Breakthrough (2)
Chakaraka was a very smart monster.
They use their surroundings to create traps, lure prey into them, or place them on the way to their nests to block enemies.
As smart as he was, his attachment to the trap he had created was strong, and an example of this was the restoration of a trap that Scarlett once fell into.
At first glance, it was similar to the pride of artisans. Of course, I don’t know what they would say if they listened.
If he deliberately and clumsily breaks the traps like this because he was such a chakaraka… … .
“Kissyaaagh!”
“Kyaaak! Kyaaagh!”
It was easy to make him angry.
At first glance, they looked like children running amok in the dark.
It had a body structure similar to that of a human, but its arms were abnormally long, and it had thick hooked claws that made it easy to dig.
He wore a leather mat over his body, and on his head was a helmet made of vegetables with a hard shell like a pumpkin.
If the brown hair on the nape of the neck or chest and the color of the skin were not gray, it could be mistaken for a person.
Tuk-tuk.
At that moment, Scarlett, who had been hiding and watching from the side, tugged on my collar and spoke with only the shape of her mouth.
‘Jo.G.Ler.Go.G.Mal.Im.Da.’
I shook my head to dry it, put my index finger over my lips to keep an eye on it, and turned my gaze back to the Chakarakas.
After sitting there for a while, talking and shouting in an unknown language, one of them went back to the forest.
The remaining three screamed again and made the forest noisy, and no other monsters came to hear the commotion, as if they had made this area completely their own territory.
how long did you wait for that
Dozens of Chakarakas appeared with a murmur from the depths of the forest.
They, too, became indignant when they saw the broken traps, ran amok, and tried to fix them somehow.
I signaled Scarlett with a hand gesture and, as I said before, split left and right and approached them. Because they were extremely angry, they didn’t care about the approach of the surroundings at all.
And after me and Scarlett, who were blown away almost simultaneously, decapitated one and stabbed the other into the body, they finally found us.
“Kirak! Kyaaagh!”
“Kishhaak!”
They shouted something and tried to counterattack by pulling out skewer-like weapons or grabbing and throwing rocks, but there was no way they could be hit by such a thing.
The reason these guys were dangerous was simply because of the sophisticated traps, so they were far behind me and Scarlett in combat power.
In addition, I dismantled the traps in this area, so I was free to move my feet.
Since all of Chakaraka’s strengths were removed, it was just an easy prey.
After the near-slaughter battle was over, I pulled out and gathered the biggest claws of the guys as proof of the subjugation.
“… … It’s kind of like a human being.”
“It’s because I’m clumsy and smart. Even if it feels like a human, keep in mind that it is still a monster that eats people.”
“… … .”
The fact that the mercenary guild received a subjugation request was the same as saying that there was a concern about the loss of life because of them.
In fact, the Chakarakas were notorious for consuming everything they caught in their traps, be it people or monsters, in addition to wild animals.
I couldn’t hesitate to kill those guys for being similar to humans.
The more cunning monsters took advantage of such hesitation and even disguised themselves as humans.
“uh? Isn’t he dead?”
Scarlett, who was looking around with a disgusted face after roughly finishing the tidying up, pointed to one of them who was lying on the floor.
It was only a wound on his arm, but the ups and downs of his chest were telling him that he was alive.
Scarlett, who was contemplating whether to kill her or not, stepped forward and opened her mouth.
“This guy was left alive on purpose.”
“Is that on purpose?”
“Only a few of them have been dragged this far. We have to go to the nest and wipe them all out.”
Then he woke him up by striking the pumpkin helmet with the sword in the scabbard.
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After flinching a few times, he came to his senses and looked around, and when our eyes met, he sat back in fright.
He touched the corpse of his fellow tribesman right next to him, screamed, jumped up from his seat, and quickly ran into the forest.
“Go after me right away. You should only step on the ground he is stepping on.”
“Ah, could it be that it’s a sword that uses monsters as guides?!”
“It takes a long time to dismantle the traps one by one. I know where the traps are, but I can’t do that, right?”
“f*ck, that word really pisses me off.”
Scarlett forced herself to grind her teeth, but calmly followed the fleeing guy, leaving a little space between them.
I also followed him through the dark forest so as not to fall behind.
As soon as I went a little deeper than I thought, a cave appeared that seemed to be their nest. No, rather than a cave… … .
“Isn’t this a ruin?”
“I can see traces of it.”
As Scarlett said, the caves with traces of old buildings could definitely be called ruins.
The investigation was not conducted because the Chakarakas were in power.
And the last time I came here was after she finished the request. There was only one thing she could do that she did not know how I showed her today.
as soon as… … It was an ignorant breakthrough with the body.
“… … Why are you suddenly looking at me like that?”
“No, nothing.”
Because of this method, he was caught in all sorts of traps and his body was completely wrecked.
So when I came, I couldn’t even find a trace of the ruins.
The story… … It further fueled the suspicion that there might indeed be something hidden here.
“ah! Won’t you follow me?”
“If you’ve come this far, you can assume that there aren’t many traps.”
“Then immediately… … !”
“There is a trap.”
I grabbed Scarlett, who was too careless to speak, and I led the way to the cave.
Scarlett, who followed me exactly where I was walking, asked as if she couldn’t understand.
“How on earth is a sword so good at finding traps?”
“You have to develop your observation skills. A suspicious area is unconditionally obvious. For example, if you look over there, the grass is down because the soil was moved, right? There are no stones there at all.”
“No, how do you see that sword? Senior, are you a person?”
“Because if you don’t see it, you’ll get hit like anyone else.”
Scarlett, perhaps from an old thought, kept her mouth shut and stiffened her expression, then followed me more cautiously.
After reaching the cave like that, I didn’t have to worry about traps. Even so, he did not set traps in his own house.
