68
Chapter 68
The Guardian Stones had finally finished their hard work.
Every Sack we brought was filled to the brim with Natural Mana Stones.
The Guardian Stones brought the Sacks filled with Mana Stones over to us.
Then, Fox glared at them with a grumpy expression and started complaining.
"Eek! Because of you guys, I had to sit on the bare ground without anything to lay out! Apologize!"
Fox, stop throwing a tantrum.
You don't usually care about that kind of thing.
You crawl around in dirty tunnels just fine.
Bonk!
I gave Fox a light smack on the head.
She needed to be scolded for this.
Saying something like that when they deserve praise is just not right.
"Eh? Why did I just get hit?"
"Wooo, woooooo."
"I got hit because I was acting up? F-fine... I'll stop acting up......."
After saying that.
Fox scanned the Sacks the Guardian Stones had brought and asked them a question.
"By the way, is this it?"
"Yes, we've packed everything."
"You packed everything? Then what about the Mana Stones still left over there!"
"Ah, well... we ran out of Sacks to fill, and even if we had more, we have to leave that amount behind. If we mine all the Natural Mana Stones, no new Natural Mana Stones will ever be generated here again."
"That's none of our business!"
"Excuse me? Then we won't be able to offer you Mana Stones regularly. Would that be okay with you?"
This was news to me.
So if you mine all the Natural Mana Stones, new Mana Stones won't regenerate in the same spot.
While I nodded in understanding,
Fox shot them a look full of doubt, as if she couldn't believe the Guardian Stones' words.
"Are you lying because you don't want to give it all to us?"
"They are not lying."
Vampire answered Fox's question instead of the Guardian Stones.
Vampire immediately added,
"It is common knowledge that if you over-mine Mana Stones in their natural habitat, new Natural Mana Stones will no longer be generated. And while there isn't a strict rule, it is considered an unwritten law that one must never do such a thing. A selfish fool who commits such a senseless act instantly becomes a public enemy to all races the moment they are discovered."
"Eh? It was true...."
"Yes, so it's best to leave that amount behind, just like the Guardian Clan said."
"...Understood. If Gom-jjang's friend says so, I'll believe it!"
Only then did Fox accept it.
Well, this wasn't really something to scold her for.
It's completely understandable to be that suspicious.
Since we can't fully trust the Guardian Stones yet.
In fact, I was the foolish one for believing their words so easily.
"Still, you've packed quite a lot."
Vampire looked at the Sacks.
She soon shifted her gaze to the Guardian Stones.
"Do you not feel regretful and bitter? Since the Guardian Clan was born in a natural habitat of Mana Stones, your life's purpose should be protecting the Mana Stones."
"...Protecting the Mana Stones is indeed the reason we live. However, preserving our own lives is more important than protecting the Mana Stones."
"What peculiar fellows. Usually, those called Guardians are more often than not willing to sacrifice their lives to protect what they must guard to the bitter end."
"Ahem. Actually, in a way, you could say this is one of our own methods of guarding. By giving up some Mana Stones, we have chosen a wise way to preserve this place. As long as this place doesn't lose its core function, it doesn't mean we have failed to protect it, does it? If we foolishly fought an unwinnable battle, we would have lost our lives and the place we were supposed to guard, and that would be a true failure as a Guardian."
When one Guardian Stone answered like that,
Hear, hear! That's right! We haven't abandoned our role of protection until the very end!
The other Guardian Stones nodded their heads in agreement with this response.
These guys are really good at rationalizing.
Even though they clearly stated earlier that their lives were more important than guarding this place.
And recalling what they said earlier, they talk pretty big for guys who probably wouldn't have been able to put up any resistance even if we took every last Mana Stone here.
"Is that so."
After giving them a pathetic look.
Vampire finished the conversation with a brief remark.
It seemed she also knew that the Guardian Stones were just rationalizing.
"Absolutely! We have never abandoned our role of protection!"
"Understood. Then we will be on our way."
Swish.
Vampire turned her back.
Then, she summoned a small Bat Swarm and lifted all the Sacks filled with Mana Stones.
