The Druid Who Swallowed Mother Nature - Chapter 83
Only Noblemtl
Episode 82. We have to fight.
Kwajik!
The claws that sprouted from his fists, like spiked knuckles, scratched the enemy’s nape.
The skin was torn and ripped, and blood spurted out.
Chelsea grabbed his neck and tried to stop the bleeding quickly, but the backflow of magic came first.
“Whew!”
She staggered and vomited black blood mixed with pieces of intestines.
The side effects of magic when it fails increase in proportion to its difficulty and power.
It was a desperate measure to stop the wanderer, so it wouldn’t be easy to stop the backlash.
“Chelsea!”
“I, I’m done, so let’s quickly fight back… …!”
Chelsea shouted and stopped her men who were trying to run towards her.
The prepared numbers were broken helplessly, but the battle was not over.
The intention was to somehow inflict a significant blow on us, disregarding our own lives.
It’s a tearful loyalty.
“You’re making too much fun of the magician of the magic tower.”
I laughed at their antics.
If my party were just ordinary magicians, I wouldn’t know, but they are the leaders of the Magic Tower’s school.
The Wanderer was one of the most experienced and seasoned of them all.
This situation did not even fall into the category of crisis.
“It’s a hot day, so I’d like something hot.”
Hurrruk!
Colin did not betray my expectations.
As he hummed and snapped his fingers, a huge curtain of fire raced in all directions.
The murderous desert heat grew hotter than ever.
It was literally a burning heat that made even my lips dry up from the distance.
“How is it that magic of this scale has already been created… …!”
“Kwaaak!”
“Hey, save me!”
A wizard who has reached a high level is not bound by the magic of the school he belongs to.
If you become a schoolmaster, your power is not inferior to that of a specialist.
The power of the elemental fire magic unleashed in a special place called the desert was beyond imagination.
“Ugh!”
Sage didn’t stay still either.
She didn’t panic even in confusing situations.
He performed his magic as coolly and precisely as he had done during practice.
Clang!
Chain Pressure, chains of magical power restrained the bodies of enemies trying to escape from the curtain of fire.
It is a chain that has the property of digging in the more you struggle.
It was a viciously effective linkage, where the more you tried to run away out of fear of being killed, the more you were restrained.
“Nonsense, nonsense… … .”
Chelsea sat down and forced her voice to speak.
“How, huh! To a hitman like us.”
“It’s not something to feel bad about.”
I walked leisurely and listened to Chelsea’s words.
It was a fight that was already over without me having to interfere any further.
Colin seemed to feel it too.
It seemed as if he was trying to give Sage some experience by taking advantage of this opportunity, and he was secretly focusing on assisting her.
“Think of it as a battle between relic exploration parties. It’s not like it’s the first or second time you’ve been through this, so why are you joking around? It’s just that it’s your turn to suffer this time.”
There was no pangs of conscience.
The difference is whether it collapses now or later.
The Thorson Expedition was destined to disband due to the failure of this exploration of the ruins.
“… … .”
The truth is not always a comfort.
For some, it was an excuse to resent.
Chelsea, who had been glaring at me as if she was going to kill me, soon put her hands down on my neck and gave up trying to stop the bleeding.
“Ugh.”
Soon a gloomy laughter flowed out.
Chelsea forced a smile, her face contorted in pain.
“It won’t end if you kill me here and now. If the Thorson Expedition Team targets you, it will be impossible to conquer the ruins. Even if the Magic Tower is your opponent, we are the experts.”
A voice that breaks apart.
It was a warning that he had given up his life and squeezed out his last bit of magic power, acknowledging his body’s mess.
bang!
I answered with a lead bullet.
“It’s not us who should be worried about failure.”
To me, who knows their language, Chelsea’s warning was not even funny.
***
The post-war process, including erasing the traces of the battle and burying the bodies, didn’t take long.
Colin handled the task with a deftness that belied his experience several times.
The problem was the other side.
Colin said with a more sore expression than when the battle had begun.
“I never thought that the Thorson Expedition would be moving towards the same ruins.”
“Didn’t you notice any signs that they were after you the other day?”
