CH 101

Chapter 101

When Peaceful Times Cease To Exist : The Fairy And Great Beasts Of The Prairie, Part 11 — Scenery Of Training

Translated by KaiesV

Edited by KaiesV

「What’s the difference between me and Aery? I don’t see that much difference in physical ability, but I feel like there is a significant difference in combat ability?」

「I have three reasons. First is experience. She’d lived on the prairie since she was born. So she knows how to fight against Prairie creatures. In this respect, Alfiris is new to everything, so it’s natural that you can’t do it well. It’s safe to assume that a human being can’t muster even half of that strength in front of someone he/she is fighting for the first time. In fact, I doubt they could fight well against the humans and demons out here.」

「I see… That’s why she can fight so fluidly.」

「Second, you have too much power in your body, Alfiris. Be more relaxed in body and mind, push when you are pulled, pull when you are pushed. And when you find an opening, take it down.」

「H–Hmmm??」

「Every living thing has its unique pauses, actions, and crevices. Even if it appears to be absent at first glance, there will always be an opening if something is set in motion. Therefore, what is needed is not the number of『decisive』blows, but the variety of『crushing』blows. Do you understand?」

「Somehow…」

「Third, she strengthens herself with wind magic when she fight. If you can enhance your weapons with magic, why not your body too?」

「I’ve heard of that idea… but it’s pretty hard to do, you know?」

「Of course, since you are forcing your body to work with outside forces, one mistake could destroy your own body. So when I say enhance, I only enhance it a little bit momentarily. In this sense, wind magic is quite suitable for combat. It can increase one’s movement speed itself.」

「Oh well, maybe I can do that.」

「Yeah, you can practice using the wind. Let me help you.」

And so it was Miranda who became the test subject for Alfiris’ new technique. Miranda was actually not very dexterous, and there was not much that the aerialists could teach her other than basic body techniques. As she herself told Alfiris sometime ago, her skills as a warrior may indeed be less than first-rate.

But this is something that not only Miranda herself, but the rest of the group has noticed, but if they were to kill each other over anything, the strongest person would be Miranda. Miranda’s pharmaceutical skills were wide-ranging: explosives, poisons, paralyzing agents, sleeping pills – anything was possible. Once she get wind of it, one won’t even know if they’re been poisoned without knowing it. In addition, as an immortal who can also exercise sacred magic, it was easy to predict that she wouldn’t be defeated by a half-hearted attempt.

＊＊＊

And Phalanx had taught Lisa how to apply the techniques as a sensor.

「Now let’s review yesterday. Try to use your Sensor ability all along the shape of the earth’s surface.」

「Yes…」

Lisa closes her eyes and concentrates on her sensors. She senses the shape of the earth’s surface and gradually widens the area of influence of her sensors. When it reaches a wall, it does the same thing, expanding the range of the sensor so that it can accompany the wall, and finally reaching the ceiling, the sensor covers the room, which is about 15 m square by 7 m high.

The only detection Lisa had done so far was to send Ki radially around herself like sonar. However, sonar has the disadvantage of not being able to detect fine details due to its high sensing speed.

She could also sense objects that were unnatural compared to the surrounding terrain, and she could detect moving objects, but the characteristics of the creature—— For example, she could determine the rough shape of the outer surface, but not the hardness. So she could recognize「human-like」objects, but to check them in detail, she had to repeatedly fly sonar to see if it was someone she knew. Lexus referred to Lisa as an「amateur,」referring to the way she repeatedly flew sonar.

Of course, there is always some degree of sensor-based warding around Lisa, but it was also a wave. Waves were circulated around 20 meters in a certain cycle, so that Lisa could know what was caught in the waves. If it was a wave, however, it wouldn’t be detected if it approached Lisa at once during a break in the wave, and even if it hit her, it would be easy to get close to her if she was in sync with the wave. Of course, such technology was only possible because of Lexus, but Blackhawk has around 10 people who can do similar things. And since it’s an essential skill for assassins to be able to evade Sensor alerts, Lisa’s alertness must have seemed very poor to them.

