Chapter 124

The sharp, swinging axe,

carrying the might to split anything in one go,

struck down upon the body of the red snail.

—Thwack!

The axe left a deep wound in its body.

“…Tch…”

However, the wound healed instantaneously, and in turn, it charged straight at the one who had swung the axe—

Cheshire.

Cheshire, barely managing to dodge the attack, pulled back.

With pure combat ability stronger than Elkana’s but slightly lower than Magellan’s, she found herself at a disadvantage against it.

“F-For now… thank you, Auriel.”

Elkana expressed her gratitude, to which Auriel replied with a tense voice.

“Let’s save the thanks for later… What on earth is that thing?”

“I don’t know either. Until a moment ago, it just looked like a Grade 10 Warrior in armor, then it…”

That creature could even heal from a concentrated strike in the blink of an eye.

Moreover, the liquid covering its entire body, resembling blood, made direct contact with it nearly impossible,

and its speed was so incredible it was hard to believe it even resembled a snail.

A monster that seemed to defy all reason.

At that moment…

“Huh?”

“…Hey… what’s that…?”

The snail slowly lifted its head, looking this way.

Then, they began to notice something.

The part that corresponds to its mouth…

“I-I think I’ve heard somewhere that snails have like twenty thousand teeth…”

“…Insane…”

—Chiiiiiing!!!!

Countless red teeth, each roughly the size of a fingernail, twisted within its mouth.

As if resembling a blender, those teeth started rotating as it slowly approached them.

And then…

“It’s coming!”

“Ugh!”

The creature charged forward at high speed.

In a hurry, Auriel attempted to deploy an aura barrier to block its assault.

This magic could easily chew through ordinary spells and had successfully saved Magellan just moments ago.

However…

—Wrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

“!!!”

The aura barrier crumpled and shredded like paper against the snail’s rapidly rotating teeth.

Auriel’s face began to scrunch up in real-time as she witnessed this.

No matter what, it was a barrier made of aura.

There was no way she had expected it to be obliterated so easily.

Just then…

—Wham!!!

“!”

“Ugh!”

Magellan thrust his sword into the mouth of the creature that had broken through the barrier.

If it had been an ordinary sword, even wrapped in Grade 9 condensation, it would have been ground to pieces by its high-speed rotating teeth.

However, in that moment, what he plunged into its body was the famous sword, Calaborg.

Possessing an unmatched durability compared to regular steel swords, it halted the creature’s spinning teeth in an instant while successfully piercing through to where its brain was.

That strike seemed to have been quite effective, as the creature momentarily stopped moving.

And…

They didn’t miss the golden opportunity that arose.

“Die already!!!”

—Thwack!!!

The two of them slammed their weapons down with all their might.

Their attacks struck precisely at the relatively thin neck of the snail.

Given that it would heal even if they made a half-hearted cut, they exerted all their strength to sever it.

And finally…

“Ah!”

The creature’s head flew off.

At the same time, sensing the power dissipating from the teeth gripping the sword, Magellan pulled out Calaborg.

“Gah…ugh…”

“Ar-Are you okay, Magellan? Y-Your hand…”

“Just give me a moment…”

Magellan’s hand was already half-melted by the creature’s acidic liquid,

to which Auriel quickly used aura to heal his hand.

“Phew…”

The intense pain rapidly faded away.

Magellan began to show a much more relaxed expression, and Elkana let out a deep sigh of relief.

“Haha… w-we did it. With this, that creature…”

“…Not yet.”

“…Huh?”

Cheshire’s voice was extraordinarily calm.

However, contrary to her tone, the content was anything but calming, causing the three to turn their heads in unison.

What caught their eyes was…

“…That monster… how…?”

“Ugh…”

Although its head was severed, the snail was still squirming, moving toward them without a head in sight.

Despite the clear danger, it was genuinely terrifying to think that it might truly be an immortal being.

Feeling that dreadful sensation, they forced themselves to rise with great effort, preparing for battle once more.

Then…

—Fwoosh!!!

“!?”

“Uh?”

Suddenly, a torrent of blazing flame ripped through the air.

The familiar yet intense flame began to envelop the snail.

In an instant, it seemed to lose moisture and its movement slowed.

At the same time, a strangely nutty aroma filled the air.

When the flame finally dissipated, revealing the scene…

There lay the creature, thoroughly roasted and meeting its end.

“…”

“…Um…”

It was a rather anticlimactic death for a creature that had boasted such monstrous vitality.

Then…

As the four stood there with blank expressions, they began to hear her voice.

“Are you all okay? I’m sorry. It took a bit longer than I expected…”

Franklin rushed toward them, looking quite fine compared to them, who were drenched in slime, while behind her,

lay another black warrior, or rather, a snail that had become nearly charcoal-like.

“You took down that monster all alone…”

“Indeed… this is the strength of a Grade 10 Grand Warrior…”

“Impressive. Our leader is truly something else.”

“…”

They gazed at her with sparkling admiration.

However, Franklin started to feel quite flustered because of their praises.

“W-Wait! Th-This isn’t the time to be slacking off. Now that we’ve dealt with them, we must hurry and capture Duke Ocleang.”

“Yes, understood.”

With those words, they promptly moved toward the thicket.

Although it had taken quite a bit of time, they didn’t give up and began to swiftly move.

Hoping that today, they could finally put an end to that troublesome creature.

*

“Ha… ha… ha…”

After running mindlessly, Duke Ocleang finally slumped down.

Panting heavily, he wiped away the pouring sweat.

“Damn it… how did it come to this…”

In the past few years, the only time he had sweated this profusely was when he was indulging his proclivities with young girls he fancied.

However, in this moment, not a single girl was in sight—only filthy mud and thickets lingered around him.

It was an utterly disgusting situation, yet even now, he felt he couldn’t waste a second complaining.

With the enemies potentially at his heels, he needed to flee as far as he could.

‘B-But… surely soon, Commander Wallenstein will arrive to sort this whole thing out. If I can just hold on until then…’

Thinking this, he tried to catch his breath and slowly rose again.

Yet…

“…Huh?”

In the next moment, he saw a figure walking slowly through the thicket.

Seeing that stranger, Duke Ocleang rubbed his eyes, wondering if it was just fatigue playing tricks on him.

And then…

“C-Could it be? That girl…?”

After rubbing his eyes several times, it was certainly no illusion.

A girl, seemingly searching for someone, was scanning the area around her.

Upon recognizing who she was, Duke Ocleang swallowed hard.

“Hehe… Ambasha… Never did I expect to see her in a place like this… gulp…”