My Master and His Master (7)

Thinking back, across both my previous and present lives, this is probably the first time I've actually seen lava flowing with my own eyes.

I probably had a vague image of what it would be like from manga, games, and other entertainment in my previous life, but the world spread out before me was exactly as I'd imagined it.

This was probably a hellish place where one careless action could easily cost me my life—or where, even if I took the best possible action, bad luck could still kill me.

Yet at the same time, my sensibilities as a High Elf who regarded spirits as friends made me a little excited.

What a powerful environment this was.

The powers of earth and fire were astonishingly strong.

Like the wind in a storm, or the water in the sea.

Moreover, the earth and fire here weren't merely powerful; ...though it was a strange way to put it, they possessed a strength and wildness that somehow felt youthful.

But, as if to rein me in, the wind spirit whispered in my ear.

Gas rising from the earth filled the area ahead, and inhaling it would poison me.

Ah, it really was dangerous and frightening.

Of course, if the wind spirit blew the gas away, a little buildup like that wouldn't be a problem.

But the wind spirit had deliberately warned me in order to make me pay attention.

Yes, that's right. This was a dangerous area.

I mustn't forget that.

No matter how strong the powers of earth and fire filling this place were, that didn't mean I myself had grown stronger. If I let their influence sweep me up into excitement, I might make an unexpected blunder.

I placed a hand over my chest and took several deep breaths. Only after I had finally regained my composure did I continue walking toward the crater.

Still, just like the Pulha Great Forest, places where the forces of nature—especially the power of earth—were strong seemed unusually prone to producing monsters.

I wondered what monsters could possibly have eaten to grow in a place like this, but ...for instance, that large rock at the edge of my vision, which was only a little bigger than the surrounding rocks and otherwise unremarkable, was actually a large lizard monster camouflaged to look like a rock.

If I approached carelessly, it would chomp down with its huge mouth and tear the flesh from my body.

The bird circling high overhead in a wide arc, perhaps targeting me, was also a monster.

However, the earth spirit told me about camouflaged monsters, so avoiding them wasn't difficult. The wind spirit also disrupted the flight of airborne monsters and kept them from approaching me.

No, no, even so, it was rather frightening—or rather, I couldn't remember another place where I wouldn't even be able to walk properly without this much help from the spirits.

But as I continued forward with all that assistance, I finally discovered a gigantic frog monster half-immersed in a river of lava, large enough to swallow a human in a single gulp.

With its throat puffed out as it croaked guko-guko and its eyes closed in relaxation, it was—yes—the Lava Frog, the reason I'd come to this dangerous area.

The Lava Frog was completely off guard, unaware of my presence, and utterly defenseless.

However, I couldn't kill the Lava Frog in its current position.

It was in the middle of a river of lava, and even if I killed it, I had no way to retrieve the carcass.

Besides, it was far too large to carry. I would have to butcher it on the spot, cutting away its hide and whatever meat was edible.

In that case, the only way to lure it somewhere convenient for butchering was to expose myself and draw it out as bait.

So I nocked a wooden arrow with its arrowhead removed and drew the bowstring back.

My target was the Lava Frog's head.

I loosed a shot that would not miss, yet would not strike it directly, allowing the arrow to slide across its oil-coated hide without damaging the skin—and, above all, without killing it.

At the sensation of the arrow sliding across its hide, the Lava Frog's eyes snapped open.

Thank goodness.

Apparently, it wasn't so dull that it failed to notice being attacked.

I nocked my next arrow—this one fitted with an arrowhead—almost at the exact moment the Lava Frog's gaze found me.

Once the Lava Frog came out of the river of lava and walked toward me, I would kill it with a single shot.

My target was its heart.

Apparently, frogs could sometimes remain alive for a while even after losing their brains, so aiming for the heart was the best way to kill it while damaging its hide as little as possible.

As I raised my bow, I felt as though I could see the pulsing life deep in its chest, beneath its face.

...But the Lava Frog didn't walk out of the river of lava. Instead, it crouched low, then launched itself into a tremendous leap; incredibly, its enormous body soared through the air.

This was the very definition of being caught off guard.

Faced with the unexpected situation, I reflexively dove into a forward roll, tumbling across the ground to avoid the descending giant body.

"Earth—!"

I instinctively called out to the earth spirit for help.

I couldn't get all the words out, but the earth spirit understood my intent and thrust rocks up to form a wall. Immediately afterward, the tongue that shot from the Lava Frog's mouth gouged into and shattered the newly formed wall.

If the wall had taken even one moment longer to form, that tongue would have gouged into my flesh.

No—more importantly, just what kind of jumping power was that?

It wasn't a flea, so it had no excuse for jumping that far.

That's why monsters could never be taken lightly—and why they were so frightening.

I exhaled deeply as I suppressed the trembling in my body, then slowly got to my feet.

The outcome had already been decided.

In the instant the wall created by the earth spirit bought me, I fired an arrow without even getting up. Though my stance was utterly chaotic, the arrow still flew true and pierced the Lava Frog's chest.

Even the oil coating the Lava Frog's hide couldn't withstand the keen arrowhead fashioned from a Gran Wolf's fang; the arrow reached its heart without fail.

The Lava Frog's body, having lost its strength, collapsed onto the ground as if crumbling and ceased to move.