The Areamaster
Satou here. Every battle comes with a price, but unlike in games, real battles mean a single mistake can lead to lifelong consequences. My rule of thumb is that life is precious.
“So what’s the situation? Are Zakorin and friends in trouble?”
“I think so. There’s something strange about the way their enemies are moving. Let me look into it a little more.”
Once we’d teleported to the nearest area with Return, I opened my map while answering Arisa.
The areamaster, the lightning elder stag, was the only monster facing off against Zarigon’s troops; the rest of the monsters in the large room were all gathered unnaturally on the opposite side.
“Another chain rampage? What? Are chain rampages a fad with the explorers in Labyrinth City right now?”
Sort of like that old chain letter fad?
I wonder if they have chain letters in this parallel world…
Okay, enough nonsense. I zoomed in on the part of the map where the monsters were gathering and checked the details.
“Uh-oh. This doesn’t look great.”
I hurried toward the cavern with my group in tow.
“Up aheeead?”
“Flying buggies, sir!”
Farther down the passage, someone was lying on the floor, covered in black bugs.
On the verge of death.
I frantically opened my magic menu and used Healing Magic on the whole area, insects and all.
There were monsters stuck on the man, too, so I used Paralyze Water Hold instead of Bug Wiper to knock them all out.
“Take care of him!”
“Yes, sir!”
I left Lulu and the others to heal the wounded and ran ahead to help the rest.
In the three passages, there were six beastfolk kids, all near death as well. There were three human men, too, but unfortunately, they were already dead. The beastfolk had probably survived because the bug-type monsters that had gathered around them were fairly weak.
Making sure no one was looking, I used “Flashrunning” and Magic Hand to zip around and rescue all the kids from the flying insects.
“Monster Incense…”
At the bottom of the cliff, enraged monsters like deer and rolling weeds were fighting one another to the death.
In the middle of the madness were tubes containing Monster Incense.
The three men must have died because of the incense-soaked strings they were desperately clutching.
On the other side of the room, Zarigon and his group were fighting the areamaster.
“So they used these nine people as sacrificial pawns…”
I knew Zarigon was a rude meathead, but I hadn’t thought he would sink so low.
Even if he wound up having a brush with death, I wasn’t going to save him.
“Master, the injured parties have awoken, I report.”
I guess kids around the age of thirteen or so were no longer larvae to Nana.
Now that they weren’t covered in insects, I could tell that there were four rabbitfolk, one dogfolk, and one bearfolk kid.
“Thank you for saving us. I’m Usasa, a rabbitfolk.”
After the boy named Usasa introduced himself, the others volunteered their names: Rabibi, Tokaka, Gikeke, Gaugaru, and Kevea. I wasn’t going to remember all of those and made no attempt to commit them to memory.
“Do you mind if I ask what happened?”
Usasa started to answer, but then he suddenly looked around frantically.
“Wait, where is he?! Where’s Big Bro Besso?!”
His speech was a bit difficult to understand, so I mentally adjusted for it as we spoke.
“If you mean the three men who were with you, unfortunately…”
“No, not those bastards! I mean Big Bro Besso and Tahere!”
There were others, too?
Trying to calm the frantic boy, I searched the map for the name Besso. Unfortunately, he was already dead. For some reason, he was in the center of the room, not near the walls like the others.
Even so, they probably wouldn’t believe me if I told them outright, and I agreed to try to find him.
“Tama, Pochi, could you use your longscopes to see if there’s anyone else out there?”
“Aye-aye, sir…”
“Roger, sir.”
In the meantime, I got more information from the beastfolk kids.
Led by the rabbit boy Usasa, they explained that Besso was a kind person who had helped them when they were out jobless on the streets, gave them equipment, and assisted them with getting their bronze badges.
“Besso is that criminal who keeps causing rampages, right?” Arisa murmured to me.
I nodded. He was the troublesome fellow we’d seen causing a maze ant chain rampage when we first entered the Celivera Labyrinth, and had recently done it again with maze cockroaches.
“He didn’t seem that nice to me… He sacrificed some newbies to cause that whole cockroach situation, too. He probably just recruited these kids to use them as bait, don’t you think?”
I agreed. The Besso these kids described was a far cry from the one I’d heard about from the Lovely Wings and the explorers at Koshin’s party.
“““That’s not true!”””
“You don’t even know Big Bro!”
Overhearing our conversation, the kids jumped to his defense.
I’m sure they really believed he was a kind man.
“We do, though. That’s why we’re saying it…”
The beastfolk kids started to charge toward Arisa, so I held them back and used the Space Magic spell Clairvoyance to look for Besso’s corpse.
I figured seeing how he died might shed some light on the situation.
…Gray?
Besso’s body was lying next to an open treasure chest atop the rocky hill in the middle of the room, turned to stone and being consumed by a basilisk.
His petrified hand grasped a Magic Sword and a piece of string with the effects of Monster Incense.
As far as I could tell, the Magic Sword was inscribed with the runes for Good Luck and Fortune—in mirror writing.
Which meant the sword really carried the effects of Bad Luck and Misfortune.
The man called Tahere was lying dead on the plains halfway between the rocky hill and the area where Zarigon’s men were fighting. He had been trampled to death by giant hooves.
According to the kids, this man was Besso’s partner.
It was hard to tell, since he’d been crushed, but there was a Monster Incense tube near the man’s waist, and he seemed to have been running toward Zarigon.
I was starting to see what happened here.
Most likely, these two had used those men and the beastfolk kids as bait to try to steal the treasure from the chest and had failed miserably.
I guess Zarigon’s innocent, then.
Glancing back at Zarigon and his men with Clairvoyance, I saw that they were still battling the areamaster. It looked like they were putting up a pretty good fight.
