Despite Akari’s warning, nothing significant occurred during the day they spent in Root Village.
Apparently, their main production consisted of root vegetables, ranging from potatoes to turnips, carrots, and more. This was made possible in part by the local area serving as a breeding ground for rockworms, which left their droppings everywhere below the surface, fertilizing the earth before departing to find new territory.
Nick would have thought the villagers would be more nervous about such powerful creatures, but according to Tilly, no attacks had been reported in the past two decades. Even then, the only known incident was caused by a passing adventurer who had the brilliant idea of practicing their explosion magic, making enough noise to summon the breeding worms.
Nick kept waiting for sothing to happen. It felt as if things were building to a climax, and he almost expected this legendary dragon to burst from a hill sowhere and rain death upon them.
Nothing of the sort happened.
“Dragons have their own sense of ti. Once they get going, it’s practically impossible to stop them, but until then, it’s a waiting ga. It could be a day, a week, or even a year. Maybe more.” Akari explained while easily dodging Elia’s attempts to claw at her.
“But then, why would the dwarves spend so many resources trying to awaken one when they don’t know if it will work? Or even where it is?” Nick asked from the sidelines, watching as his friend grew increasingly frustrated.
If the dragon is even asleep, as they seem to think.
Elia had improved far beyond his expectations. Her flas were hot enough to reduce wood to cinders without even needing direct contact, and she moved with a speed and grace that belonged to a much older martial artist.
Despite her efforts, Akari continued to treat her like a toddler, dancing around her. Although the difference in power was undeniable, Nick could see that the real issue lay in their experience gap.
Akari never wasted a single movent. She imdiately followed through, exploiting any openings and demonstrating precisely why she was considered strong enough to protect an entire rchant caravan on her own.
“Wars of this nature do not depend on certainties. They flood the zone with challenges, shifting circumstances just enough to force the opposing side to retreat. Keep in mind that the dwarves don’t truly wish to expand into the grassland. It’s poor terrain for their needs, and they would face a thriving ecosystem in every tunnel they carve. They are just trying to create as much chaos as possible to prevent Berea from retaking the mountain trade routes.”
“Stay still, damnit!” Elia growled, montarily vanishing and then reappearing on the other side of the clearing.
Nick was almost fooled, but his spiritual sense told him that she hadn’t really moved; it was rely an illusion that was approaching Akari.
The woman, however, didn’t allow the blow aid at her to connect, skillfully avoiding both the invisible Elia and the illusion at the sa ti, before swiping a leg back to strike through the clone.
The mont it made contact, however, it erupted in flas, forcing Akari to jump away for the first ti.
“Ha! Made you move!” Elia crowed, rushing forward to land a claw strike, only to be t with a roundhouse kick so swift that Nick could barely track it, which sent her rolling painfully to the opposite end of the field.
“Kids these days. So aggressive.” Akari chuckled, brushing the soot off her pant leg.
“Ugh, I almost had you.” Elia groaned, rolling over. She looked queasy after that last hit, but a surprising satisfaction glead in her eyes that took Nick aback.
She had been quite restrained since getting her third tail, enough that he’d wondered if the responsibility of being a Miko had turned her into a quieter person. It was good to see that she still had her fire.
It’s probably connected to the fact that we’re finally preparing to head back to Floria. Although we still have a few temples to explore, the southern grassland has fewer options. Now that the easternmost temple has been inspected and found free of taint, we have no reason to stay much longer.
“Anyway, as I was saying earlier, I believe this isn’t sothing you kids should get involved in. We have no clue where the dragon might be or if it will even awaken. Spending every mont in fear of it is no way to live.”
Nick nodded. It wasn’t like he wanted to get involved, after all. This entire trip was ant to send him away from Floria for a while and possibly find a solution to the beastman crisis.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
Dealing with dwarf incursions and waking dragons was not in the cards, both because he simply lacked the power to make a significant difference and because it wasn’t his duty to do so.
There were people who had dedicated themselves to serving the kingdom, and Nick knew that there were many more powerful mages than he lying around. If it ca down to it, even Floria could contribute better fighters. Arthur, Marthas, and his father ca to mind.
“I think we’re going to leave after lunch,” he finally said. Root Village was quaint and relaxing, but while a rest stop was nice, they still had work to do.
“About ti,” Rhea grunted from where she was squinting at a rock.
Now that she had gotten a proper feel for what transmutation was like, she had been trying to reach the second step of the practice, which was reversing a petrification.
Given that there were several chunks of stone scattered around her, it wasn’t going particularly well, but at least it kept her from brooding.
“Mmh, I think that might be best.” Akari humd, glancing at Tilly, the herbalist, who was making moon eyes at her from the window. “I have so business to take care of.”
“Ugh,” Nick scowled. He didn’t need to know that.
Two days from Root Village, life started to return to the grassland.
“I’m regretting taking the peace for granted now,” Rhea mumbled, crouching down behind Nick and focusing intently on transmuting the chunk of rock that was thrown at them into harmless dust.
