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Chapter 70 - Mushoku Tensei: Swords, Magic Hats, and Romance! [70]

The sun hovered over the mountain crest.

After an hour of rapid travel, the fading light cast its glow on the faces of the hunting party. Their expressions were so grim they nearly spilled beyond their features.

Allen, Paul, and the others stood atop a tall tree. Below them, monsters leapt upward again and again, but before they could reach the branches, each one was sliced apart midair by light, gliding arcs of sword energy.

Beneath the tree, the snow was red, soiled, and rotten.

To the side, the mountain slopes cascaded down into a ravine cradled by jagged peaks on all sides. There was only one narrow opening to the outside world—a narrow "pocket" path—and the party stood on a ledge halfway up the mountainside, right at the edge of that funnel.

Looking down into the valley, they saw a glimmering, silver surface rolling and heaving with motion.

Allen narrowed his eyes, and the scene below clarified.

What surged upward from the valley floor wasn't water—it was a tide of monsters, packed shoulder to shoulder, storming uphill in waves, snow kicked up behind them like froth.

In the center of that roiling mass was a rare patch of calm: a shallow basin of still water.

That was the geothermal lake Paul had mentioned.

Sylphy and Rudeus had already gone pale.

"I think… we've been spotted. The monsters are all heading straight for us."

"That's… pretty obvious."

Allen said this while casually swinging his sword, shredding the creatures crawling up the trunk.

They'd already run into several monster ambushes on their way here. And now, having reached the valley of the geothermal lake, the monsters launched wave after wave of attacks.

Clearly, their presence had long since been noticed.

Allen exchanged a glance with Paul, both faces serious.

"There are more monsters than we expected. But being spotted… that's actually good news."

Rudeus turned sharply, horrified, ready to protest—when Paul's voice came from beside him.

"In a way, he's right."

Rudeus looked at them in disbelief.

"How can being spotted possibly be a good thing?!"

Allen pointed to the massive surge of monsters crawling up from the valley, then turned toward Rudeus.

"What lies at the base of the mountain?"

Rudeus's eyes widened. That line sounded strangely familiar. He couldn't place where he'd heard it before.

"The base…? The monsters' nest?"

"The bottom of the mountain is our objective. And now, without us even needing to push deep into the den, they're coming to us. One wave after another, right up the slope. Which means—"

Before Allen's sentence had even finished echoing in Rudeus's ears, his body had already left the tree.

He stepped off the branch, descending toward the battlefield below.

Rudeus leaned out in alarm, only to see Allen land lightly between two monsters, placing his foot precisely into the gap between them, then flicking his blade outward at his side.

The motion was slow.

But full of power.

Boom—!

A ripple of force surged from his foot, spreading in concentric waves across the ground.

The monsters around him exploded into shredded meat and blood mist, just as his final words rang in Rudeus's mind:

"We don't even need to reach the nest. All we have to do is hold this slope—wipe out every monster that charges—and the job's done. Isn't that a good thing, Rudeus?"

Paul squinted down at Allen's silhouette, and the exhaustion on his face seemed to lift slightly. He grinned, leapt down from the tree, and called back to Rudeus above.

"Rudeus, plan change! We're shifting from assault to defense. Allen and I will handle the frontline slaughters. You stay in the trees and cast magic—fire support only. Hold the line for one hour. After that, depending on our stamina, mana, and kill count, we'll decide whether to retreat or keep going. Don't worry—these monsters are weak. Even if it gets messy, Allen and I will have enough left in the tank to carry you all out."

Rudeus paused, then realized—this wasn't like the last time, when they were near the village and had to defend the barrier, the townsfolk, and the village itself. Paul and Allen had been tied down by responsibility, forced into a defensive stance.

Now?

Now they were in a remote mountain valley, far from civilian danger. No barriers to guard. No hostages. No restraints.

For Allen and Paul, facing a swarm of D-rank monsters was like two living lawnmowers rolling through a garden path. If not for worries about fuel—or stamina—they could probably flatten the entire "monster tide" themselves.

Paul was an advanced swordsman with experience in all three major styles—a former S-rank adventurer who'd cleared countless dungeons. And where there are dungeons, there are monster hordes.

Allen, meanwhile, was freshly minted as a Water Saint-ranked swordsman. Rudeus remembered watching Paul spar with Allen a few months ago and coming away stunned—Paul hadn't even been able to touch Allen's cloak. When Paul later acknowledged it, it had shaken Rudeus to the core.

So what was there to fear?

A monster horde?

Just a little snow and wind.

Worst case? If things got out of hand, Allen and Paul could simply retreat with them in tow. You think D-rank monsters could stop these two?

Rudeus's color began to return. He turned and met Sylphy's gaze—she, too, had shaken off her shock.

He gave her a crooked grin.

Let's go with Paul's revised plan. Gotta say, this is what real adventuring experience looks like… Using magic not just for offense, but to build fortifications—never thought of that.

"[Earth Lance]! [Icicle Field]!"

Circles of jagged earthen spires burst from the ground, encircling the area Allen and Paul had just cleared at the base of the tree—forming a rough open-air stronghold. Paul and Allen immediately leapt onto the spires, mowing down the charging monsters below like farmers harvesting wheat.

Inside the stronghold, blood-soaked monster remains were already freezing into slick ice, reinforcing the ground against any monsters trying to tunnel in from below.

Rudeus raised his palm before him. Advanced water magic—taught to him by Roxy—rose to mind.

"[Icicle Break]!"

From all sides, sharp ice lances materialized in the air, shooting outward with silent force. Wherever they passed, monsters fell like skewered fruit—each lance wiping out entire clusters of enemies.

Notably, high-impact fire magic had been prohibited beforehand—it could trigger an avalanche. That's why Rudeus stuck to silent, high-efficiency water spells.

Thanks to his immense mana reserves and tactical planning, Sylphy barely even needed to cast anything. She simply stood by, ready—but hardly had the chance to act.

Ten minutes.

Twenty.

Thirty.

One hour.

As twilight fell, the entire mountainside—stretching from the valley floor to the cliff edge—had been stained a new color.

One couldn't quite tell whether it was blood...

Or the glow of the fading sun.

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