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「Mr. Joaquin, please restrain it! Miss Liev, distraction please!」
「Got it!」
「Leave it to me!」

Mahara shouted orders from behind whilst Joaquin and Liev casted spells accordingly. As they are mages, it seems that Mahara judged that their magecraft lack decisive firepower. The “Bind” cast by Joaquin caught the hindlegs of the large wolf monster growleu. And as the growleu stopped on its tracks, Liev’s “Flame Arrow” landed right on its snout, blinding its vision.

「Mr. Magnus!」
「Alright!」
「「”Wind Slash”!」」

Not missing this opportunity, Magnus and Mahara cast the wind attribute attack magic “Wind Slash” together at the same time, bringing forth a blade of wind. The magic, while being slightly off the mark, successfully landed on the growleu’s neck and took down the large monster.

「Nice!」
「We beat it!」
「Ah, wait, stop!」

Magnus and Joaquin celebrated their victory and ran to the fallen monster, ignoring Mahara’s command. Just when they finally seemed to have learned proper teamwork, this happens. It looks like it’s still far off before I can give a passing grade.

Seemingly waiting for the exact moment that Magnus and Joaquin reached out to touch it, the large monster pounced into a bite.

「Uwaa!?」
「It’s still alive!?」
「”Impact.”」

This wouldn’t be an issue if this was a monster that wouldn’t do much damage like the vine viper, but since a bite from something as big as growleu would instantly kill weaker people, I blast away the growleu with a magic that produces powerful impact.

「Have you not heard Miss Mahara’s warning? Even when you think that you’ve won, do not be careless.」
「Unbelievable…… for it to be alive after a wound like that……」

Never underestimate a monster’s tenacity. Even with fatal wounds, as long as they have even just a little life left in them, they will continue to fight back. Like a certain wolf that raised a princess¹, monsters have enough life force that you’ll need to be on guard from attacks even if there’s only a head left.

This is common sense for adventurers that have reached a certain level. Particularly adventurers that tend to venture into dungeons, this would be explained to them by the guild or the senior adventurers as they rank up. In my case, Urania was the one that guided me on all sorts of common sense. Though right after that we were ambushed by “Gale Viper” and the coaching from her ended prematurely, thanks to the roper battle soon after, this fact was thoroughly burned into my brain.

While I don’t particularly want to threaten their lives for something so trivial, actually experiencing this lesson should serve to make them more cautious in the future. Nonetheless, I should praise them for the progress they’ve made.

「Keep that in mind from now on. As for your coordination prior, it was excellent. Miss Mahara, you did well in giving adequate orders.」
「R-really…… me…²」
「You two as well, Mr. Joaquin, Miss Liev. Your use of magecraft was quite effective. While many mages tend to worry about their lack of firepower, this can be compensated by creativity. Please remember this well. As for Mr. Magnus, your magic power manipulation needs some improvement.² Your aim is already quite outstanding, so with slightly better control, you should be strong enough for actual combat.」

◆◇◆◇◆

After that, we continued exploring the forest for the whole morning. They defeated two more growleus, a cluster of vine vipers, and three goblins. The flow of the hunt has started to solidify into the two mages Joaquin and Liev restraining the enemy while the sorcerers Magnus and Mahara deal damage, which then ends with Joaquin confirming the death of the enemy with magecraft.

As for why Joaquin is in charge of checking the monster’s death, it’s because he can use lightning attribute magecraft. By using electricity, he can forcibly constrict the muscles and check if the monsters are alive by their reactions. Since he only releases weak electricity, the damage to the monster’s usable materials is kept to a minimum, so it’s a pretty good tactic.

Incidentally, when Urania and I hunt, we confirm that it’s safe to approach with Urania’s sense of smell. For tenacious monsters that look absolutely dead yet are only luring our guard down, we deal with them by chucking them into my 【Dream Storage】 after thoroughly freezing them with “Freeze”. Freezing is an extremely useful tactic.

「It’s about to be noon soon. After dismantling this magic beast, let’s return momentarily.」
「「「「Yes!」」」」

I informed the members of group C as we were about to finish dismantling the last prey, a fire-breathing oxen magic beast called hyskoo. Among the four stomachs of the hyskoo, there is one that’s called a flame pouch that produces an oil-like combustible secretion in place of digestive fluids. Its taste is said to have a tongue scalding spiciness to it, but there are many that love the taste.³

Naturally, the magic beast is already quite difficult to defeat thanks to its large oxen body, but with the addition of fire breathing, it’s more than just plain difficult. Just for this battle, I naturally lent a hand. I cast a barrier on everyone to block the flames, while Joaquin and Liev managed to seal its mouth with “Bind”. Magnus and Mahara aimed for the legs to weaken its movements before Joaquin used “Thunder” with all his strength, somehow defeating the beast.

Incidentally, the domesticated koo doesn’t breathe flames, so even regular people can rear them without any issues.

After the dismantling, the magic beast’s meat was being stored in the group’s storage bag, when suddenly Phewewewew-! a loud noise echoed from the depths of the forest.

「What was that sound just now?」
「Wasn’t that……」
「…… One of the magical tools I distributed, yes. Everybody, head to the assembly point immediately!⁴」

That sound is from the magical tool I made that produces an SOS signal. The light and smoke are clearly visible even from a far-off distance. And that color is…… Group A’s; in other words, where Urania is.

「What about you, Miss Lily!?」
「I will be going to the source!」

That magical tool was honestly just supposed to be a precaution of sorts. And even if it was ever used, I expected group B to be the ones to use it. Everyone in group A is more than capable and if anything ever happens, Urania when not being limited to only using combat magic is so strong that even I don’t know if I can beat her. This group in question is asking for help. Grinding my teeth, I soar through the sky at full speed.

「Urania, please be safe!」

1. Silva: hmmmmm? Is this some sort of reference to some other sources or to the previous chapter?
2. Lyly: Have confidence!
3. Lyly: Exotic foodies exist in any world, I see
4. Lyly: Uh-oh