“So that’s the areamaster? It’s like something out of a kaiju movie.” Arisa must have been using Clairvoyance to watch their battle, too. “Zakorin’s not half-bad at this.”
The lightning elder stag charged forward and batted shield users away with ease, but Zarigon and company used three enormous metal nets they had set up in advance to stop it in its tracks. One probably wouldn’t have been enough.
Once the giant deer stopped moving, they peppered it with magic and catapult attacks.
Right on the front lines, Zarigon’s attacks were particularly powerful. With “Spellblade” on his broadsword, he used a special attack to cut through the lightning elder stag’s defenses, dealing some serious damage.
The ridges that ran along the stag’s back and up to its head glowed all at once, its enormous antlers glowed white, and in the next instant, enormous lightning bolts struck the opposite side of the room with a clap of thunder.
“Geh!”
The lightning attack seemed to have broken Arisa’s Space Magic spell.
“Did that take out Team Zarigon?”
“No, it looks like they had Thunder Rods ready.”
My Clairvoyance was still working, so I relayed information to Arisa.
Maybe the poles that supported the metal net had just served as Thunder Rods by coincidence, but either way, they spared Zarigon and his men any major damage.
The lightning elder stag’s defense power seemed to go down after using that move, as it was now taking more damage from their counterattacks than before.
Since its charges and lightning attacks had both been thwarted, the giant deer resorted to trying to trample the men with its hooves.
But Zarigon and company still had power to spare. At this rate, they would probably win the fight.
Mentally apologizing to Zarigon for blaming him for a crime he didn’t commit, I silently prayed for their victory.
“No ooone?”
“There’s nobody living or dead, sir.”
Tama and Pochi reported in, lowering their longscopes.
“Big Bro Besso wouldn’t die on us!”
“All right. Maybe he just went back to your base, then. Let’s head over there.”
Finding the route that was relatively safest, I took the kids along toward Zarigon and company.
“Uh-oh.”
“What is it, master?”
Liza looked at me with concern.
“Oh, it’s just…”
According to my map information, Zarigon and the others were starting to evacuate their camp.
When I checked half an hour ago, they seemed to be reducing the lightning elder stag’s health at a pretty decent pace, so some unexpected issue must have arisen.
We kept moving along our path and came to the remains of the camp, which monsters were prowling around.
The bags and tents left behind had been trampled, and the ground was damp with water from the broken barrels.
“Whoa, it’s overrun with monsters!”
“What should we do, Usasa? Nobody’s here.”
“Does this mean we can’t get back?”
Looking at the ruined campground, the beastfolk kids began to panic.
Still, most of the monsters were small fries with levels in the single digits.
“Don’t worry. I’ll get you back to Zarigon’s group.”
If it turned out that Zarigon saw them as disposable, then I would take them aboveground myself. But the group had brought even the most gravely injured bag carrier along in their retreat, so there was probably nothing to worry about.
“Just hide behind this rock for now, okay?”
I sent the kids to hide and started giving instructions to my group.
“Liza, clear a path for us, please.”
“Understood.”
Liza took Tama and Pochi to dispose of the monsters prowling the camp, since passing through it was the only way we could catch up with Zarigon.
“Hi-yaaa?”
“Whoosh, sir!”
Tama destroyed a basilisk’s eye with a kunai knife, and Pochi ran up the wall, did a flying leap, and cut off its head with her sword lengthened by magic.
“ ? Fire Hi, ? Wind Kaze.”
Mia used the lowest grade of Spirit Magic to create fire and send it toward monsters on the wind.
The small insects went up in flames, and the rolling weeds started to flee.
“Take this!”
Aiming at the maze swallows and lesser cockatrices that were flying around near the ceiling, Lulu fired her new gun. I was surprised that the cockatrices could fly when they looked so much like chickens.
“Huntiiing?”
“Grilled meat skewers, sir!”
As the bird monsters fell, Tama and Pochi zipped over and cut off their heads.
Liza was using her longspear to silence the fawn monsters that charged at her. The fawns tried to shoot lightning from the bumps on their forehead, but Liza cut them down before they could.
Nana and Arisa were fighting monsters that rolled up like tires and resembled armadillos.
Once the monsters had all been defeated, I went over to check on everyone. I left the beastfolk kids to wait behind the rock.
“How’s the new equipment?”
“Very niiice?”
“It’s amazing, sir! I can even beat big monsters, like slash, sir!”
“The laser gun has great aim, even from long distances. But this physical rifle sends monsters flying when it hits, so it’s really fun!”
Tama, Pochi, and Lulu were all smiles.
“Good.”
“There is little negative impact when I block monsters, I report.”
“I like the Floating Shields for our rearguard dress armor, too. When the thorn armadillos blocked shots, the shields moved on their own to protect us—although I sent those shots away with Space Magic before they reached us, of course.”
Mia, Nana, and Arisa seemed to like the new equipment, too.
“Arisa, could you do me a favor?”
“Okey-dokey.”
I had Arisa set up a Space Magic barrier on the border of the large room and stationed Nana there to guard her, just in case.
“Master, would it be all right if I used the Dragon Claw Spear as a backup weapon?”
“That’s fine. Was it hard to use?”
“Not at all. It cut right through even the toughest of hides and channeled magic as well as before. It’s just…”
Liza hesitated, looking away.
“My weapon of choice is still the Magic Cricket Spear,” she said clearly at last.
She seemed to be very attached to her first spear. It wasn’t quite as effective as the other vanguard weapons, but if she insisted, I would gladly let her keep using it.
Whenever the Cricket Spear got damaged in battle, she poured potion over it and wrapped cloth around it, which was apparently enough to fix it.
