I was accidentally injured by God and I just want to be an ordinary person

"I'm not lying."

Ella's words made Angeline pause, but perhaps because of her optimistic nature, she quickly shifted her attention to the magic props that Ella was storing in the warehouse.

"Rather than learning alchemy, I think it's easier to just take it from little Ella."

"I'll let Angelina choose when we get back. Now we need to find a monster that can be made into spices."

"Just pick it directly..."

Following Angelini's words, Mitis showed a complex look mixed with envy.

Hearing the muttering, Ella tilted her head.

"Mitis is also okay?"

"Eh? Is this okay?"

There was a hint of surprise in his tone.

"Of course, I can't possibly use all these magic weapons. Wouldn't it be more fun if we all shared them?"

"Together..."

After being splashed with a basin of cold water, Mitis's wings, which were spread out with joy, drooped down instantly.

Chapter 45: Dragon Claws and Frost Fury

After sending Priestera away, everyone began to explore the valley for plants that could be used as spices. Although the stronger monsters in the valley had long been driven away by the black dragon, considering that some weak and poisonous monsters were not among them, Ella decided to act together - Mitis and Angelini were in charge of the vanguard, and she and Luty provided support in the rear.

Waving her parasol to cut off the branches blocking her way, Mitis turned around.

"Is this how Ella fights? She's surprisingly good, very much like a healer."

"I'm a healer after all. How does Mitis see me normally?"

Ella tugged at her sleeve helplessly, and Mitis just turned back casually.

"Nanako said Ella was talented in close combat, and since she's a Demon King, it's natural to assume she's a warrior or a mage, and that healer is just a cover-up."

"That's a complete misunderstanding. Let's focus on finding the spices. Priestera said that claw-like plant will attack passersby. If you don't pay attention, you might get attacked, okay?"

"Plants..."

Mitis looked troubled. "Blood Control" didn't work on plant-type monsters, so they were considered to be a very poorly compatible opponent.

Thinking about Ella's words, Lotte, who was walking behind, murmured softly.

"A plant that looks like a claw, and lives near the Black Dragon Mountains, could it be a dragon claw?"

Angelica, who was clearing the way with a giant sickle, stopped.

"Ah, I know that guy. He's not very dangerous, but he's annoying."

"Hate?"

Ella blinked in confusion.

"Well, back when I was at the Sacred Academy, I heard other adventurers talk about it. It's a monster with four main trunks that look a lot like dragon claws from the air. Each trunk has many tentacles, and its body secretes a liquid that sticks to its prey. Once caught, it's very difficult to escape. Furthermore, after the tentacles and trunks grab prey, they pull it into its central mouth. So even if you're rescued by your companions, your body will be covered in a strange smell, and that slime is hard to wash off. No one wants to harvest dragon claws..."

"It smells strange... I feel like the spice Priestera was talking about is the smell of that slime."

For a moment, Ella wanted to go back.

"Can't we use the black tea made by Ms. Angelina?"

The black tea that Angeline made using the magic of "prayer" has the effect of destroying plants, so it was natural for Lotte to think of this.

"It's fine to try, but I can't guarantee it will work, okay?"

"Well... if the smell comes from slime, maybe we can avoid destroying the dragon claws."

It sounded like a very friendly statement, but Ella just didn't want to get close to the dragon claw - it reminded her of a strange creature that only existed in adult publications.

Mitis waved.

"Anyway, let's find it first. I haven't noticed any strange smell yet."

"Shall we go to the east?"

After knowing the name, it was easy to find the target with the help of "Terrain Search". No one objected, and the group rushed to the location pointed by Ella.

◇

Looking at the giant plant in the open space ahead, the four of them couldn't help but swallow.

"Ah... Ella-chan, let's go back..."

"As much as I want to agree... but we've come this far, there's no turning back. Angelica, take the vanguard position. I'll use my 'magic shield' to help you block attacks at the crucial moment."

"I always feel like I've been cheated by little Ella."

A green plant that stretched out for at least fifteen meters suddenly appeared before my eyes. Like an animal thirsty for life taking its last breath of air, its trunk extending in four directions kept rising and falling. Although it was not very fast, it was still very shocking due to its size.

Not only that, as Angelini said, this plant called "Dragon Claw" is covered with disgusting transparent mucus. As the trunk dances up and down, the mucus is pulled into threads in the air. Ella can even catch some things like insect-type monster legs in it.

