Death March — Fixed

“Tek here, a scalpel can’t dismantle a tuna--unless you have a looot of patience. Something of suitable length and size is needed, even if it is less sharp”

 

“Yaa!” Pochi shouted, her small body charging towards a huge Monster, one which was over two-stories tall. Currently all the girls are currently the strongest Monster in this Area, a level 45 Mace Lizard.

 

Pochi looks strangely cute as she lands on top of the Monster’s head, stabbing her sword downwards and into the tough skin--resulting in a spray of blood, dying her in a deep sanguine.

 

Even though her shortsword pierces into the Monster’s head, all the way to the hilt, it doesn’t seem very effective--even though it sprayed blood everywhere.

 

When the Mace Lizard shook it’s huge head, Pochi was thrown a large distance, landing calmly.

 

“Having a large head means that you are wise is just an urban legend, so I inform!”

 

The Mace Lizard, who was going to swipe at Pochi with its massive, spiky tail, was lured by Nana’s provocation and changed it’s course.

 

“Arisa, Reinforcement Magic. Mia, break its mouth open.”

“Nn.”

“Okkey!”

 

Blue light flashes, and small holes appear in the Monsters skin. It seems that the shots fired from Lulu’s gun were ineffective. Similarly, Tama’s twin swords manage to only take shallow gouges, giving only a little damage.

 

Mia’s Magic, Balloon Shot, wrenches the Mace Lizard’s mouth open.

 

Since this upgraded Spell creates its own water, it may consume more Magic Power--but it is much more useful; I modified it because Mia was upset that her favourite Magic had such an obvious weakness.

 

“Here comes the Reinforcement!”

 

“Thank you.”

 

Arisa’s Reinforcement Magic gives Liza greater power. Responding to the power boiling up in her body, Liza shouts out a technique name, “Flickering Spiral Spear Attack!”

 

The shout is unnecessary, but Liza always shouts after she Reinforcement; this may be because Reinforcement Magic not only enhances the body, but also floods it with Adrenalin and Endorphins.

 

The red light that leaks out of her Magic Spear wraps around Liza’s entire body. Her figure seems to blur as she dashes through the 10m distance, resulting in a ‘boom’. The Magic Spear, and her whole body which has become one with her weapon, pierced straight through the Mace Lizard’s body.

 

That’s an almost absurd technique--she even broke through the sound barrier.

 

“Amazing!”

“As expected of Liza.”

“Affirmative. Her attack is valorous, so I declare.”

 

Pochi, who has been covered in spiderwebs totters back to me, and I clean her with Life Magic.

 

“Thank you for your hard work.” I smile at her, stroking her hair.

 

“Master, I’d like a bigger weapon.” She looked up at me pleadingly, her puppy-eyes dewy.

 

Well, the situations where Pochi and Tama’s weapons cannot cause enough damage to their enemies that are level 40 or higher has been increasing.

I have asked Mara to make them better weapons, but they aren’t completed just yet.

 

So I try taking various weapons from my storage.

 

“Lots?”

“Big weapons!”

 

With sparkling eyes, Pochi takes turns wielding normal one-handed swords, a bastard sword, a great-sword, a massive war-hammer, and the halberd--all of which I had taken out and piled on the ground.

 

“Master? Pull out one more?” Tama asked with a cute expression, holding a massive war-hammer in one small hand.

 

Smiling at her, I took another one out.

 

“Look, look. Spinning top?”

 

Tama, who’s holding the war-hammers in both hands, spins them and uses the inertia to swirl like a top.

 

Pochi watches with wonder, and I give her another hammer as well, and she joins in.

 

Arisa and Lulu were bent over giggling.

 

It looks like, while the girls like playing with the weapons, they can’t use them in combat. I will be helping Mara later with the weapons she is working on--she had been training me in blacksmithing, and while I could have taken the Skill, I actually found it more fun learning properly…at least with Blacksmithing.

 

“Why don’t we go back to the Elven Village to learn new techniques while waiting for Mara to complete your new weapons.”

 

“Training right? It’s the training arc, right?!” Arisa declares happily, pumping her fists in the air--her eyes are shining.

