Chapter 83 – Target Found

The next morning, I finished my meal quite early and headed to the mountain.

We walked towards the foot of the mountain for two hours, and then we climbed to the point where the Thunderbird had been spotted.

I put the kanjiki1 on my feet, and some warm clothes and an overcoat to protect my body from the cold. If I put too many clothes, my movement will be inhibited, which will get in the way once I find the thunderbird, those are still somewhat thick though. Maa, the thick clothes aren’t that necessary due to the magic overcoat.2

Anyway, I’ve prepared a few days worth of food and changes of clothes for the mountain climbing, just in case it is necessary.

Following the lead of hunter-san, I started climbing the mountain path (?)3 that is covered by snow.

It took 3 hours, by the pace of the hunter, to reach our goal…. During that time, I walked without speaking a single word. I planted my feet firmly on the snow covered path with each step, this unusual way of walking was necessary to be sure I’d not waste any stamina while walking through it4. Despite the hards.h.i.+ps, Hunter-san kept on moving forward to arrive at our goal without delay.

How much did we walk? After getting considerably tired, Hunter-san’s feet finally stopped in place..

「I saw the thunderbird around here.」 Hunter-san said.5

Once I heard that, I started looking around, but I only saw a snow covered mountain.

…… Maa, it couldn’t have remained in the same place forever….

Let’s start by looking around this place. By walking on its surroundings. Searching to see if there aren’t any clues..

Though I said that, I have no such skill, so I’ll rely Hunter-san’s….

Checking out if there aren’t any footprints of the thunderbird, the traces of its food, or of the excrement.

Me as well, will search for it, like an amateur looking at a new dish.

How long have we been looking for it? I also forgot to eat lunch and continued searching, it was around the time I was becoming unable to endure the harsh hunger.

「Wait! It’s the footprint of the thunderbird! 」Hunter-san said.

I stopped my foot mid-air and saw the footprint right below where I was going to step.

That was certainly the footprint of some kind of bird.

However, it was a big footprint, and it looked like the one of a waterfowl, not really similar to a bird’s one.

Thunderbirds have a small body of about 1m height, and it lives mainly on high alt.i.tude zones and snowy places, the large foot, that is similar to a waterfowl’s, increases the area that it steps on. Making it easier for it to move through the soft snow.

In other words, the footprints found here are definitely the thunderbird’s.

The footprints continue from here to the top of the mountain. The footprints are still new and the chances of finding the thund

erbird are pretty high. So we quickly followed the.

After half an hour of tracking, we were able to find the thunderbird in an open place. It was wrapped in pure white feathers, and it easily  blended into the snowy field, which served as camouflage for anyone looking from a distance..

I dropped my luggage, and encouraged Hunter-san to separate from me, so as to not be dragged into the fight..

After checking he did it, I unsheathed my katana6 and prepared myself.

For certain victory, the first blow is a must. Certain death in one blow!7

Going directly through the spirit of the katana8, I immediately brandished my weapon and made a big swing.

Coming from the katana’s spirit, a slas.h.i.+ng attack swooped down upon the thunderbird.

Giiiiin!!!

The moment I hit Thunderbird, a sound that seemed like I was cutting something hard echoed.

I don’t know what happened to the thunderbird, because the snow in the area flew up at the moment I hit it. Guessing from the sound, I think it defended against the technique in some way.

While holding the katana, I glared at the direction of the thunderbird without hesitation. I put a defense magic on myself, as well as a body strengthening one, so that I can move at any time.

「Kueeeeeetsu!! 」

When I noticed that I heard a strange sound, light suddenly flooded my sight.

I quickly jumped back, and as I did, the tree behind me made a loud noise and blew away right above my head.

Apparently, I received a counterattack from the thunderbird.

Judging so, I got up and moved quickly.

I dare say that, with that power, hiding behind trees would be a total waste. In that case, it is better to stay in a wide place so as to make it possible to avoid as much as possible.

If I keep away from it, it seems impossible to beat the thunderbird….

The soaring snow disappeared like it was swept away by the wind, the thunderbird was staring at me while its body was glowing with a bachi bachi9.

I do not know how it defended against my blow, but it seems that it won’t be easy to beat it seeing that there is no visible wound on its body.

I put strength in the hand which grasped the katana, and I slashed towards the thunderbird with the strengthened physical ability.

「Yaa! 」

Flash yell10. I make a swing to cut down the thunderbird, but because I don’t have a solid footing, the attack wasn’t very skillful. Due to the stance not working, all actions were delayed one by one tempo11.

The swinging blade does not reach the thunderbird, and then it flew away increasing the gap between us.

The moment I noticed the body of the thunderbird flashed, I threw my body diagonally forward.

Dogaaaaaan!!!

A sound similar to a thundering roar echoed.

Looking back, the place that I was standing on was now raising steam.

…… That was dangerous…. The thunderbird, just like its name says, can manipulate thunder. No12, I feel that it can generate electricity in its own body rather than manipulating it? That seems to be how its power works.

Since I have defensive magic, I won’t be taken out in one blow, but it is not something I’d want to receive anyway.

Fortunately, the lightning attack seems to requires a small interval13, so it’s not continuously used. Before the next attack comes, I put my spirit on my feet and break into its territory14.

Das.h.i.+ng towards it, I made a slash from top to bottom. But again, the sword cut through the sky and lodged itself on the snow.

「Kueeeee!!! 」

A strange sound was emitted from the thunderbird.

