Episode 39 – Dispel (2)

Dispel (2)

5 p.m. The foggy mountain, darkened by the setting sun, was as black as pitch. It wasn’t just because of the fog. The altitude was such that sunlight barely penetrated, making it truly dark all around.

“Wow. At this rate, we’ll be in first place, won’t we?”

The Soliette team was in the midst of writing a report there. As they compiled the information each had researched, it seemed like a fairly credible report would be completed.

Of course, Soliette’s share was over 70%.

“Indeed. The ecosystem is almost complete.”

The ecosystem of the foggy mountain had been largely sorted out. They had found and recorded all the beasts, monsters, and vegetation observed on this mountain.

“But this mana is… it’s water attribute, right?”

However, the easiest part continued to cause unease.

The mana attribute of this foggy mountain being water, or water attribute, was almost certain. After all, the fog itself would be a product of water attribute mana.

That’s why it’s more difficult.

It’s too easy, making them wonder if it’s a trap.

“Hey. Isn’t this that thing? It’s so easy that it’s confusing. …What does the team leader think?”

Team member Aryen asked, gauging Soliette’s reaction. She, wearing an MF-94 mask, had been crouched in thought for a while.

“I’m not sure.”

“What’s uncertain? We can’t even light a fire.”

Aryen pointed to the traces of a campfire. They had tried to light it due to the chilly temperature, but the sparks faded as soon as they touched the fog.

“I just have that feeling.”

“Hey~ but-”

“—Your feeling is right.”

Then, a strange voice came from the bushes. Everyone turned to look at the source, startled by the alien baritone.

There was a man with yellow buzz cut.

“…Who are you?”

“Are you here to cheat again?”

Shion Ascal. The Soliette team grimaced as if looking at a nuisance, but he shamelessly approached and sat down on the ground.

“No. I came to help, not to cheat.”

“What help? Hey. Hide the report.”

They quickly flipped the report over. Shion chuckled and scanned their faces.

“You guys aren’t sweating at all, how can it be water attribute?”

Aryen retorted at that.

“It’s cold now, okay?”

“Wouldn’t you sweat even if it’s cold? If you’re in a water attribute fog.”

Soliette had been lost in thought until then. To her, Shion was not just being treated as if he didn’t exist, he simply didn’t exist.

“If you move, you’ll sweat right away. Can you please stop pretending to know?”

“No.”

Shion raised a finger. It was a gesture to concentrate, and the team members unwittingly perked up their ears.

“It’s Spirit.”

Spirit.

Aryen asked back at that strange word.

“…0? No attribute?” (0 and spirit can be misunderstood as one another)

“No. Spirit as in spirit.”

“…..”

Then, all the team members had blank expressions.

They couldn’t even laugh. It was such a nonsensical, idiotic statement. If it was a joke, it was of the worst kind, and if he was serious, he was a lunatic.

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah. I’m serious.”

“You’re crazy, aren’t you?”

Among the properties of mana, the most famous and common are of course the ‘elemental’ series, including water, wind, earth, and fire.

However, the properties of mana itself are countless. Metal, beast, emotion, light, darkness, etc… as diverse as the Spectrum, and among them, ‘Spirit’ belongs to a very rare category.

“It’s not the type of mana that comes up in the College Board course.”

“Hey, you know Kielli is on the edge, right? He’ll be here soon, so if you don’t want to get hit, just leave… or not.”

Team member, Karius, stood up from his seat. He went behind a tree and picked up a paper cup.

“Kielli. Are you listening?”

Hearing the voice directed at Kielli, Shion chuckled.

“Anyway, I’ve warned you. Is the debt paid?”

“What do you mean, paying off the debt-”

“…spirit.”

The team members wished he would leave quickly, but Soliette was the one who found it strange.

spirit, spirit, spirit… She murmured quietly and then asked.

“What’s your basis for thinking it’s spirit? Perhaps-”

“Aren’t there too many mushrooms on this mountain?”

In response to Soliette’s curious question, Shion answered with certainty.

For a moment, Soliette’s eyes widened. Arjen, who had been glaring at Shion until now, smirked.

“Hey~ Team leader, what’s wrong?”

“There was a foreign substance in the fog.”

“…Huh?”

That’s why Soliette wore a mask. She, with her sensitive senses, kept feeling something touching her skin and inside her nose.

“Right. This fog isn’t just moisture.”

Shion Ascal raised his eyebrows and continued.

“I think it’s the spores and byproducts of mana that fungi, or mushrooms, emit.”

