CH 65

Firebird

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T/N: I think it’s called phoenix, but I am not too sure, so I left the chapter as Firebird.

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We were able to capture ten magma fish, which were said to be a delicacy in the magma river of the volcano, but we had no idea how to cook them. The magma that was wrapped around the fish solidified into rock when I tried to store them, so I had to put them away and figure out the cooking method later. Assuming they could be eaten…

“Alright, everyone, let’s move on,” I informed Bell and the others, who were still enjoying their ride on the magma. Calling them over, we proceeded forward.

“Yuta, there’s a fire lizard in that rock crevice,” sylphy said.

“Got it.”

Using a hammer would ruin the materials, so I adjusted the size of the saw and headed towards the crevice she pointed at.

“Yuta, if you adjust the saw angle like that, you can cut off the head of the fire lizard along with the rock,” she said.

She explained that the fire lizard was sticking close to the rock, ready to pounce on him at any moment. He adjusted the angle of the saw as she suggested and pulled the rock out all at once.

There was a thud behind the rock, and Sylphy smiled at him. He went around to the other side to see a one-meter-long, bright red lizard lying on the ground with its head cut off.

“It’s so easy every time,” he said.

“Yeah, it is,” she replied.

He had a lot of trouble with these creatures in the latter half of the cave. They were small, only one meter in size, but they moved quickly and threw hot fireballs from a distance. They were extremely difficult to deal with and they were in large numbers. Their high intelligence made them a dangerous opponent even with Sylphy’s reconnaissance. There were several instances where he was in danger without the protection of the wind wall against the barrage of fireballs. He put the fire lizard away and continued forward.

“Sylphy, we’ve crossed the poison gas and magma river, so the Firebird’s nest is the only dangerous place left, right?”

“There are still a few spots with poison gas. And as for the Firebird’s nest, it’s about an hour’s walk from here, on a cliff by a magma pool. The cliff is colored red by the Firebirds.”

So there are enough Firebirds to color a whole cliff with their feathers? How many are there?

“How do we pass through it? Can we hide and sneak by?”

“Hiding is impossible. If you want to defeat the Firebirds, my wind barrier or natural armor from Bell and the others should be enough. We can also advance slowly and reduce their numbers, use the wind cocoon to push through, or I can just defeat all of them for you?”

“Hmm, I can’t decide which is the best option until I see the nest.”

Since the topic of natural armor came up, Bell and the others’ eyes lit up. Well, Sylphy also wants to see it, so maybe that’s why she mentioned it.

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It was unbelievable. The Firebird’s nest was made up of hundreds of small birds, each about 50 cm in size. Occasionally, one would fly over to the magma pool and take a dip. It made no sense.

There are so many of them, it’ll take me a while to defeat them. Should we try to push through or have Sylphy defeat them for us?

Bell, Rain, and Turu looked at me with expectation. Tamamo didn’t seem to understand. Did they really want to use natural armor that badly?

“Yuta, aren’t you going to fight them?”

Bell looked at me with a disappointed expression, and Rain whined and pleaded.

“You can win, you know?”

Turu also seemed sad.

“But it will take time…”

“If Bell and the others join the fight, it won’t take that long. If I join in, it will be over in an instant. So, it would be alright to fight with the Natural Armor and my protection, don’t you think?”

Sylphy had betrayed me. Well, I had predicted this from the moment she mentioned Natural Armor’s name. Although Sylphy could have come up with another method if I had asked, the excited expressions on Bell and the others’ faces were too much to disappoint.

“Alright, let’s fight. I’ll rely on the Natural Armor and Wind Wall.”

Bell’s excitement rose as she shouted in excitement. Rain and Turu rushed over and, as usual, they spun around him, putting on the Natural Armor. Phew, well, it’s not like anyone can see me, so it’s fine.

“Kuu Kukuu! Kuu kukuu.”

Tamamo was excited and trying to tell me something. I had a rough idea of what it was, but…

“Yuta, Tamamo wants to do it too!”

I asked, “But how are we going to do it?” The four of them gathered and started discussing it. What are they planning?

“Let’s do it again!”

Bell said, and the Natural Armor disappeared as if melting away.

“We’ll make a new one!”

Bell floated up gently, chest puffed out as she made her declaration. The meeting for the new Natural Armor seemed to be finished. Tamamo was excited, jumping around. Sylphy watched from the side, looking very pleased.

Bell, Rain, Turu, and Tamamo extended their arms and spun around me, floating and swirling. This was the Natural Armor version 2.

“Kyukyukyuu kyuu (Water Robe)…”

“Rock Armor…”

“Wind armour.”

“Kuu-kukuu-kukuu (Green armour).”

It seemed like the same process as always, except for Tamamo, and the Natural Armor was completed. The grass in the surrounding area flew towards me, and a green helmet covered my head. It was difficult to see clearly. The leaves that flew towards me looked like pepper leaves.

“We did it! Yuta, you look cool!”

“Kyukyuu.”

“Awesome new design!”

“Kukuuuu.”

