Re:Monster Day 71-80 (2/2)

My blood was turned into the secret medicine.

To experiment, I made one of the slaves, whose wounds were not yet healed, drink my blood and saw an unbelievable sight.

All his wounds were healed in an instant.

What’s this? Scary.

If word got out about this, I might be targeted by humans for profit.

To look at the bright side, I raised my healing ability greatly; however, I still had the feeling that the resulting risk wasn’t worth it.

Because humans are greedy, arrogant, fragile, obstinate, but great in number, I have to take care they don’t find out.

No, even if it was discovered, I just have to kill those who find out.

While thinking about such things, we returned.

DAY 75

Today I didn’t train in the cave, but instead went to the river with everyone.

Well, because the ogres also had to fit, our bathtub is pretty deep; but due to that, many have drowned in it. Since many can’t swim, it probably couldn’t be helped.

But it’s really troublesome if any of them die just because they can’t swim.

So, I decided to have swimming practice today.

Because I’d been waiting so long for this opportunity, we went to the waterfall where the Green Lizards attacked us some time ago. Blacksmith-san doesn’t go out very often, but she came along for a change.

Because I had my clones scout the forest, I knew the Green Lizards still lived just above the waterfall and expected that they would attack us, but in the end they didn’t show up.

It’s slightly disappointing, but since Blacksmith-san enjoyed the swimming, it’s OK I suppose.

DAY 76

It appears we won’t get any new hobgoblins until the children are born.

At this moment we have 15 goblins. All of them stopped leveling up after they reached level 100.

In short, these 15 goblins didn’t have the ability to rank up. That’s too bad.

But, there’s no need to grieve. If they can’t become stronger quickly by ranking up, they’ll just have to steadily train themselves to become strong.

“Training will never let you down. Even if you’re a Goblin, if you can become an Elite Goblin, isn’t that fine?”

That’s what I said to the depressed goblins to cheer them up.

And, there’s still room for growth amongst the kobolds on this side.

When I woke up this morning, we had two more Ashigaru Kobolds and one extra Kobold that can be called a Genin.

I put the Ashigaru into the scheduled training course then put my focus on the Genin Kobold.

The Genin Kobold has a short sword named “Bio-Sword”――a Sword version of the Bio-Spear――and he has a thinner build than a normal kobold.

His face still looks like that of a dog, but I can see a glimmer of intellect in his eyes, his physique is also closer to that of a human. Plus, he now seems to be able to use a kind of magic, sorcery――‘Ninpou’.

Because he’s a ninja and it seems like he would shine in areas like information gathering, I instructed him to always keep his presence hidden from today onwards

Doing so, his presence will become thin. I understand really well that his type excels in secrecy. In fact, hiding is natural for him.

Because the human army didn’t show any movements yet, we went to the river to for some more swimming practice.

DAY 77

Today I took a day off from training.

Studying, making love, training, and even hunting, there is a reason for everything.

In the morning I shed some sweat by going at Ogakichi-kun, Rusty Iron Knight, Redhead and Female Knight one-to-four in a martial arts match. Then I went and played with the pets.

After that I went to see the Sisters, who were preparing lunch, and tried a bread dish from this world called Melzack, which looked like a sandwich. While snacking, on the way to Blacksmith-san who was as just as focused as usual on her research, I bumped into the guard elves and they a joined me as I proposed a new idea for a weapon.

To mass produce the Burst Seed, I went to see Alchemist-san to devote myself to the production.

In the evening I went outside and enjoyed myself with Dhammi on a journey through the skies. The night air was a bit chilly, but that wasn’t a problem

We soaked our cold bodies in the hot spring to warm up again.

Then we went to bed together with everyone, Female knight included as of late. I sweated a lot, but I’ll clean myself in the hot spring tomorrow, so it’s no problem.

I enjoyed the day off.

DAY 78

Hindbear Kumajiro and the Black Wolf Leader, Kurosaburo, ranked up.

Kumajiro grew larger than a Red Bear with his grey fur becoming darker and a sharp horn 50 centimeters(20 inches) long made of obsidian sprouted from his forehead; it was no longer a Hindbear, but rather a “Demon Bear(Oniguma)”.

