Chapter 67

In the river of magma from the volcano, I managed to catch ten Magma Fish, which are said to be the finest delicacy... but I have no idea how to cook them. When I tried to season them, the magma that was wrapped around their bodies hardened into rock. I guess I’ll just store them for now. I’ll eat them after I figure out how to cook them, if they’re even edible...

"Everyone, we’re about to set off."

I called over Bell and the others, who were still running around in the magma, and we moved forward. They must have had a lot of fun, as they were smiling and explaining how much they enjoyed the magma river.

According to Sylph, I can do it if I wrap myself in her wind... I avoided her gaze, which was asking if I wanted to try, and moved forward.

"Yuta, there’s a Fire Lizard hiding behind that rock."

"Got it."

I can’t use a hammer because it would ruin the materials, so I enlarged my saw and approached the rock Sylph pointed at.

"Yuta, if you attack from that angle, you can cut off the Fire Lizard’s head along with the rock."

She explained that the Fire Lizard was pressed up against the back of the rock, ready to pounce on me at any moment. I adjusted the angle of my saw as she suggested and cut through the rock in one swift motion.

There was a thud from behind the rock, and Sylph smiled at me. It must have worked. When I went around to the back, I saw a bright red lizard about a meter long, its head cut off and lying on the ground.

"It would be so much easier if they were always like this."

"Hehe, that’s true."

In the latter part of the cave, these creatures gave me quite a bit of trouble. They’re small, about a meter long, and they move quickly, shooting high-temperature fireballs from a distance.

As you can tell from their ambush, they’re surprisingly intelligent and can be quite troublesome when they’re in numbers. The continuous fireballs from a distance would have been dangerous without Sylph’s wind barrier. Even with Sylph’s detection, it’s quite dangerous if you get caught off guard. I stored the Fire Lizard and moved forward.

"Sylph, we’ve crossed the poison gas and the magma river, right? So the only dangerous place left is the Fire Bird’s nest, right?"

"There are still a few spots with poison gas. And the Fire Bird’s nest, of course. We’re about an hour’s walk from there."

"What’s the nest like?"

"Hmm, they build their nests on cliffs next to pools of magma, and the cliffs are dyed red by the Fire Birds."

So there are enough Fire Birds to dye the cliffs red? How many are there?

"How do we get past them? Can we sneak by?"

"Sneaking by is impossible. If you want to defeat the Fire Birds, we can use my wind barrier or Bell and the others’ natural armor. We can reduce their numbers gradually while advancing, or use wind cocoons to knock them away and force our way through. Or I could just take them all out. Which do you prefer?"

"Hmm, I can’t decide which is best, so let’s see the nest first."

After mentioning the natural armor, Bell and the others’ eyes started to shine. But I don’t really need the natural armor if I have Sylph’s wind barrier, right? They’re really looking forward to it. I think Sylph mentioned it just because she wants to see the natural armor.

***

No way. There’s no way. Fire Birds, about fifty centimeters in size, are nesting all over the cliff. Occasionally, some of them dive into the magma pool for a bath... I don’t understand the meaning of this.

"There are so many. It would take a long time to defeat them, so should we force our way through or have Sylph take them out?"

Bell, Rain, and Turu’s faces turned to despair. Tamamo didn’t seem to understand. They really wanted to use the natural armor, didn’t they?

"Yuta, are you not going to fight?"

Bell asked, sounding disappointed. Rain also rubbed against me, pleading with me.

"We can win, right?"

Turu also looked very disappointed.

"But it would take a long time..."

"If Bell and the others join the battle, it won’t take that long. If I join, it will be over in an instant, so if you want to fight, using the natural armor and Bell and the others joining in would be just right, don’t you think?"

Sylph betrayed me. No, she probably anticipated this from the moment she mentioned the natural armor. I could ask Sylph for another method, but I can’t let down Bell and the others’ excited faces.

"Alright, let’s fight. I’ll need the natural armor and the wind barrier."

Bell, Rain, and Turu’s excitement soared. They spun around as usual, attaching the natural armor to me. Phew, at least no one is watching.

"Ku. Kuku! Kuku"

Tamamo was excited and trying to tell me something. I can guess what it is...

"Yuta, Tamamo wants to join too."

Of course.

"But how?"

When I asked, the four of them gathered and started discussing. What’s going to happen?

"Let’s do it again."

Bell said, and the natural armor melted away.

"We’ll make a new one."

Bell floated and declared, chest puffed out. They must have finished discussing the new natural armor. Tamamo was jumping around in excitement, and Sylph was observing with great interest.

Bell, Rain, Turu, and Tamamo extended their hands and floated around me in a circle. This must be the new version of the natural armor.

"Kyukyukyukyu (water cloak)"

"Iwa no yoroi (rock armor)"

"Kaze no manto (wind mantle)"

"Kuuu kuku kuuu (green helmet)"

"Shizen no yoroi (Kyukyukyukyu) (Kuku kuuu)"

It seems the process is the same for everyone except Tamamo, and the natural armor is completed as usual. Grass flew over and formed a green helmet on my head. I can’t see it clearly, but it looks like pepper leaves.

