Chapter 356

Very surprisingly, the act of pushing through and advancing past that many Jiangshis went smoothly.

At the very beginning, I thought I would take the lead and pave the way, just like when I broke through the Troll pack and ran away before. I only thought of running fast, keeping pace, unable to look back even once, while boiling with anxiety inside.

However, that wasn’t the case at all.

Elwin and Leon took turns standing at the vanguard. They also occasionally blocked the monsters pushing in with force. I guarded my position right behind their right side, stood docilely, and only dispatched the Jiangshis within my arm’s reach.

“Michael! 800m forward!”

“Yes!”

Then, every time Marianne pointed it out, I kicked off the ground and leaped high.

Cr-r-r-r-r-rack!

And to prevent harm from coming to the group, I floated in the air five paces ahead and struck down with a sword attack.

Even if I tried to strike down as straight as possible, the energy spreading out the further it went was unavoidable, so the ground my sword energy passed over was left with a trace gouged out in a narrow fan shape. The Jiangshis in front of me, whether human-form or monster-form, were ground, crushed, and burst apart.

When the front was cleared like that, the entire group immediately sped up and ran to the end of the split path, drawing a round circle formation. I guarded the group’s back from the very rear, chased after them, and rejoined them, finding my place again.

The remaining personnel, considering each other’s strength and compatibility, divided into three and took turns facing the monsters. At this time, Benjamin and Ruber also participated in the battle. I operated Gyp-Circulight until a certain amount of time passed and stood by according to the next command.

Because I was walking while conserving my strength without facing multiple monsters, I had leeway left over. Glancing sideways at the children’s sword strikes, I also added a few pieces of advice.

The guys taking turns to rest mumbled on dry rations or jerky. Since they were eating to live even without appetite, they sharply scanned the surroundings with their gazes even while eating. Those resting didn’t overexert themselves and helped those fighting only to the extent of their spare capacity.

Walking as if taking a stroll, then shooting off running, and walking as if taking a stroll again, we repeated this.

Occasionally, when Marianne showed signs of exhaustion, Benjamin or Giselle took turns carrying her on their backs and ran. Other than that, the rest showed no signs of exhaustion.

Honestly… it was comfortable.

This is why one must always keep a guy who uses his head close by.

I once again deeply engraved the already known truth into my mind.

After two days passed like that, Marianne’s orders changed slightly.

“This time 957m. Please launch one blast!”

“…What is the 7?”

“I calculated down to the third decimal place to also adjust the sense of distance. Can’t you do it?”

“I will do it.”

Cr-r-r… rack!

At first, I slashed about fifty meters further ahead than what Marianne pointed out. It was because the front was full of Jiangshis, so I was anxious wanting to cut them all down at once.

However, I didn’t do that anymore. It was thanks to learning the fact that even if I consumed a lot of internal energy, only the waiting time until the next sword form became longer.

Now the margin of error narrowed down to within 1m. Having repeated the same thing for two whole days, I could now do my share even while thinking of other things.

Around this time, Ruben also became able to sever a monster’s limbs with just a single sword stroke without having to strike down multiple times. Although he couldn’t release sword energy, he saw a similar effect by delicately severing the knots between the grain and the grain of the skin. Since it was an exceedingly proud and amazing feat, I praised him highly.

And three days passed again.

Even though I walked the same way and struck out my sword the same way, I was breaking out in a cold sweat. I originally wasn’t sensitive to cold or heat. For me to be like this, it was a matter of course that the other guys were also exhausted, so energy drained from our advancing speed.

Marianne, pressed flat against Benjamin’s broad back like a slime, groaned.

“If we stay a little longer, we’ll be boiled alive. There was no mention of the geothermal heat being this high here….”

“For one, until 3 years ago…. it wasn’t to this extent.”

“Strange…. I’d understand if it was an oasis, but the holy site of the Sun doesn’t move, so why.”

The mercenaries’ flustered answers weren’t helpful in the slightest. Still, thanks to the Sylphs continuously driving the hot heat outwards, we were somehow able to endure it.

The problem wasn’t just that.

Whether they were making a last-ditch effort as the group got closer to the holy site of the Sun, the momentum of the monsters grew stronger. All sorts of guys bared their claws and rushed at us ferociously.

Originally existing monsters like Orcs, Trolls, and Goblins usually harbored one magic circle somewhere on their bodies. It was said to be clear traces of black magic. Most Jiangshis didn’t have magic circles. I claimed that this must be the Demonic Cult’s incantation.

I also saw human-form monsters of a different type from the Jiangshis I knew. Marianne called them Ghouls. Whereas Jiangshis had hard surfaces, Ghouls were mushy as if half-rotted, making them exceedingly nauseating.

A few Blood Jiangshis hiding among the monsters also popped out. When that happened, we completely stopped walking, dispatched the Blood Jiangshis first, and then moved.

Most of the Blood Jiangshis possessed skills comparable to a Sword Master, but they were mostly stupid. Using visual tricks similar to the method used when dispatching the cigarette man’s Jiangshi, we dispatched them without difficulty.

