I Played the Role of a Hated Hero, but for Some Reason, I’m Loved by the Last Boss and Living With Her! - Chapter 53

The next morning.

 

I was out hunting with Behemoth and Dragon God through the elven forest.

 

“I’ll collect as many Anima Crystals as I can for my mother and aunt!”

 

“Oh~…”

 

Dragon god was adorably enthusiastic with her fist thrusting above her head, while Behemoth made no effort to hide her languid mood.

 

I followed behind the two and called out to them.

 

“The demons that appear around here are either Killrabbits or Green Slimes. I don’t think you guys need to worry about getting hurt, but the slime will melt your clothes made of mana, so be careful.”

 

The clothes worn by the four great demons are made entirely of mana. Green slime is a demon that takes in mana and other substances from the air into its body and uses them as nourishment.

 

In other words, clothes made of mana are a treat for them. Therefore, as soon as they touch your body, it’s in danger of being melted.

 

“Thank you for your kindness. But my fighting style is mainly magic bombardment from a distance, so I rarely have to get close to them, so I’m should be fine.”

 

“I’m going to slap, punch, and kick… but I don’t care how many clothes get melted… I’ll beat it before it gets melted in the first place, no problem… Mmm…”

 

I’ve been thinking that Behemoth is a character that doesn’t seem to have much shame, but as expected, or rather, what can I say?

 

I want you to think more about what it means to suddenly expose your skin in front of me, a man.

 

Well, I guess it’s useless to say.

 

After all, these people live with a different sensibility from humans. In the first place, they have no qualms about exposing their skin to men.

 

Yesterday, she and Yggdrasil came crashing into me and Demiurge as we were bathing in the spring.

 

『 Hee-chan! Attack~~!! 』『 Ou~~…… 』she really charging at us, saying something like that

 

Yggdrasil seemed to intrude to make fun of us, and was playing with Demiurge by grabbing her chest from behind.

 

Naturally, Demiurge raised her eyebrows at Yggdrasil and revealed her anger, but I don’t want to tell you that I was a little bit happy to see it.

 

Incidentally, it wasn’t just Yggdrasil and Behemoth that charged into the fountain, but all four of the demons.

 

I must have been tested for my reason then. I was at the edge of the fountain, and I was trying to memorize the magic formula.

 

And yet, the Behemoth was once again pressing me,『 Let’s, mate…? 』

 

Yggdrasil’s onslaught(?) took advantage of the gap left by Demiurge, who had been held back by Yggdrasil’s. Naturally, I ran away from the scene at once.

 

I’ve managed to bounce off the approaches and temptations from Behemoth.『 Muu~, he got away… next time I’ll definitely, take his… seed…”

 

I could hear the horrible words coming from behind me.

 

I’m afraid I’m going to be attacked in my sleep or something…

 

Well, this is what happened yesterday, but to get back to the story, we’re here to collect Anima Crystals to grow saplings for the World Tree.

 

On our way out, I was about to go out of the forest with Behemoth.

 

『 I’m coming with you! You never know what might happen if a dangerous she-cat and husband are together! 』

 

She wanted to come with us but,

 

『 Oh, no, no. Dee-chan has something to do with me. Fu-chan and Ta-chan, you’ll have to work with me today. 』

 

『 Wha?! Yggdrasil! Don’t get in my way! If you don’t, my husband will! My husband will be eaten by a female cat~! 』

 

『 Yes, yes, but you’ll have to help me today. 』

 

『 N~o~!! 』

 

And somehow, she was taken by Yggdrasil.

 

But why even Phoenix and Titan?

 

As Demiurge was being taken away, Yggdrasil turned around and said to me,

 

『 You might be able to see something interesting when you get back, so do your best to collect the Anima Crystal! 』

 

She left me with a curious comment… What? Interesting stuff?

 

What on earth is Yggdrasil thinking about?

 

Perhaps it is because she has a difficult personality to grasp, but there is a sense of fear that you never know what she might do.

 

She’s been around since the creation of the world, so to speak, and she’s like a god, so I have to say that the world is full of wonders.

 

But whatever the case, I am now out hunting with the Dragon God and Behemoth.

 

The reason I’m accompanying them is that I want to see what they’re capable of.

 

Phoenix and Titan had been involved in a battle right out of the gate, but as a result, I was able to confirm how strong they were.

 

However, I still don’t know how powerful these two are and what kind of fighting style they have.

