Chapter 90
“Daphne, you crazy bastard.”
Cilia muttered while combing her heavily tangled hair with her hand.
“Crazy bastard. Really crazy bastard. How could she dig such a trap there…… ha…….”
She knew that Daphne had a filthy temper, was weird, insane, and cunning, but she didn’t know it would be to this extent. How could she dig such a trap there?
“At least two of you survived.”
Rache said to the muttering Cilia. Rache had been swept away by the river earlier and was rescued by Morris.
“I was alone. Markless Mark team. Is this real?”
Rache recalled her team members being swept away when the riverbank burst. She also remembered Daphne smiling viciously. Her body trembled with anger.
“I’ve finished thinking.”
At that moment, Morris, who had been silent the whole time, opened his mouth.
The most rational among the three…….
“We cleanly give up on the rubber balls.”
……or not?
“Instead, we target Daphne.”
Morris was just as emotional.
“If I can just do something to her, I’d devote my entire life to it.”
“……That’s too much.”
Cilia scratched the back of her head, but targeting Daphne as he said didn’t seem like a bad strategy.
“Anyway, that group has Joshua too. So let’s precisely target only Daphne, precisely attack only Daphne, precisely screw only Daphne, and then withdraw.”
“Good idea.”
“Can we drown her?”
They walked across the forest while having such conversations.
They really wanted to dunk Daphne, but in fact, since they didn’t even know where Daphne was right now, it was also an unrealistic goal.
“The problem is where to find her.”
At Rache’s words, Cilia muttered.
“If we go where the gold balls are, won’t she come on her own?”
“Do you know how many gold balls there are?”
“Probably 10?”
“If you know how to use cloning magic, do that.”
“……You have no manners.”
Cilia glared at Rache, but did nothing else. Internal division was absolutely not allowed in the current situation.
Until they dealt with the external enemy called Daphne, they wanted a temporary alliance…… but suddenly, a rotten smell pierced their noses. Ugh, it was a smell that made them want to vomit.
“What. Who farted. Confess quickly.”
“Ah, maybe ate some trash…… the smell…….”
It was a disgusting smell to the point of wanting to rip off their noses.
Rache and Cilia naturally looked at Morris while covering their noses.
Morris, who couldn’t smell due to rhinitis, tilted his head, then quickly understood the situation and waved his hands hurriedly.
“It wasn’t me.”
“Hey. Didn’t you eat something wrong? Isn’t something wrong with you?”
“No, I really didn’t!”
“Okay, so go see a doctor…… ugh.”
Rache and Cilia said while moving away from Morris.
But it was strange.
Even after moving away from Morris, the source of the smell, the smell didn’t fade but became more disgusting.
At that moment, a strange sensation as if the ground was shaking spread throughout their bodies.
An earthquake? In the middle of the forest? The children’s eyes widened.
“Huh?”
“……Huh?”
“Huh huh?”
They naturally lifted their heads upward. And looked up the uphill path.
“Yaaah! Run awaaay!”
There was Daphne’s team charging down,
[Groooar!]
and a monster with a snake head and an elephant body.
“……Daphne is the cause.”
Cilia muttered in despair.
“Ruun!”
***
That monster appeared in the middle of the river where Daphne’s team was staying.
The first thing that split the river water was the snake’s head, and they thought it was a monster resembling a snake.
But as it gradually raised its body, they immediately judged it wasn’t an ordinary monster.
Because it had a huge body like an elephant…….
Daphne, who immediately recognized it as a ‘chimera’, jumped up first. And immediately swung her sword.
But.
Clang!
With the sound, the sword bounced off.
-…….
Daphne looked at the sword that flew away emptily, then looked down at her hand, then looked at the chimera flicking its tongue.
And shouted.
-Run awaaay!
Like that, now.
“Hey, huff, huff, what, is that?”
“Huff, I, I don’t know either. How would I know!”
“If you don’t know, who would know!”
“First, run!”
Leaving Daphne arguing with Cilia behind, the children focused on Joshua.
“Hey hey. Joshua! Where, where do we run to? Keep going down?”
“Until the instructors appear? No, that’s not a normal monster, right? Huh? No, isn’t that the exam helper?”
“Teppy. I didn’t want to say this, but having a flower garden in your head has limits. Snap out of it.”
While running, Joshua’s mind spun tightly.
What on earth is that monster. He’s never seen or heard of a monster that looks like that.
For now, they’re running away thinking they absolutely can’t win, but it seemed they shouldn’t just keep running like this.
In fact, as the downhill was ending, they were getting closer to the monster.
At that moment, Daphne shouted.
“For now, huff, to flat ground. Guide to flat ground! To a place where fire, huff, fire might not spread, no, to a place where even if fire starts, it won’t spread!”
Flat ground? Fire?
Joshua immediately recalled the flame magic Daphne had shown earlier. Meeting eyes with Bunny, he immediately guided the path.
“Then that way!”
“Follow me!”
Having found the path, they soon reached a wide basin terrain.
Since there weren’t many trees or bushes here, fire wouldn’t catch easily, and even if it did, since it was a sunken basin, the fire wouldn’t spread outside.
“Daphne!”
“Got it.”
Daphne immediately created fireballs.
But it wasn’t just one. Countless fireballs connected to each other and rose like flames.
Those flames created a wall between the chimera and the children.
“Phew. There’s time to plan a strategy.”
Daphne wiped her cold sweat and gathered the children’s attention.
Morris, Rache, and Cilia, who didn’t know Daphne could use magic, gaped and looked at the other children, and even the other children who knew about magic…… were surprised. Because they didn’t know she was such an amazing mage.
“Focus! You bastards. If you don’t focus, we’ll die here.”
Daphne clapped to draw the children’s attention.
“That’s a chimera. You know what a chimera is, right?”
“Black magic experiment?”
“Yes. So we can’t win with ordinary methods.”
Daphne, who had been thinking of strategies while running, continued speaking rapidly.
“Fast-footed Teppy, Cilia, and Bunny, draw that guy’s attention. Absolutely do not get close!”
“Ah, got it!”
“Well-coordinated Rache and Morris, take care of that guy’s body. Since it’s a tough body, attacking together would be good.”
“Understood.”
Daphne’s command was professional, and excellent as if she had anticipated such a situation in advance.
So the children moved according to Daphne’s opinion without complaint.
“And Joshua.”
Daphne caught her breath and pulled Joshua.
“You assist me.”
“……Me?”
“You.”
“……Understood.”
The children each gripped their swords and swallowed tense saliva.
Daphne also exhaled a sigh.
If it was my original strength, no. If stamina had supported me, I could have taken it down alone even if it was tiring.
But Daphne’s stamina had been screaming for help for a while now.
So now Daphne couldn’t properly exert her strength. So she had no choice but to use the others.
“Prepare. The flames will soon die out.”
[Kueeeek!]
Looking at the chimera gradually becoming visible beyond the fading flames, Daphne gripped her sword tightly.
“Heh heh…… It’s finally time to release the seal.”
An immense mana aura began to flow from Daphne’s entire body.
“O Black Flame Dragon within me. Awaken!”
☆▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎☆
