Chapter 6: Scouting

Yuu meanwhile was soaring through the air, or perhaps better to be said is swinging through the air. Since the enemy...err...humans, appeared to have magic, he considered they might sense his magic emissions, so he was trying his new tool, the Grapplebelt. It did use some magic, but only to propel the ripcords. He considered calling them grapplehooks or such, but Lyo thought the name sounded clunky and stupid, so they settled on Ripcords. Basically, they were cords that ripped through the air, attacked at a point, and then pulled you in. The hooks would then pull back into the cord, and return.

There was a magic stone inside powering it, but it used up so little magic that even when he put all of his energy and concentration into a detection spell, he didn't pick anything up aside from a very, very minor pulse. This machine however was considered to be a good and practical way to get around, plus it easily fit on a belt so not clunky. There were a few of them, and he set it up so they synced with the user's mind to launch where the user wanted them to.

Given the way this world was built, with lots of canyons, tall trees, and mountains, it had plenty of use. Although there were various fields and large clearings as well, it couldn't be denied that there was a lot of height elevation around here.

In addition, he could test out the scanner on his goggles this time, by monitoring the adventurers without some big incident getting in the way.

Well, he didn't trust any of them anyways, but he wanted to know just what they were up to. They were obviously investigating something, but Yuu didn't trust the adventurers to tell the truth. He still remembered what they did before they got his memories back. Particularly one incident, where a rather brutish adventurer made him swallow a roach, mocking him "You are what you eat!"

And then they proceeded to kick him and leave him severely wounded in an alley. Since he wasn't someone who could ever afford to pay them a reward, he was trash. Because he was a freak or a monster, suppressing, or even subjugating him, was only natural.

There was also the adventurer who poisoned him, just to test out how their new poison worked. It was a light poison meant for capturing, but he was a small child so it was rather severe.

As such, he had no intentions to trust any of them. As far as he was concerned, they were trash. But if he said that in front of Lyo, he would get scolded again.

Lyo was simply an anomaly though. A pure spirit and soul that seemed to be incapable of being tainted by the bad people in this world. Slaves, bandits, no matter who it was, they never darkened his outlook on life and friendship. He was a freak and a mutant, just like Yuu, but in a different way.

As Yuu got closer to the adventurers, he decided to spy on them from afar before he could be detected. Using his goggles, he measured their power levels. Just like the other party, it was a group of two warriors, one archer, and a mage. Was that a normal setup? Although, this party seemed a bit off. Their mage was radiating quite a bit of power, but their warrior with the great shield was radiating so much Yuu wondered if he was a monster.

At that moment, he glanced towards Yuu, but Yuu hid himself behind a tree first and used magic to conceal his presence. Still, that guy was way stronger then the others. Is that party more makeshift then? THe others were more around the same power as each other, although Yuu had no way to scan for techniques.

Well, not yet at least.

Still, he decided to use mana to enhance his hearing and listen in on what they were saying. After all, they seemed to be discussing something.

"So, anything strange so far, Garron?" the archer asked.

"HMmm...there is definently some irregularities in the magical flow of this area. Im also picking up traces of things all around the forest...I think the idea that this is related to the bandit disappearances in the area is likely".

"Well, since bandit and monster activity has been lower here, I hear not many people have come to this area lately...but it is a cause for concern..."

When Yuu heard that, he gulped.

...sorry for causing people trouble with my bandit hunting...so please go away and dont bother me...

Indeed, Yuu could basically understand he was part of the cause for all this already. Since he had been living here, he had been killing the bandits and monsters in the area so they dont threaten him. Apparently, he hunted so much, it caused not as many adventurers to come over here due to a lack of reports of activity or trouble in this area, but this caused them concern and now they were investigating.

Although, the magical wave distortions or whatever did not sound like him. Which meant, something else might be going on...

Although...I did do a lot of magic training...

...maybe...

ANd I have been developing more powerful magic for when stronger foes appear...

...probably...

ANd there was that one time I tried to tap into the magical vein underneath the canyon...

...possibly?

Well, either way, he didn't trust them, and if they were bad people, he would just kill them and loot their stuff. That was what he decided.

"Yo, kid. So what are you doing here?"

That was when that warrior from before asked him while he was hiding behind the tree. Yuu had not even heard him, yet he appeared out of nowhere.

Yuu immediately backed off, changing his stealth magic for several barrier layers as he formed a complex magical array construction. That was his term for combining lots of magic arrays together to create a highly complex and powerful spell. A rubix cube like object appeared in his hands, but he noticed the others had surrounded him.

"Now now, dont make such a scary face. We just want to talk..."

"SOmeone who wants to talk doesn't sneak up on people!" Yuu retorted, as he unleashed a full on magical blast. The stronger warrior managed to guard against it, but the other three got blasted hard, only the mage being able to block it with magic. Yuu proceeded to use the Ripcord to gain some distance, landing on a sturdy branch. THe adventurers that were jumping and climbing up were looking at him now that he reached some distance. As expected, they didn't seem used to such three dimensional combat like this.

Rather, for a world with such various elevations, there was not too many animals or monsters with adaptations for it.

"Sorry, sorry...its just, you were being so cautious, we wanted to get close enough to talk before you ran off".

The man tried to approach him, but a magical barrier formed in the middle of the air that he slammed into. It shattered, but it also lowered his momentum, causing him to fall downwards.

"Why do I doubt that..." he said as he narrowed his eyes and reinforced his back, as another arrow shot from a place where their archer was not came.

I thought it was weird for two parties of four to come at once...

"Hey now! Hold it!" The warrior said.