As Kurosaburo became as big as a warhorse, he could give me a ride now. Flames tinged with lightning leaked from his mouth with every breath and he has two heads with two separate minds, so it’s no longer called a Black Wolf, instead it’s a “Double-Headed Wolf (Orthros)”.

To find out the improved specs of the two of them, Ogakichi, the other Ogres, and me――in short, those of us who’d ranked up twice――us six along with our >, a total of only 13 fighters, attacked the Human Army.

The reason we went with a select few was for the sake of leveling up.

Recently, our main purpose had been to increase our level. It was hard to do so, since we needed more EXP and we received less EXP with more comrades around.

That’s why I wanted to kick some ass around here and level up.

Just in case, I also left three of my clones behind, so it was useless to worry.

Well, after all, the Human Army’s aim is only the Elves.

I don’t think they would go out of their way to attack the home of another race that’s staying somewhere else.

Around 11 AM, I mounted Kumajiro and the others all mounted the rest of the Hindbears, then advanced into the forest.

The proportion of【Mages] at our destination was low, but the unit stationed there consisted mostly of those who had occupations which were stronger in close-combat like                         【Heavy Warriors] and 【Knights].

The unit was comprised of just under 600 people. There wasn’t a single demi-human, only full-blooded humans. All of them appeared to be soldiers that had distinguished themselves in battle. Because another unit was stationed nearby, I intended to reduced their numbers as much as possible and then escape.

We arrived at the garrison after running for about an hour.

It’s a shame that we couldn’t deploy any undead to bolster our forces in the light of day, but as far as I could tell from what we could overlook from our position on the top of the hill, there was only one enemy we had to look out for. Equipped with a black iron short spear with countless small dark red bladed thorns protruding from it, was a white-haired venerable old knight donned with scale mail that emitted a divinely pale white light.

As the venerable knight was equipped with quite peculiar armor I could identify him from the “List of Formidable Opponents from the Kingdom and Empire” that I made using the information that Rusty Iron Knight, Female Knight and the others gave me.

Note: thanks to Kemm for catching that Aizen should be Eisen.

The white scale mail that he had equipped seems to be a magic item made from the materials he got from killing the white dragon that was protecting the 【Barbs of Cursed Time].

I absolutely wanted to taste the spear and armor, and its owner.

So, I decided that this troublesome Eisen would be the first enemy to be killed. By launching a surprise attack and removing the enemy’s greatest force right of the bat, our chance of winning would increase; plus it’s safer.

I took out the Vermillion Spear, which I had never used in large army battles previously, from my item box and then loaded it into my Silver Arm, which I transformed into a ballista.

I raised my assassination success rate with 【Job-Assassin],  and because I attacked with a ballista, the abilities of 【Job-Archer] and 【Job-Hunter]are activated. Moreover because I was using a ranged attack the effects of 【Throw] and 【Needleshot]overlay for a further increase in accuracy and power. I then aimed for Eisen’s body and fired the Vermillion Spear.

Eisen was standing close to the heart of the enemy’s camp. Measuring with just my eyes, the distance between us was about 200 meters, but the Vermillion Spear came flying at him like a red comet and pierced his body, despite it being protected by the white dragon scale mail.

By hiding our presence as much as possible, it appeared that even the great Eisen could not protect himself against such a powerful blow that came flying at him from outside his range of perception.

His last expression was quite impressive, it seemed to say that he could not comprehend what happened.

This was the start of the legend of surprise attacks

Who cares about fighting fair and square.

After all, in nature where survival of the fittest is law, these who remain are the winners.

And so, my thoughts digressed from the situation.

After thinking about it all, I went back to observing the enemy’s situation.

Because the Vermillion Spear that pierced Eisen didn’t slow, it was stuck deep into the ground, leaving behind a pit matching its trajectory. Eisen’s body now had a hole where his chest had been and around him I saw the figures of soldiers, just standing there, unable to quite grasp what had just happened.

Even though they realized Eisen had died, it seems like nobody had imagined that death would ever come for him. Maybe that’s why they looked like they were hallucinating.

Perhaps they felt like it was all just a dream. But I didn’t worry about that, I just waited for some people to gather around so I could use the power of the Vermillion Spear.

The moment I activated it, without any warning, the Vermillion Spear sprang out from the ground.

