CH 38

※Wurm (Insect) Warning※

"Fueeeeeeh!! Destrooooyy!!"

"Allis-chan!! Next one's at two o'clock!! Here it comes!!"

"Fueeeeh!! Bella-chan!! There's only about thirty 『Bombs』and 『Remote Controlled Landmines』 left!!"

"After I take care of this one, I'll put up a shield for five minutes!! I'll replenish it then, so make do with those for now!!"

The plains were covered in a cloud of dust, and visibility was zero.

Explosion after explosion, and the voices of the young ladies echoing in the midst of it all.

Paul, who had been evacuated to the roads, stood in a daze while looking at the dust and smoke.

"Just what is going on in there?"

...───── 30 minutes ago.

"I don't think the horned rabbits would disappear for no reason..."

Like they always say, "There's no smoke without a fire." Am I using that right?

Anyway, if an abnormality happens, it must be because there's something abnormal causing it!!

And here Allis-chan finally got into the killing mood... I want to hold a rabbit hunt no matter what!!

And so I investigated the cause with more detail, from different angles, and with various skill combinations than I did when searching for slime and horned rabbits.

I deployed my『Presence Detection』『Magic Detection』『Search』『Alert』『Enemy Detection』in a wide range to investigate the plains and nearby mountains, forests, and woodlands.

And I didn't forget to use 『Pride』for an aerial view.

....There's nothing.

Hm? Hold on. 『Alert』is picking up something.

It's also surprisingly close.

Hm--hmm~? But I don't see anything from above??

........Is it below then?

Like, maybe there's some dangerous natural gas down there?

With that in mind, I activated『Lust』on top of my active 『Pride』 and searched the entire plains for any danger undergr--!!!!

There's something wriggling in the ground!!

"──Aaah?! There's something there!! There's something there!!"

Allis-chan startled at my sudden strange cry.

"Fueh!! What is?! Bella-chan, what's there?! Where is it?!"

She's asking what it is but... I don't know!! It’s dark underground, so I can only vaguely see.....Ah!!

Suddenly, it occurred to me to release 『Pride』 and activate 『Sloth』instead.

"...w-!! Uwaah!!"

"Bella-chan?!"

I shouldn't have looked! I shouldn't have looked!! I shouldn't have looked!!!

"A-A-Allis-chan. I need you to stay calm and listen to me, 'kay? ....There are these earthworm things the size of trains down there. Three of them."

".....ngh!!"

"...and a lot of smaller ones, like a whole swarm... all crowded together. They might be their offsprings."

Uoooooooohh!! DIS-GUST-TI────NG!! What is this!!!

No!! I know!! I know what it is, but?!

It obviously didn't appear in the otome game 『Love☆Magical』, but it's a monster called "wurm" that appears in other games, right?

The ones I saw via realistic computer graphics were creepy, but those are nothing compared to this!!

The difference between seeing it through a screen and actually seeing it wriggling around in the ground under your feet is like heaven and earth!!

It's kind of green overall, but the sheen(?) was purple... Maybe iridescent? It looks like a giant wurm with some caterpillar-like legs....

Should this be R15?

Anyways, anyways, it's gross.

I trembled with how repulsed I felt and Allis-chan was frozen in shock, so Paul-san calmly suggested,

"That would be a wurm... We can't do anything with so many of them and in that size, so let’s leave the plains and report this to the Adventurer’s Guild."

"Paul-san, that’s impossible."

Paul-san was bewildered by my response.

"What? Why is it impossible?"

"They're coming─!!"

I kicked Paul-san toward the road and leapt up with Allis-chan in my arms.

The next moment, the ground we were standing on erupted and a wurm with its mouth wide open burst out.

Just in time!! If I hadn't noticed the wurm, it would have swallowed us whole!!

Thank goodness!! Thank goodness I looked underground!!

Also, I was in so much of a hurry that I didn't have time to cast Body Enhancement on Paul-san before I kicked him!!

He flew about thirty meters--Is he still alive?!

Oh, he got up!! He's alive!!

"Allis-chan, the horned rabbit hunt is postponed!! We're going to do a wurm extermination now!!"

