Huh?
Huh?
The handle and tang vanished, leaving only the incomplete blade to fall onto the grass.
"Huh?"
Why did only the hand gripping my knife freeze—and then the grip itself disappeared?
The handle was gone? Only the blade remained? And it fell?
"FOOOOOOOOOOW"
The yellow-glowing Monoceros howled.
Right. It was you.
You—how dare you freeze just the knife first.
How dare you make me lose another knife! You actually made it vanish!
"All right. Let's kill it."
I gripped Banish tight.
The yellow-glowing piece-of-crap Monoceros thrust out its pure-white frozen horn once more.
You fool. That'll be the last thing you ever do.
I'd Banish you from the tip of your horn to the end of your tail.
The yellow-glowing lucky-bastard Monoceros closed in. The surrounding air froze and ice particles danced.
My breath turned white. Cold. But so what. My soul was burning pitch-black right now.
I shifted Banish to the back of my fist. I'd take it down with Banish Knuckle.
Come on. Come on. In a second, I'll erase every last trace of you.
"Na!"
Out of nowhere, Dagaa leaped out on her own.
"Wha—?!"
"—!?"
The yellow-glowing Monoceros slammed on the brakes and stopped.
"You, what do you think you're—"
"Na!"
With a light smack, Dagaa slapped it across the cheek.
Wait, huh? That actually hurt. Um... that hurt.
"Na!"
She narrowed her almond-shaped red eyes and glared at me.
"You..."
"Na! Na! Na-na! Na-na-na!"
Yeah. I had no clue what she was saying, but I sort of got the gist.
Calm down. Stay cool. Calm down. Steady.
If you Banish it, the super rare disappears and you're left with just the fine. That's what she's saying, I think.
She's right! There's nothing but loss! Plus it hurts. More than I thought.
"Th-thanks. Dagaa."
Snapped back to reality, I deactivated [Banish].
I nearly fell into darkness.
I never expected to be stopped by Dagaa — I was truly saved.
"Na!"
Dagaa spun around and transformed into a knife, settling neatly into my hand.
"You want me to use you? But even if it's you..."
No, precisely because it's you — if I screw up, it could end just like that other knife.
"[Fire Strike]!"
Pakira unleashed countless small fireballs.
When I looked to see why, the green-glowing Monoceros was covered in vines.
They have a Relic too!? And then my body moved on its own, wrenched into action.
"Wha!?"
"Na!!"
I was being pulled with tremendous force by my right arm — the one gripping the Dagaa knife.
That thing is pretty rough and powerful, making it hard to keep my balance.
And without hesitation, it hurled me straight into the Fire Strike. What the...!?
"What!?"
"!"
"?"
"Woof woof. Woof woof woof woof. Woooooooof!"
I heard Juicy howling. But setting that aside...
I didn't have time to think about what I was even doing — I threw myself in and went tumbling.
I pulled off a perfect roll and got to my feet. A little sore, but at least it was grassland.
Wait — I just dove into a swarm of fireballs and I'm not on fire?
"Dagaa, what in the — the blade is red…!?"
Dagaa's knife had turned bright crimson. Hot. I could feel the heat radiating from it.
This is… a heat knife!
No way — it caught Fire Strike's fireballs!?
"Nah!"
"S-so you're telling me to use this?"
"Nah!"
"…Got it. Let's do this together."
"Nah?"
With this, ice really isn't scary anymore. We can do this.
"Dagaa. Let's go."
"Nah!"
I'm going all out. I used [Stillness].
Remaining use time: 3 minutes.
Dagaa heat knife. 60 seconds until the enchantment wears off.
So it really is a heat knife. Wait — an enchantment, too?
More importantly, only 60 seconds left? Just then, Pakira came running over.
"Wh-what do you think you're doing?
"Pakira. This will be the last one."
"Hmm? You... something's different about you..."
(Blue eyes. The same eyes from the dungeon anomaly...)
Oh — so back then too, I had become the [Still One].
