Let’s Take This Back With Us

Beyond that point, after passing through, was a forest.

A forest where the trees rustled and swayed.

Perhaps because it was night, visibility in the dark forest was poor, and yet he hesitated to use a lantern.

After all, he had no idea what might be here.

“…Should I head back from around here?”

Making that judgment, Kikori tried to take the return scroll out of his bag.

First had been the kobold grassland. And “beyond” that was a forest.

There was no information on the advance party, but if something like what had just happened occurred again here, it would be disastrous.

That was why Kikori was about to turn back.

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

At the echoing scream, the hand that had been about to open his bag stopped.

A scream.

And at a voice that sounded like a woman’s scream, Kikori’s judgment wavered.

Going to help was fine.

But was it an opponent Kikori could defeat with his strength?

If it was the advance party, they should have been fairly capable.

Could Kikori defeat an enemy that such people could not?

Boom. A sound like something exploding rang out.

Kikori threw away all hesitation and started running.

It did not matter if he could not win. If he could at least create an opening to escape together.

Thinking that, Kikori ran toward the direction from which the explosive sound rang out again.

He ran… and found the aftermath of that battle.

“…What is this?”

What he saw were the corpses of goblins lying scattered around.

Above them, on what seemed to have been charred black by some powerful magic, something was floating.

“Ugh, this is the worst. Those goblins really don’t know their place!”

“I know, right? They multiply so fast!”

“But this time the cause was probably that thing, right?”

He did not understand the situation at all.

However, he did understand at least that the scream from earlier had not been one calling for help.

And… what were those little humans with wings, like fairies from a fairy tale?

If he could understand their words, then they were not monsters… probably.

“Um…”

“Hey, what should we do about that human?”

“What should we do? It’s a human, right?”

“Ehh, no way. That’s a human?”

The fairies had been saying whatever they pleased, but then one of them held out its palm toward Kikori.

“Let’s find out!”

It was lightning.

A fierce bolt of lightning was fired at Kikori and ravaged his body.

“Ga, gaaaaaaaaaaah!?”

“See? It really is a human.”

“Looks like it.”

“Oh, but look at that.”

He was not dead. He was alive.

Yes, the mana stone in the berserk mail had absorbed the spell from before and was shining.

That was exactly why he was barely still alive.

He was alive… but he could not stand. He could not move.

“Waaah, how interesting! It’s glowing all sparkly!”

“This is kind of fun! Hey, hey, let’s shoot him one more time!”

“Ah, wait a second on that.”

One of the fairies came over to the now-motionless Kikori.

It stared intently at Kikori.

“Let’s take this back with us!”

Right after he heard it say that… Kikori’s consciousness went dark.