CH 170.1

Chapter 170.1: Traces

It was the second day since we had been walking along the coastline.

「… As expected, it’s trailing after us.」

It seemed that the red raptor had been following us persistently.

What a tenacious fella! Bears have a strong affinity for following their prey, but it seems raptors have the same trait too. Or else, it was simply itching to avenge many of its fallen subordinates.

Whatever the reason might be, it was undoubtedly following us.

The raptor had yet to come to raid our base again save for the raid that night. Yes, it was “yet”, but those fellas had been following us ever since.

I mean, we would see a crowd of raptors from time to time. It was quite normal with another group, but the one that didn’t attack upon seeing us was clearly following a command to observe our actions.

Just to be sure, I tried to scout them.

The combat power of the bird’s 『Corpse Doll』 which I used for Rem to scout in the battle against Sakurai-kun was nonexistent, but she’d gained an ability to scout our enemy with a bird’s eyes instead. I used several bird-type Rems and spread them in every direction instead of reviving Rem the 3rd who was murdered (not dead) by the red raptor.

And then, Bird Rem told me that she saw a glimpse of that red raptor trailing us. I wasn’t so naive as to think that they merely happened to walk in the same direction as us.

I had been reflecting on many things after their previous ambush. I had committed a blunder that almost killed me that time but… I had to admit that the boss of those raptors, the red raptor was an extremely cunning fella.

First, about the three giant crabs who appeared right there as if they’d been waiting for us to come out from the jungle might be the one who got lured by that red raptor to come to that specific place, or just scrap that “might be”, after experiencing a direct clash against that the red raptor, I was convinced that that fella was the culprit.

I’d pretty much confirmed the traits of the giant crab over the course of two days we spent walking along the coastline. Normally, they would sleep under the sandy beach, or loiter around the beach in search of prey. They only came out when they heard the sound of footsteps approaching their sleeping place.

But they wouldn’t go after us as long as we ran into the forest.

We had grasped the essence of the giant crab ecology over the course of these two days. And the red raptor that had been living for a long time in this area was surely aware of the giant crab trait. Thus, it was highly possible for raptors to awaken the giant crabs sleeping under the sandy beach and then bait, making them come after it. And given its running speed, well, escaping from those crabs was easy since the raptor just needed to run into the jungle located right beside the beach.

That’s why against the kind of prey that it saw for the first time, namely human, the red raptor not only set the ambush to happen in the jungle, its home base but also cut off our retreat toward the sandy beach by kiting those giant crabs over there ― was what I concluded upon post-battle reflection.

I didn’t care even if it was only my own delusion of seeing a monster attempting to do an ＭＰＫ(Monster Player Killer). At least, when it comes to that red raptor, I should go with the assumption that it had that much intelligence. Though it had terrifying combat power, the most terrifying aspect about that red raptor was the fact that it was highly intelligent. I mean, using the wreckage of skeletons to surf over the acid lake had already surpassed the realm of makeshift judgment.

To be honest, this kind of highly intelligent opponent was far more troublesome than those muscle-brained bosses. It happened once in a while in ＲＰＧ, a small fry monster whose strength surpassed that of the boss.

「Kotaro-kun, shall I go and beat that fella?」

「No, our opponent is way too dangerous.」

「It’s okay, I can easily kick the ass of that red raptor!」

「In terms of combat strength, you’re definitely stronger than that fella, Mei-chan. That’s why it is definitely going to avoid a direct confrontation with you. Rather, you gave that fella a chance that it had been waiting for by leaving my side.」

Maybe the reason the red raptor’s group was not trying to hide was so we would know about them.

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Firstly, after the previous ambush, the other party clearly understood our strength. They knew that they’re no match for Mei-chan even if they pitted her against the giant crabs and surrounded her with a large number of raptors. In addition, there was also Rem-Dark Knight who could fight forever without worrying about fatigue or pain. Both of them were our team’s greatest combat potential. On the contrary, everyone else, aside from them, were small fries.

Knowing that the red raptor was definitely waiting for those two to leave my side. Had I sent Mei-chan to subjugate the red raptor, the red raptor might have split half of its pack to stop Mei-chan, and use the other half to kill me.

「That’s why Mei-chan and Dark Knight absolutely cannot leave my side.」

「I- I see now… to be able to see that far ahead, as expected of Kotaro-kun.」

No, I think that anyone who experienced that battle would come to the same conclusion. Or not, Mei-chan who became stronger might’ve not thought that much about a makeshift tactic like that.

Haa, I also want to be able to solve a problem with brute force… like a certain peerless berserker. I mean, I got this feeling that she could dodge 『Poison』 with ease. Absolutely not someone who I wanted as an enemy.

「Those fellas might not attack us as long as we didn’t show any gap. Since we’re still in their home ground, they definitely are not going to give up on us that easily. They’re confident that they can beat us in a drawn-out battle.」

「Then, shall we ignore them till we beat the boss of this area?」

「No, we’ve to beat them as soon as possible. It’s still fine right now, but they’re definitely going to start their attack after we’ve exhausted ourselves fighting another strong monster.」

In short, the red raptor was gonna order its flocks to attack us even at the slightest sign of us having a hard time in the battle. In that situation, it was literally a dead end for us.

Naturally, there wouldn’t be any problem if we could arrive at the boss room without any encounter but … it was much safer to get rid of them as soon as possible.

「Uhm, so, what shall we do then?」

「We need a tactic to lure out the red raptor and its flocks.」

Our skill had been revealed to those raptors in that night raid, but it didn’t mean that they knew all of our skill-set.

「Anyhow, let’s secure a base somewhere in that ruin.」

My line of sight was directed at the buildings lined along the sandy beach. There were so many tall buildings that looked like hotels. To be honest, it reminded me more and more of Hawaii or a southern country’s resort.

Nevertheless, just like in the previous area, half of the buildings had already been encroached by vegetation, just like post-apocalypse ruins.

The jungle was a raptor’s area. But the place with the man-made building was our turf, humans.