The Dreamgreen let out a high-pitched cry, kicked the ground with its long, thick legs, and charged towards the knights. The downside of its body being covered in hard, heavy scales, was that the Dreamgreen could no longer fly. That's our only salvation.
However, the knights' sight, hearing, and sense of smell are impaired, making it difficult to catch a glimpse of the creature.
I wonder what Captain Zachary is going to do?
I thought as I gazed at the knights.
Does Captain Zachary know the properties of Dream Green?
There was a huge difference between fighting a monster knowing its characteristics and fighting it without knowing them. Dreambird was just a monster that created hallucinations, but the Dreamgreen had a large body, hard scales, and sharp fangs and claws. It would be terrifying to unleash that ferocious monster into the hallucinatory space...
Since Zavilia appeared in this forest as the Black Dragon, the monsters' movement ranges had become strange, and Dreambird had appeared near the entrance, but normally, like Flower-horned Deer, it was a monster that lived in the abyss. You probably wouldn't encounter it unless you went deep into the forest.
It's possible, but compared to 300 years ago, the number of monsters had decreased. Since I only had experience from defeating Flower-horned Deer, it felt a bit premature to judge, but... since the Demon King was currently sealed away, it made sense that the number of monsters would decrease. If that's the case, then perhaps the knights had less combat experience than the knights in my previous life.
And having so easily allowed it to transform into the Dreamgreen, wasn't this the first time Captain Zachary had encountered this monster? If they had the experience of defeating someone even once, they would do whatever it took to stop it from transforming.
First Knight Order Captain Cyril would probably say, "You must have read the 'List of Monsters Inhabiting This Forest,' so you should know how to fight," but it's not that simple...
As I watched, under Captain Zachary's instructions, the mages began setting up trap magic on the ground in a horizontal line from west to east. It's an early magic that exploded when a monster steps on the trap. It seemed to be used to determine the Dreamgreen's position. The knights stood at equal intervals about five meters behind the trap, swords at the ready.
The sight of the knights lined up with their swords at the ready was a spectacular sight, but the Dreamgreen seemed to be charging forward at incredible speed, without paying any attention to the knights waiting for it. Seeing the fearless monster, several knights tensed up and put unnecessary force into their bodies.
Each time the Dreamgreen stepped on it, I felt the vibration. The smell of rising dust. The glittering claws and fangs. Just standing there to fight back must be extremely terrifying.
——And then, the Dreamgreen stepped on the line of the trap magic. At that moment, the knights in front of it put all their strength into drawing their swords!
——But there's no explosion!
"Eh?!" The knights were instantly stunned and froze in their movements.
The fact that no explosion occurred meant that the Dreamgreen looming before the knights' eyes was a hallucination, and its true form was somewhere else.
However, the knights seemed to prioritize their own vision, and began swinging their swords blindly at the dream green vision. The fear of not knowing where it was frightened the knights.
A moment after the place was dominated by fear, a trap spell exploded about 10 meters to the east from the Dreamgreen's Illusion.
"Huh?!"
The knights closest to the explosion hastily readied their swords. However...
"Whoa!" "Ahhhh!!"
The knights about 10 meters further east from the explosion were blown away. It appeared that the Dreamgreen jumped diagonally.
Since they couldn't form a correct image and figure out its position, fighting in a group was a disadvantage... If you're not careful, you might end up injuring your allies with the sword you swing around. While I was thinking that, the knights were being knocked away one by one.
Captain Zachary put strength into his grip on his sword, but he just stood there unable to move. His molars were clenched tightly.
...I remembered being told to stay quiet, but I couldn't bear it any longer, so I turned to look at the other knights who were waiting nearby. There were five knights in the Monster Knights Order assigned to my platoon, including five familiars. And three of them had wings. My eyes met with the three monsters, two C-rank eagle-type monsters and a D-rank owl-type monster.
"Monsters have a strong survival instinct. They would want Fia's power to heal their wounds instantly, no matter what. So even if you don't have a contract, they will probably accept Fia as their temporary master. They hope that by being useful to you, they will receive rewards from you, namely the benefit of your healing abilities. And since they are monsters who already have a contract with a master, they will have no qualms about following a human." (Zavilia)
"That's why they're probably looking at Fia, waiting for your instructions," Zavilia muttered this while on my shoulder.