For reference, that Bat Swarm will be responsible for transporting the Mana Stones from here to our shelter. Vampire said she would transport the Mana Stones for us in return for saving her life.
Thanks to that, we didn't have to carry them ourselves.
"We're leaving! We'll come again next time, so have the Mana Stones ready in advance!"
"Wooo, woooooo!"
"Ah. To-jjang, there's no need to say thank you to them!"
"Woo? Woooooo, woooooo!"
"Eh... We should still be polite and say thank you because we are grateful? F-fine! You stupid rocks! Thanks for mining and packing the Mana Stones instead!"
Fox and Tosuni waved their hands at the Guardian Stones and turned around.
I also said my goodbyes to them and joined the party.
Like that, we took the Mana Stones and headed toward the cave's entrance.
We didn't take the shortcut.
The Sacks filled with Mana Stones were so bulky that it seemed like it would be a little difficult to pass through the final narrow gap.
...Ah, wait a minute.
Come to think of it, we didn't tell them when we'd be coming back for more Mana Stones.
Hmm... well, it probably doesn't matter.
If we just end up needing more Mana Stones, let's visit them out of the blue.
***
Right as we exited the cave.
A chilling aura emanated from near the entrance.
"......How did he know to follow me here?"
Halt.
Vampire stopped in her tracks.
She stared at a single spot with a serious look on her face.
In the direction Vampire was looking, a giant monster stood smirking.
[Lycanthrope lv.65]
┗Pw.390
┗Rnk.Elite
What is that now?
A werewolf monster?
No, rather than a werewolf, it was more accurate to say it was a bipedal Wolf.
Because its body and face all looked like a Wolf.
It was hard to find any Human traits other than the fact that it stood on two legs.
"I'm sure I erased all traces that could be used to track me... Don't tell me I made a mistake?"
"So you were here? Hiding in a cave, true to your bat nature?"
"...How sly. Pretending as if you found me by chance."
"But it was a coincidence? I thought you wouldn't have been able to run far with an injury like that, so I was searching the area and found... Huh? What the, where did your injury go?"
Listening to their conversation,
it seemed like that Lycanthrope was the culprit who injured Vampire.
This is a huge problem.
In that case, doesn't that mean that guy is our enemy?
For an enemy with a whopping 390 power to suddenly appear, what kind of Misfortune is this?
"More importantly, who are those guys? Your friends?"
The Lycanthrope's attention shifted to us.
Vampire didn't answer.
She shot us a quick glance and spoke.
"I'm sorry. Because of me, you guys ended up getting caught in a dangerous situation for nothing. I will deal with him, so take that chance to run away."
"Woo?"
"Run away? No way! You're my friend now too! I can't abandon a friend and run away!"
"...That guy is stronger than you can imagine. I know you're strong too, Fox, but you probably won't be a match for him. So please, I'm begging you to run away. I cannot let you die because of me."
Vampire said with a determined expression.
And the Lycanthrope must have heard her, as he spoke in a mocking tone.
"Ooh. That spirit of sacrifice is nice to see. What a tear-jerking scene."
Clap, clap, clap.
The Lycanthrope clapped.
"But I'm sorry, I can't just let that happen. If they're the Vampire's friends, doesn't that mean they're enemies of my race?"
The guy then crouched down and placed both hands on the ground.
"Then I can't let them live."
Rumble-!
The ground shook.
Soon, thin pillars made of mud shot up from the ground.
"You can't run away now."
In an instant, a massive Mud Prison surrounding the Lycanthrope and us was completed, and the Lycanthrope stood up with a sneer.
"Haha. I should've done this from the start before playing around."
The Lycanthrope stretched in a relaxed manner and began to loosen up his body.
"It's best to keep a detestable Vampire alive as long as possible and slowly torture her to death. I can't just let you go peacefully and painlessly without having any fun."
And then he looked back at us.
"Ah. First, I'll kill your friends to set the mood. Seeing how you tried to sacrifice yourself to let them escape, they must be pretty precious to you... Ripping them to shreds should get quite a nice reaction out of you."
It wouldn't be strange for such a Misfortune to visit us.
