Vol. 3 - Chapter 36 - [Accord] forest monster extermination - students edition
"You know, I thought we finally are on a monster extermination quest, but we still return to our usual routine task, huh?" Pluto grumbled in a complaint with a sour look.
"Yes, indeed. Even though I was so enthusiastic about it," Cliff nodded in agreement without a moment delay.
"But the home for Haku and her mother is necessary," Mia said and turned to look at Haku, who was sitting on the lap of the white-haired woman.
"That\'s right. I also completely agree with that," Teresa responded with a smile.
"But how will we get rid of the demons in this forest?" Eight muttered as if he had just thought about it, and everyone looked at me.
"Of course, we will do it as soon as the construction of the building is over."
And of course, when students earned a good enough result, my companion and I would also participate.
That\'s right. Even though she was in a weak state, to inflict serious injuries to a mid-ranking or even possibly high-ranking spirit, it could be inferred that the enemy wasn\'t some half-assed opponent.
"As expected... Although I wanted to play with Haku a bit more."
"Mia too."
In contrast to the crestfallen girl\'s team, Pluto and Cliff shouted in delight.
"I see, so once we end this, we can fight!"
"Let\'s finish it quickly. I want to hurry and test the weapon I\'ve got!"
Hmm, before I know it, both of them have become quite close. It was really hard to believe that they\'d used to fight like cat and dog earlier.
"Then, let\'s finish it quickly. I\'m sure you will have some time to play with Haku if we finish it early!"
"Ah, that\'s right!"
"Right!"
The girls nodded at Eight\'s comment and began their final spurt for construction.
◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆
One o\'clock in the afternoon. The task was done in five hours. It was a good thing that we finished it quite early.
It was still an empty log house, but as long as we filled it with a lot of supplements, living here would not be a problem.
"Thank you very much, Holy Spirit King-sama and everyone."
Once again, Shirohime, the mother wolf, knelt down, folded her hands, and worshipped me.
It was really annoying and troublesome to deny it repeatedly.
"Hey hey, what is a spirit king?" with shining eyes, Teresa posed me an annoying question politely.
"Well, who knows, but since it\'s called a king, it should be something incredible, isn\'t it?" Cliff replied in a not-so-interesting manner.
"What? Was Sensei a king of a country somewhere?" Teresa shouted in befuddlement.
"Rather than calling it a king, I think from the flow of their talk, it\'s more like the existence of a religious deity they believe in."
"You\'re right, it\'s my first time seeing someone who is so absurd in his actions to be worshipped as a god by non-humans."
"I agree with you, but then again, I wouldn\'t want someone like that around."
"Definitely."
You gather and say whatever you want, and then you end up saying that?
Well, whatever. I didn\'t have much time, so let\'s continue without talking.
"Then Shirohime, tell us about the monkey monsters you talked about."
"Yes."
And then, she began to explain with a humble face.
"A group of monkeys suddenly appeared out of nowhere a few months ago....."
A few months ago, a group of monkeys had suddenly appeared and taken over most of the forest.
They went on a tyrannical rampage, kidnapping and devouring other species without exception. Because of that, a large number of species went to extinction.
As a ruler of this forest, Shirohime also led her clan and made a desperate struggle, but because she was weak from her illness, she was easily beaten black and had to flee to that cave.
If we ignored them now, wouldn\'t they continue to make their way to the city of [Accord]? Perhaps, it would be much better to exterminate them before there were any casualties this time.
Nevertheless, recently, there were a lot of fighting scenes happening, like the undead and the ogre incident. Whatever the case, I felt like there was something more than meets the eye.
Now then, what should we do? First of all, we have to confirm their fighting power, but before that—
"These are the ones we have to deal with, right?"
When I stared at one point, Shirohime also shifted her gaze with a frown and look of hatred.
"Found her."
"Found her."
"Found her."
Three large monkeys were hanging in the branches of a tree in front of me, squealing.
The two relatively small monkeys on either side had an average status of F (Level 11), and the particularly large monkey in the centre had a status of F+ (Level 16). On the other hand, the students all had an average status of F, Level 13.
In other words, the relatively small monkey at Level 11 was lower in status than the students and could be easily defeated. The giant monkey at Level 16 was the one the students should defeat this time.
At this rate, the students alone could easily defeat them. Of course, there was danger. In the first place, the field quest this time was issued so they could gain actual fighting experience.
Before that, I had given Spy, their guard, an order to keep his hands to himself as much as possible and let the students handle the situation themselves.
"Now then, students. It\'s your long-awaited quest. Defeat those three monkeys."
"Defeat them, even if you suddenly said so..."
Although he said so, Pluto readied his spear toward the monkeys while a bead of sweat trickled down his forehead. The other students followed suit.
"The giant monkey in the centre is a pretty formidable opponent even for you guys. Think carefully and work together to take on it. If you don\'t, you will die."
"But we haven\'t even learned any battle magic!!" Pluto screamed when he heard the word "die."
"That\'s why I have said to think carefully. It\'s not a battle if you just mow down the opponent with strong magic. But let me tell you this. The magic I have taught you is more than enough to defeat them."
"Is there no way.......but to do that?"