"Done. Yuta, you look cool." "Kyukyu" "Great job" "Kuuuu"

Bell and the others were very satisfied with their work and praised me. I felt a bit unfair when Sylph nodded in approval, but Bell and the others had no ill intentions, so I praised them thoroughly and patted their heads one by one.

"Alright, let’s go."

With a faintly glowing green helmet, a blue, glowing water cloak, and a faintly glowing rock armor protecting my vital points, and a faintly glowing wind mantle, I started walking. I really need a mirror. Is it possible to have two mantles?

Since there are so many of them, I’ll use the hammer without worrying about the materials. Sylph will wait by my side and only intervene if it gets really dangerous.

As soon as we stepped into the Fire Bird’s nest, the Fire Birds on the cliff started squawking and launched a barrage of flames at us.

There are too many of them; it’s not a joke. The flames mixed together and formed a giant fireball heading straight for me. The power is not a joke at all.

The flames hit the wind barrier Bell created, causing a massive explosion. The blast broke through the wind barrier, exposing us to the blast. It was stronger than the Lich’s attack, wasn’t it? Thanks to the natural armor, there was no damage, but it was still scary.

"Bell, create another wind barrier. Then, everyone, reduce the number of Fire Birds."

I hate fighting enemies in large numbers, like zombies, skeletons, and Fire Birds. I swung my hammer, smashing the Fire Birds in the midst of the explosion.

...This is... one-sided. Tornadoes, mineral spears, water gravel, and plant blades cut and pierce the Fire Birds. The number of Fire Birds is rapidly decreasing. Magic is great. I feel a bit sad swinging the hammer.

Maybe I should learn magic too? But the magic Bell and the others use is the same as what I use. There’s no point in learning it... Elemental magic doesn’t give me a sense of fighting myself. It’s a dilemma.

I’ve heard a lot about magic, but it seems difficult, like a specialized profession. I have a bit of admiration, but I don’t want to study now.

Whoa, a large group of Fire Birds is charging at me. It’s natural that they can only see me. I swung my hammer, deflecting fireballs and Fire Birds.

There are too many of them, and just swinging the hammer isn’t enough. The hammer spin leaves me open, and the flying ones are troublesome. I’m being attacked from all sides.

Ah, the second wind barrier has been broken. ...The natural armor is amazing. The water cloak repels the fire, and the wind mantle deflects the fireballs and Fire Birds. Bell noticed the broken wind barrier and created another one.

"Thanks, Bell."

When I thanked her, she waved her hand happily and charged at the Fire Birds. She looked very excited.

Bell thrust her hands cutely, and wind blades flew, slicing through the Fire Birds.

Rain created a large mass of water, engulfing the Fire Birds one by one and extinguishing them. In a way, this is the most brutal.

Normally, they would be so hot that they would produce steam when they dive into magma, but Rain’s water is so powerful that it extinguishes the flames one-sidedly, leaving them limp.

Turu was shooting mineral spears from the ground into the air, taking down the Fire Birds one by one. It looks like anti-air magic and is very cool. The scene of spears being continuously launched into the sky is very exciting.

Tamamo might be having a bit of trouble. The combination of fire and plants is bad, and her leaves sometimes catch fire. But she looks very excited, flying around the area, her hunting instinct awakened.

With Bell and the others’ help, we defeated the Fire Birds in a much shorter time than it took to clear the undead nest.

"Phew, finally done. Let’s take a short break."

"Sure."

It took more time to store the Fire Birds than to defeat them. How many were there? But looking at the corpses, the Fire Birds Bell and the others defeated were clean, while the ones I defeated were a bit gruesome.

"What rank are Fire Birds?"

I asked Sylph, suddenly curious.

"Probably B-rank monsters. Since this was a group hunt, it might be A-rank."

So we got a lot of B-rank magic stones... This will be quite a profit. If we convert them to cash, of course.

"Hey, Sylph. If the pattern continues, we’ll have to climb the volcano three more times, right?"

The thought of it is disheartening. I’m not a fan of mountain climbing, and I’m already tired of it.

"Hmm, probably, but if that’s the case, I don’t understand why the volcano is a bottleneck. I think something different will happen."

That’s true. Many adventurers gather and get stuck. There must be a reason. If I had been on good terms with the Adventurer’s Guild, I could have gathered information before entering the dungeon.

I didn’t necessarily need to gather information from the Adventurer’s Guild alone. I could have gathered information in the dungeon city or asked Sylph to gather it. I just got frustrated during the beginner’s training and ended up coming to the dungeon.

"Well, we’ll find out once we get there."

As I was feeling a bit regretful, Sylph reassured me. Sylph knows about the royal palace’s meals but isn’t very familiar with adventurers. She didn’t even know about spirit mages... She might not be very interested in adventurers.

"Yuta, is something wrong?"

"Nothing, let’s keep moving."

It’s no use thinking about it now. We’ll find out once we get there, as Sylph said. But I don’t like mountain climbing, so from now on, I’ll try to fly as much as possible.

Thank you for reading.