It was a perfectly reasonable inference. Soliette nodded with a face that had gained a big hint, and the other team members slowly changed their stance.

Arjen was the first to raise the report.

“Ah, ah. That’s right. In these, these pictures, there are mushrooms.”

Pictures taken with a camera prepared for exploration, for ecological surveys. All of them had mushrooms. Even under the trees nearby, tiny mushrooms had sprouted.

“So, when the bonfire touches the fog, it goes out…”

Arujen mumbled, and Shion answered.

“Because the spores block the oxygen? Probably.”

“…Oh.”

“Definitely…”

The team members looked at Shion with a newfound expression.

“Hey, hey!”

Suddenly, Karius jumped out from behind the tree. Holding a paper cup, he cried out with a shocked face.

“It looks like Kielli got hit by someone?! He asked for help and then suddenly cut off!”

“What?!”

Arjen asked in surprise, and Soliette moved first. The team members tried to follow quickly, but she stopped them.

“Sit and wait. You won’t be of any help.”

“…Ah. Right.”

We can’t catch up with Soliette’s speed, and if we get lost, it will be more of a nuisance. It’s better to just wait here.

The team members sat down again.

“Ahem.”

But Shion, who had been the main topic, coughed and stood up. Arjen held him back.

“Hey. You sit down too. Don’t make a fuss.”

Whooosh——!

Suddenly, the sound of a flame burning. Sparks of magic fluttering from Soliette.

It was a Magic Body. But it wasn’t an ordinary Magic Body. Her body was filled with deep magic from head to toe.

A mere high school student had perfectly implemented the ‘One Belt, Four Lines’.

Before the spectators could even marvel, she dashed off like the wind.

“……That’s some impressive Magic Body. Did she really extend it all the way to her feet?”

“Yeah. But how is her mana so red? That’s fascinating.”

While the team members were muttering in a daze, Shion Ascal quietly watched the direction Soliette had run off in, as if he had some lingering regret.

“Do you see anything by just looking?”

Arjen sneered. He continued to stare in that direction as he responded.

“……A little.”

His expression was quite serious. After staring for about 5 minutes, he suddenly furrowed his brows and stood up.

“Hey, hey. We told you to stay put-”

Shush-! He kicked off the ground and soared, quickly climbing up a tree. He grabbed a branch of a tall tree and moved to another tree, then another, disappearing like a monkey climbing trees.

“……What kind of beast is he?”

“When did he learn to do that?”

The team members marveled again, this time for a different reason than with Soliette.

“Anyway, let’s write the report.”

They had no worries. Soliette was already a high school graduate, a 6-star prospect who was considered better than some active knights in some respects.

“Kielli probably ran into a bear or something.”

A bear was nothing more than a small obstacle.

______________________________________________________________________

After about 30 minutes of running, Soliette arrived at the location where Kielli’s trail had ended. It was in the middle of a deep forest, and a crushed paper cup was scattered on the ground.

“…….”

She bent down to pick it up. Sniff, sniff- she even smelled it. There were no clues.

She walked forward again. After a short walk, a cliff appeared. As she gently stepped forward, bits of rock and dirt fell down.

It was a long way down.

He couldn’t have fallen here. If it was an accidental fall, there would be no body to recover.

That’s when she turned around.

—Eeep! Eeep!

A sound could be heard. She quickly looked in that direction. As the fog cleared, Kielli was revealed, tied up in the darkness of the forest.

“……Kielli?”

“Eeep! Eeeeeeep!”

Soliette ran over in a single stride and grabbed the dark rope that bound him.

“What-”

She was startled and let go. It wasn’t a rope. It was a squishy fluid.

“Eeeeeeep! Eeeeeeep!”

“What on earth……?!”

Suddenly, a warning of intuition rang in her mind.

She quickly rolled to the side. Splat-! A dark spear stuck into the ground where she had been standing.

—Hehehe. You took the bait.

A voice, as if the vocal cords were scorched, flowed from the direction of the attack.

Soliette turned to look.

—Foolish humans, blame your own curiosity.

It seemed to be a human, even an Edsilla citizen, speaking proper Edsilla common language, but its appearance was bizarre.

At a height of two meters, his emaciated body resembled a stick figure. His arms, too long and protruding from the oversized cloak wrapped around his body, ended in hands that were too large, as if they could touch the ground with a slight stretch.

Moreover, his hands were not human. The thick, bulging veins and sharp nails made one wonder if they were grafted from some monster.

“…A monster.”

He was a being who, while human, had forsaken his humanity, accepting the physical body or magical power of a monster.

