When we told the guild that we would go to the east forest to investigate,
the guild master Goudo-san directly received us and said "I heard that you
two are in the middle of an expedition but... anyway this is a big help!".
He then gave us all the information that the guild had right now.
According to the information, the incident where the adventurers got their
armors melted happened all over the east forest.
A lot of adventurers went to the east forest to gather material in part
because it was close to the city.
And surprisingly all the adventurers who went there were harmed by this
occurrence. In just several days there were already nearly a hundred people
who lost all of their equipments.
No wonder the armor production couldn't keep up...
"In that case the cause of this incident must be a mutated species of Melter
Escargot but... can a specimen this powerful just pop out so easily like
this..."
There was a monster classification called "special monster".
The classification referred to boss monster that had lived for long or a
specimen that was born with special power. The special monsters were
monsters that had fulfilled special requirement and just a step away from
evolving into demon, but their occurrence rate was very low as befitting
their "special" classification.
In addition Melter Escargot should be lacking in mobility, but this one
never missed its prey in this whole forest. Normally it was unthinkable for a
Melter Escargot to be strengthened like that.
But well, there was no denying the fact that one such specimen had
appeared, so it was pointless to think too deeply about it.
I put aside my doubt for the time being and talked to Alicia who was
walking at my side.
"Although we can deal even against surprise attack perfectly using Alicia's
powerful Area Detection skill, we don't know what might happen here.
Let's be on our guard."
"...Yes."
We spoke while searching the east forest.
The information said that almost all the adventurers who stepped into the
east forest suffered damage, so we thought that we would be able to meet
the culprit if we came into the forest.
Even so...
(They might not be as good as Alicia, but there should be a lot of people
with Thief or Ranger type Gift in this city who excelled in detecting enemy.
And yet all of them didn't notice at all until their equipments had been
melted. Is such thing really possible?)
I felt puzzled once more at the mystery of this incident while staying
vigilant toward the surrounding. Then when I abruptly looked toward Alicia
beside me,
"Eh?"
My eyes opened wide from the sight that entered my eyes.
After all――a part of Alicia's armor had melted and formed a hole.
"Eh, no way, since when!?"
I raised my voice in surprise.
Alicia too noticed the strangeness from my reaction and opened her eyes
wide.
"...Erio, that..."
"Eh?"
Alicia pointed at me instead of herself.
I followed her gaze... and found that a part of my equipment had also
melted.
It was focused mainly on my crotch area!
I-impossible.
Even though I had obtained an indestructible penis, it was still the crotch
area there.
The thought that no attach should ever land in there had been imprinted into
the thought of any man since they became aware of their surrounding. It
was our greatest weak point.
It was absolutely impossible that I didn't notice an attack targeting such
place.
Not to mention that right now we were completely vigilant toward our
surrounding. Alicia was even using her Area Detection.
There was no way we didn't notice the enemy's approach... I thought
while looking around. It was then.
"――Tsu!"
I sensed something small moving through the air in high speed.
That――,
"Water drop...!?"
When I noticed there were water drops flying around us in high speed.
The size of each of them wasn't that big.
But the total volume if all of them were combined would be as big as a
human head.
And naturally those weren't just water.
"Uwah!?"
I barely dodged the water drop that flew at me.
The armor part that it grazed melted soundlessly, as though the water drop
had just bit a hole in it.
An impossible hypothesis formed in my head after seeing that hard to
believe sight.
"Don't tell me... it's manipulating its metal melting mucus using water
magic!?"
This was the work of an abnormally high level water magic.
Although Area Detection couldn't go as far as detecting the presence of
water drop that was controlled using magic, normally it could easily detect
the location of the caster. For Area Detection to not sense anything meant
that the water drops were being controlled from outside the skill's effective
range.
In addition the water drops flew soundlessly in high speed and slipped
through even our guard when it approached.
Surely there was a limit to how many water drops it could control all at
once, even so this number of water drops were already more than enough.
"I see, so this is why the other adventurers noticed too late that their
equipments had gotten melted...!"
