First Outer World Story Series: The Black Mist that Devours - Chapter 56
Translator: MadHatter Editor: MadHatter
(Ryo POV)
“Hmm. It’s reasonably tasty.”
We returned to our base near the “Silver Snow Forest” and feasted on the stripped Snow Bear and Snow Brown Bear meats.
However, since there were practically no seasonings such as spices, the dish was simply grilled.
Nevertheless, unlike conventional bear meat, it was tender and had a pleasant meaty flavor. That being said, I would prefer something a little more light in taste.
“Thank you for the meal. But to share my honest opinion, a little more spice and heating would have been better.”
With these words, Houki, who prepared this dish, cast her glance at the nearly empty bag and the almost extinguished bonfire that she borrowed from a nearby private home.
“But none of us can use the fire attribute. As far as the heating factor is concerned, there is nothing we can do, right?”
“Yeah. Even when it comes to spices, although the price is not as steep as in the days when pepper was exchanged for the same weight of gold, it still seems to have a commensurate price.”
Chirito and Aria, who have been savoring Houki’s cuisine, assembled their words with a bit of regret and resignation.
“If that’s the case, let’s head for the south someday soon. I’m certain they produce such things.”
Looking somewhat distant, I mumbled something like that.
“And, Miss. Apparently, the enemies are here. We are surrounded.”
Houki abruptly remarked something like that.
“Yeah, nee-san. I think their number is four?”
Continuing on, Chirito seemed to have sensed it as well.
“Then let’s have an exercise to settle our digestion, shall we?”
Following my words from there, Houki and Chirito were the first to leap out and prepare their daggers. After that, Aria followed suit and got ready to activate her skills outside the kamakura.
Once we were outside, our sight was filled with 3 Yukijin wearing ?Frozen Silver Armor? and a Snow Brown Bear.
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(Third person POV)
“You are the dogs of the Mist King. Let us avenge our comrades,” the leader of the Yukijin said while aiming the tip of his sword at Ryo and the others
“I refuse. If you do not wish to be hunted, why don’t you stay inside the dungeon?”
In response, Ryo also directed the tip of her dagger at them and retorted.
“If that’s the case…” “Since that is the case…”
“You shall die!” “Let me return the favor!”
And at the moment they concluded their statements, a Snow Brown Bear from the Yukijin’s side and Houki from Ryo’s side rushed forward, each with claws and daggers clashing respectively, the noise of metal scraping against metal reverberating throughout the area.
“GURURURU…”
“…!”
But as expected, Houki was gradually being pushed back due to the disparity in strength. Therefore, Houki retreated while inflicting moderate wounds by utilizing ?Cut Off?.
“Chirito!” Ryo shouted.
“I know! The opponent is 3 Yukijin and 1 Snow Brown Bear! The Yukijin possess 1 long-range magic type and 2 melee physical types! Unlike the others, the one who was drawing his sword at you earlier has the title ?Knight of the Snow Sage?! Watch out!”
“Mmm! So you are a practitioner of analytical skills!”
The Knight of the Snow Sage roared in reply to Chirito’s recognition of the enemy’s true identity.
“Well then, I will be the Snow Brown Bear’s opponent. Please take care of the knight, Ryo-san. And for the remaining two foes, Houki and Chirito, please handle them. ?Mist Plosion?!”
“GAAAAAAAA!!”
“I understand!” “Yes!”
While Aria informed them of their respective opponents, she delivered ?Mist Plosion? towards the Snow Brown Bear.
And in the meantime, Ryo approached the Knight, while Houki and Chirito began to engage the Yukijin.
————–
“GAAA!”
“How naive! ?Mistbolt?.”
Aria nimbly evaded the Snow Brown Bear’s assault. And as she avoided the attack, she simultaneously launched ?Mistbolt? at the Snow Brown Bear at a point-blank range.
Of course, the Snow Brown Bear had no intention of being vanquished for nothing, so it swung its arms vigorously to the right and left, and sometimes used its ?Frozen Silver Armor? at its joints to attack.
The Snow Brown Bear can prevail with a single blow, while Aria counterattacked tactfully while eluding all of its attacks.
The mobility of the Snow Brown Bear began to deteriorate as the combat progressed and the number of ?Mistbolt? shots exceeded 10. Aria then seized the head of the Snow Brown Bear.
“This is the end. ?Mist Plosion?.”
“GYAAAAAAAAAAAA!!”
