122 - - Central, re-enactment.

The carriages arrived at their usual stop before dawn.

Garudo and Saralisa, who had been taking turns acting as the coachmen, fed and watered the horses that had worked hard throughout the night, and then took an hour-long nap.

Meanwhile, Sora and the others leisurely prepare breakfast.

Thor and Moe go for a walk together to enjoy the cool morning air.

In the distance of the flat wilderness, white shadows of rocky mountains seem to appear as if in a vision.

The view was exactly the same as the first day we came here.

The child runs behind Thor, squinting his purple eyes against the blowing sandy wind.

He tries to climb up onto Thor's back.

But the slippery white leather armor prevents him from doing so.

In a tantrum, Moo smacked Thor's buttocks.

Thor bends at the knees and offers his back to him.

The child's eyes lit up, and he jumped on top of Thor with great energy.

With Moe on his shoulders, Thor walks slowly around the stop, looking at the carriage.

When he returned after a round, he could smell the delicious smell of warmed soup.

Thora laughs and waves to him.

Moe hums a tune until he is lowered to the ground.

He has breakfast with Garudo and the others who have woken up, and puts his luggage back on his back.

Thor and his companions at the crate table watch them leave with their two guides without a word.

Perhaps they had seen this scene many times before.

The central route, which had not been used for a long time, was still in the same wandering wind.

The wind was blowing from here and there, gusting erratically.

However, it seems that the many times we have ventured into the wilderness over the past month have not been in vain.

Thanks in part to his new leather shoes, Ulir is moving forward with a much more steady gait than before.

Moe was tied to Garud by a rope, and was enjoying the friction as much as he could.

Garudo, who is used to the path, leads the way, and Moe sometimes pulls the rope to show him where the rock lizards are.

Soon after noon, we arrived at the first safe zone, Oomaru-iwa.

After the lunch break, the group headed further into the rock.

From here, the sand increases and a nasty trap spot called "Sand Pool" appears, but once again Saralisa, the player, plucks the strings to save the day.

The rock lizards with blue-crowned grass were avoided as much as possible.

Garudo steps forward only if he is in the way.

The brown-horned man's sturdy body easily accepted the bite of the monster as if he were rooted to the ground.

Then Thor, who had been waiting for him, slips up to him and flashes his white blade.

"It's so much easier when you have a shieldman.

"No, no, no, it usually takes a long time after you pull him out. What's with that crazy sharpness?

After looking at each other, the middle-aged adventurers grinned at each other.

Mid-afternoon, the group arrives at a large, square-shaped long rock.

After unloading their tents and other large items, Thor and the others decide to take a rest there.

As Thorla draws water for making tea from the rain-crystal stone at the end of her staff, Garudo shouts out in admiration, "I'll be right back.

"I see, so the water won't run out. But it would be a big loss if it breaks.

I can take care of it then."

"Hmm. You know, when you get this far, no one's going to hear you. I think it's important that we know each other's cards.

That's true. Mine is--"

"No, I'll be the one to tell you first."

With these words, Garudo grabs an adventurer's card and holds it out.

He had been a C rank for a long time, and his shieldman's skill tree was in good shape.

His lower branch skills are , which hardens his body, and , which makes his shield covered with sand.

Both of them have been raised to level 9.

The middle branch skills are and , which are developed forms of the above.

These skills have also been raised to the maximum.

What was even more surprising was that he had the upper branch skill.

"......

"Yeah, I was lucky enough to grow it, but I couldn't afford it and it only grew one level."

It is said that the borderline between lower branch skills and middle branch skills or above is a thousand training and ten thousand studying.

This is because the skill points required for the initial lower branches are in the thousands, while those for the middle branches are three times that amount, and those for the upper branches are ten times that amount.

It must have been quite a hardship to earn 10,000 skill points in this wilderness, even for those of B rank or higher.

"So the repercussions are also quite large?"

"Yeah, my body is so ridiculously weak for half a day that even a stumble would break my bones.

Unlike magic techniques, there is no limit to the number of times a martial art can be used, but at the upper branch skill level, there is a recoil.

It is said that this is the price to pay for the ability to move inhumanly, but because of the tremendous load involved, it is no longer possible to use it repeatedly.

