Apsaras was a magic spell that changed mana into a large amount of water, formed it into a large swan, and slammed that into the caster's enemies. The most standout feature of this spell was its ability to track the target. The swan would automatically chase the enemy it had locked onto as its target and would not let it get away. It was a spell that wasn't lacking in power, scope, and accuracy. But for all that, it needed a correspondingly large amount of mana and was likewise difficult to cast. If a human were to try and cast that spell, they would definitely need at least a couple minutes. Yet for the grimmfolk man, it'd been easy and quick. Just that showed the difference in their power.
"Force Barrier!"
Just before the water swan hit everyone, a wall of light sprung up to protect them. It was a defensive wall made of divine power by Wendy.
It wasn't an easy feat for a barrier erected so hastily to stop that spell completely. Normally, the swan would have broken through after some delay due to the clash. But rainbow-colored fire got in between the swan and the barrier, evaporating enough water for the barrier to be able to defend against the enemy's spell. On top of that, the rainbow-colored fire changed course and started eating into the grimmfolk's right arm.
This all happened so quickly that the only ones who'd noticed what happened were Wendy and the grimmfolk.
"I don't know who you are, but it looks like there's a troublesome one among you… I'm not a fool who doesn't understand his own strength. I suppose I'll have to take my leave here," the grimmfolk man said while looking at his arm, which had disappeared after only one attack. He then jumped away and hid himself.
Fiona saw everything, but she decided not to give chase. It would be easy to hunt the grimmfolk man down and kill him, but the job that'd been given to her by Naru was to support Wendy. Fiona couldn't risk the chance of something happening to her if she left. In the end, Fiona could kill an enemy of that caliber at any time. There was no need to rush to finish him off.
"H-he left?" Haruto was mystified at the sudden disappearance of the enemy. The bikini armor guy agreed with that sentiment. "Looks like it."
The skirmish hadn't lasted very long, but it was still enough for everyone to realize the gap in strength between them and the enemy. There was no way he was any normal grimmfolk soldier. Having realized that, Pakkun muttered bitterly while still on the ground, "Th-the polish and power of that Water spell just now… No way. Is that Suigetsu of the Seven Grimms of Destruction?"
Wendy rushed over and started healing Pakkun's wounds with heaven-arts. Soon after she started, much of the pain disappeared from his expression, and he looked to be feeling much better.
"Suigetsu?" Wendy repeated.
Pakkun nodded. "I've only heard rumors, but they say that there is a man among the grimmfolk who possesses a liquid body and is immune to physical attacks. That totally fits with the man we fought just now. On top of that is his skill with Water elemental magic."
"A-a Grimm Destruction? That's no joke. I'm out! No number of lives'll be enough to face that monster!"
"M-me too! This isn't the sort of thing to ask of an adventurer! Go get your national army and all their training to get that elixir!"
The moment the enemy's name left Pakkun's mouth, there was an uproar, and several men left the tent before anyone could react. That was only to be expected. The biggest threat to humanity in these times were the Seven Grimms Destruction of the grimmfolk. Only seven of them had cornered humanity; they were terrifying invaders, so just the idea of fighting them was abnormal.
They were still terrifying figures, even if Naru could punch them into the sky with a single blow, or if they didn't stand a chance against Penny, or if Tayuya treated them like weaklings, or if Fiona didn't even consider them worth chasing. Naru and her party were the ones that were strange. That fact must not be forgotten.
Thus, almost all of the contestants from the hunting festival ran, leaving only three people behind. It was just Wendy, Haruto, and Fiona in an all-black disguise.
"Th-this is bad… What to do?"
"They have a point, though. I think it'd be better to send soldiers with training to the mountain instead of some adventurers."
Pakkun groaned over the loss of the contestants, but it was only natural for them to leave. After all, none of them had received any proper training, and they weren't being provided with weapons, either. Adventurers were just civilians who happened to hunt monsters for a living, so they wound up being stronger than most civilians. Even the weapons they carried were cheap bunk compared to what soldiers got. Adventurers had to use every trick they had to make it work. Every once in a while one did manage to find a good weapon in some ruins, but those were exceptions to the rule. This wasn't like the game Haruto had played. Adventurers who traveled around wielding legendary weapons just didn't exist.
"If that were possible, we'd have done it already. It's because we can't that we tried to recruit adventurers."
"What? You can't?"
"That mountain is a sacred place. That's why there's a barrier over it that turns away monsters. And it works on us beastmen too."
The first thing Haruto thought of after hearing Pakkun's reply was what Mitokado had taught him about humanity in this world. The beastmen, who numbered among humanity, were in essence no different from monsters according to Mitokado. Orcs made a good example; by more extreme definitions, they were basically just pig beastmen. They were descended from humans, changed by mana, and had animal characteristics. There was basically no difference.
