Re:Zero - Jobless Reincarnation: Succubus Sword God? I don't recognize it!

Chapter 323: The Islands Full of Magic Stones Have Long Become a Nightmare Land

"Islands".

Today, it is a group of islands on the sea between the northern part of the Bekarit continent and the southern part of the central continent, that is, the Utor territory at the southernmost tip of the Asura Kingdom.

Why now?
According to legend, more than four thousand years ago, the area of ​​the main continent of the human world accounted for eighty percent of the entire human world. At that time, Bekalit, which was still the "Southern Peninsula", was connected to the main continent by a narrow strip of land, which is the location of the archipelago today.

Then why did it become the "islands" that are now broken into tiny dots?
According to legend, in the final battle of the Second Human-Demon War, the Golden Knight, Aldebaran, defeated the demons with a move of devastating power, and the power of his final move pierced a deep pit on the continent of the decisive battle.

The main continent cracked, earthquakes and tsunamis lasted for several years, seawater flowed back, and after hundreds of years, the Ringus Sea was formed.

At that time, the land connecting the main continent and the narrow strip was also shattered by the huge force, and underwater volcanoes erupted. After being eroded by the long river of time, the current "archipelago" was gradually formed.

It is said that the remaining vortex of magic power from the attack by the Golden Knight is still unwaveringly changing this world that is already filled with magic power.

That’s why there are so many mazes hidden in the caves between the reefs of each island in the “archipelago”!

That is why there are so many magic stones hidden in those beautiful and rich mazes that shine under the warm sunshine between the coasts of the two continents, like a noble scenic spot!

There's a maze every three steps and a pile of magic stones every five steps!
They are great heroes, the dawn of mankind, and the treasure that the long river of time has left to us adventurers!

The glory left by His Majesty the Golden Knight is all in the labyrinth of the archipelago, and those magic stones are waiting for you and me to dig!
Adventurers, what are you waiting for? Take on this long-term magic stone commission.

Go and get the wealth that belongs to you!
Remarks:

Broken Magic Stone (finger size): Gold coin exchange rate: 300:1.

Slightly flawed magic stone (palm-sized, with a few cracks): Gold coin exchange ratio: 100:1
Flawless magic stone (fist-sized, without cracks, and full of magic power): gold coin exchange ratio: 1:10.

——Asura Adventurer Guild.
-
Swish! !

The white light falling from the sky pierced through the thick night, and the words on the bounty notice for the adventurer team became clear for a moment.

Then it dimmed again.

The sound of rain is violent and the wind is as strong as a waterfall.

Crack, crack, the rotten wooden house wailed in the storm. The storm that lasted for two months brought long-term hypothermia.

I don’t know if it was because I saw the notice clearly again, or because my body temperature dropped a few degrees.

The hand holding the paper was shaking badly. It was soaked by the rain and dried by the body temperature. It was already wrinkled. This time it could not withstand the slightest tearing. Just the shaking of the body tore it into pieces.

Swish! !

His hands were covered in filth, rougher than those of a man who held a sword all year round, with blood, dirt, and moss mixed in the gaps between the yellowed fingernails.

Crack! The window shed suddenly cracked, and a stream of rainwater rushed in, splashing the notice in his hand onto the rotten tabletop that had been soaked in moisture and turned black and brown. Green patches were vaguely visible on the side.

"That's not what the notice said. There are magic stones all over the ground."

At the foot of the table, a naked human corpse was already stinking. No, to be precise, it was no longer a corpse.

The rain soaked him into a pile of rotten flesh.

“The archipelago. A sunny and aristocratic landscape”

Swish! ! Lightning flashed one after another, leaving no chance for anyone to breathe. Light trees fell in the far horizon, connecting the filthy sea and sky. Clusters of white light exploded on the black sea surface. Only at this moment could the dotted "neighbors" outside this island be seen.

The same islands, viewed from afar, look like black stones, wrapped in a dark cloud curtain with flashes of lightning from time to time above the gloomy sea.

The dirty golden hair was tangled and stuck to the sides of the deeply sunken cheeks, and the dull green eyes full of bloodshot returned the gaze from afar.

The rain turned into needles and stabbed in from the huge crack where the missing window was.

——This old wooden house located at the top of the island with a wide view has long been eroded by heavy rains and is now just a tattered awning that is leaky on all sides and has water accumulating on the ground.

The rain poured down along the rotten roof, forming a pile of "mirrors" on the ground with electric reflections.

It was daytime.

But it is darker than night.