Even if I belonged to the Luck Domain, it didn't mean Luck would always find me, nor could it brush off all Misfortunes.
Still, this is too much.
Leaving aside the fact that my Luck Domain didn't activate.
I had stacked multiple Luck Buffs on the rest of the party too, but not a single piece of Luck triggered from any of them?
Shouldn't at least one bit of Luck have occurred to deflect such a massive Misfortune?
I already knew it to some extent, but
this was a moment that made me realize all over again that Luck wasn't invincible.
...But it's too early to despair.
Luck could still happen from this point on.
"Woo, woooo!"
"Eek! This mud won't break no matter how much I hit it! Do I have to shoot stars at it?"
Since breaking the mud pillars and running away seemed impossible, the only option left for us was to fight that Lycanthrope.
In other words, we had no choice but to pray for Great Luck to occur during the battle.
Honestly.
Even if Luck did occur, it didn't feel like we would be able to win.
The gap in power was just way too severe.
The chances of dying before the Luck could trigger were much higher.
Because that monster called a Lycanthrope had such high power that even our Fox wouldn't be a match for him.
A difference of 60 power is enormous, after all.
What's more, that Wolf seemed to have far more combat experience.
Still, what else could we do but try.
Sink or swim, let's at least give it a shot.
Because we couldn't just sit on our hands and wait for death.
[Using [Dragon Mimicry lv.2] - [Misfortune Breath].]
A lot of Luck Buffs are stacked on our party.
And if I inflict the Misfortune Debuff on the Lycanthrope, not just one but multiple Debuffs, a miracle might happen during the battle.
This was the best I could do.
Because the Spicy-Sweet Fist won't work on an Elite rank.
"Huh?"
Whoosh-!
A breath shot out from my hand, which had transformed into a Dragon head Doll.
However,
"That looks like an ominous skill."
The Lycanthrope lightly dodged my breath.
Uh oh.
It's meaningless if it misses, though?
I have to hit him to inflict the Debuff!
"Attacking first without even being scared, what a bold bear. No, not a bear, but a Teddy Bear?"
[Using [Dragon Mimicry lv.2] - [Misfortune Breath].]
I used the breath consecutively.
In a state where my power was increased using the Bloodsucking Enhancement skill.
But, the breath missed again this time.
He was so fast that I couldn't hit him at all.
You coward, just let me hit you!
"A doll hand that looks like a Dragon face, and it even shoots a breath... What a fascinating race."
It would have been nice if the breath had a tracking function.
The moment I was having such absurd thoughts.
"Teddy Bear! In front of you!"
Vampire's urgent shout rang out.
In the blink of an eye, the Lycanthrope had closed in right in front of me.
The moment the guy reached his hand toward me.
"Wooo!"
Swish!
Tosuni wrapped my body with her Blood Whip.
And yanked me sharply toward her.
Oh! Tosuni, nice!
"Wooooo?"
Are you okay?
Tosuni seemed to be saying this.
In an instant, her face soared high into the sky.
The Lycanthrope, who had approached immediately, had severed Tosuni's neck.
"To, To-jjang!!!"
Along with Fox's startled voice.
From Tosuni's body remaining on the ground, a Blood Whip and pure white threads spurted out from the severed surface of her neck.
Zip-!
They grabbed the face flying through the sky and pulled it back toward the body.
"Wooo!"
Tosuni's face reattached cleanly to her neck.
It was a slightly bizarre scene.
"Wh-what the?"
The Lycanthrope was flustered by the absurd sight.
In that gap, Tosuni hugged me and hopped away to put distance between us and him.
"Wow... Your regeneration is no joke, huh? Even Vampires with excellent regeneration usually can't recover if they get torn by my claws... Are you a race with even better regeneration than a Vampire? You're suddenly making me interested."
Swoosh.
The Lycanthrope disappeared from our sight.
Where did he go?
As I was looking around, the guy revealed himself in front of me once again.
Why does this guy like me so much?!
"I got curious if you can regenerate even after your body is torn to shreds."
Grab!
The moment he grabbed my head.
"Let go of the Teddy Bear!"
"Woooooo!!!"
"Gom-jjaaang!!!"