However, the recoil is reduced as the level is raised.

Since recoil is a restriction imposed by God, it is difficult to say whether it can be restored even with Thor's .

"I'm next. ......"

The skill tree of Saralisa, a player, is a rare aquatic tree.

Auria, the god of water, who does not like conflicts, did not allow her people to have a tree of martial arts skills.

Instead, he gave them this tree.　

As the name "magic song" implies, the music and songs of the performers imbued with magic power can bring about various changes in those who listen to them.

However, although it uses magic power, the tree has different branches from those of other magic skill trees.

There is no branch skill for each song or tune, but branches for each instrument that can be played.

Specifically, there are skills for string playing, flute playing, percussion, singing, and so on.

The songs that can be used are determined according to the level of growth of each skill, and some songs cannot be played or have little effect depending on the compatibility of the instruments.

Saralisa, who has the string playing skill, can play , which improves the morale and physical abilities of her allies.

that improves the senses and makes it easier to avoid attacks.

The , which makes monsters see illusions, and the , which lulls them to sleep.

"This one doesn't have a single song for magic users.

"I'm sorry ......"

"No, it's just great that you can play an instrument!"

"Well then, I'll sing for you, Moo!"

"Yes, thank you. ......"

Thor and his group then revealed their magic skills, to which Garudo responded in a variety of ways.

"I've never seen so many ice-based magic tricks being developed. You are amazing for such a young man.

"Thank you for the compliment."

"You mean, the boy has only grown up this much?　How did you make it this far?"

"Moo is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo unreal!"

" and , what the heck is this?　......What, you can seriously do that?"

"Oh, no. If you're in trouble, we're here to help.

"...... that's it?　That's what this was about, right?　Huh?　No, that's messed up. No, no, no, that's impossible. ...... You're lying. ....... I thought Saralisa was mistaken when she said she picked up the arm and put it on. ......"

When Garudo finished listening, he exhaled loudly and nodded excitedly.

"All right, we're going to win this thing," he said. I knew I was right to ask you guys."

"That's good to hear. So, what are you going to do now?

"First, they need to see the real thing. Then we'll talk about the plan.

Thor and the others, now lightly armed, follow the lead of the guide.

After a short distance, they come to a place where the blue flowers are in full bloom, a place where they had previously abandoned their advance.

Surprisingly, it is not Garudo with his shield but Saralisa with her lyre in her hand who steps forward against the blue flowers.

After inhaling slowly, the player began to play lightly.

The strings were plucked softly, sometimes in a high pitch, and a soothing tune echoed across the white sand.

The magical melody shook the blue petals of the flowers as if to enchant them.

Eventually, the song came to an end and only the flowers remained in silence.

"Okay, let's get out of here while we still can. As quietly as possible."

The group of half-awake and half-asleep rock lizards seemed to have fallen into a complete slumber with Saralisa's .

Having killed the sound of their footsteps, the group quickly makes their way through the flower garden.

Thor, who had expected a hard fight, looked back at the group of flowers in dismay at how uneventful it had been.

"I'm surprised it was so easy to get through."

"Oh, give him more credit."

"You're too good to be true, Saralisa."

"Mug!　Mooooo!"

"Oh, sorry. You can talk now, Moo-chan."

"Mwah!"

It seems to me that even Yuril, who retains the characteristics of , could perform a similar imitation.

However, there is still a limit.

In this respect, the true value of magical songs, which are effective within the range of sound without taking a target, can be fully demonstrated in such a situation.

"There used to be not so many flowers here. Nobody uses it anymore, and it looks like this.

"You mean a place where blue crown grass tends to bloom."

"Well, flowers bloom everywhere. Look, I can see it now.

Returning his gaze to the front, Thor finally realized that what he had seen before was not a rocky hill.

What stretched out beyond the cluster of flowers was a large depression.

The area near the bottom of the depression was almost invisible due to the sand.

But there was one thing that rose out of it.

Two tornadoes roaring up the sand.

They moved alternately, like two legs.

At the same time, the tornadoes combined to form a sky-high structure that moved forward in unison.

In addition, the two pillars of wind that protrude to the left and right swayed back and forth as if they were.

Like a person walking around.　

It was a collection of tornadoes that resembled the shape of a giant human being.