In addition, there are densely packed needle-like tentacles growing on its four green main bodies. Judging from their stiff state, they are not soft tentacles like fluff. If Ella had to describe it, she could only imagine the appearance of a toothbrush. The main body of the dragon vine claw is equivalent to the handle of the toothbrush, and the tentacles are equivalent to the bristles.

"Would you like to try Miss Angelini's method first? At this distance, maybe we can just throw the item over."

No one questioned Luti's proposal. After seeing it with their own eyes, the other three preferred to use a method that did not waste energy rather than close combat.

Since Ella's warehouse already had a lot of "black tea" made by Angeline stored, the preparations were quickly completed - the black tea was wrapped with large leaves from the storage, and then the "solidification" magic was used to connect the leaves wrapped in the black tea into a ball, which was finally thrown out by Lotte.

“Hey—hey!”

The distance of more than 30 meters was not difficult for Loti. The leaf ball hit the dragon vine claw accurately and was stuck to its tentacles by its mucus. However, perhaps because the leaf ball was too light, the dragon vine claw did not react at all.

"Ms. Ella, you can now remove the 'Solidification' spell."

"Yes, 'Remove'."

With a light snap, the originally connected leaf balls exploded instantly, and a black liquid mixed with tea leaves - under the influence of Angelica's "prayer" magic, the originally reddish-brown tea leaves turned black - instantly splashed onto the dragon's vine claws.

The four of them held their breath and stared intently at the part affected by the black tea.

One minute later.

The first person to be discouraged was Mitis, who didn't know the effect of black tea.

"This is totally useless."

"That's impossible... It was clearly very effective back at the Sacred Academy. Not only did ordinary plants wither upon contact, but even the thornless thorns, which were classified as monsters, turned to charcoal."

Recalling the explosive taste, Ella's taste buds suddenly shut down. In order to verify whether the problem was with the black tea, Ella poured it into the bushes next to her.

The effect is obvious. The original green bushes have visibly turned into a pitiful appearance with only branches left.

"See, this is quite effective."

"Little Ella's behavior makes me feel very uneasy..."

"Miss Ella, could it be the slime? The slime is blocking the tool Angeline-san created from coming into contact with the main body."

"Hmm...it's possible, but it's impossible to remove the mucus."

Viewed from the side, the slime is at least one finger thick, and it is difficult to peel off the slime without damaging the body.

After frowning and thinking for a while, Mitis turned her gaze to Ella.

"Try using fire?"

"Before using methods that might alert it, why not consider a more effective plan? It doesn't seem to have noticed us yet."

Perhaps it had discovered them through the vibrations of the ground, but before the dragon's claws actually took action, Ella decided to take a safe approach.

"With this size, even with Vampire's Kiss, it would be difficult to cut through it in one go. One would have to sever the four main trunks first and then attack the rest. However, that would increase the blood requirement..."

"The main problem is I don't know exactly where to make the spice. If it's the root, it's easy, but the juice is a bit difficult."

Luty sniffed lightly and found a very distinct fragrant smell around her, somewhat similar to the perfume used by upper-class nobles, but the difference was that this smell overwhelmed any other smell nearby. The smell of grass, the moisture of the soil, and the traces left by animals all disappeared under the influence of this smell, which was exactly what Ella wanted.

"I have a hunch that this is the slime that Ella-chan was talking about."

"Even Angeline said so... then let's start with the goal of bringing back the complete Dragon Vine Claw."

As she spoke, Ella raised the Fire Arrow. Since fire didn't work—it would probably evaporate the slime—she could try freezing it instead. As long as she used the Fire Arrow to cast a large number of ice balls, she could easily create a wide-area magic equivalent to the fourth-tier "Frozen Fury."

After confirming that no one objected, Ella muttered to herself.

"puck"

clack clack-

There was a clear difference from using ice magic in a dry environment. This time, the ice balls were even more exaggerated than in the Kingdom of Barris. In just less than ten seconds, thousands of "ice balls" condensed around. In this cold, the surrounding environment also changed. Ice-blue frost appeared on the leaves of many plants, and the sound of freezing was endless.

The coldness that crept up her back made Mitis sneeze. But when she was about to use defensive magic to pull Luty and Angeline in, she found that they had already hidden far away. The number of ice balls that came into her sight made her so surprised that she forgot to think.

An ordinary person would be called a genius if he could condense ten ice balls at the same time. Even for people in the heroic realm, it would be a fantasy to control hundreds of ice balls at the same time. You know, with each additional ice ball, the difficulty of control will increase exponentially, which is probably equivalent to asking the left hand and right hand to draw a circle and a square respectively, not to mention that Ella is controlling thousands of ice balls.

