kscans

Chapter 153 - His Anger, My Tears

The night of the new moon. The Tree Sea was hushed, filled with the latent power of dark mana as if holding its breath.

To hunt a dark attribute monster, one could either purify it with light or burn it to ash with fire. But my light attribute magic wasn't strong, only enough for self healing. Purification was completely out of the question. Only someone called a Saintess could wield such power, but I had never seen such a person in this country.

So that left fire attribute... or it should have, but my target this time was a Luna Serpent. I needed its scales, so roasting it whole was forbidden.

This is a real pain.

A giant Sleep Orb would be needed, and if I wasn't careful, I could end up putting myself to sleep. The quickest way was to finish it with a physical attack.

...But I am hopelessly bad at physical attacks. I didn't want anyone to see, but I had no choice but to prepare my whip.

"Alright, I'll just do this quickly on my own--" The moment I thought that, Darius, whom I had consulted, frowned.

"I'm going."

"...Could you at least say, 'I'm going too'?"

"You've been on your feet all day."

Darius was determined to make me rest. My blood and mana levels were still not back to normal.

"I'll leave the dismantling to you once I've defeated it! I'll get proper sleep! Please, I'm begging you!" After I bowed my head desperately, I ended up dragging not only Darius but also Leonhard-san and Kyle-san along.

---

The Tree Sea on a new moon was teeming with monsters. A swarm of small fry Shadow Bats gathered to suck our blood, so I brought down lightning on a tree and wiped them out with the flash.

"The small ones are easy, though." I extracted the small but precious dark attribute magic cores and burned the remains with fire.

"So lightning attribute is effective against dark, I see," Leonhard-san said, watching with interest.

"They're weak to light. But I'm disliked by the light attribute, so I can't use it to defeat them. For small fry monsters, I can fool them with the light from a lightning flash, but it's completely useless on large ones. That's why I'm using a physical attack this time."

"Oh! What weapon are you going to use?" Kyle-san's eyes sparkled.

"Um... a dagger or a whip. It's a snake this time, so I want to keep my distance. A whip."

I trailed off. I didn't want to show them my physical skills. Seeing my hesitation, Darius's eyes narrowed sharply.

"Ariel. Are you hiding something again?"

"No, it's just... um..."

Just as I was about to make an excuse, a murderous intent.

"It's coming!"

A long, black, massive body burst from the ground. Black scales glistened in the dark night, a huge mouth and a red tongue.

"It's the Luna Serpent!"

I threw a Sleep Orb into its mouth, but it had no effect. A poisonous mist erupted from its thrashing body, the poison glowing a fluorescent green. I couldn't use fire. I tried striking it with lightning, but that didn't work either.

"Darius! I'll be the decoy. If I get eaten, pull me out!"

"What!?"

"Aim for its eyes!"

I unleashed my full defensive magic and charged forward, prepared to be swallowed whole. I tried lashing it with my whip as a last resort, but it didn't even seem to feel the pain.

Physical attacks are useless after all!

The poisonous tongue loomed before me, and just as a spray of green droplets was about to shower my entire body, the Luna Serpent collapsed.

"I, I wasn't eaten! That was clo--"

Before I could finish, Darius threw me into a small river. The fluorescent poison spread across the water's surface, and Darius's eyes as he looked down at me were as cold as ice.

Ah, I really messed up.

---

I left the dismantling to Leonhard and Kyle and washed the poison off in the stream. I drank an antidote too. But Darius remained silent.

"S, so... I'm sorry."

As I stood there like a drowned rat, he asked quietly.

"Ariel. What kind of monster can you actually defeat physically?"

"...A slime."

"Huh!?" Leonhard and Kyle exclaimed in unison, utterly shocked.

"...I didn't know you were that weak. Do you understand what it means to go hunting when you've misjudged your own strength?"

Darius's voice was tinged with sadness.

"I know... that I might get someone else hurt. That's why, by myself..."

"Why don't you rely on me! Why do you act like you're going to die! Am I that unreliable?"

My chest tightened. It wasn't the monster I had hurt, but Darius's heart.

"I'm, I'm sorry. I've always been alone, so... I always thought I had to do something myself..."

"If its fangs had killed you instantly, even a Potion wouldn't work. And we don't know what that poison could have done. Please... just don't die."

He gripped both my hands tightly. His warmth spread through my wet body, and I couldn't hold back my tears any longer.

"I'm sorry... Darius. Please don't hate me. I'll be careful. I promise, so please don't hate me..."

At my trembling voice, Darius's eyes widened as if he'd been struck.

"...For now, we'll handle the dismantling." Leonhard's tactful voice, along with the ringing of a monster repelling bell, pulled us back to reality.

Darius thanked the two of them and lifted me into his arms. We were probably heading back to the tower. By then, my tears wouldn't stop, and neither would my trembling.