Fleeting
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KKKB 775
🕑 Added 2025-03-07 17:51:28 +0000 UTCBear-san Drives her Bear Bus
Bear Bus ran towards the mine.
"This blizzard seems to be the work of the dragon." (Kagali)
Kagali-san looked towards the mountaintop.
A white mist like lava was rising from the mountaintop, and it was flowing over the mountain heading towards the town. It was becoming a blizzard.
"So, it is an ice dragon? Can it do something like this?" (Yuna)
"I've never met one, so I don't know the details." (Kagali)
"Hmmm, did you hear about it from someone who has seen one?" (Yuna)
"Do you think a recluse like me would find someone to talk to with such knowledge? All I know is what I told you before. You should be the one who would know more, right? You are an adventurer, right?" (Kagali)
I've only been in this other world for a short time.
I didn't know much about this world.
Furthermore…
"Even if I'm an adventurer, I basically act alone, so I don't have anyone to talk to about such things." (Yuna)
It made me sad to say it myself.
"It's no use asking both of us then. Do you guys know anything about ice dragons? Have you heard of ice dragons appearing in the past?" (Kagali)
Kagali-san turned around and asked Lize-san and the others.
"No, I've never heard of an ice dragon appearing before." (Lize)
Everyone nodded at Lize-san's words.
The blizzard got even stronger, so strong that the horses in a normal carriage wouldn't be able to move.
If this was the work of an ice dragon, it would be a very troublesome enemy to deal with.
Currently, we were rushing to the mines to save the horses.
"But it's quite unlucky for a blizzard to hit at a time like this." (Bollard)
"Of all times, when everyone is in town." (Baran)
"Yuna-san and Kagali-chan took the time to let us meet our families." (Lize)
A pessimistic voice could be heard from behind.
But Kagali-san turned around and told them.
"What are you guys talking about? You are wrong about being unlucky. You were all able to meet your families. Moreover, when the blizzard hit, you were all near or inside Bear Bus." (Kagali)
"That's right. If it's just a blizzard, we can protect you." (Yuna)
"That's right. If it weren't for you girls, we wouldn't have been able to meet our families." (Bollard)
"The rest is if we can get back safely." (Kagali)
"We'll leave it to you." (Bollard)
Seeing them calm down, Kagali-san whispered in my ear, "Oh, even if I told them so, will we really be alright? If we end up in an emergency, I can fly over there first and protect the horses first, okay?"
It seemed like she was thinking the same thing as me.
Even if Kagali-san could do so, it would still be dangerous to fly in this blizzard.
So I said reassuringly.
"A blizzard of this size is still manageable." (Yuna)
I increased the speed of the Bear Bus after telling her.
Kagali-san then said, "If anything goes wrong, let me know right away," and watched over us kindly.
She acted like an older adult, but her appearance was that of a young girl, so it was a bit amusing to see her act like this.
As we went uphill, the Bear Bus skidded.
"What happened?!" (Kagali)
The wheels were spinning fine but were stuck.
I've heard news about cars getting stuck in the snow and not being able to start.
I thought it had nothing to do with me, so I ignored it, but in situations like this, I realize how inexperienced I was.
As I channeled magic power into the Bear Bus, I imagined it with spiked wheels instead of normal tires.
Unfortunately, I was not old enough to drive a car, and I didn't know much about cars, so I didn't know much about snow tires or chains, which I often heard about on TV.
So, instead I placed the spikes on the wheels, taking inspiration from the cleated shoes that appeared in a game I was playing before.
This time, it was able to move well.
"Sorry, because the tires were not properly set-up, Bear Bus ended up skidding on the snow. It's okay now." (Yuna)
The Bear Bus continued.
As we went up the mountains, the blizzard was getting stronger and visibility was getting worse.
I'd only seen it on TV, but the word "whiteout" came to mind.
"I can't see ahead because of the snow, but is the direction correct? I can't see the road. Will it be okay?" (Kagali)
Kagali-san asked, looking ahead.
Because of the blizzard ahead, the window in front of me was getting covered in snow, so I created something similar to a magic powered wiper.
I used it to remove the snow blocking the view from the window.
"It's okay." (Yuna)
I answered because even with the poor visibility, I could still use my Bear Map after all.
A map that only showed the places I had been.
In other words, if we wanted to go back to the mine, I simply needed to trace the same path we took when we headed to the town.
The Bear Bus went up the slope towards the mine.
We were almost there.
Just as I thought things were going smoothly, something happened.
"Kuuuuuun"
Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear cried to warn me.
I used my detection skill.
There were reactions, it showed "Ice Golem".
I compared the bear map with the reaction position.
They were near the entrance of the mine.
"What's wrong? What's the bear saying?" (Kagali)
"It looks like monsters were up ahead, near the entrance of the mine." (Yuna)
Lize-san and the others behind me were surprised by what I said.
"What?" (Bollard)
"What are we going to do?" (Lize)
"We've come this far." (Baran)
"We have no choice but to go back to town..." (Bollard)
"But the horse..." (Baran)
"I know. But it's dangerous to continue heading towards the monsters." (Bollard)
"Besides, it's not certain that the horse will be attacked. Let's pray for its safety." (Lize)
Behind us, they were deciding to turn back.
