Chapter 314
Chapter 314
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: Can One Who Has Seen the End of the World Plant an Apple Tree? (19)
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One great thing about water magic is that there's no better spell for tracking living creatures. Sure, fire magic can pick them up by body heat, and earth magic uses some fluid pressure mumbo-jumbo for its own methods. But one fails if the area's too hot, and the other gets inefficient amid a mess of people unless you weave a specific spell.
Water magic, on the other hand, lets you recognize the unique taste and texture of a creature's moisture, making it incredibly easy to pinpoint someone.
Having spent a desert night in extremely close quarters with Raksha just a few days ago, her scent was etched into my very bones. With the shamanic interference gone, locating her was child's play.
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- Holy : Ugh....
- Deer Drug Please : So, basically, that girl's sweat smell and taste stuck with him so much that he can sense it from far away.
- Deer Drug Please : Man.... That's next level.
- Number Three : As expected of big bro!
- Take a Look : Have you ever seen such a fucking pervert?
- Professor : This is magic, you bitches.
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Sure, it did sound a bit pervy.... But the important part was that in this chaos, I'd zeroed in on Raksha's position and found the way from the drifting quicksand chamber to the surface.
I grabbed the young lizardmen siblings clinging anxiously to my side, tails swishing, and spoke as gently as possible—a sort of preemptive measure for what they were about to face.
"Uh, um.... Lizard royalty? King lizards.... Friends? Anyway, we're heading out now, so hold on tight?"
"W-We’re fine! The heirs of the ancient desert are unscathed even by boiling sands.... But Saladin, aren’t you human? We’re.... tired of others sacrificing their lives for us...."
"Y-Yeah! Instead, we can wait here in this chamber protected by shamanism until the desert calms, and surely Raksha and Moon Shadow will come rescue us—"
Crack!
"Kkirruk!"
"What, you think you know how far this'll sink? I'm no ordinary guy—I guzzle oxygen, so sealed rooms don't suit me."
"Using violence on royalty!"
"If I lined up everyone I've roughed up so far, you two wouldn't even crack the top ranks. And you asked if I'm human?"
Crunch, creak-crunch!
"E-Eek!"
"U-Uwaaaah!"
I took a deep breath and flexed hard. My body ballooned outward like it was bursting from within, and the two siblings flailed, buried in it, letting out proper lizardman wails.
Still tucked under my arms, half-submerged in the swollen muscle, I flashed them the gentlest smile.
"I'm a bit iffy on the 'human' category myself?"
"Eaten! S-Senika! Senikaaa!!! Kkeak! Kkrruk!!!"
"Brother! Kkik! Kkiruk!"
Of course, to the young royals, it looked like a predator grinning at an easy meal.
And so—for safety's sake, mind you—I buried the two young lizardmen securely in my swollen muscles and gut.
I checked my bulging belly for gaps, then gathered mana for the first time in ages and formed hand seals.
Simple flow manipulation. Mental image: surface tension. Nearby moisture clustering together, overlaid with the path to Raksha.
Ssslip.
Ssslip, swish—
Feeling the moisture creep right up to my feet, I smashed through the chamber wall and dove into the sand without hesitation.
As I sliced through like a desert creature, my belly skin rippled nonstop, like someone kicking from inside.
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Kwaaaaaah!
"Anchors! Raise the anchors! Send every warship beached on the sandbar out to sea!"
"Th-The oasis is sinking!"
"Where’s Lord Kauladi? Where is he?!"
"He’s marching forth right now to calm the taboo enforcer with his great power!"
"Oooooh!"
The blue oasis dried up.
The city sank into the sand amid the frantic exodus from this place, the "Second Step" oasis.
"Hmm...."
Raksha was flustered, uncharacteristically so.
The taboo. An ancient curse every desert dweller knew. Most heard of it through tales, but as Moon Shadow's leader, she'd read scouts' records of sightings—and witnessed it herself.
From small whirlpools sucking in people with desert beetles to massive ones devouring entire sandships. Sizes and speeds varied wildly, but....
Kwaaaaaah—!
"Uwaaaah!"
"It’s getting bigger! The oasis is dry!"
"The path’s open! Lord Kauladi made a sand road!"
"Escape!"
"Abandon the city!!!!"
The dragon-roar din of the quicksand, panicked screams, buildings collapsing like crumbling blocks.
"Uuuum......."
By the stars of the ancient royal house, she'd never seen a taboo this massive. Not in the greatest desert stronghold, the Second Step of the mighty Kauladi. The whole huge oasis slurped down. Moon Shadow's pre-scouted royal prison location, the sand path planned from it—all scrambled, escape plan in ruins.
"Um.... Ottman?"
"Hm? Oh, it's the lady. What is it? Kinda busy now."
"Well.... Aren’t you shocked? Or flustered?"
"Hmm.... Yeah, I suppose? Who wouldn’t be in this mess?"
‘....You guys?’
Why were they so calm right now?
Watching Ottman, Notum, and Idrasil—merged with her—calmly do their jobs even as Professor's life hung in the balance, she felt like they lacked any sense of crisis.
"Gruk. Big-boobs desert woman. No play. Everyone suffer."
"No...."
"Notum, don't be too harsh. Raksha's new to working with Professor."
"Gruk. True."
Exchanging knowing glances she couldn't parse, Raksha had to ask.
"Did Professor.... predict this? The city sinking, or some historic disaster?"
"Nah? He just asked us to track the quicksand's approach. Never mentioned sinking the whole city. But...."
Bulge—
Ottman eyed the fast-approaching moisture clump at their feet and cracked a resigned grin.
"Heh heh heh.... We've been tempered, you see. Around that guy, if some insane event unfolds you never even imagined.... nine times outta ten, that lunatic made it happen. Right, Idrasil?"
