Chapter 273

273 – Abyss Hunt

I want to test out Aro’s [Mana Drain] right away. I hold my tail out in front of her as she sits weakly in the lesser treant’s branch.

Noticing my tail thrust in front of her, she turns to look at me. I nod my head and wave my tail.

“Th…a, nk, you…”

Speaking falteringly, she reaches out and touches my tail, before continuing on to cling to me tightly, bringing her body close. Having become sand-like from a lack of magic power, her body surface flakes away.

A faint light shines where she makes contact with my tail. I feel a sensation of my magic power being moved.

“Ah, aah…”

Her crumbling skin looks more and more rehydrated. I get the feeling that her skin’s actually looking a little healthier than normal. Her hair in particular was really dry, so the changes are more pronounced… It might not be my imagination after all. Though the changes really are quite subtle. It looks like she’s restored her body. Perhaps because she’s sucking up my magic power, a faint black light is shining.

Well then, has her MP been restored?

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Name: Aro

Species: Revaana Mage

Condition: Cursed, Magic Correction (major)

Lv: 14/30

HP: 78/78

MP: 87/87

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Ooh, she really has fully recovered. I was worried if she’d be strong enough to fight an abyss, but perhaps because she sucked up my magic power, she’s gotten some strange status condition. [Magic Correction], is it? That’s an unexpected boon. With her power raised by [Magic Correction] and without having to worry about her remaining MP thanks to [Mana Drain], she can fire off high-power magic without limit. With this, she should be able to overturn the difference in rank and get past the abyss’ defences.

“…”

Even after she’s finished sucking up my MP, Aro continues to cling to my tail.

……

…Oi~, you’re finished already.

“…It’s a bit calming.”

O-oh. Once Aro’s finished calming down, I want to test out our new way of levelling her, so we’ll leave the grafant as it is for now.

“Gaaa…”

My partner stares regretfully at the grafant, but we’ll pick it up on our way back. I’ll roast it ‘till it’s well cooked later, so please wait for now.

The spiderlings are clinging to the grafant, so I brush them off with my tail. After three repeats, they give up and start following behind me.

With our preparations in order, we walk through the forest in search of an abyss. I never thought I’d go in search of them myself.

As a C-rank monster that Aro’s magic can damage, they’re reasonable prey for levelling her. If we succeed, she should be able to evolve right away.

However… Now that I’m searching for them, they’re not turning up. Even though when I don’t want to see them, they appear all over.

…Aah, those guys are hiding their presence. I exterminated a good number of them, so they might have me marked. They won’t let me find them so easily.

“Gaa… Gaa…”

The further we walk, the more my partner lets out compassionless cries.

『Hey, our stomach’s empty, you know? Hey?』

…I’m not that bothered by it. Do you mind waiting until after we’ve seen if Aro’s leveling with [Mana Drain] goes smoothly?

『…Can’t we do that after eating?』

Food eaten after exercise tastes better, you know.

『We’re just looking around at this rate…so…meat… 』

…I guess there’s no helping it, we’re not finding any abyss easily, so I suppose we can eat first. It’s my first big kill that I’m eating in a long time, so it would be a lie to say I’m not looking forward to it. After all, it’s a lump of beef. It’s just a shame that there’s no salt to go on it.

I go back the way we came, returning to where we left it. Behind me follows the lesser treant, with Aro in its branches, and the spiderlings moving around as they please.

When we are able see the grafant through a gap in the trees, my partner starts drooling and stretching out her neck.

『Meat! Meat! Meat! Meat!』

…Even though she’s like this, when she’s humanised, she looks like an ordinary, well-put-together woman. It’s unfortunate, or rather it feels like there’s a mistake. She could do with a little more moderation. It’d be nice if she put a little more thought into her speech and conduct…

If we humanised with her as the base and went into a city, she’d attract attention in all sorts of ways.

『Meat! Meat! Me…at…?』

As we draw closer to the grafant, her thoughts break off. The reason is clear.

“VeeeeeeEEeh!”

“Veeh, veeeEah!”

“VeeaAaaah!”

…As I get closer, I see abysses that have congregated to the grafant’s corpse. They are gnawing away at it, tearing apart the meat. That reminds me, they use large monsters as their hatcheries.

“Gaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

My partner raises a roar of rage as she swings her head. I see a few tears dripping from her eyes.

『That’s why, I said, to eat sooner…』

S-sorry… It’s just been licked by them a little bit. But we’ve succeeded in luring them out, so isn’t this good? Look, you still eat it after it’s been roasted!

“GaaA…”

But they really do show up anywhere. Seriously, how many of them are there in this forest?

I turn my eyes away from my partner and face Aro. As though understanding what I want, she nods her head. Thanks to the [Servant of the Evil Dragon] title skill, Aro and the lesser treant can understand what I want without me having to say it, which is convenient. It’s not like I could humanise every time I wanted to say something.

I bring my tail close to Aro in her perch on the lesser treant’s branch. She jumps across, and I stretch my tail out, bringing her in front of my head.

All right, you don’t have to worry about running out of MP. Let loose with your biggest firepower.

She raises her right hand into the air. A black light covers her body and concentrates at her raised hand.

“…nd, magic, [Gale]!”

The light of magic power condenses, then is suddenly fired. The magic power stirs the wind, causing a small tornado to form, which moves towards the abysses while gouging the ground. Perhaps because of her higher level, there’s a big difference compared to when she used it against the grafant.

“Veah!”

The tornado strikes a direct hit on an abyss that was absorbed in eating the grafant. The grafant’s corpse is gouged and blood splashes out. Caught between the tornado and the grafant, the abyss is expelled into the air before landing on its back a short distance away.

“VeeeEeh!”

It wriggles its eight legs, using them to roll itself over.

“[Gale]!”

The second tornado catches it just as it gets to its feet, blowing it away several metres for a second time. Its back strikes a boulder, and a cream coloured liquid dribbles from its mouth.

Now then, it’s a question of how much damage it’s taken. From how it looks, it can’t be unhurt…

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Species: Abyss

Condition: Enraged (minor)

Lv: 24/58

HP: 229/288

MP: 58/58

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…G-great, it’s taken a fair bit! With two hits, it’s taken 59 damage… So Aro’s strongest shot does about 30 damage. It might not be a lot, but it’s certainly taking damage. It might be a bit tough, but she should be able to reap large rewards for being able to damage it in a frontal attack. If she can hunt higher ranks, her level should jump all the way up right away.