Chapter 150 – City-eating Monster

After talking with Eris, I felt wide awake. I didn’t feel like returning back to sleep anymore, so I decided to head back to the desert, leaving Roxy and Mimir at the mansion

I promised that we would go clean up the darknesses together. Sorry for breaking the promise.

But more than being wide awake, the sense of loss after fighting the sacred beast was what spurred me the most.

In short, I wanted to vent.

Eris pretty much felt the same thing. Being unable to show your mettle in battle can be frustrating.

And that’s why, right now I was standing in the middle of the desert together with Eris.

[Alright, let’s do our best!]

[So we are really going to do this…]

[Because it’ll be faster this way.]

I hung my face back smugly. The reason was simple.

Eris’ Mortal Sin skill――Lust can be used to attract the darknesses in.

But using the skill on full power can be problematic.

She told me, at full power she’ll end up pulling all the monsters dwelling in the desert.

And not just the darknesses and regular monsters… even a crown tier might appear.

Those’re exactly what rushed toward us right about now.

[Alright then, let’s go. Devour those darknesses and monsters charging toward us. That’s the highlight of Gluttony skill after all.]

[Let me prepare my heart first, please wait.]

I took a deep breath to calm myself.

But before I did, my attention was directed to the wall of dust that became apparent in the horizon.

[Eris… you really did it this time, didn’t you?]

[Un! Come on now, you said it yourself that we should do our best! I will give you generous supporting fire this time.]

Eris wanted to regain her battle sense that was rendered rusty after a long period of disuse. This large amount of monsters was meant to achieve that goal.

The monsters were surrounding us from all sides. This number, it’s already comparable to monster stampede on Gallia.

Greed who had been watching silently, seemingly became excited. Vibrating intensely in my hand.

『It has been a while since we fought this many. Don’t you disappoint me now, Fate!』

[You only get to say that because you aren’t the one who’ll fight them.]

『Hahaha, this Me is nothing but a weapon after all. Be careful, don’t overeat』

[I know already.]

Eris took the initiative. She shot consecutively, killing monsters while building up charges for Envy.

[I’ll buff you up with Vanishing bullet, go wild.]

A magic bullet was expended in an instance.

I started running at the same time. Slaying darknesses and monsters one after another.

As usual, an inorganic voice in my head informed me of my stat growth and skill acquiring. The now familiar voice rang repeatedly, reporting almost endlessly.

I activated the《Wind Blade Magic》I just acquired.

Perhaps it’s because I’m already at Area E, but my magic tended to have an improved effect nowadays.

When used by the darknesses, the magic produced a small scythe-like attack. But in my case, it invoked a tornado.

Any monsters or darknesses that got swallowed by the tornado were chopped down by the swirling wind blades, dying in but a blink of an eye.

[That’s much more efficient]

『Good if you have fun, but what about the gluttony skill?』

[No need to worry, Greed. There is no Area E among them so far, I can still go on.]

『If that so…go ahead』

Somehow, despite this being a continuous battle right after the sacred beast fight, I felt as if I’m in good shape.

And that even when I had to repress the gluttony skill influence. If worse comes to worst, I could still ask Mimir to suck my blood, offsetting the effect further…

In fact, I hadn’t felt this well in a very long time. Perhaps Luna was hard at work suppressing the Gluttony skill inside. I should thank her later tonight when I entered the dream world.

Being able to fight all I want, my tension gradually rose up.

To bystander it probably looks like an unparalleled warrior mowing down the enemy soldiers heroically, but for me this felt more like bullying the weak actually. However, they’re still monsters that endanger humans’ life.

There will be nothing good about it if we let them free.

With that thought, I plunged into the horde of darknesses and monsters. Meanwhile, another supportive magic bullet hit me at the back once more.

At first I thought it might be a phalanx bullet. But our current opponents weren’t even Area E. Their attack wouldn’t even scratch me normally.

I kept cutting the darknesses while wondering why Eris fired the magic bullet.

[Wha!? This is!!]

Not just the enemies before me, I also ended up swathing the darknesses behind them.

[Attack power and range have been improved!?]

[Fufufu, that is Raging Bullet’s effect] (TL note: feels old when I actually remember this name as a toy name from the 90s…)

Looking back, I saw Eris, standing atop a mountainous pile of darkness’ corpses with a proud face.

[Through repeated use of the support bullet, I’ve unlocked another one of Envy’s supportive bullets.]

[Then, please keep doing that.]

[Fine. You see, I’m a woman who can do-it-all after all.]

Was that last part supposed to be a muttering? But to me, that’s indeed how Eris was.

She seemed to have recovered from the fight against the sacred beast as well.

This Raging Bullet was really a good support bullet. What if I combine it with Spirit Unity? And what if I added in Gluttony skill starvation….Just imagining it already made me excited with the possibility.

But as expected, I didn’t see a lot of improvement on myself from this battle.

Having the effect of Raging Bullet was already enough to wreak havoc.

I could cut down any monsters and darknesses almost as easily as cutting butter with a hot knife.

By the time I stopped moving, all the monsters that were pulled by Lust skill were gone. This way, the area should be safe from monsters for a while. Of course, with the existence of the Door to His Land, any of them killed by Eris might have a chance to revive. But the larger portion that I killed wouldn’t be revived due to their soul being devoured by Gluttony skill.

The prison of souls that was the gluttony skill will keep all the devoured souls caged forever. Therefore, the Door to His Land’s power couldn’t reach them. It’s something that Greed taught me in the past.

The blood of darknesses and monsters had made the surrounding sand into a muddy area. Eris had become more active in fighting during the last half of the fight to regain her battle sense. She’s pretty much in the same condition as myself.

Drenched in blood and guts.

[It became quiet, didn’t it?]

