Otherworld Company Chapter 168.1: It’s Hard To React When You Know The Outcome.

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　Zombie Dragons are demonic beasts that have been reanimated from the corpses of dragon species and turned ferocious.

　Basically, it is an existence that has no reason or intelligence and can only think of defeating its opponents.

　Its abilities make it a threat no different from a natural disaster if it were an ordinary person.

　Even if we focus simply on its strength, it can produce more monstrous power than the dragon on which it is raised because the limiter in its brain has been lifted.

　The dragon’s unique breath is a combination of its original nature and nature as an undead, making it even more troublesome.

　In addition, the dragon’s increased life force, which is so great that it is unable to think of anything else, is used as a shield, and it pushes with all its strength and status.

　In short, they push hard.

　Rear-guard positions, such as magicians and healers, will not stand a chance if they are hit by these attacks.

　Even vanguard workers can be crushed by its massiveness and violence, which makes it beyond a nuisance.

　As a weakness, the undead’s weak attributes, the holy and light attributes, and the fire attribute, which dragons are supposed to be good at, become more effective when they become undead.

　After presenting its abilities up to this point, this Zombie Dragon is nothing more than a natural enemy for a vanguard that can only use simple swordsmanship.

“Well, it’s supposed to be.” (Jiro)

　In the space where I saw such a threat, I could hear thick air leaving my lips, and white smoke was exhaled along with my breath.

“I thought you were confident in your endurance status because you were attacking me defenselessly, but… Was it a misunderstanding?” (Jiro)

　I felt doubtful and thought that it was strange that I could treat a Zombie Dragon lightly.

　If someone, like Kaido, hears what I just said, they’ll probably wave their palms left and right with all their might.

“Senior is just abnormal!!” (Kaido)

　I am sure he would throw a tsukkomi.

　I hope you’ll forgive my complaint because it was over so quickly and easily.

　The first thing I did in response to the Zombie Dragon’s pincer attack was to run toward the Zombie Dragon in front of me and strike it with my sword as we passed each other, then turn around and strike the other Zombie Dragon in the neck as it leaped at me with the force of a stampede.

　With that, I cut off the thick dragon’s head.

　Yes, I cut off the heads of exactly two dragons.

　It was only a few seconds.

　That was all it took.

　If the dragons had remained rational and intelligent, the result would have been a little different, but that was just a matter of if.

　The scene that unfolded before my eyes was still there, whether I blinked or looked away.

“Well, it doesn’t matter. If it doesn’t take much effort, it’s good for me.” (Jiro)

　I am satisfied with the result even though I feel a little unsatisfied, ending the battle, which ended earlier than expected, to the corner of my mind, and deciding that I have no more use for this place. [T/N: Jiro is such a muscle-brained OP human. I think your waifus are still stronger than you though.]

　Then, while keeping a wary eye on my surroundings, I slowly began walking again towards my destination.

　Feeling the slightly damp ground, I dive into the slowly thickening miasma.

　Visibility is fine.

　It is no exaggeration to say that it is a thick fog, but I am able to grasp where things are by using my other five senses to assist me.

　The degree of sense is beast-like, but if I can’t do that, those instructors will beat me to a pulp one-sidedly, so it’s a physical ability that has been instinctively refined and acquired thanks to them.

　The harmful noxious gas is not a problem for now.

　I have learned from my instructor Fusio that the reason why the miasma invades and corrodes the body is because the body absorbs the miasma itself and it erodes the magic in the body, transforming it from normal magic into poison.

　It is absorbed by every breath, not only through the nose and mouth, but also through the skin, and if one goes to a place with such a high concentration without any countermeasures, one will immediately feel ill.

　Of course, I had learned how to prevent this.

　After all, I had trained with the man who emitted such miasma.

　The miasma emitted by Instructor Fusio was controlled and released in small quantities, but its concentration was so concentrated that if taken seriously, it would exceed the effects of ordinary poisonous substances. How do I know this?

　Oh, because I took it seriously once and was on the verge of life and death, that sadistic monster.

　If it weren’t for Suela’s treatment, I might have had a meeting with Enma in hell, which became a bitter memory.

　Thanks to that, I’ve acquired enough skills to be able to handle this level of miasma with only a little bit of stuffiness.

　Well, I digress.

　One method of preventing the miasma that I am working on now is to stop the absorption of magic power from outside the body and to increase the purity of the magic power concentration by circulating it inside the body.

　By using this method, I can increase the output of magic inside the body without absorbing magic from the outside air, and I can use that magic to stretch a membrane over the surface of my body to prevent the miasma from being absorbed.

　Simply put, the more you knead udon noodles, the tougher they become. [T/N: An apt metaphor.]

　In the same way, the quality of the magic power is increased by circulating the magic power and focusing it like the folding process during sword smithing, increasing the output of the magic power while inversely reducing the cost of the techniques that use the magic power.

　Of course, if the magic cannot be absorbed from outside the body, the magic power will run out much faster than usual.

　This is only a kind of conserving technique, not a solution.

　If it were possible, it would definitely be more efficient to put up wards or purify the miasma.

　But unfortunately, I can’t do that, so I’m taking this approach.

　But it’s worth remembering that the time spent in the miasma can increase tenfold or more, even if I just make a little more effort.

“…magic circles, right, this is a field outside of my expertise.” (Jiro)

　Finally, we arrived at our destination.

　The purple glow-emitting magic circle was quietly tucked away in a hollow.

　The same-colored lines extending from the magic circle in all directions are probably supplying magic power to other parts, from my novice eye.

“Is it okay to cut this into pieces?” (Jiro) [T/N: what a muscle-brain. LOL]

　From the looks of it, rather than a summoning formation, it’s a substitute for sucking mana from the ley lines and supplying it to other magic circles.

　The two Dragon Zombie s from earlier must have been protecting this.

　The standard procedure for disarming this kind of magic circle is to follow the correct procedure and stop it from functioning.

　However, only the person who set it up would know how to do that, and for me, who can only use basic magic, it’s like being asked to prove Fermat’s Last Theorem out of the blue.

　So, what I could do was limited to a forceful and muscle-brained approach. [T/N: So self-aware.]

　I jumped into the hollow and looked at the purple crystal in the center, which was no taller than I was.

“I guess this is the starting point.” (Jiro)

　The very sight of it tells me that it is important.

　As if to prove my hypothesis, I feel a great deal of magic power, but I don’t feel that I can’t cut it, so I can probably cut it and destroy it.

　However, if this is a valve that suppresses magic power, then breaking it would mean that the flow of magic power that is still being released would burst and cause a huge flood.

　If this were to happen, even I, who have confidence in my durability, would be in trouble.

“Then, should we just cut the entire magic circle? No, should I cut through the surrounding rocks and bury it? Or should I try to cut through the surrounding miasma?” (Jiro)

　More and more muscle-brained ideas started running through my head, but none of them seemed to fit the situation neatly. [T/N: LMAO]

“*Sigh*, I thought I’d try to solve the problem with a little force, but I guess what can’t be done can’t be done, right? The most effective plan to do this is to summon Ms. Valus and freeze this space. But that’s not it either, is it?” (Jiro)