“You...how...?”
Oh wow. He’s actually surprised. I couldn’t exactly read his features, given how beastly he looked, but I could tell by his general air.
“I had myself summoned.”
“What?!”
Anyone would realize it wasn’t much of a trick once I’d revealed it. I’d simply had Suama go back to town and get Dolhoi to summon me. Yep, I’d just made use of the fact that I’d forged a minute-long summoning pact with Dolhoi earlier!
She hadn’t made it in time for the first Meteor, just as I’d expected, but she had managed to get me out just before the Meteor Shower activated.
So I’d basically been saved by a bunch of piled-up coincidences. Suama had come up with the idea, made it back to town, and convinced Dolhoi to help. All of that had managed to happen before I was hit by the Meteor Shower. On top of that, the Meteor Shower had run its course during the time I was gone.
If even one of those things hadn’t gone perfectly, I would’ve disappeared without a trace.
“You must be an idiot, just showing yourself like that.”
Whoa, he’s exasperated for some reason. I get it, though—there was no reason for me to go out of my way to show myself.
He’d assumed that I’d died in the Meteor Shower, so I could’ve just escaped after I returned to the barrier unscathed. I knew that would’ve been the smart choice, but...it’d be utterly unthinkable to run away with my tail between my legs after all that! At this point, it wasn’t a question of reason—I had to get payback! I had to listen to that monstrous part of me, that instinct that demanded I kill him dead!
“I am Garellia the Polar Sky. Do you really think the likes of you could oppose me?”
“I dunno, I guess it might work out unexpectedly? I mean, you’re a mage, right? Can you really match up to me, who’s specialized in close combat?”
Sure, he had his powerful Meteor and Meteor Shower spells, but there was no way he could easily cast them over and over.
Also, if he could’ve beaten me with other spells, he would’ve done that first...right?
“I’m certain I’m mistaken, but did you think that I was only able to use Meteor spells? That was just a decision on my part to honor Norton.” Garellia raised his furry right hand. That motion was the signal for multiple fireballs, each one around two meters in diameter, to spawn.
Oops, this feels dangerous!
“Not to mention that your explosions had no effect on me. I didn’t even need to take any special defensive measures.”
“Well, look. We won’t know until we try, will we?”
That line seemed to be his signal to go, as Garellia signaled for the fireballs to launch.
My experience up until now was that magic was too fast to dodge. However...
“Septuple Shooting Stars!”
I had the skills I’d just learned!
The skill I’d just used was normally one that allowed me to move between enemies at high speeds and attack up to seven enemies at once. Since there was only one target in this case, though, it turned into a seven-hit combo!
I stepped in with godlike speed. Before the fireballs even had a chance to accelerate, I passed under them and managed to close in on Garellia.
Explosive Legs!
I ran past while attacking him. Meanwhile, the fireballs flew off in random directions. Then, with the momentum I still had from the skill, I made a U-turn!
I ran circles around Garellia, kicking his back, his sides, and more besides. I unleashed a barrage of Explosive Legs attacks.
Normally, Explosive Legs was only one attack. However, if I combined it with Septuple Shooting Stars, all the attacks made while the skill was active would be converted into Explosive Legs. In other words, I got seven Explosive Legs for the price of one!
“Take that! Septuple-Starred Explosive Legs!”
After the last hit, I retreated.
He’s managed to withstand a single explosion, but how about seven of them at once?
A beat later...
*BOOBOOBOOBOOBOOBOOBOOM!*
The sounds came from inside Garellia’s body. At the same time, his body began to warp terribly. He was putting all his effort into somehow containing the explosions happening within him.
*KABOOOOOM!*
Finally, Garellia exploded in grand fashion.
Ohhh, thank goodness...
Naturally, I was at my limit. I’d run out of potions, and I was nearly out of the souls I needed to automatically recover.
Oh, that’s right. He might also recover. I should find the core.
I looked around for his head and found it stuck in a nearby tree by his horns.