 

As we move forward together, there will be more opportunities to form a solid joint front.

 

At that time, it would not be good if I did not know the strength of my fellow team.

 

This is why I was planning to check their abilities during this hunt.

 

“Hm~mm… It’s hard to find them if we’re looking for them like this.”

 

“There’s not much of a smell either… Maybe there are few of them around here…”

 

There was no particular approach from Behemoth as Demiurge had feared, and both of them were seriously looking for demons.

 

However, indeed, randomly I, Phoenix, and the others have already hunted down most of the demons in this area.

 

Now we had to go a little farther to even catch a glimpse of them.

 

“Let’s take a short walk. If we walk a little further, we might be able to find the demon.”

 

“I understand.”

 

“Oka~ay…”

 

This time, with me in the lead, we continued forward through the grassland.

 

Then, suddenly, Behemoth reacted.

 

“Hmm…? Something smells… like a demon…”

 

“Oh, they’re close by, aren’t they?”

 

“Wait a minute… I’ll look for it…”

 

“Behemoth have excellent noses. I can’t smell a thing.”

 

We stopped and waited for the Behemoth to find out where the demon was.

 

Her nose twitching, her ears moving left and right busily.

 

After a few minutes, the Behemoth turned its gaze to a corner.

 

“The sky… coming at us from over there…”

 

“What? The sky…?”

 

I followed Behemoth’s words and moved my eyes upward, and sure enough, I saw a small black shadow coming toward me from the west.

 

“Is that…?”

 

“I don’t know. I’ve been hunting here for over a month now, and I’ve never seen a sky demon before.”

 

The only demons I’ve seen around here are killrabbits and green slimes.

 

I’ve never seen any other demons before, but…

 

“There are quite a few…”

 

“Looks like.”

 

The shadows are getting bigger and bigger. There were probably more than twenty of them that I could see.

 

I activated my appraising eye, a power that comes with the appraiser class, and analyzed the approaching shadows.

 

“【 Cheap Garuda 】…a B-rank designated demon.”

 

When I read the information in my field of vision, I saw that I was dealing with a demon that I had also dealt with before.

 

It was a huge bird-shaped demon covered in reddish-brown feathers, each one about a meter long.

 

They attack by spitting flames from their mouths, making it difficult to deal with them if they attack you from above.

 

I’ve often heard stories of parties that were unprepared for air combat being destroyed by a flock of these Cheap Garuda.

 

It is a very troublesome opponent.

 

“My, Garuda is the demon that Phoenix created in this world.”

 

“Is that so?”

 

“Yes. Phoenix has created many demons related to the sky, and I remember Garuda being one of the most powerful.”

 

Perhaps the Dragon God is referring to『 Garuda 』and『 Carla 』. These guys, like the Cheap Garuda, are bird-shaped demons.

 

But these two demons are so powerful that they are designated as A-rank demons.

 

The Cheap Garuda is so named because it has similar characteristics to the Garuda, but it is not as strong as the Garuda.

 

Garudas basically act in packs and use their superiority in numbers to attack you, making them extremely troublesome.

 

In fact, the rank of a swarm of Cheap Garuda is even upgraded to A.

 

“Their meat is pretty good… but it’s a pain to deal with flying demons… Hey, can’t we just ignore that thing…?”

 

“My my, you’re a troubled child… but collecting Anima Crystals is what mother wanted. If we defeat that many of them, we will be able to get quite a lot of Anima Crystals. I’m sure mother and aunt will be very pleased.”

 

“Muu… okay, it can’t be helped… I’ll eradicate them…!”

 

Thirsty from Dragon God’s words, Behemoth overflows with dense mana.

 

Perhaps sensed by our will to fight, we could see the Cheap Garuda in the sky coming towards us at once.

 

“Fufu… These birds are very energetic… Then let me welcome them.”

 

Dragon God, like the Behemoth, flooded her body with mana and took up a fighting stance.

 

Then, her appearance changes.

 

Her ears, which had been round, became slightly pointed, and two sharp horns grew straight out from her head. Her pupils, which had been round, became narrower, reminiscent of a reptile.

 

In addition, a long, thick tail covered with bright blue scales sprouted from the base of her waist.

 

“For mother’s sake… become a cornerstone for the world…『 Aqua Shot―――Ren 』.”

 

“Whoa?!”

