Chapter 23
I try to observe the man eater from a distance away. It is simply a huge pitcher plant. It is about six meters in total length, and it has many branches. (It is too troublesome, so I call them tentacles.) Yurika’s corpse is hanging from one of those tentacle. The Fang wolf is also hanging in the same manner, like preserved food.s

By the way, Yurika is now stark-naked. I think her clothes were just a hindrance for the man eater. That couldn’t be helped. I can see that because we are going to fight against the man eater. But…

Mio is right. If I see a lifeless girl being strangled, I only feel pity. I don’t have any erotic feelings, at all. Is that the way it preserves its food, or does it has another use for it?

…For real?

[Phew! I think it was a good idea to come here,] I begin. [Let’s drop our status a little and use this as battle training.]

[Understood,] Sakura says. [How should we fight this time?]

[Let’s do something different from usual and focus on long-range attack.] I begin. [Sakura and Mio will be the main damage dealers, and the rest of us will support them. The man eater’s movement is quite slow, so poison and acid aren’t much of the threat at long range, either. I think we will be safe as long as we stay out of the tentacles’ range.]

[I intend to recoverYurika’s body after this.] I say.

[Why?] Maria asks. [Do we actually have a reason to do that?]

[It is nothing personal, but I want to stop that man eater.] I reply.

[Understood.] Maria says. [I will try to recover her body.]

Maria volunteers to do that. She is the quickest among us. I think she is suitable for this job.
> Dora adds via telepathy.

That is the case, too. Because Dora’s skill is LV7, it is unlikely she will be caught by those tentacles.
[It is possible,] I say. [However, Dora doesn’t have much experience in dog fighting yet. It is too dangerous if you don’t have prior experience before. So I will leave this role for Maria this time.]

[Please leave it to me,] Maria says. [I will complete it without fail.]

> says Dora.

> Dora groans.

[Why? Although I was chosen, why do I feel such regret?] Maria asks.

[fuwa~, hauuu…] – Maria

[Maria, you go recover Yurika’s body and then use “Warp” to return to us.] I say.

[Yeah… Uh… No, it’s all right,] Maria begins. [I’m going to cut down any tentacles during my return.]

[If you are in danger, use “Warp” immediately.] I say.

[Yes, I will.] Maria says.

g

By the way,everyone has Sakura’s , including “Warp.” It seems she can create the same magic she already did at relatively lower cost, about least than half of usual MP. So… I have copies of it for everyone. I have a feeling it is like development and ma.s.s-production costs.

> I ask via telepathy

> Maria replies.

> – Sakura says.

Maria jumps out at my signal. She jumps down the slope close to the man eater, cuts the tentacles and recovers Yurika’s body.

Since the top of the slope is a blind spot, we used it to our advantage, allowing Maria to approach the man eater quickly. This is good because our purpose is just recover Yurika’s body and get out of there as soon as we can.

When Maria cuts the tentacles, the man eater notices this and sends other tentacles to attack her. However, she just cuts them down when they come closer.

Sakura casts her magic. Since she shoots it at high angle, her magic doesn’t hinder Maria’s action, at all.

Mio shoots an arrow. She is in a different location than Sakura because it is better to attack from two sides rather than just concentrating on one side. Since fire magic is really effective, a lot of tentacles are taken down with each attack.

I’m protecting Sakura while Dora and Sera are protecting Mio. Maria is going to join me later. Sera doesn’t use her shield, she just dual-wields both her sword and spear, one on each hand for better maneuverability. Maria and Sera are dealing with those tentacles while Dora and I are dealing with the other monsters. This is the basis of our strategy.

I hear Maria’s shout. Her evasion is something I couldn’t believe with my own eyes. She avoided all tentacles that came from behind her. Oh! She uses

Maria is really close to us. There isn’t much threat from the tentacles at this distance. Most of its long-range attack and tentacles are aiming for Sakura and Mio, but they aren’t hard to deal with.

The man eater approaches us, little by little, but considering our mobility, it doesn’t matter.
[All right!] I say. [Well done, Maria. Let’s burn it without reservation from up here.]

[[[[Yes!]]]] everyone exclaims.

> Dora says.

[It will end soon. Be careful not to hit the acid sac in the center.]

The man eater suddenly makes a move after its HP is lower than 30%.
[What is that!?]

[Monsters are approaching us from all sides!]

[An enraged mode, I think?] Mio asks. (Spec: Wow! This is like a raid boss.)

Oh, this is common in games. When boss HP is low, it will be strengthened, and the companion is increased, too… All of the monsters in the vicinity are approaching here, all at once. Did it just shoot out a strange pheromone?
[Dora, concentrate on extermination of those monsters!] I exclaim.

[Be careful about the man eater’s movement.] I warn. [It might do something strange.]

[[Yes!]] Maria and Sera reply.

