116 – 116. Battle of Sheet (2)
Unlike the others, Senia’s eyes were able to discern something special.
To the point where her demon beasts fell without being able to attack her every single time, her strength accounted for the most.
Magic eyes.
Checks the flow of magical power as a solid line and clearly reads its trajectory.
It can be seen as a power that is perfect for Senia, who is sharp and keenly analyzes opponents.
If someone else had this unique power, it might not have been very useful, but because the owner of that power was Senia, unlike other teams, it was possible for Tembris to thoroughly grasp the enemy’s information this way every time.
“Senia. I don’t quite understand… So you’re saying that the Witchbeast deliberately caused the explosion?”
“Yes. It’s not just an explosion, it’s an explosion created to spread that bodily fluid, just as the Scourge was named.”
“Then how about I hit the ice wall? That’s possible. Michelle’s fire wall would also help.”
Charlotte asked Senia that question.
I just told Erica to put her barrier on it, but that shuts off her bodily fluids. Anyone else could.
But Senia shook her head again.
“No, Charlotte. If you did, it would have come through the wall of ice you built. Michelle would have done the same with the wall of flame.”
“Yes…?”
It’s just bodily fluids breaking through a magical wall. Everyone tilted their heads, wondering what that meant.
“I heard earlier that those Scourges were raising their young on blood. So what do they feed on?”
“Uh… Well? Don’t you eat grain or something…?”
“Or else, since rats are omnivores, I think they’ll eat everything anyone left behind.”
In general, it is true that rats are accustomed to grains, and it is also true that they are omnivorous and will eat anything that humans can eat.
However, that was true of a normal rat, and not of this monster called the Scourge.
All animals are like that.
It is instinctive to eat something to ingest and absorb nutrients, and to give birth and raise offspring.
But there is a great contradiction to these Scourges.
“They don’t have a digestive system. Maybe because they committed suicide, they didn’t seem to have developed such an organ.”
“Huh…”
“Um…”
“That’s right… Self-destruct…”
Others seem to agree, but Senia knows that there is a flaw in my words.
It was a very big contradiction even for a living being that there was no digestive system to take in nutrients and break down and absorb them.
If so, several more contradictions will be created, including this one.
It has no digestive system, and its offspring are raised in the bloodstream. Then, how do they generate offspring?
What do those pups eat to grow up and how do they become adults like that?
No.
No matter how much it is a monster, it can’t be like that.
On the line of being a living being and being an animal, even a Scourge cannot cross this law.
‘Wait, come to think of it, there were quite a few other corpses around here?’
The carcasses of some of the canolattles we saw earlier. Corpses of Osoptera.
There were just overwhelmingly many scourges, but as this was also a place forming an ecosystem, other objects were rarely seen.
Then there is only one answer.
In the first place, you don’t need a digestive system, you only need body tissue to eat ‘it’.
Senia continued her words with confidence.
“After all, they have to eat something to grow. If they don’t have to eat anything, they can’t be called living creatures. They can’t be called witches.”
“Senia?”
“They only eat magic power. Not grain or meat.”
“”What?!””
Surely, they also need an energy source.
She was held back by what she thought was simply something tangible and material.
“Canolatl, Osoptera. You saw their bodies as you passed by. Do you remember what happened to that?”
“They had a hole in them. Like they had been stabbed with a spear or something.”
“No, Cain. There’s no way that Canolatle or Osoptera would die easily, even though they weren’t stabbed with a common skewer or something like that. Besides, even if they were stabbed with it, would they leave such a mark?”
“Come to think of it… Rather than being stabbed from the outside… From the inside…”
It was a trace that seemed to have come through. That was the point.
It was only then that all the members noticed.
“You mean it broke through after consuming all the magical power in the blood?”
“So those canolatles launched an all-out assault on Lemtert Village…”
“It must be the same for Osoptera. They ran away. They couldn’t stand the attacks of those parasitic rats. The rats, which ate enough mana in the blood of other individuals, regained the mana they had eaten to breed again. Use them to grow in size. This is how these guys reproduce.”
Once it burrows into the blood, it gnaws at the target’s mana until it dies, after which it cuts a hole to suffocate the host.
