Seven weeks later…

  Michelle

  At both the Praexoent Empire’s research base and at Elsanth, the group had researched as much as they could to decide where they wanted to live, seeing as how there was no way to go back to their previous lives on Earth.

  The nearest city to Elsanth had been Iklos to the north. Many of the other Earthlings had headed there in an attempt to escape the harsh treatment they'd had to endure in Elsanth.

  But that wouldn’t have been enough, because all the surrounding cities also wanted nothing to do with anyone from Earth. The bias against them had spread.

  With the idea of staying in this country a bad one, and the nearby Empire also no good, that meant they should just leave this Kingdom altogether.

  They spent weeks researching, and what they finally settled on was the Nibuolos Queendom, in the distant southeast. Reaching it would take a long time, but that was fine with them. They didn’t have any ties to anywhere currently, so they decided to go out of their way to settle down somewhere nice since there wasn’t even anything they would be leaving behind.

  The first major requirement they had when making that decision was that the education system was good. They wanted to send Luna to a good school, after all.

  After that, was basically going to school for the rest of them as well. Michelle and Amber wanted to learn blacksmithing, and Sarah wanted to learn alchemy. Nibuolos had people who could teach them.

  ———

  The four of them were currently in their third city away from Elsanth. By now, people didn’t immediately identify them as Earthlings on sight alone. This was partially because they had improved their armor and clothes a bit since then, and also just because of the distance from that city.

  Their armor and weapons had been replaced with better versions. While still cheap, they no longer were the bottom-of-the-barrel garbage they had been stuck with before. Amber’s ability to repair everything and adjust their size was still invaluable, though the others had made sure they could still take care of things on their own without her help.

  It was an important skill to have, especially for Michelle, because she wanted to become a blacksmith. It was relevant for Sarah, as well, though, because her future enchanting work would require her to be a part of the production process.

  In the three months that they had been out in the world and killing monsters for a living, they had actually settled into a routine, and could now manage their time better and go about it more effectively.

  To get more money, they had also begun taking jobs that weren’t just the easiest ones. They still needed to improve their gear and pay for travel supplies.

  These more difficult jobs generally required them to hunt something more dangerous or even just investigate an area. They were much more in-depth than the usual jobs they took.

  Today, they were on one such job.

  ———

  They spent much of their time these days in forests. Now that they had figured out how to actually watch out for danger—as they had had no choice but to learn quickly—walking through the forest could even be enjoyable to an extent.

  But right now, they had their task to focus on, so they did not pay attention to any of the things about nature that they liked.

  The four of them were currently tracking a large lizard monster. Diamond was practically a fifth member of their group by now, as Luna had stopped changing its form and name.

  The wolf, even though it was only made of Luna’s magic, had real intelligence in the way it behaved. It was even capable of making smaller decisions without any input from her.

  The job only required them to investigate the monster, but they could also kill it if they thought it was doable for them. Their task was to find out as much as they could about it without endangering themselves too much. They were trying to find out where it currently is, where it lives, what it eats, what its habits are, and so on.

  Winter had recently arrived, making tracks much easier to follow through the snow, though with a monster of this size, that hardly mattered. They still had to find them in the first place, though.

  Unlike how Amber had been in the summer, it was Michelle and Luna this time who didn’t mind the temperature. They were still properly protected, but they didn’t need any additional layers to keep themselves warm. The cold was natural to them.

  Sarah, on the other hand, was suffering a bit, as she could neither endure the cold so easily nor generate heat the way Amber could. However, as a tigerkin, cold temperatures weren’t as bad for Sarah as they would’ve been had she still been human. And her hair and the fur on her tail and ears had become all fluffy, much to everyone else’s amusement.

  It also looks pretty cute.

  Another change the snow had brought was that Michelle’s motorcycle currently had a wider design with treads on its wheels, but that wasn’t relevant at the moment.

  What was relevant was that Michelle and Luna could easily move snow out of the way, as it was ice, and Amber could melt it by heating the ground below, so their movement wasn’t particularly hindered. When they took a break earlier, she had even made lava for the first time in a while, which had been interesting to see in the middle of winter.

  Right now, all they knew of the monster was its general location, and an estimate of its size based on the tracks someone had reported seeing.

  Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  They had left the city early, and it was after noon when they finally found the beast’s tracks. Other monsters had attacked them a couple times on their way here, as was typical of a forest.

  Sarah was the first one to notice the tracks they were looking for. The prints showed five long claws on each foot, and there was an undulating line between the prints where its tail had dragged along the ground.

  Sarah frowned. “It looks like it has big spikes on the end of its tail.”

  “Any ideas for how we should deal with it if we fight it?” Michelle asked.

  “We’ll be busy dealing with its claws and whatever magic it has, so I think for this one, Diamond should constantly run around to distract it.

  |

  “From the tracks, we can tell that this thing is pretty big, so we wouldn’t be able to focus on it as uniformly as we usually do. We’ll be able to deal with its attacks better if we’re a bit more spaced out. It’s too big for us to only focus on its front or another part.”

  They didn’t normally deal with monsters this large, so their usual tactic of staying close to each other wouldn’t work out as well this time.

  It sounds counterintuitive to spread out when facing a larger threat, but if the monster is allowed to focus on everyone in a single area, it will likely overwhelm them. But they have to be careful to not spread out too much as well, because then it could crush them individually.

  They need to find a balance between spacing themselves out to split its focus, but also staying close enough to defend and help each other if need be.

  They continued following the lizard's trail, and when the tracks started to look more recent, they stopped to rest up and have a snack. They reviewed their strategy again, then carefully crept forward.

  They soon found it resting in a clearing of its own making. They couldn’t tell what element it used yet, but it was obvious that it had a [Heat] modifier. There was no snow where it had chosen to lay down, and everything around it was dried out and crumbling away. The air was even rippling slightly with heat waves.