Bell and the others were delighted with their handiwork and kept praising me. Sylphy nodded and looked somewhat satisfied with the result, which made me feel embarrassed, but Bell and the others didn’t have a shred of ill intent. He had to keep praising them. He thanked each of them and affectionately patted their heads.

“Well then, shall we go?”

I walked with the green helmet faintly glowing, wearing the Water Robe, which glowed blue, a rock protecting my vital points, and a Wind Mantle, which glowed faintly. I desperately needed a mirror.

By the way, since there were too many opponents, I decided to fight with a hammer without thinking about the materials. Sylphy was waiting by my side, and she wouldn’t interfere unless I was in real danger.

When I entered the Firebird’s nest, the Firebirds on the cliff started screeching and shooting flames at me.

There were too many of them to be taken lightly. Flames mixed with flames, forming a giant fireball that flew towards me. Wasn’t this quite a powerful attack?

The flames hit the wind wall that Bell had put up, causing a huge explosion in the surrounding area. The blast broke through Bell’s wind wall, leaving me exposed to the explosion. Wasn’t this attack stronger than the attack of the Lich? Although there was no damage due to the effect of the Natural Armor, it was still scary.

“Bell, put up the wind wall again. After that, let’s reduce the number of Firebirds with everyone.”

I hated fighting opponents who came in large numbers, such as zombies, skeletons, and Firebirds, because it was difficult. I smashed the Firebirds with my hammer while I was surrounded by explosive flames.

…This was completely one-sided. The tornado, the mineral spear, the water gravel, and the grass blade sliced and pierced through the Firebirds, reducing their numbers rapidly. Magic was great. I was starting to feel sad swinging his hammer around.

Should I learn magic too? But Bell and the others’ magic is similar to what I’m using, so there’s no point in learning it… Elemental magic doesn’t give me the feeling of actually fighting myself. It’s a dilemma.

I’ve heard various things about magic, but it seems like a difficult profession or something. I have a longing for it, but I don’t want to study now.

Oh, the Firebirds are charging at me with a large army. It’s only natural since I’m the only one they can see. I swing my hammer and knock away the fireballs and Firebirds.

But there are too many of them, and swinging the hammer alone isn’t enough. Hammer Spin is useless, and it’s tricky to deal with the flying ones. I’m being attacked from all over the place.

Oh, the Wind Wall has been broken again… Natural Armor is amazing. Water armor repels fire, and Wind armor knocks away fireballs and Firebirds. When Bell noticed that the Wind Wall was broken, she put up another one for me.

“Thank you, Bell,” I say, and she happily waves her hands and rushes toward the Firebirds. She looks so happy.

Bell thrusts her hands out cutely and Wind Blades fly around, cutting the Firebirds to pieces.

Rain creates a large mass of water and engages in fire fighting by capturing the Firebirds one after another. In a sense, this is the most gruesome.

Normally, the temperature is so high that you could jump into the magma by gathering flames, and steam should be coming out. However, the water created by Rain seems to be so powerful that the flames are extinguished unilaterally, and the Firebirds are left helpless.

Turu shoots mineral spears from the ground into the sky, reliably shooting down the Firebirds. It looks like anti-aircraft magic and it’s cool. The scene of the spear being repeatedly fired into the sky is a real turn-on for guys.

I wonder if Tamamo is struggling? The combination of fire and plants seems to be bad, as her leaves are occasionally burned. But she looks very happy. Maybe her hunting instincts have been awakened, as she flies around excitedly.

With the help of Bell and the others, we wiped out the Firebirds in no time, which was nothing compared to clearing out the undead nest.

“Phew. Finally finished. Let’s take a break for a bit.”

“Sure.”

It was more difficult to store the Firebirds than to defeat them. How many of them were there? But looking at the corpses, the ones Bell and the others defeated were clean, while the ones I defeated were in a slightly gruesome situation.

“Speaking of which, what rank are Firebirds?”

I ask Sylphy, who I just became curious about.

“I think they’re B-rank monsters. This time it was a group subjugation, so it might be around A-rank?”

If that’s the case, we must have acquired an abundance of B-rank magic stones… We could make a considerable profit just by converting them.

“Hey, Sylphy. According to the pattern so far, we still have three more fields to advance through. Does that mean we’ll have to climb the volcano three more times?”

Thinking about it, it’s discouraging. I don’t particularly like mountain climbing, and honestly, I’m already full.

“Um, probably, but since we don’t know why they’re stuck in the volcano, I think there might be something different.”

That’s also true. Many adventurers gather and get stuck. There must be a reason for it. If I had been friendly with the adventurer’s guild, I could have gathered information before entering the labyrinth city.

“Well, if we go there, we’ll find out the reason soon enough.”

Sylphy reassures me as I’m feeling a bit regretful. Come to think of it, Sylphy knows about the royal palace’s meals, but doesn’t seem to be very knowledgeable about adventurers. She didn’t even know about the spirit mages… Maybe she’s just not interested in adventurers in general.

“Hey, Yuta. Is something wrong?”

“Nothing. Shall we move on?”

Asking now won’t do any good. As Sylphy said, we’ll find out the reason once we advance. But I don’t want to climb the mountain, so I’ll try to fly as much as possible from now on.