Then it grows again, raises its young, and burns itself in search of the next host.
Isn’t it a method of reproduction that does not even fear death? A chill runs down your spine. According to the words, it was clear that humans who became the hosts of the Scourge would face mortality.
“Then you shouldn’t be like this. Go back and tell the others…”
“By what number?”
As soon as Aris tried to go back, Senia immediately stopped him.
“What kind of waterway… That’s right…”
“Even if we go back and deliver it belatedly, it will be right after we’ve already been infected. Let’s go back like this?”
“…”
As Senia said, it’s already spilled water.
Even if they found out later, there is no guarantee that they will not be infected.
If you want to reduce the damage as much as possible right now, rooting it out here was the correct answer.
“This is just my guess, but it’s impossible for a monster like this to occur naturally. It’s a primordial problem.”
“A primitive problem?”
“I saw it on the way. I saw something like a rope dragged. No one has ever carried a rope like that. No, no one seems to have set foot here in the first place. So what is it?”
“Mother… It means there is a mother body.”
“I guess that’s what you meant when you said that there are some with particularly large footprints… I didn’t know.”
“So you’re saying we have to deal with that first.”
Maternal sniping. Break through the Scourge to your top priority.
Their path has been decided right here and now.
“Eat your magic. Whether it’s an ice wall or a wall of fire, it will devour your magic and attack you, so is that why you only told Erica to put up a barrier?”
“Answer. It’s not magical power that has already been converted into divine power, so they won’t be able to eat it.”
“It’s tricky. Then how should I deal with it? It’s hard to fight only Erica against the wall like this every time.”
It actually did.
To prevent self-destruction, after dealing with these Scourges, and then estimating the explosion and fighting against the wall, it is a battle that is magically inefficient.
Moreover, the number of Scourges is hundreds of times greater than this.
If you fight like this every time you encounter it, your mana will quickly run out. They didn’t like the situation where Michelle or Aris, who were in charge of firepower, couldn’t play to their heart’s content, and with only Erica running out of magic, the team’s balance would collapse in the future.
After hesitating for a while, Senia tells her correct answer.
“Even if you use magic to bind or hinder it, self-destruction is sure to happen, so we have to solve it physically, not magic. Or, use a method to suppress those guys’ magic circuits from running.”
Of course there is one more way, but she can’t say it with her mouth.
I dare not bring up the story related to the sirens here.
***
The water has already been spilled, and there is no cloth to wipe it up.
Even though the water flooded the principality, they couldn’t come up with a countermeasure.
It was just following the process that had taken place before the regression.
“…What are you shaking so much about?”
“It might not come this far, right?”
“Isn’t that the case since we committed all the remaining troops and started a complete subjugation war?”
“Haa. The professor said that. If we tremble, who will protect the residents? Wake up!”
This is northern Shet State.
Academy students did come forward, but they didn’t go to the forefront and join the punitive force.
Even if it’s near the battlefield, they are definitely forward troops that only depart when the situation comes to join them.
Unless there is a request for support, there is no specific order to step in.
But they will surely pass this place.
I didn’t see this situation because I was with the Tembris members at the time, but when I returned, Levant was already on the verge of breaking through.
So we must meet the Scourge. Couldn’t it be that the enormous quantity could not be subdued with the power of the vanguard troops? Guess so.
As for consolation, the fact that they won’t be driven that far this time.
At least, the number of vanguard students is sufficient, so the damage won’t be any greater.
Until Thembris arrives, we have no choice but to hold out here as long as possible.
Until you arrive after completely subduing its parent, Plague Shanberesh.
From noble mtl dot com
‘But… It’s a bit late for that kind of thing?’
The vanguard units are slamming magic in front of them to subdue the Scourge, but it’s not that far away.
“Did you not hear anything else from the sensing team?”
“No, nothing special?”
“Hmm… Is that so?”
Not saying anything is not a bad sign. In any case, it means that the appearance of the rats is not visible.
But, strangely, this silence keeps feeling bitter.
The hungry rats were sure to sniff out more food and come running this way, but oddly enough, I wondered if it was too late.
If you were able to defend like an iron man, why couldn’t you do that before returning?
