Chapter 189

Despite Akari’s warning, nothing significant occurred during the day they spent in Root Village.Apparently, their main production consisted of root vegetables, ranging from potatoes to turnips, carrots, and more. This was made possible in part by the local area serving as a breeding ground for rockworms, which left their droppings everywhere below the surface, fertilizing the earth before departing to find new territory.

Nick would have thought the villagers would be more nervous about such powerful creatures, but according to Tilly, no attacks had been reported in the past two decades. Even then, the only known incident was caused by a passing adventurer who had the brilliant idea of practicing their explosion magic, making enough noise to summon the breeding worms.

Nick kept waiting for something to happen. It felt as if things were building to a climax, and he almost expected this legendary dragon to burst from a hill somewhere and rain death upon them.

Nothing of the sort happened.

“Dragons have their own sense of time. Once they get going, it’s practically impossible to stop them, but until then, it’s a waiting game. It could be a day, a week, or even a year. Maybe more.” Akari explained while easily dodging Elia’s attempts to claw at her.

“But then, why would the dwarves spend so many resources trying to awaken one when they don’t know if it will work? Or even where it is?” Nick asked from the sidelines, watching as his friend grew increasingly frustrated.

Elia had improved far beyond his expectations. Her flames were hot enough to reduce wood to cinders without even needing direct contact, and she moved with a speed and grace that belonged to a much older martial artist.

Despite her efforts, Akari continued to treat her like a toddler, dancing around her. Although the difference in power was undeniable, Nick could see that the real issue lay in their experience gap.

Akari never wasted a single movement. She immediately followed through, exploiting any openings and demonstrating precisely why she was considered strong enough to protect an entire merchant caravan on her own.

“Wars of this nature do not depend on certainties. They flood the zone with challenges, shifting circumstances just enough to force the opposing side to retreat. Keep in mind that the dwarves don’t truly wish to expand into the grassland. It’s poor terrain for their needs, and they would face a thriving ecosystem in every tunnel they carve. They are just trying to create as much chaos as possible to prevent Berea from retaking the mountain trade routes.”

“Stay still, damnit!” Elia growled, momentarily vanishing and then reappearing on the other side of the clearing.

Nick was almost fooled, but his spiritual sense told him that she hadn’t really moved; it was merely an illusion that was approaching Akari.

The woman, however, didn’t allow the blow aimed at her to connect, skillfully avoiding both the invisible Elia and the illusion at the same time, before swiping a leg back to strike through the clone.

The moment it made contact, however, it erupted in flames, forcing Akari to jump away for the first time.

“Ha! Made you move!” Elia crowed, rushing forward to land a claw strike, only to be met with a roundhouse kick so swift that Nick could barely track it, which sent her rolling painfully to the opposite end of the field.

“Kids these days. So aggressive.” Akari chuckled, brushing the soot off her pant leg.

“Ugh, I almost had you.” Elia groaned, rolling over. She looked queasy after that last hit, but a surprising satisfaction gleamed in her eyes that took Nick aback.

She had been quite restrained since getting her third tail, enough that he’d wondered if the responsibility of being a Miko had turned her into a quieter person. It was good to see that she still had her fire.

“Anyway, as I was saying earlier, I believe this isn’t something you kids should get involved in. We have no clue where the dragon might be or if it will even awaken. Spending every moment in fear of it is no way to live.”

Nick nodded. It wasn’t like he wanted to get involved, after all. This entire trip was meant to send him away from Floria for a while and possibly find a solution to the beastman crisis.

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Dealing with dwarf incursions and waking dragons was not in the cards, both because he simply lacked the power to make a significant difference and because it wasn’t his duty to do so.

There were people who had dedicated themselves to serving the kingdom, and Nick knew that there were many more powerful mages than he lying around. If it came down to it, even Floria could contribute better fighters. Arthur, Marthas, and his father came to mind.

“I think we’re going to leave after lunch,” he finally said. Root Village was quaint and relaxing, but while a rest stop was nice, they still had work to do.

“About time,” Rhea grunted from where she was squinting at a rock.

Now that she had gotten a proper feel for what transmutation was like, she had been trying to reach the second step of the practice, which was reversing a petrification.

Given that there were several chunks of stone scattered around her, it wasn’t going particularly well, but at least it kept her from brooding.

“Mmh, I think that might be best.” Akari hummed, glancing at Tilly, the herbalist, who was making moon eyes at her from the window. “I have some business to take care of.”

“Ugh,” Nick scowled. He didn’t need to know that.

Two days from Root Village, life started to return to the grassland.