Vampire, Tosuni, and Star Fox.
The three of them lunged at the Lycanthrope all at once.
The Lycanthrope, while tightly gripping my head.
Lightly dodged all the attacks rushing toward him.
Then, after positioning himself a bit away from my party, he curled his lips into a smirk and lifted me up.
"Shall I tear you apart then?"
No, let go of me, you jerk!
I don't have any regeneration abilities in the first place!
Why are you trying to experiment on me, you crazy bastard!
Riiip-!
Riip!
Rip, riiip, riiiip-!!!
With my entire body torn to shreds in an instant.
I was thrown onto the floor like trash.
"What the, why aren't you regenerating?"
Looking down at me like that, the Lycanthrope tilted his head in question.
I can't regenerate because I don't have a regeneration ability, you crazy Wolf.
"It seems this Doll doesn't have good regeneration. How boring."
[Using [Teddy Bear Camouflage lv.1].]
"It's dead."
The Lycanthrope looked away from me.
Convinced that I was dead, he turned his back.
Of course, I was alive.
I simply hid my Mana aura using the Teddy Bear Camouflage skill, which can't be detected unless by a Unique rank or higher.
Stupid Wolf.
You should've made sure to finish the job.
You can't just leave my Mana Stone without destroying it, can you?
Well, I still don't know if having my Mana Stone destroyed means I'll definitely die, though.
Anyway.
This actually worked out well.
The guy thinks I'm dead.
If I aim for this opening while his guard is down, I can definitely hit him with the Misfortune Breath.
Right now, my body is completely torn to shreds, so I can't even move, let alone use skills, but I had one way to restore my body.
Before leaving our Dungeon.
I had consumed Mana Stones to level up.
Along with that, my Physical Adaptability had also increased, and I became able to use the Evolution skill.
In other words.
It meant I could completely restore my body through Evolution.
To think the Evolution skill I had thoughtlessly put on hold would be this helpful.
[Current Physical Adaptability is 31, Evolution is possible.]
[Would you like to use [Evolution lv.3]?]
Hurry!
================
[Evolvable Races]
◎ Golden Bear - Superior
┗Level decreases by 1.
┗No additional power.
┗Appearance Change - Biologicalization / Golden Fur
┗Acquire Alchemy lv.5.
┗Limit Breakthrough impossible.
◎ Dragon Fist Dragon Teddy Bear - Superior
┗Level decreases by 1.
┗Acquire 3 additional power.
┗No appearance change.
┗Acquire Dragon Fist lv.1.
┗Limit Breakthrough impossible.
◎ Rapid Fire Dragon Teddy Bear - Superior
┗Level decreases by 1.
┗Acquire 3 additional power.
┗No appearance change.
┗Acquire Dragon Mimicry lv.2 - Breath Rapid Fire.
┗Limit Breakthrough possible.
================
I have no time to think!
I'll just pick anything!
No, wait a minute!
Let's go with the one that allows a Limit Breakthrough!
I didn't even read the other descriptions.
I simply saw the description saying it was capable of a Limit Breakthrough and chose the last option.
[[Helper lv.2] skill intervenes in Evolution.]
[Upon Evolution, light will not be generated.]
[Evolution is complete.]
By succeeding in Evolution, my body was completely restored.
There was no time to check my status.
I immediately reached my hand toward the back of the careless Lycanthrope.
Since my Camouflage skill was currently active, the guy still hadn't noticed my presence.
Now, take this!
Backstab breath!
[[Dragon Mimicry lv.3] - [Breath Rapid Fire] is applied.]
[Using [Dragon Mimicry lv.3] - [Misfortune Breath].]
[Using [Dragon Mimicry lv.3] - [Misfortune Breath].]
[Using [Dragon Mimicry lv.3] - [Misfortune Breath].]
[Using [Dragon Mimicry lv.3] - [Misfortune Breath].]
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[Using [Dragon Mimicry lv.3] - [Misfortune Breath].]
[Using [Dragon Mimicry lv.3] - [Misfortune Breath].]
[Using [Dragon Mimicry lv.3] - [Misfortune Breath].]