"Fueeeeeeeh!!"

"I managed to evacuate Paul-san, but leaving the plains will be difficult now!! It's completely locked-on to us, and the road leading to town are teeming with younger wurms underground!! If they came out all at once, we won't be able to get through!!"

Also, I realized this during the slime hunt, but I'm not suited for fighting small monsters.

If it's a large monster, there would be area for me to kick or punch until its HP ran out.

But for small monsters squirming around me, I just don't know how to deal with them.

In other words, it would be extremely difficult for me to fight that group of juvenile wurms.

For how high-spec my status was, my combat technique was terrible.

This is because 『Love☆Magical』 is a game played using your fingers on a screen.

If this were an MMO or some VR game, I might have known a little more about how to fight.

Grr!! Even if my status and level are high, my skills are lacking!! I have no idea what I should do in this situation!!

With these thoughts in mind, I sprinted across the plain with Allis-chan in my arms.

While the wurm chased after us at a great speed.

It's seriously terrifying to have something the size of a steam train running after me from behind!!

And because that thing was chasing me, I couldn't ready myself for combat!!

If only we could stop that large thing from moving!! Isn't there something? Anything!?

"Fueh...Destroy."

Allis-chan, who was half-crying in my arms, took out a 『Sleeping Ball』from her pocket and threw it at the giant wurm behind us.

The 『Sleeping Ball』 burst and sleeping gas came out, but that little power had no effect on something that huge!!

But, GJ Allis-chan!! That's it!!

"Allis-chan!! My hands are full, so throw this at the wurm for me!!"

I took a 『Sleeping Bomb』out of my【Closet】and plopped it on Allis-chan's stomach.

"Hieeeeee!! This--Isn't this the dangerous item that Ursch-sama said would ensure we would never wake up?!"

"We're not indoors right now so it's A-ok!! Now throw it!!"

With teary eyes, Allis-chan grabbed the 『Sleeping Bomb』 and threw it at the wurm.

As the wurm chased after us with its mouth opened wide, the 『Sleeping Bomb』 was sucked in.

After confirming this with a side glance, I rigidly covered my body with 『Body Enhancement』and casted a powerful holy-attributed『Body Enhancement』and『Status Ailment Resistance』on Allis-chan before speeding up.

The next moment, there was a flash of light from behind me, and a slight sweet scent drifted into the air.

Then, the huge wurm slammed into the ground at the same speed it was chasing us.

The wurm came to a gliding stop after a few meters, and went silent.

But we haven't defeated it yet. It's just asleep.

I set Allis-chan on the ground and faced the silent wurm.

"Allis-chan. I'm going to give you a lot of items now. Let me know as soon as you have few left."

"Items that can beat the wurm?"

"Nope. I do have some of those, but to raise your levels and skills, I can only hand over items enough to stop the movements of a large wurm. Once they stop moving, I'll fillet it into pieces.... wait that's too much. I'll open them up, so attack the demon core then, Allis-chan."

"Fueh~. Roger that."

Allis-chan turned to me and gave a Rosereale military-style salute.

Compared to the beginning, you've become much more relaxed, Allis-chan.

I took out a palm-sized item from my 【Closet】. There were 100 bomb-type items in the case.

Let's take two of those. This would be good to start with.

Additionally, I took out two 『Clear Vision Goggles』to prevent the debris and dirt from the explosion from getting into our eyes. I kept one myself, and handed Allis-chan the other one along with the bombs.

I opened the【Closet】again and checked the contents. I'm pretty sure I had it somewhere...

Actually, the 『Giant Fork』prize from gaining the highest score in the 『Giant Frog Massive Harvest Event』, had a weapon that, in a sense, could be called its counterpart.

That item was not a freebie, but an "S-Rare" item from the event-limited 500 yen gacha.

A "fork" should be paired with a "knife", right?

Well then, shall we start with the giant wurm in front of us?

I took the out『Giant Knife』from my 【Closet】, swinging and spinning it around with one hand.

Yep. I can use it, no prob.

"Now, let’s finish exterminating the wurms by lunch time! One-two!"

""Destroy~!!""