There it is!
“You damned—”
Whoa! He’s still alive!
However, it seemed like he was on his last legs. I couldn’t imagine him fully recovering from his current condition.
“Too bad for you! Oh man, I was so lucky I managed to acquire skills while I was getting hit by that meteor! If it wasn’t for that, I might’ve lost!”
“Damn you, you box of calamity... I shouldn’t have given you even the slightest chance to gain battle experience... Feeling you out was such foolishness...”
With that, Garellia fell silent.
Yeaaah, I won! Woohooo! Anyway, what now? There shouldn’t be any more enemies at the moment. Oh well, I should just go back to town and meet up with Suama.
✦ ✦ ✦
“W-Will you really make another contract with me?” Dolhoi asked, acting extremely subservient.
We were currently in the parlor of Dolhoi’s residence. Suama and I sat next to each other on the sofa, while Dolhoi sat across from us.
“Yeah. I was the one who made you waste the one you had, after all. Of course I’d compensate you for that. Now you’ll be able to summon me twice, for a duration of five minutes each.”
“Oohh! Thank you so much!”
Ah, he’s actually happy. I wonder if the fact that he doesn’t seem to mind that he’s negotiating with an enemy of humanity is because he’s a monster tamer?
“My word... Still, to become level 150 in such a short time...just what kind of great trial did you go through?”
“Trial, huh? You mean something like shrugging off a Meteor?”
“Right...”
Oops, looks like he thought I made a bad joke. That’s a little irritating. But...level 150, huh? It feels about right. I was fighting Garellia and his students, after all, but I probably would’ve gotten even more if I’d been wearing my soul collecting rings. Kinda feels like a missed opportunity...
“I’m so glad you’re safe, Harumi!”
“I was saved thanks to your cunning this time, Suama!”
I mean, I’d totally forgotten about the summoning thing myself!
In fact, even if I had remembered, I hadn’t been in a position to relay that to Suama. In the end, everything had been up to her.
“Oh no, it was nothing, really. I just kinda thought that we could summon you out of the barrier, even if you couldn’t get out yourself.”
“You didn’t think that it would be meaningless since I’d have to return in a minute?”
“Well, yes... But since the energy for both summoning and returning need to be supplied by Dolhoi, I thought that if we made him run out of energy during that minute, we could prevent you from returning.”
Wow, this girl’s kinda scary! Even Dolhoi’s taken aback!
“Anyway, it’s about time for us to leave. I’m pretty sure you know the rule by now?”
“Yes. I must keep you a secret.”
Apparently the story he was planning to go with was that a girl came to ask him about monster taming, so he taught her.
We exited the mansion and left town. There was no real trouble, we were able to get out easily. There was a little bit of a fuss going on because they knew something had happened in the forest, but it seemed no one had discovered that we’d been involved in that yet.
“Well...those guys were after me, so maybe news of a dangerous walking mimic has started to go around...”
I’m the only one that fits that description, so I’d be totally exposed if that’s the case.
“Where will you be going from here, Harumi?”
“Uhhh, well...the plan was to head for the Forest of Darkness to gather information, but... Yeah. What should we do now?”
It seemed like walking around nonchalantly wouldn’t be very possible from here on out.
I suppose it’s about time to get a more substantial disguise.
“Umm...what about using a wheelchair? You can transform to your human upper half, and we can hide your lower half. I don’t think you’d be discovered easily that way.”
“Hrm, I guess that could work. If I were to sit in a wheelchair and hide my lower half, there wouldn’t be many people who’d try to take a peek. We might also want to make some fake legs to show off while we’re at it.”
Getting our hands on a wheelchair seemed like it would take a lot of work, though. In the end, my final goal was the EliMon Center located on the northern continent.
“Let’s just head north for now.”
Oh well, it’ll all work out somehow! And it’s not like I’ll be able to solve all my problems by stopping to rack my brains right now. So...
We decided to head north.