Isekai GM 35. Skill Fusion and The Emergency in the Empire

RAW: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n6073cm/38/
TL: MayonaizeShrimp
ED: Karuma

Look, guys. I totally didn’t forget that Karuma sent this to me a few days ago, ok?

enjoy the chapter

Finally…

I finally had free time after treating people at the field hospital.

So, I was taking a break when I remembered something… well, rather than “remembered”, “popped up” would be a more correct term. I should try using 『Skill Synthesis』. Since I was having trouble with my MP regeneration while healing people here and there, how about fusing MP Recovery (S) and MP Recovery (M) together?

ーーー『Are you sure you want to synthesis MP Recovery (S) + MP Recovery (M) into MP Recovery (L)?』ーーー

A message popped up inside my head. I looked into my GM Window and the action was well documented in the log. Of course, I chose 『Yes』.

ーー『Synthesis complete! MP Recovery (L) acquired!』 ーー

When I checked the skill column, both skills were replaced with the newly created MP Recovery (L). With this, my MP issue was improved a little. Next I tried synthesis HP MP Recovery (S) and (M) together, but apparently, it has a 12-hour cooldown. It seemed that I can’t use this synthesis skill repeatedly one after another. I made a mental note to fuse those skills after the cooldown was up.

While I was mix and matching skills for a few days, the army was reorganizing itself to march towards the Empire.

Meanwhile, the prisoners of war were tasked to rebuild Raafu.

Some of them volunteered to join the Kingdom as well, so we put them under Hayato’s and Jirou’s troops. Tatsuma too was grouped in this category as well, but since he had declared that 『I have no intention to attach myself to the likes of you』, he was locked in a guest room. Considering his strength, it would be easy for him to break out at any moment. The reason why he hadn’t done so is a mystery.

3 days after the battle, Jirou told me that our army hadn’t finished reorganizing. Since I was still exhausted both physically and mentally, I decided to visit Yoko, who was dead-ing around.

Apparently, restoring her golems require a tremendous amount of mana, especially since she also needed to restore Gigant Golem’s gigantic head and the entirety of her dummy golem. In addition, it seemed that the newly obtained Exmizer require a lot of mana to move around, which made her stuck on the medical bed ever since the battle was over. Even if Adelle tried supplying her with mana, she would be sucked dry instead. So we had no choice but to rely on her natural recovery.

「Uuughー………」

She was having it harder than I thought. As someone whose mana also kept being regenerated and drained over and over, I understood her suffering. Being completely drained of mana was taxing both physically and mentally.

「Are you alright?」

「Umuu… No good… I’m sorry. I had recovered a bit but……」

「Don’t worry. It’s alright. Besides, you played an active role in the battle. It’s fine for you to take a rest」

「………Yaay」

I sat on her side and stroked her head. She seemed to be comfortable since she was starting to doze off. Her blond hair was smooth and silky, it felt nice to touch it. I don’t know when, but apparently, she had calmed down and fallen asleep while I stroked her head. It would be bad if she woke up, so I guess I will stay here for a while.

I noticed the commotion when I tried to leave the treatment room. It seemed like something happened.
Maybe I should ask the prince…
Oh, a telepathic message from Paddle.

《Big Boss! Big Boss, can you hear me!?》

《Yeah, I can hear you. Don’t panic on me, what happened over there?》

Even the usually calm and composed Paddle to be this flustered… Was it the same problem as the one happening here?

《Boss Earl Allan asked us to help monitor the Empire’s coastal line, so we came with the guys from Kingdom’s navy, but… For some reason, every boat seemed to try to escape from the Empire’s vicinity. From fishing boats, merchant’s ships, even the warships. All of them sails full speed like crazy》

If only their warships set sail in a hurry, they probably had something schemed, but for fishing boats and merchant’s ship as well? Something must be wrong.

《Hell Boss, even the stupidly big Frigate warship ignored us and skedaddled away! So I borrowed a telescope from Boss Earl and take a look… You won’t believe what I’ve seen, Big Boss! There is this gigantic thorn-covered tree on the place where the Empire’s castle was supposed to be!! The whole town was covered in plant-like monsters. I have a feeling that tons of ordinary people and soldiers were killed, Boss》

《A gigantic tree, you said…?》

It reminded me with what happened with Barry. His body also looked rather tree-ish. Seemed like something bad had happened over there.

