Shinji stood silently, suddenly covering his face with his hands and looking up at the sky. The Dragonn warriors watching him began to murmur. It was understandable to feel anxious, as they were still at the entrance of the valley and had not yet encountered any monsters.
Breaking off his ntal connection with Goddess Arian, Shinji turned to Ichiro with an apologetic expression.
”Shinji-dono, what’s wrong? Are the high-ranking spirits okay?”
”I’m sorry to worry you. They should be fine. The terrible headache seems to have eased now that they’re away from here. Also, I found out that there’s sothing in the valley that negatively affects the spirits. It seems that’s why the spirits have disappeared from the valley and its surroundings.”
”Really…! You already know the cause!?”
Shinji spoke as if he had heard the information from Freri and the others about Goddess Arian. Now that he knew everything he needed to know and realized that they couldn’t defeat the enemy, moving deeper into the valley was just too risky.
To retreat quickly, Shinji chose his words carefully, mixing in so lies as he continued the conversation.
”Yes. The cause is unknown, but it seems a natural enemy of the spirits is lurking in the valley. It’s a plant-type monster that captures spirits and absorbs their magic to grow. Since it captured a high-ranking spirit, it could attract other nearby spirits, which is why they all ca close. Their headaches are because they resisted its command.”
”What a terrible situation… We must go help them imdiately!”
The warriors around him voiced their agreent one after another, but Shinji raised his palm to stop them. Even as many eyes questioned why he was stopping them, he continued to speak without fear.
”The monster has already absorbed a huge amount of magic and has grown incredibly strong. The spirits say we won’t be able to destroy the monster’s core with our power; we would be overwheld.”
”Then we won’t know unless we try!”
Shinji’s sharp gaze t the eager Dragonn, and even the seasoned warriors felt intimidated by his presence.
”I and the spirits know Hino-san’s strength. They are saying we can’t destroy it based on that knowledge. I won’t let you say you don’t understand what that ans.” Rἁ₦օꞖË𝙎
Everyone present knew how strong Hino was. They all thought that if she weren’t the village head’s daughter, she could easily be the top warrior protecting the valley, being the first woman to achieve such a position.
Especially with the overwhelming magic power of Dragon Horn, her attack──Breath of Fire──was so powerful that they had to think carefully about when and where to use it in the valley. Yet, the spirits said that even with that, they couldn’t destroy the monster’s core.
”So what should we do? We have no other ans than Breath. If we can’t save them, then we have to keep trying until we can destroy it.”
The Dragonn, confident in their Breath attack, believed that even if they couldn’t destroy it in one hit, it wouldn’t be completely pointless. They all thought that if they kept attacking over and over, they would eventually be able to destroy it.
It should have been correct. If they could stop the breath attack, they would save their strength and eventually break through the defense. However, ‘Taboo’ was a different kind of opponent. Even if the breath attack hit them unguarded, it wouldn’t affect them at all.
”I have a plan. But for that, we need to go back to the village first. The reason I covered my face earlier was because it was hard to say this. I wouldn’t have understood it if I hadn’t co this far, but it seems like we’ve wasted our ti coming here.”
”Hmmm, to co this far and retreat without doing anything…”
”I’m not doubting the spirits, but wouldn’t it be okay to test it out?”
”Ah, so it’s for reconnaissance. That doesn’t sound like a bad idea.”
Voices of dissatisfaction rose from the Dragonn, except for Ichiro. Seeing them start to talk among themselves, Shinji clicked his tongue in annoyance.
Adventurers were like this too; they were not used to working under soone else’s command. Since Shinji was in charge, they should have followed his orders quietly, but instead, they were arguing and chatting with each other. If they had objections, they should have spoken one by one. It was proper for soldiers to remain silent unless they were the ones speaking.
Having seen the incredibly disciplined soldiers in Soukai Country, Shinji felt overwheld by the trouble of dealing with individuals who were strong but very assertive.
Just as he understood that the atmosphere was getting worse and was about to forcefully declare a retreat, a monster was detected by him and the Dragonn on watch.
”A monster is coming! Stay alert!”
”!!”
At Shinji’s shout, the Dragonn reacted and readied their weapons. The monster that appeared was a creature larger than a wild wolf, resembling a high wolf from ‘Hateyama’… except for one thing. Even the Dragonn who usually entered and exited the valley were surprised by this change, or rather, this mutation.
”What is that!? What’s with their appearance!?”
From the wolves’ heads, eerie purple plant vines were growing, writhing like tentacles, which was nothing short of bizarre.
A Dragonman dodged a wolf that lunged at him with quick movents and aid for its head with his sword. Even though the blade hit and he felt the impact, the wolf continued to attack as if nothing had happened, and he barely managed to dodge, losing his balance. Thinking he wouldn’t be able to dodge the next attack, another Dragonman pierced the wolf’s body with his sword, causing it to stop moving.
”What’s up with these vines!?”
”Don’t attack the vines! Aim for the parts without them!”
At first, they struggled a bit, but as expected from seasoned warriors. Once they realized they could defeat the monsters by avoiding the vines, they began to take them down one by one. anwhile, Shinji focused on observing and staying alert.
’Is that part of ‘Taboo’?’
’Yes. It uses parts of its body to parasitize and sends controlled creatures to hunt for prey with strong magical power. They probably ca here because they sensed the strong remnants of Flair’s magic.’
’So, once they hunt all the monsters in the valley, they are very likely to co out here.’
While exchanging thoughts with Goddess Arian, the monster hunt was finished. Even after the wolf had died, the vines continued to wriggle, showing their strong life force.
The Dragonn attacked the vines left on the corpse in various ways, but not even their blades or flas left a mark. Faced with such an incomprehensible phenonon, everyone except Shinji felt a sense of unease.
”We will retreat to the village. Be careful of any pursuit.”
Having learned part of the threat, they quietly followed Shinji’s orders. They called back the Dragonn who were watching the entrance of the valley and planted Freri flowers as a substitute for monitoring. They thought that if ‘Taboo’ captured even one Dragonman, it might learn and start calling more Dragonn like the spirits.
(Ti is on their side. If we don’t act quickly, it might be too late. I hope one divine artifact can turn things around.)
Shinji kept thinking, but he still couldn’t find a solution to the strange situation.
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