CH 171.1

Chapter 171.1: An Extremely Obvious Decoy Tactic

Presently, I was walking by myself along the sandy beach.

After we gained total control over the hotel and turned it into our base, I spent my days leisurely sunbathing on the beach. Since I was using a swimsuit, it was obvious that I was unarmed.

I even set another table and beach chair made from the wood around this area. With ice-cold water in my cup, everything was perfect.

I bided my time and leaned on my chair, showing a defenseless state.

「I should be able to bait them with this but…」

I muttered as I looked at the beach.

The one sunbathing on the beach was, of course, my doppelganger, 『Twin Shadow』.

The red raptor might put me on its top list, and since I didn’t use 『Twin Shadow』 during our previous battle, it had no idea about this curse.

That’s why I could freely flaunt 『Twin Shadow』to lure the red raptor.

Mei-chan, Rem-Dark Knight, and I were standing by the entrance, waiting for the raptor to rush toward the defenseless, and half-naked me.

We sealed all the entrances of the 1st floor with wooden boards so that they couldn’t be seen from the outside. It looked like fragile plywood which couldn’t defend against raptors’ attack, but all we need was cover.

And 『Simple Alchemy Formation』 was enough to create this simple structure. Half a day was enough to create them.

In addition, I recreated Rem the 3rd too――

「Look Kotaro-kun, the raptors are coming out.」

「They finally came huh. Faster than I expected, they really are a persistent lot, huh.」

After I confirmed that the raptors had emerged from the forest, I changed my consciousness to 『Twin Shadow』 immediately.

「A small number of them have come out huh. Those cautious bastards.」

The ones who appeared were only part of the flock. Most of their comrades were still waiting, observing the situation from inside the forest, not following the group who walked until the beach.

Obviously, those who came out were scouts, a measure against trap.

「Yup, it’s too obvious after all… Mei-chan, keep hiding. Leave this to the skeleton squad.」

The one who spoke was my main body, my doppelganger who was lying in the chair was rising in panic upon seeing the incoming raptors.

「Uwa~, raptors! Why are they coming out in this kind of place~」

I hurriedly escaped from the beach while spouting that cliché lines.

""

「KYOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」

The raptors were charging at once toward my exposed back while raising cries.

「Wa~h, save me~」

I sent out skeleton squad while saying that lame script with a monotone. The skeletons who already standing outside of the hotel rushed toward me at once. If it were only the skeletons, their threat level should be far from enough to prevent the red raptor from making its entrance.

Anyhow, those skeletons were running toward their master(fake) while raising their swords overhead.

「KYOAA, KIAAAAAAAAAAAA!」

The raptors had already arrived right behind me but the (fake) me turned around as soon as I saw the skeletons were about to arrive and ran straight into the forest without looking back.

「They want to avoid unnecessary combat huh… but whatever, I’ve expected them to not eat that obvious bait.」

I’m sure that from the red raptor’s perspective, what happened just now wasn’t as if it was I who got careless and just by myself wouldn’t make it in time. Well, at least it wouldn’t know that Mei-chan and Rem-Dark Knight were standing nearby.

Even that cunning red raptor wouldn’t be able to judge whether my act just now was a trap or simply my negligence.

「U~hm, it seems we need a more detailed plan to bait that guy out of its hiding place.」

In the end, the raptors didn’t show themselves again even when I was sunbathing again that day.

===

The next day, I used the same bait again, just to be sure. But then, it seemed way too unnatural when I was just by myself, I guess I needed to fix that part.

We were currently dismantling Jyaja, an alpaca-like herbivore that just happened to wander near the beach. Well, we had to guarantee fresh food after all.

I made full use of Jajiras in the hotel as the main base materials for Rem the 3rd, Mei-chan was currently teaching me and her how to dismantle the corpse for its meat. I placed two skeletons armed with swords to guard us nearby.

These two skeletons would be decimated easily by the red raptor’s troops.

But maybe because they’re still wary of my plan, they only sent scouts.