Then what made beastmen different from orcs? The answer was whether or not they could coexist with other humans. beastmens could. That was why they were considered part of humanity. Orcs couldn't. That was why they were categorized as monsters. That was the only difference, meaning that most things that worked on monsters also worked on beastmen.
"But that was also a stroke of luck this time. The barrier that protects against monsters is more specifically an anti-mana barrier, so the grimmfolk man can't get in either. We won't have to worry about the elixir being stolen right away."
"A mana repellent, is it?"
Haruto planned to consult with his party after this, but the barrier was a problem. The reason being that the strongest member of Haruto's party was the Sword Saint, Plue. He was a dog beastmen, so they wouldn't be able to bring along their strongest member.
On the other hand, Wendy looked at Fiona worriedly, and she replied with a gesture indicating this wasn't a problem. It wasn't nice to say, but the world as it now was just couldn't erect a barrier strong enough to keep out a real monster like any of the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians. More accurately, there was no one strong enough. If anyone wanted to keep out one of the Twelve Zodiac Guardians, they would need something on the level of Erza's barrier covering Laevateinn. The barrier was most likely something one of the Seven Grimms of Destruction could force themselves through as well, though it would probably have some effect. That meant Pakkun's assumption was fundamentally wrong, but Fiona purposefully didn't point that out.
"But we can't take things too slowly. Now that the secret of the elixir is out, the Seven Grimms of Destruction will surely figure out some method of stealing it. Probably something like brainwashing a human."
"So you're saying we don't have much time?"
The situation was already down to the wire. Without the elixir, the guardian dragon would be lost, and this country would fall. And if they left the elixir alone, then it would be taken by one of the grimmfolk.
Haruto looked forward, determined, and started walking towards the exit of the tent.
"Wh-where are you going?"
"Just wait a second, please. I'll call my friends."
This was an important battle for the survival of an entire country. Having been convinced of that, Haruto decided to immediately go and gather his friends. But the second he stepped outside the tent, he found his friends already waiting for him. Beside them, the ranger squad that had been working in the shadows for them gave him a thumbs up, letting him know that they'd probably gone and called his friends for him.
"Looks like it's our time to shine, Haruto." Cardin grinned and stepped inside the tent.
After him, Teuchi, Dove, Larks, Thrush, Hana, and Plue all gathered as the hero's party. Looking at them all together, Haruto was once again reminded of how disparate they were.
"Y-you all are…?"
"I'm Teuchi, a mercenary. I'm in the hero's party right now, though. I know it doesn't fit me, though. No idea how they made this mistake. Ha ha. Well, this is an emergency. We didn't take part in the hunting festival, but just shut up and let us help anyway."
After hearing Teuchi's name, Pakkun's eyes opened wide. He couldn't hide his surprise at the sudden appearance of the one rumored to be the strongest mercenary, someone whose name was known by anybody who made fighting their business. What surprised Pakkun even further was the sight of the round white dog behind Teuchi.
"Y-you're Plue!"
"Puun…"
"Yeah, it really has. I've heard tales of your fame."
"Puu pun!"
"Yeah, of course I'm fine. You should come by later and show your face to everyone."
"Puun!"
"If you're worried about that, then hurry up and confess. She won't be waiting around for you forever, you know."
"Um, excuse me! Could you please speak in a language we can understand?"
While Pakkun could understand what Plue was saying and their conversation was just getting lively, Haruto had no idea what was going on. He couldn't stop himself from raising his voice, but who could blame him?
When Haruto spoke up, the vice captain Hana stepped forward and started to interpret what Plue was saying. "It seems that this pug dog beastmen who's their leader is actually Plue's older brother. It's been a long time since they've seen each other, so they were catching up."
"Brothers?!" Haruto reflexively shouted before turning to compare the two of them.
They probably noticed what Haruto's stare implied. Pakkun touched his paw pads to his face, embarrassed. "Yeah, I know we don't look very similar. We get that a lot. I resemble our father, and Plue here takes after our mother."
Haruto couldn't help but wonder just what kind of parents could produce brothers like this. The biology of beastmen was truly mysterious. But if they were relatives, that made things easier. There wouldn't be any need for extraneous explanations or trouble.
After the two of them had some time to converse, they eventually shook hands firmly.
"Looks like things are settled. We got permission to come along."
It seemed as if Plue managed to obtain permission. As always, the value of the hero and the Sword Saint title pulled their weight. Both the hero party and the Sword Saint were important enough to be tied with the pride of a country. Draupnir wouldn't be able to expect better support if they refused the party here.
The party decided to quickly set off for Hnitbjorg with only the members that were here.
"Then I'll show you the way. Please come with me."