Chapter 302: Artificial


    Flying at us were Green nt Tigers.


    Every one of them is about the same size as a normal Green nt Tiger. They are probably clones the evolution slime made.


    Over a thousand of those clones flew at us.


    If they are birds it would be one thing but its quite a rare sight to witness a horde of tigers flying your way. Tigers do not fly in the first ce and they wonte at you with this number either.


    Hiiiiiiii!!??


    What the hell is that!?


    They areing this way!!


    Screams were raised at various parts of the wall.


    But I do not do anything in particr about it.


    I will leave the city defense to you guys. I will be looking for the core.


    You are supposed to be the one whos best at defending right?


    If you think you can find the core then by all means change ces with me.


    How unpleasant. It will make us seem ipetent you know, seriously.


    Saying so, Linares consecutively shot his straight fist into the sky.


    The released straight fists were apanied by thunderous sound and the flock of tigers that were covering the sky was pierced with a big hole.


    However, that is still not enough.


    Its a hassle to hold back you see.


    It cant be helped. I will take care of the rest. If some get past me please take care of it, Elder Egor.


    Got it.


    Saying so, Noname shes the flock of tigers with Dis Pater.


    With that single sh, most of the tigers were wiped out.


    There are only a few left.


    They are currently trying to get past the wall.


    Since there are still many people who have not evacuated, it would be bad to let them breach the city.


    However, Egor does not move.


    S, Silver-sama! The tigers are!!


    Vengerov asks me for help since Egor did not move.


    However, I did not respond because I was concentrating on searching for the core.


    Instead, Egor opened his mouth.


    I already cut them.


    Eh..?


    Vengerov looked at the remaining tigers astonishingly.


    The tigers thatnded around the center of the city fell apart andpletely lost their form after taking only a few steps.


    If it was shredded to such an extent then it shouldnt be able to regenerate anymore.


    Hurry up, Silver. We are not particrly fond of being on the receiving end.


    Dont rush me. I am searching for a tiny core inside that giant moving target. It would be nice if you can understand how hard that is.


    How about throwing it into the sky with your transfer magic? If its midair then you dont have to worry about the terrain you know?


    How much magic power do you think I would need to keep that giant monster in the sky? Searching for the core is much more efficient whether I use transfer magic or just holding it up using other magic.


    I would resort to that if theres no other way but there are many skilled people who hold the same rank as me around.


    Thats why I dont feel like resorting to that method.


    In the first ce, I have to use transfer magic again to send them home so I dont want to waste any more magic power than this.


    Even though I have recovered some of it, I might fall asleep again if I wasted any more than this.


    Moreover, this appearance of the evolution slime seems artificial.


    If it was only me who attended the inquiry, I would have to handle this alone. Moreover, if I unleash an attack that will terraform the area here, theres no doubt that it will be used against me in the inquiry.


    In that case, I would have no choice but to spend my magic power.


    Magic power and time. I will be robbed of both.


    Is it someone from the Empire or another country? I dont know what their goal is but it is certain now that someone does not want the presence of Silver in the Empire. If thats the case then I can see this as one of their moves.


    If the inquiry was also their work then.it would be unwise to go all out here. Its a hassle but I will make use of these problem children to save my magic power.


    You should probably close an eye even if the terrain were to change a bit.


    With this many SS-rank adventurers, we would beughed at if we cant at least avoid that you know?


    Id love to let themugh as much as they want but.since Deputy Guild Chiefs standing is also on the line, lets keep going with this.


    SeriouslyItd be nice if Jack could take my ce now.


    Right. This is his specialty after all.


    Certainly, if we have Jack then we would have a much easier time.


    Id left the defense to Jack and quickly search for the core.


    With these three, I was worried that they would identally level the terrain so I couldnt concentrate so easily.


    When I thought so, the evolution slime expanded for a moment.


    I can stop its movement with a barrier but I cant prevent it from discharging more of its clones.


    If I want topletely prevent that, Id have topletely cover it with a barrier. However, it is difficult to create a barrier like that.


    Its going to do something again.


    The moment I said that.


    The appearance of the evolution slime changed.


    From a tiger to a bird.


    I adjusted the barrier to block its main body but it is still releasing countless clones of itself.


    So it didnt only consume a Green nt Tiger huh.


    Thorny Sparrow huh. This is getting more and more troublesome.


    Egor judged the name of the monster by the form the slime took.


    As the name suggests, the Thorny Sparrows are sparrows that are covered with thorns.


    Their thorns can be shot out but what makes them troublesome is the speed.


    A Thorny Sparrow is a monster that will charge at you with a bullet-like speed and damages you with its thorns.


    I wonder how a slime could capture such a thing.


    Someone must have fed it.


    If its only the Green nt Tiger then it could still barely be glossed over as a coincidence. However, a slime capturing a Thorny Sparrow that can fly in the sky at high speed is simply impossible.


    Evolution slime can not consume corpses nor can it consecutively assimte multiple preys.


    The only case where it can exhibit the characteristics of two separate monsters is when it consumes two monsters at the same time. Theres no way that it would be able to find a dying Thorny Sparrow and Green nt Tiger lying around in the wild.


    This is bad.


    No more probing. I will take care of it now.


    Keep looking. We will do what we can to intercept them as much as possible.


    As much as possible wont cut it here though?


    Theres no problem even if some get past us. Jack is in the city after all.


    You are telling me to trust that drunkard?


    Dont look down on him. Even like that, he is still one of the best adventurers I know. He wont let any monsters do as they pleased.


    Then I will trust in your judgment, Elder Egor.


    I continue searching for the core without intercepting the enemy.


    Countless Thorny Sparrows are flying toward us.


    If we ignore the coteral damage then each of us has enough power to blow them all away with a single attack but since that is prohibited, it will be difficult for us topletely intercept them.


    These guys are apparently worse at holding back more than I thought. The power they are exhibiting is not to the level I expected because they are trying too much to decrease their firepower.


    Its surprising to me that Elder Egor is holding Jack in such a high regard you know


    Obviously. Theres no way that a fellow drinker like him is a bad person.


    If it seems like the people in the city will be hurt then I will take care of it. Silver, If ites to that then I will use my full power to eliminate that slime.


    Lets pray that it wont happen then.


    While having a little regret believing in Egors groundless judgment, I look at the evolution slime that got caught inside my barrier.


    In case of emergency, there would be no choice but to annihte it without caring about coteral damage.


    Evolution slime can not consecutively assimte new targets but it can do that after a period of time. If we let these winged clones go unchecked, the situation will be even more troublesome.


    Such a nasty monster.


    A group that would do such a stupid thing would be Grimoire but I dont know whether they are rted to this incident or not.


    But if they are really rted then.


    Just how much disaster will they spread until they are satisfied.


    Although I already judged them as my enemy, they might be a foe worthy of all the SS-rank adventurers here to band together to destroy.


    Thinking so, I saw the Thorny Sparrows steadily breaching into the city at the edge of my vision and lightly clicked my tongue.