| Credits | |
| Translator | www.DeepL.com/Translator |
| Editor | Miraclegrass |
Still needs editing/proofreading. ~Miraclegrass
Day 552 / 82nd day
Thanks to the speed of the silver-gray wolf, we arrived at the first difficult place, the ≪Sea of Beautiful Flowers≫, in the morning. ≪Sea of Beautiful Flowers≫ is a dangerous zone that spreads out in a basin surrounded by steep mountains on all sides. It is a place rich in nature where many ordinary monsters live, but what dominates this place are the magical flowers that are full of vitality and have various types and characteristics.
Magical flowers are a type of magical plant and also monsters. Basically, they have little intelligence and will and grow roots in the ground and do not move, but there are some flowers that have the characteristics of animal-eating plants that move by themselves to hunt their prey.
In many cases, they are not found as individuals, but as a group with roots connected underground. If you are not careful, you may be surrounded on all sides and attacked by numbers. If they were caught by surprise and died, their fate would be to become nourishment for the magical flowers. As I rode my silver-gray wolf through the sea of flowers, I was attacked not only by magical flowers, but also by monsters that had a symbiotic relationship with magical flowers.
There are many kinds of monsters such as monkeys and boars, but the most common among them is the Pruning Rabbit. The Pruning Rabbit is about the size of a large dog, and has a brightly colored magical flower on its forehead that is symbiotic/parasitic with the rabbit.
It moves by leaping on its large hind legs, and attacks with its forelimbs, holding a large, sharp, biological weapon called the Magic Flower Shears. Normally, the scissors are used to prune overgrown flowers, but now they're using them to prune us, the intruders and their prey.
Of course, the flower rabbits are after our lives. However, they seem to want to use the corpses as nourishment for their magical flowers rather than eat them themselves. In the ≪Sea of Beautiful Flowers≫, I've seen many white bones buried at the base of various magical flowers, and I'm sure the rabbits have been collecting them.
These rabbits are numerous and tend to act in groups. There are at least 4 of them in a group. Their performance as individuals is relatively high, and they use trees as footholds for their 3-dimensional maneuvers, so you can't be too careful. In particular, the sharpness of the magic flower shears is so sharp that if you were to catch one of them in the flesh, you would be cut off without a second thought.
In addition, the magical flowers that grow on the foreheads of the pruning rabbits also give them unique abilities, making it difficult to deal with them individually. Just to give you a few examples:
- When a blue flower called "Blue Sunken Shagun" grows on a rabbit, it becomes less noticeable, and it approaches you from behind like an assassin and tries to cut off your head.
- A rabbit with the red flower "Red Ravenra" has bared its instincts and will attack you until it dies, even if it is wounded, like a mad warrior.
- A rabbit with the white flower "White Heal" has the power to heal its own kind and will heal its allies like a priest, so it must be eliminated first.
- A rabbit with the purple corpse flower do not have any special abilities in life, but they can come back to life like the undead.
There are still many kinds of magical flowers, so some individuals may suffer unexpected repercussions. Personally, I had a bad experience when I first saw the "Blazing Bratus", a red lotus flower that violently self-destructs with its parasites, scattering steel-hard seeds and broken pieces of rabbit bones at high speed.
With my mechanical arm and biological armor, I was able to minimize the damage, but I was surprised to learn that there were such magical flowers, and it was a good lesson for me. It's no wonder this place is considered a danger zone. There were many dangers along the way, but we continued on. We killed a flower rabbit and picked a magical flower. Of course, we collected the occasional magical plant that we had never seen before, tasted it, and moved on.
This time, we were not exploring the ≪Sea of Beautiful Flowers≫, but rather taking a shortcut, so we were able to exit at night. Although we only stayed for a short time, we killed more than 500 flower rabbits and collected about 800 kinds of magical flowers. We also killed many other monsters, but the fact that we were able to hunt so many in such a short period of time meant that we had a high encounter rate with enemies. There is no doubt that this is a dangerous area, but it is also an excellent hunting ground.
Besides, the magical flowers were surprisingly tasty. It depends on the type, but there are many kinds of magical flowers whose nectar is delicious. In addition, there are flowers that contain a lot of magic power, and there are also flowers that are like spices that are hot and spicy, so if you look into them, you will find that they are a treasure trove of highly applicable materials.
Some of the magical flowers were collected in large quantities, while others were only collected in small quantities. Personally, I wanted to taste the "Sylvanis Incudra", which is said to be the master of the ≪Sea of Beautiful Flowers≫, but unfortunately, its territory was not on the route. I'm sorry to say that the territory is not on the route, so I'll have to move on for now, but I'm sure I'll find something interesting when I come back later to investigate.
By the way, I ate a pile of roasted rabbit and boar meat and a pile of magical flowers for dinner.
【Ability learned: Pruner of Magical Flowers】
【Ability learned: Host of Magical Flowers】
I was able to learn a new ability at the end of the day, and things were going well.