I told her that was fine as long as she used the Dragon Claw Spear on enemies that proved resistant to the Magic Cricket Spear.
“Okay, we shouldn’t get any more unwelcome guests for a while.”
“Thank you, Arisa.”
Arisa came back with Nana from putting a Space Magic lid to block off the large room.
“The metal poles and nets they were using to hunt the lightning elder stag were all melted into puddles. Areamasters really are on another level, I guess.” Arisa shivered. “Should we just leave this one be?”
I nodded. Zarigon and the others might want to come back for another shot.
“Aw, what a waste. This’d be the perfect chance to hit it with an advanced Space Magic surprise attack and take it down!”
“Arisa, monster or not, we ought to challenge the lord that reigns over an area head-on, not defeat it with such underhanded tactics.”
“Geez, Liza, you’re so cool! I guess that’s true. I want to beat our first areamaster when it’s at full power, not already wounded by someone else!”
Half listening to Arisa and Liza, I looked over the map information to double-check our best route.
“Master, should we retrieve the baggage? I inquire.”
“No, let’s leave it. They might come back for it later.”
Zarigon and the others probably wouldn’t be retrieving these, but I didn’t want to get accused of stealing or anything like that.
Once we retrieved some cockatrice meat, we continued following Zarigon’s party, defeating monsters along the way.
A few members of his group had the “Analyze” skill, so I had my group put on recognition-inhibiting cloaks shortly before we caught up.
“…What is it, twerp?”
Once we caught up to Zarigon’s party, who were all taking a short break in a safe zone, I asked to meet with their leader and was surprised by the way he greeted me.
To put it simply, he was horribly wounded.
“Ah, have I not introduced myself before? My name is Satou Pendragon, a knight of the Muno Barony.”
He didn’t seem to remember me, so I politely gave my name.
“I know that. You’re the guildmaster’s booze boy, right?”
I was glad I hadn’t brought Arisa and the others to this meeting.
Ignoring his rude front, I carried on the conversation. “Those wounds look painful.”
“Go ahead and laugh. This is what I get for trying to compete with Jelil and taking on a fight I couldn’t win—petrified by an enemy I wasn’t even expecting.”
Zarigon scowled peevishly.
Indeed, his right arm and right leg had been turned to stone, and the latter had broken off at the knee. He was covered in plenty of fresh scars, too.
“It looked like most of the others were injured, too. You can’t treat your wounds?”
“We healed the ones who were closest to death for now. The rest’ll have to wait until our priests Tii and Asam recover their magic.”
Zarigon’s party’s priests were from the Garleon and Heraluon temples.
Both of their levels were in the high 20s.
“Can Holy Magic fix petrification, too?”
“You got a lot of questions, twerp. That don’t mean I gotta answer ’em all, though, see?”
No, I suppose it doesn’t.
“Then perhaps I can offer you a potion in exchange.”
I produced an intermediate MP recovery potion from my Garage Bag.
It was one that I’d made along with the greater magic potions in Bolenan Forest recently, with the creator’s name listed as Trismegistus.
Zarigon had one of his comrades with the “Analyze Goods” skill inspect it.
“I-it’s an intermediate magic recovery potion!”
The man reacted with overdramatic surprise.
I’d picked the intermediate kind so that they wouldn’t get overdose effects like the guildmaster and the others had dealt with in the battle against Ludaman, but judging by his reaction, I guess I should have stuck with the lesser kind.
“Hmph. All right, then. I’ll give you your answers.”
Zarigon addressed my earlier question.
“Yes, Holy Magic can heal petrification. But Tii and Asam can’t do it. A head priest from Labyrinth City or the royal capital could probably fix it, but that ain’t gonna happen.”
“Why, do you need a letter of recommendation or something?”
“It’s a question of time. Asam’s Holy Magic is keeping the petrification curse from spreading, but in a matter of days, these’ll turn into stone for good. Then there’ll be no fixing ’em.”
Curse? Is petrification a curse?
I activated my “Miasma Vision.”
It was a curse, all right. Instead of the rune shapes of the curses that were on Rei and Yuuneia, this one was a primitive, murky type.
I had a feeling I could probably fix it, but I didn’t want to reveal my secret abilities to a stranger, so I refrained.
“Then couldn’t you send someone to buy a cure-all or an anti-petrification potion or something?”
“What, and have them get killed on the way? Besides, I ain’t a noble, so how would I get my hands on a cure-all? The guildmaster might be able to get an anti-petrification potion for me, but…by the time I make it out of the labyrinth, the curse will have gotten worse, and there’ll be side effects.”
An anti-petrification potion for the basilisk’s curse… I had the recipe and the ingredients, but it wouldn’t be easy to make it on the move.
“Just bad luck on our part. We brought plenty of lesser potions, but I’ve never even seen the greater kind—of course I didn’t have any.”
As Zarigon cursed his bad luck, I took out a cure-all and a greater health potion from my Garage Bag and placed them in front of him.
“All right, then. You owe me a favor.”
I couldn’t help smiling a little as I spoke.
Since it was Besso and not Zarigon who had tried to use the children as bait, and he was a friend of Princess Meetia’s, I figured I ought to help him.
The princess was a friend of Mia and Arisa’s, and when her guard was injured, Zarigon and his friend-slash-rival Jelil had protected her for free until her guard recovered.
So I figured I could just give him the potions as a favor.
Besides, I had lesser elixirs for my own kids now and could always make more.
“A c-cure-all?”
The man with the “Analyze Goods” skill looked like he might faint.
I didn’t blame him. Even Baronet Dyukeli had been reluctant to use such an expensive item.
“…A-and this one is a greater health recovery potion!”
