Chapter 179
" . . . More incoming monsters . "
"Looks . . . like it!"
Alma shot an arrow at a boar monster coming from afar while saying that .
The arrow accurately pierced the monster's heart, killing it instantly .
Burrowing snakes aren't the only monster that pop up here .
There are of course flying and ground monsters around, and all of them have turned gigantic without exceptions .
Against these powered monsters, even Alma's arrow that usually pierced five monsters in one shot could only manage to kill one with an exact vital shot .
Since arrows don't work well against burrowing monsters, Alma is mostly in charge of flying and on-ground monsters .
"Umm . . . Over there!"
On the other hands, Ruli is beating these monsters with magic tools .
Normally Ruli would be in charge of creating arrows for Alma most of the time, but since a high powered arrow can't manage to beat two monsters at once this time around, they're acting independently now .
Ruli's strategy is similar to the strategy I used on that snake earlier on .
Whenever snake monsters come out of the ground, she hardens the soil to stop their movements .
One thing that's different is my strategy has myself as the decoy, while Ruli is using magic tools for both roles .
Thus, it's not as efficient as my way, but it enables her to safely beat monsters from a distance .
Even though she'd need to stock magic stones for this tactic, such is one of the strong points of Glory Crest .
Even the past me used a variety of schemes to fight monsters .
"Don't tell me, I'm the only one who can't locate monsters here?"
The examiner asked me in the heat of battle .
Indeed, this fight has us fully making use of Passive Detection .
Especially for monsters below the ground, you can't rely on most of your senses against them .
However . . . it's not like all of us can do it .
"I don't think Iris knows when underground monsters are going to attack either . . . . Well, not like there's any need to be on guard in Iris case though . "
Iris got blown away while I was speaking .
The snake monster powered up by the parasite monster made a surprise attack on Iris from below .
Due to the damage on her magic circuit, Iris's mana control and detection are unreliable .
"Alright, got another one!"
However, Iris doesn't seem fazed at all by the ambush .
Rather, it feel more like 『Prey found!』 to her .
And she's not mistaken .
In fact, she didn't even have a scratch on her from the burrowing snake monster's ambush .
So long as Iris is impervious to its fang, the snake's mana-powered neurotoxin is useless against her, and even if the fang did go through her defense, mana-powered toxin would dilute itself inside Iris's enormous mana pool, it probably won't have any effect .
There's too large of a gap between a dragon and a snake, regardless of how powered it is .
"Sooi!"
While still being blown away, Iris readied her spear mid-air and threw it at the snake monster .
It's just a simple throw without magically enhanced strength or anything . . . but with Iris's brute strength, the thrown spear had practically turned into an iron stake for the snake .
The snake didn't get staked, it got torn asunder, crushed by the spear .
"What is that? Some kinda ace buff magician or something? I haven't seen her chanting even once though . . . "
"Nope, Iris is just very awfully sturdy, she can't use magic . "
Iris killed another monster while we were conversing .
Although it may not compare to [Enforced Detection], her simply moving around would flaunt her mana around to act as a bait to the surrounding monsters .
As a result, Iris beat the most monsters after me .
" . . . Can't use magic? Yer' kidddin' me?"
"It's true . . . . Also, you don't need chanting to use magic . The reason why monsters have been appearing in front of me since awhile ago is thanks to a chantless spell too . "
I took a half step back as I said that .
And then, a snake came out of the ground I was standing on, so I made use of its momentum to cut it in half with my sword .
I'm not using magic to converse my mana .
I only draw monsters here with [Passive Detection], and then kill them with the lowest amount of effort .
"Are there nothing but monsters in this party . . . . "
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<TLN: If you're reading this novel at any other site than Sousetsuka . com you might be reading an unedited, uncorrected version of the novel . >
We got close to the center of the prairie as we battled on .
The incessant monster attacks suddenly stopped midway through .
"They're not attacking anymore . "
"I don't detect mana reactions either, think it's finished?"
" . . . You really did it . Those monsters were ridiculous, but Mathias's party is beyond even them . . . "
Iris, Alma and the examiner spoke .
Indeed, there's no easy-to-detect mana reaction from monsters in the vicinity .
"Normally you'd think so . . . but I feel something odd in the surrounding mana . . . And that boss Mathias-san mentioned didn't come out either . "
However, Ruli objected to the opinion that the subjugation was over .