[Only a few HP remains.] I say. [Let’s burn it all at once!]

[[Yes!]] Mio and Sakura exclaim.

It doesn’t take much time for the man eater’s HP to reach zero. It was defeated. Acid is splashing around and making a sizzling sound.
[Phew!] exclaims Mio. [We unexpectedly defeated it from a long distance this time.]

[You are right,” Sakura begins. [But it is natural, considering the status. The other party’s status is quite high, too.]

[Yeah. Sakura and Mio, how was it?] I ask. [I mean about being the main attacker in long range group attack?]

[You are right,” Sakura said. [We could fight unexpectedly well, but I think it would have been difficult without guards.] – Sakura

[Well, we didn’t need to worry because someone was guarding our back.] Mio says.

[Because the chance we will be attacked from behind is low, we could take time and attack without worry.] Sakura says.

[That’s right. We have enough time, so we didn’t need to use magic from or use .] Mio says. [And the bow doesn’t even have anything to shorten shooting time.]

[Well, the bow isn’t a rapid-fire weapon, after all] I say.

It can’t be helped sincethatt is one of the weapon’s characteristics. This world doesn’t have guns. I guess this is because of the different rule, and it might not as powerful as we expected in this world. We might able to replicate the firing mechanic and make guns, but we can’t expect it to be as powerful as our former world.

And what is the use of a rapid-fire weapon if it can’t hit? I guess Mio has no choice but to give up.

[Come to think of it, Sakura…] I say.

[What is it, Jin-kun?] Sakura asks.

[Can you revive a dead person with ?] Jin asks.

[It is impossible.] Sakura begins. [Not enough MP.]

[So… Does that mean it’s possible if you have enough MP?] I ask.

[Yes, perhaps…] Sakura says.

[Huh? Master, are you planning to revive Yurika-chan?] Mio asks.

[Just in case…] I begin. [I didn’t do this because of my good will since we might kill someone who wasn’t hostile to us by accident too. This was an experiment.]
By chance, it isn’t funny if we fail to use resurrection magic when our ally is dead. This will be a good experiment before that really happens.

Wait… If Yurika isn’t treated as missing in action and this anomaly in this forest isn’t dealt with, the large-scale extermination will happen. If they couldn’t find Yurika’s remains with the anomaly in the forest like this, she would be considered killed in action. So… We should clear this forest, so it won’t have any anomaly.
[For the sake of Yurika being treated as missing in action, let’s return this forest to normal. In the case of a normal forest, missing is considered worse than death.] I say.

[I understand what you mean, but how could we do that?] Sakura asks.

[How about exterminating all plant monsters and wait for nature to return it to its former environment?] I ask.

[So this is an extermination mission?] Sera asks. [This is finally a chance for me to show my skill!]

Dora, you shouldn’t say that. Was it because of me?

For now, our object is the extermination of all enemies. We won’t have a problem because we have

[Err… for all of MP Jin-kun has, it is about 20%.] – Sakura

[How about we let everybody fight on their own?] I ask.

[On our own? Me and Mio-chan, too?] Sakura asks

[Yeah, but of course, I will raise the status to maximum. I think this is a good chance to get an individual combat without me.] I reply.

[Come to think of it, we’ve never had a fight without Jin-kun, at all.] Sakura says.

[That’s right.] I reply. [Completely relying on others forever is no good. Am I right?]

> Dora asks.

[I’m sorry, Dora, but please do your best.] I say.

> Dora says, pouting.

[What?] I ask.

> Dora says.

[I don’t have a problem.] Maria begins. [But Jin-sama, please don’t do something too dangerous. I’m worry about Jin-sama having a crisis when I’m not with you…]

[No, I don’t doubt Jin-sama’s ability,] Maria says. [But this is for my peace of mind.]

[I know,] I say. [However, everybody must not do unreasonable things, too.]

[[[[>]]]]

[This is the individual extermination mission] Sera begins. [But I will be the one who performs the best.]

[Wait a minute.]

[What’s wrong?] Sera asks.

Wow! A declaration of war.

Sera seems to have a little trouble, but she becomes this motivated because she isn’t starving. Or maybe it’s because she isn’t starved for food and she’s starved for this instead.
[Then, let’s have a match between me and Sera,] Maria suggests. [Whoever defeats the most monsters will be the winner.]

[That is fine.] Sera agrees. [I was also thinking the same thing.. Of course, no hard feelings, no matter who wins or loses.] – Sera

[Of course, Jin-sama might not like subordinates who fight with each other.] Maria says.

[That’s right.”Compet.i.tion” is okay, but “Quarrel” isn’t.] I say.

It seems these two attackers want to have a match with each other, so I add some words.
[You can count on me for the counting, I will judge fairly.] I continue.

[[Thank you very much.]] Maria and Sera both say.
So… This is the first individual combat, and the first compet.i.tion is between Maria and Sera.