It was a time when Elwin stood at the vanguard, and Leon was resting. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] Now the group chewed jerky not to live, but to not fall asleep. Leon, who was mumbling on dry rations, suddenly grabbed Marianne and asked an unexpected question.

“…By the way, that raising monsters with black magic thing. Can’t it be done with four-legged beasts?”

“Yes? Uh-huh…. They probably could? I heard they even control rat corpses, so. Why?”

“Does it cost a lot of money…. No, that is. Didn’t I tell you before. Around here, Orcs…”

“Ah.”

“Orc mutants? Orc Jiangshis? We see a lot of them, but we don’t see the Gray Wolves they used to ride around on.”

Anne, who was walking together beside them, stopped drinking water and quickly interjected.

“Animals like that are the first to notice strange things, aren’t they. Didn’t they know first and run away? It was like that with the Oasis before too. Living things don’t want to die.”

Anne gestured with her chin. At the end of her chin, there were full of cloudy-eyed monster Jiangshis rushing in, disregarding even their own lives.

“No matter how you look at it, those don’t look like living things. Even if I were an Orc, I would have run away quickly.”

“Do those guys even have a place to run away to…”

“Phew, let’s just worry about ourselves. Just worry about ourselves.”

The thing that cut off those words was the sound of Hugh Benson’s whistle.

“Rotation.”

“Yep!”

“Yes.”

Mutants.

Troll mutants…. seemed to have been alive. There were a few individuals that flinched and retreated when their arms were cut. I didn’t block the arising doubt and asked straight toward Marianne.

“Didn’t you say the pitch-black monsters that swarmed from the Unique Mountain Range were also mutants?”

“Ah-ah, the mechanism used for that and this is completely different. So…. the Trolls we saw back then were living ones excessively infused with Mana corrupted by black magic. Since monsters have resistance to corrupted Mana unlike humans, it was made as if? brainwashing them.”

“Mm.”

“Right now, it’s just engraving magic circles on dead corpses to make them move to achieve a certain purpose, right. For one, there’s no breathing, and no biological reactions. The things here are practically no different from golems.”

“Which is more expensive?”

“If I had to strictly rank them…. these Jiangshis here would probably be a bit more expensive? Because the Unique Mountain Range Troll mutants seemed to be contagious too. No, but I told you I don’t know the ingredients that go into it either.”

Come to think of it, in the Cieron Magic Tower, corrupted Mana was collectively called corrupted Mana.

Using the same word with multiple meanings is not something that doesn’t exist. Since they are still unknown entities, I accepted that it was a name attached as proof saying ‘If it looks roughly strange, then it is indeed strange’.

“Whatever, 735m.”

“Yes.”

Cr-r-r-rack!

Anyway, I finished what I had to do.

How much further did we go like that. As the sun began to set, steam rose from the path we walked.

The sky, which cooled faster than the ground, was pitch-black, and the moons stuck casually in the middle went their way, falling behind or going ahead of each other as always.

While counting the limbs of Jiangshis when I should be counting stars was familiar now, it is a natural thing to get sleepy when night comes. It was a time when everyone swallowed yawns one by one and rubbed their eyes.

Swish…. Swish…. Swish….

Even though it was a dark night, a shadow fell over our heads.

Something was slowly walking towards us with its back to the moon.

If the head stone statue of the First Goddess wasn’t just a head but stood intact, would it be exactly this size. It was so massive that such a thought occurred.

As it came closer, the thing blocking the light was thick, had two branches growing on both sides, and bore a red flower at its very top.

A few who were startled while cutting Jiangshis swung blindly and received help from the person next to them. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] Even while reflexively cutting down the monsters around the group, we couldn’t take our eyes off that massive thing.

It was a Makrir.

“…That, is that also…. that, imbued with black magic?”

“I don’t know!”

“Isn’t that crazy? Its height looks to be about 120.”

“You mean kilometers, right?”

“Would it be? It’s meters!”

“Should, should I lie down?”

“With this many Jiangshis, how? Just hold on for now! I’ll try to do something.”

The dumbfounded voices of the children and mercenaries quickly went back and forth.

Marianne quickly canceled one of the magics she had memorized and began to draw a magic circle in the empty air with her staff. It was Shield. Then Reinforce, Overlap, Reinforce….

Hugh Benson also lowered his body with a longsword in one hand and a curved sword drawn in the other. He was preparing to leap.

I too stepped out to the front of the group one step ahead. Since they said a walking Makrir hunts prey by shooting thorns, I thought of drawing a sword curtain around the group and somehow deflecting only the thorns shot close by. Having to face the Makrir, and face the Jiangshis too, I was completely out of my mind.

Then, the Makrir raised its right branch from the bottom up very slowly.

In an instant, the sand began to boil. The Jiangshis that were rushing toward us melted away starting from their legs.

“Eek!”

“Mommy!”

Young screams, not knowing who made them, burst out.

I gritted my teeth. I gathered my energy to the fullest. Even so, it’s a cactus, so would it be enough if I cut down its roots. Or is it right that I should aim for the flower that looks more suspicious. Or if I just summon lightning and roast it crisp….

That moment.

[You came faster than I thought.]

…A voice in a familiar manner echoed by my ear.