「As expected, it really didn’t work huh.」

「GOBUBU, GOBAAAA!」

「WOAAH!? I’M NOT FUCKING CALLING YOU!!」

Just when I thought that the raptor wouldn’t come out, a giant crab emerged from the sandy beach. It seemed the smell of the blood of jyaja that we dismantled had attracted it into coming.

「Can I beat that fella, Kotaro-kun?」

Mei-chan was asking my real body who was hiding at the entrance of the hotel.

「No, let the 3rd, skeleton and my shadow deal with it.」

I had to prevent the scouts from seeing Mei-chan rushing out from the hotel as much as I could. The red raptor had most likely guessed that she was hiding in this hotel, but there was a huge difference between a conjecture and conviction, I had to manipulate the information in this way.

And by the way, let’s use a little bondage play at the giant crab seeing that there was no Rem-Dark Knight and Mei-chan.

「――Ah, that was really close.」

The giant crab lay down powerlessly after a sword penetrated the gap between its shell.

Jajiras Rem, formerly known as Rem the 3rd, had so-so specs, but she didn’t avoid the fight against the giant crab which was armed with a tough shell.

It was a really close fight. I suppressed the crab with 『Blackhair Bind』, moreover, the skeletons were stopping it with their life on the line. And finally Rem the 3rd was stabbing her blade into that gap created by us. One single mistake would send the giant crab on my way with its sharp pair of tongs, ultimately revealing my 『Twin Shadow』.

If the red raptor saw the scene in which my shadow dispersed into a mass of black mist instead of becoming splattered blood and meat, it would notice immediately that the one over there was a fake instead of the real me.

「That’s a close fight but… they still aren’t going to attack even with this huh.」

We, who were struggling while trying our best to beat the giant crab as flashy as possible, were starting to win while sacrificing four skeletons. An opening for an ambush should be created without victory, but the raptor didn’t even appear.

As expected, the red raptor was still raising its vigilance toward Mei-chan and Rem-Dark Knight.

「Maybe my solo act isn’t convincing enough but… since that’s the case, let’s divide our force as they wish.」

Now we’re done with the experiment. We somehow even ended up with a fresh, wild giant crab as a bonus.

===

「That’s why we’re going to try the second plan for today.」

And the pivotal part of that plan was Rem’s material. By the way, the giant crab’s shell from yesterday was the best material for her armor.

As for the other materials, we got them from the raptors who were beaten by us in their night raid, and a few regenerated tentacles from the high-zombie bosses we had beaten before. I mean, there was only so much that Arachne Rem could carry on her back, after all, with all of our equipment included.

And then, if I were to remake a new body for Rem, a whole intact corpse would be the best choice for that.

「We should choose the strong monster for the best result.」

「But an extremely powerful enemy who can annihilate us is no good either.」

Since there was a high chance that the red raptor would swoop in once it detected the window for an attack, we had to be really careful when choosing the material for the new Rem.

In short, we’re hunting for a strong monster, but not strong to the point that it would overpower us. At the same time, we’re also exploring these resort hotels, looking for unopened treasure boxes.

「Kotaro-kun, I’ve found Jiras, what are we going to do with them?」

The first one we found was our dear friendly neighbor, jiras. They were just like the gomas in the ruined city, they were exploring the resorts for items or weapons.

「Their equipment aren’t that good, but let’s annihilate them since they might be hindering our plan.」

At such times, we could gain an upper hand with a pre-emptive attack.

I mean, Rem-Dark Knight was equipped with 『Black Horn Bow』 which we had plundered from Sakurai-kun, and Rem the 3rd was equipped with a short bow made with Hinagiku-san’s skill. I had 『Poison』 and lastly Mei-chan, the one with the highest firepower among us who could create a hell-like scene with just rock in her hands.

We commenced a long-range all-out attack and annihilated the jiras flock in a matter of seconds. And resumed our exploration without even bothering to check the jiras’ corpses.

In the end, we couldn’t find any special monster even after wandering for a while. Most of what we found were docile herbivores such as Jyaja. This area seemed to be a peaceful heaven.