In an instant, countless Vermillion Spears appeared from their blind spot below their feet, killing more than a 100 soldiers and seriously injuring those within the 100 meters(328 feet) of the spear’s range.

It would have been great to eliminate all of the enemies at once, but I didn’t want to decrease the amount of experience points everyone could obtain.

Laughing at the commotion caused by the sudden attack, we charged the enemy.

We took advantage of the confusion caused by the surprise attack to devour the whole enemy camp. In their situation, it must have been hard for them to communicate. Which means, our surprise attack was a success.

It was very easy to feed on the confused rabble.

The speed of the Demon Bear, Orthros, the Hindbears and the Triple Horned Horses cannot be compared to the humans’ war horses. In the blink of an eye we covered the distance from the enemy, spread out, and swung our weapons at the confused soldiers nearby.

After the enemy was sent flying like a doll by the tackle of Ogakichi-kun’s > , he swung his flame enchanted battle axe at the group of 【Heavy Warriors].

Maybe it’s their ingrained habit, because despite the confusion, they were still able to quickly prepare their multilayered shield formation and guard against the battle axe’s slashing. Though, unable to protect from the flames that flew towards them, they were incinerated by the intense heat. Their shields were also bent all over from the extremely heavy attacks.

Long story short, those defending 【Heavy Warriors]were burned and thrown back with a dull sound like what you usually hear in a car accident or when you try to bend iron.

Even their defence doesn’t stand a chance against such powerful attacks.

As usual, he had great destructive power. Ogakichi-kun’s 【Divine Protection]also increased the amount of heat he could use and the flames that raged around caused more damage than usual, creating a mass of charred bodies.

He was an Ogre who possessed a problematic tower shield that can bend and blow over opponents’ shields while spreading flames around him.

Without a doubt, in the eyes of the enemy, he was definitely an object of fear.

Beside that, Dhammi-chan also used 【Eyes of Bewitchment]to control the enemies. Those who could not resist her were made to kill their allies.

She intended to make many victims without dirtying her own hands.

Of course it was impossible to brainwash everyone. She had to deal with the few enemies who used magic items, arts, or something else that was able to resist her 【Eyes of Bewitchment] in person.

For them, she pierced her targets with the ice powers granted by her 【Divine Protection], or cut apart their bodies with the Claymore she got from me as a present.

She looked like she enjoyed the blood of the murdered enemies pour over her like a shower; with a combined beauty and bewitching mystery, it made me aware of how frightening she is.

While screaming her war cry, Asue-chan’s War-Pick smashed the earth.

The ground split open and swallowed the enemies that failed to escape, one after another. The risen earth wall also deprived the rest of the enemy of their escape route.

Because most of her attacks left significant openings for our enemy, they coordinated their timing and began to attack; but their steel swords were not enough to cause even a scratch to Asue-chan, who’s a Half-earth Lord with an unusually high defensive power.

Normal attacks were pretty much useless against her.

After seeing that, there were some enemies that tried to use arts; however, the slight gap before the arts were activated became a target. Unlike the big moves she used until now, she burst their bodies open with fast attacks, like rock-crushing fists, kicks, and tackles.

Asue-chan’s cheerful, hearty laughter reverberated throughout the air.

The muddy stream that Supesei-san created with magic washed away the soldiers who were a little further away.

Because it was an attack that seemed to dump humans into a washing machine filled with metal armor,  spears and swords, the fate of these soldiers was miserable.

Masses of corpses were produced, and soon our faces showed wry smiles.

Around 30 blood swords that were created by Burasato-san shredded the enemy while brushing past. They even grew bigger by absorbing the blood.

The blades rotated at high speed and sliced the enemy within its range into small pieces. To make it worse, Burasato-san’s red skin was died even redder by the blood she was drenched in. She looked like a Death God.

This one sided mass slaughter was a result of continuous fierce daily training that granted the monsters higher specs than ordinary humans.

While I thought about that, I cut down the enemy’s numbers using my Halberd that Blacksmith-san had embedded with an elemental stone previously.

About 20 minutes after the attack began, the battle had ended.

The first hit of Vermillion Spear allowed us to surround the area easily, and I used 【Conceal]on everyone so even if there are any survivors none of them saw our real appearance. Because we achieved our goal, well, you know how it is

I scraped together what looked useful, pulled the Vermillion Spear from the ground, then ate the bloody meat of our dead enemy.

