Chapter 173: Investigation Resumed
“I’ll turn you into roast pork! MELT SWORD!”
Jairo, with his sword clad in flames, cleaves through the orcs one after another.
“Don’t fight in places too close to the trees! WIND SLASHER!”
When Mina unleashes rapid-fire wind magic in a direction where there are no allied adventurers, the upper and lower halves of the orcs are cleanly severed.
Seeing as all the magic hit the enemies, Mina‘s magic accuracy and ability to grasp the battlefield have improved.
“At a minimum… cut!”
Meguri, moving freely across the battlefield with flight magic further sped up by wind attribute defense, uses surrounding trees and rocks as footholds to accurately attack the orcs’ vitals with surprise attacks accompanied by three-dimensional leaps.
“Tei!”
“Bumoo!?”
And Norb was solidly responding with a defense-specialized tactic combining attribute defense and defensive magic.
While dodging the orcs’ attacks with minimal movements, taking the unavoidable attacks seems to be serving as evasion practice too.
“H-Hey, why is that brat totally fine taking the attacks of those huge guys head-on!?”
“That young lady over there is mowing down the orcs all together with amazing magic!? Why isn’t she running out of magic power!?”
“If I recall, those guys are rookies who just became adventurers a little while ago, right? Why are they so strong!?”
Other adventurers and knights raise voices of surprise at Jairo and the others’ exploits.
Yeah, yeah, it makes you happy when your own people are praised.
“Eei! Don’t fall behind the adventurers! Won’t you guys annihilate the orcs too!”
” ” “Y-Yes!!” ” “
Scolded by their superior, the knights hurriedly head towards the orcs.
But because they dashed out in a panic, it seems they didn’t check what characteristics the opponent orc possessed.
The one they dashed towards was an orc with long arms like a mantis, and the broad-bladed battleaxe gripped in its hand assaulted the knights.
“Hiee!?”
Although they somehow dodged the attack from the unexpectedly long arm, the knights lost their balance because of it and fell on their behinds.
There, the axe held in the other hand assaults them.
“Uwaaaaaaaa!?”
Thinking they can’t dodge it, the knight reflexively closes his eyes.
However, at that moment, the blade part of the axe the orc held in its hand blew away.
“Swinging around such a dangerous thing is hazardous, you know.”
The one who appeared there was Liliera.
The reason the orc’s axe looked like it blew away was because the handle was cut by Liliera‘s spear.
“Are you alright?”
“Y-Yes…”
“Then that’s good!”
Confirming the knight’s safety, Liliera slid on the frozen ground to accelerate, and cleaved through the bewildered orcs whose footing became unstable.
“A goddess…?”
And the knights left behind stared at Liliera with dumbfounded faces.
Well, it’s about time I concentrate on the battle too.
◆
“Phew, finally done.”
Having finished the battle with the orcs encountered during the exploration, everyone lets out a big sigh.
“We’ve been fighting orcs continuously since morning, after all.”
We had started a reinvestigation of this orc commotion jointly between the Adventurer’s Guild and the Knight Order, but the situation had become more troublesome than expected.
The reason being, as we headed in the direction the orcs came from, the frequency of encountering orcs steadily increased.
“Even so, aren’t these guys getting stronger bit by bit?”
“Ah, I felt that way too. The number of injured people has been increasing since a while ago, hasn’t it.”
At Jairo‘s grumbling, Norb raises a voice of agreement.
“Besides, the shapes of the orcs are steadily getting weirder.”
“Yeah, those are absolutely not orcs anymore.”
As Mina and the others said, the number of encountered orcs with extraordinary appearances was increasing.
The opponents we encountered until now had appearances that felt like an extension of an orc, but now the orc elements have become the garnish of the orc? It has become like that.
“A Hydra-like monster with 9 orc heads, that’s impossible.”
“This one has shells attached to its skin like an insect.”
“Kyu kyuu u.”
Mofumofu gnaws on parts of the respective orcs and falls into thought about something.
“Kyukkyu.”
Then he returned to one of them and started eating in earnest.
Could it be he’s taste-testing?
“Say, Rex, this is, as I thought…”
At the clearly strange appearances of the orcs, Liliera voices the doubt she had been harboring until now.
