Chapter 42

I followed the two vanguards and stepped out through the thin gate in the outer wall. The rest were also following.

When we first stepped outside for the test, I hadn't noticed, but now I could see remnants of a rock-paved path ahead.

Although it was only partially left in some places, it didn't seem to serve as a proper path anymore, but it would serve as a landmark.

"Let's go."

The rough man said and started running in the direction of the path. The acceleration was clearly different from the adventurers I had seen before. In no time, he reached a speed that would be difficult for me to keep up with without magic.

Well, compared to me running with magic, he was slow, but it would be too much to ask for that. The difference in magic power was about six or seven digits.

The others also followed without much difficulty. We had to run for about 15 hours, so if it was tough at this stage, it would be a problem.

Noticing that the person behind me was about 10 meters away, I also kept a distance of about 10 meters from the front. If we were too close, it would be harder to move in an emergency.

There were hardly any trees around, only low grass, so the visibility was good. Even with some distance, it was unlikely that we would be ambushed and picked off one by one.

After running for about 10 minutes, we encountered a group of monsters. It was a pack of about five Black Wolves.

There were plenty of them in the visible range, but this was the first time we had to fight.

Since I was supposed to be protected this time, I decided not to do anything unless necessary. I didn't want to take their jobs.

If it was necessary, I would be called from the front.

Well, how would they handle it—

Before I knew it, the battle was over. It wasn't even a battle.

The two vanguards glanced at each other, nodded slightly, and increased their speed, widening the distance from us. Then they cut down the Black Wolves in one go.

The one on the left took two, and the one on the right took three.

The distance returned to its original state by the time the battle ended. It was done without any danger.

They were indeed an overkill party.

The journey continued smoothly after that. I didn't need to do anything.

The vanguards took care of the enemies in front, and no monsters followed from the sides or behind. The monsters that unfortunately had to attack us from the front numbered around 50 to 60.

The others seemed to have no work, but it was probably a good thing.

"Let's eat. Hand it over."

After about 20 more monsters were sacrificed, the vanguard, who I think was called Unon, said.

Following the plan, I took out the items and handed them over when they said it was time to eat.

After confirming that Unon had finished eating, I handed the next meal to Quaton.

The food looked like a simple version of a certain curry meal. It was like stick-shaped cookies.

I was a bit thirsty, but it seemed that everyone had their own magic devices for water, so I didn't need to hand it over. Well, I hadn't eaten it before, so I didn't know if it would make me thirsty.

The eating order was from the vanguard, then counterclockwise, and finally the person in the middle. This seemed to be the established custom.

The benefit might be that there was no need to think about or remember the order.

After a while, it was my turn. I was a bit anxious about the taste, but I put it in my mouth and started to chew.

...It was hard. If I had tried to chew it like a certain curry meal, I wouldn't have been able to break it down at all.

I finally managed to break it down by putting more force into it, but I wondered if this was something a regular person could eat.

Usually, I can hold a dry branch without breaking it, even without consciously trying to. However, if I put some effort into it, I could break it. This suggests that my strength, when I'm not consciously trying, is much lower than my stats, at a regular person's level.

I tried to chew it, but I couldn't. This probably means that enhanced jaw strength and tooth durability are necessary.

If I couldn't break it down to this extent, I might not have the qualifications to be a Desibator.

The taste was also far from good. It was crumbly, not sweet, and salty. It also stuck to my mouth.

It was terrible.

However, I couldn't eat something normal while everyone else was eating this, so I had to eat it. Yeah, it was bad.

The fact that three of these sticks were enough to provide nutrition suggests that they are efficient in terms of nutrition, but couldn't they have made it taste better?

Well, I managed to finish it. It was bad, but not impossible to eat.

My mood was down, but the party's speed didn't drop, and they continued to move smoothly.

However, after running for about an hour, an explosion occurred nearby. It was a small explosion with a radius of about one meter.

"It's an Iksprondor! Is it a stray?"

An Iksprondor...?

There were no monsters in sight. The explosion had occurred out of nowhere.

Looking around, the guards were looking up. There was a large bird-like creature in the sky, about a kilometer high.

