"Pant... Pant... Pant."
I frantically ran into the forest using the link between Alya and me to track her location. From behind was Nikita, who was running at a distance of one meter.
I hope nothing has happened to her, was the only thought that was occupying my mind.
My fists tightened as I ran, using the mana in my body, I strengthened my physical body to the limit, pushing myself to move faster. But just then—
"!!!"
Swoosh~
A powerful blast of wind came from the forest, sending various trees and debris flying in our direction.
"Ugh!"
I closed my eyes reflectively as I had already deemed it was impossible to cast magic barriers in time.
"Master, stay behind me!"
Nikita shouted before jumping in front of me. She then places her hand on the ground, and a large dome made of ice is formed around us, obstructing my view.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A loud bang sounded from the outside, as the trees that were sent flying hit the dome of ice rapidly. Slowly, the ice from the ceiling began to crack and fall apart. Nikita promptly repaired the damaged parts.
The sound of banging rang out constantly until three minutes, or so, Nikita released the dome of Ice and observed the surroundings.
"What could have caused that gust of wind just now?"
Nikita wondered.
"I don't know, it probably has something to do with Alya, we should really go."
I suggested. Nikita nodded her head at my words.
As we made our way towards the centre of the destruction, I scanned my eyes around the surroundings. All I could see were broken and torn-up trees and shattered rocks lying around. A cloud of dust had risen, spreading tiny bits of dirt in the atmosphere. A large tree trunk measuring roughly 50 cm with many leaves scattered across the ground lay before me.
"Hmm?"
I narrowed my slightly black-coloured eyes as I observed the fallen tree trunk.
(Those slashes? They look like they were cut with an incredibly sharp edge of a sword. What kind of sword could cut a tree this thick and so cleanly?)
I was confused. Nikita also looked incredulously at the clean slash of the tree with wide eyes.
She then looked at her hand before closing it and opening it once more, and soon a long sword of ice materialised inside her hand.
By appearance, it looked like a simple sword, but I could tell it was a really sharp sword. She then held her sword upwards at the ready.
"Hah!"
With a single motion of her slender body, she slashed the sword downwards at the centre of the tree trunk.
Swoosh!
A gust of air was sliced clean when her sword was brought down, and her sword made a direct hit against the tree trunk, but-
Crack~
A piece of the blade of her ice sword shattered, and the broken fragments fell to the ground after gouging the trunk and leaving behind a small dent of five cm inside the tree.
But it wasn't able to cleanly cut it in half. Seeing that Nikita clicked her tongue bitterly.
"Sigh, as I thought.... It's impossible for me. What kind of monster could leave behind something like this?"
She wondered aloud. Placing her hand against her red, glossy lip. her crimson eyes narrowing faintly in thought. Even someone as strong as Nikita couldn't do it well.
It wasn't as though Nikita wasn't able to; her sword was just too frail to cleanly cut a tree trunk as thick as that in half, then what kind of sword did, I wonder what monster could have done this? Wait, no!
There is no evidence that it was caused by a monster, is there?
I once again glance around the surroundings, checking for any sign of a footprint, but there was none; all that my eyes could perceive was fallen trees and a cloud of dust that rose high into the sky.
"Mother of wind blast my target, wind blast!"
I shouted, and a magic circle was formed before my outstretched palm. A gust of wind burst out, removing the dense dust that had obstructed my vision.
"The hell!"
Nikita exclaimed in shock. I also observed the surroundings better, but what I saw caused my eyes to widen greatly.
The ground was upturned, and the trees were completely trampled over the dried and muddy ground as though there wasn't any sign of vegetation growing there to begin with.
The mountain that extended one kilometre away was completely demolished, and its structure was deformed; parts of the mountain were also collapsing onto the ground, leaving behind large craters.
"This... even if it was by a natural disaster, isn't this too much?"
I said in a trembling voice, my face twitching slightly.
"I don't think this was caused by any natural disaster, well, there was a natural disaster, the person who caused it definitely wasn't natural."
Nikita mumbled under her breath, exasperated. It seems she may have an idea who could have caused it. Is there an attack powerful enough to leave behind this much damage? I folded my arms and pondered dubiously.
(Well, it's not like I know every type of spell in the world, maybe there are spells capable of causing widespread damage that I haven't come across yet, isn't the damage left behind by whoever did this comparable to a nuke?)
I thought with my hand beneath my chin.
"Master, I think you will see whoever did this in a few minutes. There is a familiar scent not far from us."
Nikita explained, while her crimson eyes looked into the distance beyond the fallen trees.
She then ran off at full speed in that direction. Without saying a word, I silently followed after her.
Ice swords flew from the skies, slicing apart the many tree branches and trunks in the way, making a clear path for us to run through. Soon, three figures up ahead became visible as we slowly closed the distance between us.
The smiling face of Alya became clear, and two elderly men with slightly nervous expressions stood at her side.
We stopped at a distance of three meters, close enough to converse.
"Hey there! I didn't think you two would come out here on your own. Wait! C-Could it be you two were on a date inside the forest once I left?"