If it wasn’t even discovered at this time, why was Levant pushed to the brink of breakthrough back then?
It’s strange.
Obviously something is wrong.
Maybe something is going wrong that the Scourge are arriving so late when they should.
However, it was the moment when I was about to request a large area detection magic to get rid of this awkwardness.
-Scourge swarms in Zones 2 and 3! The numbers are…
‘No way…’
-I can’t even count!
Come. Those.
***
– Take it! Squeak!
My ears naturally ring at the cacophony of rats resounding in the forest.
Thanks to that, I couldn’t tell exactly where the Scourge was coming from, so I had to slow down my movements.
“Junon!”
-Pudeudeuk.
“Don’t worry, I’ve dealt with it. Keep moving.”
“Damn it… With your hands…”
The rats that died instantly did not explode. Meanwhile, someone asked him.
“Junon. Everything is fine, but do we just have to parry like this?”
“Why? You want to cut yourself? I thought it would be a relief if I didn’t back off.”
“No… That’s because I was really nervous… But, it’s kind of weird since you just told me to bounce it off and not cut it.”
“I’ve been told to save my mana, but I don’t know how long I should save it.”
He had a weapon at most, and since he also has a magic field, he should be able to easily slice through the rats.
The same goes for the support wizard that follows behind. Don’t save your mana, you can help by hindering or suppressing the Scourge’s movements.
If you have to, even though the firepower is weak, it can easily handle a mouse of this size.
But Junon told them not to do that.
As the question was repeated, he said it again.
“Guess how many mice’s voices are echoing in the forest. It’s not good to relax in a situation where you don’t know how much you’re going to deal with.”
“Yes, it is.”
“Okay. Then, as you said, I’ll push it out with a single stick.”
The words are plausible, but it’s not a problem to lose strength. On the other hand, Junon was working alone and was in a state where there was no cooperation at all.
But he also had a reason.
These rats self-destruct to cause a plague. And it is an individual that devours mana and rushes at it while preparing for death.
The mana must be stopped before it rushes into the heart and explodes, and there must be no situation where blood is splattered by being cut or stabbed with a weapon.
To reduce the damage to even one person.
That’s why Junon stepped forward.
He can stun the Scourge with an anti-cast, and has trained in taijutsu enough to sever his cervical vertebrae and kill him cleanly without splattering blood, so no one in this group has yet been infected.
“…!”
“Hey… What footprints…”
The neck belt moves spontaneously. Why is it so late I thought I knew why I felt so uncomfortable.
‘This is why Levant was about to break through…!’
Since the vanguard unit is in the situation, they would have expected that they would not be dealing with such a large amount.
But if you look at the numbers, that’s not the case.
Unlike the previous cases where they came one by one, almost the entire main unit had to come and deal with them.
Currently, they are spread widely out of fear of causing damage to the residents, but what will happen to them if they deal with this amount?
Break down individually.
I can’t think of anything other than that.
The reason why Levant was put in such a situation is because of this amount, which came to the front in a huge amount even though the frontline troops were using their strength.
“How much is left?”
“We’re here! Just ahead!”
As we penetrated the woods, we saw the 2nd and 3rd groups struggling to block the road to the northern part of Sit.
I can’t possibly handle this amount, so it seems like I wanted to hold on like Osoptera. The idea itself was very good, but it’s dangerous.
I was already pushed as far as I could and was on the verge of being surrounded.
At that point, one of them got in through the gap and was charging at a female student.
It was a distance that could not be reached by hand. Even if he breaks through against the rushing Scourge, that Scourge will have already infected the female student.
I thought I would be defeated.
– Puck!
“This… What is it? An iron bar…?”
“Keep going!”
The rat hit by the iron rod passed out without shedding a single drop of blood, leaving a large bruise.
‘Is it somehow…!’
His biggest weakness is that he may be able to block from a distance, but he cannot attack from a distance.
It was only natural to use tools to compensate for this great weakness.
It may look like an ordinary iron stick, but it is a memorization that uses mana.
Junon, along with Anti-Cast, knew that his magical powers would not be eaten by the Scourge, so he prepared them.
“Junon! We are here!”
The reinforcements arrived just in time.
Now was the time to strike back.