“It was too good to last,” he agreed, directing another barrage of [Jet Streams] at the annoying bugs.
“If only these damn things would stop hiding in the ground it wouldn’t be so bad,” Elia added, leaving the safety of his shields for just a mont to unleash a barrage of fireballs that predictably granted them only a few monts of respite before the beetles rose once again and restarted their assault.
At least they’re using stone instead of feces. That has to count for sothing.
They had been traveling south at a good pace, having managed to cross most of the way to the next temple with little harassnt, before they had been attacked.
If Nick were honest, it wasn’t exactly unprompted, as Rhea had inadvertently used the rock that marked the entrance of what he now knew to be a colony of giant dung beetles for her transmutation practice.
He had scanned the area passively, of course, but the beetles had been much lower than the rock worm and only started moving once the stone was turned to dust.
Still, while being pinned down by flying boulders wasn’t ideal, Nick remained unconcerned. For all their surprising speed and strength, the monsters were actually quite fragile when struck, and it was only a matter of ti before they were defeated.
It still took nearly half an hour before the tide of battle beca irreversible, and the beetles began retreating underground, finally showing a hint of intelligence.
“Aren’t you going to chase after them?” Rhea asked, peeking from behind him.
Nick shrugged, “Nah, I don’t think it’s necessary. If they aren’t maddened enough to fight to the last, they are probably fine remaining around these parts. And it’s not like they give a ton of exp anyway.”
CONGRATULATIONS!
You have defeated [Stone-rolling Beetles] x17 [Lv. 21-29]
31.400 Exp
It was still a decent amount, but considering how much he needed these days, he’d have to eliminate the entire colony to get a level up, and honestly, there was no need to go that far.
He kinda thought the beetles were cute. They reminded him of the small round black ones he used to play with on the beach.
“Ugh, I can tell you are thinking sothing stupid,” Rhea complained, finally standing up.
“Hey, at least you’re getting quicker with your spell. You couldn’t even hope to hit a moving target the other day!” Elia bounded up to them, smiling and showing off her teeth. Have they been getting sharper?
Rhea nodded, barely suppressing a smile. “There’s that, at least. I’m way ahead of schedule, you know.”
She maintained her puffed-up pose for a mont, and then wilted, “not that it’s anything amazing, compared to you two.”
“Hey, hey, don’t put yourself down.” Nick patted her. “You've been making us a lot of money!”
That was enough to lift her out of her funk, and she huffed, walking away with her head held high. “And you better rember it!”
The next temple they were supposed to find was located sowhere in the southern grassland, slightly closer to the eastern border, but not too far from the midpoint between Floria and Alluria.
According to the old map they had used before departing, it was supposed to be a Hunting Hall, a place where the best hunters gathered to receive instruction from the gods to enhance their skills.
Nick had been having a much better ti during this part of the trip. With fewer mad creatures attacking them and only the occasional ambush, he could finally spend so ti producing enough ofudas to build up a stockpile.
So far, the binding ones had proven to be the most useful, allowing him to handle more mobile monsters and utilize non-lethal thods he had previously lacked. However, he believed this was just the tip of the iceberg.
[Emakimono] as a spell had few constraints. It was a thod to employ ideographs that didn’t necessitate a full ritual. Most often, it was utilized for binding entities, from spirits to monsters, yet he had been able to expand that into more active effects like explosions. Now, with a new affinity to explore, he was attempting to devise sothing that would affect the spirit, rather than just the body.
It should have been a natural progression of the spell, considering its origins, but he was struggling to give form to the emotional component that underpinned all his spiritual spells.
Scratching his head, he tried to rember how the Taoists from his old world used them.
Is it the illustrations I’m missing? I’m not really a good artist, but I guess if there’s anything that could translate sothing as fleeting as an emotion, it would be a painting.
Pursing his lips, Nick tried to find a way around that constraint. I have experinted with runes, but they don’t seem to have the oomph I need to bridge the gap into more complex effects. Maybe hieroglyphs? I know a few that could work…
Suddenly, a roar shook the grassland. The ground buckled, and all living creatures, from monsters to ordinary animals, hunkered down, remaining still to avoid detection by a greater predator.
For a mont, Nick feared it might be the dragon. Akari had sounded confident it wouldn’t awaken anyti soon, and he had started to believe his hunch about its true location was correct, but he could have been mistaken.
Fortunately, the roar resembled that of a mammal more than that of the wyverns. It was still powerful, and just from the sheer noise, he could tell they were about to enter the territory of a dangerous creature, but he doubted it was the dragon.
“That ca from the temple, didn’t it?” Rhea grumbled, looking resigned.
Elia, whose ears had gone flat and tails tucked behind her back in an instinctive reaction, took a mont to respond, but eventually nodded. “It did.”
For a mont, Nick wondered if he should suggest skipping this one. If such a powerful monster was prowling around the temple, it seed unlikely that demons had tainted it, but he shook that thought off soon enough.
They had co too far to turn back now.
Reviews
All reviews (0)