Chapter 399

399 Moon and Hill, and the Sorcerer #5

The Descent of the Savage…!

One body with three heads attached to it.

And the six arms, along with an absurd number of fingers, move independently, forming peculiar shapes.

Swish, swish-.

It was like the hand gestures of a child playing shadow games, or the jutsu from the ninja comics I used to love watching.

To me, who can sense mana, it was clear that each of these hand movements carried some strange meaning or principle.

Each of them could be considered a spell or a magical chant in itself. At that moment, Elpride, who was shedding a raccoon skin far away, shouted.

“Hassan, he’s drawing runes with his hands! We have to stop him!”

Even though I didn’t understand what it meant to draw runes, I agreed that we needed to stop whatever he was preparing.

So, I infused my club with aura and leaped into the air, swinging it down with all my force towards one of the heads.

Shaaaak-.

The club, glowing with a red energy, scorched the air and distorted the space itself as it descended in a grand arc toward the middle of Chrom, the God of Druidry’s, three heads.

Pssshht-.

At the moment I thought his head would shatter, it was far from happening, Gloria!

One of his many arms smacked me and slammed me into the ground.

“Ahh, it hurts-!”

I screamed in pain as I felt the vibrations of the severe impact through every bone in my body after colliding with the cave wall. Meanwhile, the three heads just gave out a ghastly laughter, kkkhahaha-.

We are not the same as back then. The Samaritan warriors have arisen from d*ath, gaining an unprecedented power!

We thank you, black-haired one. Thanks to you, we’ve come to realize the truth between the two cycles of life and d*ath!

Fury of Nature!

Grinding, grinding-.

At that moment, their monstrous bodies began to twist.

Simultaneously, long fur sprouted across their previously smooth blue skin, and sharp claws grew on their pillar-like hands and feet.

Grrroar-.

Their faces grew long snouts with sharp teeth, transforming into a very intimidating sight. They had become bears, monstrous bears that seemed to have emerged from the twisted underworld.

Craaaa-!!!

With their three snouts opening wide, they roared, and the sound seemed like it would burst my ears which were already hypersensitive from the roar. Instinctively, I covered them.

At that instant, a massive forepaw swung towards me, likely taking advantage of the flinch caused by the roar, intending to rip me apart.

In order to avoid being torn into three pieces by the paw, about my height in size, I quickly leaped back and rolled away-.

Clashhh-.

His claws scraped against the cave floor, creating sparks in a powerful attack that matched his enormous size and presence. But it lacked precision.

The reason for that must be the deep eye injuries they received from the senior healers.

Even after transforming into monstrous bears, the wounds in their eyes bled even more profusely, getting bigger.

Missed-. Without eye-sight, it’s really tough. d*mn pink-haired women.

It’ll be soon. Once the sorcery on the spring is completed, everything will regenerate and grow stronger.

Pain-!

Taking advantage of their conversation, I began contemplating how to fight against such a large and monstrous creature.

At that moment, a powerful orb of magic came flying from somewhere.

Sizzle-.

It was a fireball.

Probably from Elpride. It collided with the monster’s head, exploding noisily and instantly setting the surrounding air ablaze.

Gaaaahh-!

Even a giant creature like it couldn’t endure the searing pain of the flames and began rolling around while screaming in agony.

Being burnt is truly an excruciating pain. I know this from personal experience.

It’s a torment that wraps around the body, making one feel as though their head is splitting open and their mind is going mad, leaving no room for any other thoughts besides the pain.

Sizzle, sizzle-.

“Is that all you’ve got? How dare you call me an estrous raccoon, you?”

Elpride conjured up five fireballs at the tip of her staff, gradually increasing their size until they merged into a colossal sphere.

A ball as large as my torso, giving off a feeling so intense it could be called a small sun. Even I felt chills down my spine.

I’ve seen Elpride’s fire magic many times, but I’ve never seen one with such an overwhelming presence. Could it be a newly devised ultimate technique?

