Shikkaku Mon no Saikyou Kenja~ Sekai Saikyou no Kenja ga Sarani Tsuyoku Naru Tameni Tenseishimashita~

"... it's time to go to the Plains of Testra."

After leaving the city, some time later.

We were approaching the entrance to the Plains of Testra.

"That's quiet..."

"Really, it's creepy quiet..."

The testra plains certainly did not seem to be in a normal state.

If it's a normal plain, you can hear some demons, small animals, etc. making noises, but you can barely hear them on the testra plains today.

Instead...

"... Do you recognize this?

That's what I said, fingering what was falling to the ground.

Made of Mithril, long sword.

The sword is broken from the roots, but it doesn't feel old.

Probably something that fell within the last month.

"This... is the sword of the Ethereal Blade Jin!

"Is that the name of the adventurer?

"Oh! You're one of those adventurers who went to Testra Plains and never came back!

I see.

As soon as you entered the plain, were you ambushed here?

The surroundings are scattered with other adventurers' belongings and equipment.

There are no bodies left, but I'm pretty sure they've been wiped out first.

"The previous adventurer party was apparently raided here."

"... oh. I don't see any demons like that at the moment... but I think we should be careful around them."

So the examiner looks around worried.

Fortunately, there are only plains here, with relatively good prospects.

Few tall grass trees also allow you to see quite a distance at a glance.

If you take a good look around, you won't be easily ambushed...... and I guess the previous adventurer party thought.

That's why the previous party was wiped out.

"Alma, have you noticed?

Lurii is undoubtedly aware of the demonic magic reaction, so I dare ask Alma here.

In response to that question, Alma replied to a lack of confidence.

"The ground......?

"Correct.... Everybody, don't move there!

That said, I took a distance from the other four and activated [Forced Detection].

Then, just a few seconds later.

The ground beneath my feet began to shake fine.

"Over here!

It's unfolding as expected.

I gradually get more wobbly and expect when the cracks are in the ground beneath my feet and fly back just a little bit.

At the next moment, a giant snake's head jumped out of the ground more than six metres long.

I'll dodge it with a sleaze.

"... Kisha!

The snake raised his voice of anger that the attack had been avoided.

But I guess the serpent understands that his strengths are being able to dive into the ground.

You don't follow me deep, you flip right over, you try to dive into the ground.

"Let him go!

I activate magic to harden the ground while stepping on the ground beneath my feet.

The serpent trying to escape seemed to be having a hard time digging through the hardened ground and his movements were dull.

I waved my sword down there.

A reinforced magic sword cuts off the serpent's body when it is easy.

... The snake was only a creature with a strong life force, which had been in motion for a little while, but there seemed to be nothing I could do about it being cut in two by a boulder, and eventually I was out of breath.

"Perhaps this is the one who wiped out the adventurer party."

That's what I said, referring to the demon that stopped moving.

The troublesome thing about this demon is that the time lag from when there are precursors to when they are actually attacked is only a few seconds.

If you're a man used to fighting, you'll have a few seconds to deal with that... but if you're the first adventurer to fight these demons, you'll definitely get ambushed first.

"Oh. If such a monster suddenly comes out of the ground, there's nothing you can do about it, no matter how skilled an adventurer... I mean, why did Matthias and the others notice these demonic raids?

"I just detected magic. When you get used to it, you can handle it over the ground."

"The magic of demons...? You know what that means?

"Oh. It's so hard to figure out the exact kind of demons or something, but it's easy if you just want to find them. Unless the enemy is hiding his magic, he won't be the first to be ambushed."

How long the soil passes through magic varies from place to place... if it's on the ground here, detection works up to about 100 meters deep.

Too far enough to prevent an ambush.

"... I see why the Branch Manager said Matthias one line was a monster. If we don't even set a standard, we want to treat it as passing right now."

With that said, the examiner sees the demon that was defeated.

Naturally speaking, it seems that the acceptance or rejection of the B-rank promotion exam is not left to the examiner's discretion, but the criteria are set properly.

Well, since the request received is a flat on the testra plain, suppose it will flatten properly?

To do this, we first understand the situation.

"Do you recognize this demon?

That's what I'm referring to, the serpent I just knocked down.

