Chapter 532: Modoki

「A-Anyone… Eh? What a mess!」

Apparently, he didn’t know about the promotion exam and was surprised to see a large number of adventurers.

「What happened?」

「Ah, Guild Master! This is a disaster, we’ve got another Modoki attack」

「Another one, huh!? How many of them?」

「Four of them! They’re coming here right now!」

「Tsk! Oi, the exam is suspended! This is an urgent request! Get rid of those bastards before they reach the fleet!」

「Ou!」

Modoki? Was that a monster?

「Hey, what’s a Modoki?」

「Oh right, Fran doesn’t know about them, huh? It’s a troublesome magic beast that’s been on the rise in this lake lately」

While heading to the deck, we heard from Grandpa Gull and the others.

「Originally, there was an endemic monster in this lake called the Vivian Guardian, do you know it?」

「Never heard of it. It’s endemic?」

「Yeah. It’s a rare monster that can only be found in this lake」

However, the monster had rarely been hunted. First of all, it was very mild-mannered. They don’t leave their territory and won’t come into contact with humans unless they cross its territory.

「And even if you go into their territory, the first thing they do is to show up in groups and block your path. And you’ll be attacked if you ignore them…」

Still, they would not be killed. They said that they would just render them powerless and throw them out onto the nearby land.

However, that doesn’t mean that it could be hunted one-sidedly. When they were pressured with a certain amount of attacks, their stance would transform into an attack with hundreds of Guardians in the vicinity.

「Once it’s in its attack form it won’t stop until the humans are eliminated from its area. In addition to the idiots who provoked them, unrelated fishing boats and adventurers may also get caught up and die」

「Are they strong?」

「Their threat level was E and will be treated as lower than that if they’re not in their attack form. We also didn’t have many battle records with them, so I don’t know exactly how strong they are. But from what I’ve seen of its attack from when I was younger, I’d say that they would become a threat level of B in a flock」

Isn’t that quite a powerful monster then? But I wonder why they never talked about them in the guild?

When we asked them about it, they told me that their habitat was off-limits and that it was not a place to be entered. So, if someone approached those places, the guards would turn them away. In fact, the guild doesn’t actively promote this rare magic beast, because if they spread the information about them, poachers might appear to hunt for them.

「So, what is a Modoki?」

「Aah, They think Modoki was an aberration of the Vivian Guardian, in other words, a new kind of monster」

「Aberrations? Will it be fine if we take them down?」

That urgent request he made earlier was supposed to be about taking them down, right? But, wouldn’t it be bad if we attack it?

「But, you see, even if we attack these monsters, the other Vivian Guardians will not attack us」

「Why?」

「Don’t know. I’d love to know about it too」

It seems that their research had not progressed that far yet.

「It’s so different from the usual Vivian Guardian, and there’s so much that we don’t understand yet. Why are they coming out of their territory and why are they relentlessly targeting the commercial fleet?」

「They’re targeting the commercial fleet?」

「Apparently, yeah. Every time they’ve been sighted, it’s been near the commercial fleet, and I can’t help but think that they’re heading towards us. Of course, the commercial fleet has a lot of guards and surveillance magicians, so it’s easy to spot them, still… the spotting ratio is high, that’s for sure」

That would be a very bad situation, wouldn’t it? It would not be an exaggeration to say that this fleet supports the life of the area around this lake, and if the fleet was destroyed, the surrounding towns and villages would be seriously affected.

「Guild Master! Over there!」

「There were four of them, right?」

「Yes, the rookie on watch was the one who found them!」

As soon as we stepped out onto the deck, we were able to spot the Modoki.

It swam towards the fleet while sticking its body halfway out of the surface of the lake.

Does their figure look like a 5-meter-long shelled squid or an octopus? It looked like a pointed turban shell with about ten octopus-like tentacles sticking out of it. It seemed to be swimming with its tentacles while pointing the tip of its shell at us.

Its overall color was black and red stripes with reddish-purple in some places that look very poisonous.

「So that’s a Modoki?」

「Yeah」

Race: Vivian Guardian: Evil Spirit: Magic Beast Lv30

Condition: Abnormal

HP: 561

MP: 301

STR: 301

VIT: 441

AGI: 210

INT: 298

DEX: 121

Magic: 459

[Skill]

Presence Detection: Lv4, High-Speed Regeneration: Lv3, Regeneration: LvMax, Abnormal Condition Resistance: Lv5, Tentacle: Lv7, Flexible Tentacle: Lv5, Water Bullet: Lv6, Underwater Movement: Lv8, Life Detection: Lv4, Water Flow Control: Lv5, Magic Perception: Lv4, Water Magic: Lv5, Swimming Lv4, Coordination: Lv8, Sharp Smelling, Sharp Hearing, Shell Strengthening, Rampage, Magic Control.

「Well, it should be called the Abnormal Vivian Guardian, but since it was too long, so they called it with Modoki」

「Besides, it has changed a lot from its original form」

Grandma Jill, who was catching up with us, also blurted out at the sight. The original Vivian Guardian was said to be pure white. In addition, its tentacles should’ve been translucent, as if they were made of water, giving them a mysterious appearance.

「Hey, is it really fine to take them down?」

「Yeah, no problem」

「Okay」

「We can’t get any materials from them! So, don’t be too reckless!」

「Can’t get its material?」

「Yeah. When the Vivian Guardians are defeated, it would melt like water and disappear! You won’t even get its magic stone! It’s the same for Modoki too」

I see, I certainly had sensed its magical power, but I couldn’t find its magic stones anywhere. What a strange magic beast…

I have an idea of what this type of magic beast this thing was. But they seemed to be the same as the undead that we defeated on the Island in the Sky. After all, the improvised undead that Jean created with his magic doesn’t have magic stones.

But these guys weren’t undead, were they? Was there a technique to create such magic beasts out of nothing?

(Master, how is it?)

『It really doesn’t look like there are any magic stones. So, we can kill it without worrying about its materials. But since we’re near the fleet, don’t do anything too fancy』

「Nn! Urushi!」

「Woof!」

Suddenly, as the adventurers were surprised to see Urushi grow to the size of a large dog, Fran took off on his back.

「Let’s go」

「Woof!」