kscans

Chapter 287 - A Howl in the Snowy Plains 7. A Howl in the Snowy Plains

"Why!"

The one fuming alone was the half-elf magician, Katra. She was a dual-elemental of Fire and Wind. The reason for her indignation was not that she lost to the Tyrantbot in the number of elements, but that her own elements overlapped with its.

The greatest feature of the monster Tyrantbot was its use of magic for defense. It could emit weak magic to interfere with detection magic, and by using the elemental magic spread around its body like a barrier, it could deflect attacks of the same element. In other words, the fact that this individual was a tri-elemental of Water, Wind, and Fire meant that Katra’s magical attacks would be ineffective.

"Damn it! What are we supposed to do…"

"Dalia-san, I gave you the bone arrowheads, didn’t I?"

"Ah!"

"That’s right! Yuri’s magic bone tools!"

The magic bone tools that Yuri had crafted without restraint or reflection could imbue arrowheads with an elemental attack by channeling magic of the same element through them. Not only that, but they could also imbue a decent amount of power even with magic of a different element from the arrowhead. The Tyrantbot before them seemed to be a tri-elemental of Water, Wind, and Fire, but conversely, that meant Earth Magic and Wood Magic would be effective. The archer Dalia’s element was Wind, but she could only read the wind and couldn’t use practical-level magical attacks. However, imbuing an arrow with magic and firing it was a specialty of archers.

"Then my dagger should be usable too, right!?"

The magic bone dagger Katra possessed, which was of the Earth element, could also be used as a support tool for magical attacks, so it should be able to do something similar. It could probably convert the magic Katra passed through it into an Earth-element magical attack, though the power would be considerably reduced. Since their goal was to create a diversion, that would be more than enough to be useful.

"The Wood element isn’t suited for offense, so I suppose the Earth-element bone tools would be best. As for me, I’ll use Earth Magic to…"

"About that, Yuri. Rock Bullet is one thing, but don’t use Rock Spear. It’ll be trouble if that idiot noble sees it."

"Ah… yes…"

"That’s right. We’ll drag the idiot away, so if you could just buy us some time with a diversion, Yuri-kun."

"Yeah, no need to overdo it for a bunch of idiots."

The members of "Lucky Footsteps" tried to persuade Yuri, though they thought it was probably half-futile. However…

"...Understood."

Seeing Yuri agree with an unusually pleasant smile, they all looked at him suspiciously, wondering if he really understood.

But Yuri himself had no intention of expending extra effort "for an idiot." Yuri worked for one reason only, "to secure the Tyrantbot, the delicious meat." So, it shouldn’t be a violation of "Lucky Footsteps’" instructions… probably…

Though there was some question as to whether their perceptions were aligned, Yuri and "Lucky Footsteps" finished their planning for the time being and split into two groups to take separate actions. "Lucky Footsteps" hurried to rescue the young master’s party while staying hidden. They were concerned about the dying person at a distance, but for now, securing the living targets was the priority. As for Yuri…

(While everyone is dragging the young master away, and that nickname seems to have stuck, I need to keep the Tyrantbot’s attention. To do that…)

To avoid drawing the Tyrantbot’s attention, Yuri fired a Rock Bullet while his Stealth was active. When the Tyrantbot, hit by the unexpected attack, let out a roar of pain and anger, Yuri slowly deactivated his Stealth, revealed himself, and fired another Rock Bullet as if to draw its attention.

The Tyrantbot turned its angry gaze on the intruder who had interfered just as it was about to enjoy its meal. Yuri, judging that he had successfully drawn its attention, moved on to further provocation.

As if to say, "Draw me and gems will scatter from my icy blade," he unsheathed the "Mottled Blade Sword," which he had been told was not for public use. Forced into a constrained playstyle where he couldn’t use flashy magic or Stealth, this was the offensive means he had brought out instead. It would probably look like a normal sword from a distance, so there shouldn’t be a major problem using it this time. Fortunately, the scabbard was still plain wood, and if he had the fittings properly done later, it wouldn’t be recognized as the same thing even if someone happened to see it.

Having finished this rationalization, Yuri raised his voice as the white blade gleamed.

"Izarai! Suisan!"

He really wanted to raise his voice and announce himself with a loud, "Even those far away, listen well," but he had enough common sense not to do that.

But at this point, a small miscalculation had occurred.