I'm an alchemist. I've dumped self-restraint into the trash - Chapter 21
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- I'm an alchemist. I've dumped self-restraint into the trash
- Chapter 21 - A Unique Specimen
“Can you honestly beat that thing?”
“Well, I dunno. This is my first time seeing a Skeleton that huge, too.”
“I see.”
“Well, either way, I don’t think it’ll let us get away.”
Laffy pointed her sword at it.
The Skeleton’s regenerated arm dangled as it watched Raith and Laffy cautiously. Though, to be accurate, Laffy was probably the only one it was wary of. But although the Skeleton was wary, it seemed that it still had the will to fight. As if awaiting its chance, it gradually moved closer.
“Stand back, Raith,” Laffy said as she herself took a step towards the Skeleton. Then, the next moment, she moved within reach of it.
Raith’s eyes couldn’t follow Laffy’s movements at all. He couldn’t think of it as anything but instantaneous. But it seemed that the same was true for the Skeleton, as it couldn’t react to her movements.
She cleaved the Skeleton’s torso diagonally. Its body broke into pieces and the bones fell to the ground with a heavy sound.
“…Did you win?” Raith muttered, though it didn’t feel real.
It was too easy.
That was the only thing Raith was feeling right now.
He had thought that a fierce battle would surely unfold, so he could only describe it as anticlimactic.
“…No, not yet.”
While Raith had been letting his mind wander, Laffy had realized that the battle was not over. This judgement was proven correct as the detached pieces of the Skeleton’s torso rattled and connected together. A few seconds later, it looked down at Laffy, just as huge as before.
“Impossible to destroy, huh.”
Through this second attack, Laffy arrived at that conclusion. Currently, defeating the Skeleton by destroying its bone body would be difficult.
Which would mean that Laffy’s options had just been reduced. She couldn’t win, but she wouldn’t lose either. It wasn’t difficult to imagine that a fruitless battle would unfold.
As Laffy considered the option of escape, she realized that the Skeleton looked strange.
“What’s that…?”
The shadow at its feet seemed to be getting much darker. When its color deepened so much that it could be called pure darkness, the Skeleton’s white legs sank into the shadow. Almost like a swamp, the Skeleton’s body was engulfed, and within a few seconds, it was entirely hidden inside the shadow.
“Magic?!” Laffy said, inferring the cause of the phenomenon, just at the same time the shadow started moving.
With considerable speed, the shadow moved silently and unnoticeably. With this spell, it had become possible for the Skeleton to make a surprise attack.
The shadow approached Laffy, and as it passed by, a hand reached out and grabbed her leg.
Composed, Laffy readied her sword.
“Sorry, but I’ll have to be a bit forceful about breaking this spell,” Laffy said to Raith, feeling apologetic, and called out, “Break.”
She swung her sword towards the ground, not the shadow.
Possessing tremendous power, the sword scattered the surroundings into a cloud of dust with a boom. Raith, standing a short distance away from Laffy, was mercilessly assailed by a strong wind.
“Woooah…!!”
With his vision obscured, Raith lowered his posture in a desperate attempt to not get blown away.
Then, suddenly, arms wrapped around the back of his knees.
“Sorry, please don’t move!” Laffy apologized, just as Raith stopped feeling the ground under his feet.
The moment he realized he was being carried, Laffy started moving.
They soon escaped the dust cloud and made their way through the forest of trees. In Laffy’s arms now being held in a so-called princess carry, Raith covered his face with his hands.
“Now I can’t become a husband…”
“Is this really the time to say things like that?! Since we can’t defeat that Skeleton, we have to escape. Do you know how to get to your house from here?”
“Yeah, I can do that, but…”
“Guide me there.”
After all, their goal was to retrieve the ingredients from Raith’s house. They hadn’t come here to hunt monsters.
Just as Laffy had told him, Raith pointed the way as they went.
“…Hey, isn’t that thing too persistent?” Raith said, his face twitching, after he accidentally looked back.
The shadow approached them from behind, moving at high speed.
The body of bone emerged from the shadow, wearing partially destroyed armor and holding a longsword in its hand.
“Laffy, it’s catching up!”
“Yeah, I know!”
They exchanged words with panic in their voices.
The Skeleton looked furious as it rattled at extremely high volume. Raith and Laffy grimaced, the sound hurting their ears.
“What’s it doing now…?!”
As Raith covered his ears and looked at the Skeleton, he realized. Behind it, Blood Wolves were gathering, one after another.
It was calling its monster allies.
“This is bad, Laffy-san. That thing is calling out to the Blood Wolves.”
“I’ll deal with it while I run! Be careful not to get thrown off, Raith!”
“…Seriously?”
Before Raith could mentally prepare himself, the gathered Blood Wolves charged at them. Looking at them out of the corner of her eye, Laffy stopped them with a single blow.
As Raith paled at the scattered blood, Laffy looked suspicious.
“This sensation…”
“Is something wrong, Laffy?”
“Well, these Blood Wolves probably aren’t alive.”
“…Hm?” Raith tilted his head as he tried to make sense of Laffy’s words.
“They’re probably just corpses that the Skeleton is puppeting. Look at the shadows.”
As he was told, Raith looked at the Blood Wolves’ shadows. It was faint, but their shadows extended and connected to the Skeleton.
“Magic, huh?”
“Yeah.”
Magic used to manipulate corpses, known as necromancy. It was very fitting for an undead.
As Raith looked at this, he suddenly remembered that the monster repellant potions hadn’t worked against the Blood Wolves.
They were corpses, so they had no sense of smell. If he thought of it that way, he could understand.
Necromancy was magic that could control the dead. However, their senses faded as time passed after their deaths.
As a result, the Blood Wolves chasing after Raith had lost their sense of smell.
“Actually, this is the first I’ve heard of a Skeleton that can use magic.”
“It’s one of those unique monsters that rarely appear. No use thinking about it too deeply.”
Monsters that could use magic certainly existed. For example, dragons that used Breath attacks.
That said, magic that could control the dead was on a level that was on par with a normal mage. This Skeleton would certainly have to be quite high in rank.
“So, what do we do, Laffy?”
“We have to confront it. While I’m fighting, I want you to retrieve the ingredients.”
“Well, figures it’d come to that. …We’ll be able to see it soon,” Raith said, and a few seconds later, a wooden cabin came into view. Laffy stopped for a moment and lowered Raith to the ground.
“Run!” Laffy shouted.
Raith turned his back to her and ran. Immediately after, he heard the high-pitched sound of metal against metal. As he glanced behind him, he saw swords clashing with terrifying speed.
It seemed that the Skeleton was also going all-out. To Raith’s untrained eyes, it looked like it was evenly matched with Laffy.
“I should hurry up and get the ingredients.”
With no time to spare and indulge in feeling the nostalgia of returning home after such a long time, Raith opened the door and entered.