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TL: ALT
Chapter 122 – Day 14 of the Strategy Life
The sky was dark, and the rain would not stop.
The three of us listened carefully.
Outside the well, we continued to wait for the giant magical beast. Chel and I put on our coats and prepared our equipment to make sure we were ready when it arrived.
A group of cow-sized lungfish were rampaging through the muddy stream that had formed nearby. Occasionally, wyverns and death condors would swoop down from the sky and try to snatch them away, but they seemed to get eaten as well. As usual, there seems to be no difference between the weak and the strong in the demonic land.
The succulent flowers that bloomed all at once began to fall under the rain, and when I brought the light of the magic stone lantern close to them, I could see that they were digesting the monsters that had been stored in their stems.
If you say it is as usual, it is as usual.
I caught and cleaned the lungfish, but the mud smell was still hard to get rid of, so it couldn’t be eaten unless it was grilled with herbs.
I ended up spending the night in the well.
I can’t say for sure because the sky was dark the whole time, but judging by the feeling in my stomach, it must have been afternoon.
Suddenly, the presence of the monsters disappeared.
I could no longer hear the lungfish swimming or the wyvern screaming, and even the muddy current seemed to have slowed down.
The rain continued as before. I had made a roof out of the monsters’ bones and butterbur leaves to keep the raindrops out of the well, but a gust of wind would probably blow it away.
I just move around as much as I can to keep warm.
I boil some medicinal herbs and make a paste to wrap in leaves. Once I’m on top of the giant magical beast, I can’t afford to be careless, even if it’s just a scratch.
I’ve also had a good nap and checked the flow of magic power by comparing it with Chel’s. Chel took off her magic seal bracelet, so she has more magic power than me.
“No, it’s just that the input from Makyo is so great that I have to release it.”
“Should I hold it back? It’s hard to make fine adjustments.”
It’s difficult to focus magic power only on the muscles you use. It’s like looking at your own muscles from the inside. When you get the slightest bit nervous, your neck muscles tense up, and just holding your posture uses your abdominal and back muscles. You have to be aware of the parts you’re moving without using magic power. If you don’t consciously relax the other parts, your accuracy will decrease.
“Because rocks and monsters will also fall.”
“They won’t attack you if you rush in, so you just have to dodge them.”
I stepped out of the well and started practicing deflecting the raindrops with my magic. I knew that the giant magical beast would soon appear, but I couldn’t help but feel restless if I didn’t move.
I first tried to catch the falling raindrops.
I just need to send the magic power above my head and gently deflect the raindrops. When the wind blows, it changes all at once, so it’s impossible to do it accurately. It would be better if I could just cover my whole body with a cube of magic power, but it’s important to be able to perceive things.
After all, the only skill that will be useful in the demonic land is the ability to observe. The rest is just a matter of adapting. That won’t change even if I get on the giant magical beast.
The sky darkened even more, and the rain suddenly stopped, and fog began to appear.
The air grew cold, and my breath turned white.
Woosh…
When I looked up, I saw lightning flashing through the black clouds.
A huge wall suddenly appeared beyond the light.
The wind blew, and the river water rushed in.
“It’s here!”
I called Chel, who was resting in the well, and picked up my belongings.
In a few seconds, we were all out of the well.
The people, seeing the giant magical beast for the first time, froze, unable to speak.
Lightning struck the forest, and the rain began to fall intermittently, like a bucket overturned.
“Let’s go!”
“Yes!”
“Jennifer!
Jennifer stretched her legs and cheeks repeatedly, trying to free her motionless body. We need her to accompany us to the nearby area as we are about to jump into the air with the slime wall.
“Makyo-san, please push me on my back!”
Smack!
With a loud snap, Jennifer finally began to move.
“I’m off!”
Jennifer started running without looking back, so we followed her.
A little later, the voices of the three left behind, “Have a good trip!” could be heard.
We ran all the way to the forest, where footprints were found, with magic power in our legs. Chel made a path with earth magic under our feet otherwise we would have been buried in the river or slipped in the mud.
When Jennifer almost stopped, Chel said, “You don’t have to stop.
She said reassuringly.
Finally, Jennifer’s fear seems to have disappeared, and she is able to dodge all the flying rocks and hard insect monsters.
Her running speed increased.
Swosh… swosh…
The giant magical beast-like mountain range is visible but difficult to get close to.
A strong wind is blowing from the side, and it is rising powerfully into the sky.
I used my magic cube to block the wind and continued running. Right behind me, a tornado formed and rose into the sky.
“Jennifer, go ahead and create a wall of slime to wait for us. I want to get on board without losing momentum!”
Jennifer, who had turned around, looked as if she was going to say, “It’s impossible to increase speed anymore,” but Chel poured magic power into Jennifer’s legs.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got it under control!”
A gust of wind blew from Chel’s hand, and Jennifer was blown forward. With that momentum, Jennifer began to run and disappeared into the depths of the forest.
Three seconds later, we charged into the forest as well.
Branches, bushes, tree trunks – we kept running, smashing them all with my magic-covered fists. With our feet firmly on the ground, we approached the giant magical beast in one bound.
I saw a light in the footprints ahead.
“Please jump!”
Jennifer turned the magic stone lantern in a circle to show us the location of the slime wall.
