A Wild Last Boss Appeared! Volume 4, page 8
But Sei wasn’t very familiar with the man, so he set aside his doubts. But his feeling was actually correct; the man in all black wasn’t the same person from yesterday. The real person had been attacked yesterday and currently was happily unconscious in his room. The person who was standing there now was Aries in a disguise. His disguise had been arranged by Lufas, and he was wearing a black wig. But Sei had no way of knowing that. He totally just let the whole thing go.
Then, after a few minutes of waiting, a small cat beastfolk walked into the tent. He was only around 130 cm tall. He looked exactly like a tiger-striped cat that just happened to be bipedal, and he wore an almost comically small set of armor. When he appeared, all the beastfolk soldiers in the room saluted. Apparently he was quite high-ranking, unlike what his appearance suggested.
After giving the gathered warriors a once-over, the cat beastfolk cleared his throat.
“Everyone: I Am a Cat.”
Did he just...reference an Earth book? Yeah, we can tell. Actually, everyone in the room must be thinking that they could already tell.
Contrary to his appearance, the cat beastfolk’s voice was incredibly stoic and manly. It was often said that a beastfolk’s gender was hard to discern, but it was fairly obvious he was male.
“I am the leader of Draupnir’s warriors. Please call me Petto. To all of you brave warriors: well met, and thank you for responding to this summons. The hunting festival yesterday was brilliant, and the emperor is very pleased.”
Sei was assaulted with an intense need to retort. The hell is that name? Is that a joke? Is he goofing? Is he waiting for someone to make a big deal out of it? But when he looked around, no one had batted an eye at what the cat beastfolk had just said, and Sei felt strangely alone at that moment. It’s just me? I’m the only one who thinks that’s weird?
Petto washed his face with his paws and continued speaking. “The reason why you were called here today is that we would love to borrow your skills for the good of this country. Well, to be perfectly honest, the entire reason why we held the hunting festival this time was to find brave warriors like you all.”
“So can we think of this as a job straight from Draupnir itself?” The one who asked the question was a small but very muscular man. His beard was scruffy, and he had an ax in his hands. He’s probably a dwarf. It was Sei’s first time seeing one.
“Indeed.”
“This will be an official request from Draupnir. Of course, we will be preparing a fitting payment. When the request is fulfilled, everyone who participates will receive one thousand el. And the one who actually brings back what we want will get a further fifty thousand el. Of course, I also swear that we will remember all of you with glory and honor.”
At the mention of fifty thousand el, the attitudes of everyone except Virgo, Sei, and the all-black man changed. The size of the reward was absurdly exceptional for an adventurer. As long as there weren’t any huge expenses, a person could live luxuriously off of that money for more than ten years. On top of that, they’d still get one thousand el as well as honor even if they weren’t the one to bring back what the country wanted. That alone made it worth it to participate. It would make adventuring easier in the future and also serve to spread the adventurer’s names.
“So, what do we need to get?” Virgo asked.
“You will all need to climb the sacred mountain Hnitbjorg and retrieve the elixir that is being kept there,” Petto answered.
Having heard that, the first thing that came to Sei’s mind was a screen from a great RPG he’d been playing. The sight was something everybody would have experienced. After an entire game’s worth of saving the good recovery items because it felt like a waste to use them, they’d suddenly be at the last boss with almost an entire stack of elixirs, too many to even use in one fight. To Sei, elixirs were like a permanent fixture in one’s inventory. Not having one would be a source of unease, but even if he had one, he wouldn’t use it. That was what elixirs meant to him. But apparently, it was something that would fetch an absurdly high price in this world.
The crowd started to chatter before a voice rang out in disbelief.
“Elixir?! Ha, don’t joke with me! Those are legendary wonder-potions that were all destroyed two hundred years ago by the Devil King!”
“Exactly. But it still exists. Our great founder, the Beast King Dubhe, hid one in Hnitbjorg.”
Hearing that, Aries thought back to when they were going up the King’s Grave. The legendary miracle potion, elixir, is something that only a small subsection of alchemical masters can make.
The recipe was one of the ultimate techniques in alchemy, and it had been made through the joint research of both Lufas Maphaahl and the Wise King Megrez over two hundred years ago. It healed any and all wounds, completely recovered one’s mana, healed all illnesses, and even extended one’s life span. It was the pinnacle of all medicine.
There were tons of them rolling around in the Grave, weren’t there...? Aries thought with a faraway look.
According to Lufas, “We had been saving them to use someday. But it always seemed like a waste, so by the time We’d noticed, We had a pile of them.”
Of course, they’d taken all the elixirs with them, and even now they were sitting in Maphaahl Tower. There were a total of forty-three elixirs in the tower. If they’d sold them all, it’d be possible to straight-out buy the entirety of the land within humanity’s sphere of influence. It was a ridiculous amount.
From what Aries was hearing, it seemed as if the Devil King had destroyed all the remaining elixirs in the world, but apparently he’d missed the King’s Grave.
“Of course, you will not be allowed to take the elixir for yourself. If you try, then consider this entire country your enemy from here on.”
