Volume 2 - CH 133

“… Is it Bedlock?”

“What is Bedlock?”

I muttered something like that, and Raiki was quick to respond.

The Oni who came to make the report was tilting his head, but for some reason he was looking at me in anticipation.

I wonder why for real.

“What kind of monster was the Bedlock, ……?”

“Well, to put it simply, it’s a fish that uses its scent to lure fish to come and eat it. It looks like an anglerfish.”

“Well, I don’t know what an anglerfish is, but there’s a good chance it’s an outbreak of Bedlocks.”

Raiki said this and stroked his chin, pondering.

Perhaps he is thinking of some countermeasure.

But are monsters that easily generated and caused such anomalies?

I asked him about it, and it seems that they tend to do so.

For some reason, monsters occur spontaneously.

Of course, this is for the sake of the prosperity of the species, but it is also said that A-ranked monsters sometimes appear unexpectedly.

Scholars are still researching the cause of this phenomenon, but the cause has yet to be determined.

However, I have an idea.

It’s evolution.

Just as I have evolved and become stronger, other creatures must also be evolving and becoming stronger.

But the fact that it happens so rarely suggests that not many monsters are evolving

Maybe they are just trying to take care of their own species.

Well, listening to such things would not solve the root of the problem, and in the end, Raiki and one of the Oni seemed to be having a hard time wrapping their heads around the issue.

Tomorrow is the harvest festival. It is a great blow to not be able to catch the necessary fish for the festival, and the most important fish is called “treasure fish”.

This fish is the one with the clear transparent meat that I first tasted when I first came to this village.

Not to mention expensive, it is also very fertile, and until now, there has never been a shortage of this fish.

In fact, it may be more accurate to say that the Oni have been thinning out the excessive number of the Treasure Fish.

The fish is always served to everyone in the village during festivals, and is also a valuable snack to accompany alcohol, and is even used as an offering.

I was very curious to know how much experience I would gain by eating such a fish in the form of a snake, but I quickly shook off the thought and began to plan a countermeasure with Raiki and the others.

“But it would be faster if I were the one to look for it.”

I have long since forgotten that there is a skill called “Swimming” among the automatic skills.

I suppose it would not be a problem to use it in human form, but it would be better to use it in the snake form.

In the water, I probably can’t use the manipulative haze.

However, I know where to find Bedlock.

It is upstream.

If many fish were asleep down there, the Bedlock is somewhere in there.

I know their characteristics and I know their ecology.

If I could find them, I would be able to take down the Bedlock right away.

With this in mind, I sat up, but was stopped by Raiki and the rest of the group.

“We will not bother you, Ouren-sama. This is our problem.”

Sigh. What a hassle.

That’s my honest opinion.

Just eating delicious food without doing anything is not bad, but I think it’s no good.

But if I try to do something, I will be stopped.

Hmmh…. What a hassle.

“… Hmm? I never said I was going to do anything. I just wanted to swim in the river as a snake.”

I’m sure Raiki already knows what I’m going to do, but I said this so that he can understand.

No problem with that.

Raiki looked a little hesitant, then gave a small sigh and instructed the Oni who had come to report to have him lead us to the river location.

Raiki is a great guy. He knows what I’ m talking about.

And this time, I want to see how much experience I can get in this situation.

It’s been a while since I’ve had a real battle and experience collection …… as well as an experiment.

It will be a good exercise for me since I haven’t been able to stay in snake form lately.

“Ok, well, Raiki, please take care of Alena.”

“Leave it to me. The river is netted, so please be careful not to get caught.”

I lightly waved to Raiki, and then the Oni, who was guiding me, took me to the river.

◆

The oni who was guiding me seemed awkward and restless the whole time, but I still managed to reach the river.

The place he took me to was dotted with a number of small huts.

Although they were not designed for people to live in, they were huts where people could take a rest.

Around them were boats of various sizes, and several boats were docked on the river.

The boats have sail masts, indicating that they are the type of boat that catches the wind and moves forward.

And this river …… is huge.

The distance to the other side of the river was so far that I wondered how many hundreds of meters it was.

If the river is this wide, there should be enough to feed the Oni in the village.

In front of where the boat was anchored, the fisherman Oni were sitting around a fire discussing something, as if they were waiting for a guide to show them the way.

Apparently, it was true that they could not catch any fish.

To prove this, I could see the Oni putting away the nets that had probably been used today.

The containers used for storing fish were empty.

The Oni looked a little disappointed as they cleaned up the net.

The Oni were surprised to see me, but they were quieter than usual because of the situation.

Maybe they didn’t feel like making a fuss.

They probably think that my coming will not solve anything.

Rest assured, gentlemen.

I’ll take down the Bedlock and return the fish to their original habitat!

You see, I’m feeling guilty …… if I don’t get to work soon.

Let’s get to work right away!

I brace myself and then take on the snake form.

I move around a bit, but there is nothing out of the ordinary.

It had been a while since I had seen it, so I was worried about what it would be like, but I still feel at ease in this form.

I immediately jumped into the river and started my search.

No time to waste, so I wanted to get this over with as soon as possible.

I headed upstream.

Its scent should be flowing downstream.

I remember how hard it used to be to climb up the river.

It was a nostalgic memory.

But now, climbing up the river is a piece of cake.

I can create a stream of water with infinite water manipulation and cut the flow of water coming from upstream.

And then, it pushes up the water as if it were pushing me away.

The only thing I was worried about was the dive time, but this seemed to have been carried over from my time as a water snake, and I could stay underwater for as much time as I needed.

And the automatic skill “swimming” was also very useful for swimming. (Duh)

Simply pushing up through the water didn’t accelerate me that much, but by using it while swimming, I was able to accelerate even more.

And since I was in snake form, I didn’t get tired.

I headed upstream in a single stride.