Alya suddenly said with a mischievous smile on her face. At that, Nikita snapped back.
"You! What are you saying so suddenly, brat!"
"Fufufu! Isn't it better to be a brat instead of a mean old lady?"
"Tch, sharp mouth you got, do you want me to rip out that tongue of yours?"
"Hehehe... you are most welcome to try, just know you'll end up taking your last breath afterwards."
The two started with their usual bickering, throwing insults at each other. I couldn't help but sigh after seeing the back and forth between the two; my lips were turned upwards into a grin.
I slowly reached out my hands and placed them on top of their heads.
"Ah?"
"Wha?"
The two raised startled voices as a faint blush appeared on their white cheeks. Seeing that I put on a bright smile.
"Thank you for all your help, I'm really lucky to have you two as my partners."
I said to them sincerely. Hearing my words, they both widen their eyes.
"Ah, what's this my hearts pounding fast. Hearing Haruto's words of gratitude is enough to make my maidenly heart pound greatly."
Alya beamed in delight as her cheeks reddened.
"Y-yes, hearing master's words of praise is quite pleasant to the ear."
Nikita said somewhat bashfully, her nine silver fox tails wagging happily as her fox ears twitched in happiness.
Every part of her face was as red as a tomato. It seems she really liked having her ears petted as her fox ear twitched constantly.
(Ahh... what a nice sensation it's like petting a dog. Though I'm not sure if I should compare her to a dog, but it's the same sensation I got like when I would pet a dog back on earth)
My eyes formed a crescent shape as I felt the sensation of Nikita's fur.
Seeing that, Alya's eyes narrowed enviously as she pulled my hand.
"Hey, no fair, I also want to pet her too, you know."
Alya said, sulking. Before rubbing her face against Nikita's fluffy fox tails.
"Eak! Hey, Alya! Didn't I tell you not to touch my tail, you damn spirit!"
Nikita pulled her tail away and glared at Alya angrily. Having the soft sensation pulled away from her, a cute pout was formed on Alya's lips.
"Hmph."
Nikita turned her face away bitterly. At that—
"Umm... is it okay to interrupt your discussion?"
A middle-aged man with short brown hair suddenly taps my shoulder. I turned my head around in surprise. I had completely forgotten about them.
"Ahem, of course. You can go ahead."
I said awkwardly as I scratched the back of my head.
"Are you guys adventurers by any chance?"
He asked, somewhat nervously.
"Yes, we are adventurers who came from the adventure guild in the Albanian kingdom. We saw a quest that stated the village north of here is having problems with the goblins."
I explained.
"I see... so they called help from the adventurer guild, huh."
The brown-haired man sighed heavily as his shoulders slumped down.
"In the end, we travelled so far from the village that we weren't able to get the captured villagers back."
"Hmmm? Can I assume that you know where the captured villagers are, then?"
I inquired curiously.
"Yes, not far from here, there is a cave where the goblins keep as their hideout."
The brown-haired man explained.
"I see... so you guys weren't able to get there, does that mean you guys got lost while searching for the kidnapped villagers?"
"N-No, before we could go too far, we were attacked by a giant serpent!"
He shouted as his voice trembled.
A serpent. Huh, my eyes narrowed faintly as I stared at the faces of the two men.
They both looked terrified as beads of sweat moved down their faces.
"Oh, right, that foul snake, I must say I'm surprised that a monster like that is living inside a cave of this forest after all, the black serpent usually stays inside swampy areas."
Alya, who was clinging to my left arm, said casually as though it was just trivial.
"Huh, a black serpent, what! You're kidding, isn't that an A rank monster?"
Nikita exclaimed, with wide eyes.
"Umm... can you explain to me what a black serpent is?"
I asked, quite confused as I tilted my head to the side.
"Hm? Well, the black serpent is well, it's a large snake-like monster that likes to stay in dark places. Its body carries enough poison to easily kill a group of humans in minutes."
Nikita explained with a darkened expression. I heaved a sigh as I thought things were going to be quite troublesome.
"By a rough estimate, just how long was that snake anyway?"
"Hmm? Well, I believe it was about 40 meters long."
She said, placing her hand against her cheek. Eh? 40 meters! You're joking, right? Please tell me you're kidding.
My mouth corner twitches slightly. Isn't that as long as the longest snake back on earth, which was roughly 32 meters in length?
But the bad news hasn't ended there.
"Hm? Only 40 meters.... that isn't the tallest they can go, that serpent must have been a baby."
"Huh? A baby, you say?"
"Yup, if I remember correctly, a black serpent is considered an adult when they grow to the length of 60 meters, and also the older they get, the more powerful they are."
Nikita's words made everyone's body tremble faintly. Alya's pupil trembled as she heard Nikita's words.
"Then I had to go all out against a snake that wasn't even considered an adult."
She mumbled to herself.
"Where is the cave you talked about?"
I asked, glancing around.
"It's up ahead. I made sure not to destroy it in the earlier battle."
Alya said, pointing up ahead. Turning my head towards that direction, I saw an entrance to an old cave that had been slightly hidden by the branches of the trampled trees.