LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 20: Encounter with an Uninvited Guest
“…If you don’t have anything to do, why don’t you continue the story you were telling me earlier? You said the ancient dwarves challenged the gods?”
The path to the mountain that the village elder had told us about was incredibly comfortable. The reason for this was none other than the fact that no monsters attacked us.
What made the journey arduous were people and lack of food, but the biggest reason was the magical beasts.
“Yeah. They even bet their divinity. If they won, they asked to be recognized as gods. That’s how they acted. Well, if you look at how they live now, you don’t need me to tell you the result, do you?”
Monsters, magical beasts, demons. Whatever you call them. They were a terrible bunch that attacked humans regardless of time or place.
It was because of them that the adventurer’s guild and the mercenary business could develop… but honestly. It would be better if such things didn’t develop.
A world that needs such things can’t be a safe world.
“…Then, what exactly did the dwarves lose? For a race that was so strong that they dared to challenge the gods to fall like this… what did they lose?”
“Those sound masters lost most of their hearing, unable to handle the sound they were so proud of, and they lost the power to handle magic, making the knowledge of black magic they had accumulated meaningless. They were also deprived of all the brilliant wisdom they had accumulated. A short stature and lifespan, and an ugly appearance were a bonus. It’s like having all their limbs cut off.”
Putting aside the assessment of the world and returning to the main topic. Altera was standing at the forefront, glaring at something or growling, chasing away monsters and wild animals.
The monsters seemed to be afraid of dying, so when she threatened them, they hurriedly ran away in the other direction.
Normally, Yuna and Akash would have been cautiously advancing while keeping an eye on their surroundings without any time to chat. But it was so comfortable that I felt myself relaxing.
To the extent of indulging in the luxury of appreciating nature. It had been a few years since I had been here, but this was the first time I felt like I was really going on an adventure.
However, Altera suddenly stopped walking. So I asked her if something was wrong.
“Altera? Is there something dangerous or strange ahead?”
“…Yeah. And it’s the one that’s been chasing me. I… killed that guy’s mate.”
Is there something? I looked ahead intently, but I couldn’t see anything. However, after concentrating all my senses on seeing, I barely saw a faint shimmer for a moment.
Even that, I lost focus again after blinking, so I thanked Altera’s detection ability again and asked her the most important question.
“Altera. Just to be sure. Is that a… male?”
Altera nodded silently. Hmm. That’s a big problem.
“…Everyone. Prepare to fight. A very angry male Dalokos… has business with us.”
“What? Where? I don’t see it. Well, it’s invisible because it’s naturally camouflaged. Wait. It’s angry? I’ve never touched a female, so why… Hey. No way…”
Dalokos usually don’t show much interest in humans. But if there are a few exceptions, it’s when their family is touched and when they are disturbed while eating.
Especially if their family is touched, they will do everything in their power to take revenge. That’s why adventurers usually avoid touching Dalokos.
The females are not easy, but the males are bigger and stronger than the females. If you have to hunt, it’s standard to catch the whole family at once.
“Yeah. Altera killed a female before. Akash. You can attack, but don’t use strong magic. Yuna, get ready.”
A male Dalokos could only be taken on as a subjugation quest by those who were at least Silver rank 2. Since the minimum requirement was Silver rank 2, most of the requests were exclusive to Gold rank.
Even then, the danger was higher than the reward, so most people didn’t touch it. And we have to fight that. Even though Altera is here, it’s not welcome.
…It feels a bit weird to talk about Gold rank so casually. Most adventurers stay at Bronze rank. If they have some talent or put in a lot of effort, they might be promoted to Silver rank.
Up to Gold rank 4, you can somehow get there by spending money and time, but those who get there are usually the children of nobles, so it’s safe to say that the limit for ordinary people is Silver.
“Myungho. Ask Altera where it is now.”
Yuna was already stringing her iron bow and taking out arrows. Seeing that she had put all the arrows in her quiver into the ground, she must be planning to use them all in the fight against the Dalokos.
“…Are you going to use them all?”
“We’re going to the village anyway. Tell me the location.”
Right. There’s no reason to leave them. When we get there, we’ll receive enough to fill the quiver again.
“Altera. Tell me the exact location of the Dalokos. Yuna will shoot it.”
So you call it a Dalokos. Altera, who said that to herself, pointed somewhere with her finger.
“About 40 steps away. It doesn’t show any signs of moving. Not unless I rush in first.”
I relayed the information she gave me to Yuna. Yuna, who was gauging the location of the Dalokos, began to pull the heavy bow.
As she pulled the string made of thin iron wires, the iron bow screamed and bent.
Pulling the string with her steel arm and holding the bow with her flesh arm, she was aiming at the place where the Dalokos was without a single shake.
With a sound close to an explosion that broke the silence, she released the string.
