Chapter 1078 – Scapegoat?

000

“Oh my!! It’s amazing! I can’t believe this is really happening!?!”

A high, lively voice resonates.

Sasha is the one with the highest tension like never before.

Her tail and ears were flapping vigorously, and she was looking excitedly at the invention of her own idea.

“Hehe…! You can praise me more! Well, the basis of the idea is what Sasha said!”

And Lila was smug, putting her hands on either side of her waist.

“Huh…! With this, we might be able to safely pass through the canyon…!”

“As expected, it’s Lila!”

Normally, when Laila shows herself like that, she puts on the brakes to make sure she doesn’t get too cocky.

And even Sasha, who was secretly afraid of Lila, was not hiding anything and was purely expressing her admiration.

The place where they are is near the exit of Naryongsan Mountain, the third mountain in the Four Dragon Mountains.

From now on, the expedition will not pass through ‘Chuknyongsan Mountain’ as planned, but will pass through a ‘canyon’ that can be considered a kind of shortcut.

And since I knew from prior information that there were a lot of wyverns swarming in that canyon, no one in their right mind would try to go in on their own.

“Because it uses a barrier stone, it consumes less magical power, and at the same time, it is an item that can maintain a stable barrier and move the barrier.”

With her hand on her chin, Kshat examines Laila’s invention.

Lila then took her glasses off her chest and hung them on her own face, laughing her ‘hoo-hoo’.

“Originally, a barrier using a barrier stone requires fixed coordinates. The reason that a barrier using a barrier stone has higher durability and better maintenance than a barrier created using human techniques is because the ‘barrier is maintained in a stable state.'”

At Lila’s words, Amelia nods her head.

“Yes. In the end, it is a barrier stone with good performance and the level of magic contained within it, but that is also why the barrier stone itself must be stable. If the barrier stone and its coordinates move, the ‘stability’, which is the strength of the barrier stone, is lost. Because you lose, the performance of the barrier drops significantly.”

“That’s right! So, in order to move the barrier, you have to reset the coordinates of the barrier stone and barrier every second!”

As Lila says so, she points to the cart in front of her.

This is the cart that was used to carry people who were stretched out on the way here.

The barrier stone was placed gently on top of the cart.

However, instead of significantly reducing the load in the cart, what was inside was a very large amount of ‘stones’.

To be exact, there were various patterns engraved on the stone, and the patterns were shining as if resonating with the barrier stone.

“These stones that Kuon found using his shrine maiden’s abilities. I’m glad that each one contains a lot of magical power. Although they look like ordinary stones, they are on a par with the gems I sometimes use as materials.”

Laila picked up one of the stones on which she had individually carved a pattern and showed it to her.

“Oh, so if we find these stones, Lila won’t have to spend money on her jewelry from now on?”

Kuon reacted as if he had heard a good story.

“Seup…! Uh, it’s a story about natural magical power without any attributes! The jewels I use contain a lot of magical attributes that these people don’t have!”

Lila hastily denies Kuon’s opinion. She looked somewhat suspicious, but Kuon just sighed regretfully.

“Oh, whatever! These stones contain a level of intelligence similar to that of a familiar. And by connecting the stones and the barrier stones, the coordinates set on the barrier stones are updated in real time.”

“… Thanks to you, I had to throw away quite a bit of my luggage.”

Artis, who had been quiet until then, opened his mouth as if he was a little dissatisfied.

In order to build a system that automatically updates the coordinates of the barrier stone using magic, a significant amount of material was needed, so it was necessary to remove that amount from the cart.

Most of the abandoned luggage is camping gear.

Items that are bulky but have limited uses, such as tents, sleeping bags, and firewood for a bonfire.

And if it’s something else-

“Are you throwing this pot away too!?”

One of Attis’ disciples looks at a pot placed on the ground.

This is the ‘automatic cooking magic pot’ that the disciples used while preparing food while camping last night.

“You can’t help it, right? It’s the heaviest and bulkiest thing.”

Lila shrugs her shoulders.

“Anyway, I’m not going to camp after this, and I’m going to go to Guirongsan Mountain.”

“But this… It was very expensive and difficult to obtain!”

Perhaps because of his attachment to the item he had used since his excavation days, the disciple could not easily give up the pot.

“It’s not that you don’t know the heart, but… It’s not something you can carry with your hands. Right? Artis?”

Lila asked as she turned towards Artis, who could give her orders directly, thinking she wouldn’t listen to what she said.

“Please don’t ask for my consent…”

Of course, Artis was also against the idea of ​​throwing away the items from his excavation team –

In order to safely pass through a place teeming with wyverns, reason coexists and understands the inevitable need to empty the cart.

Although he was reluctant, he did not oppose Laila’s actions.

“Black…”

Her disciple must have thought that there was nothing she could do after seeing Attis’ attitude.

With tears in his eyes, he walked towards her drooping shoulders after falling from the pot.

“Yes. Okay, then this is the end of the preparations. Artis, briefing.”

If Lila talks to Artis in a slightly thrown tone.

“I already brought it up, so why don’t you do it?”

Artis seemed annoyed and gave it back to Lila.

“You are the leader of the expedition, right?”

Once again, Lila passed it over as if tossing it.

Two people looking at each other for a moment.

As expected, it was Attis who broke first.

“Eh, then from now on. I will explain about the ‘Wyvern Canyon Breakthrough Operation’, a route that is like a gamble with the fate of the expedition.”

The detailed plan is as follows.