Eris let out a small chuckle, somehow finding the whole thing as funny. Behind her, the sun slowly rose on the horizon.

That scene, it was hauntingly beautiful. Don’t tell me… it’s the effect of Lust skill?

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Her ragged and bloodied look may clashed with her relaxed expression, but I found it ephemeral.

Eris, like Myne, had lived for a very long time.

I’m just a kid compared to them, but there will be a time when I can finally stand side by side with them. Until then, I just have to be satisfied with being able to see another side of Eris which I previously didn’t know.

[Yosh, mission complete! Fate, let’s head back.]

Eris then hugged me.

[Uaaa, the blood on your clothes got in my eyes!]

[Who cares, who cares.]

And she returned to her usual self already, the troublesome self. But I suppose, compared to that side I saw for a moment just now, this one is also fun to have in a way.

While I was thinking all that inwardly, Eris suddenly looked up to me and said.

[Oya oya, Fate-kun. Your heart is beating fast, I wonder why?]

[That is, that is because I was fighting just now.]

[Really? Is that also why your face is beet red?]

[Kuh.]

[Aaaa, could it be?]

I tried turning my face away from her. But Eris had squeezed herself tight to me that it won’t do anything to hide my face from her.

Her grinning face annoyed me a little.

[I see, I see. Un un.]

[What?]

In response, Eris simply smiled, looking so happy all of a sudden.

Just do as you like…

Then I realized that the sand stuck to the blood on our clothes. If this keeps up, we’ll end up like a sandman, fully covered in sand.

So we decided to quickly return to the town before that happened. Eris was awfully chipper along the way.

[This is the first time we go on a monster subjugation with only the two of us. It’s exhausting for me, and now I’m completely caked in desert sand like a sandman. But thanks to that, I got to obtain new support bullets. Feels good!]

[Ey! Are you saying you acquired another new bullet aside from the Raging Bullet? What is it?]

[That… is a secret! But I’ll consider it if you ask nicely.]

I wish she could stop playing coy and just tell me already. But nevermind that.

Eris will eventually use it. Which bullet she uses mostly depends on the situation after all.

In both the battle against the sacred beast and the earlier horde of darknesses and monsters, Eris had firmly supported me. I can’t really complain about her fighting style, so I’ll just believe her as a party member.

[Hey, Fate.]

[What is it?]

[I think I want to become stronger as well. At least as strong as I was in my prime. Then, I’ll settle things with him.]

Eris wanted to settle her grudge with the Sacred Beastkin Libra.

It’s not a separate thing from me. As Dad also seems to have something to do with that Libra.

When I met Libra back at Tetra, he treated me with a friendly attitude. But, for an unknown reason, he also seemed to share our goal. Which is to prevent the Door to His Land from opening.

Even so, once that one matter is resolved, Libra may end up attacking us, the owner of the Mortal Sin skill.

[When that time comes, I’ll help you out for sure.]

[Thank you, Fate.]

By the time we arrived back at Lishua’s mansion, we were pretty much covered in sand.

The soldiers at the gate actually mistook us for sandmen. We could only laugh at that, but I decided to keep it as a secret from Roxy.

We returned to the mansion, took a refreshing bath, and then headed to where the magic bikes were parked.

Both me and Eris were scolded a bit for leaving out Roxy and Mimir. But since the townspeople were saved as a result, we were forgiven.

And of course, the current town lord, Lishua was overjoyed since the sacred beast has been gotten rid of from her territory. She even told me that she’ll repay this favor one day.

I politely declined. But to be honest, I wasn’t really sure whether she listened to me or not.

We rode the magic bike all the way to the south. My magic bike in particular had to be used as a three seater due to the addition of Snow.

Snow sat in front of me, with Roxy staying behind me. With my arms on her left and right, Snow was able to remain calm on her possibly first ride on the magic bike. She hadn’t been able to warm up to Roxy just yet, on which Roxy could only droop her shoulders in response.

As we proceeded with our magic bikes running in parallel side by side, with Mimir driving the other one, we eventually came upon a carriage with a lot of luggage.

[Fai, what is that?]

[Doesn’t seem normal to me too.]

It’s because there weren’t only five or so wagons going north. It’s dozens of them.

We stopped by, and asked one of the coach drivers.

The man turned sullen right away.

[We used to live in the oasis up ahead… but a man suddenly appeared and turned the entire town and oasis into a big crater.]

The man that the coach driver was talking about must be someone powerful, being able to dry up an entire oasis by sinking it deep into the ground. On the other hand, the desert is a harsh place where people couldn’t live without water.

That’s most likely why these people went up north, to find a new livelihood.

[Eris, what do you think about sending them to Lishua’s territory?]

[Right. It’s the closest settlement. With the monsters gotten rid of, logistics will soon recover as well. Isn’t that good?]

Eris then extracted a paper from her cleavage window, then gave that piece of paper to the coach driver.

[You can hand this over to the towns lord later on. And we’ll also escort you for a short while, to keep you all safe.]

[Thank you very much! Holy Knights-sama.]

[Umu, I’m not one actually, but whatever. It’s simpler that way.]

She WAS the queen. One wrong sentence, and you might lose your head.

But as Eris said, it’s better to keep it simple. Better than making them misunderstand.

While escorting the wagons, we also planned a detour to see the oasis town.

Greed and Eris both agreed that there’s still time until the Door to His Land is opening.

As for Roxy and Mimir, they wished to help people in need. And when I heard the name of the man who dried down the oasis, I couldn’t stay put either.

Libra… a person from Eris’ past, and a sacred beastkin just like Snow.

I need to know why he did such a thing.

Suddenly, I was reminded of something about the oasis that I heard while I was travelling to Gallia. However, due to circumstances I wasn’t able to visit the place.

I heard that a city-eating monster lurked there.

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