  That meant Amber’s magic would have to rely on her element only, as fighting it with heat would be pointless. But if its element turns out to be earth magic, then Amber will have an even harder time.

  It’s annoying that having mana makes it so I can’t just mess with the water inside its body or something.

  In addition to making the body stronger and more resilient in general, having mana also meant having an inherent resistance to magical interference within the body.

  Michelle, Amber, and Sarah all shared a look to decide if they wanted to go after it or not. They were all in agreement, but made sure to check on Luna before finalizing their decision.

  This will be a decent amount of money.

  Michelle whispered to Luna, “Can you focus on cooling us down during the fight? It will be a huge help.”

  Luna nodded eagerly, happy to have something to do. It would also genuinely be useful to prevent their non-heat-resistant members from overheating. She knows that big stuff like this is still far beyond her current capabilities.

  “Thank you, sweetie. Just spread water along the ground and make it as cold as you can, okay?”

  They got as close as they dared to, and once they were ready, Amber launched the first attack. It was half a dozen earth spikes, aimed straight down above its neck.

  Both monsters and people, if familiar enough with magic, can sense when it is being used. The lizard detected Amber’s spell and, in an instant, whipped itself sideways and out of the way. Only one of the spikes even touched it, and that was only just a graze.

  Damn. No sneak attack here.

  It stood up to its full height and stared them down. It was around four meters tall and at least three times as long. The monster bared its fangs and hissed angrily.

  Amber began firing arrows at its eyes, while Diamond ran around its feet, occasionally slashing with its claws. Luna had increased the wolf’s size for the fight, and she had also spread cold water out like her mom had asked her to, though it was rapidly evaporating.

  Sarah burst forward in a flash of wind and was about to slam her hammer into its foot, but it dodged at the last second. She narrowly avoided being sliced by its claws.

  Michelle used that distraction to go for its other front leg with her sword, but that was actually a diversion for her real attack, which was a powerful water jet aimed at its throat from below, which should be strong enough to be the same as someone punching a person in the same spot.

  The surroundings began to darken as the heat rapidly became stiflingly hot.

  “Shadow magic!” Michelle shouted, activating her light magic tool by pouring mana into it. Amber and Sarah did the same, and Luna was smart enough to not activate her own, making her less likely to be targeted.

  Michelle and Luna were both working to counter the heat, but they would have to finish this quickly before anyone faltered. Michelle kept an eye on Sarah to help keep her cool. Amber's magic meant she had no problems with this level of heat.

  The monster lizard growled in annoyance at its failure to cut off their vision. Diamond ran at it, and Amber used her earth magic to constantly mess with the monster's footing. She had already landed several arrows in it, but none of them had pierced anything vital.

  It slashed at Diamond, flinging her sideways and taking a large chunk out of her body.

  “DIAMOND!” Luna yelled from within the enclosed motorcycle seat.

  Sarah used that moment to brutally slam its shoulder with her hammer, utterly shredding it and gouging out a chunk of its flesh.

  It roared in pain, and the darkness briefly increased in intensity, decreasing the visibility their tools provided. It spun itself sideways to attack Michelle and Sarah with its tail. Sarah’s wind magic allowed her to dodge out of the way in time, but Michelle couldn’t move that fast.

  Rather than creating a wall of ice between her and the incoming spikes, she created a ramp to angle the attack upward instead, and ducked behind her creation. Amber also created an earthen barrier to help her.

  Michelle was lucky enough to not receive any damage from the spikes, but was blown off to the side with chunks of ice and earth digging into her skin. The force of the attack also left her heavily bruised and with some fractured bones.

  She shakily took out her pouch of healing potion and chugged it, which forced all the foreign material out and repaired the damage.

  Damn it, that was an expensive potion, too.

  Luna had seen her mom and the others take damage before, and knew she didn’t have to worry about them immediately, so she hadn’t yelled out like when Diamond was struck.

  During its attack on Michelle, Amber had landed an arrow in its eye, causing it to reel back in pain. As it was recovering from that, Sarah crushed its other eye with her hammer.

  It began thrashing around and roaring in pain and rage, but without its vision, its attacks were unable to reach them. Michelle and Amber both created numerous spikes and slammed them into it.

  Sarah managed to get its other shoulder at that moment, and with both front legs disabled, Michelle was able to swing her sword into its neck. Her strike didn’t go all the way through, but it was enough to end it.

  The darkness faded as everyone panted heavily from the exertion and heat. After making sure there were no other surprises, Michelle dispelled her motorcycle, allowing Luna to run to her wolf.

  “Diamond!” she cried out, holding it. It had been shredded nearly into two separate pieces, and one of its legs was entirely gone.

  Even though it’s made entirely of ice, this is still hard to look at.

  Diamond was still alive, though, or at least simulating being alive. Luna began pouring her magic into the wolf, but much of her mana was gone because of the fight.

  Michelle supplemented it by replacing the missing pieces of Diamond’s body with her own ice, though the shape wasn’t nearly as refined as what Luna’s Gift could make. Luna then just focused on restoring Diamond using that instead of entirely regenerating everything that was missing.

  This feels different. Because I’m supplying my own mana to her Gift, I think? It’s working, though.

  After Diamond was fully back to normal—and held tightly by Luna, they took a break. As if nothing had happened, the wolf was looking at each of them with great interest.

  After sufficient rest, they cut off the lizard’s claws and left the rest behind. They were its most valuable parts, and most of the reward money would come from confirming their successful kill of the monster anyway.

  We should’ve just reported our findings instead of fighting it. We were cocky. I can’t believe this kind of thing is normal for us now. It’s kind of exciting in a way, but I can’t wait to have a regular life again.