Volume 7 - CH 5

After walking around for the next five hours, …… we were able to defeat only three almiraj.

“I, I can’t find it…”

A limp Amiyu whines as she walks.

It was difficult to find the almiraj, which should have been out here in large numbers. Even if she gets into encounter battles from time to time, it will escape as soon as she loses her composure. Thanks to this, they were seldom defeated.

I say.

“It’s not gone. But it seems to have escaped before we met it.”

As far as the shikigami’s eyes are concerned, there are certainly a fair number of Almiraj. But they seemed to sense our presence and leave the place before we found them.

“I understand why the recommended number of people was six or more.”

Mabel also spoke in a slightly tired voice.

“This is impossible unless you try to corner it with  a large number of people.”

“… Yes, that’s right. Amiyu.”

“It’s annoying! There’s no point in saying it now!?”

Said Amiyu angrily.

“Well, I didn’t expect this development either.”

“Since they said it was a large outbreak, I thought they would definitely come out in a group.”

“Basically, horned rabbits are alone when they come out.”

“I’m getting fed up, I’m starting to want to quit.”

Somehow, the intention of this request can be seen through.

Frankly, I thought that killing fifty monsters in large numbers would not be that significant. The population would be much larger than that, so I thought that I would not be able to expect an effect commensurate with the large reward.

However, if the almiraj had a habit of running away from powerful enemies, that would be a different story. Even the most skilled adventurers would take a long time to defeat the almiraj, and they would have to go back to the forest again and again. Each time, they flee deeper into the forest, and even those that are not killed are kept away from people’s living areas. It would be great if the adventurers got fed up and gave up halfway through, as they would not have to pay them anything.

I had thought that the merchants in the city were more indifferent than the peddlers, but they are quite cunning.

“It’s funny…”

Amiyu mutters with a sour face.

“In the past, Almiraj never escaped me this far…”

“Doesn’t that mean you’re getting stronger too?”

“Hmm… More importantly, aren’t you giving off a strange aura?”

“I can’t say for sure that it hasn’t been released, but it’s not a monster that has a good intuition. Maybe.”

We were walking through the forest while having such exchanges――――at that time.

I suddenly stopped and turned my eyes to the depths of the forest.

“Ah, what? A spirit…”

Confused, Ifa looked around her.

He immediately flew ashikigami  to the direction where he could sense the flow of power.

And there…he found.

“…A long way from here, two guys dressed like adventurers are fighting monsters. What is that…?　It looks like an astral, but it looks like pale rags are flying around. It looks like it’s using ice magic.”

“That’s… isn’t it Frostwraith?”

Amiyu said in a stiff voice.

“It’s a pretty troublesome high-ranking monster.”

“Is that so…”

Wraith is one of the strongest astral type monsters.

He remembers that Frostwraith, among them, was the one who used water-attribute magic.

“There are four or five.”

“That much?”

“They seem to be struggling… what should we do?”

I ask the three of them.

“Do you want to help? Or do you want to wait and see so we don’t get caught up?”

If this was Lakana and an adventurer we knew was in trouble, we wouldn’t have hesitated to help.

But this is an unfamiliar land.” Even if you act with good intentions, you never know what kind of situation it will lead to. The nature of astral monsters is also not very clear.

Besides… that duo seems to be a little troublesome.

“Of course we’re going to help them!”

But Amiyu said without the slightest hesitation.

“Adventurers who meet in the dungeon are supposed to help each other!”

“Let’s go. Seika.”

“Seika-kun,……, I want to help too.”

I was silent for a moment, then nodded.

“It’s due north from here.”

“Let’s hurry!”

We all started running north through the forest.

As I ran, I felt …… ridiculous, thinking what a pointless thing I had done.

I was sure that if I asked these kids, they would say they would help.

Then —- I caught sight of them among the trees.

Two men clad in adventurer’s cloaks. Both of them were wearing hoods, so it was hard to tell who they were.

However, judging from their physiques, the vanguard would be male, and the rear guard would be female.

The man seems to be a martial artist. He is unarmed and swings his fist at the pale Wraith. However, it seems that it is still a bad match for the spiritual opponent, and even though the frost wraith scatters for a moment, it immediately regenerates and showers ice and gravel.

The woman is probably an archer because she carries a bow on her back, but now she was holding a dagger. The dagger seems to be a magic tool, and although it emits a pale blue light every time it is wielded, it seems to have little effect on a Frostwraith, probably because it is of the same water attribute.

A group of ice wraiths flew vertically and horizontally, waiting for an opportunity to finish off the two.

They’re at a disadvantage in terms of numbers and compatibility, but they’ve been holding out so far, so they might be quite capable.

“Are you okay!? I’ll help you!”

When Amiyu shouted, the duo turned their faces in surprise.

As expected, they are a young man and a woman.

Both of them have fearless faces…but their skin color is so white that you might think they’re dead.

Well, I’ll think about these two later, but first I need to get rid of Wraith.

I suddenly have an idea and open my mouth.

“Hey, it’s not an adventure now, it’s about helping people, so do you mind if I get my hands on it?”

“Huh!?”

Amiyu, who was about to run, stopped abruptly  and turned around.

“Tha, there’s no way you can’t do it!, but If you’re going to do it, do it quickly!”

“all right”

I thought she would say so, and I already had a hitogata floating in my head.

《Vocation— Hungry Skull – Shadokuro》

What appeared from the distortion of space was a gigantic skeleton, more than —- nine meters tall.

The demon in the form of a human skeleton walked slowly, with human souls drifting around it.

“……!”

“What ……?”

The duo looked on in amazement at the hellish scene.

The rest of the wraiths stopped moving for a moment, as if aghast,…… but immediately began to magically create icicles and ice winds to attack the giant skeleton.

However, perhaps because it’s entire body is made of hard bones, the hungry skull did not seem to be bothered by them.

He caught the wraiths that got too close with his free hand. The pale spirit violently flails about, but he bites it head on without a care. There was no sound of the spirit being bitten off or chewed, only the clattering of bare teeth against each other echoing through the forest.

“Ugh!…….”

Yuki makes a creepy sound in my hair.

“Um, Seika-sama. Why do you have a bratty skull ……?　If it’s some kind of grudge spirit, there are plenty of ways to contain it.”

“I just wanted to see if he could take the wraith in.”

The “Gansha Dokuro” is an apparition of a human being who died in the field and whose grudge gathered and took on the form of a skeleton.

Perhaps because of its origins, it has the ability to absorb souls and other spirits to increase its power.

I wanted to see if it was possible to take in astral monsters, too,…….

“Well, it seems to be able to take in …… souls,” 

Rather than absorbing souls, it’s more like a complete human-eating movement.

When taking in souls, they would not have made such an eating motion. Looking at the flow of power, it appears to be quite a lot of taking in.

The fact that he went straight to the wraith without paying attention to the people around him suggests that he prefers them over people. Even though they are monsters, the wraiths must have a nature similar to that of a grudge spirit.

The rest of the Frostwraith had already fled to and fro.

When the Hitogata rattled, the hungry skull returned to phase, and  I turned to face the two people who were still standing dumbfounded.

“It doesn’t look like you’re injured.”