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[Inside the Rock and Sea dungeon]

[Kana point of view]

At first, we are here just to help a group of traveling merchant saving themselves, but now

"Shit! They're everywhere!" [Kanji]

~Screech~

"Heal! Invigorate!" [Seo Ah]

A small flock of sea snake getting afflicted by the miasma of the devil surrounded us. With Seo Ah keep on using her neutral mana to heal and invigorate us, the number of snakes didn't seem to decrease, perhaps the opposite as I can sense more and more of them

"Birdie, use gale storm" [Kana]

~Screech~

Using the move gale storm, it once again flock itself, becoming a single-minded giant snake made up of hundreds of smaller snake, and with that, the magic core of the giant snake show itself

"Birdie, take Kanji there now!" [Kana]

"Kanji! Strike it down!" [Seo Ah]

"I will! Take this! Earthly blast!" [Kanji]

Swinging his sword with earth mana imbued, he make a single powerful swing, directly into the magic core, but just at the last second

"Goddammit! Not again" [Kanji]

"Just how many round does this make!" [Seo Ah]

Seo Ah frustrating tone is understandable, in fact, I'm sure all of us share similar feeling. The devilish snakes are one frustrating foe to fight with

~Hiss~

"Hmm?" [Qudus]

"Something wrong Qudus?" [Kana]

"Tingling sensation on my hand diminish... Help will arrive soon" [Qudus]

"I see. That's reassuring" [Kana]

~HISS~

The hissing of the snake becoming stronger. They're confident with their chances of winning. We should retreat but if we do that, it will simply become that giant snake once more and try to devour us from behind

"Hell and heaven fire. Engulf them all!" [Elise]

"Javelin of neutral! Pierce my enemies" [Mile]

"Dark blade: Eternal darkness" [Bladel]

"They are!" [Kana]

"The Valkyrie!" [Seo Ah]

Just like what Qudus said, The Valkyrie with their elegant pegasi arrive

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A series of devil spawning in all three dungeon causes a hassle. Since Farhah and Karon just arrived last night, we ask the two of them to sit back and rest, while Rean, Elise, Kara and I went our separate way. Rean (alongside his soon to be wife Muse, as well as his best friends Kadeus a Lily), and Kara tackle the army of devil zombies inside the open field dungeon, and as for me

"Why didn't I detect all of you at that time! You're causing so much trouble, even more so than your typical regular crow!" [Charlotte]

The devil fire crows from before re-emerge. The report from the knight and scholars suggest that they're the same fire crows that I dispose of not too long ago, or at least that's what they believe

(They're similarities, that I can attest to, but...) [Charlotte]

Somehow they're different? I can't really make it out what makes them different. Their mana and the miasma oozing out from them feels the same as last time. Even if isn't the same mana and miasma from last time, for me it's similar enough to group them as one

Their appearances are also the same. I can still see the fire and the black miasma fusing together to form a crow that looks like they're the native inhabitants of hell itself

"Just what makes you different..." [Charlotte]

Somehow, I can't shake this feeling that they're different. So the best I can do is

"Have to search for the leader, capture it alive if possible and send it for the scholars to examine. That's what I will do" [Charlotte]

And maybe spare one or two of the crows. I'm sure I can just freeze their whole bodies and let them enter a suspended animation kind of state. Maybe, I'm not sure. Either way, they will be a valuable stuff for the scholars to experiment with and get as much data as possible regarding the devil

With army of fishes golem at my commands, I let them tear down and chomp down all the fire crows at their sight. The one that seems like they might escape meet their demise at the hand of my long range water bullets shot from my pistol. One by one, I wither down their number

(Unlike last time, the leader of the flock, the dark phoenix didn't show itself. Could it be, they're learning?) [Charlotte]

Make sense... Crows are a smart animal.

"Tee-hee..." [Charlotte]

I can't help but to picture Sir Crow face on the fire crows when I mentioned that back the...

"ABOVE ME!" [Charlotte]

The dark phoenix make a suicidal dark explosive dive. Gaining terminal velocity together with the surrounding fire crows. Almost like a meteorite falling down from the sky. Truly, this is one frightening sight, and couple that with their war suicidal "caw" "caw" echoing throughout the dungeon, I can't help but to feel shiver running down my spine

"No choice! I will just freeze all of you at once!" [Charlotte]

Putting my pistol and taking out my staff, I disperse my mana into the air above me, trying to reach them as I try to convert all of the mana into gigantic ball of water. Once they're inside, I will then instantaneously freeze them without a moment of delay

~CAWWWW~

~CAW~~CAW~~CAW~~CAW~

They dive right into the trap and try to boil the water down. Without the goddess an reshir blessings, that might be possible, but now

"Dear ice fairies, by my command, please help her freeze the mass of water" [Farhah]

"Farhah!" [Charlotte]

And just like what she commanded, group of ice fairies aid me to freeze the mass of water. It's unnecessary since I can do it all on my on, but nonetheless

"Thank you Farhah, and the fairies as well" [Charlotte]

"It's my job to protect my little sister, although I'm 100% sure you actually can freeze it all on your own" [Farhah]

"That's true, but thank you nonetheless" [Charlotte]

"Look at you, being all cute like me" [Farhah]

(And you never change...) [Charlotte]

I explain to Farhah why I thought of freezing the fire crows and the phoenix, and together with her wood warrior golems and my Krakeny, we push the massive ice ball outside, and needless to say, the guards were all shock to see what we brought for them. Coincidentally

"What are you guys doing..." [Lily]

"Massive ball. Of ice" [Kadeus]

"Well, you can say that this is a gift for scholars" [Charlotte]

"Oh my, what a view..." [Seo Ah]

"It's you guys! That's quick! Really quick" [Farhah]