Perhaps, the uproar that happened here was…

《There is an uproar over here, they are probably talking about the same tree you just mentioned. You guys continue to monitor the situation from the sea. Get as close as you possibly can, but don’t endanger yourself. If the monsters noticed you, just escape as quickly as possible》

《Got it! I’ll tell Boss Barbarossa right away. We will also try to rescue as many people as possible!》

It seemed that my underlings know me well. They knew what I would order without me saying it. I should take care of them well.

《Yeah, go for it. I’ll close the connection. I am saying it again, don’t be too reckless》

《Aye aye sir!》

After I closed the telepathic communication, I quickly walked towards our headquarters. Hayato, Adelle, and Jirou had arrived before me. There was Tatsuma as well, handcuffed on a chair.

「Ah it’s you, Masaki. I was just about to call you. Something happened at the Empire」

「Yes, I knew about it already. Paddle has just informed me. There is a huge tree growing from the Empire’s castle and the town was riddled with monsters. We have confirmation that many ships are leaving their harbor」

「Is that true!?」

Tatsuma stood immediately. He looked at me with a stern expression.

「I only heard about it just now. It came from a reliable source. What about you, sir?」

「I’m the same as well. After the battle was over, I sent some scouts to gather information about the Empire. However, after they told me about the tree, the connection was immediately cut off」

Paddle should be okay since he was watching from the sea, but the scouts were watching from the land, so some of them must had fallen victim.
Indeed, one must be quick to be a scout… but what if they were ambushed?
Or what if there was no way for them to escape?

「About the gigantic tree, Tatsuma, does the Empire castle have that kind of tree?」

「Not that I know of. There are only normal trees growing there」

Tatsuma answered the prince in a nonchalant manner and returned to his seat, but it was clear that he was itching for any information about the Empire’s current state of affair. If he wasn’t being kept captive here, he would rush toward the Empire’s royal capital immediately. I only had bad memories in the Empire, but Tatsuma seemed to have something important in the Empire. That was what I think.

「Just standing here won’t do us any good. The army hasn’t finish organizing yet. How about this, we gather a small team of elites to go check the situation personally. Any objection?」

Everyone agreed with Jirou’s suggestion. This was as urgent as Raafu. At first, I thought that we would fight bone to bone with the Empire but…… the fight had ended already.

The chosen members for this mission was Adelle and me, since we had high mobility, and the prince, since he had a dragon to ride on. Hayato and Tatsuma will be riding on the dragon along with the prince. Jirou would head towards the Empire after finished helping Asta reorganizing the army. Obviously, we object having Tatsuma, a captured enemy general, to come with us for the mission, but Hayato vouched for him.

「This guy fell in love with the princess. That is the only reason why he helped the empire… But looking at their current condition, the princess might also be in peril. That is why there’s no chance of him betraying us」

「……Don’t say unnecessary things!!」

I see… he fell for a girl. So that was why he looked so anxious.

I guess there was no reason to not bring him with us. Yoko was out of the question… And since we were dealing with plants, I’d like to bring Haruka as well. I’d like to have Akiha’s long-range attack and her heavy weapons, but if I brought any of them, our mobility would drop significantly.

Not to mention that the dragon would be overweighted. It couldn’t be helped……
The flying dragon couldn’t bring that many people as well……

「Prince Leon, I apologize for not telling you beforehand, but I might have something that can help carry more people with us. If we use this method, we can preserve your dragon’s strength and will probably arrive faster」

Of course, they were surprised when I told them the method. But after a little demonstration, we reached a consensus that this was a better transportation method. Although there are still restrictions on the number of people, moving a small number of people would pose no problem. With this, we started our operation.

