Leave a comment

Having a bad feeling about the groans from inside the hut, we decided to first handle the Roper right in front of us and immediately went all out on it. Audrey and I simultaneously shot out the wind attribute “Cut” while Grimhart and Jessica slices off the tentacles trying to block the spell’s path.

It was an unplanned improvised attack, but maybe thanks to our training on the way, we moved perfectly together like an experienced party. However……

「Tsk, Didn’t work, huh.」
「It does look like it damaged it though…」

From the fact that combustion type Magic like “Burn” didn’t work, we judged that it’s strong against the flame attribute, so we used “Cut” to physically cut it down. Our “Cut” sliced the Roper beautifully like shredded cheese, but the tentacles slowly reconnected themselves.

「The surrounding Mana is gathering to the Roper! It’s using the surrounding Mana to heal itself!」
「Hell, is there anything it can’t do!?」

Constantly observing the Mana around us, Bia seems to have uncovered the secret to its regeneration. It looks like the Mana in the surrounding area is flowing into the Roper. I’m shocked that there are monsters that can do that, but I’m more amazed that Bia, having suspicions about it when my “Corona Burn” couldn’t finish it off, immediately decided to shift focus into observing its Mana.

Still, the fact that it’s able to heal is quite troublesome. Moreover, we’re currently at this sacred mountain that holds an insane amount of Mana within. There’s basically an infinite amount of Mana for it to heal itself with. The Roper’s main body is pretty slow and the tentacle’s movement itself isn’t really that fast, so right now we can still deal with it. However, our enemy has infinite stamina and, in contrast, we can get hungry and fatigued.

More like, my stomach’s already complaining, I’m pretty much double hungry. As expected, after using some big Magic consecutively, I’m running out of energy.

「Oh, more bad news. There’s more.」
「Haa!?」

Just when I thought it was just Grimhart making some bad joke, another Roper began crawling out of a broken window. It looks like it got stuck on the window frame; its human skin is already ripped off.

「There were four footprints, right?」
「Yup.」
「And there were two eggs, right?」
「Yup.」
「Won’t it be nice if there’s only two of them?」
「Yup, you’re absolutely right!」

What Grimhart and I fear the most is the worst possibility of there being four of them. Just in case, I tried searching for Life Essence, but there’s no response from the hut. Maybe they’re already dead, maybe they became monsters, I can’t say for sure.

「Either way, we’ve got no choice but to take them down!」
「Yeah, but how? Burning doesn’t work, cutting doesn’t work; what do we even do!?」

Even while having that conversation, the tentacles attack us one after another. All of them ignored Grimhart, thirty percent of them charged at Jessica and the remaining seventy of them rushed to us at the rear.

In contrast with her slow, calm tone of speech, with nimble footwork, Audrey handles the tentacles with her own sword. The problem is with Bia and the still unconscious Lysha.

Right now, Bia can still manage the approaching tentacles, using her throwing knife and hacking at any that come near her. As much as possible I’m firing “Cut” at the tentacles going towards them, but still, the ones I miss rush over to Bia and Lysha.

Originally, we should have already retreated but that’s pretty difficult with Lysha asleep. Even though Jessica and Grimhart are strong enough to carry her, descending the mountain while carrying someone is considerably hard, more so when you have to fight off tentacles.

In the end, as long as we don’t do something about its healing ability, we can’t defeat the Ropers and unless we wake Lysha up somehow, we also can’t escape. We’re at a complete disadvantage.

「Hmm~ If burning it~ or cutting it~ won’t work,~ then why not just stop it from moving~」
「If we could do it then we wouldn’t have… Oh right!」

Thanks to Audrey’s advice, a certain Magic came to my mind. Rather, it’s a Magic that’s so effective that it’s a mystery why I haven’t thought of using it up until now. Still, in many ways, it’s pretty dangerous. If I miss this, I won’t have enough to fight back. Still, looking at our situation, I really don’t have any other choice.

「Audrey, please take care of everything!」
「Oka~y」
「I ask, for the means to repel the disorder before me! I ask, for the frost to halt the atrocity before me! “Freeze”!!」

The Magic I used is naturally “Freeze”. Just in case, by also freeing the Mana in its surroundings, I stop the Mana supply it’s using to heal itself.

“Freeze” Magic demonstrated its effects perfectly. Both Ropers start freezing from the root of their shafts and without taking a second, it froze every single tentacle, stopping them completely. Since the tentacles themselves didn’t have much power, it’s probably impossible for them to break out of the ice. And if it’s possible, there’s literally nothing more I can do. That’s because I ended up pumping it with as much energy that I possibly can.

「How, was it?」
「Hah! You did it! They’re completely frozen into statues!」
「Haha, that’s cause I hit it with all I have left… Sorry… I’m going to sleep…」

Just to be sure, I asked Grimhart about the results, and that’s where I lost consciousness.

◆◇◆◇◆

「Nfufu~ To think that she’d freeze their surrounding time axis. As expected of my big sister, I guess?」

In the sky, nearer to the mountain’s summit than the hut where Lily fought, a lone girl muttered to herself with no one in sight.

Like Lily, she wears her hair in a ponytail but hers is pitch black, and in contrast to Lily’s pure white skin, she has darkish skin. But the pure black wings growing from her hips, the horns on her head and her impish looks are exactly like Lily’s.

「Nn~ We could still play right now, but~ It looks like she’s tired so I should probably try another day, right?」

The girl seemed just a bit disappointed, but she quickly moves on.

「Well, first I should prepare my pets. Besides, it’s mo~re fun to play with everyone!」

Muttering so, the girl displayed a smile far more depraved than how should have she appeared.