Chapter 166: The Witch’s Lineage
We were about five thousand medes from the village.
“Naga, it’s about time to use sonar again.”
“Understood.”
I used focused sonar, narrowing its range to the area ahead.
Searching the same distance of one thousand medes required only one-fifth as much mana.
The drawback was that it could search only in front of us… but we compensated by having everyone search the surroundings as we advanced.
“Hm? There are seven monsters ahead… and ten more of the same type another five hundred medes beyond them. There may be even more farther in.”
“Seven and ten? Perhaps the group split apart…”
“What should we do?”
“…There are far too many compared to our estimate. Let’s return to the guild and organize a proper subjugation force.”
Faced with an unexpected number of enemies, Naga decided to retreat.
She was the leader of this party, so we had to follow her decision, but…
“Naga, would you authorize a reconnaissance in force?”
“A reconnaissance… in force?”
“Yes. It means pushing the scouting one step farther by engaging the enemy once and confirming their strength, reserves, morale, command structure, and so on.”
“And you intend to do that, Aldo?”
“Yes. Ogres shouldn’t be able to use magic, so if anything goes wrong, I can use spatial kicks and escape into the sky.”
“…And the real reason?”
“I’d like to test the dragon armor…”
A faint trace of killing intent must have escaped me.
Naga took one step backward, and several birds burst from the trees and flew away.
She looked around and sighed.
“Do the rest of you feel the same?”
“When I saw the villagers… it reminded me of what happened in the Blue Ring territory.”
“I’m with Aldo. I want to test Vernier and my magic shield too.”
“I… think I’d only get in the way…”
“Sigh… Fine. Aldo and Ashera will conduct the reconnaissance in force. Elphas will protect Marl. As for me… I’ll watch from a distance.”
“Yes!”
Ashera and I would perform the reconnaissance.
El carried Marl into a nearby tree and held her while the two watched us.
“Ashera, are you ready?”
“Yes. We’ll annihilate them.”
“This is reconnaissance in force.”
Ashera glanced at my face.
“You don’t need a pretext with me. We’ll avenge the child properly.”
“…Alright. Just don’t overdo it.”
“I won’t.”
Ashera and I slowly entered the ogres’ den.
At first, the ogres tilted their heads when they saw us. Gradually, nasty grins spread across their faces, and they came toward us.
Ashera moved before I did…
She must have used a spatial kick together with Vernier.
For an instant, I completely lost sight of her.
The next moment, an ogre’s head burst.
In the following instant, a different ogre’s head exploded.
This was supposed to be her first time using Vernier in serious combat, yet she handled it with complete freedom.
Could she already be better with it than I was?
She fired Vernier in every direction—up, down, left, and right—bewildering the ogres.
When she finally stopped using it, she dropped from directly above the fifth ogre, letting gravity pull her down.
She gathered mana in her left hand and drove a magic fist into the crown of the ogre’s head!
The strike was far more powerful than her usual magic fist.
Not only the ogre’s head but its entire upper body was blown apart.
Only two ogres remained in this den, but the attack Ashera had just unleashed stole all my attention.
“Ashera… That attack…”
“Borg’s gauntlets contain mithril. Mana flows through them incredibly well.”
“That alone produced… that much power?”
Ashera spread both hands and examined them intently, her eyebrows drawn together.
“I probably can only do it with my left…”
“What? Your left? Why would—”
Then I remembered what had happened when I repaired Ashera’s arm.
I’d made the nerves thicker, and her skill at controlling mana had risen to an unbelievable degree…
“Because I repaired your arm… Because of me…”
At the words that escaped me, Ashera smiled.
“I’m truly glad I asked you, Aldo. Thank you.”
Had it really been the right decision?
Even now, I couldn’t tell…
Yet Ashera still thanked me.
“I see…”
After glancing at me when I could offer only that vague reply, Ashera instantly killed the last two ogres.
Naga rubbed her temples as she began speaking.
“Ah… Did ‘reconnaissance in force’ mean annihilating them? That’s rather different from what I was told…”
“We’re sorry.”