In the blink of an eye, a steel arrow cut through the air with scattered sparks. Then, suddenly, green flesh and bodily fluids burst out from the void.
-GUHHHHHHHAAAAA!!!!!!!
Even though it was an attack that would have pierced a large hole in a fortress wall, it only managed to burst the outer shell of the Dalokos.
But the result was clear.
The Dalokos was no longer transparent. With just one arrow, the Dalokos lost the composure to maintain its camouflage.
The revealed appearance was not very pleasant.
The flank of the giant spider-like creature covered in carapace was completely torn off.
As soon as the Dalokos’s appearance was revealed, Yuna pulled her bow again without hesitation.
“Your opponent is… me!”
Altera faced the Dalokos head-on as it rushed towards Yuna. She was pushed back for a moment, but then she blocked the monster’s jaw with both hands and engaged in a head-on power struggle.
The monster scratched Altera’s back with its long, sharp claws, tearing her cloak and wounding her, but Altera responded with a headbutt without blinking.
When its unprotected eyes were pierced by the horn, the monster went even more wild. But Altera forced its head to the ground with her strength.
“…Well. I don’t have anything to do. Fire.”
Akash made fireballs float in the air and then slammed them into the monster’s wounded flank in succession.
“You should do something too. Magic, envelop.”
Then he cast a protective barrier on me and chided me to do something.
…Even if I wanted to do something. I can’t do anything about a guy that big and fast. Maybe if it were a golem.
Still, I can’t just stand here with my hands in my pockets. I looked for the perfect opportunity to approach, trusting the protective barrier.
When the monster vomited bodily fluids in pain and convulsed, Yuna’s arrow once again cut into the monster’s abdomen.
But even in that state, the monster was still moving vigorously.
If only those blade-like legs were gone, I could do something.
“…Yuna! Shoot the legs and cut them off!”
It seemed like I had to shoot the head to kill it with arrows, but that was physically impossible.
Because Altera was between the head and Yuna. She must have heard me, because she shot all the remaining arrows at the monster’s legs.
One, two. Three. Four.
It didn’t take long to shoot the arrows because she didn’t need to pull them with all her might to kill, she just needed to cut off the legs.
The legs that were scratching Altera’s back were cut off, and the other sharp legs were also cut off, making them almost useless.
Nevertheless, the monster didn’t die and struggled as if in its death throes, twisting its house-sized body and trying to shake off Altera, who was pounding its head.
Now.
“Altera! Hold it tight!”
I took out my holy sword and rushed towards the monster. Even though she was holding it tight, if I got hit by that carapace-like body, I wouldn’t be safe even if the barrier protected me.
Fortunately, that didn’t happen. I wrote letters on the monster’s body, which had stopped as if to catch its breath.
Die.
It was something I couldn’t even think of doing to a normal Dalokos, but it was possible because it was exhausted, injured, and didn’t recognize it as an attack.
And that was the end. The Dalokos, which had been spewing bodily fluids, went limp and silent.
“…What. What did you do…?”
Altera looked at the corpse of the Dalokos in bewilderment.
“My holy sword… can be used like this too. I wrote ‘die’. Well, I got lucky.”
If the Dalokos had twisted its body, I would have been crushed by that carapace body without a doubt.
“If you write ‘die’… it dies?”
Altera asked, taking a slight step back from me. I understand her surprise. But if it were her… right. I’d be smashed before I could even write.
“Yeah. But don’t worry. It takes me a while to write. And I have no intention of using it on you or other people. More importantly, is your back okay?”
When I saw it earlier, her back was full of shallow wounds. So I asked if she was okay, but she answered by showing me her back.
Her back was smooth. Uh. I looked away as soon as I confirmed that.
“What, you asked and now you look away. So what are you going to do with this? Leave it like this?”
No matter how much I look, I can’t get used to a woman’s body. I forced my gaze away and looked at the corpse of the Dalokos that she was tapping.
“It’s hard to take it all… we should just take the important parts that can be stored for a long time. Altera. Can you turn this over?”
It would take forever to cut through the carapace, so it would be faster to cut through the weaker belly. Altera listened to my request and easily lifted the earth to flip the spider over.
…Hmm. Come to think of it, why didn’t she use her power to manipulate the earth while fighting?
“Altera. Just to be sure, why didn’t you use magic while fighting the spider?”
She thought for a moment, then shook her head and refused to answer.
“…I can’t tell you now. When I can trust you. If that time comes, I’ll tell you.”
So, I haven’t earned her trust yet.
She skillfully climbed onto the corpse’s belly, pulled out the rock greatsword from the ground, and began to dismantle the corpse.
…To gain trust, I have to start with small things like this.
“I’ll help. But I don’t know much… so I’d appreciate it if you could tell me where and how to do it.”
Saying that, I also helped her dismantle the corpse.