***

While flying in the sky, I put the freshly made skills into my skill menu. My current skills are:

Passive skill:

• Mana Rising (L) (Druid)
• ＭＰ Auto-recovery（L）（Skill Synthesis）
• HP/MP Auto-Recovery（L）（Skill Synthesis）
• Mars’ Intuition（Increased Ability Range（L）＋Increased Physical Ability（XL））
• Increased Perception Ability（L）（Assassin）
• Increased Attack Range（L）（Brave Fencer）

Active Skills:

• Triple Impact (Dragon Knight)
• Drill Bunker (Dragon Knight)
• Wave Sword（Road Paladin, High Knight）
• Rokudou Sen Gomi （Brave Fencer）

Triple Impact allowed me to attack 3 times repeatedly. While it might sound underwhelming, the effect will be devastating when combined with Drill Bunker, which ignores the target’s defense. Skill synthesis called this combination as 『Tri-Bunker Impact』. Previously, my wave sword could barely pass through enemies with tough skin like Leviathan and Barry. Using this skill, I could attack the same spot 3 times regardless of their defenses.

While in the sky, we could clearly see the tree right where the castle should be. Meanwhile, the monsters were fighting among themselves on the ground. On one side was plant-like humanoids. These were probably the monsters that Paddle told me. The other parties were a group of dog-headed… no, a group of kobolds.

「Even High Kobolds had a hard time against them. There’s so many of them」

I head the prince muttered beside me. By a comparison, a group of adventurers would struggle when fighting high kobolds. But in this case, the kobolds were having a hard time instead, even though it was because of the sheer number of the plant humanoids. Knock one of them and the other two replaced it. Furthermore, their enemies were plants. They knew neither pain nor fatigue. The kobolds were slowly getting pushed back.

[ED: They Have “No Fatigue” XD]

I aimed my hands towards the plant humanoids and released a mini version of homing flame javelins, just to support the high kobolds. The kobolds didn’t know what happened, but they noticed that their opponent had collapsed, so they regained their positions and took an offensive. With this, they should manage somehow. The rest was up to their own effort.

「I think magic is effective against them. They don’t seem to regenerate their wounds」

「…… We will soon arrive at the entrance of the Empire. Let’s find somewhere to land, preferably without any enemies」

「I’m on it…」

The prince didn’t try to question me, he just overlooked my action. When I saw those kobolds struggling, I could see them fighting for the small baby kobolds somewhere. That was why I helped them. I wish for them to be able to survive with their abilities.

We found a place with few enemies, which we cleared quickly with the dragon’s breath and my homing flame javelin. After confirming our safety, I created a door to 『The Room』.

「Arrived at last~」

Adelle, the Kisaragi sisters, Hayato, and Tatsuma came out from the door. The grand plan was to move our team using 『The Room』. Regardless of where you enter the room, you can get out anywhere as long as the door exists. With it, it was possible to move in groups like this. We could reduce our traveling fatigue and fight in pristine condition.

「Haruka, can you see the tree from this point? Is there anything we can do to help you?」

「Hmm〜 I see I see…… I think I want some sampleー some info about the plant monsters will do…… Whatever this tree is, I’m sure it is up to no good desu yoo~」

Despite her usual carefree tone, Haruka’s expression clearly showed how much the tree troubled her. It was obvious that this was not your run-of-the-mill tree. No tree could grow and penetrate through a castle like that.

「Sample, eh? ……Seems like we are going to have some volunteers from that direction. Let’s go before they surround us!」

I opened the 『Map』, the enemy red markers were gradually heading towards us. They would swarm if we stayed in this place. Let’s spread out and quickly find any survivors.

Author’s note:

This time’s equipment skills are the following. The parts in the bracket are the job where the skill is originated from.

Passive Skills:

• Mana Rising (L) (Druid)
• ＭＰAuto-recovery（L）（not applicable：Skill Synthesis）
• HP/MP Auto-Recovery（L）（Not Applicable: Skill Synthesis）
• Mars’ Intuition（Not Applicable：Skill Synthesis）Increased Ability Range（L）＋Increased Physical Ability（XL））
• Increased Perception Ability（L）（Assassin）
• Increased Attack Range (Brave Fencer)

Active Skills:

• Triple Impact (Dragon Knight)
• Drill Bunker (Dragon Knight)
• Wave Sword (Road Paladin, High Knight)
• Rokudou Sen Gomi (Brave Fencer)
• Compound Skill:
• Tri-Bunker Impact
• Wave Great Sword