"There's only one! Spread out!"

Following the order, the distance between each person doubled. It was a strategy to minimize damage.

Immediately after, another explosion occurred. It was between me and the vanguard.

The interval was only about 10 seconds. If we kept getting hit, we would eventually be caught.

"I'll try to shoot it down with magic!"

"Attacks from the sky are handled in the city! It won't reach, so use it for defense!"

It won't reach?

It's worth a try.

Even if it's said that it won't reach, normally, no, even a normal Desibator can't carry tons of supplies in their item box. Talking about normality now is meaningless.

Besides, I already have magic armor set up. From the explosion range, it should be able to withstand it.

"I've set up the defense! I'll try to shoot it down!"

Saying that, I aimed at the Iksprondor and fired a blast shell. First, I needed to see if it would reach.

However, because I fired straight up, the shell fell behind us. The Iksprondor was also chasing us, so the shell passed far behind it.

But it did reach. It took about two seconds.

"It reached!? And it's fast!"

Voices rose around me. Indeed, my magic was originally fast, and I was using a special staff. It was natural that it was fast.

However, it still felt a bit slow.

It took two seconds. The Iksprondor, although not very agile, could see the shell coming and avoid it.

There was a chance it wouldn't be avoided, but I was still observing.

Well, if we were running at about 40 kilometers per hour, the shell speed would be about 12 times that.

From a straight-up angle, I needed to aim at about a 1/12th incline.

Aiming like that, the shell reached a point not far from the monster.

By the third shot, a loud explosion occurred, and my vision turned red for a moment. It seemed to have been hit.

However, as expected, the explosion was only slightly warm, and I didn't take any damage. The warmth might have been my imagination.

"Is your magic power okay!?"

I was asked while running. They didn't seem too shaken. They were indeed Desibators.

"Yes, I can withstand hundreds of those. I have plenty of magic power."

It wasn't a metaphor. The recovery was actually faster than the consumption.

"I was wondering what kind of trick the item box capacity was, but you're just a monster!"

Being called a monster was hurtful. Even before arriving in Desibator, I was already a Desibator among Desibators.

"I'm just a Desibator!"

Shouting that, the blast shell I fired seemed to be on a trajectory to hit the Iksprondor.

As expected, it was dodged at the last moment.

...However, if it could be dodged at the last moment, there was a way.

I needed to block all the areas it could dodge into. A barrage of power.

I created about 100 small fireballs, each with a slight angle difference, and fired them. At the same time, an explosion occurred nearby.

This time, it skillfully slipped through the gaps. Annoying.

However, slipping through the gaps meant it was likely unable to make a large evasion. Unless the bird was extremely confident in its evasion skills.

If that was the case, there was a way to deal with it. An extremely straightforward method.

I needed to eliminate the gaps. The bird looked quite large, so it was possible.

I expanded the shotgun magic, which was originally for humans, on a larger scale. There were probably over ten thousand.

I couldn't expand any more due to space limitations. From the outside, I probably looked like a rock porcupine.

I fired in the same way as before.

The rock pellets flew straight and exploded mid-air. A one-meter radius explosion occurred, and the shockwave seemed to erase about twice that range of spears.

With my enhanced vision, I could see the bird and the pellets.

If my eyes weren't deceiving me, the bird had skillfully slipped into the gaps and escaped almost unscathed. It was incredibly agile.

By the time I observed this, I realized that there had been no new explosions in the last 10 seconds.

This meant that the rock pellet explosions were actually caused by the Iksprondor.

Thinking back, all the previous explosions had occurred on the ground, like fireballs hitting the ground.

This meant that the Iksprondor's attacks were not actually projectile attacks but invisible projectile attacks?

I tried the same thing again, and it exploded in mid-air. It slipped through the gaps again.

There were no explosions on the ground.

It seemed I was right.

No matter how many I increased, if they were swept away in one go, it was useless. The hardness of the projectiles didn't matter in stopping the Iksprondor's attacks.

They couldn't be stopped by air or flying dust, but they were basically stopped by anything else. They changed into a physical phenomenon at that point.

What should I do?