 

You don’t need to deliberately use Light Magic for effects like those--just how much further will her acting improve?

 

It seems that not only Arisa is happy with this decision. Liza and Nana, who are worried about their fighting time, and the time it takes for them to kill their enemies.

 

“Hitting the waterfall?”

“Marching through the snowy mountain!”

 

Pochi and Tama also look eager, although the direction is strange. It seems that Arisa has been telling them strange things, and they start shadow-boxing, while Arisa joins in.

 

Smiling at the girls, I get them to prepare, and we leave for the Elven Hometown.

 

***

“You cheatt!” Arisa began poking my shoulder, an annoyed look on her face.

 

We have arrived back at Bornean Forest after using Teleport 5 times in a row. The power consumption increases with the amount of people being teleported, along with the distance--since this is the farthest I had gone with a group; I used around one Meteor Shower worth of Magic Power.

 

Lua welcomed us with a surprised face when we appeared in the tree house on the surface. Apparently, she had come to check the room, making sure that the windows were open and there wasn’t too much dust.

 

She had already gotten used to me coming here with Teleport though, so she immediately greeting me, and I returned the greeting.

 

“Hello, Tek. There are a lot of people today, huh.”

“I’m thinking of letting everyone train, so it’s likely that we will be staying here for a while.”

“Yes, you’re welcome anytime.”

 

Behind me, Arisa notices that Lua said ‘today’, she begins to poke me in the back, but for now, I have to ignore it for now.

 

“I will call Poa and the others. Oh right, Nea said that she had finally succeeded in extracting vanilla.”

“Yeah, I heard that from Aze over Telephone yesterday.”

 

Arisa’s poking increases, “Stop! Just a moment.”

 

“What?”

 

“Why did Lua say ‘today’?”

 

“Oh my, Tek comes here around once a week, you know.” Lua responded in my place, an amused look covering her face.

 

“Mwu.” Mia looked at me with teary eyes.

 

It occurred to me that I should have taken her, so she could meet her parents. I apologize and give her a hug, stroking her hair.

 

“I mainly came whenever I found some good ingredients, or when Arisa and I added to the Notebook of Food; I thought of adding Lulu’s unique creations, but I need her permission--” I look at Lulu, who begins blushing.

 

“I-It’s okay. The Elves are our friends.” She spoke quietly, a little embarrassed, she partially hid behind me.

 

“And, the Telephone conversation?” Arisa speaks with a raised eyebrow.

 

“I forgot to mention, but my Telephone, and Aze’s World Phone can allow us to easily communicate across the small distance between here and Labyrinth City.

 

“Girls, gather!” Arisa declared, and the girls huddled up.

 

I looked at Lua with a confused expression, but she was quietly giggling behind her hand.

 

The girls joined their hands and made a strange hand sign, before breaking the circle.

 

Arisa walked over, placing both hands on her hips, she spoke, “Well, we have decided…We are all in agreement--Aze should join your harem!”

 

Lua facepalms, before turning to me, trying to change the subject, “That strange beans that the Spriggans found, please check it out.”

“They’ve found it so quickly? Good job.”

 

“By beans, don’t tell me?!” Arisa stutters, a massive smile spreading across her face, she made her eyes glow with Light Magic again.

 

“You will find out, I will show some recipes to Lulu, and they will appear in tonight’s dinner.”

 

“Ahh, that has come at last! Ah, would dinner come faster? Hey, do you have something like an incense that can cheat time?!”

 

“Nope, so, be patient.” I roll my eyes at her and gently flick her forehead.

 

***

I was going back to the Mansion of Ivy to help Mara with the development of the new equipment for the girls, leaving everyone in the Bornean Forest.

 

Mia came up and gently tugged the back of my shirt, “Level gap, close.”

 

“You want to go to the Labyrinth and use this time to close the level gap between you and the others?”

“Nn.”

 

Presently, everyone, beside Mia, is between 40 - 43…however, Mia is only level 36. According to Arisa, it seems that Elves need twice as many Experience Points, and Beastkin need only 70% of what Humans do. Which is why Tama, Pochi, and Liza are in the higher levels.

 

Using Teleport, I take Mia with me to Labyrinth City.