The elixir was a cure-all that commanded an exorbitant price. If it were sold, the price for it would make fifty thousand el seem like chump change. It would most likely go for at least ten times that. It wouldn’t be strange for those adventurers to be overtaken by greed, but that would result in them making an enemy of an entire country.
After making sure to drive home that point, Petto continued his explanation of the request. “However, there are probably those who won’t be satisfied with just that amount. So, the person who brings back the elixir will also be allowed to take a small portion of the elixir with them,” Petto said, revealing a ridiculously tiny bottle that was small enough to be pinched in between two fingers.
That was probably the amount they’d be allowed to take with them. In physical size, the bottle was only about five centimeters, but seeing that, all the adventurers erupted in excitement. It was just a tiny drop which would disappear in less than a swallow, but its worth was immeasurable. It could heal any wound, treat any illness, and even add a few years or even more than a decade to one’s lifespan. That was just how powerful elixirs were.
The only thing Aries could think of at the moment was the sight of Dina complaining. “You hoard too much!” she’d said, as she had diligently worked to pick up all forty-three bottles of elixir, each of which held what looked like three liters of the potion. I bet if any of these people here saw that, they’d faint.
“Um, why do you need something like that?”
“The cornerstone of our country’s pride, our guardian dragon, has suddenly fallen seriously ill... The elixir is necessary to heal it.”
The elixir, being the ultimate wonder-drug, could completely change the course of a war if applied well. For example, if Megrez were to drink one, he’d probably be able to walk again. If Merak were to drink it, he would regain his wings. The Seven Heroes being able to once again move easily even without undoing the Devil King’s curse would change the state of this war considerably. That was probably exactly what the Devil King had been afraid of when he’d destroyed all the elixir left, since it’d been the natural and correct thing to do.
That was also probably why Dubhe had hidden one away. He’d seen this coming. If that’d been the case, now was the time to use such a panacea.
“Right now, with our guardian dragon weakened, our country is susceptible to attack by the devilfolk. In order to stop that, we need the elixir, no matter what.”
They needed to revive their guardian dragon. Otherwise, Draupnir would have no future. The unexpectedly precarious situation caused Sei to gulp. The fact that this was a serious situation with a country’s future on the line was deeply impressed into his heart.
But at the same time, Sei instantly made some internal calculations. He simulated succeeding in bringing back the elixir and using his share of it on Megrez. The Wise King might be brought back...! We can bring back one of the Seven Heroes, who can turn the tide of a battle by themselves! So Sei asked another question. “One question... Will that amount be able to fix paralyzed legs?”
“Yes, it can. This might not be enough if the legs were lost entirely, but if they just won’t move, then this should work.”
The flames of motivation burned in Sei after hearing that. The elixir... I have to get it. This dangerous mission was more than worth doing if the Wise King could be healed as a result.
This fact was something Aries already knew, using an elixir on somebody who’d betrayed Lufas was a waste to Aries, so he’d never told her about it. Aries also decided to conveniently take the fact that Lufas had not once talked about giving any of the Seven Heroes some elixir to mean that she still hadn’t forgiven those traitors. There was no way for him to expect the truth... That of all things, Lufas only thought of elixirs as full-HP recovery items at this point.
“I heard that...”
From the gathered people sounded a low voice, and that voice was in no way friendly. It was filled with promised danger. Everyone’s gaze gathered on a common beastfolk soldier. In front of everyone’s eyes, the soldier warped in form, as if he were liquid. It was like he was a humanoid slime. It wriggled around for a while, before settling into the form of a blue-haired young man with a cold aura. He had blue skin and eyes with the blacks and whites reversed—the features of a devilfolk, humanity’s greatest enemy.
“Devilfolk!”
“I’m surprised. To think there was still an elixir left. Such a thing could heal the Seven Heroes.” The young man fixed everyone there with a condescending gaze while speaking in an emotionless voice.
Petto reacted quickly, drawing his sword and slashing at the devilfolk at a speed that Sei could just barely catch with his eyes. The sword bit deeply into the devilfolk’s form, but there wasn’t a drop of blood. In fact, there was barely any response at all to the sword going into him. The part of the devilfolk where the sword slashed through simply wriggled for a while as water.
“It won’t work.”
The devilfolk’s arm bent like a whip as it assaulted the shocked Petto. The single strike caused his armor to shatter, and Petto fell, unmoving. Petto was in a position to lead other soldiers, so he should have had the strength to match. But he was still like this after one hit.
So strong... Sei thought, convinced as cold sweat started to bead on his skin.
“Is he dead? Or is he simply unconscious...? At any rate, that is what happens when you challenge someone without understanding the difference in our strength. Use this experience to become a little wiser.”
“You bastard!”
The devilfolk’s mocking words caused the other beastfolk soldiers to erupt in rage and stab at him with their lances all at once. But of course, it didn’t work. The spears went straight though the devilfolk like they were stabbing at water, and the young man’s expression didn’t change a bit.
“Such useless actions...”
The devilfolk man moved his fingers quickly, drawing a pentagram in the air. It was a circle needed as a vessel to activate magic. Wood sat at the vertex, and from there in clockwise order were Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. Each point of the star connected the element to their opposites, showing their relationships. He also drew a double circle enclosing the formation, symbolizing the Moon and Sun elements. Finally, he concentrated his mana and poured it into the finished vessel.