[Our goal is to exterminate as many monsters as you can in one hour. Ready, go!] I exclaim.

[[[[Yes!]]]] – Sakura, Mio, Maria and Sera yell at once.

> Dora says

If everyone goes on their own with full status, it will end soon. I mean, they could exterminate all monsters in this forest half an hour, and those monsters aren’t as strong as the man eater, either.

Since I told Maria not to do something dangerous, she won’t fight several monsters at once. She’ll just fight with a few of them at one time. It is less dangerous.
[This is my win.] Maria says.

[Too bad… Dora-chan interrupted me…] Sera says.

> says Dora.

[No, that was my mistake…] Sera says.
As for the compet.i.tion between Maria and Sera, Maria is the winner. She has ten more marked. I heard it was because Dora got into Sera’s way and stole some of her kill. Perhaps Maria was thinking about that and chose the area with more monsters.

Even if Sera wasn’t first, her performance was good enough.

A knife is Mio’s sub-weapon. Since we aren’t sure about what will be happening, close combat techniques aren’t completely useless.

As I was exterminating the thieves with Sakura, I told her to keep chanting during the close combat. Come to think of it, I also do that too.

Speaking of rare monsters… We encounter a rainbow mushroom three times. Dora, Sera and I each defeated one of them. I have a feeling that rare monster isn’t that rare.

It wasn’t a polite question, but I could guess her answer.

[About 40%] Sakura replies.

While we are talking about that, I saw a message pop up. Let’s see.

Dryad (Rare, Abnormal)

LV40

Note: Spirit of the wood monster. A tree that has been living for too long will turn into this.

A rare and abnormal creature! I want it. All right, Let’s tame it.

[I will tame that monster.] I say.
[Huh? Let me see… Wow! This is amazing in various ways.]

Taming level is… a little too low. I will convert unused points and level up the skill.

All right, this is good enough.

I head to the place where Dryad appeared. Coincidentally, it is the same place where that man eater was. Dryad is a girl who’s one meter tall with brown skin like tree bark and green leaf-like hair, the length of which reaches the ground. She looks sleepy since she was born recently.

[Then, see you later.] I say.

I approach Dryad. I think she is as strong as the man eater because she is an abnormal type and at the same level. However, her status is on the weaker side. She might have some abnormal skills.

As I approach her, she gives no reaction, so I cast a taming formation at her.
> Dryad is tamed.

> Please give a name to Dryad.

[I tamed her somehow…] I say.

[Again? It was the same as Dora-chan.] Sakura says.

[For something like this…] Mio begins.

[As expected from Jin-sama.] says Maria.

[He really is out of the ordinary in various ways…] Sera says.

>

> Dryad says, between yawns.
I couldn’t feel much power from her voice. I guess she is a little air-headed because she was just born recently. However since I tamed you, I will make you work for me.

Next is her name.
> Named [Ria] ←

> Named [Midori]

> Named [Yukari]

[You name is Midori] I say.

>

Uh, good enough.

But we suddenly have a problem…

It seems Dryad hates to move by herself. Is that because she was a tree?

> Midori asks.
This is the word Dryad said while putingt herself the the corner almost as soon as we entered our carriage. You are tree, aren’t you? Why did you not want a sunny place?

I have a feeling she is like a hikikomori (a socially-withdrawal type of person). Well, I guess each person has a preference.

[She is “my pace” girl, after all.]

[I guess so. But I’m fine with it as long as she isn’t harmful.]

[You are right. Nice to meet you.]

>

[By the way, one of her skills is . What is it?]

It is allows you to mix a special type of medicine that is different from normal medicine.

A: Please hear it from her.

[Could you make some kind of special medicine?]

> – Midori

[Yeah, please.] I say.

> Midori asks.

[Oh, here.] I reply.

> Midori says.

[Is it absolutely necessary?] I ask.

< no…="" but…="" please…="">> Midori replies.

> Midori announces.

Special medicine: Nectar

Note: A holy wine that can cure all sickness.
[Did Midori make this?] I ask.

> Midori mumbles.

[How did you make it?] I ask.

> Midori replies.
Her face is bright red as she mutters that. Uh, I could comprehend that somehow. This is no good.

I make up my mind and ask her later when she is ready.

Status (Only changed parts)

Shindou Jin

LV45

Skill:

Equipment: Spirit katana (Incomplete)

Kinos.h.i.ta Sakura

LV37

Skill:

Equipment: Ruby staff

Dora

LV35

Skill:

Equipment: Monk’s battle staff, Steel shield

Mio

LV30

Skill: < p="">

Equipment: Fairy short bow

Maria

LV40

Skill:

Equipment: One-hand iron sword

Sera

LV20

Equipment: Greatsword, Partisan, Kite Shield

Tamo

LV15

Skill :

Midori

LV40

~Fin Man Eater & Extermination