“Yes, they’re undoubtedly chimeras.”
Yes, these orcs were undoubtedly chimeras.
“Such unnatural creatures existing in the natural world… I won’t say it’s impossible, but creatures with orc elements this persistently are abnormal.”
“There are such things, huh. Weird creatures…”
The world sure is vast…
Even in my previous life, I had quite often encountered monsters that surprised me, making me think, ‘Is this a natural creature!?’
“Does that mean someone made these guys!?”
“But why would they fixate on orcs? An orc maniac… maybe?”
Hmm, I don’t know that either. Why orcs, really?
Orcs just increase in number quickly; racially, I don’t think there’s any merit to going out of the way to use them as the base body for chimeras.
“Either way, we won’t know unless we try to pinpoint the cause.”
“The cause, huh…”
Hearing ‘the cause’, Liliera gets a difficult face.
“Speaking of chimeras, it reminds me of that undead, though…”
“Are you talking about Mr. Ganei?”
Certainly, Mr. Ganei, an undead from the Ancient Magic Civilization era we met before, specialized in chimera research, didn’t he.
I haven’t seen him since we parted ways at the bottommost layer of the cave, but I wonder what he’s doing around this time.
“Could it be that the cause of this chimera incident is also that undead…”
“Hmm, I wonder. That person’s objective was to create a chimera capable of subjugating the White Calamity, but considering that, I don’t think the orcs this time align with that objective…”
Yes, Mr. Ganei’s objective is to create the strongest chimera. It shouldn’t have been to mass-produce weak chimeras by any means.
“Who cares about that. We’ll know once we find the cause.”
“You should think a little more.”
Against Jairo, who dismisses it saying it’s useless to think about it, Mina warns him to be more thoughtful.
“But what Jairo says also has a point. Even if we think about it in the current situation with no information, it ends up being just speculation. We have to find the ringleader.”
“Yeah, yeah! Let’s go quickly, Big Bro!”
“It seems we can’t do that.”
When Jairo raised his voice to proceed, Norb put a stop to it.
“What, you’re a buzzkill.”
“It seems the number of injured is higher than expected, and they’re currently discussing whether we should temporarily retreat, prepare anew, and then set out again.”
“Are there that many injured?”
“Yes, it seems there are too many types of these strange orcs, and many people were injured receiving unexpected attacks.”
“I see. Certainly, with appearances this different, they’re already different creatures. It’s practically like fighting a group of multiple monsters, after all.”
Besides, it seems their strength is quite inconsistent too.
“We only encountered weak orcs, but the other adventurers were unlucky and encountered troublesome guys. No, if there is a mastermind manipulating these orcs behind the scenes, could it be the enemy targeted skilled adventurers and hid strong orcs among the weak ones to injure them?”
” ” ” ” “No, if that’s the case, wouldn’t Big Bro / Rex / -san have been targeted?” ” ” ” “
Eh? Me? Why?
“Anyway, if the guild is discussing, it seems better to rest while we can.”
“Right. Besides, since we’ve subjugated this many orcs, retreating to collect and dismantle the materials is sufficiently possible.”
I see, certainly there’s that possibility too.
If we store the subjugated materials in the magic bag, there’s no worry of them rotting, but there’s a limit to the number of dismantlers. And to the size of the dismantling yard too.
◆
“Heey, party leaders, please gather!”
While taking a break and having lunch to make the most of the time, the person from the party assigned the leader role by the Adventurer’s Guild called out, perhaps having finished the discussion.
“Then I’ll go.”
“Yes, we’ll clean up after the meal.”
“Yeah, thanks.”
“Jairo, don’t cause trouble.”
“I’m just going to listen to the talk!”
Since Jairo is the leader of the Dragon Slayers, it seems he’s going to listen to the talk with me.
Until now, he would find it bothersome and leave it to Mina, but to think he started doing the leader’s job on his own; Jairo is growing every day too.
“It’s bothersome. But if I don’t go, she’s noisy…”
Ah, so it’s because he’ll get lectured if he doesn’t go…
“I think everyone knows, but the number of orcs has increased, and there are many formidable enemies now. The number of injured is not small either. So, as a result of discussing with the Knight Order, we have decided to retreat here for now.”