While shivering all over, Mitis rubbed her eyes with her hand - it was indeed true, she was not seeing things wrong. Now Ella was controlling the ice balls, making them gather into a wall about forty meters long and wide. Judging from the appearance, it was exactly the same as "Frost Fury". Mitis had the honor of seeing the empire's first magic caster use "Frost Fury". At that time, the hero was definitely not as relaxed as Ella when using magic. The tension as if facing a great enemy was as if he was fighting a dragon, and his whole body was filled with the feeling of going all out.

"It's hard to believe... It really is the Demon King. No, even the Demon King can't be this terrifying..."

Mitis even wanted to classify Ella into another category of creatures in her mind.

Wiping the cold sweat from her forehead, Mitis moved her stiff body, walked around Ella, and headed towards Lotte and Angeline.

Just like in the game, Ella controlled the ice balls and made them gather together carefully. Because the target was relatively fragile plants, Ella did not make the ice balls very solid. Rather than ice balls, they were more like softer snowballs. In addition, because the dragon vine claws were vertically high, Ella also deliberately increased the thickness of the "Frost Fury" - although the Frost Fury looked no different from a fly swatter to Ella.

"Then... let's begin."

Wielding the arrow of fire, Ella directed the "Fury of Frost" that covered most of the sky, approaching the dragon's claws at a very slow speed.

Slowly, step by step, an exaggerated number of condensed ice balls covered the sky above the dragon vine claws, and the dragon vine claws seemed to have discovered something. The main trunk that was originally spread out in all directions closed together upwards and stopped moving as if to protect the flower buds in the middle.

Even from a distance, Ella could see ice beginning to condense on the surface of the dragon's claws. When it was completely covered by the wrath of extreme cold, Ella stopped controlling the arrow of fire, and a huge pile of snow fell like an avalanche.

Boom boom boom——

The incalculable weight caused half of the forest to tremble. Countless birds and beasts let out panicked roars, and the plants turned white due to the spreading cold. The world was dyed with the colors of winter, and the cold began to spread in the valley.

With the "Miracle of Healing" controlling the temperature, Ella, who didn't feel the cold at all, began her next task - to enchant her companions with cold resistance magic and clear the snow pile, leaving only the frozen dragon claws as her target.

"'Warm Blessings'."

After quickly finishing all this, Ella ran quickly to Angelini's side. In dealing with this large plant, Angelini, who used a sickle as her main weapon, had more advantages than Mitis.

"Angelina, it's up to you!"

"Um."

Without hesitation, Angeline nodded, and stepped out like a gust of wind, quickly running towards the giant dragon vine claws that were frozen into an ice sculpture and could not move. Although each trunk of the giant dragon vine claws was at least five meters wide horizontally, this was no problem for Angeline.

“Slash!”

There was no need for any fancy melee magic. Angeline swung the golden-pink scythe and hit the root of one of the main trunks. Then, a crisp crackling sound came into her ears, as if a piece of wood was broken in two.

As ice chips flew, the trunk of the dragon vine slammed into the ground with a loud bang, and countless brittle tentacles broke, completely losing their vitality.

『Low-level identification』

"Only 10% HP reduction?... Looks like this guy's main body isn't here. Well, that doesn't matter to me."

"Ella-chan, I'm done here~"

"Got it, I'll be right there!"

After waving to Angelica, Ella carefully ran to the dragon vine claw that was still in the ice sculpture state, put the cut trunk into storage, and then ran back to the original position to release it. She had to first determine the function of the dragon vine claw's trunk.

"Ms. Ella, leave the confirmation to me."

"Well, I'll leave it to Lotte. But first, I need to remove the freezing effect."

After being thawed by magic, the trunk that had lost its main body did not have vitality like a lizard's tail, but just lay limply on the ground.

After repeating the action of dismantling it with the dagger and then sniffing it in front of her, about ten minutes later, a subtle expression appeared on Lotte's face.

"Miss Ella, the smell does come from the mucus, but it's probably because it's frozen. It's so faint that it's almost imperceptible..."

"Haha—it didn't go so smoothly after all."

Although he had prepared himself for failure, he still felt a little disappointed when he heard the exact result. After sighing, he turned his attention to Angelica and Mitis who seemed to want to slip away.

"Looks like we'll have to face it head-on... I'll leave it to Angelica and Mitis."