No one wanted to encounter a monster.
But everyone looked sad.
I think everyone was worried about the horse.
If they cared about the horse as much as I did about Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear, then I wanted to protect the horse.
Besides, I couldn't let a mere golem block my path.
"I'll protect everyone's precious horse. It'll shake a little, so hold on tight." (Yuna)
They were surprised by my words, but I already decided to save the horse.
I let my magic flow through the Bear Bus.
Because they're riding on the Bear Bus, no one knew, but the Bear Bus had grown legs.
It started walking on those legs.
Then it bent its legs and stretched them out, moving like animal legs.
The Bear Bus then changed direction, facing the cliff instead of the road.
"Wait, where are you planning to go?" (Kagali)
At the same time Kagali-san asked, the Bear Bus leaned back.
A scream could be heard from behind.
"We'll take the shortest route." (Yuna)
The Bear Bus ran up the cliff.
The Bear Bus was headed towards the entrance of the mine using the shortest route.
Taking sure steps as we moved, the Bear Bus ran up the cliff and soon arrived at the entrance of the mine.
"Don't be reckless." (Kagali)
"Sorry, but we've arrived." (Yuna)
"So, where are the monsters?" (Kagali)
"We're already surrounded." (Yuna)
Ice Golems could be seen from the Bear Bus.
"Ice Golems..." (Kagali)
"Well, I'm off to defeat them, so Kagali-san, along with Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear, please take care of everyone." (Yuna)
"Kuuuuuh"
Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear cried as if to say "leave it to us", but Kagali-san had a different reply.
"I'll go too." (Kagali)
"Kagali-chan, it's dangerous. Let's wait together." (Lize)
Often, when I went to fight, I got stopped by someone, but this time it was Kagali-san who was stopped.
It couldn't be helped for them to worry about someone who looked younger than me.
"You don't need to worry about me. Those Ice Golems are no match for me." (Kagali)
"But…" (Lize)
"I appreciate your concern. But please trust me and Yuna." (Kagali)
"... Kagali-chan" (Lize)
We left Lize-san and the others to Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear, while Kagali-san and I went down the Bear Bus.
"They're here." (Yuna)
There I found several golems with ice bodies.
"Well, let's defeat them quickly." (Kagali)
After saying that, Kagali-san said "fireball" and shot flames at an Ice Golem.
The flames enveloped the Ice Golem's body, melting it and collapsing it.
As expected, fire was effective against ice.
Not to be outdone, I shot flames at an Ice Golem as well.
The Ice Golems were also shooting ice back at us, but it was not much of a threat. Compared to the difficult fight I had in the mithril mine because of narrow pathways, when fighting golems, our battle location is far wider, so I could easily avoid the attacks.
Kagali-san and I defeated the Ice Golems one after another. Even though we were surely defeating the Ice Golems, something felt off. Just as I was thinking that, Kagali-san came over.
"Do you feel something strange about this?" (Kagali)
I thought the same.
There were a lot of them.
When I checked with my detection skill before, there were about 10 Ice Golems.
But we had already defeated more than 10.
I used my detection skills again.
There were 3 in the vicinity and 5 a little further away. A total of 8.
When I looked at my detection skill one more time, the number of golems in the vicinity suddenly increased to 4.
It felt like they suddenly appeared.
They didn't appear from outside the detection skill, but simply popped up as if they just spawned in place.
"Kagali-san! Golems are spawning in this place." (Yuna)
"What!" (Kagali)
Kagali-san shouted as she fired flames at the Ice Golems.
"Yuna-san! The golem you have defeated has been resurrected." (Lize)
Lize-san shouted from the entrance of the Bear Bus.
I turned my eyes to the location of the Ice Golem I defeated earlier.
The Ice Golem, which should have melted, gathered the surrounding snow into its melted body and returned to its original form.
Jade-san and the others told me when we were fighting golems that appeared in the mithril mines, that to defeat a golem, we needed to either destroy the magic stone or damage it until the magic power of the magic stone ran out.
The Ice Golem was damaged by my and Kagali-san's fire attacks, so it was unable to maintain its body and collapsed.
"Kagali-san!" (Yuna)
I looked towards Kagali-san and saw her touching the snow.
"I see. It's not just the ice, this snow is also filled with magic. And it seems to be reviving the golems." (Kagali)
So this blizzard was acting as a charger to replenish magic power?
"Now that we understand the reason, it will be easy to deal with them." (Kagali)
"That's right." (Yuna)
All we had to do was either destroy the magic stones or collect them in my item box.
Since it would be a waste to destroy them, I decided to collect them.
"Kagali-san, I'll collect the magic stones, so throw them over here." (Yuna)
"You're not going to destroy them?" (Kagali)
Kagali-san seemed to want to destroy them.
"Yes, because it would be a waste." (Yuna)
"Well, if that's the case, I'll defeat them, and you can collect the magic stones." (Kagali)
Kagali-san said that and ran towards an Ice Golem, casting a huge fire spell at it.
I picked up the magic stone that remained from the Ice Golem and put it in my bear box.
I used my detection skill to show Kagali-san the location of the Ice Golems, and gradually reduced their numbers.
Then, by the time we had picked up around 20 magic stones, the ice golems stopped spawning.
