Manowa

oa and the other were on their way back to Uumin City after going to Winlard City.
However, on the way back, there was a sudden attack by monsters.

(Tho, those are…
Land Octopuses, aren't they? Why are so many in a place like this?!)

Moldoa was astonished by the sight before his eyes.
That probably couldn't be helped.
Currently in front of Moldoa and the others were monsters called Land Octopuses.
They were ugly creatures that lived on land and moved with eight limp legs.

Weapons didn't work well on their flexible bodies, and they were dangerous monsters; even a single one was quite capable of turning the tables on novice adventurers.

For their peculiar features, in addition to their eight freely moving legs, Land Octopuses had camouflage to blend into the surrounding scenery and superhuman strength beyond their appearance.
And the fact that they were known to act in groups made them even more troublesome.

Dozens of them were now surrounding the caravan.
It seemed the monsters had been lying in wait to ambush while camouflaged like the ground.

By all rights, since highways were installed with stones called Tormana Stones that monsters loathed, there should be almost no monsters lying in wait to ambush near a highway.
However, due to the drastic change of Mortal Monkey territory several months ago, the habitat distribution of the monsters in the depths of the forest had changed, and it seemed that recently, many monsters would appear on the road like this.
Moldoa's group were unluckily on the receiving end of one such change.

「Damn it, I'm paying you guys.
Do something about this, adventurers!」

After Moldoa yelled that, the adventurers shouted back「We are!」but they were outnumbered.
The caravan had hired two parties with 11 escort adventurers in total, but that number had already fallen to seven.

「Gu…
Gyaa!」

Together with that scream, an unpleasant crack was heard, and one of the adventurers collapsed with his neck still wrapped by a tentacle.
Seeing that, Moldoa screamed.

Sponsored Content

「Damn, we won't last much longer, Leader.」

「It can't be helped.
I'll use that.
Cover me!」

With a sidelong glance at Moldoa as he screamed and fainted, the man called Leader, Zacks of the party『Zacks Raven』, gave an order.
Then he stepped back and took a bottle of black liquid out of his Mysterious Bag.

(I don't want to rely on this, but…)

It was a liquid with an ominous air.
As a matter of fact, he'd heard that there were various side effects.
But right now, he had no choice but to use it to live.
So resolving himself, Zacks drained the『Black Potion』in one gulp.

「Ku, oooooooooh!!」

Then Zacks shouted.
It was like an intensely burning black flame was racing through his entire body.
And he understood that his arm was changing.
That probably made them feel a sense of danger from Zacks; two Land Octopuses jumped over the adventurers towards Zacks.

「Nuisancesss!」

However, Zacks forcibly swung his sword horizontally and mowed them down.
His arm was dyed black, and the blade of the sword he was holding had a black aura.
And unlike before, Zacks' sword killed two Land Octopus with a single blow.

「As expected of Leader!」

One of the adventurers cheered.
Zacks smiled in response and said the standard line「Let's go, guys!」as he went to counterattack.

The power of the Black Potion was tremendous.
The first sword slash was already overkill, but his leg strength had increased, and he could clearly see the enemies' attacks.
In the blink of an eye, he succeeded in killing five other Land Octopuses.

「Hah, hah!」

Zacks roughly caught his breath.
Then, with a loud scream to rouse his fighting spirit, he killed one more.
But alas, the difference in numbers could not be broken just because a single person improved his strength.
Even with Zacks' strenuous effort, the situation improved only slightly.

(Damn, it's useless? We were able to push them back a little, but even that was immediately ruined.
At this rate, won't we be in the belly of those monsters within a few minutes?)

So thinking, Zacks looked back at the caravan.
The situation was already decided.
Thinking that in that case, sticking around to get annihilated was meaningless, the idea of using the caravan as a decoy to try and escape crossed his mind.

Sponsored Content

Certainly, the contract would be broken, but it was a matter of life.
They were escorting for money, and with the situation already over, throwing away himself and his companions to protect the caravan was meaningless.

(I wish there were slaves that could be used as decoys.)

He was a little uneasy about only having the merchants as bait, but just when Zacks decided that there was no choice but to give the order to retreat, he heard it.

He heard thunder echoing from the direction of Minshiana.

Name: Yuihama Kazane

Occupation: Summoning Fighter

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

Equipment: Staff 『White Blaze』, Draghorn Tonfa x2, Dragon Eating Ogre Army Armor (True), Indestructible Cloak, Mysterious Pouch, Crimson Saint Coffin, Heroic Spirit Summoning Ring, Circlet of Wisdom, Aim Bracelet, White Magic Accumulator (Revised) ×2, Rainbow Necklace, Rainbow Dragon Ring, Angel Bracelet

Level : 38

Health: 152+20

Magic Power: 340+520

Strength: 72+45

Agility: 78+39

Endurance: 43+20

Wisdom : 75

Dexterity : 51

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

Skill : 『Kick Devil』『Warrior's Memory: Lv2』『Night Vision』『Crushing Blow』『Dog's Sense of Smell: Lv2』『Golem Maker: Lv4』『Aegis Shield』『Fire Principle: Third Chapter』『Healing Principle: Fourth Chapter』『Air Jump: Lv2』『Killing Leg: Lv3』『Fear Voice』『Invisible』『Tiger Eye』『Wall Walking』『Intuition: Lv2』『Cheat Death』『Nimble』『Charge』『Material Shield: Lv2』『Information Link: Lv2』『Optical Camouflage』『High Dash』『Bloodsucking Blade』『Dragonization: Lv2「Dragon」』『Regenerate』『Soul Breaking Blade』『Stealthy Hand Placement』『Thunder Chariot: Lv2』『Sturdier Teeth: Lv2「Dragon」』『Crystallization: Lv2「Dragon」』『Devil King's Intimidation』『Stone Minotaur: Lv2』『Mega Beam: Lv2』『Space Expansion』『Pseudo-Silver Creation』『Poison Claw』『Fireball「Dragon」』『Cuticle「Dragon」』『Arms Creation: Black Flame』『Ingredient Connoisseur: Lv2』『Dragon Pheromone「Dragon」』『Boost』『Monkey's Strong Arm』『Two-sword Style』『Boobies Plus』『Living Armor』『Alarm』『Six-sword Style』『Mental Attack Complete Protection』『Spider Web』『Wire Cutter』

Yumika:「La, Land Octopus?」

Kazane:「Yep, octopus.
I wonder if they can be eaten?」