Because there were so many, I raked them together with some thread and used 【Improved Digestion], 【Vampiric Exploitation] and 【Metamorphosis]to efficiently devour them whole.

【Ability 【Crosswind] learned]

【Ability 【Wind Storm] learned]

【Ability 【Regeneration Inhibition] learned]

【Ability 【Recognition Interference] learned]

【Ability 【Uppercut] learned]

【Ability 【Heavy Slash] learned]

【Ability 【Warrior’s Pedigree] learned]

【Ability 【Knight’s Pedigree] learned]

【Ability 【Job-Twinswordsman] learned]

【Ability 【Job-Axeman] learned]

【Ability 【Job-Spearman] learned]

【Ability 【Survival Instinct] learned]

【Ability 【Same Race Killing] learned]

【Ability 【Improved Arm Strength] learned]

【Ability 【Hawkeye] learned]

【Ability 【Job-Berserker] learned]

【Ability 【Chicken Heart (Ways of the Coward)] learned]

【Ability 【Job-Grappler] learned]

【Ability 【All Martial Arts Proficiency] learned]

【Ability 【Hishōzan (Flying Slash)] learned]

【Ability 【Kogetsusen (Iai)] learned]

【Ability 【Chiyari Hyakka (Hundred Petals of A Thousand Spear)] learned]

【Ability 【Rush] learned]

【Ability 【Heavy Axe Strike] learned]

【Ability 【Create Trap] learned]

Then I proceeded to eat today’s main dish, Eisen.

It would have been fine to leave the armor and spear, but this time I decided to eat those too.

【Ability 【Grand Cross] learned]

【Ability 【Job-Kensei (Sword Saint)] learned]

【Ability 【Job-Dragonslayer] learned]

【Ability 【Dragonscale Formation] learned]

【Ability 【Cursed Wounds] learned]

Our hunting went satisfactorily, we returned home with pleased expressions on our faces.

Day 79

With a message on the communication device, I was invited by Father Elf.

Because it happened just as I was training with Redhead and Female Knight, I took them along as bodyguards. The rest divided their time training, hunting or studying.

Redhead and I  mounted Kumajiro, Female Knight mounted Kurosaburo and we rode towards the village of the elves.

My plan to visit and I was bringing humans with me were already communicated in advance, particularly nothing problematic happened.

I forced the elves who gave us rude looks, as if they were watching livestock, to turn their gazes away by using 【Intimidating Glare]and taught them the difference in position.

Arriving at Father Elf’s mansion, I headed to the room I had been in before. Until Father Elf would arrive, I drank some of the tea that had been prepared for us. Redhead and Female Knight, on the other hand, were looking around curiously, as this was their first time coming here.

Rather than criticizing them, I was collecting and processing the information sent by the clones in far away places.

About 5 minutes later, Father Elf came into the room holding Elf Sake and cups in his hands.

Behind Father Elf was the Elf Maiden-san, whom I saved holding something that looked like snacks for the sake.

He apologized for being late, and offered me a cup for starters.

The sake was poured by Elf Maiden-san.

Of course I drank. I also ate the snacks. It was really delicious.

My mood became very good.

After feeling good for a while, having some chatter and exchanging information, we got down to business.

The topic shifted to the details of next job by the requester Father Elf.

He talked about assaulting the enemy’s main force with an elite corps formed from our combined forces. It seems like he wants to deal with the enemy’s top officers before having their village surrounded.

Well, I guess neither the enemy nor the elves would want to have a drawn out war.

Because there had always been a high tension between the enemy and some foreign countries, it seems they are in a situation where their enemies could take advantage of their war with the elves and invade them at any moment

The elves, who are superior to humans by ability but inferior by far by numbers, already had quite a few casualties. I’m sure they also wanted to have a safe haven where the wounded can recuperate in peace. Besides, the elves have almost nothing to gain from this war in the first place so they wanted to end it quickly.

Well, after all we are mercenary soldiers. We could not ignore our employer’s wishes.

Besides, I was free to do this job how I wanted to, not just that, I would also be paid. Because I would gain a lot, well, this was an opportunity.

I suppose, my greed will lead to my ruin one day.