The mucus that Melter Escargot secreted boasted extremely high
corrosiveness.
Even a small amount of it would be enough to melt the equipments of a
single party and absorbed them.
The water drops that had no killing power also gave no pain, so it was no
wonder the other adventurers didn't notice that their equipments were
melted until the last moment.
But now that I already understood its trick,
"Where is the main body...!?"
I dodged a water drop in a hair's breadth while grinding my teeth.
Normally attack that came from magic could easily be followed to lead
back to its caster.
Most magic fired a bombardment that moved in a straight line. Tracing the
attack's trajectory line would quickly lead back to its source.
But this water magic――likely had a great degree of control in exchange of
the amount it could manipulate.
It was to a degree that the monster was able to place water drops here to lie
in ambush even before we arrived.
How would we locate the controller... while I was racking my brain like
that,
"...There"
Alicia pointed to the west. Eh?
"...When I really concentrated to my Area Detection... I could see the
mana controlling the water drops..."
"Eh!?"
I let out my voice in shock from Alicia's words.
Because normally Area Detection didn't have that kind of effect.
But the eyes of Sacred Knight Alicia as she said that while pointing to the
west certainly looked as though she had seen something.
"...Kuh. Got it. Let's hurry there!"
"Yes..."
I didn't doubt Alicia.
We shook off the water drops and sprinted to that direction with all our
strength.
.
"...There's no mistake. The water magic user is here."
"Yes. My penis detection also sensed something slimy inside here. The
source of the strange happening is inside this cave."
After running for a while inside the forest with Alicia.
We arrived at a cave deep inside the forest.
Alicia's Area Detection and my detector penis both sensed a powerful
presence inside here.
There was no doubt that the source of this strange happening was lurking
inside here.
But――at the same time a chill ran through my back.
(The distance from the spot where we were attacked until here is quite
far... and yet it can control water drops that accurately. Its ability and
mana level are abnormal.)
Just what in the world it had gone through to obtain such powerful ability?
This wasn't an opponent that could be underestimated even if I was together
with Alicia.
Therefore,
"Let's finish this instantly. We're going to assault it with our full strength
right from the start."
"...Yes."
After I said that, we gripped my swords before charging into the cavern
with our full speed――it was then.
.
*ZUN!*
.
The ground shook hard.
At the same time something strange occurred inside the cavern.
The presence that Alicia and I sensed was rapidly enlarging.
It was as though something that had been compressed tightly until now was
swelling up all at once.
"W-what's going on!?"
Alicia and I opened our eyes wide. At the same time,
*BIKIBIKIBIKIBIKI!*
That wasn't the sound of my thing getting ready for combat――the cavern
was forcefully pried open and the ground split wide open.
And then that thing appeared as though to take the wind out of our sail.
The source of the strange happening this time.
{KISHAAAAAAAAAAAA!}
" "... Tsu!" "
Appearing from inside the ground with such piercing cry was a soft-bodied
monster that was carrying a gigantic shell that was literally like a mountain.
Based on its appearance, it was undoubtedly a Melter Escargot that the
adventurers detested. But its size was far removed from the normal Melter
Escargot that usually was only as big as a horse. Its gigantic size surpassed
even the boss Rock Turtle that we faced in the underground cavern.
This was obviously a special specimen.
Its shell was tinged with bizarre color that was a mix of all the weapons and
armors that it had melted and absorbed from the adventurers. In addition
there were also metals with their original shape still remaining getting
mixed in it. This monster must have swallowed them whole.
"...-!? That's...!?"
I completely understood the source of this strange happening after
witnessing this monster's eerie imposing appearance.
I spoke the answer as I looked up at the gigantic monster that was carrying
a shell that was coated with numerous ants.
"I see... this Melter Escargot had continuously eaten a lot of Armor Ant
corpses from the previous uproar until it evolved abnormally like this...
tsu!?"
Armor Ant Mage, General, Guardian, and then Queen.
Powerful metallic ants that normally would be beyond the capability of
Melter Escargot to eat were blended together into one giant shell. I could
only push out a strained voice from my mouth after seeing that.