullet, and was rescued by a blow of an arrow shot by Merylou with hair’s breadth when she was about to be slashed with the sickle.
“…… No. It was my fault for letting it get so close to Aisha. Shooting the magic bullet wasn’t a bad choice. Don’t worry about it. The lighting helped, too.”
Merylou had been backing up Aisha closely.
She had a problem with her lack of physical strength, but she seemed to have done the best she could in the battle.
The only thing that prevented her from killing the small demon imp was her lack of practice in magic. She was still lacking the ability to construct a good quality magic missile.
“Thank you for your hard work, Tat-kun. You seem to be quite skilled.”
Tat, a grass elf, Grasswalker, had killed two small demon imps.
He seems to be more experienced in combat than I expected, and his quickness and dexterity allow him to handle himself and his weapon very well. The only drawback is that he is not strong enough to handle large weapons due to his child-like build.
“I’m not as good as you, Souya-niichan. It’s a good thing I have a soft enemy that my dagger blade can penetrate …… Anyway, that was a hell of an explosion …… I wonder what it was? Was it a special magic sword?”
Tat muttered in wonder. Souya was also caught off guard by that suicide attack. It’s not as if the Bronze Demon’s level of destructive power could cause it, and as he said, he may have been holding a special magic sword in his hand.
“…… It’s probably what they call the Fire Spirit Disintegration [Final Strike]. I’ve never actually seen one before, but I’m pretty sure it’s the same.”
When Tat muttered, Merylou interrupted him.
“I guess Fire Spirit Disintegration [Final Strike] is a form of spiritual art. Merylou-kun, if you have any ideas, please tell us.”
“Ohh. It’s a technique that is forbidden among the Wood Elves …… If you force a large number of fire spirits into a single vessel, seal it, and then release it, it will look like that …… I’m not good at fire spirits, though. But it’s still disgusting.”
Merylou’s childish expression distorts and said as if to spit, and kicked away the stone lying on the ground.
“In theory, any other spirit could do it, but only a fire spirit could produce such violent destruction. You have to be a very high-level user of spirit arts to do this …… I don’t think the Bronze Demon put that sword in there ……”
There was one thing that came to mind when she said that.
Souya recalled the story he had heard from Seran at Doga’s workshop the other day.
“…… If it’s a demon that’s skilled at fire spirits …… No way.”
Seran’s enemy, the silver demon with the red horn — I seem to recall that he was skilled in the art of the fire spirit.
“…… At any rate, let’s get going. The rain is getting heavier.”
Merylou pulled up the hood of her cloak.
As she said, the fine light rain was slowly turning into large raindrops.