“It’s only been a few months since I’ve been here. There’s no way I’d know if they’d prepared in the meantime.”
Colin’s brow furrowed deeply.
It was a bone-chilling expression, like a beast baring its fangs and threatening.
But I’m sure he’s just seriously thinking about how to deal with this.
“If the Thorson Expedition has already set its sights on the ruins, things won’t be easy. After all, they are the experts, so if we focus only on interfering, we’ll be helpless.”
Chelsea’s warning in his will was not in vain.
In fact, the fighting between the relic exploration parties did not only consist of an all-out war that annihilated one side.
The checks and balances that took place inside the dangerous ruins were worthy of being called the best of the best, as they were done without touching anything.
“In my opinion, it seems better to focus on individual defeats like we are doing now.”
“It won’t have much of an effect.”
I shook my head.
“We’ve already killed the adjutant of the expedition, a high-ranking officer. If the regular reports are delayed, they’ll soon notice something unusual, so all we can do is destroy a couple of groups of this size.”
“It’s going to be an all-out war from here on out.”
“I can’t even protect Sage in that mess.”
Even that amount of damage is not insignificant.
Still, there were many opponents.
You can’t stop ten hands with one hand.
Sage observed us and then gave his opinion in a small voice.
“… … Then should I go back first?”
“Hmm, I don’t think that’s a very good idea.”
“why?”
I thought I knew why Colin was reluctant.
“If you go back, there’s a high chance that the Magic Tower will find out what’s going on and take action.”
The tower is currently under internal inspection.
There was no room to project power outward.
Even considering the resentment of targeting the disciples of the Magic Tower, negotiations between groups were considered a priority over dispatching magicians.
Moreover, when you look at the results, it seems like Colin, who had been quietly tied up with a leash, has caused an accident again.
His future outings will require increasingly stringent permission.
It was not known when exploration of the ruins would become possible.
Colin’s ending was obvious and it wasn’t a good ending for me either.
“Then what should I do?”
“We have to fight.”
It is impossible to proceed with the relics raid like this or to go back.
In that case, in the end, there was no choice but to fight.
“Yes. I will work hard.”
Even though I said things weren’t going well, neither Colin nor Nana were particularly worried about winning or losing.
If there’s anything I’m worried about, it’s Sage’s safety.
Sage clenched his fists and strengthened his resolve, perhaps because he thought his abilities were important.
“No, there’s no need for that.”
I stopped her.
Sage asked in bewilderment.
“Really? Oh, are you saying that you’ll take care of everything before I come out?”
“That’s okay too, though.”
Her bright eyes were filled with a mixture of anticipation and worry.
It’s not like you can’t do it, but the risk is huge.
There was no need to take the loss and leave a better solution behind.
“If they push with numbers, we have to bring that many too.”
“… … ? You said the rooftop isn’t allowed.”
“Oh, you by any chance.”
Colin let out a gasp as if he had guessed my plan.
“yes.”
I nodded, confirming his guess.
“It will attract the devil.”
It has been said that the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Master of the land of similarities.
We weren’t the only ones currently at odds with the Thorson Expedition.
***
A tall hill in the middle of the desert.
There were tents pitched in a cluster there.
In the evening, the heat of midday was nowhere to be seen.
When night fell on the land of Yusa, a cold wind blew that was so cold it stung my skin.
A tent was the best way to spend the night here.
Buzz buzz!
People gathered in the largest tent among them.
The inside was so bustling that the icy temperature outside seemed insignificant.
The atmosphere, which had been chaotic like a market floor, cleared up right after the man in the upper seat opened his mouth.
“so.”
His bushy hair and casual posture gave him a somewhat wild look.
Her eyes shone sharply through her disheveled bangs.
“Have you heard from Chelsea yet?”
“Yes, we are currently trying to communicate steadily… … .”
“He must be dead.”
“… … .”
When he declared this, the crowd fell silent.
Although there was no basis for it, it had a strangely persuasive power that swayed the crowd.
“If the captain says so… … .”
“Well, Adjutant Chelsea is a sincere person, so there’s no way she’d be late with her report for no reason.”
“We lost a valuable talent.”
There was not a single objection.