"Cast Fire Strike one more time, aiming at the second one."
"But that's—"
"It doesn't even need to hit.
F
I
R
E
S
T
R
I
K
E — I'll use it as a decoy."
"Oh? Hmm hmm. So that's the idea. Fine. But don't kill them. Got it?"
"Yes."
The yellow-glowing monoceros had returned to the side of the green-glowing one.
It was staring me down.
"Then let's go all out!"
Pakira attached that metallic short staff to the back of her main staff.
An attachment part!? The short staff had a blue gemstone set into it.
Small fireballs began appearing around Pakira.
Their numbers… were impossible to count. A true horde.
The yellow-glowing monoceros released a cold aura that froze the surrounding air.
The green-glowing monoceros beside it was covered in vines and thorns, which froze solid and hardened.
"Hell Fire Strike!!"
Pakira swung her staff with everything she had.
All at once, the massive swarm of small fireballs surged toward the two monoceros.
The sight was truly
concentrated fire.
Yeah. Nice.
The two were doing everything they could to fend off the fierce barrage, but… would they be okay?
Well, even if they got hurt, we had elixirs. As long as they didn't die, it'd be fine.
I drew my heat knife and took a wide arc, running toward the two of them.
"FWOOOOOOOSH"
"FLOOOOOOOSH"
The attacks were so ferocious that they didn't notice me approaching at all.
"Now!"
The fireballs suddenly cut off. Right. That's the spot.
When the yellow-glowing Monoceros noticed me right in front of it, it was already too late.
(...No! My daughter—!)
When it moved forward as if to shield her, I heard a heart voice. Daughter.
"It's a daughter?!"
I shouted involuntarily and burned through the horn of the yellow-glowing Monoceros.
It didn't freeze at all—instead there was a unique melting sensation as the horn dropped off.
"GROOOOOARGH!"
(Grooooooargh!)
The yellow-glowing Monoceros, its horn severed, collapsed.
The heart voice was so gruff it startled me.
"FLOOOROOOR!?"
(D-Dad!?!)
"Dad?!"
I shouted again and burned through the horn of the green-glowing Monoceros.
Melting as I cut.
"FYAAAAAAARGH!"
(Kyaaaaaah!)
The green-light Monoceros fell. Its heart-scream was surprisingly cute.
And then sixty seconds passed, and the Dagaar Heat Knife's enchantment wore off.
The blade went completely limp, flopping down. Soft like clay.
"Na...?"
"You worked hard. You did well."
"Na...!"
It reverted from knife form, but was utterly spent.
"You did great, Wof. Now, what happened to this fellow?"
He looked curiously at Dagaar, limp in my arms.
"Earlier, I charged into a Fire Strike with it, remember?"
"I was confused. What was that? The fireball vanished all of a sudden, it surprised me."
"Dagaar caught the fireball with the knife and absorbed the red-hot heat, turning into a Heat Knife."
"Oh my, a Heat Knife. So that's how you cut through the frozen horn. And this is the result?"
"Yes. It seems like it's out of energy."
A cooldown period, probably.
Pakira gave a slight, wry smile and gently patted Dagaar's head.
"Na...?"
"You did well too, little one."
"Na...!"
Good for it. But even if it's out of energy, I should probably stop staring at Pakira's tail.
"Right then, let's call that fellow over, grab the horns, and go find the next herd."
"That leaves two horns."
"Aye. But let's take a short rest first. I'm properly worn out."
"True enough. I'm tired too."
I was hungry too. Hm? Pakira was staring at something.
"Woof woof. Woof woof. Woof woof. Woof woof! Woofwoooooooof!!"
"...Quite the energetic one."
"...Energetic, isn't it."
Juicy. Still at it. Still chasing. Just kept on chasing.
Dogs really were something. The Monokeros herd had been dropping like flies — a total hellscape.
Pakira watched Juicy with half-lidded, thoroughly exasperated eyes.
Yeah. Just like a cat perched on a fence, watching the family dog run around.
A cat and a dog, huh.