The flashing light source illuminated the ground, and the light reflected by the mirror was shrouded in water vapor.

Crushed magic stone, cracked breastplate; broken and rusted steel knife; incomplete arm; thighs scattered on the ground; half-gnawed face of a fellow adventurer; all were constantly illuminated by lightning, flashing in the eye sockets.

Spreading on the ground.

A transparent "cover" was vaguely visible not far away, covering the awning. The adventurers, who were ragged like zombies, were all dressed in tattered clothes. The rag-like clothes were soaked by the rain and stuck tightly to everyone.

The wind and rain continued to rob the body of heat, but no one shivered.

If your hands shake, you will die.

The roars and shouts were drowned out by the sound of rain, as well as the sparks produced by the collision between the blade and the bone knife.

The battle continues.

The adventurers gathered in a circle, and in front of them, there was a defense line set up by a magic circle - barrier magic. Ripples kept appearing on the film-like 'cover', and when the barrier magic reached its limit and there was no time for magic power to replenish the gap, a bone knife would stab in.

Occasionally, golden arcs flashed in the air between people.

The good news is that the defense line has not been breached yet, and the monster tide after the second earthquake today is about to be repelled.

the bad news is
The green pupils moved upward.

Swish! Lightning pierced the sky.

Then she saw it again.
The adventurers were so crowded that there was no end in sight.
It has no face, is gray, and is shaped like an upright shuttle. It is about two meters tall, and uses bone blades as knives in its hands. It is extremely fast.

A-level monster - ghost.

Even though the blade of its hand, which is a bone knife, can be blocked by a physical blade, its body, which is its vital part, is as intangible as smoke and dust. If a joint force is used to strangle it, the only way is to rely on the warriors in front to restrain it, press its body and confine it to a narrow area.

Then a magician who knows the art of divine strike will deliver the fatal blow.

The monster is very powerful and is rated A-level only because it is in a small maze among the reefs of the outer islands of the archipelago. It often appears as the finale monster at the bottom of the maze, and there are no more than three of them at most, so it is not difficult to strangle it with the cooperation of the adventurer team.

After killing it, if you are lucky, you can get a slightly flawed magic stone.

This is why the outskirts of the archipelago are so popular with groups of adventurers coming and going.

However, because the number is extremely small, the risk of obtaining it is not high, which will lead to fierce competition.
But, two months ago.

Things have changed.

First there were several inexplicable earthquakes.

After that, the labyrinth under the island reefs somehow lost its ability to imprison monsters, and the ghost monsters that were supposed to be on the third floor of the labyrinth wandered around the island, from one to two, and then two to four.
This overwhelming wealth excited the adventurers so much that a fight broke out over the scramble for it.

Soon, all the C-level monster rats and B-level monster reef spiders that ran out of the cracks in the ground were killed.

Then, it's time to siege the ghosts.
But as time passed, the very excited team of adventurers were gradually dumbfounded.

Unkillable
Can't kill them all
Too much.
That's really too much.
The ghost monsters, which could even be considered solitary at first, did not decrease in number despite the enthusiastic encirclement and suppression by the crowd. With the small earthquake caused by the eruption of the submarine volcano, their number increased from more than ten to dozens, and then from dozens to hundreds.

During this period, the continuous drizzle that was deliberately ignored by the adventurer team accompanied by the earthquake seemed to be mocking human greed. Within half a month, it turned into a sea rainstorm accompanied by a hurricane.

Up to this point, the island has not seen the sun for a month.

The positions of prey and hunters are reversed, and the situation on the island takes a sharp turn for the worse, forcing all the competing adventurer teams trapped on the island by the storm to unite and fight against the monsters to survive.

It was effective at first because the monsters had animal-like instincts, and as their companions died, they realized that the people in front of them were tough nuts to crack, so after continuing to attack the barrier for a while, they would stop.

But the problem is that after the two or three earthquakes that occur on the island every day, new ghosts emerge like mushrooms after rain.

The newly born ghost monsters are violent and violent. Once they appear, they will bring along the ghosts left over from the previous wave and frantically attack the human camp.
The storm shows no sign of stopping
Even now, no one picks up the magic stones dropped on the ground by the killed ghost monsters.

This thing.
Can't eat it
Click! !
A huge flash of lightning leaped into their eyes, and excited shouts suddenly rang out from the crowd. It seemed that this time the monster tide was about to be successfully resisted, but the Miris believer named Melna suddenly trembled. She grabbed her hair in despair, and with just one movement, several clumps of hair fell out of her hands.

