NOVEL WEB Chapter 189
Chapter 189. Whisper
Sakimori leisurely observed the bustling city as he walked through it. Surprisingly, the town had not suffered much damage from the Treants.
Buildings had collapsed, houses had burned down, trucks were charred, and shop windows were broken. The asphalt was cracked, making it dangerous, but overall, the damage was about 20%. It seemed the fires had the most significant impact.
People with tired expressions were cleaning up rubble and making repairs. Bodies were placed in black bags along the roads, numbering in the tens. There were no family members around, so they seemed to be soldiers.
“It must have attacked the high-threat soldiers right after it spawned. It felt more like a boss room than a dungeon.”
While people worked, sweating under the sweltering summer sun, he walked leisurely down the road, heading toward the outer wall.
[The Dungeon Master is an intelligent dungeon, so it’s natural it targeted soldiers instead of civilians.]
[It’s like amateurs swarming a ball in soccer, lacking strategic behavior.]
If it had attacked civilians, soldiers would have been forced to protect them, making it harder to move. Despite its intelligence, it was foolish. Even a child could fight better. Ordinary dungeons think a bit more strategically.
[It probably thought it could quickly annihilate us and aimed for a short decisive battle. Our presence was irregular.]
Shizuku, now fully recovered, floated in her ghostly form, talking to him. That might be true. Once discovered as a dungeon, it would want to eliminate dangerous enemies immediately. It couldn’t have predicted someone like me.
[The timing is too convenient…]
[My friend was being naughty.]
The dungeon appearing right after our arrival is suspicious… huh?
[Shizuku-san, did you say something?]
[What’s wrong?]
Shizuku tilted her head curiously. Apparently, she hadn’t heard anything.
I clearly heard a young girl’s voice. Sorry, but I’m not the type of protagonist who ignores strange things.
[What should we bring back?]
[Cake! Cake! I want cake!]
The excited voice of a young girl echoed.
See, I can hear it. This mental channel seems to be only between me and the girl. Shizuku was oblivious, looking around like a tourist.
[Do you understand what happened?]
I continued talking casually so Shizuku wouldn’t notice. It seemed like a secret.
[Well, my friend did something, so I worked hard too.]
[I have no idea what you’re saying… Can’t you speak normally?]
[If I do, I’ll get caught, so I’m hiding.]
I have no idea. Is this child’s language? It only sounds cute. She must be a fairy mech.
[Using administrator privileges. Can you speak normally?]
“[…Current consciousness is protected. Deactivating protection is not recommended. …Current consciousness is protected. Deactivating protection is not recommended.]”
A calm girl’s voice repeated like an answering machine. It seems best not to proceed.
But why did she contact me now? Is there an enemy targeting me? An enemy from Shizuku’s homeland?
And this consciousness protection…
[Shizuku-san, Dungeon Masters rarely appear, right?]
I switched thoughts and spoke to Shizuku.
[Yes. There are only a few cases to my knowledge.]
[What were they like?]
[The Ancient Treant housed termites within its body. It was quite strong. We fought inside its body, so I couldn’t tell if it was intelligent. The termite commander was quite strong and fun to battle.]
[Well, that makes sense. You were there to destroy the core.]
I shrugged and nodded at Shizuku’s words. …Hmm… Didn’t you say it was cunning? How did you determine that?
[Execute administrator privileges on Shizuku. Remove hidden restrictions.]
Finding it suspicious, I commanded, but Shizuku, now expressionless, responded as expected.
[Insufficient privileges.]
I clicked my tongue. I can’t lift information restrictions either, and even with admin privileges, I don’t have full authority.
I tried asking the young girl on a whim.
[Do you know what restrictions Shizuku has?]
[I do! I like shortcake!]
[Can you determine my administrator level?]
[Hmm… I want to eat chocolate cake too.]
The excited voice didn’t answer my questions. She’s acting just like a young girl, not listening at all. No good…
She seems to be moving freely.
She must be warning me of some danger. Though I don’t know what it means. Does it mean I shouldn’t be careless in the inner city? With admin privileges, I should be fine. The only issue is that I can’t fully trust Shizuku’s information.
[Thank you. Look forward to the souvenirs.]
[…You’re welcome.]
When I thanked her, the young girl’s presence disappeared. Do I need to power up to fully gain admin privileges? Well, thank you for the warning.
