CH 73

「Master. There’s a monster up ahead.」

With a twitch of her bunny ears, Marie warned me.

「Guys, it looks like there’s a monster up ahead.」

I told them, and everyone turned at once.

「Marie, do you know what kind of monster we’re dealing with?」

「It’s a huge snake that looks about this big.」

When she said that, she took her hand away from mine and exaggeratedly opened her hand to show me how big it was. I couldn’t really get a sense of how big it was, but I nodded as she tried her best to tell me.

「Speaking of big snakes, is it a Silver Serpent? It’s supposed to have silver scales that repel magic…….」

「It does indeed have silver scales.」

Alice’s guess was confirmed by Marie. Apparently, she got the message.

「The Silver Serpent is a snake that is several meters long and has a mouth that can swallow a person whole.」

Alice explained it to us.

「It’s a very powerful monster around here. We’ve hunted it in numbers in our elven village.」

Serena said as if she remembered. The warriors of the elven village are all strong, let by Phil, but they still fought in large numbers.

「It seems that it’s aware of us. It’s coming straight at us.」

At Marie’s words, I readjusted my sword. If the monster is that big, why don’t we just kill it and move on? That’s what I was thinking…….

「Wait, Elt.」

I was about to step forward and intercept it.

「Would you mind letting me deal with that monster?」

Alice volunteered to take it down.

「Alicia-sama, I’ll cast a support spell.」

Alicia’s wand shines. She said that the Wall Breath I gave her emits great magic power.

「Bless the light upon her. [Blessing]」

Alice’s body shines. She stares at her body and says…….

「The wand is amazing. I’ve had some of Alicia’s magic support help me during my travels, but it’s much more powerful now.」

「Listen, don’t let your guard down, okay?　Your opponent is a monster from the Lost Forest. If I deem it dangerous, I will interrupt.」

「I know, I know. You worry too much, Elt.」

Alice giggled and looked forward.

「Serena, I’m gonna need all the help I can get.」

「I know, I’ll order the spirits to hinder it’s movements.」

I gave my conditional permission to Alice’s proposal.

The Silver Serpent must be defeated by the three of them, including Alicia and Serena. Alice is the princess of my hometown. It would not be good if I let her take on the challenge alone and cause her serious injury.

Besides, this was a good opportunity.

Perhaps it was because I had relied on Marie up to this point, but we had avoided the monsters. As a result, Alicia had come this far without gaining any combat experience.

For the future, she would need to fight to improve her level.

It would be convenient if Alice would take the vanguard role.

From a distance, I hear the sound of grass and trees being shoveled.

It was approaching at a frightening speed, and as soon as it appeared in front of us,

『Shaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa』

「Kyaaaaaaaa! Th, that’s huge!」

I hear Alice scream.

In front of her, a huge Silver Serpent that looked like it was a dozen meters tall, not several meters, was standing up and looking down at her.

「Yeah? All the monsters around here are as big as this.」

「It seems that our understanding of the Lost Forest is still a bit limited.」

Alice seemed to think that the Silver Serpent that appeared was the normal size that she usually encountered in the field, but this was the Lost Forest.

There are powerful monsters here to prevent humans from entering.

「What do you think, Alice? If you’re going to give up, now’s the time to do it.」

I called out to the flustered Alice, but…….

「Now that I’ve said it, I won’t back down! A snake is a snake even if it grows up! I’ll do it!」

When she said that, she pulled out her sword.

『Shaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!』

The Silver Serpent also recognized Alice in front of her as it’s prey, and it’s eyes lit up.

『Shaaaa!!!!』

And when it opened it’s mouth, it’s face stretched out at a great speed and approached Alice.

「Alice-sama!」

I hear Alicia’s scream. The moment when the Silver Serpent, showing a completely unexpected move, tries to swallow Alice whole,

「You’re slower than Elt.」

Alice jumped up with a relaxed smile on her face and avoided the Silver Serpent’s attack.

The ground gouged out, and the Silver Serpent bit into the tree ahead, chewing it to pieces.

「It appears that Alicia’s support magic is more powerful than we thought.」

Obviously, this was not Alice’s move that we had seen so far.

It seems that the power of Alicia’s support magic itself is having a tremendous effect.

Alice readied her sword and turned to face the Silver Serpent.

The Silver Serpent wraps itself around a large tree and extends its neck from above…….

『Shaaaaaaaaa』

This time it stretched its neck from the top of the tree and attacked.

Alice struggled with the attack from above.

She swung her sword, but the Silver Serpent quickly turned it’s head back and attacked again from a different direction.

「Ku!」

While she was at the mercy of the illusionary movement, and was unable to get out of the enemy’s line of sight…..

「Wind Shot!」

Serena’s voice rang out, and there was a whooshing sound of wind.

『Shaaaaa!?』

The magic pierced the Silver Serpent’s two eyes.

「Well done!」

I praised Serena’s very good aim.

「Now, Alice!」

The Silver Serpent’s head lowered as it’s vision was taken away, and it came down in front of Alice.

「I got it!」

Alice swung her sword down on the Silver Serpent’s neck.

The scales, which are said to bunch off any half-baked attack, are in the next moment…..

――Span――

With that sound, the Silver Serpent’s head fell to the ground.

「You did it, Alice-sama」

「That was a good attack.」

Alice and Serena rushed to Alice and rejoiced.

「It’s thanks to your support. Thank you too.」

Alice smiled brightly and the three of them shared the joy of defeating the monster.