Inside the cave, the shape of the ruins remained here and there, and I thought it might have been remodeled by the Chakarakas to their liking.
The murmur that had been heard slowly grew louder as we went inside, and their presence gradually came closer.
“In a place like this, even if it seems like the road only leads straight ahead, you have to be careful.”
“yes? Is there anything left?”
“This is the enemy camp, and they say that we must not be vigilant.”
Scarlett, who only thought of the enemies she could feel from the front, sharpened her senses all over her body after hearing my words.
Then I saw the upper part on both sides of the aisle, and at the same time I threw my daggers one by one, and short screams and chakarakas fell one by one.
Smart guys said there was an intruder, but there was no way they wouldn’t do anything.
They must have created a place cleverly hidden in darkness, and were planning to ambush them there.
Scarlett, who had just put her hand on the sword, looked at me with a face that seemed to be full of energy.
“Do you even know how to throw?”
“Because I couldn’t solve everything with a sword like senior Douglas. And if you learn a lot, there is no loss.”
As she said that, she pulled out the dagger stuck in them and pulled out her fingernails.
“I can see why my dad told me to learn from experience.”
“Actually, it will be fine if you don’t do this like me. Because Douglas senior guaranteed it. Still, in cases like this request, I’d rather get help from someone else.”
“What? Are you worried about me right now? Hmmm, I don’t feel too bad.”
“You have a history of failing requests and coming to me to ask for help.”
“No, it’s not a failure?!”
She glanced at Scarlett, who was blushing, and smiled, then headed forward.
I suddenly felt like I was with her, but I immediately shook my head.
Scarlett is not her.
Once again, I made up my mind and stepped forward to finish off the remaining chakarakas.
* * *
Putting the sword into the scabbard, Scarlett looked around and then frowned.
“What? There’s really nothing wrong with that. It’s all clutter.”
“Most of them are trap materials. There won’t be much to bring.”
“I knew something was going to happen. Compared to all the hard work, I don’t earn much… … .”
Leaving behind Scarlett’s appearance of trying to pack something, I also slowly looked around the inside.
As for the ruins inside, there were no traces of them, probably because they had a lot more padding. Even if there were hidden passages at this level, these guys would have dug them all out first.
Still, just in case, I pointed to the wall of the room that was supposed to be a large room and slowly turned around to examine it.
“Uh, what is this?”
“that… … .”
Turning around at Scarlett’s question, an ornament in the middle of the front wall caught my eye.
A sloppily stacked piece of wood and a twig planted next to it. The biggest point was the single mask located right above it.
“maybe… … It must have a magical meaning. It must be a description of the Dark Lord they serve.”
“It seems to be very different from the monsters I’ve seen so far. Have you dealt with many of these monsters, senior?”
“It seems that you only dealt with monsters with strong power… … Among them, there are individuals with this intelligence. They should be especially careful.”
“Ugh, just thinking about it makes me hate it.”
Hearing Scarlett’s disgusted words, his gaze suddenly went to the mask again.
It was a very dark mask, so I skipped it, but looking at it again, it was strange. It felt like it didn’t fit in with anything else.
I approached with a doubt and kicked the body part as it was, knocking it down. I caught the mask that fell with him and examined it.
It was a mask that covered the face except for the lower official. The front was painted black, but the back was pure white, and this is probably the original color.
“As expected, it’s too elaborate for these guys to make it… … .”
“Hey, could that be a relic?! Give me some! I will try it just once!”
I held back Scarlett, whose eyes twinkled, with a hand, and looked inside. As expected, the grooves were connected with very fine lines to draw patterns.
It must be a magical tool, especially something that can be called a relic.
I looked around for a while, realized that it wasn’t too dangerous, and gently brought it to my face.
Even though it didn’t have ear hooks or straps, the mask stuck to the face and didn’t fall off.
When I removed it with my hand, I put the mask on my face again, which came off easily, and turned my head to Scarlett.
“… … uh?”
“Is it strange?”
“No, not that… … . Senior, is it right… … ?”
Scarlett looked closely at my face with her brow furrowed, and the gaze felt burdensome, so I took off the mask again and turned my head away.
“Oh, I’m back.”
“what do you mean?”
“At first, I didn’t think I was a senior, but since I took off the mask, I’m a senior. I don’t even know what I’m talking about… … .”
“No, I fully understand.”
In other words, it was a so-called camouflage magic tool. It was to make me feel like a different person with physical characteristics that could not be hidden even with a mask.
I knew that these artifacts existed, but it was the first time I had actually seen them.
When a rough explanation was attached, Scarlett showed a surprised expression and jumped in place, revealing intense emotions.
“Isn’t this a great discovery?! Wow, I didn’t know that something like this could be hidden in a place like this! If I had come alone, I would never have found it!”
He smiled for no reason and held out his mask towards Scarlett.
“Would you like to go?”
“No, senior found it, so why do I have it?”
“I am just a helper. Of course, the person who received the request takes precedence in the distribution of loot.”
“Um… … .”
It was obviously a good artifact, and it will be useful. But I have already made plans without assuming this.
It was an artifact that Scarlett needed more than me.
At my words, Scarlett put on a worried expression and then shook her head.
“No, it’s fine. After all, it would be good for seniors to have it.”
“Don’t you need it?”
“I wish I could, but it’s okay. Rather give it to Rize. I think you need Rize more than me.”
My eyes widened at the unexpected words.
They obviously seemed friendly, but I never thought they would think of Rize like this. It was a look I couldn’t recall from the girl I knew.
So, this question came out of my mouth naturally.
“Rise… … You save me a lot.”
“Um, well, my mind is gone.”
Scarlett, who said that as if she was embarrassed, soon avoided my gaze and added her words.
“Me and Rize… … I mean, they look a lot alike.”