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nCh. 93: Beginning Battle

n“The plan is simple. The corridor that connects to the place the chief is in. Corne and the fairies will break the blockade that’s in the way. Then we will go through it and make contact with the chief, defeat him, and the job’s done.”

n“You said it so easily…Well, that’s pretty much it though, I guess.”

nLoren and Lapis had reached the entrance to the corridor that lead to where the chief was, led there by Corne.

nOf course, they had left Feuille in the care of the other fairies, so he wasn’t there.

n“Alright. You’d better not let Feuille in. If he manages to get in, we’ll leave the chief and just run for it.”

nWhen Loren made sure to remind them, Corne put her fist on her chest and said with confidence.

n“Leave it to me. In the worst case, I’ll use the spell <> to stop him.”

n“You can be pretty violent if you want to, huh…”

nThe spell that Corne had mentioned wasn’t something that would be used to stop someone.

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nIt was a spell that could turn a living thing into stone, and if It wasn’t dispelled, the victim would be a stone statue forever, and was an offensive spell.

nIf Corne, who was a more powerful magic user than elves, and in a high position among the fairies on top of that, used such a spell on Feuille, there was no way he would be okay.

n“I’m sure you know, but don’t kill him, alright?”

n“Leave it to me!”

nCorne said lightly, but Loren wasn’t sure how much he could trust a fairy’s words, so he was still worried.

n“Putting that aside, are you fully prepared Loren?”

nLoren looked down at himself.

nThere was nothing special he needed to prepare.

nThe clothes that he always wore, boots, and leather armor.

nThe black coat that he put on over all of it, and his black great sword in his hand.

nThis was all of Loren’s current equipment.

nHe had some other stuff that he brought with him, but they were either still wet or didn’t help him during battle, so he left them behind with Feuille.

n“I’m good.”

n“I see. Corne, if you could please.”

n“I got it. Here it goes.”

nOn her command, the powers of all the casters in the village amassed to her. Apparently.

nLoren did feel some in the air, but there wasn’t any flashing lights or explosions, so he couldn’t feel how much had been gathered.

n‘That’s pretty much what magic is Onii-san. Feeling pressure even though it’s not an offensive spell is already quite incredible though.’

nShayna explained to him, but it still didn’t ring a bell to Loren, so Shayna sighed and started syncing her sight with his.

nWhen she did so, although he couldn’t see anything until then, he started seeing a distortion around Corne, who was concentrating with all her might.

nThe distortion reached up to a height that even Loren had to look up at it, and judging from her size, he was able to see and understand that something powerful was gathering around her.

n‘That’s the amassed mana.’

n“I see now. This is convenient.”

n‘It’s the eyes and sight of a no life king though, so I can’t link it for long. It could things that could make you slowly lose your mind.’

nAfter saying so, Shayna cut the link and Loren’s sight became normal again.

n“Okay then, here it goes!”

nSomething erupted from Corne’s body.

nLoren didn’t know what it was, but he understood that she had unleashed whatever had been distorting the space around her that he had just seen thanks to Shayna.

nIt flew into the corridor in front of them, and after a while, air with a foul stench started seeping out from the other side, causing Loren and Lapis to cover their noses with their arms.

n“The blockade is broken.”

nCorne, who had been fluttering around earlier but was now barely able to move, told them.

n“What the hell is this smell?”

n“It’s most likely coming from where the chief is, but…I really don’t want to go near where this is coming from.”

n“W-wait! That will be troubling.”

nAt Corne’s worried words, Lapis laughed told her she was joking.

n“Okay Loren, after you.”

n“You…I’m the front line, so I guess I should go first…”

nSince there was no telling what as waiting for them at the end of the corridor, so there wasn’t the option of letting a priestess go ahead of him but being asked to go ahead didn’t feel good either.

nBut Loren steeled himself, knowing that nothing would happen if he didn’t act, and stepped into the corridor with Lapis following behind him.

nThere was glowing moss on the rocks and walls here as well, so they could see without a problem, but with each step they took, the stench got stronger and stronger.

nAs Loren started thinking about wanting to turn back because of the smell, the corridor ended, and they arrived in an open area.