 

The transformed Dragon God raises her right hand toward Cheap Garuda, and six magic circles unfold in front of her at once. In the center of the magic circle, a lump of water wobbles, but in the next instant, it changes into a sharp, javelin-like shape.

 

“Injection… Six water bullets in a row.”

 

With Dragon God’s words as a signal, a spear of water was launched at high speed.

 

The spear of water that flies in a straight line strikes down multiple Cheap Garuda at once as they descend.

 

The momentum did not fade even after hitting one of them, and it pierced through and through the Cheap Garuda that followed.

 

As a result, a total of more than ten demons were buried by the Dragon God’s blow.

 

Then, a crystalline body that emitted blue light poured down from the sky toward the ground.

 

“Fufu…now, I’m going to go on and on… mm, my?”

 

Dragon God smiles, but her power dampens the Cheap Garuda’s spirits and they turn to flee into the sky.

 

However, a shadow quickly leaps out at them.

 

“No, I’m not letting you go…”

 

It was a Behemoth.

 

But her appearance was slightly different from the one she had just taken.

 

Before I knew it, parts of her body had changed, just like the Dragon God.

 

Her arms and legs had changed into the shape of a beast.

 

Large, muscular hands and feet reminiscent of a large predator.

 

Like her hair, they were covered in milky white body hair, with sharp, shiny black claws peeking out from her fingertips.

 

“Do~n…”

 

*Gusha!*

 

Behemoth dove with a tremendous leap into the herd of Cheap Garuda trying to escape into the sky above, and with a swing of its beastly arms, knocked the large body that seemed to be leading the herd to the ground.

 

There was a sickening sound of bones and flesh cracking from the impact, and then it died.

 

Perhaps it was because the leader was no longer there that the herd began to move in an erratic fashion, being knocked down by the Behemoths in interesting ways, torn apart by their claws, and falling with their wings torn off.

 

Even so, if you do manage to escape high into the sky,

 

“I don’t like the idea of you showing your back to me after I attacked you.”

 

Dragon God’s water magic pierced the body, resulting in it losing its life.

 

To be honest, I was completely out of my element.

 

A flock of Cheap Garuda, with a rank of A, was being overrun with no room for resistance.

 

If an adventurer were to see this scene, he would surely doubt his own sanity.

 

That’s how overwhelming and one-sided the scene unfolded in front of me was.

 

It was probably no more than ten minutes later.

 

Demons were lying dead on the ground. In addition, Anima Crystals were lying everywhere.

 

The beautiful blue crystals reflecting the sun’s rays were an ironic sight. I felt a sense of awe and concern for the Dragon God and Behemoth.

 

“As expected of the four great demons. Cheap Garuda is no match for you.”

 

“Well, I’m honored by the compliment…”

 

“Of course… if you can’t handle a demon like this, you don’t deserve to call yourself the Four Great Demons…”

 

As if this victory is a given… No, maybe the two of them don’t even think of this as a battle.

 

I am really thankful that the two of them didn’t attack me when they appeared at the same time.

 

“All right, let’s collect the scattered Anima Crystals and go home for the day, shall we?”

 

“Yes, let’s do that.”

 

“Mmm…”

 

I don’t do anything, so I took the initiative to collect at least the Anima Crystal and ran around the plains.

 

As expected from a B-rank demon.

 

The amount of mana contained in the Anima Crystal was incomparable to that of a Killrabbit or Green Slime.

 

I’m sure Demiurge and the others will be happy to see me bring back an Anima Crystal containing such powerful mana.

 

I happily went about collecting the Anima Crystal.

 

Suddenly, I felt a tug at the hem of my clothes, and when I turned to look, I saw a Behemoth looking up at me.

 

I tilted my head and asked, “What is it?”.

 

“I worked, really hard today…”

 

“Eh? Ah, yeah, that’s right. Thanks to you, I was able to collect a lot of Anima Crystals. I appreciate it.”

 

“So… demands a… reward.”

 

“R-Reward…?”

 

Oh, I’m starting to think I can kind of predict how this is going to go.

 

“Now, mate with me…”

 

“I’ll go back to the forest first and let World Tree suck this Anima Crystal dry! See you later!”

 

“Ah, he got away again…Muu~……”

 

That’s all I say, and I made a quick escape from Behemoth.

 

What can I say, if I’m not careful, I’m really going to be eaten one day… Let’s keep our heads up, yeah…