He turned around and was about to rush behind him, but bumped into the shoulder of the person behind him and fell to the ground.

"where are you going?"

Melna raised her head, trembling all over, and looked at the dagger in the other person's hand with tears in her eyes.

"No, not going anywhere"

The blade of the knife slid across the table, scraping off the moss on it one by one, leaving behind green patches. The damp moss was mixed with the picked mushrooms at hand, kneaded into a ball, patted into a pancake, and thrown aside.

It has become a small hill.

——Food. This is what everyone has been eating for the past month.

Although it is hard to swallow, for the Asura people who have lived in peace for so many years,
'At least it's better than cannibalism'

With a sword on his waist and a huge scar on his neck, Lev glanced at the adventurer's body that had rotted into a pile of mud on the corner of the table, and threw the freshly baked "moss mushroom bread" in his hand aside, thinking silently.

"Eating monster feces is easier to accept than eating humans. Why the hell is there a sudden storm?!"

He gritted his teeth and glanced at the battle outside which was about to end in the heavy rain, his face and expression darkened.

In the sudden rain, among those figures, except for his companion wearing a blindfold, all others were strangers.

More than fifty days and nights had passed since he came here. Unlike those adventurer teams that had been stationed on the island before the sea storm and had never left, he was forced to come here because of the disaster.

Three months ago, Lev, who was still in the jaws of the red dragon, regrouped, gathered enough money and manpower, and also asked for a magician master who was very suitable to be part of the adventurer team. He set sail again in the drizzle with high spirits.

As a result, it ran into a tornado that suddenly arose from the sea just outside the archipelago.

The ship was destroyed, and two people who grabbed a small boat in the chaos were washed ashore on this island by the wind and waves.

The good news is that people are alive.

The bad news is that being alive is worse than being dead.

He took a deep breath and looked at the blonde woman beside him, but his gaze paused slightly on her hair, his eyes bloodshot.

As a senior swordsman of the Water God School, Lev was sent here to guard Melna because of his perception ability, to prevent her from committing suicide due to collapse. Clem was sent to the front line of the battlefield to stop the riot of the monster tide because he had been an intern in the Miris sect for several years and knew the basic divine strike technique.

"Fortunately, during the two years that Clem was an apprentice of the Miris sect, he learned divine strike techniques instead of barrier techniques, otherwise he would have been in trouble."

Lev scratched the extremely itchy scar on his neck, lowered his thin, bearded face, looked at the woman on the ground, gritted his teeth, and glanced obscurely at the adventurers behind him who were "sent" with him to monitor Melna.

——The two were looking for which of the 'moss bread' on the table had more mushrooms mixed in.

Seeing this, Löw sheathed the dagger in his hand.

He squatted down, reached out, and gently smoothed away the golden hair that was covering his face, revealing the woman's face which was still delicate even though she was thin.

But when faced with the soothing gesture that could be described as 'warm', the woman was so panicked that she didn't know where to put her hands and just kept shaking and trembling.

The voice penetrated her ears.

"Merna, this is the third wave of monsters after the earthquake. Based on the experience of the past two months, no monsters will attack again tonight. A short respite is coming until tomorrow, when the earthquake will 'spit out' more new ghosts and usher in a new wave of monsters."

"You know exactly what to do next."

Suddenly, a faint cheer sounded amid the sound of rain, penetrating through the rain curtain and interrupting his words.

Love turned his head and looked outside the awning.

The monster tide has been repelled.

But this current situation, which symbolized safety, made Melna tremble violently all over. She stood up and wanted to run outside the awning, but as soon as she stood up, she was tripped by a corpse on the ground and fell headfirst to the ground, with half of her face buried in the corpse mud under the table.

Melna looked at the woman in front of her whose face was chopped off to only half, and wanted to cry but no tears came out.

This corpse was a follower of Miris just like himself, and was also skilled in barrier techniques.

She has a mature and beautiful face beneath her wavy hair. Before the storm came, she was pursued by the men in the adventurer team and became famous.

As the only two barrier masters in the adventurer team, they should have been protected by the adventurers as they were highly valued.

But she was chopped into pieces by the angry adventurers because of her "disobedience".
In front of your own face
　There is no rhythm and it was a struggle to write it, but after thinking about it for a long time, I decided to write it this way.

　　The Four Magic Patterns are a prerequisite for the Golden Finger, and the barrier technique and divine strike technique can be obtained.

　　The relaxed and exciting upgrade style of maze sololeveling is too different from my writing style, so I can't write it. I can save it up and read it once in a while.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)