“Fragments?”

I heard the Dryad’s voice and looked towards the fragments that surrounded me.

And then-I could see little dark pieces of something gathering together.

They were slowly starting to take a shape-black monsters.

It wasn’t just ten or even twenty.

Each fragment was turning into a monster. So there were hundreds of them.

“Are you kidding me… Don’t you think that’s overdoing it a little?”

I said as I escaped the barrier. Then I looked around me.

Thanks to the barrier, it seemed like the monsters were currently sealed away from us.

However, due to the effects of Hellfire of Obliteration, the barrier was weakened. It would shudder and shake dangerously.

It would probably break if I didn’t make a new one.

The slimes…were maintaining their positions around it.

It seemed like I would be able to do it just fine.

“I’m going to use Magic Transfer! Keep your positions!”

‘Okay!’

I made sure that they were before activating the magic.

“Magic Transfer—Anti-physical Barrier!”

First I would use an Anti-physical Barrier to securely trap the monster inside.

“Magic Transfer—Anti-Magic Barrier!”

At the same time, I added an Anti-magic Barrier.

And-

“Hellfire of Obliteration!”

Incinerate.

It hadn’t worked against the magic stone, but this time it was monsters within a barrier.

‘Hellfire of Obliteration’ used a lot of MP, but it seemed like it would be the most effective for killing these monsters.

-After some time passed, the smoke finally cleared.

There were no traces of the monsters now. And all that remained was the now white, magic stone.

I couldn’t see any more monsters coming out either.

‘You-you killed all of them in a second…’

“Nice combo, huh? …Well, it does use a lot of MP, though.”

I said as I checked my status.

———————————————————————————

Job: Tamer, Sage

Skills: Taming, Light Magic, Shadow Magic, Fire Magic, Water Magic, Earth Magic, Thunder Magic, Wind Magic, Time-space Magic, Special Magic, Great Magic, Familiar Magic, Support Magic, Altering Magic, Ultra Combat Arts.

Attributes: None

HP: 320/321

MP: -1740/1856

Abnormality: Overuse of magic

———————————————————————————

My MP was had dropped quite a bit below 0.

But my HP was fine, so perhaps it wasn’t a big problem.

My MP had gone to minus 200,000 when I used Hellfire of Death, and yet I didn’t die or suffer any permanent after-effects.

…Well, it was still not very normal for it to drop like that, so I should avoid it when I could.

“In any case, I guess that’s it as far as dealing with the magic stone. The area around is destroyed pretty bad… Uh, should I fix this?”

I said as I looked at the barrier.

Everything outside of it was peace itself, but inside, it was either glass or melted rock. It looked horrible.

I tried pouring water over it to cool it off, but I doubted trees would grow here for a long time.

Somehow, I felt the Dryad would not be happy about that.

‘Yes!’

…It seemed like it was actually fine.

Well, it was a big forest.

As long as the magic stone was not there.

“That’s good.”

As we talked about this-I suddenly remembered my original reason for being here.

I had come to collect these Dria flowers.

If they really weren’t around, then there was nothing I could do. But perhaps she could tell me something.

“Hey, do you know about the Dria flowers?”

‘I do! Those flowers grow all over the Dryad territories. …What about them?’

I see. So they were all over the place.

Maybe they weren’t growing when I came because the Dryad wasn’t feeling well.

In that case, there weren’t likely to be any now.

“I originally came to this forest on a quest to gather those flowers. But I heard that there aren’t any more now…”

‘Ah, that’s what you mean! Alright. I’ll give it a try.’

Replied the Dryad.

“Give it a try?”

‘Yes. They aren’t used for anything, so I never tried to grow them before…’

The Dryad said as she closed her eyes.

Then—

‘Oomph!’

She raised her voice. Then lots of grass started to grow from the ground.

It grew incredibly quickly-and then, flowers started to bloom before even a minute had passed.

The flowers looked familiar. Like the ones that I had seen at the guild.

“It’s Dria flowers! …Can I gather these?”

The Dryad nodded.

‘Sure! You saved my life, Yuji. I can grow as much as you need!’

The Dryad said as she made more and more of them grow.

And so the quest I had thought that I had failed turned out to be a great success.