If he had said it, everyone believed it to be true.
Cliff Burton, leader of the Thorson Expedition.
His aptitude for establishing the giant tree called Thorson Exploration Party alone was a myth built on his sparkling wild intuition.
At least the executives present trusted Cliff’s intuition as if it were a prophecy.
“What kind of cheeky guy is that?”
“Did the chieftain come forward?”
“The location of the chieftain will be constantly being tracked. In the first place, he does not interfere with the safety of a single tribe.”
“The chieftain and his direct troops are so elusive that you never know.”
Chelsea, the adjutant, was given command of a squad to clear the area before the full-scale exploration of the ruins began.
Therefore, if she had suffered any misfortune, it would have been due to the battle with bandits.
However, it was hard to imagine that she and her party, who were experts in exploring ruins and veteran adventurers, would suffer a defeat in a battle with bandits.
That is why the intervention of the chieftain was taken into consideration.
Their king, recognized by each tribe that arose in the land of similarity.
The existence of the chieftain was the biggest reason why each city hesitated to level the land of the similar land, aside from the economic feasibility of the similar land hitting rock bottom.
“… …Matap.”
It was Cliff again who sorted out the messy conversation that was failing to reach a clear conclusion.
“Chelsea reported the existence of the hitman. It’s him.”
“yes?”
His words sometimes jumped out of context and came out blurry.
That’s why it was a gut feeling.
Because it was an inference based on instinct, there was no context and it was surprisingly close to the truth.
“So you’re talking about a contractor hired by the Magic Tower?”
“The magician lacks skill and the magician is too slow to attack a lesser opponent by surprise. If it was the work of a hired hand, then it would be explained.”
The executives pieced together the plan according to Cliff’s hints.
It was a familiar thing for them to infer facts that would serve as a stepping stone to a leap of logic.
“There must have been only one contractor reported at that time.”
“There may be some who joined separately.”
“Damn, things are getting complicated.”
If the person you’re dealing with is a contractor, just push them away.
The problem was the magic tower behind them.
If it was indeed the Tower that started to use its hand, it was like hitting a rock with an egg.
“Don’t be so excited.”
Unlike his subordinates whose emotions change from moment to moment, Cliff remained calm throughout.
“When you first drew up this plan, you were prepared to fall out of favor with the Tower.”
“but…….”
Thud!
The neck of the man who was spitting out his rebuttal was broken.
Then the major joints leading to the shoulders, waist, and legs twisted and folded like a wooden doll.
The man died without even being able to scream.
It took only a blink of an eye for a human being to be crushed like a rag and reduced to a corpse.
Cliff looked down at the meat-like executive and said coldly.
“If you’re not ready, then you should die. It’s not like I consider exploring the ruins to be child’s play.”
The easiest way to establish prestige as a whale was through the politics of terror.
Even if I ordered them to jump into a pit of fire with their bare bodies, they had to obey without question.
Because the exploration of ruins was originally aimed at such absurdity.
“… … .”
There was no one here who did not care about life enough to spit out a word after witnessing the death of a comrade.
A young man who had been exchanging opinions through eye contact asked on behalf of the group.
“Are you ready to fight the Tower of Doom?”
“No, that won’t happen.”
Regardless of how mentally prepared I was, the odds of a fight with the Magic Tower breaking out were extremely slim.
“The fact that they’ve sent out contractors means that there aren’t any workers left at the top of the tower. Considering their picky pride, there must be only a few contractors who take on the task.”
The only losses for the other squads, apart from Chelsea’s, were injuries sustained in battles with the bandits.
This was evidence that Matap was not prepared for an all-out war.
“It was probably an unintentional fight on either side. So just ignore it.”
The death of a valuable subordinate like Chelsea was a sad thing.
However, it was too romantic for them to hope that they would decide to take revenge.
“We will enter the ruins after clearing the surrounding area as planned.”
The death of a subordinate was a common occurrence.
Compared to the grand goal of conquering the ruins, it wasn’t even worth mentioning.
“Anyway, if we succeed in conquering the ruins, we don’t have to worry about things like the magic tower.”
Deep in Cliff’s darkened eyes, madness was swirling.