Village of Akau 7

"Alek, I want to hit the monster with this iron arrow! Should I throw it?"

"Understood."

I load an iron arrow into my crossbow.

"Let's go at the same time to distract the monster."

"Got it."

"3... 2... 1..."

We both dash off in opposite directions at once.

The monster turns toward Alek, preparing to spit slime.

I stop briefly and take a precise shot.

I can't let a dangerous monster like this get out into the open! I'll hit it here!

The arrow pierces the monster with a whoosh.

But the monster turns back toward me and spits out the accumulated slime.

"I'm thinking about this too, you know."

I pull out the detonation crystal and channel my magic into it, then throw it.

The crystal explodes before hitting the slime, sending the viscous substance flying in all directions.

I dodged the slime and dashed forward again.

The monster was charging toward me.

"Next one's this way."

Alex said, then loosed an arrow.

The iron arrow struck perfectly—better than my crossbow, I think.

The monster was flailing, unable to move, and simply froze in place.

One after another, I rained arrows upon it.

"Good enough. Get back to safety now."

When I said that, Alex leapt high and came behind me.

I concentrated intensely, preparing to unleash the lightning magic at maximum output.

I could feel the light gemstone reacting. Just a little more.

The larval monster trembled for a moment, then froze completely.

"Did it work?"

I felt puzzled and let my concentration slip.

"Stay alert! It's in a state of temporary stasis!"

Alex lunged forward and pushed me down.

「ギギャアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアンン」

魔獣は目を見開き、体中に孔が開いた、そこから粘液と体毛が飛び散る。

今の鳴き声で洞窟の内壁も落ちてくる。

魔獣の攻撃が収まったようだ。アレクは動かない。幸いにも気を失っているだけのようだ。俺はアレクをどかして起き上がる。

Alex had a large burn on his back, and several stiffened hairs seemed to be embedded in it.

Clenching his fists tightly in frustration over his own helplessness, he turned back toward the monster.

His ears, shaking the ground, rang with incomprehensible sounds, making it impossible to stand steadily.

The monster was staring at him. It had stopped moving, its body rippling like waves.

"Damn it! You might be fighting for your life too, but so are we. Sorry about this, but I'm taking your life."

Focusing with all his might, he unleashed the lightning spell he had been preparing.

A torrent of lightning spread across the hall, surging from the stake that had struck the monster.

The beast was then enveloped in a violent storm of electricity.

After a moment, the creature stopped moving, emitting the smell of scorched flesh.

"What... what is this? Can you really do something like this?"

Alek had somehow risen to his feet, stunned by my magic.

"Are you okay, Alek? Your back looks pretty bad."

I checked Alek's condition, pressing my hands against my ringing ears.

"Come to think of it, yeah. I didn't notice at first, but it's been hurting quite a lot."

"Hmm... just hold on a second."

I pull out a healing crystal from my pack. It was expensive, but the doctor in the capital gave it to me. I also have another one, given to me by the captain.

I close my eyes and concentrate.

The healing crystal begins to glow, and so does Alex.

I manage to use the healing crystal, though its output is quite weak and takes time.

"Removing the needle from your back now. Try to bear with it a little."

While activating the healing crystal, I carefully pulled out the stiff hairs still embedded in my back.

Thanks to steady, repeated practice, I’d managed to learn how to perform other tasks while keeping the crystal active.

My head ached slightly. I was clearly worn out.

“How’s the pain now? Does it feel better?”

“Thanks, this much recovery is enough to move again.”

With our mobility restored, we began assessing our situation.

We’ve completely defeated the monster.

"Look, Taro. When the monster’s bodily fluid mixes with the water flowing from the mining site, it turns into that glowing water."

"Indeed, we should preserve the monster’s bodily fluid. And we must make sure it doesn’t leak out."

I said that, then carefully poured the fluid into a small bottle.

We discussed what to do with the monster next.

In the end, no good solution came to mind, so incineration was our only option. We lit the dried wood and the monster together with a fire rune, taking care not to touch its bodily fluids, and quickly left the old mine.

The last glimpse I caught of the monster was it entirely engulfed in flames. In that state, it would surely burn down to nothing.

Exiting the mine, we headed toward the main entrance.

For some reason, I found myself standing quietly with my hands clasped in front of the stone door.

What is that?

It's a prayer commonly performed in the country where I used to live—something like a ritual done when giving thanks for life or mourning the dead.

Alek, without realizing it, had begun offering prayers in his own way.

A faint wisp of smoke rose from the gap in the main gate, filling the air with the smell of burning, but after a while, both the smoke and the odor disappeared.

"Is it over?"

"It seems so. Look— the water's shine is gradually fading, turning slightly dull."

"Indeed, it's almost certain the creature's bodily fluids are to blame."

"Let's hope that's the case. For now, let's stay in the village a little longer and keep an eye on things."

"Yes, that's fine. I need to recover my strength anyway... Please don't worry about it. It's quite common."

I said nothing and began walking toward the village.

Upon returning to the village, I reported the entire incident to the guild branch chief.

"That's right. The old mine was an overlooked point."

"Unexpectedly, we encountered a monster, but its combat power wasn't high, so we managed to repel it with just the two of us. Moreover, the fluid secreted by that monster likely produced the glowing liquid responsible for the recent surge in sub-beasts. I believe the number of sub-beasts will decrease again in time."

"That's good. I'll send a rush message to the capital right away. All we need now is for those afflicted by the strange illness to recover...

Unfortunately, a solution has still not been found.

However, we've managed to halt the increase in patients at the same time. If we can dedicate more time, funding, and manpower to research, we might eventually find a breakthrough."

After my conversation with the branch leader, I went to the research lab I was borrowing. There was something I needed to verify.

I mixed the bodily fluid collected from the monster into water containing degraded water crystals. The water crystals, which had previously seemed lifeless, began to faintly glow again.

"Amazing—really coming back to life. But now that I think about it, this is clearly not the proper shape of a crystal."

Ordinary crystal fragments are roughly spherical, like grains, but when mixed with the bodily fluids of a demon beast, they deform into a rhombus shape. Another distinguishing feature is that their color is slightly paler—comparing it side by side with both altered and unchanged crystals finally allowed me to notice it.

How could I have missed such a clear characteristic, even though I had the knowledge... I'm still far from capable...

How does this relate to the human body? First, I directly touched it and began flowing magical essence through it.

To my surprise, the magical stones that had been altered by the monster's bodily fluids started approaching the area where I was channeling the magical essence. While the exact effect remains unclear, I couldn't help but feel—somewhat, vaguely—that this might be the cause.

Perhaps further experiments and verification could reveal many more things. But with the equipment available here, this is as far as I can go.

After this, our options are limited.

A few days passed, and the number of beast-like creatures appearing dramatically decreased, so we decided to return to the imperial capital.