Chapter 484: Smoke Beast

Chapter 484: Smoke Beast

『Fuhahaha! It's the plains! I came back!』

「?」

『Sorry, don't mind it. More importantly, can you feel the presence around us?』

「...Is something's wrong?」

After passing through the Forest of Exhaustion, we had stepped about a dozen meters into the Plains of the Demon Wolf. In terms of location, it would be in the northeast area of the Plains of the Demon Wolf.

There is definitely something out there. I know that, but I couldn't find out the exact location of the presence. There was a tense feeling around me, and the flow of magic was somewhat unnatural.

『How about you, Urushi?』

「woof...」

『You can't feel it too huh』

Does it have stealth level that can even fool Urushi's noses, or is it a type of magic beast that has no scent at all?

「Stay alert, let's go」

『Yeah』

「Woof!」

We proceeded like that for a few minutes, using our exploration skills to the fullest. Well, we didn't gain much distance. Would it have been quicker to go through it at full speed rather than proceed with caution huh?

But apparently, it's not that easy.

「Master!」

「Woof!」

Fran and Urushi jumped up at once. A moment later, I finally realize.

『From below huh!』

After all, the less I'm in contact with the ground, the weaker my ability to detect what's underneath. How many times already, did I lose to Fran and Urushi huh.

「Smoke?」

『It could be poison gas. We need to get further away』

「Nn!」

What came up from the ground was a large amount of white smoke. I could tell that it had a lot of magical power.

And the smoke is coming towards us as if it had a will of its own.

We're going to compress the earth even wider and deeper. Not only that, we also bombarding it with flame and thunder magic is an added bonus.

However, the smoke still did not disappear.

『Tsk. Even after all of this huh――』

Kabooom!

「Kuh!」

『Uwoh!』

Immediately after, a tremendous impact shocked off Fran's body, which was still in the air. The moment I heard that sound, I immediately guarded Fran, so she wasn't injured, cause a direct hit would have caused serious damage.

I grabbed the mysterious object that was bouncing off my blade with telekinesis as soon as I could.

『A crystal. No, a scale huh?』

The scales were made of a transparent material like crystal. These crystal scales seemed to have the effect of reflecting magic power, making it quite difficult to detect its presence. If it hadn't been for its sounds coming at us, I wouldn't have noticed it.

While I was checking, I heard a series of wind noises. It seemed that it had launched a series of attack.

「Muh!」

But, if it wasn't a surprise attack, the covert nature of these scales would be halved. Fran was already able to deal with them. She knocked some of them away and blocked some with dimensional storage.

However, the enemy is too far away. I could tell that they were attacking us from the northwest, but I couldn't sense any sign of them or their magic. It seems that they are sniping at us from outside our search range.

「Master, Urushi. Let's go!」

『Okay!』

「Woof!」

Fran tried to get close to the mysterious sniper, but her opponent was not half-hearted. The more we move in the direction of the sniper, the greater the number of crystal scales and the more powerful they become.

In terms of power alone, each shot would be enough to instantly kill a D rank adventurer. Moreover, the smoke from the unexpectedly fast-moving Gust was still persistently chasing us.

『Fran, at this rate, we'll have to deal with both the Gust and the mysterious attacker!』

「......Muh. What should we do then?」

『We can either shake them off by teleporting to the Forest of Exhaustion. But, if we simply shake them off, there's a chance that the gust will keep coming after us』

「......Understood. Let's return back to the Forest of Exhaustion」

Fran looked frustrated, but she immediately accepted my suggestion and began to leave from the area. I think she understands that she is in a troublesome situation.

『I knew this wasn't going to be easy huh』

「...Nn」

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