92 - a troublesome way of breaking a rock

"Sleep fast, sleep well--!"

The black rope that severed Thor's arm spins around, rips through the air with a hiss, and runs sideways across the ground.

Thor hears the familiar prayer, and immediately thrusts his sword into the earth.

A string-like object attacked his feet, snagging and entangling the blade of his sword.

The other one, which had come flying out, suddenly stopped moving as if it had been sewn into the air.

In that momentary gap, Thor picks up his left hand and immediately kicks the ground to distance himself.

Immediately afterward, a sleep-inducing invisible cold air covered the shadows of the rocks.

Exhaling roughly, Thor himself by pressing his left hand against it, thankful for the .

As he retreats, Sora and Mu come running up to him.

"Thor, are you hurt?

Is your hand okay?

Thor nodded lightly to both of them and quickly removed his leather gloves, which had just had the fastening strap cut off.

"Moe, get me something to stop the bleeding."

"Medicine?　This is it, To-chan."

Moe pulls the stopper out of a thin shell he holds out from a pouch on his waist and dribbles the bluish liquid over a wound that he has not dared to heal completely.

The high price of five silver coins was no joke, and soon the blood began to clot.

Saralisa, who had been watching Thor and the others at the very back, comes up to me and murmurs curiously.

"Didn't your arm fall off just now ......?"

"No, it's just the glove clasp and a little bit of flesh on my arm. There you go."

Thor shows us the wound halfway between the elbow and the wrist, deliberately spreading his fingertips.

He also casually puts his leather gloves with a cut in them back on in front of his eyes.

"I think you mistook me for a glove. ......"

With a face that did not look very convincing, the usher cast down his eyes.

Then Sola spoke to him enthusiastically.

Hey, hey, Thor. Was that a snake?　But it looked like an insect. ...... Oh, like a centipede?"

"You used to watch me. That's an insect. Or, more accurately, part of one."

Thor's cheeks relaxed slightly at the sight of the girl who seemed a bit proud of herself, and he turned his attention back to the white rock standing upright in the wilderness.

The unidentified strings had already been unfastened, awakened from their slumber, and disappeared under the rock.

All that remained was a sword stuck in the ground.

"Is part of it the one with the main body hidden in the ground?"

No, he's not hiding. No, it's not hidden. If they were so brazen, you wouldn't even notice it.

At Thor's words, the girl stares intently into the shadows of the rocks.

Then she noticed a possibility and shouted in surprise.

"What?

"Perhaps that rock itself is the rock beetle we've heard so much about."

Thor nodded deeply at Yuril's point.

He had been told in the prior training that there were insects that mimic stones, but the size of these insects had not been revealed to him.

The size of the insect, which was much larger than his own body height, was unexpected.

"Then, that long black thing is ......."

"Probably antennae. They seem to be very sharp, though."

Thor let out a small gasp at the sight of the cloak, which had been sliced open.

His armor was damaged and his sword was left behind. He had also used a precious chemical.

Thor, however, was not so careless.

He knew that there was no other place to hide but the ground, and he had been looking for signs of it.

Having killed many horned moles and rock lizards, I was a bit proud of my ability to detect changes in the ground.

And then, without a sound, they attacked us from under the rocks.

I was caught off guard for a moment.

And that moment was the one that could have been fatal.

Thor, who had pushed away his rising emotions with his usual breathing technique, turned his attention back to the rock that stood there in a sulky manner.

"Well, let's see what he looks like."

First, I pull a dismantling knife from the sheath at my waist and throw it at it to test its hardness.

The blade hit the rock surface with considerable force and bounced back with a hard sound.

"It looks more like a rock than a rock, doesn't it?

"Well, how do you knock down a rock?"

"A mallet or an axe might do the trick. Hmmm, let's see what we can do: ......"

Since we know the location of the antennae, we can attack it directly from the rear.

However, it would be very difficult to attack that shell with a sword.

On the other hand, I don't have any tools at hand to cut rocks.

If we could turn it over and aim at its abdomen, we might be able to attack it, but we do not have the tools or the manpower to do so.

If this is the case, it would be better to aim at the face where the attack is likely to pass through, but then one would have to deal with the troublesome antennae.

In addition to its amazing sharpness, the fact that it does not mind wrapping itself around the sword suggests that it is also quite sturdy.

Moreover, since there are two swords, there is a concern that he may use a lot of or each time.

In the first place, it is easy for this monster to easily escape from the range of the attack if it moves away from the target as it is now.

It is safe to assume that this type of monster only attacks those who carelessly get close to it, trying to shield themselves from the wind.

Since there is no way to deal with it, one of the options is to retrieve the sword and move on.

However, Thor had his own reasons for wanting to defeat this monster by all means.

As Thor was at a loss for what to do, a beautiful silver-haired woman, who was the best friend of the party, spoke to him.

"There is one thing I would like to try, if you don't mind.

The approach that Yuril proposed was not what one would call a strategy.

At any rate, Thor follows the instructions and approaches the rock.

In his hand is a sled for transportation.

Just as he approaches the same position as before, the two tentacles come out again.

The black cord, swung with blinding speed, attacks the child's precious sled in order to cut it in half.

But it seems that the promise of being made of silver was not a lie.

With a strange sound, the two tentacles are easily repelled.

At the same time, the purple serpent's thorns coiled in the opposite direction, slightly stopping its movement.

"Fog it, block it--!"

Then, without a moment's pause, Yuril's magic move was launched.

Thor pulled his sword from the ground and leaped backward to escape.

With Sori and his sword at the ready, Thor watches the rock beetle's movements.

It takes some time for the large amount of cold air sucked into its body to take effect.

Deciding that it is time to slow down, Thor takes a step forward.

At that moment, the rock shook faintly.

At the same time, a large crack appeared all at once on its surface.

Thor could not help but gawk at the rock as it began to crumble noisily.

As Thor turns around in stunned surprise, Yuril, his long ears shaking, smiles his usual smile.

"Oh, it's more fragile than I thought."