Chapter 578: The Modoki’s Attack

Charon and her group, with Fran as their escort, were searching for a pack of wolves to kill while gathering herbs.

However, the search was not going well.

In the vicinity of the academy, they live in holes on the plains, but the wolves around here have their dens in the forests. In addition, they dug holes in the trees’ roots and hid in them.

If they didn’t know that, they would have had a harder time finding them. But the receptionist of the Adventurer’s Guild would tell them that hint right away if asked. Even Charon, who had thought about getting a map at the guild, didn’t seem to think that the wolves’ behavior here would be so different.

Charles, their escort, had an indescribable expression on his face. He wanted to teach the students, who were continuing their fruitless search, about the wolf behavior here but that would not be a good experience for them.

He wanted to teach them, but he shouldn’t. The frustration must be torturing him from within.

We knew about the wolves’ behavior because we’ve tracked and spotted them many times during our herb gathering before.

I think they were probably the closest to the wolves when they were looking for medicinal herbs at the river.

Since Urushi was hiding in Fran’s shadow, Familial Hatred didn’t seem to have shown its effect before, but it might do so to an advanced wolf-type magic beast though.

We followed the students at a leisurely pace, keeping an eye out for any magic beasts that might approach them.

We have only had one encounter today. And that was only because we went to kill a Lesser Wyvern that was in the distance by teleporting.

But we had been in some good fights these past few days, so Fran doesn’t seem to be frustrated today. It must be so refreshing for her, unlike being in the stifling city. And she was also in the mood for a picnic with Charon, Khanna, and the others today.

As we continued to move, Charles issued a warning.

「Aah, please don’t go any further to the lake」

「Oh, we’re already that close?」

「Yeah」

When we were at the lake before, the Modoki used to appear only near the center of the lake, but it seemed that they would appear in a wider area now.

A few cases of people being attacked on the shores of the lake had also been reported. Therefore, the Adventurer’s Guild decided to restrict the students from approaching the lake for their safety.

However, that only applied to the students of the Academy of Magic. They could not deprive the local people of their livelihood, so there were no restrictions on the traffic of the ships.

And the result was the scene in front of us right now.

「Eh? Hey, that ship seems to be under attack!」

「I-it’s true!?」

A cargo carrier had been attacked by a Modoki.

When Charon and Khanna shouted, the other students seemed to notice it too.

「W-wait! Don’t go!」

Charles was desperately trying to hold back the students who were about to run away.

「But, if we don’t do something, they’ll sink that ship!」

「Yeah! We can help them!」

「Oi, you guys need to calm down!」

「We can’t even go there, you know!?」

Some of the students appealed that they should go to the rescue, but the students who remembered the information about the Modoki were against it. However, the students in the rescue group were appealing with good intentions while the students who were against it were the weaker ones.

The ones who were against it would also like to help if they can.

However, if the students go there, they will surely be killed by the Modoki.

(Master, let’s help them)

『Yeah, the students would be reckless if we leave them alone』

(Nn)

『Urushi, we’ll count on you here』

「Woof!」

The students’ eyes then focused on Urushi as he jumped out of Fran’s shadow.

「I’ll go help them, but Urushi will stay behind, so don’t worry」

「Eh? But…」

The new students, who had not yet seen what Fran was capable of, looked at her like she was a child who won’t be able to do much to help them, but the upperclassmen seemed to agree.

「We’ll leave it to you!」

「Yeah, we’ll be counting on you!」

「Nn」

The ship’s mast had already been broken, and the tentacles of those Modoki were stuck to its deck. We’d better hurry.

『Let’s jump at once!』

「Okay!」

We then made a long jump and teleported directly above the ship.

『 People are floating on the lake. Are they the crew members?』

「They’re still alive」

『So, the Modoki is still attacking the ship, huh…?』

The Modoki continued its attack without paying attention to the crew members who had been thrown out into the lake. Doesn’t it have the habit of preying on humans? As I was wondering, we saw a man still on board being coiled and lifted by its tentacles.

『That guy is in danger!』

「Let’s help him!」

Fran used her aerial jump to dash towards the ship. Noticing the appearance of a new enemy, the Modoki tried to attack us with its tentacles but Fran managed to dodge them all and landed on the deck.

「Haaa!」

We rescued a man who was about to be dragged into the lake by slashing its tentacles.

The man who fell from a height of about five meters shouted in pain, but he wouldn’t be badly injured, as the tentacles that were gripping his body served as a cushion.

「Ugh…」

「Are you okay?」

「Y-yeah」

「Just wait there, I’ll be right back」

After leaving the man behind, Fran jumped out again because to save all of them, we had to do something about the Modoki.

『Fran, thunder-type magic is no good, it’ll include the crew members』

「Okay. Let’s shoot it down then!」

『Roger!』

With Fran’s intentions in mind, I instantly changed my shape. I transformed into a one-handed sword with a cone-shaped blade without a brim, suitable for throwing. It would be easier to understand if I said I transformed into the smaller version of the jousting spear.

「Haaaa!」

『Let’s go!』

I activated my telekinetic catapult as she threw me straight down, and I turned into a super-high-speed bullet that shot through the Modoki. Its hard shell would be just like plywood in the face of this attack.

Thanks to the fact that the power was concentrated at one point, there was no damage to the surrounding area. And the crew members floating in the lake did not seem to be suffering from the aftermath.

The Modoki that was pierced by me melted into a mushy mess. Oh, that reminded me, we wouldn’t be able to collect materials or magic stones from this thing.

「Let’s help everyone before other Modoki come」

『Yeah. Let’s bring them to the shore for the time being. That ship was already useless』

「Nn!」

However, it was just a normal-looking ship, why was it attacked by a Modoki? Was there a reason for its strange behavior? Or did they just randomly attack large moving objects?

I have no idea.