“Slumbering flame of the earth-. The bird that eats its own body to grow-. Come now, powered by mana, rise and soar through the skies.”

As she continued the incantation, the surrounding temperature rose instantly, drying up any moisture. My lips became parched, my skin dried out, and even my eyes felt sticky.

I didn’t know what would happen if I took the brunt of the completed spell. A magic of such colossal dimensions and intense grand spell would surely have a significant aftermath. Should I d*e from it?

d*mn it, a fire mage-! Stop the incantation, we need to stop it-!

From above Elpride’s head, a bear’s paw came down forcefully, but Elpride didn’t seem to notice, fully focused on her incantation.

“d*mn-.”

So, I quickly ran towards the creature. As the paw descended like a steel trailer, I barely managed to catch it with both hands.

“Grrrr-!”

Because of its size and weight, I clenched my teeth tightly, feeling like my knees were about to buckle. It felt like my knee joints could collapse any moment now.

It’s because of me that I could withstand it to this degree. If Elpride had received this, she would have been flattened without a doubt. Considering that, I feel somewhat fortunate.

Is the incantation almost done? I was wondering when Elpride finally shouted.

“Blaze of Ra-!”

At the same time, the huge fireball was launched. But its speed, corresponding to its inflated size, was so slow as to be leisurely.

Of course, the three-headed monster, despite its size and slowness, couldn’t avoid it, and eventually, Elpride’s fireball struck and erupted in a violent explosion over its massive body.

KaBOOM!

The explosion.

There were no words to describe that impact. A searing heat enveloped me, rushing upward and burning everything in its surroundings.

Considering it was necessary to protect Elpride, who was behind me, I jumped forward, shielding her. An explosion of this magnitude, even a user like Elpride couldn’t escape the backlash.

Sometime later, when I came to my senses,

I realized that the three-headed monster had been completely annihilated, not even leaving behind a speck of ash.

Looking at it, Elpride narrowed her eyebrows.

“…”

She looked at her palms, moving her gaze from the scorched cave to where her ever-worn leather gloves lay charred and partly burned in black soot.

“The power is too much. The destructive force of the flames has become too strong. I didn’t think they’d be this intense….”

Elpride seemed worried because the ultimate power of the flames she had cast turned out to be excessively strong.

With an expression full of unspoken thoughts, Elpride held her burned gloves tightly in her fist and didn’t say anything further.

“A-! What is this?!”

At that moment, Luna’s voice loudly echoed from outside.

*

As we came out of the cave, the first thing we saw was the two moons high in the sky.

The summit of the mountain, where the moons shone so clearly, made me feel as though I understood why this mountain was called Moonrise Mountain.

And under that moonlight, Luna, who shares her name with the moon, was sitting in a small pit, frantically digging with her hands.

Skkrrt, skkrrt-.

Because she was wearing a raccoon skin, her silhouette from behind perfectly resembled a wild animal—fun in a way.

“Luna, what are you doing? Did you get the spring water?”

Despite my question, Luna continued digging at the ground with both hands.

“No! The strange explosion from just now dried up all of the spring water!”

“Ah, d*mn. This is bad.”

The mini sun Elpride had fired seemed to have affected the spring water Luna was trying to collect. The pit Luna was sitting in must have been where the spring used to be.

“It’s not my fault.”

At this, Elpride turned her head away with a “hmmph.” Of course, I didn’t blame her. It was dangerous to accuse her, considering she might unleash that really powerful fireball again.

So, what should we do? I was deep in thought when Luna said, while moving her hands energetically.

“But it’s alright! If I keep digging, there must be a source flowing somewhere deep inside!”

Luna’s unwavering belief seemed to suggest that there was still a water source beneath this dried-up spring. Naturally, I hoped the same.

If there were, our hard work to come here wouldn’t have been in vain.

I also decided to help Luna by digging up this pit to find either the spring or some water source.

All I felt beneath my hands was dry, parched soil. You could call it sand. I instinctively realized that the water source beneath here had dried up completely.

“Luna, it’s better if we dig somewhere else. There’s no moisture here.”

