“This is bad……!! If this keeps up we’re all dead!”
“Has the incense worn off already?”
“I don’t know!”
The Elves were in disarray.
I wasn’t much better — I had no idea what was happening.
The roof of the vehicle had been blown away, but there was no sign of any monster.
“Makina, what do you see?”
“Nothing I can identify……No heat signature either.”
“……Most likely a Ghost-type. Troublesome — they’re invisible and nullify any attack that doesn’t channel magical energy.”
Alicia said it with a grim expression.
Great, something annoying has shown up……!
No attack that doesn’t channel magical energy — so that meant everything except magic or magically-enhanced combat techniques was useless.
Which made nearly all our golems, Makina included, essentially helpless.
“Elves! We should work together to take it down — what do you say?”
“……What’s in it for us?”
“My weapon is mithril — channel magical energy through it and we can cut the thing! And Misha here can use high-tier fire magic!”
“We have no choice, fine!”
A temporary alliance with the Elves was formed on the spot.
Alicia and Misha bowed to me and immediately jumped out of the vehicle.
Staying inside wasn’t doing us any good either, so I climbed out slowly.
“This is a nightmare. We can’t see the enemy at all!”
“Terrible — I can’t even use magical detection!”
“It’s the fog! The fog blanketing this swamp is infused with magical energy!”
“Does that mean spells lose power too?”
“Yes — halved!”
“Seriously!?”
So that was why even the Elves, with all their magical ability, were in such a panic.
No wonder this monster was feared — countering it was extraordinarily difficult.
They’d mentioned incense earlier — the Elves passing through here must normally use it to keep the creatures away in the first place.
“……Here it comes!!”
Makina cried out again.
At the same moment, the torso of a nearby Talos-type was cleanly bisected at an angle.
Good grief, what an edge……!?
The cut was smooth as a mirror.
“To the left!!”
The moment Alicia shouted it, the wetland split apart.
We all dove left with everything we had and barely cleared the strike.
It was like invisible blades being flung at us.
Alicia and Makina seemed to be reading the air currents just before impact, but the rest of us could barely sense anything at all.
“There’s no way to land a hit like this!”
“Can’t you use area attacks?”
“Not in this fog!”
The Elf answered with a frustrated expression.
Misha nodded in agreement.
“If only there were no fog……”
“Let me try something.”
Makina said it, unexpectedly.
Try something — what was she going to do?
While I was still confused, Makina picked up the roof that had been cut off the vehicle.
She grabbed it firmly and started swinging it around in wide arcs.
“Whoa!?”
“The wind……!”
Using the thin wooden panel like a fan, Makina sent air sweeping outward.
Putting that overwhelming level-five-hundred-and-twenty strength to work, her arm moved at a speed almost too fast to follow.
——WHOOSH!!
A thunderous rush of displaced air rang out, and wind began to blow across the surrounding area.
The wind grew rapidly, building into a large spiraling vortex.
Incredible — the force of a high-tier spell, just from her arms……!
And then——
“The fog……it’s clearing……!!”
Driven by the howling wind, the mist that had been hanging over everything dispersed.
A short distance from the vehicle, something like a heat shimmer became visible.
Until moments ago it had been invisible, lost in the fog — but.
That seemed to be the true form of the Ghost-type that had been attacking us.
“There it is! A Blaze Shadow!!”
“Fire!!”
The Elves loosed arrow after arrow, each infused with magical energy.
The translucent form slipped and weaved past them, still closing in.
But with the fog gone, the advantage shifted.
Misha had been waiting for exactly this.
“Fire Shot!!”
Small balls of flame poured from Misha’s palms in rapid succession.
Too many to evade completely — the Blaze Shadow’s body caught fire.
——KREEEEEE!!
A metallic shriek rang out, utterly unlike anything a living creature should make.
But Alicia was already moving, not giving it a moment to recover.
“Blade, shine!! Holy Slash!!”
Her mithril blade wrapped itself in light.
One stroke.
The slash released cut through the writhing translucent shadow and split it in two.
——KREEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!
A death cry that dwarfed the last erupted, and black haze billowed out.
A magic stone appeared from nowhere and rolled across the ground.
Not nearly the size of the Great Serpent’s — but still a considerable specimen.
“……Did we get it?”
“Blowing the fog away by brute force alone……what kind of strength is that……”
While the Elves stared in amazement, Makina set the roof down on the ground.
She picked up the rolling magic stone and examined it with interest.
“It appeared to be around level one hundred and fifty. A rather formidable opponent.”
With that, Makina turned back to the Elves.
Their levels, at a rough estimate, were around forty or so.
They probably couldn’t have beaten a Blaze Shadow in a straight fight.
They clearly understood that themselves — which was why, faces as sour as could be, they said:
“……Fine. We’ll escort you to our nation. Though your group is too large — bring only the members riding in the vehicle.”
“Understood — that’s perfectly acceptable.”
And so the Elves, still wary of us, led us onward.
After traveling for a while——
“That is our Ethereas Mage Kingdom.”
“Ohhhh……!!”
A city with massive walls and the enormous trees rising behind it came into view before us——.