The head of the Snow Brown Bear had been crushed by ?Mist Plosion?.”
“Phew. Now, how’s the rest of it faring?”
————–
Aria subsequently shifted her focus to her surroundings.
Houki and Chirito, on the other hand, were struggling. But this was understandable.
Houki had mainly acquired skills in the field of covert operations, while Chirito was an expert in the field of analytical skills. Neither of them was the type to engage in direct combat.
In contrast, the two opposing Yukijin were very well-balanced: one was a long-range type who owned ?Icebolt? and the other was a close-range type who carried ?Long Sword Proficiency ??.
As a result…
“Hah, this is rough, huh?”
“B-But we’ll have to work it out.”
Both of them were already out of breath and were positioning their weapons with minor wounds all over their bodies.
“Hmph. If you surrender, I’ll let you have an easy death.”
“That’s right. Why don’t you stop resisting?”
In comparison, the two Yukijin were on their guard and ready to kill.
“Well, nee-san… Let’s go!”
“I know.”
Nonetheless, the pair did not yield, and they charged at the Yukijin. Of course, their attacks were blocked by the vanguard Yukijin just like before.
But there was a difference from the previous situation.
When Chirito’s attack was intercepted, Houki activated her ?Mist Cloak? and ?Covert Proficiency ?? to completely obscure her figure, and while in this state, she struck at the Yukijin, the rear-guard with ?Cut Off?.
“What…! Gaaaah!”
With that blow, the dagger was inserted into a gap in the ?Frozen Silver Armor? and severed the arm of the rear-guard Yukijin.
“You, when did you!”
“I won’t allow you to escape!”
“Damn!”
After witnessing this scene, the vanguard Yukijin dashed to the rescue of the rear-guard Yukijin. Chirito, on the other hand, interfered by slashing at him from behind.
“This is… the coup de grace!”
“Gah!”
While Chirito was restraining the vanguard, Houki thrust her dagger into the gap around the rear-guard’s throat to finish him off.
“Damn youuuuu!”
Yukijin, the vanguard, vivaciously shook off Chirito and attempted to slash at Houki.
“I won’t let you do it.”
“You… that’s absurd…”
But then, Chirito pierced his back with a dagger in the style of breaking through the ?Frozen Silver Armor?.
Needless to say, a mere dagger cannot penetrate through Yukijin’s ?Frozen Silver Armor?.
However, since the dagger that Chirito was equipped with consisted of Cuélebre’s scales, its sharpness intensified with each usage. Furthermore, Chirito was the most advanced among the members in this group in terms of using the dagger. Therefore, at this very moment, Chirito’s dagger surpassed the strength of ?Frozen Silver Armor?.
“Haa, somehow I managed to finish him off…”
“You did it…”
Both Houki and Chirito collapsed from exertion subsequently.
————–
And Ryo at that time was… overwhelming.
“You aren’t much of a threat, you know.”
“Gah… guh…”
Ryo condescendingly stared down at Yukijin Knight with an equanimous expression, while the Yukijin Knight was in such a state that he cannot stand up even if he wanted to.
This was, nevertheless, a justifiable outcome.
In the first place, the Knight of the Snow Sage was at level 4, while Ryo was at level 7.
In addition, the status of the Snow Sage’s Knight has been lowered due to the out-of-dungeon correction, but Ryo has restored her status to its original state with the force of ?Mantle of Mist?.
On top of that, although the ?Frozen Silver Armor? of the Snow Sage’s Knight was more solid than the ?Frozen Silver Armor? of other Yukijin, it had virtually no significance against Ryo’s ?Mist Slap?.
Consequently, at the moment when Houki and Chirito won the battle while keeping each other in check, Ryo’s ?Mantle of Fog? and ?Mist Slap? were executed to KO the Knight of the Snow Sage in a single shot.
“Now, let’s retrieve Houki and Chirito and retreat, shall we?”
“Yes, indeed.”
With that, the battle ended, and Ryo and Aria left the base with Houki and Chirito, heading for the nearest town.
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A/N:
What happens if a level 7 kin attacks a level 4 out-of-dungeon compensation for a Kirijin with their original status? The result is shown in the last part of this story.
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Check out other Outer World Story series in order: Outer World Story: The Black Mist that Devours (First series), Outer World Story: Pumpkin Sorcerer (Third series), Outer World Story: Basilisk of Ice Sculpture (Fourth series)