Chapter 116.1

Shirushu continued moving forward while still on all fours.

「I’m going to her. Please follow after me. I’m concentrating on following the smell so I’d like to ask you not to get ahead of me. If I also participate in a battle I may end up losing the smell so I’ll be leaving that up to you.」

「No problem. We’ll take care of the monsters.」

「Thank you.」

Following Shirushu we continued climbing up the mountain.

Me and Claude took care of any monsters that ended up appearing on the way.

It was a bit hard to fight with the snow surrounding our feet, however it wasn’t that much of a problem because we could just push through it with magic.

Was it because of the snow? I don’t know, however there weren’t that many monsters and so we were able to progress without any major problems.

「Hm… The smell cuts off here… And I can feel the smell of a monster that I haven’t encountered before…」

Shirushu moved her nose close to the ground and began sniffing around.

A smell of a monster she hasn’t encountered huh.

「It might be a boss.」

Now that I think about it Cresta Great Snow Mountain’s boss was the Hati Bear. It’s highly possible that she ended up fighting it and suffered a wound which left her immobile. Damn it, I have a bad feeling about this…

Claude spoke to me as she saw my face getting distorted.

「Zeph-kun, so you really did know that person? …is she someone important to you?」

「…Kind of. Her name is Silverie Shugeru, she’s my former master.」

However, that was something that wouldn’t happen for a couple of more years but Claude didn’t need to know that.

「I see. I now understand why you’re so strong at your age and also why you take Silverie-san’s side.」

「I hope you’ll forgive me. I felt like it would be troublesome if I were to talk about it and Silverie doesn’t really get along well with people that much, she’s someone that’s easily misunderstood.」

「When you put it like that, it does make sense.」 said Claude while making a bitter smile and chuckling.

Silverie you’re getting made fun of by a kid!

「If she’s your master Zeph-kun then that makes her an important person to us as well. Let’s do everything we can to help her.」

「…Thank you Claude.」

Still where were we supposed to look?

After completely losing the smell Shirushu was currently sniffing around.

「Silverie!」

「Silverie!」

Me and Claude shouted out Silverie’s name, however our voices were promptly swallowed by the snow storm.

I hadn’t received any calls from Silverie since our departure.

Please be safe…!

As if praying I put my feelings into my voice and shouted out.

「SILVERIE!」

My voice, filled with all of my strength, echoed in the surroundings, however in the end the only response to it was silence.

I was already beginning to lose track of how many times I had shouted.

Shirushu then came back to us while sneezing.

「I’m zorry Zeph-san, my n-nose is a bit…」

「You’re right. I’m sorry Shirushu, you should take a break. I’ll continue searching for a bit more.」

「No… I’ll continue. I know how it feels to lose a precious person to you.」

Now that I think about it I did scold her when she went to gather herbs at the forest alone. Guess I didn’t have the right to do that.

「Claude you should rest a bit as well.」

「…」

「Claude?」

「So-something’s coming!」

Hearing Claude’s words I immediately put up my guard.

「It’s a monster! The one that disappeared alongside Silverie-san!」

「Zeph-kun! Shirushu-san! Careful!!」

Right after Claude’s voice reached us two red, shaking lights appeared in the darkness before us.

With a thudding sound a curtain of snow was raised and the ground shook.

Claude brandished her sword and shield and I as well brandished the Treasured Sword Freybrand while being crushed by the overwhelming pressure.

「A wide range oppression spell… It’s entered its Berserk Mode!」

With a thudding sound the monster took a step towards us and we could finally see what it was.

Its big frame had crystals protruding starting from its back and continuing up to its shoulders.

It was covered in white fur and drool was dripping from its mouth that was wide open. Its breathing was also rough.

I immediately cast Scout Scope on it.

Hati Bear

Lv 82

Magic Power 325,698 / 1,325,354

As I had expected, it was pretty shaved off.

There was no doubt that it had fought against Silverie.

It seemed like my prediction had hit the nail on the head.

「GRRRRRRR!!」

The Hati Bear raised a roar which could even shake the atmosphere and charged at us.

「Claude!」

I dashed towards Claude who had raised her shield, while keeping her gaze on the Hati Bear’s stout arms.

「Safe Protection!」

Just after I cast a protective spell on Claude the Hati Bear lowered both its hands bringing them down on her.

Claude was somehow able to parry the attack and then proceeded to slice the stout arm with her sword.

It’s shallow.

However, she didn’t stop there and without missing the chance the Hati Bear had given her, Claude ran around behind it.

Now it’s trapped between us.

Looking at Claude she was giving me a look that was saying *That’s right.*

Brandishing Freybrand I held my ground.

「Zeph-kun, I’ll take care of averting its attention so you focus on attack spells!」

「Thank you!」

She had been overshadowed by Lydia, however even so Claude had been our vanguard for a long time.

