Chapter 68 Inteferer
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
”Miiiiiiiii!!”
”Ahhhhhh! Shut up! I told you that’s not gonna work on me!”
I left the three of them in the hands of the criminal slaves and chased after Gipner, but I still couldn’t catch a glimpse of it.
This guy was cleverly mimicking in the branches with its dead branch-like appearance, and sometimes emitting hypnotic sounds over and over again to try to hypnotize me somehow.
As I ran toward the sound to find it, it had already moved to another place, and I was already exhausted from all the running around in the snow.
”Huff, huff… Damn, this isn’t going to get me anywhere.”
I would have appreciated it if this guy would have run away, but it didn’t seem to want to let go of the three of them who had been put into a hypnotic trance.
I thought about clearing the surrounding trees to prevent it from hiding, but I gave up the idea that this guy would only mimic the branches of the trees lying on the ground.
So, if I want to eliminate the hiding places, I will have to burn down all the trees there without leaving even a single branch.
But just when I was thinking that it would be faster to join up with Diana and the others, knock them out, and carry them back home, even if it takes more time than this, I heard the sound of multiple footsteps trampling on the fresh snow.
”Hey, seriously, a group of Kobolds at this moment…!”
The footsteps were Kobolds, the familiar bipedal dog-like monsters of fantasy, and five of them appeared in front of me.
But judging from the fact that they did not make a single threat in front of me, they must have been in a hypnotic state.
I wondered if even a Kobold with the intelligence of a Kobold could be hypnotized by Gipner, but I was not afraid of a Kobold whose movements were lackluster in the hypnotic state.
”Ha! A hypnotized Kobold can be eliminated in a flash…”
”…Grrr?”
”―I’ll show you… Huh?”
As soon as I readjusted my sword, the Kobolds, who had never made a sound before, looked around as if they were wondering where they were, and when their eyes met mine, they stopped moving as if time had stopped, and their expressions, which had been so blank at first, gradually turned stern.
”Wooooooooooo!”
”That son of a b*tch just released them from hypnosis!”
The Kobolds, freed from their hypnosis, recognized me as an enemy and attacked me at once.
I quickly shot forward with wind magic, blowing snow to block the Kobolds’ vision and movement, and then moved out of their way.
Gipner, you monster scrubber, I can’t let the Kobolds run wild here with Diana and the others nearby.
”D*mn it! I have no choice!”
I’ve drained my magic so far, but I can’t afford to conserve it, so I put magic into my sword and fire a fireball at the Kobolds, but the fireball is easily evaded by their quick movement.
”It’s not fair that you can move so quickly in this deep snow!”
While I have a hard time just walking, Kobolds step on the deep snow in an instant with their extraordinary leg strength and break through the snow by kicking off the snow that sticks to them.
If they can move so quickly, simple magic will probably be able to defeat them as before, so this is the time for magic suitable for killing quick opponents.
”Eat this!”
”Woo!?”
The exploding rose hits Kobold half in the body as it tries to avoid it, and Kobold screams pitifully as it is hit and plunges into the snow.
Kobold crawls out of the snow with blood seeping from the depths of its hairy body, perhaps not much damage was inflicted.
It may be that the Scatter Rose is simply not powerful enough to deal a fatal blow to the well-trained Kobolds, although it is also true that the Scatter Rose is too fast to hit them directly.
”Guffaw!”
”Whoa!”
I managed to catch the club that was swung down at the same time as it jumped at me from the side, but I was completely outmatched physically and was completely pushed in.
The other Kobolds would not stand idly by and let such an opportunity present itself, and the remaining four Kobolds also attacked.
But as soon as I put magic into my sword, the Kobolds all backed away at once, seeing the sword start to shine.
Dangerous, there was no magic that I could cast at a moment’s notice that could break out of that situation, but I was saved thanks to the alertness of the Kobolds.
They seemed to be very wary of magic, and when I pointed my sword at them, they tried to flank me or go behind me to avoid standing in front of me, or they tried to hide behind the trees.
”Oh, you don’t want to fight properly, do you?”
So I take the opposite approach and thrust my sword into the ground.
A few seconds after I put my sword on the ground, I pulled out my sword and pointed the tip of my sword at a Kobold, and as the Kobold tried to escape from the tip of my sword, it stepped on the snow with great force.
”Wooo!?”
A high pitched shriek is heard and the Kobold suddenly flails about on the spot.
Another Kobold, which was standing by the Kobold, sensed something wrong and rushed away from the scene, but it too screamed and thrashed around on the snow.
The remaining three individuals remained motionless, watching the two screaming animals, wondering what had happened.
”One fish got caught, and one was caught by the scream. I was hoping they would all run away in a hurry when they heard the scream, but I guess it doesn’t work that way.”
When I stabbed the ground with my sword, I used the deep snow to create stone spikes hidden in the snow with my magic.
Then, when Kobolds tried to escape from the sword, they stepped on the stone thorns in the snow and screamed from the pain.
Hopefully all of them would step through the stone thorns, but they seem to be more cautious than expected, and the three remaining ones, perhaps understanding the situation when they see their friend with a wounded leg, stop moving carelessly.