The latter seemed to take a while to analyze due to the technique I’d used on the vials, but he was eventually able to recognize it for a greater potion.
“Who the hell are you?”
“Oh, just the guildmaster’s booze boy.”
I smiled broadly, and Zarigon grimaced like he’d swallowed something sour, apologizing for his earlier rudeness.
“I’ve been looking for these for the viceroy and some other noble acquaintances, but it seems to be that your need is rather more urgent, so I’m sure they would understand.”
With that, I prompted Zarigon to drink the potions.
I gave him the advanced healing potion to test out if it really would recover a lost limb before I tried to use one to heal Mr. Kajiro’s leg.
Yeah, this is just an experiment.
I have no other motives, none at all.
“And you’re sure all I owe you is a ‘favor’?”
“Yes, you have my word.” I nodded.
“All right, then.”
As soon as Zarigon drank down the cure-all, he was covered in pale light, and several magic circles appeared around his body.
It was a pretty fantasy-gamelike effect.
The light slowly faded, and Zarigon’s stonelike gray limbs turned back to the color of flesh.
As soon as the petrification was healed, his leg started gushing blood. His comrades hurriedly stanched the bleeding with cloth and cord.
Next, he drank the greater magic potion, and his leg went back to normal like a reverse-time-lapse movie.
I hate to say it, but it was pretty gross to watch.
I would have to remember to look away next time.
“““Zarigon!”””
For some reason, Zarigon turned pale and passed out. His friends gathered around him.
Oh, shoot.
Too late, I remembered what the elf alchemist Aea had told me.
Restoring a lost limb takes a lot of magic and stamina, so if the person drinking the potion doesn’t have much MP, you should make sure they eat tons of meat and bread with powdered bone. Otherwise, they’ll be so exhausted that they’ll end up bedridden for a while.
Zarigon must have had little magic and stamina left after the fierce battle, which was probably why he fainted.
I handed one of his comrades a nutritional supplement potion and told them to have him drink it and get lots of rest.
Zarigon’s party promised to bring the beastfolk kids back to Labyrinth City with them, so we decided to go ahead early.
“Thank you, mister! We swear we’ll return the favor someday!”
The rabbitfolk boy called out to me from among the bag carriers as they prepared to depart.
“I’m looking forward to it,” I replied.
But my smile faded when I heard a rumble that sounded like thunder.
“R-ruuuuun!”
An explorer shouted out hoarsely. Then a murmur of alarm spread from the back of the ranks, and people began to flee in a panic.
“The areamaster is chasing us!”
I opened my map to check.
Sure enough, the lightning elder stag was running in this direction.
I hadn’t expected it to break through Arisa’s Space Magic barrier so soon.
“Bring me my spare sword. I’ll buy us some time.”
“Zarigon! You can’t!”
The haggard-looking Zarigon stretched and rose shakily to his feet.
“You’re in no condition to fight! Leave it to us shield-men.”
“But your damn shields are all broken!”
Ignoring Zarigon, I glanced over at my kids.
They were looking at me with what appeared to be hopeful expressions.
That’s what I like to see.
“Please just go on ahead and leave this to us. We can buy time on our own.”
Zarigon and the others all stared at us.
It was a moment befitting a shonen protagonist, if I do say so myself.
“What the hell are you—?”
I didn’t have time to answer. I moved faster than the eye could follow to hit Zarigon in the jaw and knock him unconscious, then told his comrades to take him and flee.
“Don’t die, okay?”
“Of course. We’ll be right behind you once we’ve bought enough time.”
Once Zarigon’s party was on their way, we headed back into the main passage to meet the lightning elder stag head-on.
“It barely even fits in the passage! I’m surprised it tried to chase us.”
The lightning elder stag came galloping around the twisting passage with a thunderous sound.
Although without my “Night Vision” skill, the others could probably see only its footprints and its three glowing eyes.
No, wait.
Its horns were also glowing in the dark with lightning.
It was level 50, with the inherent skills “Summon Lightning” and “Spawn Strengthening” and the regular skills “Charge,” “Thrust,” “Lightning Magic,” and “Lightning Resistance,” so as long as we could deal with the lightning, it should be easy enough to fight.
Flowing down from its antlers to the ground, a bolt of lightning illuminated the giant stag’s outline.
“…I’m sorry, master. I should have killed this monster when I had the chance.”
Arisa grimaced.
She must have also noticed what I saw during that flash of lightning—something in the stag’s teeth that looked like a human hand.
The mood was so dead serious that I couldn’t bring myself to tell her it was just a demi-goblin’s.
“Arisa, there is nothing to be gained by regretting what has already occurred.”
“Master, forgive my insolence, but would you grant us permission to fight the lightning elder stag?”
Liza pulled the Dragon Claw Spear out of her Fairy Pack.
As she clenched it tightly, I could see her hand shaking with quiet rage.
Liza must have seen the hand, too.
Still, they were getting a little too worked up, I thought.
I should probably tell them the truth, even if it decreased their motivation.
“If you want to fight, I’ll allow it, but—”
“Thank you, master.”
“We are most grateful, master. I promise that we will avenge the fallen.”
Arisa and Liza brandished their staff and spear respectively.
“…But are you that concerned with avenging a demi-goblin?”
“…Bwuh?”
“A…goblin?”
“If this is about the hand in the lightning elder stag’s mouth, that is a demi-goblin’s.”
“O-oh, I see…”
“Whaaat? Why didn’t you say so sooner, then? Geez!”
Liza’s and Arisa’s shoulders sagged.
“Geeeez?”
“Yeah, sir!”
Tama and Pochi, who were imitating Arisa, seemed to have noticed the hand’s identity as well.
