Chapter 236 The Stupidest Reincarnator! You Call This the Great Earth Spirit!
"Huh? A strong emissary?"
Aqua, her eyes bleary from drink, sprang from the sofa and angrily pointed at the sweating Kazuma.
"Are you crazy? Has your brain gone soft? I'm not doing it! We're not short on money anyway!"
A vein throbbed on Kazuma's forehead: "You, do you have no sense of responsibility as an adventurer?"
Aqua covered her mouth and chuckled: "A man who drags his feet even on a snow fairy quest, now acting like a real adventurer?"
Kazuma was momentarily speechless, so he could only turn his head in frustration and hand the request form to Arthur, who was quietly petting a cat nearby.
"Big brother, why are you specifically looking for quests related to Great Spirits?"
Arthur gestured with his chin towards the white furball curled up on his lap, then took the parchment and explained softly.
"To verify a hypothesis. If you're worried about danger, just stay home and wait for me to return."
Darkness, who should have been preparing tea, had returned to the living room with a baby bottle at some point and interrupted him righteously.
"Please don't say such things! As a Crusader, I will never let a comrade face danger alone!"
Kazuma tried to recall the cartoon-style drawing on the request form—a humanoid monster with tentacles for hands and an octopus-like face.
"Hiss—from what I can see, you're just reacting to the 'strong emissary's' tentacles, aren't you?"
"Absolutely not! How dare you defile the noble spirit of a Crusader, you rude person!"
Though Darkness said this, she was constantly shaking the baby bottle in her hand.
"Ahem! Arthur, although this child feeds on divine energy, do you think it might also want some warm milk?"
"Uh—then I'll try?"
Arthur took the bottle and offered it to the White Tiger's mouth.
Unexpectedly, this little one, whose eyes weren't even fully open, actually hugged the nipple and greedily sucked on it.
Hearing the commotion, Yuuyu and Megumin immediately put down their chess pieces and tiptoed to the sofa, their eyes shining as they watched.
"So cute! Although Douzhinosuke and Fuu Fuu are also cute, babies are still the best!"
"We already have two familiars at home, one more won't hurt. Let's quickly give it a name!"
"You two, calm down."
Arthur tapped their foreheads with his fingers, pushing the excited Crimson Demons girls away from the drowsy White Tiger.
He then looked at Aqua, who was staring blankly at a bottle of sparkling wine.
"Aren't you interested in raising it? When I'm out, I'll leave it in your care."
Aqua was overjoyed, even tossing aside her beloved sparkling wine, and eagerly reached out to take the White Tiger.
Arthur stood up and made way, while Kazuma looked around the living room, which had completely descended into chaos because of one cub, and said with great apprehension.
"Big brother, you must come back soon. If these guys go crazy, I can't handle it alone."
…
South of Axel, at the foot of the mountain.
Deep within a dark, dense forest lay a decaying temple surrounded by a murky lake.
Intelligence claimed that the monster sought by the guild was entrenched within.
However, apart from a codename, there was almost no information about it.
The only rumor was that it might be a manifestation of the Earth Great Spirit, brought into existence based on someone's imagination.
Arthur was drawn by this rumor.
He had already witnessed the Great Spirit of Winter, which represented the seasons. So, what would the Earth Great Spirit, representing elements, be like?
Arthur paced through the forest. Strangely, such a vast woodland was utterly silent.
There were no bird calls, no insect chirps, as if all life had been choked by some unseen force.
He suddenly stopped, cautiously looking around.
Behind a giant tree, something slimy and twisted was writhing.
The moment he saw what it was, a chill from the depths of his soul made him shiver.
The answer was already obvious.
The spirits of this world materialize according to the perception of the "first eyewitness," so it was inevitable that some outrageous creations would be born.
Unlike the reincarnator who associated it with "General Winter," the idiot who saw the Earth Great Spirit associated it with—
Crawling Chaos!
Although Arthur knew these were merely similar fakes, in his intense palpitation, his right hand was already forming a fist, starlight surging in his palm.
The opponent seemed to sense a fatal threat, and the SAN-draining entities emitted an eerie shriek that vibrated the air.
"%&#*￥@!"
"A strong emissary… This image truly has nothing to do with the cute doodle on the request form!"
Before he finished speaking, Arthur thrust his sword, the sword light like lightning, instantly severing hundreds of tentacles and evaporating the surrounding twisted sludge!
No one knew where those creatures' eyes were, but Arthur could clearly feel countless cold gazes locked onto him.
After a brief assessment, the remaining monsters, along with the writhing tentacles on the ground, sank beneath the earth.
Immediately after, a louder, more furious roar came from within the temple at the center of the lake.
"Is it inviting me?"
A long-unseen smile curved Arthur's lips. He lightly tapped his toes, his figure transforming into a streak of light, rushing across the lake surface directly towards the temple!
However, before he could step into the temple, large shadows suddenly emerged from beneath the murky lake!
Boom—!
Giant tentacles, imbued with ominous purple-black energy, burst out of the water, their slimy surfaces emitting a nauseating stench and madness!
Arthur closed his eyes, relying solely on his intuition to swing his sword, severing the attacking tentacles one by one, his footsteps not pausing for a moment!
At the same time, a misty, evil magic power ascended from within the temple, writhing to outline a colossal black shadow that blotted out the sky.
The magic power, transformed into a dense fog, continuously spread, enveloping the entire lake.
In Arthur's perception, the center of the dense fog was a massive mountain of flesh.
The thing appeared slow, but its poised tentacles had already completely locked onto him.
"Given your corrupted state, I don't expect you to possess reason anymore. Let's finish this quickly."
The mountain of flesh suddenly increased its writhing, and countless tentacles, after extreme contraction, tore through the air like ferocious whips, blocking all his escape routes!
"Manifest, Avalon!"
Golden light burst forth from Arthur's chest, crystal fragments floating around him, instantly constructing a brilliant barrier that protected all things!
In an instant, the swarm of tentacles that had torn through the air all crashed into the golden precipice, shattering into pieces under the terrifying impact!
"Cycle's rite, order of life and death, descend, pure grace."
Sacred spring water condensed out of thin air, like a celestial river pouring down, accurately and precisely washing over the defiled mountain of flesh!
Rolling black smoke ascended, and roars of unknown meaning were incessant, a strange sense of irritation furrowing Arthur's brow.
The mountain of flesh, unhindered for a long time, began to show signs of decline. Its flesh-adhering tentacles immediately retracted, prying open countless eyeballs on its body, and a more evil and twisted power surged in madly!
The power of purification failed.
"I should have known it would be this troublesome. I should have dragged that idiotic goddess into this before we left."
Arthur sighed, no longer hesitating, gripping his Holy Sword with both hands, starlight coiling around him, and a brilliant blue light igniting!
"Excalibur Soteria Soteria!"
A golden torrent crashed down, tearing through the dense fog and illuminating the distant sky completely!
The gloomy forest, at this moment, was bathed in golden light!
The purple-black energy pillars spewed by the mountain of flesh turned to dust the moment they touched the light, and the scattered energy aftershocks caused the lake water to boil and the earth to crack.
Such terrifying commotion naturally couldn't be hidden from nearby Axel.
Just as the residents were discussing the towering pillar of light outside the city, Arthur, carrying a weak, earthy-brown orb of light, returned to the Adventurers' Guild.