Chapter 93 - Examine the Stone Naga
Chapter 93 – Examine the Stone Naga
Translator: ranzan
After beating the stone naga, we had to collect the treasures from the battle.
It’s something that an adventurer always did.
The rocks that a stone naga ate and then made into its scales were tempered by the insides of the beast and made extremely strong.
Because of this, they were VERY expensive.
I used a special knife to remove them from its body, starting first from its tail portion.
「The knife won’t go in!」
「Is it that hard?」「Moo?」
Vi-Vi and Moofy watched what I was doing with deep interest.
A knife alone couldn’t get under the scales.
「The whole thing is hard.」
「And it’s strong against flame. What a nuisance.」
「If you were going against it solo, how would you beat it?」
「Let me think…」
So I thought a bit.
Vi-Vi was a magician as well. She probably wanted a hint as to how one could beat a beast like this.
「If it were me, I would use magic to shock the beast.」
「Shock?」
「Yeah, like blow it across the room and into a wall or something. That way it takes damage inside of the scales.」
「Sounds difficult.」
「If I were outside, I could use gravity magic to lift the thing up and then drop it hard into the ground, or something…」
「Only you can do that, Al.」
Vi-Vi looked a little sad.
She probably couldn’t think of a way to beat it on her own.
「How about a magic knife?」
「Huh?」
「Watch this.」
Vi-Vi looked closely at what I was about to do with my hands. Moofy and Femm also were watching closely.
I showed them a knife that I created with magical force. With this, I could cut open the stone naga.
A magical knife is not an easy magic. However, someone experienced like Vi-Vi should be able to imitate it.
「How’s this?」
「I can make a knife like that…but not as sharp I guess.」
「I see. I guess magic circles are the best for you, Vi-Vi?」
I tried thinking of a way that a magic circle could be used to pull apart a stone naga.
It took a while to think about it.
「Like heating it up quickly and then freezing it.」
「Hm? Maybe I’ll try it.」
Vi-Vi started drawing a magic circle. She was done almost instantly.
She really was talented with drawing magic circles.
It was a double-layer circle with two rings.
I placed a hardened piece of naga in the middle of the ring.
「Let’s do it, Al.」
「Go ahead.」
The circle instantly burst into flame. After burning for a while, it quickly froze.
Her skill at magic circles is really something.
However, not one crack showed in the naga’s scales.
「So this was impossible too.」
「Yeah…」
I cut open a part of the naga inside the magic circle.
Inside of the scales, the meat had been cooked by the fire. Even though it was tough against fire, it was only strong against quickly disappearing fire like a fireball.
There was no doubt that even though it was inefficient, one could beat it with successive fireballs. The important thing was to keep the fire burning.
「The scales weren’t damaged at all, but the fire made it through to the meat. I wonder if you could kill it like that.」
「You think, Al? You’d have to make a really good magic circle. And while you were making it, it would probably run away.」
「You’re probably right.」
「I guess it is really hard to kill.」
Luka was watching the whole experiment and said,
「Can’t you make magic knives come from the circle?」
「Hm? A circle of magic knives?」
「Is that too hard?」
「Hard? No, don’t think it would be. Just strengthen the knife part of the wind knife and…」
Vi-Vi wrote a magic circle on the ground.
Quickly, like usual.
「Let me try this.」
「Sure.」
A violent wind with knives emerged from the ring.
It sliced right through the naga’s scales.
「How’s THAT?!」
「Wow, you did it.」
「Moo Mooo!」「ryaa ryaa」
Vi-Vi looked proud of herself.
Moofy and Shiggy both voiced their approval.
「That circle’s very strong and you can draw it quickly…looks like a very easy to use circle.」
「Right? RIGHT?!」
Vi-Vi looked satisfied. I rubbed her cute head.
Moofy nuzzled Vi-Vi with her nose.
「Stop it, STOP TOUCHING ME!」
Even as she said it, Vi-Vi was blushing.
Just then, Luka was prodding the piece and said,
「If you look closely, this has been zombified.」
「What?」
「Look at this piece of meat…」
She explained it to us plainly.
「This zombie crap is getting TEDIOUS.」
「Yeah, it’s strange. I thought it was strange that a stone naga would show up in a place like this.」
「You think? This is the first time I’ve seen one.」
Luka nodded.
As she cut it up more, she explained.
「Stone nagas are usually quite reserved. They usually are deep inside the earth or inside of mountains so humans rarely see them.」
「In other words, there’s someone that zombified and sent this naga into the dungeon.」
After zombification, you could force any beast to do your will.
Simply put, this naga was here at the command of another magician.
「Yeah, I have no idea what the purpose of doing so is.」
「Maybe to attack the dragon knights while they’re practicing?」
「No…that’s just like messing with a bunch of newbies」
These new recruits weren’t the main force of the dragon knights.
If you think long term, though, attacking these new forces would be an effective strategy.
However, it would take over a decade to see a result.
「I can’t be sure if this is the same as the other zombie monsters unless I check very carefully…」
「So it may be the same?」
「Maybe. Like over here.」
Luka continued explaining.
We both listened carefully to Luka. It’s quite a lesson.
「In other words, there’s a good chance that this is the same work as whoever zombified the other monsters.」
「Seems so.」
「Why would they do such a thing though?」
Vi-Vi said with a confused look.
I thought that was the prefect question right now. I had no idea what the purpose would be.
「You’re right. There’s no reason to zombify a bunch of creatures here and there if their intent is to resurrect the Demon Lord or to attack the capital.」
「It would be better to work in one place and create a huge group of them. You can’t do that if you’re making little groups here and there like we’ve been seeing.」
「Yeah…」
As we pondered over it, Moofy and Shiggy both looked at us, confused.
On the other hand, Femm was patrolling for any more monsters.
「What about as practice?」
「Practice?」
「Practicing making zombies?」
「Practice…」
「Or maybe someone’s experimenting with it?」
Vi-Vi’s opinion seemed quite plausible.
However, Luka refuted it.
「I don’t think that’s it.」
「Why then?」
「This is probably the same person that changed the ancient dragon, right? There’s no way they’d need to practice or experiment if they could do that.」
If they could zombify an ancient dragon, making any other monster a zombie would be child’s play.
I rubbed Shiggy’s head gently while I thought about it.
「That’s true.」
「Right?」
「At least we can be sure that whatever they’re doing, they’re up to no good.」
「Yeah, we have to get some clue of what they’re doing.」
Luka said, and Vi-Vi nodded.
Shiggy and Moofy seemed to nod too.
Just then, Femm was prowling in patrol and said,
『This tunnel is looking really dangerous.』
「You’re right.」
The stone naga dug a tunnel right out of the dungeon.
If a person crawled in it, they could get through.
Left like this, it would be easy for other monsters to use it and attack the adventurers.
It would also become a nest for the magical mice.
「I’ll tell the guild workers.」
「Please do.」
As we left the dungeon, the adventurer guild workers were waiting for us.
Luka explained the whole situation to them quickly and told them that they had better cover the hole.
「We can’t let this zombification thing go. I’ll send you a list of possible drugs and items that might have been used in the zombification.」
「That way by elimination we can find the buyer and the way they got the items?」
「Yes. Please help me take care of this.」
「Understood. The guild can take good care of this so leave it to us.」
With that said, we used the hero’s home in the capital to get back to Mulg unscathed.