Unfortunately enough for the examiner who looks really eager to go home . . . she's right .
"Ruli is correct, the boss hasn't shown itself up yet . . . Well then, which way do you think it is?"
"Unn, judging from the state of mana . . . Over there?"
Ruli pointed right .
Hmm, she managed to notice the oddness in the mana reaction, but I guess she still cannot grasp the mechanism behind it yet .
Well, just the fact that she could see through this camouflage without prior knowledge means that she's got quite the talent in mana detection .
It took the past me around 30 years to even notice it after all .
"Close but no cigar . The correct answer is over there . "
I pointed left .
The exact opposite of Ruli's guess .
"It's not close at all! It's totally the opposite direction!"
"Nah, don't sell yourself short . . . How does the mana reaction over there feel to you?"
I pointed at the direction Ruli pointed at first .
"Unn, I don't see mana reaction that feels like of monsters . . . There's some really really small reactions though, but I think that's just bugs or something like that . "
"Then how about over there?"
I pointed at the place where the boss is .
Ruli looked over there . . . and seemingly noticed the camouflage .
"Ah, there's a place without a single reaction, not even from bug!"
"That's the area where the boss monster lurks . It has set up a kind of barrier to stop its mana from leaking to the surroundings . "
Some parasite type monsters remake the environment around them to suit themselves better .
The camouflage that prevents mana from leaking is a part of that .
For those monsters, the reason is probably not to prevent their mana from leaking, but simply because a place with dense mana is more comfortable to them .
"A mere monster constructing barrier . . . . "
"Their barrier differs from the barrier we create with magic though . "
We're heading to the barrier the monster put up .
Suddenly someone said halt .
"Hold it, you guys have already passed the test . There's no need for you to defeat that thing . "
The examiner stopped us .
Looks like we've passed the Rank B Qualification Test .
It's nice that we were able to pass it easily, but . . .
"Didn't the quest I took ask for Testra Prairie Subjugation? It won't count as one if we don't defeat that . "
I point at the barrier .
The barrier seems to be covered in grass and soil, it only looks like a mound from over here, but judging from the mana reaction, it's apparently a dome-shaped barrier .
Monsters that are shutting themselves inside the barrier are harmless, but in reality, those monsters probably dug underground where the barrier didn't reach and went outside the prairie .
"You're right, the quest is about Testra Prairie Subjugation . . . but the content was [Subjugating monsters, especially those that could become a threat, in the outbreak at Testra Prairie . ] . The quest should be considered as complete even without you defeating monsters that shut themselves inside a barrier . "
I see .
At the time being, that might be right .
Not like the monster inside is going to come out anytime soon after all .
Personally, I'd like to raise our rank as fast as possible, so it's easier if we don't have to beat that .
Ordinarily I would have gone to beat the monster regardless of quests or such, but I'd be wasting time to recover my mana then .
. . . However, since we've taken up on this quest, I can't exactly do that .
"If we leave that alone, that thing would break out of the barrier and attack towns . Time left until that happens . . . about two weeks I reckon . "
Hearing that, the face of the examiner who looked like he was going back turned serious .
To the point that I doubted he was the same person .
" . . . Are you telling the truth?"
"Yeah . "
" . . . Is Frejia included in those towns?"
"It's really hard to believe . . . But if Mathias says so, it's practically guaranteed . . . "
Saying that, the examiner ponders .
Afterward, he bowed deeply toward me .
"I ask you . Could you please defeat that monster? I don't wanna expose that town to danger . Of course, I'm gonna fight too . "
. . . I see .
He'd like to avoid endangering himself, but he'll fight for real if the town is in danger huh .
Looks like this examiner isn't just a coward .
Well, I guess an adventurer that would run away at the prospect of going to a dangerous location wouldn't be entrusted to be a rank up test examiner .
"Got it . . . . Are you fine with that, you three?"
That's always been my intention since we took this quest .
And I couldn't possibly forsake a territory friendly to Eis Kingdom .
It was one of the reasons we could took this quest so quickly after all .
. . . It might stand to reason if it were a hostile territory though .
"Of course! That's what we come here for!"
"Yes! . . . I'm a bit curious about that monster-made barrier too!"
"I'm not really sure, but I just need to beat up monsters right?"
Looks like the three are in agreement .
Let's get on to the kill . . . is what I'd like to say, but I have something to ask them first .
Our moves would slightly change depending on the answers .