Such demi-human beings were called ‘monsters’ on the continent.

—You seem useful. More so than that one.

He flashed a sinister smile.

Soliette raised her Magic Body in a combat-ready stance. Unfortunately, she had no weapon. The only thing she could use was the explorer’s kukri knife at her waist.

—You have many parts worth taking.

At that moment, his cloak rippled. Soliette looked closely at it.

It wasn’t a cloak. It was a deep, ink-colored shadow. A ‘shadow’ resonating with the monster’s magic.

Whooosh—!

He released the shadow like a harpoon. Clang-! As soon as she deflected it with the kukri, sharp fragments rushed in one after another.

Soliette deployed Arkne’s defensive swordsmanship to repel them, but the blade was too short and her hand was slightly cut. She frowned at the faint pain.

The shadow showed her no mercy.

Swoooosh—!

This time, it swung around like a circular scythe, as if intending to sever the ground where she stood.

Soliette raised her kukri high.

Zzzzzing—!

She generated magic in the kukri to block it, but the blade split. Preparing for the next attack, Soliette split the kukri in two with her own hands. Holding one piece in each hand, she set the blades upright.

—…Hmm?

But suddenly, the monstrosity, who had been frowning, stopped his attack.

—You’re not moving from that spot. Why?

He scratched his chin with his large hand and cocked his head.

Thanks to his momentary distraction, Soliette caught her breath, but he seemed to realize something and snapped his fingers.

—Aha. It’s because of that guy behind you, isn’t it?

He opened his mouth and laughed. His gums were as red as a monkey’s, and his veins reached up to his teeth.

It was disgusting.

Swoooosh——!

Again, a volley of shadows was fired. This time, it blatantly curved towards Kielli behind Soliette. Soliette twisted her body to defend against all of it. Some of the shadow grazed her arm, and blood spurted from her hand, but it was bearable.

—Hahaha.

He stomped on the ground with his foot, laughing heartily. Boom-! From the shockwave, shadow spikes sprouted. Soliette crouched to block the onslaught, which came like a tidal wave.

Kwoooosh——!

The impact spread throughout her body. It felt as if her bones and joints were crumbling.

—Hehehe. Humans are indeed foolish.

By this time, the odds were already slim. Soliette scanned her surrounding, trying to find a way to escape with Kielli, but the monster’s shadow was flickering all around them.

—To choose death because of a worthless comrade.

As the monster muttered bullshit, preparing to finished them.

Whooosh——.

An object flew from the forest behind them. Soliette saw its silhouette.

It was a large rock.

—You guys are the problem-

Thud!

It fell right on his head.

—…….

The monster was momentarily speechless.

—Ha. You guys are the prob-

He sighed slightly and tried to ignore it, but thud—! Another one flew and this time, it squarely hit his jaw.

—…….

The monster fell silent.

Whooosh——.

A third rock flew at a right angle.

Thud—! Unable to endure a third time, he raised his arm to catch it. The rock crumbled into sand in his large hand.

—Which bastard is doing this?

The monster, with a vein popping on his forehead, looked in the direction the rock had come from. It was a dense forest. Conveniently, the mountain fog had descended like a gray curtain.

—Aren’t you the bastard?

Another voice flowed from the beyond the fog. To Soliette, it was a voice she had heard at some point. She asked while maintaining her tension.

“……Shion Ascal?”

—A piece of trash like a mongrel who caught a monster on a whim and shoved it into his body.

It was certain.

It was Shion Ascal.

—It’s you, isn’t it?

He was provoking the monster from his hiding place in the forest.

—Ha ha. Human jealousy is indeed disgusting. Babble all you want. Go ahead.

The monster, on the other hand, sneered and shook his head, but.

—You limp-dick bastard. Who did you get it from? No matter what, you should pay the full price and a little extra for a Chimera transplant. If you fail like you, there’s no turning back-

—Shut your fucking mouth or I’ll rip you apart!!!!

He exploded in an instant. His eyes were covered with dark blood vessels. The shadow wrapped around his body noticeably trembled.

Kwaaaah——!

—You’re just a piece of human trash! How dare you! How dare you insult me!

The shadow sprang up haphazardly, tearing through the trees. All of his nerves were focused on the bush where the voice had come from.

Taking advantage of the situation, Soliette burned the shadow that was suppressing Kielli.

“……Krrr. Ah, ah, I, that…….”

As soon as he was released, he vomited.

That was still okay.

“Th-that, ugh…… that…….”

But the sight of him trying to crawl away while vomiting.

“What an asshole…….”

Soliette was utterly disgusted.