The kindhearted Liza and Arisa looked dispirited, so I patted their heads and looked around at everyone.
Even knowing the truth, they seemed as determined to fight as ever.
“Master!”
Hearing Liza’s tense voice, I turned back and saw that the lightning elder stag was getting ready to charge at any moment.
Oops, better focus.
I used Create Earth Servant to make two basic golems between us and the areamaster.
Even the twenty-foot-tall golems looked small in front of the giant beast.
“Block its charge!”
“MVA.”
“MVA.”
The two golems stepped forward to engage with the lightning elder stag.
“Here it comes!”
As Arisa spoke, the creature destroyed the two giant golems in a single attack and started charging toward us.
“Activate Umbrella!”
A transparent magic barrier appeared in front of Nana’s giant physical shield, like an umbrella opening.
The bits of golem that came flying toward us were knocked away by the magic barrier.
One particularly large piece looked like it might bust through the shield, so I used Magic Hand to catch it and put it in Storage just in case.
In the blink of an eye, the areamaster was right in front of us.
“Drill Bash, I declare!”
The umbrella-shaped barrier began to rotate, and it collided with the stag’s antlers, sending sparks flying.
Provided with an enormous amount of magic by a Holytree Stone furnace, the magic barrier held firm even as it took the full brunt of the lightning elder stag’s attack.
However, the stag was so large that it started to push Nana back, forming deep furrows in the ground as the spikes in her heels cracked.
“Activate Leg Anchor!”
The pile-bunker-like mechanism on her legs shot out adamantite spikes that drove into the ground.
This helped slow her down, but at this rate, Nana’s legs might break.
“I’ll help you out.”
“Thank you, I respond.”
I caught Nana from behind and used the maximum number of Flexible Shields to hold back the lightning elder stag’s head.
“Maybe we should take this elsewhere.”
If we kept fighting here, we might get driven back to where Zarigon and the others were.
Using Magic Hand to grab my group and the monster, I used Return to teleport to an area we’d previously cleared.
While the girls finished getting ready, I kept the lightning elder stag busy in the middle of the large cavern with an imitation of bullfighting.
I had to admit, using a red cape and everything might have been going a little overboard.
“Master! We’re ready!”
Arisa waved at me in the distance.
She must have finished casting buffs on everyone and recovering her MP.
Next to Mia was a pseudo-spirit made with Spirit Magic—a plantlike creature called a “green servant.”
…Hmm?
My “Trap Detection” skill went off for several places nearby.
It looked like the girls had set up six traps in various areas near their base for the lightning elder stag. They also had made trenches to hinder its charging and a protected area for the rear guard.
Impressed, I dodged the lightning elder stag’s charge and used Return to go back to where they were standing.
“Looks like you’ve really thought this through.”
The elf teachers had told me to stop being so overprotective, but considering how much stronger their opponent was this time, I decided to use some Body Strengthening spells on them just in case.
“Well, yeah. No normal methods would stop that giant thing.”
As I complimented their traps while casting the spells, Arisa rubbed the space under her nose modestly.
“Master, I desire a new model of the Leg Anchor, I request.”
“Yeah, I’ll work on it.”
It would probably have to use the Space Magic spell Deracinator instead of physical spikes.
“All right, everyone! Just like we planned!”
“Here I go!”
Arisa gave the signal, and Lulu started the battle with a shot from her laser gun.
“DWEEEEZRLYE.”
The lightning elder stag roared, the third eye on its forehead burning.
Jumping around, it faced away from us, kicking up dirt behind it.
“Uh-oh! Deracinator!”
“Activate Umbrella, I declare.”
Arisa’s and Nana’s barriers warded off the dirt and rocks the lightning elder stag kicked toward them. It was a bigger barrage than one from a wartime catapult.
“Watch ooout?”
“Mr. Meat is coming, sir!”
Tama and Pochi warned the others that the stag was about to charge.
“Mia!”
“Mm. Go.”
“MWOOOORYWEE.”
On Mia’s command, the green servant took up position behind the trap.
“You walking venison! Become the main dish of our barbecue, I declare!”
Nana used the “Taunt” skill and shouted from near the lightning elder stag’s feet.
There were now four Flexible Shields floating around her, probably in case it charged again.
The areamaster charged.
“Now!”
“You got it! Dimension Snare!”
As soon as Liza shouted, Arisa activated her Space Magic, but it only caused the stag to stumble a little before it regained its footing.
“Damn, it resisted me.”
“But that still slowed it down, I report.”
Nana reassured the frustrated Arisa.
“Gotchaaa?”
“Neckmate, sir!”
Tama and Pochi pulled on a rope woven out of thick ivy that was set in front of one of the traps.
I’m guessing Pochi meant to say checkmate.
The poles that were lying on the ground were yanked upward, and chains blocked the lightning elder stag’s path, dust crumbling off them.
“Oooops?”
“Ouchie, sir.”
Just like Arisa’s Dimension Snare, the stag shook it off easily, charging forward with the chains and pillars dangling off it.
Tama and Pochi were sent flying but used their new impact-resistant “round mode” armor to bounce away harmlessly.
“Get it.”
“MWOOOOORYWEE.”
The green servant held out its arms and stretched endless ivy toward the stag.
Seeing this, the areamaster slowed down.
It was probably planning to cut the ivy with its antlers, then trample the servant with its hooves.
But then its hooves suddenly sank.
“DWEEEEZRYLE.”
The lightning elder stag tumbled into a pit my group had dug, crashing into the side of the hole.
“DWEEEEZRYLE.”
As it howled, the ridges on its back started to glow, and its enormous antlers lit up.
“Lulu!”
“Got it!”
