Chapter 548: The Strength of the Newcomer Team

The sixth day ended with Silver Twin Mages having clearly demonstrated their strength—perhaps as a show of rivalry against Tauro’s Black-Gold Wings. That night, the group camped in the mountains and passed the night without being attacked by monsters.

“I’m surprised. The Antas Mountain region is full of powerful monsters, and many of them aren’t intimidated by ordinary barrier magic—they often push right through it. But last night, there was nothing at all. Your barrier specialist is exceptionally skilled.”

Jack, leader of the A-minus team Blue Thunder Beast and the one who had hired them for this mission, spoke to Tauro and praised Aeris highly.

“Aeris excels at magic, healing, and barriers. She’s the linchpin of our rear guard,” Tauro replied, honestly delighted that a companion he was proud of had been praised.

From Ragune and the others’ perspective, though, it just looked like he was bragging about her.

“Ahhh! Looks like the leader’s started bragging about his girl,” Ankh teased from behind Tauro, letting out a whistle.

“Hey, Ankh! Tauro was just responding with a fair assessment!” Aeris protested, slightly annoyed at Ankh’s teasing.

It was clearly an attempt to hide her embarrassment. Ragune and Zion noticed immediately, but chose not to point it out.

“In any case, starting with Aeris, everyone on our team is incredibly reliable,” Tauro said with a wry smile in response to Ankh’s teasing and Aeris’s flustered reaction.

“Hahaha, I get it! Good teammates are worth bragging about. That goes for me as well,” Jack replied.

Jack found himself impressed by the pleasant atmosphere of Tauro’s group.

Then he continued,

“All right, let’s pack up and head toward our destination again today. From here on, the route will get even harsher. This is a remote area ordinary adventurers don’t approach. B-rank-band subjugation targets are everywhere, and depending on the circumstances, we might even encounter an A-rank-band monster. We’ve only encountered one at that level ourselves, but stay sharp.”

Jack issued the warning to keep everyone alert.

The members of Silver Twin Mages stopped packing and swallowed nervously as they listened.

Tauro and his party had plenty of experience dealing with powerful monsters, so they didn’t seem especially nervous. Instead, they carried the distinctive air of battle-hardened adventurers, which the members of Blue Thunder Beast quietly found impressive.

They carry themselves like people who have already faced dangers at this level.

Jack thought this to himself as well.

After checking everyone’s state, he said,

“Let’s get going.”

And so, the day’s journey began.

“Jack-san, there’s a monster ahead—in the forest at the top of the climb. It’s downwind, so it seems to have already noticed us.”

Using [True Eye] together with [Presence Detection], Tauro noticed it before anyone else and reported it to Jack.

“!? …Really? —Good catch… My [Search] hasn’t picked up anything yet…”

　

Jack was surprised by Tauro’s report and turned his attention to Budar, the ranger of Silver Twin Mages, who also possessed scouting abilities.

The two teams had completed many quests together and were thoroughly familiar with one another’s skills.

Budar shook his head at Jack, indicating that his own detection hadn’t picked up anything either.

“What should we do? Gemma did say the next prey would be ours—may we take it down?” Tauro asked calmly, unfazed by their doubtful reactions.

People won’t believe something like this unless they see it for themselves. Guess we’ll just have to handle it ourselves.

“…All right. I understand. I’ll leave it to you, then,” Jack agreed, reasoning that they had only just entered a danger zone and that entrusting the fight to the B-minus team Black-Gold Wings should be fine.

“Ankh, Ragune—please take the front. Judging from the silhouette, it’s probably a manticore. It seems to be using [Presence Concealment] too, so be careful as you approach,” Tauro instructed.

He had deduced this from the fact that it hadn’t been caught by Jack’s or the others’ scouting abilities.

“A m-manticore!?” Jack exclaimed in shock and asked again.

A manticore was a powerful monster for which the participation of multiple B-plus-or-higher teams was recommended. It had the face and ears of a human man, red skin, three rows of comb-like teeth, red eyes, a lion’s body, and a scorpion’s tail.

In other words, even the A-minus team Blue Thunder Beast would have considerable difficulty facing one alone.

“It’s coming this way! Everyone, let’s move!” Tauro shouted, no longer having time to respond to Jack’s surprise.

Calling out to Aeris and the others, he pulled the Bow of Artemis from [Magic Storage].

“[Holy-Dark Arrow],” he murmured.

A single arrow wrapped in black light appeared in Tauro’s right hand. He nocked it and immediately shot it into the forest ahead.

The arrow streaked forward like a black beam of light, vanishing into the woods in an instant.

Tauro fired three [Holy-Dark Arrow] shots in rapid succession into the depths of the forest.

“Gyaaa!”

A scream—sounding like that of a human man—echoed from within the forest, startling birds from the trees and sending them into flight.

“Ragune, incoming magic!” Tauro warned.

Without a word, Ragune drew her prized Mirror Turtle Rectangular Shield from [Magic Storage] and braced it in front of her.

Pouring magical power into it, she deployed her usual [Area Defense] and [Magic Reflection].

Countless earth-magic [Rock Lances] came flying from the forest.

As Ragune deflected them with her shield’s abilities, Ankh and Zion, who had been waiting behind her, dashed forward, weaving between the waves of spells.

Aeris had already cast physical-enhancement magic and earth-magic resistance on everyone in rapid succession.

When Ankh and Zion plunged into the forest, they found a manticore with injuries to its right eye, foreleg, and scorpion tail.

Confirming this, the two split left and right.

The manticore shifted its gaze, keeping Ankh in front of it while turning its scorpion tail toward Zion, then unleashed a barrage of earth-magic [Stone Pebbles] in Ankh’s direction, likely as a feint.

Ankh moved with wind-like speed, vanishing from where he was in an instant, constantly moving to keep the manticore’s attention focused on him.

At that moment, Zion slipped through the scorpion tail’s defensive range and dove inside the manticore’s guard, attacking with the Opposing Demon Gauntlets.

The manticore barely avoided it by leaping back at the last second.

But at that very moment—just as if someone had been waiting for the opening—a sharp arrow emitting a cold light caught the manticore mid-air.

This was Tauro’s new technique, [Aurora Arrow].

The arrow, infused with the bare minimum of mana, pierced deeply into the manticore’s tough hide, stopping just centimeters short of its heart.

At the same instant, Aeris’s lightning spell, [Lightning Needle Strike], was drawn precisely into the arrow.

With a flash of light, the manticore froze in midair, then lost all strength and crashed to the ground.

Ankh and Zion cautiously closed the distance, but the manticore was already dead.