The second archer quickly pulled back his bow, but then an arrow fired from another angle and cut his bow string. Looking away, there was a boy in similar equipment with some weird looking bow. The mage seemed concerned as Yuu gathered magical energy, firing several flame blasts at Yuu to stop him. Yuu jumped back, firing pure magical attacks and intercepting them all while then forming an ice shard and firing it at the mage. Yuu then landed on another tree branch, and raised his hand. Dark clouds formed above them, and lightning surged downward at all of the adventurers.

The mage meanwhile managed to use a magic barrier to block the ice shard from hitting him directly, but got grazed by it.

The warrior tried to use himself as a lightning rod, but an arrow hit him in the arm to stop him from diverting the attack from Lyo. Lyo then drew two arrows at once, and fired them both at the warrior as the lightning came down. The warrior in turn swung his sword around rapidly, actually creating a torrent of wind that shielded him while also somehow attracting the lightning. Yuu could sense him using mana, somehow he must have some sort of ability that attracted attacks like that. At least energy ones such as lightning.

"Go! Shadowbirds!"

Suddenly, birds flew out of Yuu's shadow and flocked right at him, but the mage created another magical barrier. It seemed he managed to deflect the other attacks and survive as well. Meanwhile, the archer closed in on Lyo. Lyo ducked as he came at him with a dagger, and used the Ripcord to pull himself back to another tree. The man used superior agility to chase him, but Lyo fired while on the move.

It had been tricky to learn that, but Yuu had helped him, so now he could fire arrows even while soaring through the air. It had taken a few months to get down though, and he wasn't as good as when he was still.

Yuu meanwhile watched as the warrior got closer to him, but Yuu decided in this instance to clad himself in lightning.

"Now, would you just hold on?! I am trying to talk here!"

An arrow flew through the sky, forcing the warrior to dodge and giving Yuu some distance again as he landed on the ground. Suddenly, an ice spiral began to emerge from Yuu and fired multiple ice shards at the warrior while providing Yuu with his own defense. In addition, ice shards began to rain down from the sky.

"Total Blizzard...Whiteout!"

Suddenly, the storm increased dramatically as snow filled whirlwinds spread everywhere. There were shards of ice in it, so they cut anyone inside except for Yuu and Lyo, who were designated as friendly.

And yet, that warrior still came at them.

"Damnit, just die already!" he said as he shot a line of ice spikes out of the ground at the warrior. However, he somehow adjusted his trajectory mid air and evaded them all, getting closer to Yuu. In that instant though, a large amount of spikes came out of the ice to stab him in the next, but in the next instant all the ice shattered. However, Yuu was still clad in lightning, and he kicked the man in the head.

"Haha...tickles" he said as he grabbed Yuu's leg. Yuu gulped, but the man did something unexpected. He put down Yuu on his knee and pulled his pants down before he started to spank him. A lot. "This is for being such a bad boy".

Yuu's face went red with anger and embarrassment, but...Shadow still was not reacting.

Does Shadow just...not target annoying people for some reason?

Either way, after fifty or so he was finally put down, so he pulled his underwear and pants back up.

"Now, can we talk?"

"HELL NO!"

Needless to say, Yuu was even more pissed off then before.

"So, you guys were found by this kid?" the warrior, who introduced himself as James Jameson, mentioned. Yuu naturally retorted on that name, though the man replied with a comment of "additional punishment for bad boys". Thankfully, Lyo managed to calm everyone down, though at the moment they were all gathered outside of Yuu and Lyo's home. Furthermore, not everyone was there, as the archer from before was continueing to scout the area, and Garron was checking out the area using his magic.

"Yeah...well, it was kind of our fault" Argen mentioned.

"Please dont take responsibility. I was the one that panicked" Cassor mentioned. They were dressed back in their old gear, now that it had sufficiently dried out thanks to Yuu's magic.

Well, it was Yuu's magic that soaked it in the first place.

"Anyways, this is a rather nice place over here. And a bit away, did I spy a natural hot springs bath?"

"Oh yeah! Yuu made it! He is a super genius! And he is my bestiest best friend in the whole universe!" Lyo shouted out, much to Yuu's embarrassment.

"Idiot! DOnt just announce things like that...especially like that!"

"Haha, no need to be shy, Yuu!"

"Yeah...how come you wont let us inside?" James asked.

"Because I am not totally convinced you are not a pervert!" Yuu replied, clearly still upset with him. Lyo however couldn't help but shrug.

Yuu had some bad experiences with abuse, so I guess that kind of punishment really upsets him...probably reminds him of the whole dart board thing, among others...

"Plus, its us sized. Someone as big and old as James wouldn't fit" Lyo mentioned, however...

"Hey, I am not that old!"

"Eh? But you are like, forty right?"

Lyo, whose words were innocent and didn't hold any malice, ended up doing critical damage to James.

"I...im not that old!"

"Anyways..." Argen mentioned. "We probably should continue with the investigation, but...what are you two going to do?"

To that question, Yuu sighed.

"Well, I am a bit curious as well. Leaving the bandit and monster disappearance are probably from my hunting, I cant be one hundred percent sure about those abnormal magical readings. I dont think anything I did likely had that significant effect, so I would like to know what was causing it. Based on your information...its probably coming from here".

Yuu pulled out a map of the region he had, and pointed at an area a few miles north.

"We have yet to explore that area too much, but I do remember feeling dense clusters of mana and magical energy from this region when I got close one time. That said...monsters tend to get restless at night, so we should probably leave in the morning".

Although Yuu didn't like having them camping so close, he also didn't want to leave at night, when some monsters got more violent and predatory. It was an unnecessary risk, especially since he couldn't be confident that he could defeat everything they encountered.

That said, plenty of them kept their distance from Yuu as well, so they ended up not bothering each other too much. And like that, the night peacefully went by before the morning where they would set off and investigate the disturbance.