“Magic?! No way, that was too fast!”
It was common knowledge that magic needed three processes to activate. The caster needed to create a vessel, gather mana and pour it into the vessel, and lastly, finalize the magic and launch it. The speed at which the caster could complete those processes directly showed the skill of the caster, and those with a lot of experience could always activate magic faster. At the pinnacle of all that was casting magic with no requisite behavior at all. Megrez, Aigokeros, and the Devil King were all at that level. The Seven Luminaries could cast simple spells with no need for such actions as well.
On the other hand, that also meant that if one of the Seven Luminaries were using those actions, they were trying to cast an equivocally large spell.
“Apsaras!”
The devilfolk created a giant swan made of water. Inside the tent, there was no place to run. The spell that was a bird cried out, and the tent was blown up from the inside.
11
Apsaras was a magic spell that changed mana into a large amount of water, formed it into a large swan, and slammed that into the caster’s enemies. The most standout feature of this spell was its ability to track the target. The swan would automatically chase the enemy it had locked onto as its target and would not let it get away. It was a spell that wasn’t lacking in power, scope, and accuracy. But for all that, it needed a correspondingly large amount of mana and was likewise difficult to cast. If a human were to try and cast that spell, they would definitely need at least a couple minutes. Yet for the devilfolk man, it’d been easy and quick. Just that showed the difference in their power.
“Force Barrier!”
Just before the water swan hit everyone, a wall of light sprung up to protect them. It was a defensive wall made of divine power by Virgo.
It wasn’t an easy feat for a barrier erected so hastily to stop that spell completely. Normally, the swan would have broken through after some delay due to the clash. But rainbow-colored fire got in between the swan and the barrier, evaporating enough water for the barrier to be able to defend against the enemy’s spell. On top of that, the rainbow-colored fire changed course and started eating into the devilfolk’s right arm.
This all happened so quickly that the only ones who’d noticed what happened were Virgo and the devilfolk.
“I don’t know who you are, but it looks like there’s a troublesome one among you... I’m not a fool who doesn’t understand his own strength. I suppose I’ll have to take my leave here,” the devilfolk said while looking at his arm, which had disappeared after only one attack. He then jumped away and hid himself.
Aries saw everything, but he decided not to give chase. It would be easy to hunt the young man down and kill him, but the job that’d been given to him by Lufas was to support Virgo. Aries couldn’t risk the chance of something happening to her if he left. In the end, Aries could kill an enemy of that caliber at any time. There was no need to rush to finish him off.
“H-He left?” Sei was mystified at the sudden disappearance of the enemy.
The bikini armor guy agreed with that sentiment. “Looks like it.”
The skirmish hadn’t lasted very long, but it was still enough for everyone to realize the gap in strength between them and the enemy. There was no way he was any normal devilfolk soldier. Having realized that, Petto muttered bitterly while still on the ground, “Th-The polish and power of that Water spell just now... No way. Is that Mercurius of the Seven Luminaries?”
Virgo rushed over and started healing Petto’s wounds with heaven-arts. Soon after she started, much of the pain disappeared from his expression, and he looked to be feeling much better.
“Mercurius?” Virgo repeated.
Petto nodded. “I’ve only heard rumors, but they say that there is a man among the devilfolk who possesses a liquid body and is immune to physical attacks. That totally fits with the man we fought just now. On top of that is his skill with Water elemental magic.”
“A-A Luminary? That’s no joke. I’m out! No number of lives’ll be enough to face that monster!”
“M-Me too! This isn’t the sort of thing to ask of an adventurer! Go get your national army and all their training to get that elixir!”
The moment the enemy’s name left Petto’s mouth, there was an uproar, and several men left the tent before anyone could react. That was only to be expected. The biggest threat to humanity in these times were the Seven Luminaries of the devilfolk. Only seven of them had cornered humanity; they were terrifying invaders, so just the idea of fighting them was abnormal.
They were still terrifying figures, even if Lufas could punch them into the sky with a single blow, or if they didn’t stand a chance against Libra, or if Aigokeros treated them like weaklings, or if Aries didn’t even consider them worth chasing. Lufas and her party were the ones that were strange. That fact must not be forgotten.
Thus, almost all of the contestants from the hunting festival ran, leaving only three people behind. It was just Virgo, Sei, and Aries in an all-black disguise.
“Th-This is bad... What to do?”
“They have a point, though. I think it’d be better to send soldiers with training to the mountain instead of some adventurers.”
Petto groaned over the loss of the contestants, but it was only natural for them to leave. After all, none of them had received any proper training, and they weren’t being provided with weapons, either. Adventurers were just civilians who happened to hunt monsters for a living, so they wound up being stronger than most civilians. Even the weapons they carried were cheap bunk compared to what soldiers got. Adventurers had to use every trick they had to make it work. Every once in a while one did manage to find a good weapon in some ruins, but those were exceptions to the rule. This wasn’t like the game Sei had played. Adventurers who traveled around wielding legendary weapons just didn’t exist.