At Arisa’s signal, Lulu pulled the trigger of her laser gun.
A powerful light struck the creature right in the face, damaging part of its giant horns.
“DWEEEEZRYLE.”
The areamaster roared in pain, and its bumps and horns stopped glowing.
“Mia!”
“Mm. Cover.”
“MWOOOORYWEE.”
The green servant’s humanoid form collapsed, and it wrapped around the lightning elder stag, covering the pit.
“One extra-large Dimension Snare, coming up!”
Arisa’s Space Magic spell wrapped around the neck and limbs of the struggling stag.
“Foolish deer! You are dumber than a donkey, I declare!”
Nana shouted with her “Taunt” skill.
Immediately, Liza came running and delivered a barrage of attacks with her “Spellblade”-wreathed Dragon Claw Spear into the lightning elder stag’s hind leg.
A dark-red magical barrier appeared around the stag but the Dragon Claw Spear pierced right through it.
Oh right. I made that spear with blue like a Holy Sword, but Liza is using it with “Spellblade.”
I had tried to use “Spellblade” on a Holy Sword once before, but I experienced some strange resistance. Maybe it was because the sword I was using was a “God-given” Holy Sword?
I took out a handmade Holy Sword from Storage to test it out, and I found I could use “Spellblade” without a problem. I guess that rule applied only to Holy Swords given by the gods.
While I was fiddling with that, my group relentlessly whittled down the lightning elder stag’s HP as it was trapped in the pit.
Liza and Lulu were dealing a particularly large amount of damage.
“DWEEEEZRYLE.”
The struggling beast howled, and its antlers and the ridges on its back started glowing again.
Immediately, the vanguard used “Blink” to move away from their close range.
“Lulu!”
“Sorry, I’m out of magic.”
The laser gun was powerful, but there was definitely room for improvement for long-term use.
Maybe I’ll add a pulse laser mode or something.
“Okay, then—Blast Shot!”
Arisa’s Fire Magic attack sped toward the stag’s face.
But most of it was dispersed by the areamaster’s magic barrier.
Lulu’s laser gun was probably able to hit before the barrier could go up because it fired so quickly.
“Thunder Rod.”
At Mia’s command, the green servant coiled its ivy around the lightning elder stag’s neck and antlers, pulling it sideways.
A loud boom and a flash of light filled the room.
Most of the lightning went through the green servant’s ivy wrapped around the lightning elder stag and flowed into the ground, but judging by the destruction that caused, it must have sent some serious electricity flying around.
Fortunately…
“Bwah-ha-ha! You fool! Bow before Arisa’s ultimate Reflection Defense!”
Arisa had used the Space Magic spell Reflection Defense to bounce some of the lightning right back at the lightning elder stag.
However, since it had “Lightning Resistance,” this didn’t seem to cause much damage.
“It feels like I can probably only use that two more times! Whittle it down now while we have the chance!” Arisa shouted to the others.
The red-skinned demon I’d fought underneath the old capital seemed to have unlimited uses of its Reflection Defense, but that was probably a difference in their Space Magic skill level.
“Ankle Cutterrr?”
“Shining Slash, sir!”
The lightning elder stag had put one of its legs up on the line of the pit, but Pochi and Tama ran over to slash at it with their adamantite alloy Magic Swords.
“DWEEEZRYLE.”
“Drill Bash, I declare!”
“‘Triple Helix Spear Attack’!”
As the creature spurted blood, it was hit by Nana’s shield attack and Liza’s special move.
The areamaster seemed very tough, though—even these special attacks reduced its health by only about 10 percent.
“ ? Wind Kaze.”
Mia sent a gust of wind toward the lightning elder stag, carrying some small seeds.
The whirlwind danced around the beast.
“ ? Green Vine Entangle Midori Tsuru Sokubaku.”
When Mia’s second spell activated, the seeds grew rapidly, turned into thick vines, and wrapped around the lightning elder stag.
This was probably to replace the green servant, whose HP ran out just as the new spell was finished.
There was no need to block the stag’s charge attacks anymore, and the chants for pseudo-spirits took a long time, so I thought that was a good call.
“DWEEEEZRYLE.”
The ridges on the areamaster’s back glowed again, signaling an oncoming lightning attack.
“… ? Mustard Mist Shigeki no Kiri.”
Mia’s Water Magic spell enveloped the lightning elder stag’s face.
The stag didn’t seem too bothered by the painful cloud of irritating mist, but if it used its lightning now, it would probably electrocute itself as well.
Its antlers glowed, and the stag unleashed a second lightning attack.
“Zzzap!”
“Tingly, sir.”
Without the Thunder Rod to protect them this time, my group took a bit of electric damage, too.
The Reflection Defense was able to block only the lightning itself, not the tiny sparks of electricity that flew through the air afterward.
“Liza, aim for its ridges! Then it shouldn’t be able to zap us anymore.”
“Understood!”
As Arisa shouted orders, she used spells like Deracinator and Dimension Pile to keep the stag from coming out of the pit.
Mia supported her with Green Vine Entangle and Paralyze Water Hold.
“Arisa, I’m all recovered.”
“Okey-dokey! If the things on its back glow, aim for its face.”
“Okay, I will.”
Lulu used her scope to keep an eye on the stag’s back.
“DWEEEEZRYLE.”
The lightning elder stag howled, and the antlers on its head glowed, creating floating balls of lightning.
“Geh, I forgot it can use Lightning Magic, too!”
“ ? Ice Koori, ? Wind Kaze.”
Mia used Spirit Magic to create ice spirits in the air, then sent them toward the lightning balls with a fierce gale of wind.
This destroyed a few of the lightning balls, but the rest rained down over the beastfolk girls.