“I’m regretting taking the peace for granted now,” Rhea mumbled, crouching down behind Nick and focusing intently on transmuting the chunk of rock that was thrown at them into harmless dust.

“It was too good to last,” he agreed, directing another barrage of at the annoying bugs.

“If only these damn things would stop hiding in the ground it wouldn’t be so bad,” Elia added, leaving the safety of his shields for just a moment to unleash a barrage of fireballs that predictably granted them only a few moments of respite before the beetles rose once again and restarted their assault.

They had been traveling south at a good pace, having managed to cross most of the way to the next temple with little harassment, before they had been attacked.

If Nick were honest, it wasn’t exactly unprompted, as Rhea had inadvertently used the rock that marked the entrance of what he now knew to be a colony of giant dung beetles for her transmutation practice.

He had scanned the area passively, of course, but the beetles had been much lower than the rock worm and only started moving once the stone was turned to dust.

Still, while being pinned down by flying boulders wasn’t ideal, Nick remained unconcerned. For all their surprising speed and strength, the monsters were actually quite fragile when struck, and it was only a matter of time before they were defeated.

It still took nearly half an hour before the tide of battle became irreversible, and the beetles began retreating underground, finally showing a hint of intelligence.

“Aren’t you going to chase after them?” Rhea asked, peeking from behind him.

Nick shrugged, “Nah, I don’t think it’s necessary. If they aren’t maddened enough to fight to the last, they are probably fine remaining around these parts. And it’s not like they give a ton of exp anyway.”

CONGRATULATIONS!

You have defeated x17

+31.400 Exp

It was still a decent amount, but considering how much he needed these days, he’d have to eliminate the entire colony to get a level up, and honestly, there was no need to go that far.

He kinda thought the beetles were cute. They reminded him of the small round black ones he used to play with on the beach.

“Ugh, I can tell you are thinking something stupid,” Rhea complained, finally standing up.

“Hey, at least you’re getting quicker with your spell. You couldn’t even hope to hit a moving target the other day!” Elia bounded up to them, smiling and showing off her teeth.

Rhea nodded, barely suppressing a smile. “There’s that, at least. I’m way ahead of schedule, you know.”

She maintained her puffed-up pose for a moment, and then wilted, “not that it’s anything amazing, compared to you two.”

“Hey, hey, don’t put yourself down.” Nick patted her. “You've been making us a lot of money!”

That was enough to lift her out of her funk, and she huffed, walking away with her head held high. “And you better remember it!”

The next temple they were supposed to find was located somewhere in the southern grassland, slightly closer to the eastern border, but not too far from the midpoint between Floria and Alluria.

According to the old map they had used before departing, it was supposed to be a Hunting Hall, a place where the best hunters gathered to receive instruction from the gods to enhance their skills.

Nick had been having a much better time during this part of the trip. With fewer mad creatures attacking them and only the occasional ambush, he could finally spend some time producing enough ofudas to build up a stockpile.

So far, the binding ones had proven to be the most useful, allowing him to handle more mobile monsters and utilize non-lethal methods he had previously lacked. However, he believed this was just the tip of the iceberg.

as a spell had few constraints. It was a method to employ ideographs that didn’t necessitate a full ritual. Most often, it was utilized for binding entities, from spirits to monsters, yet he had been able to expand that into more active effects like explosions. Now, with a new affinity to explore, he was attempting to devise something that would affect the spirit, rather than just the body.

It should have been a natural progression of the spell, considering its origins, but he was struggling to give form to the emotional component that underpinned all his spiritual spells.

Scratching his head, he tried to remember how the Taoists from his old world used them.

Pursing his lips, Nick tried to find a way around that constraint.

Suddenly, a roar shook the grassland. The ground buckled, and all living creatures, from monsters to ordinary animals, hunkered down, remaining still to avoid detection by a greater predator.

For a moment, Nick feared it might be the dragon. Akari had sounded confident it wouldn’t awaken anytime soon, and he had started to believe his hunch about its true location was correct, but he could have been mistaken.

Fortunately, the roar resembled that of a mammal more than that of the wyverns. It was still powerful, and just from the sheer noise, he could tell they were about to enter the territory of a dangerous creature, but he doubted it was the dragon.

“That came from the temple, didn’t it?” Rhea grumbled, looking resigned.

Elia, whose ears had gone flat and tails tucked behind her back in an instinctive reaction, took a moment to respond, but eventually nodded. “It did.”

For a moment, Nick wondered if he should suggest skipping this one. If such a powerful monster was prowling around the temple, it seemed unlikely that demons had tainted it, but he shook that thought off soon enough.

They had come too far to turn back now.