Chapter 56
So you're back..
I looked around and swallowed hard.
The swamp was still filled with poison.
The only difference was that, even though we'd reached the place where the monster had appeared, it was nowhere to be seen.
“Let's start searching from here.”
Everyone nodded when the Hero suggested that we search this area first.
Since it had appeared here, it was probably a monster that originally lived here, so it likely hadn't gone far.
The Hero explained that, at most, it would be hiding to heal its wounds, so searching this area should be enough.
And then,
“Lumia. Cast a concealment spell on us.”
More precisely, a spell that suppressed our presence.
Normally, unless a mage had reached a considerable level, it would be impossible to create and use that kind of non-elemental spell on the spot, but I could.
I used magic to suppress everyone's presence.
Not only did our bodies become blurry, but unless we made an exceptionally loud noise, our voices were blocked as well.
It was the perfect spell for infiltration.
“Well done, Lumia!”
After confirming that my magic had worked properly, the Hero gave me a thumbs-up.
Oh, how embarrassing..
Still, being praised didn't feel so bad. To be honest, I had been a little anxious since it was my first time using the spell.
I rubbed the back of my head.
All that remained was to determine the locations of the monster and the Demon King's army, defeat the Demon King's army, and then defeat the monster.
It would be a long battle fought over several engagements, but we had to accomplish it today.
Last time we'd come here, they had thought we were ordinary adventurers and hadn't relocated to another base, but if they learned we were the Hero's party, the Demon King's army would keep its strength while becoming wary of us.
It would be the worst possible situation.
Even if the Hero and I fell in love and had a child, we'd still have to meet the Demon King in the end.
In other words, since no one could die before we reached the Demon King, we needed to weaken the Demon King's army as much as possible.
The first thing we needed to find was the location of the monster we'd seen yesterday.
Normally, we would have used magic to find its traces, but since we were currently using concealment magic, using another spell might alert the monster.
Perhaps that's why,
“Ruril, can you find the monster's location?”
Rather than asking me, the Hero asked Ruril to find the monster's location by following its traces.
She was both an archer and a hunter, so naturally, she should be able to determine where the monster was from its traces.
Ugh..
I want to join the conversation too.
I looked toward the Hero.
Since I couldn't speak without telepathy, it was difficult even to voice an opinion.
Someday, I wanted to talk directly with the Hero too.. Until now, we'd only had brief conversations through telepathy..
I'd overused telepathy at dawn because I wanted to chat a little, and nearly died of exhaustion.
If I wanted to have everyday conversations through telepathy, I'd have to work on building up a little more mana.
“Leave it to me.”
Ruril nodded confidently.
I wasn't thrilled to have the task I was supposed to do taken from me..
But it couldn't be helped.
In that case, all that remained was to find out where the Demon King's army was..
“As for the Demon King's army, don't worry about their location. I know where they are.”
Wow..
It was so convenient to be able to reveal that I was a regressor.
Normally, even if I knew, it would have been inconvenient, since I couldn't reveal it without being able to say where I'd gotten the information. But now I could simply tell them, so naturally it was convenient.
While Ruril checked the monster's location on her own, we set out to confirm whether the Demon King's army was at the location the Hero knew about.
The place where we would meet was, naturally, here.
“Okay.. I've confirmed the location.. Then I'll go and come back. You all be careful too.”
Ruril said that, then used her elven skill to disappear completely.
I'd heard that elven archers could make their bodies invisible or hide their presence, but seeing it in person was fascinating.
She wasn't even using magic like I was, so how could she do something like that?
Well.. that was probably why she could work as an archer.
For an archer, having their position discovered was no different from handing over their life, so they had to hide their position no matter what.
As I watched the direction in which Ruril had disappeared, I turned toward the Hero's call and began walking.
“By the way, Hero.”
“Hm?”
“What if the Demon King's army isn't where you said it would be?”
“Don't worry.”
The Hero answered Cecilia's question with a smile.
“They have no choice but to be there.”
.
.
.
.
The reason they had no choice but to be in the place the Hero had mentioned.
In truth, it wasn't all that grand a reason.
The answer was simple once you thought about why the Demon King's army was here.
There could be many reasons to establish a base so deep in such a remote place, but wouldn't it be because they were doing something they couldn't afford to let anyone discover?
It wasn't as though defeating the Demon King's forces here would weaken the army as a whole.
It was simply a place where.. something difficult to explain in words was happening.
The Demon King's army was stationed here to turn humans into demons.
Uh.. I mean, yes, that's the kind of corruption I'm talking about..
You know how, in doujinshi, people are captured by demons, forcibly turned into succubi or incubi, and corrupted?
That's what I mean..
If we failed to stop this research in its early stages, the Demon King's army would grow even stronger with the addition of humans transformed into demons.
Naturally, more succubi and incubi would appear among the enemies as well.
Of course, the reason humans were disappearing was that those who were captured were being forcibly subjected to such procedures and sexual torture.
The rest had been eaten by that monster.
“There were two ways to approach them.. The first would work for sure, but it's too dangerous, so we'll use the second.”
“The second?”
“Since Lumia cast concealment magic on us earlier, we'll use it to walk directly to the place where we believe the Demon King's army is.”
Normally, they would have lured us over from their side, but since that was too dangerous, we'd go directly to the location the Hero knew about first.
“We'll only confirm their location, then rejoin Ruril.”
I nodded when the Hero asked whether I'd left enough traces behind.
The Hero nodded and started walking.
The search had begun.
.
.
.
.
“Hm?”
Meanwhile, Ruril, who was moving through the trees while following the visible traces, seemed to have found something, because her eyes lit up.
Ruril climbed down from the tree and approached the poisonous area.
“This is..”
A tentacle showing signs of having frozen and thawed..
Naturally, it had been severed, had become necrotic, and had shriveled.
Given its intelligence, it would naturally erase traces like this itself.
But the fact that a trace like this remained meant one of two things.
The first possibility was that it had been so badly injured that it was in too critical a condition to notice the visible trace and had passed it by.
If that was the case, it was at least good news.
Considering the wounds it had sustained then, the former seemed more likely.
And the second possibility.
What if this was a trap?
What if it was recovering from its wounds in this area and had set a trap, challenging her to come back so it could beat her senseless?
Cold sweat trickled down Ruril's cheek.
If the latter was true, she needed to leave this place immediately.
She didn't think that was likely, but after so many years as an adventurer, she knew she had to consider the worst and act accordingly.
To begin with, she thought, it made no sense for the monster to have noticed their presence.
With Lumia's spell and her own skill, she was confident that all but the most exceptional opponents would fail to detect her. The monster was big, but ultimately it was merely a monster living in a swamp. Even if it had set a trap, she would be fine as long as she didn't get caught in it.
If it could find an adventurer hiding with a skill in the first place, it would be hard to call it an ordinary monster anymore.
That would have to be.. something like a boss that appeared only once every few decades, if that..
Besides, even if it was a boss, it was hard to believe it could have set a trap after suffering wounds like those.
It had not only been struck by Lumia's powerful magic, but had also had all its limbs severed by the Hero, and yet it had managed to muster the wits to set a trap?
For a monster said to lack intelligence, that was absurd.
That was what she thought.
However, she was overlooking one thing.
The monster had lived for far longer than she imagined. That was why, unless someone saw and experienced it firsthand, they could never know what powers it possessed.
The Hero, too, had overlooked something.
The fact that the Hero hadn't properly told them what the monster really was.