Chapter 237: The Land of Black Rocks
Well then, today I’m off to search for the black ledge that Pal told me about. The location is described very vaguely as southeast from my house.
But southeast from my house only covers part of this peninsula or some area beyond the sea. I think the area Pal mentioned is within the range of the map I received, before heading to Es.
It’s probably a place I can explore without worry. So, I made my way to the west side of Es. After all, there aren’t any people living in the desert!
I started asking the Spirits around if they knew anything about the black rocks. Since it’s hot today, I equipped the cooling magic circle inside my hooded coat. It’s comfortable, but it consumes a lot of magic stones… Cooling the inside of a single piece of leather is much harder than cooling a tower surrounded by stones, I get that.
I need to find some leather with excellent insulation properties too. Dan-chan seemed to have a tough time with the fireplace during winter.
While gathering information from the Spirits, I gradually used [Teleportation] to arrive at my destination.
Black stones peeked out from the thin yellowish sand. At first, there were just a few, but they gradually formed into a larger hill. Eventually, the solid black stones became more numerous, and only a few grains of sand remained at my feet, blown in by the wind. It feels like there’s a massive volcano nearby.
Are they porous or something? There are lots of holes. Should I just break this rock?
“Whoa!”
An anemone!
No, it’s a demon beast! I thought it was a rock, but it turned out to be a camouflaged demon beast clinging to the stone. From the many holes, snake-like tendrils emerged, and in the center was a round mouth filled with fangs.
I hurriedly cast Fireball. It flinched a bit, but that was it. Ah, this one has short tendrils.
I aimed my Ex-Staff at its mouth and struck hard. It seems to be a demon beast that catches lizards climbing the walls while camouflaged. It doesn’t seem to have any cognitive abilities.
Upon closer inspection, I noticed many of them clinging to the rocks. They also appear to be resistant to fire and heat. With a hard exterior like rock, they’re tough against the wind too. I could probably defeat them with fire, but it might melt other things around.
Even though there aren’t any people here, I want to minimize altering the landscape.
So, I lightly tapped at them with my Ex-Staff, making them open their mouths, and then I struck while avoiding the tendrils.
Are those tendrils? Instead of retracting when poked like an anemone, they try to wrap around, but since they’re short, they’re powerless against my Ex-Staff.
Anemones usually have poison. Observing closely, this one also extends thin, almost transparent needles from its tendrils.
Is it a stinging creature? No, it doesn’t seem to have any horns, so is it just a regular creature? Either way, the stinging cells typical of such creatures are filled with venom, and when stimulated, the threads inside spring out, releasing the venom from their tips.
It seems this one has poison too. I cut off [Exploration] to observe and sense its presence. Training, yes, training. But it’s scary, so I reactivated [Exploration] to double-check.
I thought I couldn’t find any horns, but part of its fangs turned out to be horns. I’ve broken them all!
Like harvesting a Tokobushi shellfish, after defeating it, I slipped my knife into the gap between the rock and the demon beast and twisted it to easily extract it.
But I had no idea which parts I should take back, so I tossed it into [Storage] without disassembling it. I’ll ask Retze later.
I continued to advance slowly. The black rock walls on both sides grew taller and taller. Whether they were eroded and weathered or originally like this, the valley was complexly distorted.
Ahead lay a cluster of colorful coral-like formations and even larger anemones. They looked beautiful, but with their tendrils fully extended, it felt like they were on high alert.
Just as I thought that, one of the coral-like creatures launched a pink, round object at me. I dodged, and it hit the rock, bursting open and splattering liquid everywhere, with white smoke rising from the rock.
Acid?
Before I could confirm, a deluge of it began to rain down. Ah, I’ve learned my lesson.
“Wind Shield!”
A thin membrane of wind enveloped me. This dome-shaped barrier not only protected me but also repelled and sliced anything that touched it with incredible speed.
It seems to be less sturdy than the Earth Shield, but it’s quite handy. However, this could damage the materials, so I might get scolded for it.
Since the ground was covered, I poured more magic power into it and called upon the Spirits for assistance.
The demon beast just ahead of me, along with the rocks, crumbled, creating a smooth path.
Is that a grass cutter? No, it looked more like scooping ice cream with a spoon. The demon beasts here don’t seem to move from their spots, and a path formed behind me as I advanced.
I peeled off some demon beasts that looked promising and tossed them into [Storage]. Oh, I could have stored them without peeling them off after defeating them.
By the way, which parts of the ledge should I take? For now, I’ll avoid the beautiful ones, even if they are demon beasts.
So, in the latter half, I slacked off on combat, but I defeated any demon beasts blocking my path and searched for suitable ledges.
I marked several spots, breaking them with magic and storing them. Overall, the components probably don’t change much, but it’s a matter of feeling.
I gathered enough to fill two or three hills and returned. While delivering the peach in syrup, I immediately asked Retze about the disassembly methods and usable parts.
“Hey, where have you been? I’ve never seen this before!”
“Eh!?”
When I laid out the items on the table on the first floor, I was told they were unfamiliar.