Re: Monster Vol: 5 (Day181 - Day 220

Day 184

Right after midnight, Minokichi's group, which has my second son Oniwaka with them, was attacked by someone. However, nobody was harmed. On the other hand, the attackers were annihilated. Regarding this attack, I'll quickly explain the course of events around it.

To start with, the consciousness of Minokichi's beloved pet, who was sound asleep on a pillow, was triggered as it sensed multiple presences approaching. When it used its hearing and sense of smell to do a rough examination of the situation in the area, it heard small sounds coming from all directions. On top of that, it was able to smell the body odor of dozens of beings as well.

By using the clones in the ear cuffs to search for the enemy, they were given an accurate count of thirty three enemies around them. They were also able to confirm that the enemy was slowly approaching at almost the exact same time.

With the exception of Minokichi, who was sleeping in a Skeleton Centipede that had expanded into a type of tent by rearranging its skeletal structure, other powerful members such as Asue had noticed the group's approach.

Countermeasures were communicated through the ear cuffs, and because he had personally requested it, it was decided that only Minokichi would engage them. He was the only person that was sleeping outside, so this was convenient.

As the enemy entered their attack range, the Skeleton Centipedes threw out special smoke bombs that inflicted the negative status effects【Paralysis】and【Lethargy】. Right after that, Minokichi jumped out of bed and trampled the enemy without giving them any time to escape.

From the start of the battle until the end, no more than 10 seconds had passed. Several people were slain together with one swing of his axe, and even more were killed by the Thunder Flames that spread out and scorched the earth. Minokichi has been getting stronger and stronger recently, so he's become even more reliable.

To be honest, I would normally tell him to secure at least one captive to find out their true intentions, but since it's Minokichi, it can't be helped. His physical prowess aside, not much has changed from the old days and his intellect remains the same. The attack also lacked imagination, even more so because it was a ranged one.

Since it was a massacre, it was disappointing that only a few of the corpses we examined still retained their human shaped figure somehow, and we weren't able to find anything that would tell us who they're affiliated with.

Even though the enemy was made up of beastmen and humans, there wasn't any uniformity to them. I can't say they were a mish-mash of mercenaries hired to attack Minokichi and the others though, since all of their members were accustomed to using the same standard equipment.

With swords coated with a paralysis poison, daggers coated with a lethal poison, a great number of medicines that are very illegal, dark containers filled with deadly poison hidden in various places on their bodies, long coats and trousers made out of strong leather which had a high【Hiding】effect, and magic boots that muffled their footsteps; this was the perfect equipment for an assassin. While I'm assuming that they aren't affiliated with the Sternbild Kingdom, I'm certain that there are members of their organization somewhere in the country.

As for the reason Minokichi and the others were attacked, the war in the Kingdom is probably the cause. Since the war potential that ≪Parabellum≫ possesses is superior in both quantity and quality, I already figured that we would be regarded as highly dangerous by the other countries. From the information my clones have gathered, I now know that this is actually the case. Although some countries can be excluded immediately, there are places like that. I can't say where they're at, but they do exist.

Returning to the story, they couldn't make a move on the group's leader, me, since I was in the Royal Capital and they had no physical means of doing so after I cleared out most of the spies. As a result, I guess they wanted to get rid of Minokichi and Asue's military unit at an early stage, since they were part of my main forces.

There's also the possibility that they simply planned to scout out their power, with the intention of escaping after disturbing them to some degree. I couldn't discover anything because the enemy was completely annihilated, so I told all military units to be cautious for the time being. With this omen of a new war, I started to get a little excited.