To Ottman's wry chuckle, the half-elf Idrasil replied with dead-fish eyes.
"....We left home to learn, so learning through experience is natural, Ottman."
"Yeah.... Glad the newest member's adapting fast."
"Sometimes even trees gotta roll."
"True.... Living long, you adapt to all sorts."
Ottman smiled softly at Raksha's baffled face and pointed at the quicksand's monstrous core.
"Stuff like this. Or maybe...."
Crunch, crackle-crunch!
Thwack!
"Puhaak! Ow, kept getting swept off track! Looks like you all gathered here! Anyone hurt?"
.
.
.
.
.
"Humans [like that]."
Seeing the black monster shake sand off like a wet dog, Raksha—who'd readied her thread—recalled Professor was originally [like that].
"Pro....fessor?"
"Oh, Raksha. Sorry I'm late. Got the two hostages safe."
"Uh, um.... Good. Where are they?"
"Here."
Pat-pat—
Raksha finally noticed Professor's finger pointing to his abs—sculpted and packed, but weirdly bulging.
Occasional protrusions suggested someone desperately thrashing inside.
The monster's smiling face with razor teeth glinting in the sun, the royal "Kkiruk!" wails from under that black gut....
Ever the info guild master, Raksha pieced it together.... and hesitated.
Slash her beloved's belly open.
Or safeguard the lives she must protect.
Short deliberation, swift action.
Shing—!
"Uwaaak! What the hell!"
"To escape that quicksand, you mimicked a beast—and couldn't resist devouring those two in the process? I get it. But since you swallowed them whole, better rescue before they dissolve?"
"R-Raksha! It's not that! I mean—!"
"Shhh. It's fine. You won't die from this. If any permanent damage.... I'll care for you forever?"
Stab!
"Uwaaaak! She stabbed! Actually stabbed!"
The desert assassin's shamanic dagger sliced the monster's hide like butter. Hearing the young lizard siblings' wails leak from the gash, Raksha snapped.
After that, calming her took twelve deep gashes, five near-fatal curses, and the siblings—freed when Professor shifted human in a split-second opening—sobbing hysterically.
Of course, the [Saint Professor Hero Party]—used to [that stuff]—just cleared paths with detached eyes and finished evacuating civilians. Business as usual.
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"Kkiruruk! Kkik! Sniff, kkiruk!"
"S-So scary. Even if to save us, sending such a terrifying thing! What.... What did you grasp hands with for our sake....!"
"Shhh. Calm down, Your Highnesses. Raksha's here now?"
"Never leave our side again, never.... Sniff!"
"Uhuuung.... Sniff! Rakshaaa...."
"Yesss~ Of course. I'll escort you both now. I know you're tired, but can you hold out till we escape?"
"N-No problem. The great desert bloodline doesn't tire easily."
"Uh, carry me, Raksha.... Kkiruk!"
Fresh from my arms into Raksha's, the lizard siblings—tear- and snot-streaked, tails clamped tight—burrowed in, refusing to let go.
"Um...."
"Kkeak!"
"Kkiruk! Pr-Protect! Protect us!!"
Any attempt to clear the misunderstanding sent them shrieking at the tiniest move, so I scratched my head awkwardly.
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- Jokasss : Pretty obvious.
- Professor : Still, I'm their lifesaver, and they're key desert NPCs, so I carried 'em the safest way? Pulled 'em from quicksand without a single scale scratched—shouldn't affinity go up?
- Jokasss : Instinct overrides logic there.
- Take a Look : Yeah. Non-humans have vivid ancestral instincts hardcoded. To them, you're the predator that lured and chomped those kids. Probably logged as 'human-disguised lizard-eater' or something.
- Heung An Mandu : Oh, predator-prey thing. Like how ratmen get mental debuffs near felinekin?
- Take a Look : Yep. Instinctual, so fixing it takes time.
- Professor : Goddamn it.
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Looks like it'd take time—a little, or a lot.
"Whew. Let's bail first, everyone. Didn't chat much, but you handled it, right?"
"Secured the exit. Desert plants have surprisingly deep roots—handy."
"City's evacuated, so we can ditch it. Most civilians conscripted anyway, under half left. Desert folk are superstitious—water-mark writing on walls, Notum's ghost act? They bought it quick. Everyone's boating out."
"Good good. Let's go. Even outskirts, this scale'll suck us in soon."
No wonder vets chant "veteran" on ops. Familiar. Snap—done. No worrying about cleanup.
Beaming at my crew's resigned faces, I kicked aside rubble to clear a path out of the city.
Moon Shadow's ship lingered at the harbor—along with, amazingly, the Dry Oasis, crew stamping in frustration.
Closer look: Sailors holding back the captain, who clung to the rail yelling something like 'I summoned the taboo, no choice but to dive in!'
I booted the captain aboard mid-leap; sailors sighed in relief and exasperation.
"It’s Saladin!"
"Roasted Saladin's back! And the wizard!"
"Dwarf elf and troll too!"
"All here!"
"Gruk."
"...."
"Quit yapping—sail! Hurry!"
"Damn near died waiting! Saladin! Hoist sail solo! Dawdle and we're goners!"
Clunk!
Flutter—
Amid the panic, only sane deckmaster Gallard—boarding Ottman waved an empty bottle with a grin.
"Sail-ho!"
"Aye-aye-!"
Splash!
Sails unfurled in seconds, wind bulging them to shove the ship from the sinking oasis.
Moon Shadow's vessel led, Dry Oasis barely trailing. Countless other escapees behind.
Rumble—
Quicksand devouring the city, etching taboo terror anew in desert minds.
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