After we finished what’s important, we returned home.

On our way back, Female Knight asked if I could possibly send the medicine to cure the princess’s illness.

She said that although she already has pledged her allegiance to me, she still wants to deliver at least the drug as her last service as a noblewoman.

Hm, I thought.

Maybe it was a good idea to maintain some ties with the top of the country by indebting them.

Having the country back us or not when something happens could change the situation significantly. Besides, it could also bring about a change in the information we could obtain and open up new possibilities for us.

But the one bringing the medicine to cure the princess and negotiating would be me, a black ogre holding the Divine Protection of the Great Gods who rule >.

I could think of troublesome situations just by quickly thinking over it. On one hand I had enslaved a few citizens of the Kingdom and Empire, but I was mainly worried about religion, religion and religion.

TL Note : Yes it was mentioned thrice. – rei_hunter

The current Queen seemed to be a > believer, thus part of the world’s largest religion, it smelled like trouble.

It honestly is a troublesome matter. So, I rejected the idea of me being the person delivering the drug. But then I thought of a different plan.

Carefully testing that plan, thinking of the risks and merits, I decided to put it into action, as the merits appeared to be worth it.

Now, I have to prepare for tomorrow’s battle.

Day 80

4 AM. We ran through the forest and arrived at the garrison where the main forces of the enemy, including the emperor’s successor (currently 24 years old), were stationed. He had come personally to the battlefield in order to take command of the human army.

The enemy was about 2000 strong. They had gathered their elite troops including the aforementioned slave corps. As expected of their headquarters, we saw many sentries stationed around their base. Their security was strong.

Including Father Elf’s military force of 500 elves, our force only consisted of about 650– this time around, no humans joined us. If all this ended in a confused fight, they could be killed— so, under normal circumstances it would be best for us to avoid a fight.

But it is because of this disadvantage that we decided to attack this early.

In this time of day we have a number of big advantages. We can overthrow the difference in numbers by spawning Black Skeletons and since I can replenish the mana being used up from the surrounding darkness, I don’t have to worry about being exhausted. And since their source of light right now only consists of bonfires and such, we who have night vision will have a greater advantage than when fighting in broad daylight once the bonfires are extinguished and darkness sets in.

But that didn’t mean we could just recklessly charge in.

This is because they had the slave corps on their side, which consisted of demons that depending on their species had as strong or even stronger abilities than ours. If we don’t deal with this somehow, it could be troublesome.

That’s why I sent a clone, a Black Skeleton Assassin and a low-ranking ninja kobold into the battlefield.

This was to aim for the one who controlled the slave corps, as Rusty Iron Knight had informed us. The slave corps only followed orders because of their collars so once they are removed, they will be able to act freely.

In that case, it would be enough to have the clones use 【Parasite]on the slaver and make him remove the collars. Fortunately, he is a magician capable of enslaving the synthetic demon Chimera so if we kill him off once his job is done, they won’t be able to control the Chimera anymore.

And if I kill and eat that magician, I might be able to control the Chimera myself.

These are the kind of thought I was having.

What I was not expecting, was, that once I killed off the magician according to plan after having him remove all the collars, that the Chimera would sense the death of its captor and start randomly attacking the enemies around it.

Furthermore, it was really troublesome that what the 6 meter tall Chimera, which looked like a cross of an elephant, a tiger, a snake and a crab, attacked first was the nearby former slaves, who were on the verge of escaping. Those who couldn’t respond immediately were killed and the number of slaves I intended on using as a temporary army was drastically reduced.

On top of that, our presence was exposed due to the commotion and our plan of quietly reducing the enemy’s number bit by bit was disrupted.

But I accepted this inevitable fact and launched our assault.

Because, if you don’t improvise at a battlefield, you’re as good as dead.

Before long, the sun was up.

The movements of the Undead Black Skeletons became worse at once and the number of individuals who were destroyed increased.

In addition, the human army raised a warcry to raise their morale but a countermeasure for the sunlight had already been established. I had only temporarily exposed the black skeletons to direct sunlight in order to raise their morale, only to drop it again.

The enemy could not have known that. I silently laughed at them.

In simple words, this sunlight countermeasure meant I would use my clones to coat the bodies of the Black Skeletons in order to intercept the sunlight. Fortunately, because there were plenty of blood sources lying around, it was simple to create many clones.

