Manowa

Chapter 260 – Let's Grow Feathers

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The first to notice was Kazane.
Kazane's『Dog's Sense of Smell』Skill detected the scent of beast and blood.
Kazane raised her hand to stop their advance.

「What is it?」

After Chloe's question, Kazane told them「A monster is coming.
Just one, I think?」The only type of Griffon Kazane had met in this world was the Ruby Griffon, so she didn't know the identity of the coming monster.
However, she could identify from its smell that it was a strong monster of considerable size.

Then Jinrai intuitively, and Tatsuo through his『Dog's Sense of Smell』inherited from Kazane, noticed it.

「It seems to be considerably wounded.」

『But it's strong.』

After Jinrai's words and Tatsuo's growl, their vigilance towards the yet unseen enemy heightened.
Kazane nodded after the two spoke and gave instructions.

「Me and Yumika in front.
Jinrai-san and Yuuko-nee, hide in the forest to the left and right.
Tiara, deploy the Power in the sky so it can't slip past.」

And Tatsuo and Emily, who were in charge of the first strike, were arranged in the rear.
Along with them was Louise, who prepared counter magic in case the monster slipped past the vanguard, as well as Tiara and Chloe.
Guarding them was Naoki, Lyle, and Tatsuyoshi-kuns Normal and Dragoon.

And when all members were arranged,『that』appeared.

「KUeEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!」

Though it was bloodstained, it was a Griffon variant with ferocious eyes.
It was heavily wounded and seemed like it would collapse at any time, but the monster was conversely even more savage due to being wounded.
There wasn't enough blood.
Upon finding its prey, the monster flew like a bullet towards Kazane and the others.

「Boost Griffon!?」

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Chloe screamed.
They were Griffons possessing the Wind attribute, and their strong point was that they had rapid acceleration even among Griffons.
Because of their excessive speed, even rank B adventurers had difficulty with them, so its threat to the amateur Chloe didn't need to be stated.

Then Kazane instructed Emily to fire an arrow and Tatsuo to fire Mega Beam as soon as it came into range.
It was a straight path in the forest.
A monster approaching from the front was an easy to hit target.

「I missed!?」

『Fast!!』

However, due to the Boost Griffon's high evasion ability, the fired arrow and Beam were avoided.
But Kazane wasn't flustered.
The noteworthy feature of monsters of its class was that they possessed means to block or avoid long range attacks.
Kazane simply watched as the Boost Griffon almost reached them.
Then she suddenly thrust her tonfa holding right hand forward and

「Material Shield!」

activated her Skill, sending the Boost Griffon flying.
Although it probably didn't cause much damage, Kazane knew based on their experience in the battle against the Minotaur in Rock Hold that it was very effective against kamikaze attacks.
And with the Boost Griffon's movements now stopped, it was their chance.

「Berserk Ogre, your turn!!」

Then a huge club appeared over the repelled Boost Griffon.

No, the only thing in the Boost Griffon's field of view was the club, but from Chloe's perspective, a huge Ogre with a giant club appeared above the Boost Griffon.

「GUooOOOOOOOO!!」

Then the Berserk Ogre's blow smashed the Boost Griffon's head, ending its life, and continued onward to strike the ground.

From inside the forest came the words「What about my turn?」and a reproachful gaze from Jinrai, but Kazane ignored that.

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********

「GuooOOOOOOOOOOON!!!」

Was it because it was prey he brought down himself? Setting aside the other members, Chloe was astonished as the Berserk Ogre exultantly ate the flesh of the Boost Griffon.

She had screamed when he first appeared, but as might be expected, she calmed down when she learned he was Kazane's summoned Ogre.
However, no matter how she looked at it, he seemed like a wild beast that wouldn't obey orders, and Chloe obeyed that sense and backed away.
By the way, Jinrai was complacently smiling from the side at his older sister's shaken appearance.
As a younger brother who had often been talked down to by his older sister, he was enjoying her appearance as if he had successfully pulled a prank on her.
It was a childlike reaction, but it seemed his mood had improved for now.

Also, the Berserk Ogre transformed after he ate the Boost Griffon.
Small white feathers sprouted from his back.
Their flapping movements were lovely.
If one didn't look at the individual they were growing on.

Also, from her behavior, Yuuko-nee seemed to be wondering「Is it delicious?」as she approached, but the Berserk Ogre stared at her and didn't let her come close.
He seemed to be saying「This meat is mine.」

「He won't be able to fly with those, but it seems like they're a catalyst for Wind factor, so I think he should be able to do sudden accelerations with them.」

「I see.」

Kazane nodded after Louise's words.
Kazane herself had gained a new『Boost』Skill.
It seemed it was a Wind system Passive Skill that compressed wind to launch the target.
While she thought the Berserk Ogre might be able to do the same thing, she sighed, since the Berserk Ogre had eaten almost all the delicious parts.
Yuuko-nee to the side was making a sad expression.

Though the Berserk Ogre had certainly been the one to strike the finishing blow.
Kazane also understood that the Berserk Ogre had been strengthened from eating it, so she left it alone this time.
However, when she saw the Berserk Ogre staring at Jinrai, his face showing he was itching for a deathmatch, Kazane sighed again.

She knew that Jinrai sometimes approached the Berserk Ogre and said「Do you want to kill each other?」and that that Berserk Ogre gave off a「Uho, what a good man」sense when that happened, so she was planning to do something about it in the near future.
The Berserk Ogre couldn't keep things in moderation, so she didn't really want them to do a mock battle, though.

Anyway, the problem was that the Boost Griffon the Berserk Ogre killed was『seriously injured for some reason』.
Though Kazane already had a rough idea of the cause.