The canyon in front of me had a very complicated path, and the fog was thick, so if I accidentally took the wrong path, it wasn’t just a matter of being hunted by a wyvern, but there was a high possibility that I would starve to death.

Fortunately, Lila, who read Laplace’s memories, remembers everything about the route through the canyon.

But that means that if Lila loses her mind or something happens, and she’s unable to guide her path…

Things get quite messy.

“Originally, it would have been better for me to maintain the barrier with my own magic, but due to the effects of the previous battle, my magic power has been significantly depleted.”

It was the same for others.

Kuon, Sasha, Amelia.

In other words, even in this expedition, the people who could be said to be at the top level had their magic power significantly reduced.

In a situation where recovery required time, it was unreasonable to ask Laila to maintain the barrier.

So, those four people are temporarily excluded from power.

“I am in charge of supplying magic power to the barrier stones and stones. Aside from them, I am the only member here who can use magic power.”

And there, Melusine replaces Laila’s original role.

As a river fairy, it is unlikely that she will complain about her lack of magic power, but supplying magic power to this many ‘stones’ and barrier stones is quite a burden.

Therefore, even if a battle with a wyvern occurs, she will not be able to step forward.

Even though a significant number of their forces had been weakened, there was still a ‘half-ghost unit’ in the expedition team.

They are adept at dealing with nobles who are stronger than them, and similarly, wyverns are also enemies with overwhelmingly advantageous physical abilities.

Therefore, the Banguidae had several ways to deal with them.

If there is one problem, the wyverns fly in the sky and target prey on the ground.

It seemed like a relatively unfavorable match for Banguidae, whose specialty was close combat.

“… Is it okay?”

Kshat will ask Quartz with a worried expression.

Then Quartz speaks.

“Suppose 10 wyverns appear.”

“Yes…”

Quartz stretched out his ten fingers and spoke to Kshat.

“Then I have four. Aine has three, Zwei has two, and Dreine has one. This is how we handle it.”

“…?”

Kshat must have looked like he didn’t understand for a moment when he said something like the logic of a miracle.

“I’ve fought wyverns a few times while traveling with that goddamn sky hero. I didn’t train my students to fight wyverns separately, but that means there’s no problem.”

“Wow, indeed…! As expected of you, Quartz!”

Kshat erased any trace of anxiety from her mind by burying it with the trustworthiness of the Kshat in front of her.

In other words, the people in Cleon’s party, including Lila, are resting.

Melusine is in charge of magical power supply.

The Anti-Ghost Unit is in charge of combating any wyverns that may arise, while Kshat protects Fleur.

The existing non-combatants, including Artis, are no different from usual.

“Hmm… Looking at it like this…”

And after hearing all the explanations, Sasha mutters as if she had something to say.

“… How can I say it, it’s like, let’s just do it as it happens…”

“Sa~sha~?”

“Hi!”

As Sasha puts her meaningless words into her mouth, Lila will come closer, stretching out her voice.

Hehe. What part of this perfect and flawless strategy is ‘let it happen’?”

“Ah, ahaha! No, I’m just kidding, Laila! I’m sure you would have said ‘Laila’ even if Cleon was there!”

“Eh really? Huhu~♡ Is that right?”

‘Wow. You feel better quickly…’

Looking at Layla, who seemed to have lost her anger towards Sasha in an instant, Sasha felt like she was a little awakened, but she never revealed it.

“Yeah, that’s right! Lila will have to give you directions, but I’ll figure out if the wyvern is coming close! Even if you don’t have magical power, you can still maintain your senses!”

As Sasha got away from Laila, she took a step forward.

And just like that, she will take her steps toward the path that leads from Mt. Ryong into the canyon.

“Sasha? Don’t go too far forward.”

When Kuon speaks carefully to Sasha.

“It’s okay! There’s a barrier!”

Sasha shook her head and smiled.

Tak!

And that was the moment when her feet first stepped into the canyon.

Wedge!

A sound is heard, and something falls from beyond the clouds in the sky.

“Eh?”

Sasha naturally looked up at her when he heard the sound.

Then there.

There was a wyvern falling to the ground with its huge snout open.

“──Kyaaaaa!?”

Sasha seemed to panic for a moment at the sudden appearance of the wyvern, and she screamed and immediately turned back to where her group was.

Slap! When Sasha runs to Kuon’s side and clings to her as she hears the sound, the wyvern closes its mouth at the spot where Sasha was standing a moment ago and says ‘Kwajik!’

It glares at Sasha as if it were disintegrating something it couldn’t swallow, and then flies straight up into the sky.

The speed was almost close to the speed of sound.

“…”

Everyone on the expedition who watched the scene was speechless for a moment.

The wyvern’s speed was faster than expected and its body was huge.

“Sasha, are you okay…?”

“Lord, I almost died! Just now!”

Kuon comforts Sasha by stroking her head as she clings to him.

“And just now, why was the wyvern able to come down here?”

“That’s right, because I haven’t turned on the barrier yet…”

“Well, like that~!!”

Laila’s answer made Sasha feel like her head was spinning.

“… So. Sasha will act as a radar in front of you?”

Schrödinger, who had been quiet, asks that question.

“…”

Sasha didn’t say anything to Schrödinger’s question-

She only protested by shaking her head and crying.

Schrödinger would laugh and shake his head at Sasha’s reaction.

For some reason, it gave off a slightly condescending vibe.

“Well, that’s right~ No matter how Sasha experienced it a little while ago—”

“Ah, then Schrödinger will do it.”

“Yes?”

It was the moment when the leader of the group was decided to be Schrödinger.