CH 264

Combined Attack

We continued moving towards the direction of the unpleasant presence, and finally made into the range of detection skills.

I quickly used [Life Presence Sense] to check and………as expected of a monster with such a vile aura, it’s life presence was quite high.

But unlike the Octopus monster, this monster’s mana was much overwhelmingly larger than its life presence.

A monster with a large amount of life presence and an even larger amount of mana.

It was truly a high-spec monster that was bound to give us a lot of trouble but, if it was mostly a magic using monster, I don’t think we’ll have struggle as much as we did against the octopus monster.

“I can sense the enemy now and as expected, it’s a tough one alright. It’s life presence is bigger than the average monster but what stands out is the fact that it possess and even larger pool of mana. To explain it simply for Ralf and Esta, it’s like if Carlo also had about twice the amount of mana than the Dead Lich.”

To be honest, its life presence wasn’t as high as Carlo but it’s better to slightly exaggerate to make sure they take the monster seriously and treat it with caution.

Of course, there’s always a chance that it frightens them too much but, I don’t need to be worried about that when it comes to these two. Probably.

“The hell kind of monster is that!!? Can we really beat it!?”

“A Carlo that can use better magic than the Dead Lich eh? To be honest, I can’t really see how we could beat it then………”

“Hm? But wait, if it’s a magic user, can’t Chris just nullify it? Like you did with mine.”

Contrary to my expectations, both of them did seem to flinch from the threat posed by the monster but, thanks to what Mielle said, the light of confidence returned in both of their eyes.

Exactly. As long as it’s a magic using enemy, I can nullify whatever magic it throws at us.

It’s a lot harder against multiple opponents but, from what I can sense, our opponent is just one single monster.

Of course, our strategy assumes that I can perfectly use [Anti Magic] every time but, there’s no doubt that this fight should be easier than the octopus monster.

“It is precisely as Mielle said. If it’s one on one, I can cancel whatever magic it plans on using.”

“Oh right I had forgotten about that! Doesn’t that mean, we’re just fighting a monster that’s on the same level as Carlo then?! Well, that sounds way more doable now, right!?”

“……….Agreed. We both have also become a lot stronger since then. And we also have Mielle-san and Fecilia-san, and even Snow with us.”

“Alright. Looks like you two can finally see yourself beat that thing as well, so let’s go and exterminate that monster. Mielle, Fecilia, you two ready as well?”

“Yes. I’m ready when you are.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve made my resolve and I’m ready to go.”

Feeling confidence form the composure showed by these two, we took our battle formation and quickly began approaching the monster.

The monster releasing the unpleasant presence was not roaming around the caverns like the octopus monster. Instead it was in a open area, sitting completely unmoving in the middle of it like it was a shrine of sorts.

For a second I thought it still hadn’t noticed us but, from the fluctuations in its mana I could tell, the moment we step into that open area, it was going to fire its attacks at us.

I want to hide [Anti Magic] till the very end, and only use when it creates an opening to deal a deathblow——–was what I had originally planned but, if it’s like this, I’m going to have to start using it from the beginning.

“I can see it. That thing ahead of us is the monster we’re looking for.”

“normal people can’t see it from so far man! Tell us out loud if and when it starts firing magic okay!?”

The monster releasing the unpleasant presence was a bit different in appearance than what I was expecting.

I was sure it’d be something similar to a Dead Lich, or simply a monster that looks like a magician but, the thing sitting in the centre of the open area was a humanoid shaped rhinoceros beetle.

First a humanoid octopus, and now a humanoid beetle eh.

Looks like the strongest monsters in this cave are all humanoid shaped.

“The monster has the appearance of a humanoid rhinoceros beetle. And, it’s accumulating mana in what seems like a long horn on its forehead.”

“Wait, just gathering mana in its horn? Is it not actually preparing to use magic?”

“So it would seem. If it’s not an actual magic, then my [Anti Magic] might be useless. I know its sudden but let’s switch back to our normal formation.”

After fully looking at the monster’s appearance, I came to the conclusion that it was not a normal magic using monster. Although I was originally behind even the magicians in the rear guard as my job was to focus on nullifying magic, I joined the front line with Snow and Ralf back again.

Changing formations like this on the fly was normally considered taboo among parties but, even from a glance at the monster’s appearance, I could tell that it specialised in close combat fighting.

It would be much more balanced if I stuck with the frontline and focused on defending and blocking the attacks in such case.

“It’s coming. It’s a slash made out of mana.”

Like I had originally guessed——it aimed exactly for the moment we would step into the big open space, and swung its head sideways to launch the accumulated mana in its horn towards us.

It was a large amount of mana shaped into a projectile slash attack.

The slashing mana, that almost seemed like a compound magic, rushed towards us and for a second Ralf hesitated on what to do but then, quickly stepped ahead of all of us and took stance with his shield.

“[Divine Protection]!”

As Ralf shouted the name of his skill, a golden light enveloped his body and that light concentrated entirely on his shield.

The slashing mana fired by the rhinoceros beetle monster furiously smashed into his shield—–

And then disappeared into nothingness as if the hand of god itself had come down to extinguish it.