Chapter 31: Kaede's Moment of the Hunt

Based on the formidable replication ability of the Mimic Tear, it not only replicated the teachings of the Spiral Castle but also, due to Fujimaru's intelligence reaching 60, directly summoned a Horror.

Summoning a Horror without offering sacrifices could only result in an average Sea Demon, but the Mimic Tear were formidable.

"Brother! Hold them off; I'll make a run for it!" With Fujimaru's body, the Mimic Tear gave her a thumbs up and, under the cover of the sea monster, activated the Incantation 'Elden Stars'.

"What kind of magic is this?"

"How is this possible?"

Black Jeanne and Gilles exclaimed as a huge meteor fell from the sky, causing Gilles to pause.

Taking advantage of this moment, Fujimaru took out the Whistle and blew it hard, summoning Torrent in front of her.

"Horse! My horse! Hurry, take me away!!"

This horse was the one Melina, the AWOL Heroine, had given her at the beginning.

It held significant meaning for every Tarnished. Whether climbing mountains, rushing through battles, or fighting, this horse had helped Fujimaru countless times.

This time, it would carry 'Bandit' Fujimaru away from the scene.

"Let's go~"

The bipedal dragons wanted to pursue, but they were knocked down by the Elden Star's scattered light beams.

The land monsters also attempted to run, but were easily intercepted by the Sea Demons controlled by brother Mimic Tear.

Horrors were lethal beings to ordinary people, but for the Mimic Tear that replicated Fujimaru's attributes, the conditions for using them were probably even lower than that of a Meteorite staff.

The Mimic Tear understood that they couldn't hold on for long. Once the Tarnished left the battlefield, their spirit ashes would automatically disperse.

But with Torrent, ordinary people wouldn't be able to catch up with Fujimaru.

Three minutes later, the Mimic Tear dispersed, and Fujimaru, riding the horse, disappeared without a trace.

"Chase! Chase! We must retrieve Prelati's Spellbook!"

In theory, it was impossible to snatch a Heroic Spirit's Noble Phantasm, but once Fujimaru seized it, Gilles lost all connection with it. The Noble Phantasm had to be retrieved, no matter the cost.

...

Several kilometers away in the forest, Torrent halted.

"Phew, that was thrilling, too thrilling. But we can't rest until tomorrow arrives ...This is bad!"

Kaede heard the cries of the bipedal flying dragons in the sky.

There were many of them, coming from all directions.

However, once they dispersed in different directions, their numbers became scarce.

At least, there were only four bipedal flying dragons flying above Fujimaru's head.

These were just scouting for Fujimaru's escape direction. Once they found Fujimaru, the army would arrive en masse. By then, Gilles would lead all the Mad Heroic Spirits and let Fujimaru know what cruelty meant.

"Hiss, Torrent, can these things be sold to the boss, what do you think?"

Torrent snorted softly.

In Elden Ring, had it not done its fair share of shady things? Stabbing backs in secret, stealing treasures from others and running away, bullying slower travelers while riding on horseback with Rock Sling.

It had never done human affairs anyway. Now, hunting down a few flying dragons wasn't a big deal.

"Oh! You think they'd be valuable!"

If Torrent could speak, it would definitely vehemently refute, 'I didn't say that'.

But now, Fujimaru was short of money, and she felt she needed to prepare some contingency plans.

What if this Noble Phantasm was stolen and lost? What if she couldn't afford to go online tomorrow? Not going online for a day felt like losing a billion. She needed to keep some funds aside and get some valuable stuff.

She took out the Lion's Greatbow from her backpack and loaded it with Radahn's Spear.

"Whoosh!"

With a purple lightning bolt, the large arrow pierced through the bipedal flying dragon. When the other three approached, Fujimaru pulled the bowstring again. Within seconds, only one remained in the sky.

It wanted to escape, to go back and report, but as it prepared to flee, an arrow rain descended from the sky.

"Hehe~ Materials~ Materials~"

In Elden Ring, dragon hearts were extremely important materials, and killing dragons could yield a large amount of Runes.

So, by the same token, these dragons should also be very valuable.

Since they were valuable... now that they were here, they shouldn't run away.

"Torrent, collect the materials."

Fujimaru rode her pony, happily collecting materials.

Not to mention, she even obtained some valuable items from the bipedal flying dragons.

Dragon teeth, ten teeth could exchange for an hour of internet access.

Dragon hearts, five could buy a game.

Dragon claws, ten could buy a snack. But they were too bulky to carry around conveniently.

Dragon meat wasn't valuable, but it tasted good when roasted, and biting into it was enjoyable.

The system judged the rest of the items as worthless, but clever Fujimaru thought that although internet cafes didn't accept them, they might be useful to Chaldea, so she shook the Spirit Summoning Bell and summoned Olga Marie.

"Fujimaru! What's wrong?"

"Help me see what we can collect, hurry, I'm being pursued right now."

"Huh?"

Olga Marie's face showed a big question mark, but now wasn't the time for confusion. Seeing Fujimaru's anxious look, she helped her identify what was useful from the bipedal flying dragons.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, when Fujimaru, Mash, and Fou, who had descended into this world, discovered that their companions were missing, they showed expressions of panic.

"Fujimaru? Fujimaru! Little sister! Little sister."

Kaede was very clear that what she hated most was being called little sister. If she had intended to hide, she could definitely reveal herself by being called out like this.

Mash also called out beside her, "Senpai! Senpai."

Fou also called out, but there was no response.

At that moment, Romani's projection appeared beside them.

"What happened? Is Fujimaru missing?"

"Yes, after being teleported here, she disappeared."

"Was there any accident? Let me detect her life reaction."

Romani quickly searched for Kaede's life signal, but there was none nearby. When he expanded the search to the entire singularity, he found a faint signal. However, there was strong interference there, making it impossible to contact Kaede.

"Detected it, but can't contact her. The direction she's in is, here."

Now the problem arose: should they look for Kaede first, or should they deal with this singularity first?

Romani didn't offer any advice because this required a decision from Fujimaru who was on the scene.

"Go find Kaede, she's alone, I'm worried."

"Okay!"

Mash nodded vigorously. She was also very worried that Kaede might not be able to adapt to life in an unfamiliar place and might encounter enemies, which would be dangerous.

Indeed, that was the case, but it wasn't Maede who was in danger, but the bipedal flying dragons and various monsters chasing her.

As a Tarnished, what was most important? Of course, it was strategy! A Tarnished who acted recklessly was most likely to be chopped to death by random soldiers, beasts, or pecked to death by a bird.

She knew she couldn't recklessly hack these dragons now.

Since she couldn't hack indiscriminately, she'd ambush them!

Stealthily execute them, shoot from a distance with bows and arrows. Kill one, then rush up to pull teeth, dig hearts if possible, if not, just run away directly.

Not to mention, she got 50 dragon teeth and 3 dragon hearts just in one day.

If she could sell all the loot now, she decided to use the money from selling Noble Phantasms to go online, and use the money earned from materials to treat herself. She worked so hard, she deserved to reward herself with some good food and drink.