37 – Return
Shiz began to use mana and entered a combat stance.
Her refined green mana scattered around, and soon dozens of ballistas were summoned as if to surround the wyvern.
With a creepy sound of snapping, the ballista’s strings were pulled tight.
The ballistas, which were threatening even by themselves, surrounded the area, creating a fierce scene that could be called a spectacle.
The golden spear that surrounded them, Shiz Lanches Owl.
He felt like he understood the true meaning of that name now.
“Stop staring and go help. The subordinates seem to have reached their limit.”
As I was blankly watching the magic, Shiz pointed to the front and snapped at me.
I turned my head following her finger.
A wyvern as big as a house was rampaging, and I saw the high elves struggling.
It looked like someone would get seriously hurt if I didn’t help.
I nodded in response and ran towards the wyvern.
– Vroom!
I pulled the starter cord roughly and woke up the engine of the chainsaw.
Since we had a powerful ally with a strong attack, there was only one role I had to take on right now.
The role of a tanker, who holds the enemy in front of him and protects the ally behind him.
I roared loudly to draw the wyvern’s attention.
――――――!!
The roar of the chainsaw echoed in the forest, and all the creatures around flinched and the battle stopped for a moment.
No matter how tense the battle was, the savage noise of the chainsaw was not something to be ignored.
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The wyvern’s gaze shot at me, and at the same time, its minions retreated and started to regroup.
I successfully provoked the wyvern and drank mana to boost my physical abilities to the maximum.
At that moment, a deafening blast sound came from behind me.
―――Bang!!
It was the ballista bolt that Seize fired.
The giant bolt hit the wyvern’s shoulder and penetrated deep into it.
It was a tremendous force that made the huge wyvern lose its balance and sway.
―――Clank!!
But Seize’s attack was not over yet.
From the bolt that hit, thick roots burst out like an explosion.
Blood and flesh from the wyvern scattered in all directions, creating a bloody mist.
It was a natural consequence that the wyvern writhed in pain.
– Kyaaraak――!!
The wyvern, whose one wing was disabled, twisted and roared in agony.
It was the best opportunity to dive into its bosom.
Shizu was a high elf, so she wouldn’t accidentally hit an ally.
I trusted Shizu behind me and pierced through the blood mist.
– Kwaaang!!
I threw my body with full force and stabbed the wyvern’s leg.
I boldly collided, trusting the defense of the spirit armor, and the wyvern’s leg, which was like a pillar, snapped with a thud.
The wyvern, which had been twisting, collapsed as its leg broke.
The dust covered the surroundings due to the flailing of the huge wings.
―Kwang! ―Kwajik! ―Kuung!
As the wyvern fell, giant bolts flew in one after another through the dust.
A brief shooting continued, and soon the wyvern quieted down and the dust began to settle.
The wyvern that was revealed was miserable beyond words.
The wyvern, whose joints were all pierced and stuck like insect specimens.
It looked pitiful, as it only twitched, having exhausted its strength.
At times like this, it was humane to cut off its breath quickly.
To avoid friendly fire, I stood still and headed towards the wyvern’s head with a chainsaw.
―――!!
I tore through the hard scales and cut off the thick neck.
The wyvern, whose neck was severed, twitched for a moment and then became quiet.
Seeing the mana scatter, I was sure it was completely dead.
“Phew….”
It felt rather anticlimactic compared to what I was worried about.
Maybe it was a relatively weak monster that had fallen from the World Tree.
Sizu’s power was more formidable than I thought, and I had become accustomed to combat as well.
My second monster hunt ended with a tinge of regret.
“Piiya. It’s over.”
[Really? I didn’t even know it was over because I was hiding here.]
“There aren’t many places as safe as that. The Goddess of Nature seemed to pay special attention to your spot.”
[hehehe. I like it.]
I took out Piiya, who was hiding in the breastplate.
Piiya shook off the blood on the armor with magic and jumped up to sit on my shoulder.
She didn’t seem dizzy like before, which meant that the designated stone in the spirit armor was quite comfortable.
With the spirit armor, I could surely protect Piiya’s avatar.
If I was a little more greedy, I could also get Piiya’s help during battle.
I imagined the coordination with Piiya and nodded happily.
Then, Shiz came over and tapped my shoulder, saying.
“Let’s go when you’re done.”
Shiz had Rudolf’s reins in his hand, which he had brought with him somehow.
I was somewhat puzzled because he looked in a hurry.
Did something urgent happen?
I took Rudolf’s reins and asked Shiz.
“Why are you in such a hurry? Is there a problem?”
Shiz answered as he climbed onto Rudolf’s back.
“Eldenore is right nearby, but the support is late. Something must have gone wrong.”
“Something wrong?”
“Yes. It means they can’t handle the monsters that are swarming in.”
I nodded and climbed onto Rudolf’s back.