There was no reason to doubt her abilities.

Even so, it will be a bit difficult with that thing as her opponent.

「GRRRRRRR!!」

The Hati Bear turned around and once again swung its stout arms, however Claude was somehow able to evade them.

The Hati Bear continued smashing its arms like a spoiled child and each time it did so the snow on ground scattered.

It would be pretty severe if we were to get hit by one of those.

I guess I’ll offer some support now.

While avoiding the snow that was flying around the Hati Bear I cast Time Square.

I cast Black Boots and Red Glove while time was stopped.

Double Spell Synthesis Magenta Coat!

A coat made from a mixture of black and red enveloped Claude.

Speed and power increase. The synthesised spell would drastically raise the capabilities of her body.

「Hyaaa!!」

Claude’s repeated sword strikes were sharp and landed almost instantly on the Hati Bear.

They caused almost no damage but they managed to succeed in drawing the Hati Bear’s attention.

It was then that I also shifted to attack.

「Shirushu! I’ll concentrate on attack. I’ll leave magic power restoration to you!」

「O-okay!」 saying that Shirushu took out a white herb that she had gotten in the Goliath Forest before, a White Sage.

It had the property of restoring one’s magic power.

And Shirushu’s unique spell Elixir was able to drastically raise the medicinal properties of herbs and other things. During a fight, when trying to restore one’s magic power it’s effect was superior and the elixirs made from White Sage were able to restore at once an amount of magic power, equal to taking a number of magic power restoration medicines.

A drawback was that Shirushu couldn’t use the elixirs she made herself, however they were pretty useful for allowing her teammates to fire off high rank spells a number of times.

In short it meant that a series of powerful techniques were about to follow.

I cast Summon Servant and Ain appeared.

「Oi Gramps!♪ ‘d you call for me?」

「Yea. I’ll use your Divine Sword form. We’re going all out!」

「WHOA! What a huge enemy… By the way…」

「I know. I have a lot of food so fight without any worries.」

I took out a gemstone from my bag and gave it to Ain who had landed on my arm and was letting out a coaxing voice.

It looked to me like Ain’s eyes had taken on the form of hearts.

What a greedy fellow. Eat as much as you want.

「OKAY! Let’s do this! WOOOO!」

Ain’s tension had risen through the roof.

It was enough to shock me…

Well it’s great that she’s fired up.

Light rose alongside Ain’s voice and she turned into a sword that settled in my hand.

I clenched the shining Divine Sword with one hand and brandished the Treasured Sword Freybrand in the other.

Dual Wield Divine Sword Ainbelle + Treasured Sword Freybrand!

There were a number of things that I had wanted to test since a while back, however because of Divine Sword Ainbelle costing a great amount of gemstones to use I couldn’t test them out.

I had no choice but to try them out in a real fight.

I threw Divine Sword Ainbelle high up into the air and held the Freybrand with a reverse grip.

《Ain I’m going, do your best to catch it….!》

《EH? What are you…》

Divine Sword Ainbelle spun in circles while dropping from mid-air. I aimed at the falling Divine Sword Ainbelle’s blade and swung Freybrand at it while casting Time Square.

I cast Blue Ball, Black Ball and Green Ball while time was stopped. At the same time, I also combined the Red Ball that appeared from the Freybrand with them.

Fourfold Spell Synthesis Tetra Ball!

《AHHH!?》

The Tetra Ball drew a golden colored ark and when it collided with Divine Sword Ainbelle it was sucked in by it.

I grabbed Ainbelle, which was shining with golden light, just before it fell to the ground.

There was a limit to how much magic Ainbelle could absorb so it couldn’t absorb powerful spells, however it seemed like Tetra Ball was within its limit.

《THAT HURT! I won’t forgive you next time!》

《It’s fine. You’ll get used to it.》

《Demon Gramps…》 Ain was yelling; however, it wasn’t a problem.

「Shirushu, medicine.」

「Okay!」

Shirushu brought the White Sage to my mouth and when she cast Elixir magic began gathering in front of my mouth.

I received the shining White Sage and ate it.

My magic power was instantly restored and the amount that I had used up by using Summon Servant and using Synthesis Magic twice was almost completely recovered.

However, Shirushu’s face on the other hand looked completely exhausted.

After all, Shirushu couldn’t properly meditate in order to restore her magic power.

Currently the elixir’s time of effect was relatively short and if one didn’t eat the improved medicinal herb right after it was created, the magic within it would quickly scatter.

One of these days I should teach her how to control magic power.

In regards to Shirushu there was also the problem with her beastfolk transformation so there was a lot of work to do.

However, for now we had to first take care of that guy.

I brandished my two swords and rushed to Claude who was in the middle of fighting the Hati Bear.