"I don\'t think you have time to complain. Look, those guys are coming."
The next moment, the two Level 11 monkeys on either side took a leap to where we stood.
"Dammit!"
Looking at the situation, Pluto and the other students charged the mana in their weapon, signalling the commencing of life-threatening battle training.
◇◆◇◆◇◆
Using the short magic sword, Eight hurled a lump of flame that directly hit the monkeys\' foreheads, knocking away their bodies.
At the same time, Mia and Cliff fired [Wind Cutter], which severed the two great monkeys\' necks and sent their heads tumbling to the ground.
Up to this point, the opponent was of a lower rank, and even if they were to slug it out, they would win. It would not be logical if they couldn\'t win even after using magic and magic weapons.
"Yeah!!"
"We did it!"
Mia and Cliff shouted in delight.
"I should have told you, you will die if you let down your guard."
The next moment, the third giant monkey leapt, dropped to the ground, kicked the earth a few times, and rapidly approached the nearest student, Pluto.
As soon as it entered the range, it fired a fist into Pluto\'s face, who was unable to move in the spur of the moment.
Just as Pluto was about to be hit by the first, Eight hurriedly thrust Pluto away, making the giant monkey fist cut the empty air.
"OUT OF THE WAY!!"
Taking advantage of the opening in the giant monkey\'s move, Teresa, covered in [Body Strengthening], struck its left cheek with her fist covered in the magic knuckle.
The giant monkey, getting struck directly with full force, bounced on the ground multiple times with terrific momentum as its face burned up in fire.
"Gigigigi!"
The giant monkey got up and slapped its burning face with both hands to extinguish the fire. And then, it glared at Teresa as its face dyed in fury.
"What the hell are you doing!!? Sensei has said it, hasn\'t he!? It\'s life-and-death combat! A single mishap will cost you your life!"
Pluto, standing even while staggering and readying his spear once again, was being scolded by Eight.
"I\'m sorry."
The look in Mia\'s and Cliff\'s eyes also changed as if they were different people.
Now was finally the real deal.
"Eight and I will stop its advances. We will leave the rest to you."
Cliff gave Eight a sidelong glance, while Eight nodded slightly and began to chant.
"Then I will be a vanguard!" Teresa slammed her knuckles in both hands while still continuing [Body Strengthening].
"I will also be a vanguard. As soon as we stop it, strike back on its back, Mia!"
"Got it!"
"It\'s humiliated me, and I\'m going to stop it."
Pluto held his spear, bent slightly, and began to chant [Body Strengthening] magic.
"Guoooooo!!"
Soon, the giant monkey roared and dashed forward to aim for Teresa.
Eight activated [Clay Manipulation], making the ground in front of the giant monkey bulge up in order to stop its dash. Looking at the stone and sand wall in front of it, it bashed his glove-covered-like fist against the wall.
In the end, [Clay Manipulation] was just magic that only manipulated the soil and rock on the ground. It didn\'t strengthen the structure, and that being the case, the giant monkey\'s fist smashed apart the wall into small pieces. However, be that as it may, its movements indeed stopped, albeit temporarily.
Taking advantage of this point, Cliff finished his chanting for [Reinforced Water Bond], sticking it to the giant monkey\'s legs, effectively sewing them to the ground tightly.
The adhesion was instantaneous by applying the improvements I\'d taught him.
As the giant monkey was getting agitated, Teresa began to hit with terrific momentum and before long, several blows hit him squarely, making the whole body burst into flames.
Teresa was using the magic of [Body Strengthening] and those knuckles really well. Maybe they were a perfect match.
"Gugyaa!!"
"I will help you."
As the giant monkey frantically tried to put off the flames, Cliff, who had once again finished chanting [Reinforced Water Bond], threw it at the giant monkey\'s body. The giant monkey got soaked as if water was poured on him from all over.
"Follow my power and come out, blue flame."
Simultaneously, Eight\'s blue sphere formed on top of Mia\'s head and they rushed towards the giant monkey at high speed.
The spheres of blue flame hit its face, chest, abdomen, arms, and legs one after another, and burned vigorously.
The heat of the blue flames was incomparable to Teresa\'s flames. The giant monkey desperately tried to put it out by flicking it with both hands. But that was its biggest mistake, as its right hand glued to its left cheek and its left hand glued to its chest.
"Hmm, that\'s pretty good."
Now there was no way for that guy to attack when both of its hands were glued to its body, unable to move because of [Reinforced Water Bond]. Or to be precise, it was checkmate.
"[Wind Enchantment]," Pluto sprinted and attacked with his spear at the giant monkey\'s head with all his might.
Pluto\'s spear pierced through the mouth of the giant monkey, which couldn\'t even move like tofu, and destroyed its brain completely. The great ape, standing erect and immobile, turned white-eyed and ceased to breathe.
"Did we win?"
Pluto began to look at it carefully while still pointing his spear toward the giant monkey.
Well, I appreciate the fact that he didn\'t get carried away with a victory right away, but instead confirmed its death. Although it was a bit dangerous in the beginning, it was passable enough.
The students had successfully completed a real mission this time.
"Marvelous! It\'s your victory!" I gave them a hearty round of applause for their victory.