If Shiz was in such a hurry, it must be serious.
As I grabbed the reins and turned Rudolf around, Shiz shouted to the high elves around us.
“I’ll leave the wyvern’s cleanup to you. Treat it as a hunt by the druid candidate.”
“Yes, sir!”
Shiz naturally grabbed my waist as he gave orders to his subordinates.
He seemed to mean that we should leave quickly.
I moved Rudolf and ran towards Eldenore.
The city located on the giant world tree, Eldenore, was right in front of us.
* * *
“There’s no one on the street.”
“Most of the high elves are deployed to various places in the Great Forest during the hunting season. Only the garrison would be left in Eldenore now.”
Eldenore, where we arrived riding Rudolf, was very quiet.
The sight of the residents noticeably reduced looked like a ghost town at a glance.
It was an event that mobilized all the high elves that were so many.
I could clearly understand how important the hunting season was to the elves.
“Oh! Brother! You’re here?”
“Yeah. Where’s the boss?”
“He went out for a moment to check the northern barrier.”
We walked up the quiet street of Eldenore and entered the huge mansion that served as the boss’s residence.
The mansion, which was naturally created by the grace of the World Tree, had a considerable number of high elves gathered.
Among them, the person who greeted us was a high elf youth with a playful tone.
He was in charge of the hunting leader’s position, and one of Shiz’s direct subordinates, ‘Ridin’.
“Did the candidate have a peaceful time?”
“Yeah. It was not a bad trip.”
“What about Pi?”
[Hmm… I think I need to think about it a little.]
Ridin greeted us with a bright attitude and started to guide us inside.
I took off my helmet and hung it on my back and followed him into the interior of the boss’s mansion.
Ridin was a talkative young man who never stopped talking.
He had been taking care of the work instead of Siz for a while, and he started to list the reports that he had been putting off or the things that had happened during that time.
“The hunting teams have already been deployed to various places in the Great Forest. The western region was taken by Captain Kartolf, so I mainly placed them in the north and south.”
“Good, well done. But on the way here, I saw your subordinates struggling against the fallen objects. Is there any problem?”
“No! It was just hard to predict their appearance because they were fallen objects! It’s not something that Captain Siz should worry about!”
“Tell me the truth, I won’t hit you.”
“Ah! Then I’ll tell you the truth! This year, there are so many monsters coming in, you know? So we had no spare time to care about the fallen objects! But now that the captain has returned, it will be better, right? hahahahaha!”
The report that Ridin gave me was mostly related to the hunting season.
I also belonged to the hunting team nominally, so I listened to him for now.
Then, as he was reporting, Ridin suddenly flinched and stuck to my side.
He seemed to have fled to my side because he thought he would get hit by Siz.
“Ahahahaha! Oh, by the way, the prisoner that the candidate released has safely returned to the human village.”
“Really? Any other information?”
“Unfortunately, no. He went over to the human village, you know.”
“How did the boss and the other captains react?”
“They didn’t seem to care much.”
It was the report about the human prisoner, Leni, who was captured by the western root tribe.
It was a bit disappointing that there was no additional information, but it was enough good news that Leni had returned safely.
Now, whether Leni followed the plan or betrayed us, the empire would surely show some reaction.
I had to secure a way to monitor the empire’s movements quickly, so I had to move more busily from now on.
“Good job. Thank you.”
I expressed my gratitude and checked my plans for the future once more.
Mana purification, magic experiment, safety assurance, power building.
I had so much to learn and accomplish right now.
It was truly lamentable that I only had one body.
“And there is one person who came to see you, candidate.”
As I was walking down the hallway, lost in thought, Riden, who was ahead of me, stopped at a door and told me.
Someone who suddenly came to see me? Did they hear the rumor of the druid candidate?
As I raised that question, Riden pointed at the door and said.
“They have been waiting in this room for days. Would you like to meet them right now, if you don’t mind?”
I didn’t know who they were, but they said they had waited for me for days.
I had no reason not to meet them, so I nodded my head.
– Bang!
Then Riden opened the door in front of me without warning.
I thought he would at least knock for the guest, but this guy was also a high elf, so his manners were quite rough.
“You scared me. I almost dropped my beep.”
Anyway, since the door was open, I had to meet the person who was waiting for me.
I scolded Riden and cautiously entered the room.
A warm sunlight shone on the elf-style guest room.
There, a very familiar lady was sitting gracefully, waiting for me.
“Ah! My benefactor! Have you finally arrived!”
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Brown braided hair and cute bunny ears sticking up.
A neat and tidy hanbok and a polite and faithful demeanor.
And the unique honorific that you can’t forget once you hear it.
“Girl, Ebi. I have been waiting for your return with bated breath!”
The bunny girl I rescued from the goblin cave.
Ebi greeted me with a sorrowful expression.