...Yeah, I think Zavilia's imagination is correct. That's because the familiars haven't taken their eyes off me even once.
However, even if I were to give instructions, since we had not made a contract, it would be impossible to communicate like with Zavilia just by thinking of them as the other person. It was said that monsters had intuitions many times sharper than humans, but...
I raised one hand, pointed toward the Dreamgreen, and swept it toward the sky above.
—— I wonder if it got through?
Sure enough, the three monsters understood my intentions perfectly, and the moment I shook off my hands, they flew off into the sky above the Dreamgreen.
The hallucination only worked within the circle that the Dreambird created while flying. In terms of height, it only worked up to the height that Dreambird was flying when it drew the circle, and if you went any higher than that, you could see the real thing. So, by positioning themself directly above the Dreamgreen, they should be able to tell Captain Zachary and the others about the actual location of the Dreamgreen, that was directly below the familiars.
The only problem was that the Dreamgreen could freely return to Dreambird. The transformation into the Dreambird took time, but the transformation back into Dreambird was completed in an instant. Once it realized our intentions, it would probably return to the Dreambird, flew into the sky, and crushed all the familiars below C-rank.
I raised one hand and chanted a spell in a low voice.
"Restrain. Then, regardless of its crimes. —— [Simple Prison]!" (Fia)
Although it was originally intended to restrain enemies, it was used as a cage to protect familiars from outside enemies. If it was a B-rank Dreambird, I would lower the level, thinking that a simple one would be sufficient.
"Cover up the secret with malice and good will. —— [Second-level concealment]!" (Fia)
And since the prison created by magic was visible, I put a layer on top of it with a concealment magic.
"Hehehe. With this, someone like Dreambird won't be able to lay a hand on the familiars." (Fia)
I muttered with a smile, and Zavilia made a displeased face.
"I think that's a bit too much. If you provide such a comfortable space, the familiars will become addicted. Familiars have no qualms about following people, so they will be completely obedient to those who protect them. They will be so infatuated with Fia that you won't even notice." (Zavilia)
"Huh?" (Fia)
"That's a problem, Zavilia!" While I was saying this, the familiars reached right above the Dreamgreen. The Dreamgreen was an A-rank monster, so it had high intelligence. It instantly realized the familiars' intentions, transformed into Dreambird, and flapped its wings once to reach them. It then tried to tear the familiars apart with its sharp claws, but it was knocked out of the air with a high-pitched clang.
When I saw that, I proudly spoke to Zavilia.
"What do you think of this? An invisible cage is almost like a hallucination, right? It's like, 'Taste of your medicine!' Isn't it a very tasteful way to get revenge?" (Fia)
"Yeah, it's a shame you can't show it to the knights and hear their opinions, huh?" (Zavilia)
Argh, then Zavilia can just say something like "It's wonderful"!
I yelled out in frustration.
"Captain Zachary!" (Fia)
Startled by my scream, I continued shouting at Captain Zachary, who turned his gaze towards me.
"Dreambird has left the range of the hallucination, so the place you see now is the correct position! Have the archers and mages hold him back! The familiars in the sky are self-protecting and will block bows and magic, so don't worry about them! While they're holding it back, leave the area! If you go outside the circle that Dreambird drew at the beginning, the hallucination will disappear!" (Fia)
Captain Zachary looked at me in surprise, but there was no reason for him to doubt me, so he did as I said. And so, the knights skillfully divided up their roles and escaped from the hallucinatory space without causing any further damage.
...All that remained were the familiars protected in an invisible, safe cage, an enraged Dreambird, and the knights freed from their hallucinations.
——Yes, let's go back to the scene from five minutes ago.
I looked back at Captain Zachary and the knights and smiled.
"Again, from the beginning, huh?"
Come on, Captain Zachary, you no longer have the excuse that you have no hunting experience.
I counting on your help in defeating Dreambird, okay...?
Author's Note
Thank you for reading.
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