What Lisa was currently doing was a method of vigilance that even an assassin would detect. In other words, she considers the room itself to be an extension of herself and keeps her guard up. It’s highly accurate and can sense everyone it touches, but it’s also mentally fatiguing and has a short duration.

「Hmmm, that’s a good start. Now tell me how many other creatures, especially insects, are currently in the area.」

「…7 on the ground, on the walls… 25, 8 on the ceiling」

「What about the wall behind me?」

「1.」

「What is its shape?」

「I think it was a centipede-like polypod.」

「All right, you’re cleared.」

Lisa breaks her concentration. But despite her acceptance, she is somewhat dissatisfied.

「What’s wrong? I thought I told you you passed.」

「It took me two weeks to finally get it done. Lisa is appalled at her inability to do it!」

「I see…」

Phalanx only lightly affirmed that this training was, in fact, a training that would normally take a year at the earliest for a C-rank sensor like Lisa. He was even hoping to get the hang of it while she was here, whether it was her or not.

「（That’s way too fast… Some wild magical beasts do it relatively naturally, but even I couldn’t keep my mind on the ceiling for the first 100 years or so after I was born. Also, this room is the best I can do. I can’t go any further than this… but this girl is not even 1/10th my size, and yet she can easily get her mind around this room. With a little getting used to, she might be able to stretch it out to 100m squares…）」

Phalanx was inwardly astonished. No wonder, he didn’t know, but already Lisa’s sensor abilities were about to reach the top B rank by the guild’s standards. There are less than 100 A-rated or higher sensors on the continent. In less than a month, Lisa was about to join the top of the world’s most prestigious groups. Only she was unaware of it.

「Phalanx, let’s take it to the next level.」

「Hmmm… Now, the next step is to move your Sensor ability around so that it follows the air flow. The difficulty level is nothing compared to what you just went through…」

「Fufu, I’ll show you how to master it in no time this time!」

With a wry smile from Lisa, the training moved on to the next phase. And true to her word, Lisa would shape this training in just a short time.

＊＊＊

「…All right, here we are.」

「Gugoh— gugoh—!」

「…Wake up… Dragleo…」

Lifeless had come to the prairie with Dragleo. Of course, that was the plan, but it seems that nothing is more important to Dragleo than sleep.

「…Oh, man… If it were Storm Season, Phalanx would surely be in his own habitat… The key role is for Dragleo to…」

Although he had an idea where Phalanx lives, he went out of his way to visit the Prairie during the Storm Season because Phalanx is so godforsaken, but Dragreo is still sleeping. Lifeless considered transferring directly to the vicinity of Phalanx’s residence, but the magnetic field was distorted in the Prairie, and the transfer magic itself could fail if he was not careful. Lifeless wanted to avoid the ignominy of being transferred deep into the ground and lost. Besides, the plan with Phalanx would be useless if Dragleo didn’t defeat him. The reason for this is unknown to Lifeless, but it’s at the behest of his master.

With that in mind, he went out of his way to transfer to the surrounding area of the Prairie, a place with a relatively stable magnetic field. The day was so bad that a huge tornado was approaching several hundred meters in front of them.

「…Well, it’s better than transferring in the middle of a tornado… What I should I do then…」

Lifeless think a little, but the approach speed of a tornado is quite fast.

「…It can’t be helped then… Or I could leave Dragleo behind…」

Lifeless reached the conclusion that it was too much, and he quickly left the place, leaving Dragleo in place. Soon after, he watched as Dragleo was swallowed by the tornado and soared high into the sky, and then he began to prepare for his transition.

「…W–Well, that much won’t kill him… And if he dies, it’d be so much the better… I’ll do it with Phalanx instead… that sounds fun too… Fufufu…」

Lifeless twisted his mouth a little and left the place.