n“Is this where the chief is at?”

nLoren grimaced at the stench that filled the place as he looked around.

nHe thought he would find out what the stench was from since he was nearing the origin, but although they should be very close, he couldn’t figure out what it was.

nBefore, he and his fellow mercenaries had been ordered to go on consecutive battles and hadn’t been able to wash themselves for a while, and what he smelled now was like what he smelled from everyone then.

n“The smell of sweat and dirt and…rotting food is all mixed together.”

nLapis identified the smell while covering her mouth and nose with her hand, but it didn’t seem like they would find out if Lapis was right or if it was something else completely unless they investigated.

nBut they didn’t have the time to do so.

nIt was Lapis who first noticed it, as expected.

nIt was in the deepest part of the open area they entered, right by the back wall.

nAt first Lapis couldn’t understand what it was.

nBut after a while, she realized it might be something that someone had become, she pulled on Loren’s sleeve as he had a disgusted look on his face.

n“Loren, that…is that what I think it is?”

nWhen Loren looked towards where Lapis was pointing, he was at a loss for words at what he saw.

nThere was a skin colored mountain.

nThey were in a spacious area with a ceiling that was quite high, but what in the world was the giant thing that almost reached it.

n“Umm? This isn’t…No way…”

nA skin colored blob that was wet with something that was most likely sweat.

nThe blob seemed to be separated into parts by something like wrinkles but seeing that the largest out of them was expanding and withering, they could see that it was a living thing.

nBut to the question of what kind of living thing it was, Loren didn’t have an answer.

nThe thing that looked so abnormal was taking root alongside the wall.

n“It seems like that’s the source of the smell.”

nLoren didn’t feel like touching the thing that glistened in a slimy fashion and looked like someone had poured oil in it, so he walked near it with a disgusted face and poked it with his foot.

nLapis panicked and tried to stop him, but it was already too late, and the giant thing’s attention turned to Loren.

n“Who…are you…?”

n“It spoke!?”

nAlthough he wasn’t sure where it was speaking from, he heard it speak, and it spoke responding to Loren’s action.

nLoren slowly back off from the giant blob that talked, even though it was talking in broken phrases, and asked Lapis, who was backing off as well.

n“Lapis, what the hell is that…”

n“We came here to find the fairy chief, so you have an idea of what we just encountered, right?”

nIt wasn’t like he didn’t have a vague idea of what it was.

nBut checking what he’d been told against the blob in front of him that started to move, he didn’t want to believe it.

n“You’re kidding me…This thing is the chief?”

nIt was in fact natural to think that it was the chief, since they had encountered it at the place where they were told the chief was residing in.

nBut the fairies that they had met until then were palm sized boys and girls like Corne and was nothing like the chunk of meat in front of them.

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n“What the hell!? Why is this the chief!?”

n“Don’t ask me.”

nThere was only about one thing Loren could think of.

n“He ate too much and got fat…”

nLoren and Lapis had no idea how large the chief originally was, but since he was a fairy, it was hard to think that he was tall enough for the two of them to look up at him.

nSo, Loren concluded that he became the gigantic thing in front of him due to eating all the food he stole from the elves.

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n“But this is a bit too much, don’t you think?”

n“He’s so big he can’t even move in his own.”

n“Maybe it won’t be too hard to kill him, I guess.”

nLoren had thought the task would be quite difficult since he had heard that the chief was more powerful than all the fairies in the village combined, so he was relieved that it wouldn’t be so hard since their opponent couldn’t move, but he then immediately jumped away from where he was standing.

nAlmost at the same time, a few bolts of fire landed where he had just been standing, scattering flames in the around the spot.

n“It doesn’t seem like he’ll give us an easy time just because he can’t move.”

nThe chief indeed couldn’t move on his own.

nBut not being able to move and not being able to fight were two different things, and especially if you could use magic, you could fight if you had consciousness.

n“Looks like if we don’t start trying, we’ll be the ones who get killed.”

nAs Loren muttered and gripped his great sword more tightly, the giant chunk of meat shuddered, whether it was from being nervous of fighting, or from joy that new prey was in its sight, as it started scattering its stench around again.

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