The Princess of Monsters [TTIGRAAS]

Chapter 9 - Journey for a New Life [2]

Shizue POV

She knew at a glance that I was the Hero - claimed by humanity, not in reality. It made no sense to me; usually, people wouldn't know me until hearing my name, so over our whole journey, I thought about the reason - honestly, it was a useless thing to do. 

"The King Crawler that has caused problems for the merchants must be somewhere here," Kaval said after he stopped briefly to examine the tracks the centipede had left behind.

"Was it really okay for us to accept another quest? Isn't the one we had more important? Fuze said something like the King ordered us to do this." Gido voiced his concerns. 

While Elen seemed to cry to herself, "Why must it be an ugly insect again...?" seems like she didn't like those types of monsters, but who could say something bad about that? Even I needed years to overcome my fear of spiders? That I had back on earth. And giant insect-like monsters did not help. 

"We should search for a nearby cave. King Crawlers usually come crawling out of them when they sense a presence," I explained briefly after casting away the useless thoughts I had before. Now was not the time to daydream.

"Hmm?" Kaval listened to what I had said, and his eyes opened wide. "Wait, when this was the place the merchants got attacked, and it can sense the presence of its prey, then aren't we exposing ourselves already?" 

"Wow, now that Shizu has joined, you actually use your brain, huh, Kaval?" Gido busted out laughing and tapping his friend's shoulder 

"It's too late," I said, noticing something approaching us quickly. It must be the King Crawler. "It's coming" I commented while taking out my Sword.

They seemed overwhelmed for a second, so I touched Elen's shoulder. "Can you use simple Illusion Magic?" I asked her 

Ellen nodded, "But I don't know how long it will distract it. If it can sense our presence, it might be just a second." 

"Gido, you're going to distract it with your shield, make some noise, or whatever. Elen will cast an Illusion, so no worries." Strangely enough, they listened to my orders. 

"Kaval, you come with me. Have you ever thought a -" I couldn't explain any more than this as the King Crawler's cry was heard. He had appeared out of the forest and immediately attacked us. 'Shit!' I thought, "Just attack his stomach, Kaval. I'll make an opening, now let's start!" 

But the monster's arrogance and stupidity to attack right away with its horns was its defeat, and then the Gido that stood there was just the Illusion created by Ellen. I swiftly closed the distance towards the King Crawler and infused my sword with Ifrit's affinity fire. 

As its body remained on the ground, I could target its second weakness without a problem. A single heavy downward slash was enough to cut off its two outgoing eyes cleanly. Crying and in agony, the monster stood up again. Revealing its stomach, although it was a weakness, you still needed to get through its skin.