Without hesitation, Chel and I stepped onto the slime wall with all our might, then jumped into the air as we gained momentum.
Before we fell in an arc, I used my time-stopping cape to create a foothold by releasing a magic cube.
After making sure Chel had also landed on the magic cube, I looked for a place where we could land on the giant magic beast.
In the darkness, I used lightning and magic sonar to locate our position. Then we dropped, shielding ourselves from the howling wind. We landed on the leaves of the plants growing on the shell of the giant magical beast, and we made it to land safely.
“Where are we going? The top?”
Because the storm made it almost impossible to hear, Chel shouted in my ear.
“No, let’s go down to the bowl first. The leaves are trying to swallow us!”
The leaves were rolling up and trying to swallow us. It must be a giant variety of bendgrass.
Bang!
With a fist full of magic power, I punched a hole in the leaves and landed on the bottom of the shell.
There were black rocks everywhere, and they shook when I stepped on them. Through the gaps between the rocks, I saw familiar carnivorous plants from the demonic land, such as cam fruit, bendgrass, and palm trees. They didn’t seem to photosynthesize, and except for their red color and ridiculous size, they were pretty much the same as in the demonic land.
The edges of the shells are slightly sloped, so even if there’s a vibration, it doesn’t seem too difficult to move around.
The plants block the wind, so I can calmly make my plans. I can hear the monsters screaming, but there is no sign of them running over the giant magical beast. It’s probably the voices of the monsters that were lifted up by the tornado.
“Anyway, this place is near the tail of the giant magical beast, right? Let’s go to the head.”
Before climbing the mountain, I want to examine the foot of the slope to see how the plants grow and the characteristics of the environment in different places.
“Okay.”
Chel, perhaps because of her excitement, spoke without an accent.
We didn’t climb the slope but walked along the top of the giant magical beast, with the mountain to our left.
It was almost like hiking, but giant plants attacked us, and the ground kept vibrating, so it was a strange feeling. However, we were able to deal with the plants with our fists and magic, and the vibrations were as we expected, so there were no problems.
Maybe because we were always tense, we were sweating a lot, so we took a few short breaks. We should have at least a day.
After walking for a while, the plants started to grow as if they were being swept away, and we finally reached a place where only vines and moss crawled along the ground.
The slope also became steeper, and we could see protruding rocks and cliffs. Of course, there were no plants to protect us from the wind, so the strong wind blew down on us.
“Let’s climb up a bit and be careful. We still have time.”
Since we were in an open area, we looked for the giant magical beast, but the tornado blew up the dead trees of the coniferous forest.
“Got it…”
We climbed up the slippery black cliff, checking our footing as we made our way to the top.
The footing often crumbled from the wind and vibrations, but sometimes, we would change the properties of our magic power and cling to the cliff to get through.
As we continued up the cliff, with almost no footholds, we came to a large hollow in the middle of the path.
We went into the hollow to rest.
“We’re just resting, but we’re still making progress.”
“I know.”
We checked for scratches and applied healing medicine to the affected areas. We also replenished our water and salt supplies with dried meat.
While Chel was leaning against the wall and eating dried meat, the wall suddenly began to shake like a wave, and a large red wolf, emitting light from within, was about to jump out with its mouth open. It looked similar to the monster that was in the big hole of the Cliff Garuda.
I grabbed Chel’s cloak and pulled her toward me, and without hesitation, I drove my fist into the giant wolf’s mouth. I removed its head with the magic cube.
The next moment, the giant wolf vanished like smoke. Only its fangs remained on the ground.
“It’s a drop item…”
Chel muttered.
“What does that mean?”
“I think it’s a monster from the dungeon.”
“We just entered a cave, and there weren’t any ruins, were there?”
“It’s coming from inside the giant magic beast.”
“How is that possible?”
“Isn’t that what happens in the demonic land?!”
BAM!
The wall continued to ripple, and a giant hand reached out to grab us.
We quickly grabbed our belongings and fled the cave. Without thinking about appearances, I used the magic cube and the time-stopping cape to move at top speed.
The moss and plants crawling across the ground gradually turned into a group of sloping and growing plants, and the neck of the giant magical beast came into view.
“It doesn’t have a head?”
“It has a neck…”
I thought that the giant magical beast might be a turtle and that it might hide its head inside its shell, but there was a long neck.
Only the head was missing.
We pushed through the large plants and suddenly came out into an open area.
The base of the neck of the giant magical beast. Beneath the leaning trees was a shabby hut that looked as if it had been crushed. Near the hut were several graves.
“It’s a hut…”
“I wonder if someone lives there?”
“In a place like this?”
As we stood there for a while, looking at the surreal scene, a light came on inside, and a thin soldier emerged from the hut.
“Eh…?!”
The soldier was more surprised than we were, his eyes widening in surprise. We were surprised, too, our mouths hanging open under our masks, but we looked nothing more than suspicious figures in our cloaks hiding our faces.
The soldier had scales on his neck. His eyes looked like those of a reptile, but he wasn’t that intimidating. For some reason, he looked a bit like the captain of the training facility.
“Hello…”
I raised my hand to greet him.
“H-hello… eh?!”
That was our first encounter with the Time Keeper.
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Woohoo, they did it
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