191 - - baptism of the third camp

"Let's see the power of the mud fishing hero!"

As if in response to these words, the towering pillars of black mud trembled loudly.

Without a pause, part of the pillar separated from the main body and slid over the swamp.

Thor immediately stepped forward and matched his blade to the movement.

He slashes at the black pillar diagonally from below as he passes by it, despite its slippery footing.

The mud pillar was easily cut in two without leaving much of a response.

The slashed part falls down into the mud, and sprays black sprays.

When the flying mud hit the body, thin white smoke rose from various parts of the armor.

The mud contains a poison that dissolves almost everything.

Moving his body forward, which he had put back together in an instant, Thor closes the distance between him and the monster.

The pillar trembles again, and several of its alter egos are spawned.

The black pillars glide across the swamp and attack Thor one after another.

The increased number of pillars makes it impossible for Thor to slip aside as he had done earlier.

However, some of them suddenly bent in the opposite direction or broke off at the root.

More chilling voices were heard.

"Ice, slip!

Immediately, the mud around the pillar, including the main body, freezes and hardens, rapidly losing its softness.

Thor, who has slipped through the gap between the mud pillars of the alter ego, runs up to it and swings his sword at it.

It is the usual winning pattern.

"Hmph, not so fast!"

At the same time as the voice echoes again, something quickly comes between Thor and the mud pillar.

It was a spherical, pale, blue-white, glowing entity.

It was a sphere of light that had been floating at some distance from the pillar until just a moment ago.

The sword changes its trajectory and strikes the pale ball.

As soon as the blade cuts through the cluster of light, there is a dazzling radiance.

A flash of light pierces the eyes of Thor and the others.

"Whoa!"

"Meh, meh!"

Unable to bear the glare, Sora and Yuril covered both eyes with their hands.

Moe, too, fell off the sled and fell into the mud, emitting a strange noise.

Thor's vision also turned white, but he quickly restored it to the state it was in ten seconds ago.

He traces the history that remains in the space, and erases only the results of the light that was emitted.

Having restored the current state of the party in less than a second, Thor closes the distance to the pillar, which is still frozen at its base and unable to move.

His body creates afterimages as he swings his blade in all directions.

The sword, which had delivered more than a dozen slashes in a single instant, was sheathed as if sucked into its scabbard.

After a beat, there is a sound of something hard being cut off with a clank.

Thor's body was already retreating backward as the slashed pillar of mud crumbled down.

A few steps away, he exhales deeply.

The man who serves as the leader of the Storm Peak Alliance mutters in admiration at the sight of the monster he has so brilliantly slaughtered.

"...... I didn't expect you to kill an evil spirit of a monster so easily at your first sight. And he also easily dispatched the dazzling fire of deceptive fire.

"Oh, that was dazzling."

Moe looks relieved, but his body is still covered in mud.

The only thing that can be fixed by going is the loss of vision from the strong light, and the only way to eliminate the consequences of the fall is to go again.

The frequency of use of , which has become much easier to use, has been increasing rapidly recently.

In order to conserve the number of times he could use it, Thor silently removed his gaze from Moe who was staring at him.

"You've got to do the dazzling thing first!"

Realizing that he was not going to be cleaned up, Moe turned his anger toward Chill, who was watching next to him.

"No, you can't test my strength if you say that first."

"Mmmmmm!"

The child's cheeks puffed out in response to the Suiba man's reply, and his whole body shook like a dog in the rain.

Muddy drops of dirt splattered in all directions.

"Hey, Moo-chan!"

"Pfft, that's enough!"

Sola, who has been soaked in the black mud that it has stained her favorite robe, shouts in anger.

Chiru dodges all the mud with a light touch and a deft swivel.

"You're good, old man!"

"Come on, little girl!　Let me show you the difference."

Chiru quickly turned and stomped his foot as Moo scooped up the mud at his feet and released it into the air.

The drops of mud from her toes hit the child's face mercilessly.

However, Moo, who had somehow sprouted blue lightning needles all over his body, effortlessly avoids the attack by doing a cartwheel.

The mud pushed out of the boat splashed around.

"Oh, yeah!"

While retreating greatly, Chiru continuously stomps his foot and releases mud.

Moe rolls through it all, dodging and dodging.

"I didn't expect Moe to be so difficult."　

"Pfft, I haven't spent much time in this swamp."

He talks as if they were evenly matched, but Mu, whose whole body is turning into black, is clearly in a state of complete defeat.

Thor, with a look of dismay on his face, interrupted the barren contest.

"So, what do you think?

"Yes, it was excellent. You passed without question."

Chiru nodded his head in satisfaction.

And the next moment, not missing the moment when his attention shifted to Thor, Moe sent a mudball that stuck to his breastplate.

It had been four and a half hours since they had set out from the ruins of the shore fort.

When Thor and the others arrived at the third encampment of the Arashibo Alliance, they were greeted by a single word from Chiru of the Tokiwa family, the leader of the alliance.

"We have been waiting for you, heroes!　Let's get to work on measuring your power.

After unloading some of their belongings, they were brought to this place by force.

Apparently, they thought that if we were to accept them as our friends, it would be a good idea to know their capabilities first.

The one we just defeated was an evil spirit of a monster.

It is a spirit-type monster belonging to the earth.

It produces several pillars of mud mixed with dissolved poison, and when cornered, its main body gets mixed in the mud, so it is a difficult opponent to stop.

And what's more, the one who joined the battle on the way was....

"You said something about a deceptive fire. Is that also a spirit?"

No, it's a corpse. If they find someone with heat, they will attack.

Chiru answers my questions easily as he scrapes off the mud stuck to his breastplate.

Looking around, I see a bluish-white glow floating here and there in the shallow swampy water.

"When I'm fighting evil spirits, I'm almost certain to get tangled up with them. And if you touch them with a sword or an arrow, they dazzle you and disappear.

"It was a pain in the ass, that's for sure."

Thor's eye was nearly blinded when he was hit up close.

"What happens if I ignore it?"

"If you touch them, they will take a lot of your strength. In any case, it's a hassle.

Even if you try to defeat them by force, they disappear, leaving no evidence that you have defeated them.

"Ah, come to think of it, I didn't pick up any proof that I defeated the evil spirit.

"I'm sorry, but the crystals get mixed in with the mud, so it's tough to recover them."

"I see."

"Torchan, is this it?"

Another child, who had been scavenging in the mud before I knew it, poked out a lumpy black lump, broken cleanly in the middle.

"Well done, you found it. Good for you, Moe."

"Oh, no. I felt a tingle."

"...... Hmmm, I wondered why you were taking children around with you, but I see that you are raising a successor to the mud fishermen."

Chiru mutters in admiration and declares in a high voice with his hands on his hips.

"Well, let's see how we fight next!