「Odanobunaga? Geez, what a troublesome opponent.」

Shortly after the Boost Griffon was defeated, Kazane saw monkey monsters appear from the direction it had come from.
Those monkey monsters were called Eliminator Monkeys, but their heads were bare and they had rat-like faces, which was characteristic of the monkeys used by Odanobunagas, so Kazane thought that.

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Odanobunaga was a monster that appeared in Zexiaharts' append disc Orient scenario, so Yumika and Naoki, who had only played to the point that they had cleared the main scenario, were completely unaware of their existence.

But Kazane had suffered painful experiences due to them many times, and high level players fought against them quite often, so she was confident that she wasn't mistaken.
The eastern『Japanese』country had many monkey-type monsters, and players used the monkeys to identify whether there were Odanobunagas in the area.

And she also knew from Jinrai that Odanobunaga monsters lived in the Dark Forest, so she concluded that it was already certain.

Also, the existence called the Dark Forest was one of the postgame elements after clearing the main scenario.
Zexiaharts' main scenario's ending was premised on the player being levels 80-90.
The Dark Forests were made for players that were higher level than that and were scattered throughout the Philon continent.
If it was the same specification as the game, it should be a forbidden land filled with abnormally strong postgame monsters.

However, as was also the case in the game, there was a fixed extent to which the Magic Particles that formed the Dark Forest would drift, so there was basically no danger to people unless they entered the area.
But this time, it seemed Odanobunagas had escaped from that forbidden land and entered Hyvern.

And after hearing those things, Chloe turned pale.

「Then the thing I was afraid of already happened?」

Monsters from the Dark Forest could only live in areas with thick Magic Particles, so they basically didn't leave the forest.
However, monsters that had slipped out of the forest once, like this time, tended to return to the forest to absorb Magic Particles, then once again leave to aim for prey.
And they were a threat that was incomparable to Griffons; their power was said to be comparable to dragons.

By the way Yumika was laughing as she said「Eh, Oda Nobunaga…
what kind of joke is that?」 which caused Jinrai's rare anger to flare up, and he said「You don't know how scary Odanobunagas are.
Moronーー!!!」Naoki to the side was thinking the same thing as Yumika, and he stealthily averted his eyes.

According to Jinrai's knowledge, Odanobunaga referred to brutal human-shaped armored insects.
They were well known as formidable enemies on par with Adult dragons.
Even high-ranking adventurers wouldn't escape death if they encountered them.

And despite knowing what Odanobunagas were, Yumika laughed.
It wasn't strange that Jinrai thought his disciple was getting carried away just because she had become a little stronger.

That was an unreasonable story.
The Oda Nobunaga Yumika knew about was an old man who was often portrayed as a girl who ruled Makai and emitted beams.
Yumika thought (Apparently, there's a wall between the real world and the fantasy world) as she muttered good grief in her mind.

Name: Yuihama Kazane

Occupation: Summoning Fighter

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Title: Ogre Killer, Dragon Slayer, High Beast Summoner, Rea King

Equipment: Staff 『White Blaze』, Two Handed Sword『Black Fang』, Draghorn Tonfa x2, Dragonscale Breastplate, Drake Gauntlets, Silver Sheep Clothes, Sylphyn Skirt, Plasma Pants, Dragon Eating Ogre King's Greaves, Indestructible Cloak, Mysterious Pouch, Crimson Saint Coffin, Heroic Spirit Summoning Ring, Circlet of Wisdom, Aim Bracelet, Magic Accumulator, White Magic Accumulator, Rainbow Necklace, Rainbow Dragon Ring

Level : 33

Health: 135

Magic Power: 260+420

Strength: 57+20

Agility: 52+14

Endurance: 33

Wisdom : 65

Dexterity : 41

Spell : 『Fly』『Torch』『Fire』『Heal』『Firestorm』『Healer Ray』『High Heal』『Golden Dusk「Dragon Exclusive」』『Mirror Shield』

Skill : 『Kick Devil』『Warrior's Memory: Lv2』『Night Vision』『Crushing Blow』『Dog's Sense of Smell: Lv2』『Golem Maker: Lv3』『Rush』『Fire Principle: Third Chapter』『Healing Principle: Fourth Chapter』『Air Jump: Lv2』『Killing Leg: Lv3』『Fear Voice』『Invisible』『Tiger Eye』『Wall Walking』『Intuition』『Cheat Death』『Nimble』『Charge』『Material Shield: Lv2』『Information Link: Lv2』『Optical Camouflage』『Dash』『Bloodsucking Blade』『Dragonization: Lv2「Dragon」』『Regenerate』『Soul Breaking Blade』『Stealthy Hand Placement』『Thunder Chariot: Lv2』『Sturdier Teeth: Lv2「Dragon」』『Crystallization: Lv2「Dragon」』『Fabricated Coercion』『Stone Minotaur: Lv2』『Mega Beam: Lv2』『Space Expansion』『Pseudo-Silver Creation』『Poison Claw』『Fireball「Dragon」』『Cuticle「Dragon」』『Arms Creation: Black Flame』『Ingredient Connoisseur』『Dragon Pheromone「Dragon」』『Boost』

Yumika:「I've never been to a Dark Forest, but is it that dreadful?」

Kazane:「Simply put, it's a place where monsters on par with Yuuko-nee and the Berserk Ogre appear in groups and attack.
If we were to enter, we would probably die.」

Yumika:「But we've even defeated one of the strongest species of dragon in the world, haven't we?」

Kazane:「That dragon was one of the strongest monsters, but what makes it scary is the series of battles.
That place is practically a boss rush.」