The Black Skeletons who recovered their initial mobility cut down our enemies whom attempted to slash them.

Since the clones could also attack using tentacles, a skeleton army with a insanely increased attack frequency and attack force was completed. Through abruptly strengthening the weakened skeletons I was able to sense the enemy morale drop very clearly.

I would like you to imagine. An enemy you already have trouble dealing with grows multiple highly acidic tentacles and attacks you with one accord with strangely well-regulated movements.

It can’t be helped that their morale would drop.

Watching it from the corner of my eye, I was hiding near the enemy’s headquarter by myself.

This is a drastic move that can only be accomplished by lowering the cognitive abilities of the enemies using 【Job-Sorcerer]’s status effect attack combined with the activation of skills such as 【Job-Assassin],【Hinder Recognition]and【Hiding]. On top of that I equipped the magic item 【Hermit’s Gown]as an insurance.

I did all this to approach the next emperor who was wearing an armor better than anyone’s.

But, I didn’t plan to kill him even if I got close. If I killed him, the dignity of the empire wouldn’t allow them to rest until they eradicated all elves. No matter how many injuries they sustained, they would kill us all.

I had to avoid that. If the Empire got serious, the difference in numbers would mean our defeat.

I wanted to stay on good terms with Father Elf from now on so I couldn’t let the them kill him.

Thinking about that, I successfully got behind the next emperor.

There were people all around me, but none of them noticed my presence. However the next emperor was a different matter, since I started talking to him.

I muttered into his ear to retreat and slipped a small vial with a red elixir that would cure the disease into his pocket while explaining how to use it. I also whispered a few other things.

When I asked him if he understood, he nodded silently so I distanced myself from that place.

Now that I finished my business, I asked Asue-chan to create an Earth wall that would cut off both armies. Because half of our enemies died already, that would be enough.

Before they could destroy the Earth wall, we collected as many wounded, former slave troop survivors and corpses as we could, along with the dead body of the Chimera. Then we quickly retreated. To be honest, I also wanted to collect some excellent human flesh to eat, but as expected we didn’t have time for that.

Because I had been able to try many already in battle, I decided to give up for now. Besides, the Chimera would be a nice enough war trophy.

Patience. Be patient.

We retreated to a cave and healed our wounded.

Because the healing squad of the Elves which I requested while we were retreating arrived, we could treat everyone at a faster rate. By selectively healing the heavily wounded, we could heal everyone in time and no one died.

After that, with the exception of the cuffed group, all Elves returned home, but all of the former slaves that came along with us were left standing alone.

TL Note : He’s talking about the first elves he captured. – reihunter

Since it was part of my battle plan to free them, I obviously had no intentions of killing them. So I just told them that I will respect their wishes and that they can freely go wherever they liked.

After telling them that I will let them stay the night for now and that they can should ask somebody for the rules of this place, I headed out.

The first lives were lost in this war.

The ones who died were 3 hobgoblins, 2 hobgoblin mages, 5 goblins, 6 kobolds and 4 Male Elves, a total of 20 members.

It had been a confusing fight and our enemy was strong, maybe we should feel lucky that we only lost this many.

Fortunately we were able to recover all of the corpses. After eating their hearts, we burnt the corpses like the girls from the other time.

TL Note : Refer to Day 01 to 10 – tom_foster

There were other surrounding the area, many of whom were offering prayers and shedding tears.

I didn’t feel sad in particular. And I didn’t cry either.

I just wanted to greedily live the share of those who I ate

As usual, that’s all I thought.

After I watched the corpses burn out, I inspected the weapons and armor that were worn down during the battle while I ate the Chimera’s flesh. After all the trouble we went through to bring it along, it would be a waste if I didn’t eat it before it went bad.

【Ability 【Synthesis]learned!]

Eating the Chimera, I acquired an interesting ability.

It appears that I could use it to cross the abilities that I already had to create something new.

But, because I was too tired, after preparing some sleeping spots for the former slaves, I took a bath in the hot spring and lay down on my hand-made bed in the bedroom.

This time, if everything went well and the war ended, it would end my contract with Father Elf.

At that time I decided in my heart that I would prepare in order to go outside, before I fell into a deep sleep.