Along with that, the electric discharge on the thunderbird’s body became stronger than before.

「Almost…! 」

I fl.u.s.teredly tried to retreat, but this time, the explosion happened centered on the thunderbird’s own body.

Dogooooon!!!

Without specifying a target, the attack against a wide area would blow me away if I hadn’t get some distance with the jump.

I wasn’t able to see the result of the jump, or of the wide area attack, but it seems it wasn’t able to break through my defensive magic, since I was intact. And, I didn’t want to have my head thrust into the snow like a cartoon15.

「Ku… it’s S-rank, indeed… It’s not going to be easy… 」

If the ground is firm at least, I’ll be able to move and attack properly….

「Flame Arrow! 」16

I try to use the magic as a restraint, but it is easily avoided, or erased by the discharge that comes from the body of the thunderbird. As expected, it seems like it cannot be restrained by elementary level magic.

Still, it seems to be cautious against my magic, which game me time to recover my posture.

…… Sate, how can I beat it? My attack doesn’t reach in one step. The electrical explosion comes if I get too close. If I get away, it uses the lightning attack. Thinking about it, there are 2 ways to approach it. I have to keep it on the ground, or chase the thunderbird through the air.

Even if I manage to keep it on the ground, gliding towards it with a temporary ice road won’t be very effective. Even if I melt the snowy’s surface with flames, it will be a very local thing, and I’ll be back to the start if it moves away. And melting the snow might also end up causing an avalanche. …… Maa, it would be dangerous to cause a blast like that now.

Anyway, it’s hard to do something about the ground, and even if I do it, I’ll get a lot of problems. Then there is only one other way, to not let it escape.

「Icicle Lance! 」17

Ten spears of ice flew towards the thunderbird. Three, that were on the direct hit course, were intercepted by lightning and evaporated in the air, the rest are stuck on the snow.

「Earth Spike! 」18

A sharp rock appeared from the bottom of the snow this time.

The thunderbird ran away from it with a bata bata. 19

「Fire Lance! 」20

The five fire spears that appeared in the air flew toward the thunderbird.

「Kuaaaaaa!! 」

Differently from the previous ice spears, all five of them headed to the thunderbird for a direct hit course, and the thunderbird shot lightning to intercept it.

Of course, that is how it’s supposed to be.

I slided towards the thunderbird during the interval that had the electric ray and the fire spears clashed.

「Haa！」

I wielded my katana with a sideways swing towards the neck of the thunderbird.

The thunderbird tried to avoid it quickly, but behind it there are the rock remains of the Earth Spike, with ice spears sticking to the left and right like a jail. Usually, they should go back to the original form once the spell ended, but this time I put some magical power on it so as to let it remain for a while.

Panicking, the thunderbird tried spreading its wings and flee to the sky, but that momentary delay decided the game.

Zashun!

With a lighter sound than I thought, I cut off the neck of the thunderbird.

While splas.h.i.+ng blood from its decapitated head, vestiges of its attempt to flap away could still be seen on the movement of the feathers, that soon stopped and its body collapsed on the snow.

「Haa~…」

Looking at it, I sat down on the snow with a sigh.

「…… My stomach, was empty…」21

I was too absorbed in the search and didn’t even eat lunch. In addition, I kept on walking around, with a battle at the end of it, so I lost all power at once.

In order to eat the preserved food at least, I unsteadily and hungry put power on my foot, returning to the place where is the thunderbird and put it on a backpack with lightweight magic.

Eating some bread, preserved foods, cookies, preserved fruits and dried meat, my stomach finally calmed down.22

Once my stomach settled down, I moved to the meeting point to group with the Hunter-san I was working with before.

Hunter-san was at the place he had seen the thunderbird before. He was surprised when saw me dragging the thunderbird.

「Did you really defeat Thunderbird!? I heard that adventurers aren’t just their looks, but even so… 」

Did I just hear some strange words? Who’s a little kid? Eh? You didn’t say that much? …… Maa, it’s okay. I am also tired, and it is troublesome if I go against Hunter-san23. I’m almost a 16-year-old adult24, so I’ll forgive you.

As expected, the search took a long time, so I gave up on getting off the mountain today. And at this time of the day, the sun is almost setting. It’s a reckless thing to walk in the dark snowy mountains, isn’t it?

Hunter-san said that there is a mountain hut nearby, so we’ll stay there overnight and get off the mountain tomorrow morning.

After about half an hour walk (just how far is nearby?)25, we arrived at the mountain hut, Hunter-san started a fire while I hang the thunderbird in a corner of the hut to let the blood dry. Because the blood flows in large quant.i.ties, we are careful so as to not dirty the hut too much.

While sitting near the fire, I answered the question by Hunter-san appropriately26 and had dinner by eating a bit of the preserved food.

While taking turns on watching the fire, we rested, and in the morning we had breakfast and got off the mountain.

We arrived at the village around noon, there was an uproar after seeing the thunderbird, but I managed to get through it. Maa, rather than curiosity, they were more grateful that they were able to hunt again thanks to the fact that the thunderbird is gone.

I ate lunch at the inn, rented a room and headed to the hot spring.

I put the thunderbird in a big sack and then put it in the preservation Magic tool, which I brought in for this time, and stored it in the room. Do you know how much of my spirit I have been trying to put into the thunderbird?27

The bed and the hot spring were able to cure the tiredness from mountain climbing (although it would be best if the meal was as good as this ), and in the next morning, I took a wagon towards the royal capital