The Devil Does Not Need to Be Defeated

The magic spring that Vivian's party had their sights on didn't look any different from any other pool of water. Be it the size or shape, it's all normal.

Only, the spring water within definitely wasn't normal water, but rather liquefied magic. Its base makeup was still magic, so it gave off a faint light, giving the pool an appearance like it had a veil of light over it. It looked quite pretty.

"If this kind of place existed in my previous life, it would definitely have turned into an instant natural wonder and attracted tons of tourists, letting whoever owned it make some serious bank."

Shien's first thought when seeing the magic spring was something like that, so it was quite obvious that the magic spring's appearance really was quite breathtaking.

"However, considering the fact that there are demonic beasts in the surroundings, baring the suicidal, probably no one would really consider coming to a place like this for tourism and sightseeing, huh?"

Otherwise, the collection of spring water wouldn't have been considered a quest to be given to adventurers.

It's because magic springs are generally all also demonic beast territories that people have no way of collecting spring water as they liked. Therefore, they had no choice but to request adventurers to do so in their place. Otherwise, all magic springs would probably have been drained dry a long time ago, and then it wouldn't be like now where adventurers would take it as quests and gain rewards for it.

Plus, it takes a certain amount of skill to properly collect the spring water from a magic spring.

"Since the spring water is actually liquefied magic, no only would you need special containers to hold it, if you leave the magic spring it would re-evaporate into the air as normal magic power. Therefore, special equipment is needed to help collect and preserve the spring water."

Vivian so explained to Shien while at the same time having Diere and Lumia take out a set of chemistry equipment like tools from their baggage, handing them over to Melika, and letting Melika use them to collect the spring water from the magic spring.

"The spring water collected through the proper procedures can be preserved within the special containers for a certain amount of time. The amount of time that it can be preserved is also related to the size of the magic spring. The waters from a small sized magic spring can be preserved for about 3 days. A medium sized for about 7 days, and a large sized could be kept for about a month."

Vivian explained in detail and helped Shien solve a question that he had.

Originally, Shien was thinking, if the waters of a magic spring was so useful, then why don't they act in a larger scale, and just take a huge amount of it in one go. But if it has an expiration date, then it's not had to understand.

This also ended Shien's thoughts of draining the magic spring dry and then selling it all in the town for huge amounts of money. It must be said though, that it was a bit disappointing.

At this time, demonic beasts unavoidably appeared.

"Skreech!"

With a harsh scream, a figure came out slowly from the nearby woods.

"Alert!"

Diere was the first to discover the enemy and loudly shouted out a warning, making everyone tense up and turn towards their foe.

Shien also drew the broadsword at his waist and, like a newbie keeping a low profile, stayed by everyone else.

Of course, what Shien was really thinking was…

(To have discovered the enemy and yet I can't let out a warning. So difficult.)

With the maxed level [Enemy Detection] skill, Shien was naturally the real first person to discover their enemies. However, since he couldn't let anyone else know, he could only react now.

As for the enemy that appeared, it's a humanoid demonic beast with a sword and shield. It had green scales covering it's body, and a bug-like head and tale. Around its waist was a tattered piece of cloth.

"Lizardman, huh?"

Vivian drew the tower shield she carried the whole time on her back and readied it in her hand.

"B-Behind it too!"

Lumia clutched her hand into a fist nervously while telling everyone here.

Just like she said, behind the lizardman that appeared, various other similar shapes also slowly appeared.

Those were all lizardmen too.

"One, two, three… A total of 22."

Diere seemed to have use the [Enemy Detection] skill to determine the enemy's number, and cooly reported her findings.

"I'll help too!"

Melika who was currently busy with retrieving the spring water immediately stopper her work and took up her magic staff.

The group faced the lizardmen herd.

At that moment, Vivian suddenly spoke to Shien.

"Speaking of, it seems that we haven't shown you our true strength before you yet?"

As she said that, the smile on Vivian's face was not longer so gentle and friendly, but was instead filled with strength and confidence.

"This is a good chance then. Let me properly introduce to you the adventurers of this party."

"Screech!"

"Screech!"

With an intimidating scream, those lizardmen that slowely appeared form the woods begun charging over towards them.

Seeing that, Shien's first instinct was to charge forward to meet them.

However, someone was faster than Shien.

"Ha!"

Lumia who was originally standing there clutching her fists nervously suddenly let out a shout and burst forward like a loosened arrow. She shot forward like a speeding bullet and instantly charged before one of the lizardmen.

That speed was fast enough to make even Shien surprised.

"Kah!"

That lizardman seemed to also been surprised, and when it managed to react, it instantly roared out in anger, raised up the sword in it's hand, and slashed down towards Lumia.

"It's dangerous!"

Shien unconsciously yelled out.

It couldn't be helped. The impression that Lumia gave Shien was that she was a soft, weak, and timid. When he saw the lizardman attacking her near him, of course Shien couldn't just sit still.

"Don't worry."

However, Vivian was still strangely calm. She showed no sign of moving to help.

The next second…

"Clank!"

Following a clear ring of metal clashing, the sword swung down by the lizardman went flying.

Facing the sword swing coming at her, Lumia just threw out a fist and blew the sword away.

Looking carefully, at some time Lumia had equipped a pair of metalic gauntlets on her hands.

"Bang!"

With a dull impact, Lumia once more threw out a punch, and the disarmed lizardman was blown away flying along with a gust of wind.

That scene was quite shocking, and Shien froze at the sight.

It was instead Vivian who spoke up without a hint of surprise in her voice.

"Lumia, the vanguard of our party. Her race is the beastman's dog tribe, bearing a superhuman sense of smell and a naturally strong body. She uses the two skills [Unarmed Combat] and [Physical Strengthening] as her main combat methods. She herself also focused on those two skills, and has raised both of them to level 6. She is currently level 44, a grade 4 adventurer."

As Vivian's voice fell, Lumia had already charged toward a second lizardman and had again sent that one's weapon flying and, with another punch, blew that lizardman into the air as well.

And then…

"Burn off!"

Melika raised up her staff, used her magic power, making the crystal on the tip of her staff shine with light.

"Boom!"

The lizardman that was sent flying immediately exploded in flames and was instantly burned away into ash.

"Melika, our party's mage. As you see, she's an elf. Due to the elves' closeness to nature, their compatibility with magic power and magic in general are quite high, and every single one of them is a natural mage. Melika's magic is top class even among those of the same level. She herself is proficient in fire and ice elemental magic, so besides the [Chanting] and [Meditation] skills that all mages need, Melika has used all her skill points on the skills [Magic – Fire] and [Magic – Ice]. Both have been leveled to level 4, so Melika could use mid classed spells within those two elements. She is currently level 42, and is also a grade 4 adventurer."

As she said that, Vivian suddenly turned around and viciously slammed to the side.

"Bang!"

A lizardman that had somehow gotten over there without anyone noticing was blow away by the tower shield in Vivian's hands and slammed into a tree, leaving it on its last breath.

"As for me, you should already know quite well. As the leader of the party, I'm a defensive styled vanguard. The skills I've learned are [One-handed Sword], [Shield], [Light Equipment], [Guard], [Taunt], and [Damage Reduction], etc… I'm currently level 50, a grade 5 adventurer."

Vivian turned around and showed Shien a smile.

"Following, allow me to introduce to you the strongest member of our party, and at the same time the number one prodigy within Lamdrion."

As if acting at Vivian's words, a petite figure moved forward from the side.