Chapter 717: Strength and Food Share the Same Root

To be completely honest, leaving aside me who only has enough HP to be on the verge of instant death even if I get healed, the fact that Rei-shi—who can support the frontline with her firepower and decent VIT—is receiving backup from the strongest healer means there's no way we're losing to the vast majority of enemies.

Having all of its legs smashed to pieces, the crab collapsed after finally getting its glabella pulverized by a sledgehammer. You did your best, Crab-kun, it's just your bad luck that our vanguard consisted of the weapon of mass destruction Rei-shi and me, the Crustacean Multi-Legged Organism Specialty Man. Come back after you grow a tail with a stinger on it.

"Ah, so we don't get EXP for that."

Back at Level 99, the EXP itself still came in because it was accumulated into the Extend. But even after the crab vanished, the EXP was +0; I feel like I'm gonna be cursed by the Mottainai Ghost.

"But that Holy... Staff? Is it completely specialized for healers?"

"That's right〜. The Holy Staff Asclepius—any magic activated using this staff, whether it's attack, defense, buff, or debuff, all gets converted into 'Braver Heal'."

"Seriously?"

It's not that she can only use healing magic, it's that everything gets turned into healing magic, huh. With this, I've learned the details of all the Hero Weapons besides the Holy Bow.

The Holy Sword has that high-probability endure.

The Holy Spear has total defense penetration.

The Holy Hammer has blacksmithing production corrections and disposable weapon generation.

And the Holy Staff has healing magic conversion.

Now that it's come to this, I'm curious about the Holy Bow's abilities too, but if I carelessly ask Saiga-ane, I get the feeling she'd say something like "Then in exchange for telling you, let's go beat up Lycaon!" and drag me into a hardcore grinder's marathon. It's way too fruitless when we don't even know where Lycaon is in the first place.

"Ah, right, Rei-shi."

"Yes, what is it?"

"What kind of weapon is the Holy Bow?"

She was right here, the person who was a former Black Wolf member in an executive-level position.

And so, upon asking Rei-shi, it seems the Holy Bow is a weapon capable of functioning as both a magical bow and a physical bow simultaneously. It's not just swapping between them—you can pack magical energy inside a physical arrow to make it detonate, or conversely, coat a physical arrow in magical energy to increase its power and speed... It's quite a dexterous ability, I guess you could say.

Because the area is a swamp, the monsters that appear are also generally very swamp-like. Among them, that crab attacked me without flinching at my Scars, so it seems to be a higher-tier existence; seeing that the loach with legs that just made eye contact with me fled as fast as its legs could carry it, it seems the cursed Lycaon's Curse (Enhanced) is energetically proccing its strong-enemy-aggro-magnet passive again today.

I mean, is that legged loach perhaps a relative of the Mud DiggerMud Dig? Though that one is a catfish-shark with legs.

"But you know, for a place Noirlind used as his base, there really aren't that many Dragon-ified monsters."

"Noirlind, hunts often. Black monsters, hunts."

I see? Getting to the root of it, Dragon-ification is a phenomenon that occurs when you get infected by a Color Dragon's bacteria or cells or whatever, so conversely, if he hunts Dragon-ified monsters, he can retrieve the Color Dragon Virus...? Is that the gist of it? It's a completely sourceless guess, but I suppose asking the source himselfNoirlind will solve that.

"What should we do? Want to take a break at the ruins of the Lizardmen or Dragonewt settlements?"

"I... um, think it might be better to just keep going."

"Wouldn't it be fine if we just rest at the Dwarves' settlement at the volcano?"

"Since we have three people with infinite inventories here〜, if you spare me some MP items, I'll fully restore everything besides satiety and MP〜"

Right, it seems Imron—who had been quietly struggling to obtain the Magical Energy Operation Unit in the Leviathan—had also been doing a massive amount of shopping alongside her main goal.

And within those purchased items was the Storage Key Inventoria. From what I heard, it was on the exchange list for items crafted in the "Workshop" inside the Leviathan. That "Isana" is using every trick in the book to hide things...

"No, this is seriously convenient. If I play my cards right, I could practically carry the 'Workshop' around with me."

"I want one too... Tsuchinoko-san, give me one."

"This thing wastes an equipment slot, and on top of that, once you put it on, you can't take it off."

Either way, it's not something I can hand over, and looking at Imron's case, it seems to be an item you can obtain in limited quantities if you try hard enough, so I can only say 'do your best'. Besides, I've finally gotten used to operating 3 windows using my standard inventory plus the two Inventorias; when that happens, it's human nature to feel a bit reluctant to let it go...

And so, the Volcano Tour marches on. Completely bypassing the Lizardmen's settlement—which had been entirely abandoned because their entire clan followed Noirlind—we pushed onward toward the volcano under Ladder-shi's guidance.

"Wa, what was that green light just now?"

"Probably a beam from the Alexand Scorpion. Since it fired upwards, it must have shot down a bird or something, right?"

"Alex... what?"

When night falls, Sigmonia's Crystal Crown really stands out. Even if you can't see the exact location, the light illuminating the night sky red can be faintly seen even from a distance, and if the scorpions living in the crown fire interception beams like they did just now, you can see a line of light shining like a shooting star.

Fantastical? In that case, I think you should go see it up close. You'll probably be able to bathe in that light from a front-row seat!!

"...Come to think of it, I feel like there was someone who said they were going to the westernmost tip of the continent in a Tactical Mech."

"""............"""

Now that I think about it, right in the middle of that light ascending into the sky, I feel like I saw a weird flash for a split second. No, it must have just been my imagination.

Unlike the standard Crystal Scorpions which basically only do physical throws when all is said and done, the Alexand Scorpion comes packed with ranged weapons excellent for anti-air and anti-ground combat, so even with a Tactical Mech, aerial battles are highly dangerous against it... Umu, Namu Amida Butsu.

"Bird person, caught fish. Bird person, this is delicious."

"Heh."

Since the place they live in is a swamp to begin with, I guess they can just catch food right outside their front door... I wonder what logic keeps those houses standing.

Even so, a fish, huh... looks like a slightly large loach. It hasn't... grown any legs. Now then, time for a taste test.

"E-Eating it alive...! Is this the secret to Tsuchinoko-san's strength...!?"

"That's right, feel free to spread it on the BBS."

"...Eh, seriously?"

It's true, Tsuchinoko-san doesn't lie. But my name isn't Tsuchinoko-san, so that rule doesn't necessarily apply...

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Author's Afterword

・Braver Heal

All magic activated using the Holy Staff as a medium gets converted into this spell. In terms of effects, it inherits some of the properties of the base spell, making it surprisingly versatile—such as healing magic that flies like an arrow, or healing magic that burns and heals a wide area like a spreading fire.

As an additional effect, when Braver Heal is activated, a self-recovery effect and aggro reduction are triggered for the caster. So as long as Braver Heal is being cast, neither the Hero of the Holy Staff nor the ones standing on the frontline will ever yield.

Furthermore, since MP consumption increases proportionally to the healing performance, the consumption of recovery items piles up to terrifying degrees.