If my guess is correct, this demon shouldn't be the demon that originally lived on the Testra Plains......

"No, I've never seen a demon like this"

Again?

I've never seen this demon before.

I can see why this demon came out somehow in an atmosphere of magic.

"So have you ever seen a demon smaller than this and similar?

"... if you ask me, don't feel like Venom Serpent"

That said, the examiner refers to the defeated serpent.

"Venom Serpent...... what demon?

"Right...... looks pretty much like this guy, but he doesn't dive into the ground, and his entire length is at most a little over two meters. And it's poisonous for demons."

... poison that works against demons.

Demons don't fight against demons very often, so there is a limited variety of poisonous demons that work against demons.

And maybe - the serpent I just defeated, too, has that poison.

From the atmosphere of magic, you'd be sure first.

"Hey, give it a try"

That said, I pull my fangs out of the serpent I just defeated while attracting a wolf demon who was nearby in [Forced Detection].

And he threw his fangs at the wolf demon that came towards him.

"Gah!"

The fangs I threw cut the wolf's body shallow and fell to the ground.

If it's normal, it's a wound that doesn't even pose a problem for demons.

But the wolf, on the spot, fell in and began to cramp.

The poison still seems to be working.

... That's almost certain.

He's probably Venom Serpent.

That's what I'm talking about. I'm referring to the serpent I knocked down.

When I heard that, the examiner turned a surprise glance at me.

"As I said earlier, Venom Serpent doesn't dive into the ground, and it doesn't get this big. Obviously a different kind of demon."

"Oh. Unless it's fortified."

"... Enhancement?

Some demons have the power to strengthen other demons.

Demons strengthened by such demons can grow larger or change their appearance.

"Uh... this demon, I felt like there was a magic formation in my body... could it be that?

"Well, that's more or less the case.... This is it."

That's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna take the demon stone out of the snake demon.

The demonic stone removed is small enough to be disproportionate to the large body of the snake.

If the Demon Stone is this size, the total length of the Demon Stone should be about one to two meters normal.

And some of the demonic stones were engraved with something like a magic formation.

It's a kind of natural magic formation, unlike what humans use to make magic props, but in the sense that it makes the magic flow different than it was originally.

"Sure, it sounds like a magic formation... it's too different format for us to read the effects..."

"Well, natural magic formations are unique in reading. If you're interested, I'll let you know sometime. … As far as this magic formation is concerned, the effect is to enhance demons, change behavior patterns"

This reinforcement by the magic formation seemed to impose a load on the demonic stones, and the perimeter of the magic formation was blackened and contained fine cracks.

Probably would have died soon, even if I hadn't knocked him down.

"Changes in behavioral patterns......?

"Oh, the demon that doesn't dive into the ground is starting to dive into the ground."

If you're simply going to be strong, you can handle it as long as you have plenty of fighting power.

But changing behavior patterns can make demons troublesome at once.

And what's really troublesome about this Tagumi demon...

"This demon is a magic formation, isn't it? Who carved the magic formation?

Before I said it, Illis shrugged.

Yes. That's exactly the problem.

"I carved this... a demon. Pretty sure it's parasitic."

"Parasitic?

"Oh. Some parasitic demons try to protect themselves by strengthening their hosts and surrounding demons."

"I mean the demons around me, not the boss now..."

"Oh. It's just a clutterfish. There's got to be a Ujauja in the plains around here."

The demon you defeated earlier is just one of the many demons in the mountains.

Even just snake demons are this size.

Parasitic demons have the habit of being parasitic to the strongest of the demons around them... if you're also the boss, you should be able to enjoy them inside.

"This is Ujauja..."

"I'm sorry, can I go home now?

If you listen to me, the examiner will try to go home.

Running away and fast judgment are important elements for adventurers, and adventurers who can't use 'passive detection', etc. are right to run away in this situation, but I want you to try harder to improve our ranking.

Let's try a peaceful persuasion here in peace.

"If you're going home alone, you can do it on your own, but in that case, being attacked by demons isn't going to help you, is it? By the way, there are five more snakes around here just like that."

"... ok. Let's keep going."

Apparently, you convinced me.

So we went deeper into the plains.