But it doesn’t matter, if they don’t move, I can just target them with magic, and if they avoid magic, they will just fall prey to the thorns hidden in the snow, and I’m sure of victory.
”I’m sorry, but I can’t let myself get killed either.”
I said and pointed my sword at one of the remaining three.
Thud―!
I thought I heard the sound of wind, and immediately after that, I was hit by a hard blow on my side of the head.
”―”
My brain shook, and I fell into the snow without a word.
In the midst of my paralyzed thoughts, I realized that I had just found a body lying right next to me on the ground.
It was the club that the Kobolds had been carrying that had fallen down right beside me.
I had never expected them to throw their own clubs at me, but I had been so sure of victory that I had been completely caught off guard.
”Ugh, ugh…!”
My ears were ringing badly, and my body didn’t seem to listen to me when I tried to get up.
It was definitely a fatal mistake, but fortunately, I had thought that the thorns in the snow would keep the Kobolds away from me, but I soon changed my mind.
As I fell down, I saw a Kobold climbing up a tree like a monkey and jumping from tree to tree.
I knew that Kobold was coming toward me through the trees, and that they were definitely aiming at me, but I could not move my body as much as I wanted to.
No matter how much I tried to move, no matter how much I wanted to move, I couldn’t raise my body or even lift my arms. As if mocking me, the Kobolds in the distance looked up to the sky and shouted.
”Woooooooooooo!”
I knew immediately that it was a cry of triumph.
The tables have turned completely, and Kobold, convinced of their victory, leaps toward me below.
Just when I was ready to die, Kobold’s body was blown right off to the side, as if pulled by something.
”What…?”
As I am confused by this unexpected turn of events, a gust of wind begins to blow so hard that it chokes me, and I try to outrun it in the snow.
The gusts of wind did not last long, and when I crawled out of the snow, my body naturally able to move, I found no Kobolds around me, but only two lumps of snow.
Perhaps, or rather, from their positions, these two clumps of snow were the two remaining Kobolds, and they must have been transformed into this shape by the gust of wind.
The Kobolds that had been blown right beside me as they tried to attack me were nowhere to be seen, and the two that had been flailing around on the thorns were either buried in the snow or were no longer visible.
”What in the world is going on?”
The timing of the rescue seems to indicate that I was rescued by someone, but there is no one to be seen.
”Hey! Is someone there!?”
For a moment, I thought that maybe Lewya and the others had been hypnotized and had come to my rescue, but if that was the case, they should have shown themselves.
The reason why they didn’t show up is that maybe other elves besides Lewya happened to pass by and helped me?
The magic to create such a wind is difficult for an ordinary magician to handle, and only a limited number of humans can use such a magic.
However, it would not be surprising if there were elves, a long-lived species, who could use such magic.
”Miiii, meee…”
The all-too-familiar cry reminds me of my original purpose.
Yes, now is not the time to be trying to figure out the identity of the mysterious interloper.
”Gipner!”
I turn to the direction of the cry, and there I see Gipner moaning in pain, its arm crushed and broken.
This guy had probably been hiding by mimicking a tree branch when it was hit by a gust of wind and fell to the ground, wounded.
I am impressed that it was able to survive with such injuries in a situation where even Kobolds could not survive, but I do not intend to do anything to help it.
As I approach Gipner to finish it off, it turns its head toward me, perhaps recognizing me from the sound of its approach through the snow, and runs away in a hurry when it sees me.
”Wait for me!”
I ran toward it, but the snow was still in the way and I couldn’t move forward as I had expected.
On the other hand, Gipner’s almost stick-like body was so light that its feet did not get buried in the snow and it was able to run on the snow.
Just when Gipner thought that it could escape from the snow, its body, like that of the Kobold, was blown to the side and slammed into a tree with such force that it broke its torso in half.
”Miii――”
Gipner, who had been running away from me so persistently, dies in front of my eyes with a short death cry.
For some reason, this scene reminds me of a frog crushed by a car, and even though I didn’t intend to do anything to Gipner, I can’t help feeling sorry for its pathetic end.
At any rate, I turn around to join the others, thinking that Diana and the others must be out of their hypnosis now.
”Oh, hey, I don’t know who you are, but thank you for saving me!”
I thank the inteferer who does not show up.
As expected, there is no response, and just as I am about to leave the place, a breeze caresses my cheek.
The wind is as warm as a spring day, and this must be the best response of the inteferer who does not appear.
I feel myself becoming like a cute little girl for the invisible inteferer, and I feel my heart warming up like the spring sunshine, as if the tension I felt a moment ago has disappeared.
”Bye!”
I say goodbye to the inteferer and leave the place quickly, hurrying to Diana and the others.
”―!”
”――!”
I hear someone’s voice as I approach the place where Diana and the others were.
Thank goodness, the hypnosis seems to have been broken safely, I pat my chest in relief, and quicken my steps to let them know that I am safe.
”Everyone, are you all right?”
”Lewya! Can’t you do something?”
”I can’t! My magic can’t help any more!”
I was speechless at the sight that met my eyes.
It was Diana and Lewya, their hands dyed bright red, desperately shouting something, and Neo, his whole body dyed bright red, lying on the ground, his eyes silently closed in his arms.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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