“Take this!”
Lulu, who had switched to her Fireburst Gun, shot down the first lightning ball.
“Here they come.”
“Uh-ohhh.”
“Emergency maneuvers, sir!”
The girls dodged the rest of the lightning balls with “Blink.”
But it soon became apparent that the stag was using these lightning balls to cut through Mia’s Green Vine Entangle.
“Urk, it got out!”
The lightning elder stag was crawling out onto the ground.
“Pochiii!”
“Tamaaaa, sir!”
Standing at the edge of the pit, Tama spread her arms wide and called for Pochi, who hopped onto her shoulders.
Then she tumbled to the ground and sent Pochi flying up into the air.
Pochi jumped at the same time, echoing the move they’d learned at the thank-you party.
“Aaaah, you’re not gonna make it!” Arisa cried.
“Will toooo! Sir!”
Shouting back to Arisa, Pochi caught her footing in midair and sped up, landing on the lightning elder stag’s back.
It was a double jump, which she’d first demonstrated at the plunderer battle.
“Pochi! Destroy those bumps!”
“Aye-aye, sir! ‘Blink’—and Vanquish Strike!”
Pochi enlarged her sword to the length of a spear, activated “Spellblade,” and brought it down on the bumps with astonishing speed, destroying them completely.
This was the special move she’d been studying in Bolenan Forest, which she hadn’t successfully pulled off until now. I guess this predicament had finally pushed her to complete it.
Its power was on par with Liza’s “Triple Helix Spear Attack.”
“Tama toooo?”
Next, Tama used Liza as a launchpad to leap up to the base of the lightning elder stag’s leg and shimmy onto its back.
“Vorpal Faaang?”
Tama’s twin Magic Swords were surrounded by an enormous “Spellblade” in the shape of giant fangs.
Spinning around, she stabbed her two swords into the stag’s neck, creating bite mark–like wounds.
Each individual attack had less power than Liza’s “Triple Helix Spear Attack” or Pochi’s Vanquish Strike, but the total damage was on par with them.
“Hi-yaaaa, sir!”
Pochi used the wounds the Vorpal Fang attack created to run up right behind Tama.
“Horn Slasherrr?”
“Antler Hunter, sir!”
Once they reached the top, the two attacked the lightning elder stag’s antlers.
“Haaard?”
“Can’t make a dent, sir.”
Their blades were blocked by the magic barrier protecting the stag’s antlers.
They tried to use their special attacks again, but the areamaster stopped them by shaking its head rapidly, sending them tumbling back to the ground.
“ ? Green Bed Ouyo Futon.”
Mia’s Spirit Magic created a net out of ivy and leaves that caught the pair safely.
They bounced around gleefully for a moment, then remembered that they were in a battle and jumped down.
“Over here, I declare!”
Nana shouted another taunt from a distance, leading the lightning elder stag into another charge.
Since its lightning-producing bumps had been destroyed, this was probably its next best attack.
“Heat Haze!”
Arisa’s Fire Magic covered the stag’s face. It wasn’t the kind of spell that did much damage, but the suddenly superheated air warped the creature’s vision.
Still, it continued charging toward Nana.
“DWEEEEZRYLE.”
“You fool, I gloat.”
Without even a hint of a smile on her face, Nana looked on as the lightning elder stag fell straight into the second pit in front of her.
Arisa’s Heat Haze must have been to prevent it from noticing the trap and changing course.
“Liza!”
“Understood!”
Tossing aside the vial of the magic recovery potion she was drinking, Liza jumped onto the stag’s back and ran up to its head.
“Comiiiing?”
“Three Musketeers, sir!”
Tama and Pochi dropped empty magic potion vials of their own and ran after Liza.
“‘Blink’! ‘Triple Helix Spear Attack’!”
Liza struck one of the stag’s antlers with her special skill.
The magic barrier appeared again to protect it, but Liza’s Dragon Claw Spear smashed right through it, the swirling vortex of “Spellblade” breaking the antler clean off.
“Vanquish Strike, sir!”
“Vorpal Faaang?”
The pair’s special moves struck the remaining antler, damaging the magic barrier.
Crack.
I heard a faint noise with my “Keen Hearing” skill.
The Magic Swords that I’d made with prototype equipment didn’t seem strong enough to hold up to the pair’s powerful special moves.
Hopefully they would at least last to the end of this battle.
“DWEEEEZRYLE.”
The lightning elder stag thrashed, shaking off the beastfolk girls.
Entwined in ivy, it howled and struggled in the pit.
“DWEEEEEZRYLE.”
Even larger lightning spheres appeared around the stag, but there were only half as many as before.
Probably because it had lost one of its antlers.
“Lulu, can you aim for the other antler?”
“I don’t think so. Not unless it stops moving a little.”
At that response, Arisa looked around.
“Nana!”
“Listen, deer! Venison stew is delicious, too, I announce!”
Nana’s “Taunt” caught the stag’s attention, hatred glinting in its eyes.
“…Got it!”
As it stopped thrashing for a moment to glare at Nana, Lulu’s laser gun glittered.
The shot landed a direct hit on the hole Pochi and Tama had made in the barrier.
“Whoo-hoo!”
Arisa cheered, then looked around at everyone.
They were all low on magic, but they should be able to finish it off at this rate.
“Now we just have to defeat it without letting it run away!”
Arisa seemed to have reached the same conclusion, giving the group the go-ahead signal while chugging a magic recovery potion.
Now that its health was down to less than 30 percent, the lightning elder stag seemed to be in some kind of berserker mode, thrashing around and shooting off lightning from all over its body.
However, the chains used to stop its initial attack were absorbing the discharge, rendering these attacks fairly harmless.