RAWS
“八十二日目 ／ 五■五■二■目”
灰銀狼の速度もあって、午前中には一つ目の難所、≪麗しき花樹海≫に到着した。
≪麗しき花樹海≫は四方を険しい山々で囲まれた盆地に広がる危険地帯である。
普通のモンスターも多く生息する自然豊かな場所だが、ここを支配しているのは生命力旺盛で様々な種類と特性を持つ魔花達だ。
魔花は魔植物の一種であり、モンスターでもある。
基本的に知性や意思は希薄で、地面に根を生やして動かないが、自ら動いて獲物を狩る食獣植物系の特徴を持つ魔花もいる。
また個体としてではなく地下で根が繋がった群体として在る場合も多いので、花樹海では周囲に咲いている花は全て魔花だと認識しなければならない。
油断していると、四方を包囲されて飽和攻撃を仕掛けられる事があるからだ。
不意を打たれて死んでしまえば、その末路は魔花達の栄養分になるだけだろう。
そんな花樹海を灰銀狼に乗って進んでいると、魔花はもちろん、魔花と共生関係にあるモンスター達も襲い掛かってくる。
猿や猪など色々と種類はあるが、その中でも最も多いのは“剪定花兎プルニーニング・ラビット”というモンスターだった。
花兎は大型犬ほどの大きさで、額には共生／寄生している色鮮やかな魔花が咲いている。
大きく発達した後ろ足で跳躍しながら移動し、鋭く大きな魔花刈り鋏という生体武器を前肢で持って攻撃を仕掛けてくる。
普段は鋭く大きな魔花刈り鋏を使って育ちすぎた魔花を剪定する役割を持っているらしいが、今は侵入者であり、獲物である俺達を剪定しようと鋏を使っている。
花兎達の狙いは当然俺達の命だ。しかし自分達で喰うため、というよりも死体を魔花達の栄養分にしたいようだ。
花樹海では様々な魔花の根元に白骨が埋まっているのを何度も見る事ができるのだが、それは花兎達がせっせと集めているのだろう。
そんな花兎だが数が多く、集団で行動する性質がある。最低でも四羽は一緒にいる。
個としての性能も比較的高く、樹木を足場に立体的な機動で仕掛けてくるので気が抜けない。特に魔花刈り鋏の切れ味は鋭く、生身の部分で受ければ呆気なく切断されてしまうだろう。
それに加えて剪定花兎の額に咲いて共生／寄生する魔花によって花兎達は特異な能力も使ってくるので、個別に対応するのも少し大変だ。
少し例を挙げただけでも――
青の魔花“青沈シャガン”が生えた花兎は気配が希薄になり、まるで暗殺者のように背後から近づいて首を刈りに来る。
赤の魔花“赤怒ルベンラ”が生えた花兎は本能が剥き出しになり、まるで狂戦士のように傷ついても死ぬまで襲い掛かってくる。
白の魔花“白癒ヒーイル”が生えた花兎は同族を癒す力を手に入れ、まるで聖職者のように味方を回復させるので真っ先に消さなければならない。
紫の魔花“紫尸シェオン”が生えた花兎は生前は特に特異な能力はないが、まるでアンデッドのように死んでも生き返る。
――となる。
魔花の種類はまだあるので、個体によっては思わぬ反撃を喰らう事もあるだろう。
個人的には寄生主諸共に激しく自爆し、高速で鋼鉄のように硬い種や砕けた花兎の骨片を撒き散らす紅蓮の魔花"爆焔ブラトゥス"には初見時に酷い目にあわされた。
機械腕と生体防具で被害は最小限に抑えられたが、こんな魔花もあるのかと驚いたものだし、あれはいい教訓になった。
ここが危険地帯だとされているのも納得の厄介さである。
道中には危険が満ちているが、それでも進んでいく。
花兎を仕留め、魔花を摘む。時折見かける見た事もない魔植物などはもちろん回収し、味見しながら先に進んだ。
今回は花樹海の探索ではなく、ショートカットだったので夜には抜ける事が出来た。
短時間しか滞在しなかったが、ここで仕留めた花兎の数は五百を超え、採取した魔花は約八百種類にもなる。
その他にも討伐したモンスターは多いのだが、短時間でこれだけ狩れるという事は、それだけ敵との遭遇率が高いという事でもある。
ここが危険地帯である事は間違いないが、優秀な狩場だとも言えるだろう。
それに魔花は喰ってみると意外と美味い。
種類にもよるが、蜜が美味しい魔花は結構ある。しかも魔力を多く含んでいる魔花やピリリと辛い香辛料的な魔花もあるなど、調べていけばかなり応用性の高い素材の宝庫だった。
今回の一件で大量に採れた魔花もあれば、僅かにしか採れなかった貴重な魔花もある。
個人的には花樹海の主だとされる魔大花伯"シルバニス・インクゥドラ"を味見したかったが、残念ながら縄張りがルート上にはない。
名残惜しさはあるものの今回は先に進むが、後々戻ってきて調査しても面白い発見が見られそうないい場所だった。
ちなみに今日の夜食は花兎と花猪の焼肉に、魔花の山盛りを喰った。
【能力名アビリティ【魔花の剪定者】のラーニング完了】
【能力名【魔花の宿主】のラーニング完了】
一日の終わりに新しいアビリティをラーニングできたりと、幸先は順調だ。