“But this is where the spring used to be. So, where should we dig? Hassan, can you tell where the water source originates?”

At this point, Luna straightened up.

Because she had been digging for so long, Luna was tired and was wiping a lot of sweat from under her raccoon hood while furrowing her brow.

I turned my gaze away from her and addressed Elpride.

“Hey, Elpride, do you still have that Thunder Acornfruit?”

Elpride, who had remained silent for a while due to the awkwardness of drying up the spring, began rummaging through her trouser pocket and handed me the fruit.

“Yup. What’s with it?”

That fruit was the Thunder Acornfruit that Luna had given to wake Elpride up from her slumber.

Inside the acorn, there would be a seed.

I planted this in the pit that Luna had just finished digging furiously, and then I said to Luna.

“Luna, do you have any remaining health potions?”

“Potion? Why? What are you trying to do suddenly? I don’t have any potions, but I do have one health bead.”

“In that case, give it to me. You’ll understand when you see what I’m doing.”

“If so, then, here-.”

From Luna’s waist, I received a bead the size of my thumbnail. I crushed it and placed it in the waterskin at my waist.

This much should work as a makeshift health potion. As I shook it thoroughly to mix it, I, Hassan, the pseudo-god of alchemy, could instinctively feel the rhythm that would ensure the ground bead and water blended well.

In this state, I felt confident enough to mix complicated cocktails that would be hard to replicate.

Clang, clang-.

After thoroughly mixing water in the leather waterskin, I poured it on the acorn seed I had just planted.

At that moment, something astonishing happened.

Ssstt-.

It germinated, breaking through the dry soil.

Seeing this, Luna exclaimed in surprise.

“Wow, the seed already grew this much? Hassan, what’s happening here?”

“Luna, do you not know? If you sprinkle the health potion on the ground, grass and plants sprout like this quickly.”

“I didn’t! Why would you waste a health potion on the ground! Did you throw away the ones I gave you on the ground? That’s too much!”

Luna made a pouty face. Accidentally misunderstood, I had no choice but to reveal the truth.

“It wasn’t me but Paranoi….”

“Paranoi, that girl. I made them for her to drink, thinking it would help her grow tall, but she didn’t! Instead she spat them out on the yard plants!”

It turned out that Paranoi often spat out the health potions Luna had made especially for her.

Pretending to drink them all, she would instead store them in her squirrel stash and, when Luna wasn’t looking, would spray “Bwee-!” on the yard plants.

I had coincidentally witnessed this and promised to keep it a secret, but well, that’s not important now, d*mn.

Through this, I clearly understood that plants and leaves exposed to health potions would exhibit extraordinary growth.

It’s likely that the components of Luna’s potions stimulate plant growth. However, what I’m trying to accomplish doesn’t end here.

Swoosh-.

I slashed my palm with a dagger from my waist, creating a small wound. Seeing my bl**d drip, Elpride asked,

“Why did you cut your palm?”

“I feel this will be better.”

I placed my bl**d-dripping palm on the soil around the tender sprouts of the newly emerged acorn.

The parched soil began to turn red as if it were drinking my bl**d greedily, like a thirsty mouth.

Simultaneously, the young sprout that had been growing from the ground began to grow rapidly, visible to the n*ked eye.

Ever since ancient times, the plants I’ve cultivated have all grown rapidly into lush grass.

Even the flower pots I took care of as an elementary school student grew so large that I received praise from my teacher and had them transplanted into the school garden.

Thinking about it now, that must have been one of my talents.

The talent to nurture plants.

I probably inherited this from my mother who cultivates strawberries and flowers in greenhouses.

I focused on the bl**d flowing through my body. The mana of the dead and the hellish power. In contrast to that, there was also vitality that dwelled red within me.

I was transferring them to the earth and the trees.

Suss, suss-.

At that moment, I could feel the parched earth pulling life force from my body, almost as if it were drinking the bl**d that dribbled from my palm.

Simultaneously, the young sprout growing from the ground underwent rapid growth.

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