Ashera had defeated every ogre by herself, but I’d also intended to wipe them out, so I was equally guilty.
“Sigh… Aldo, Ashera, how much mana do you have left?”
“I have about four-fifths.”
“About two-thirds.”
Naga gave us a sour look, then turned to El.
“Elphas, please use your maximum-range sonar once.”
“Yes.”
A probing wave of El’s mana spread out at once.
He closed his eyes and concentrated on reading the returning mana.
“There are two ogre dens within one thousand medes. One has ten, and the other has twelve.”
“I see…”
Naga repeatedly thought for a moment, looked at us, then thought again.
“What do all of you want to do?”
“I didn’t do anything in that last battle, so I’d like to test my armor.”
“I can keep going.”
“Either choice is fine with me.”
“Please let me watch.”
“Ashera, you just defeated all of them by yourself. Protect Marl this time. El, let’s test our armor together.”
“Understood. I won’t let Marl receive even a single scratch.”
“If Sister Ashera is protecting me, I feel safe.”
“Thank you, Ashera.”
Naga listened as we carried on and made the decision ourselves. She gave a wry smile and shrugged.
“Very well. I’ll leave the next den to our two Apostles. But don’t overdo it. If either of you receives so much as a scratch, we retreat. Understood?”
Not even a scratch made the hurdle rather high, but with El beside me, we could probably manage.
“Understood. You can do it, right, El?”
“Yes. I believe so.”
We headed toward the next den, which contained ten ogres.
As we approached, Ashera carried Marl into a tree, while Naga concealed her presence and moved to a position where she could observe the entire battle.
“El, are you ready?”
“Yes, Brother.”
“Then let’s go.”
“Yes.”
El and I charged into the ogres’ den.
Some were perceptive enough to try fighting back, but before the two of us, it accomplished nothing.
I used spatial kicks and fired Vernier, hunting the enemy through three-dimensional movement.
The ogres’ skin was tough, but no tougher than a Mad Bear’s. As long as I remained careful, they posed no problem.
El had built reactive armor into his shield and forced his way straight through the group while firing Vernier.
It was a tactic I’d used before. Even if you knew the charge was coming, adding Vernier made it extraordinarily difficult to evade.
Just as Naga had ordered, El and I annihilated the group without receiving a single scratch.
Of the ten ogres, I killed six and El killed four.
It took about three minutes.
Naga seemed to lack even the energy to be surprised and merely wore a wry smile.
“Aldo, Elphas, Ashera… Changing your armor has made all three of you even stronger…”
Just as Naga said, the custom-made dragon armor never interfered with our movements and conducted mana superbly.
Among the three of us, only Ashera occasionally adjusted the armor over her chest because it seemed to shift. That must have been the issue she’d discussed with Borg.
We would have to place our hopes in her growth.
We had now destroyed two of the three dens we’d located.
The remaining one contained twelve ogres.
“The last den has twelve. That’s the number we originally expected in total. I have a proposal—why don’t we defeat the final group as a party?”
By “as a party,” Naga meant all five of us.
Naturally, that included Marl.
“That’s what I’d like to do.”
Marl answered before anyone else.
“Marl, are you certain?”
“Yes. I’m Lady Rafina’s disciple too. I’ll be alright…”
“Understood. I won’t allow the ogres anywhere near you.”
“Thank you, Elphas.”
If Marl agreed, neither Ashera nor I had any reason to object.
I’d also wanted to confirm how much we should suppress our strength during an ordinary party battle and how we should move together.
Once we reached an agreement, the five of us headed toward the last ogre den.
Our formation was the same as before.
El took the left side of the vanguard, and I took the right. Marl held the middle-left position, with Naga on the middle-right. Ashera guarded the rear.
Ashera might be in the rear position, but remaining at the very back would reduce her to a fixed gun emplacement. In practice, she would probably move more like a skirmisher.
The last den was closer than expected.
El and I led the way slowly inside. The ogres roared and charged at us.
This time, we were fighting as a party.
We waited for their approach with magic shields and one-handed magic weapons extended.