“Liza! Finish it off!”
“Do you not wish to do it yourself, Arisa?”
“Nah, I’m going to save my magic just in case anything else happens.”
Arisa had been largely on support and de-buff duty during this battle, so Liza must have wanted to offer her the final blow.
“…Understood. Tama, Pochi, we’ll use the same formation as before.”
“Aye-aye, sirrr?”
“Roger, sir!”
The beastfolk girls all dashed toward the lightning elder stag.
“ ? Green Bridge Ryoku Chou Kyou.”
Mia’s Spirit Magic created an ivy bridge from the edge of the pit toward the stag.
The monster tried to bring the bridge down, but Arisa stopped it with the Space Magic spell Deracinator.
“Vorpal Faaaang?”
“Vanquish Strike, sir!”
Tama spun like a top, slashing at the lightning elder stag’s magic barrier and the fur around its neck, and Pochi made the wound wider with her enlarged Magic Sword.
Then finally:
“‘Blink.’ ‘Triple Helix Spear Attack’!”
Liza dove in with “Blink,” her spear piercing right through the stag’s neck.
“DWEEEEZRYLE.”
The areamaster howled and shook them off again.
There was far less force behind its movements now, but its HP gauge still wasn’t quite empty.
“Close Umbrella—lancer drill mode, I declare.”
The magic barrier in front of her shield snapped shut like an umbrella, spinning rapidly with a shrill noise.
“This is the end, I declare.”
The spear created from her closed magic barrier sent up sparks as it collided with the lightning elder stag’s own barrier.
The clash was over in an instant—Nana’s spear broke through the barrier and pierced the stag’s throat from the side opposite the beastfolk girls.
“DDDWEEERRRYEEEE.”
The edge of the pit crumbled beneath it as the lightning elder stag’s head crashed to the ground, sending tremors through the earth.
Then its hateful eyes grew white and dim, and it finally stopped moving.
“Oh em geeee?”
“Pochi’s sword broke, sir.”
The prototype Magic Swords I’d made for them had broken apart under all the duress.
“Master, my shield’s umbrella mode will not reactivate, I report.”
It seemed Nana’s weapon had broken from overuse, too.
“The speed mechanism in my boots appears to be slowing as well.”
Liza inspected the soles of her boots.
I guess the prototype machinery didn’t produce very durable equipment.
“Mew!”
“Master!”
Straightening up suddenly, Tama twitched her ears.
At the same time, Lulu pointed at a hole in the wall that was glowing red on the other side of the large room.
“N-no way…,” Arisa murmured.
“Spawnhole.”
Mia grimaced.
Sure enough, a spawnhole had formed in the wall opposite us.
That in itself wasn’t too strange.
It happened all the time.
“Is it just me, or is it getting a lot bigger?”
As Lulu observed, the newly opened spawnhole kept getting larger.
It was already big enough that a large truck could easily pass through.
Arisa’s voice trembled. “Wh-what’s coming out?”
Then, before long…
“Black liiight?”
“Horn, sir.”
…a glowing black horn emerged from the giant hole on the other side of the room.
It was the elder lance beetle, the areamaster of the neighboring area. It looked like a gigantic Hercules beetle.
“Oogh, a Hercules!”
“Oogh…?”
“Oogh-oogh, sir.”
Arisa took a step back, and Tama and Pochi mimicked her.
That was all well and good, but we had to decide quickly whether to fight or retreat.
“Mrrr.”
“What should we do, Arisa?”
“Retreat would be wise, I recommend.”
Mia, Lulu, and Nana looked at Arisa.
“Honestly. Fine, then, I’ll slow it down.”
Arisa shrugged and readied her staff.
“Master, I request permission to use my Unique Skills. I’ll slow down the Hercules with a fully boosted ‘Labyrinth.’”
“No Unique Skills.”
“Awww, c’mon…”
I had been warned not to let Arisa use her Unique Skills too much.
“A fitting opponent. I will buy time while you retreat, everyone.”
Liza readied her Dragon Claw Spear and glared at the elder lance beetle.
“Same boooat?”
“We’re always together, sir.”
Tama and Pochi pulled out their old Magic Swords from their Fairy Packs and stood at Liza’s side.
As we watched, the giant beetle’s back opened up, and it spread its wings.
“Now, look. There’s no slowing down an opponent who can fly.”
Arisa scolded the brave beastfolk girls.
“So, master…”
I held up a hand, and Arisa lightly high-fived it.
“…we’re counting on you.”
“Got it.”
I used “Skyrunning” to head up into the air.
The elder lance beetle spread its wings again and slowly took flight.
Its giant horn started to turn red. Most likely, it was about to use some big attack.
“Sorry, but…”
I took out a mass-produced magic lance from Storage and held it aloft.
“…this is checkmate for you, pal.”
The lance flew faster than the wind, leaving a crimson trail of light as it pierced right through the beetle.
The wall behind the elder lance beetle was crushed, and even the wall on the other side of the spawnhole crumbled and vanished.
Oops, I may have gone a little overboard. That spear’s going to be a pain to get back.
Glancing around, I saw that the dead elder lance beetle was starting to glide down toward the group below, so I used Magic Hand to catch it and put it in Storage.
“Looks like it’ll be a while before we can fight at master’s side for real.”
“We’ll have to work hard, Arisa.”
“Let’s get trainiiiing?”
“Practice makes perfect, sir.”
“Mm. Training.”
“I’ll keep working on my aim, too!”
“I would like a special move as well, I request.”
I heard the girls talking with my “Keen Hearing” skill.
At this rate, they might be fighting a floormaster sooner than expected. I would have to finish up their equipment properly so that it’d be ready in time.
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