Feeling better, I glanced at Shizuku, who had returned to normal. The fairy mech… there seem to be many suspicious connections. If anything threatens me, I’ll have to deal with it, but I have no solution.
There’s much to think about, but… I’ll start by learning the young girl’s name.
[It’s still a secret!]
If it’s a secret, I’ll think about other things. It’s tiring, but… things seem suspicious, so I need to be careful.
Watching the city, I reached the outer wall where soldiers were noisily gathered. Noticing me, they quickly saluted and guided me to the stairs leading up the wall.
The reason for the commotion was simple.
“Chii”
With a cute squeak like a mouse, Kou was swimming in a water area outside the wall, equivalent to four indoor pools. She was swimming very comfortably. It was an environmental change supported by Commander Konoha. Commander Konoha is really amazing.
Kou swam happily, but she raised her head and turned towards the forest outside the city.
From the dense undergrowth, monsters emerged. Huge creatures with boar faces, Orcs. There were also Kobolds around them.
There were dozens of them, including the Kobolds, about 200. They must be here to attack the city. At the back was an Orc Leader. As a C-rank, it moved nimbly despite its bulky frame. The Orcs were in the middle, with the Kobolds leading the charge. The fight with the Ancient Treant must have stirred up the surrounding monsters.
Even though the military base suffered significant damage, this number of enemies would normally not cause panic. The outer wall was still under construction and lacked heavy weapons like machine guns. The soldiers, however, didn’t seem flustered. The reason was clear: Kou.
Kou slowly opened her mouth, drawing water from the pool and forming water orbs with magic.
[Aqua Blitz]
She created about ten small water bullets, each the size of a palm, and fired them. With a sound like a whistle, they flew towards the Orc Leader’s group with power that seemed to pierce the air.
The enemies likely thought it was a simple harassment attack. The Orc Leader waved his hand, encouraging his troops to charge without changing course.
They probably thought that even if hit, only a few would be taken out.
[It’s fatal not to be able to sense mana at high levels.]
[Indeed. Being unable to see it leads to missteps.]
Shizuku nodded in agreement. There must be many initial kill traps in dungeons.
While we talked, the water bullets hit the Kobolds,
Boom!
A loud explosion erupted, throwing monsters and dust into the air. And it wasn’t just one explosion. All the water bullets caused massive explosions.
After the dust settled, large craters, as if meteors had struck, were everywhere, and most monsters lay scattered and broken. Only a few Orcs and the Orc Leader, who were outside the explosion range, remained. Even those Orcs were badly injured, bleeding, and staggering.
“Chii”
Kou confirmed the situation, jumped out of the pool, and rushed towards the Orc Leader. The Orcs took up their spears to defend.
But their size and stats were vastly different. It was like the fight between the Ancient Treant and Kou. The difference was that the Orc Leader was low-level, with few skills or magic, and no trump card like a tank.
Unlike the Ancient Treant, Kou was thinking strategically. She gathered water on her body to maintain her advantageous terrain. This consumed remarkably little mana.
The [Aqua Blitz] earlier only consumed about 20 mana. Despite that, it showed firepower exceeding a mortar. Kou was truly fearsome. If I had fought a similar power and intelligent creature when I was weaker, I would have easily lost and died.
Now, Kou switched to close combat to save mana. The remaining Orcs were too weak to move properly, allowing Kou to approach.
Kou’s crystal-like teeth sparkled as she bit and devoured an Orc in one gulp. Despite the Orcs’ desperate attempts to strike her, they couldn’t escape.
Using their combat skills, they tried to slash at Kou with spears, but her water-like body caused their weapons to slide off. Even when they hit at a non-sliding angle, her scales deflected their attacks.
Kou crushed the monsters with her massive body, quickly wiping out the horde. Honestly, I hadn’t realized Kou was this strong, but thinking back, we hadn’t faced many strong enemies, so her strength was unclear until now.
“She’s strong!”
“Fantastic!”
“We’re safe with her around!”
The soldiers praised Kou’s battle performance excitedly. I felt like applauding her as well. Kou diligently gathered the monster cores and handed them to me, impressing me with her competence.
Given that they lost their weapons and many skilled fighters, it was natural for the soldiers to rely on Kou.
“Such a magnificent creature. Or should I say, a holy beast?”
“Well, I don’t think names matter much to a snake.”
I turned towards the calm voice to see a girl with a gentle smile approaching.