Naturally, I didn’t forget to apply reactive armor to my shield.
There were supposed to be twelve ogres, but only seven rushed toward us.
The others might be hiding somewhere, but first we had to concentrate on the seven before us.
From behind El, Marl acted as a fixed gun emplacement, firing anti-monster Wind Bullets at the ogres’ legs.
She kept three Wind Bullets hovering overhead at all times and replaced each one the moment she fired it.
“Skillful” was the word that best suited Marl’s magic.
Even when targeting the legs, she aimed for toes and joints.
Rather than trying to defeat the ogres herself, she devoted her magic entirely to support.
That support-oriented attitude was the complete opposite of Mother’s, yet as a pure mage, Marl’s manner of fighting reminded me of her.
The way she used magic was wonderfully nasty too.
Among the Ice Witch’s disciples, Marl was probably the one who had inherited her techniques in the most orthodox fashion.
By the time the ogres reached us, they were dragging their legs and could barely walk.
El and I had only the simple task of finishing them off.
In truth, it was almost the same as if Marl had defeated every one of them.
We quickly killed the seven ogres and were discussing whether to search for the remaining five when a roar echoed from deep within the den.
The ogre that emerged slowly was a size larger than the others, and its skin was a deep, sinister black.
It glared at us with four subordinate ogres following behind it.
“That’s an Ogre General… an A-rank monster…”
Naga spoke warily. Then, as if something had suddenly occurred to her, she began muttering.
“Come to think of it, there are three people here who defeated an S-rank Earth Dragon and can toy with A-rank wyverns and minotaurs without even trying…”
The tension abruptly left Naga’s shoulders.
“This monster may be too difficult for us during a party battle. Ashera, could you handle the Ogre General?”
“Understood.”
“Everyone else will defeat the remaining ogres as a party. Is that clear?”
“Yes!”
Ashera’s charge toward the Ogre General became our signal to move against the remaining ogres.
Just as before, Marl attacked their legs, stripped away their ability to fight, and allowed us to finish them.
As for Ashera, she gathered mana into her left hand and rushed the Ogre General using spatial kicks and Vernier.
The Ogre General should have been tougher than an ordinary ogre, yet Ashera’s magic fist struck its stomach and opened a massive hole straight through its torso.
“That ended quickly…”
Naga spoke in exasperation.
The rest of us couldn’t find anything to say after such an anticlimactic conclusion.
“Ah, at least we managed to test the new equipment…”
Naga gave us a sidelong stare.
“You annihilated three ogre dens to test your equipment…”
“…”
All four of us fell silent.
“I’m joking. This saved the village and preserved the guild’s reputation.”
We returned to the village and reported that we’d wiped out the ogre dens.
The man who had confronted us earlier collapsed quietly in tears before his child’s grave.
On the journey back in the guild’s wagon, Ashera spoke.
“We avenged the child.”
“That’s right. You and Marl played the greatest roles this time.”
“Indeed.”
“I-I only supported you! Aldo and Elphas were the ones who defeated them!”
When El, Ashera, and I looked at Marl, she grew flustered and desperately tried to play down her contribution.
Marl flustered like this… That was a rare sight.
I laughed softly, and Ashera peered into my face.
I took her left hand, removed the gauntlet, and examined it carefully.
“Aldo?”
“…Ashera, are you truly certain there’s no pain or strange sensation?”
Even in today’s battles, the power of the magic fist from her left hand had been in a class of its own.
During the battle against the Earth Dragon, only ultra-vibration and Ashera’s left-handed magic fist had been able to penetrate its scales.
Considering mana efficiency, Ashera’s magic fist was far more practical than ultra-vibration.
That made me worry all the more that it might produce some kind of recoil or hidden strain.
“I’m fine. If anything feels strange, I’ll tell you immediately.”
“You absolutely must…”
“I understand.”
And so, the ogre subjugation came to an end.
The dragon armor was even better than I’d imagined and extremely easy to use.
The change in Ashera, who had worn a robe until now, was especially frightening.
In my heart, I decided not to spar with Ashera for a while.