” ” ” “Ooh-” ” ” “
At the leader’s words, some raise voices of relief, while others raise voices of dissatisfaction.
“Of course, it’s not compulsory. Because adventurers have freedom as their motto. …That being said, that’s only when you can take your own responsibility. Those who return will act together with the Knight Order so it’s safe, but for those who want to remain and continue the exploration after this, the danger level will skyrocket because there will be no comrades to fight together with. Please think carefully and make your choice. That’s all from me.”
The leader’s talk was just that, and everyone immediately returns to discuss the talk they just heard with their party comrades.
“What should we do?”
I ask the opinions of Liliera, Jairo, and the others. I still have leeway, but everyone might already be tired and want to go back.
“Of course I’m going! It seems the other guys are going back, so let’s resolve the problem today and monopolize the credit!”
“I agree for the time being. We still have leeway on this side. But well, saying ‘today’ is a bit too hasty, so I think we should move carefully.”
“O-Oh…”
“Right, I agree with continuing the investigation. After all, if it’s us, we can fly back with magic in no time anyway.”
“Rather, since we don’t have to act in a group, it’ll be easier to investigate flying in the sky.”
“Since we don’t have to fight the orcs on the ground, the investigation will probably be safer with just us.”
It seems everyone agrees to continue the investigation.
“Kyu kyuuu.”
Before I knew it, Mofumofu had finished eating all the orcs he was taste-testing.
Or rather, if you were going to eat them all, was there any point in taste-testing?
“Kyukkyuu.”
Mofumofu rubs his belly and looks around the surroundings.
“Tch, kyuuu.”
Then he clicks his tongue, climbs up my leg, and starts scratching at the magic bag karikari.
Could it be he wants the stored orcs?
“It seems Mofumofu hasn’t eaten enough orcs yet.”
“Kyuu!”
As if saying exactly that, Mofumofu puffs out his chest and drops to the ground.
“Yeah, then let’s continue the investigation!”
” ” ” ” “Ooooh!!” ” ” ” ” “
“Kyuu-!”
◆
“We found it easily.”
“We found it, didn’t we.”
“We found it, huh.”
“We found it, didn’t we.”
“Too easy…”
“Ahaha…”
To state the conclusion, we found our destination immediately after resuming the exploration.
Parting with the investigation team, we flew in the direction the orcs were coming from with flight magic, and arrived at the foot of a large mountain range.
In a corner of the mountain, a large building stood as if assimilating with the mountain.
And from inside that building, dozens of orcs were appearing one after another.
“To think such a building was in a place like this…”
“Moreover, it’s very large, did the guild and the Knight Order not have information on this building?”
At the building with an excessively unnatural appearance, Mina and the others tilt their heads wondering why it hadn’t caused an uproar until now.
“Because a concealment barrier was erected, there’s a high possibility the Knight Order and adventurers didn’t notice even if they came near here.”
“Eh? Such a thing was there!?”
“No way!? I didn’t notice it!?”
Hearing a barrier was erected, Liliera and Mina raise voices of surprise.
“Yes, it was in the way so I dispelled it.”
“Ah, so that’s why the building suddenly appeared.”
“It surprised me earlier.”
“As expected of Big Bro! I totally didn’t understand!”
“Don’t say it so confidently… well I didn’t understand either, though.”
At the excitedly speaking Jairo, Mina lets out a sigh.
“Anyway, there’s no doubt that building is the cause.”
“Then let’s investigate that building right away… hm?”
It was at that moment.
Suddenly, a rumbling of the earth like gogogogogo began to sound.
“What? An earthquake?”
“No, that’s wrong! Look at the building!”
At Jairo‘s words, when everyone focused on the building, the building was collapsing with a loud noise.
“The building…!?”
And from inside the building, something giant appeared.
“Fuhahahahaha! Because the barrier was dispelled I thought ‘perhaps’, but it was you after all, brat!”
What could be heard from the cloud of dust was a familiar voice.
“As I thought, it was you… Mr. Ganei!”
What emerged from the cloud of dust was, exactly as Liliera predicted, Mr. Ganei, and the figure of a creature that should literally be called a synthetic organism chimera, having fused too much with various creatures to be called an orc anymore.
