Translator: Charlotte　Editor: Weasalopes

The cave continued onwards, without any particular changes.
The only thing I noticed was that the cave angled ever so slightly upwards.
I found a branch in the cave too, but I ignored it.
I saw that the branch was at a steep downward angle.
I looked at my map. I was still in W2, heading towards N1W2.
There was no boundary between W2 and W3 like there was for the forest maze.
I"d expect the pattern to repeat for where I was heading too.

The cave consisted of many twists and turns, but I knew I was steadily heading north.
I was gaining height, too.
When I started thinking that I might not have to fight any more monsters, we got ambushed.
More specifically, Senki got ambushed.
The monster came from the ceiling.

「Guraaaaaaa!」

The cave was quite wide.
Senki"s roar echoed loudly. It made me want to cover up my ears.
Senki grabbed the ant on top of his head and used his hands to split it in two.
What a beast.

I looked at the ceiling.
There was some kind of hole.
Ants were flooding out of it.
No wonder not even Obsidian noticed it.

The fight was tough.
There were just too many of them.
I pulled out the tonfas from my back and continued fighting.
I pinned an ant against a wall and used the tonfas to crush its head.
I used a kick to crush another one.
I was getting used to the process.

More ants were flooding out of the hole.
Senki pulled off the ants" heads one by one.
I looked closer.
I realised Senki was actually twisting to break their necks before pulling.
Looked like he picked up my technique.

Goki swung his shield and hatchet around at any ant in sight.
Goki didn"t have as much power as Senki, but he was still doing well.
Obsidian was supporting them by taking care of any gaps in their defences.
They were cooperating very nicely.
It was good to see.
I was probably still not in a position to say, but I felt like I would come to the cave again just to earn experience points.

At the end, I had to deal with two different ants.
They were clearly bigger than the others.
And a lot heavier too.
But it didn"t look like they had any special attacks.

Their movements looked rather dull.
But the moment I thought that, it suddenly charged at me.
I was shocked by its speed.
I took a head-on impact.

Antman Rook　Lv.2
Monster　Enemy Target　Active・Enraged

I left the other ant to Senki.
I picked myself up to face the ant that just rammed into me.
I gripped my tonfas tighter and faced the monster.
C"mon.
I dare you.

I had an idea in mind.
I braced myself while I prepared to cast a spell.
When the casting process was done, I kept the spell to myself, waiting for the perfect opportunity.
I used the time to prepare another spell.

The moment I saw the monster lower its body…
I released the spell.

「Root Snare!」

Roots burst out under the ant and wrapped themselves around its legs.
The ant hit the ground and did several flips before stopping.
I was already ready to cast my second spell.

「Branch Bind!」

Branches exploded from my left hand and wrapped around the monster.
Perfect.
But it would only work to temporarily restrict the monster.
I knelt down beside the ant and beat down on it.
With my tonfas, that is.
Since it couldn"t resist, I was free to put in as much force as I could, but even then, its HP bar was going down very slowly.

Good, good.
Show me what you got!

Almost like in response to my provocation, a few branches broke off.
Wow.
What power.

I slammed my heel into its head, crushing it against the ground.
I was just in time, the monster looked like it was about to spit out something.
I was sure it was something nasty, especially in close range.
I aimed at its compound eyes and hit hard with my tonfas.
Right, left, right, left…
I managed to completely destroy the monster"s eyes.

When I destroyed its eyes, the monster got up and freed itself from all the branches binding it.
I immediately backed up a bit.
Now I just had to wait and see.

The moment it got up, it immediately started charging.
But this time, it was running around without any sense of direction.
The ant charged at full-speed and hit a wall, leaving its head stuck in the wall.
The fight ended just like that.
What a strange end.
I felt like something was missing.

My Summon Monsters dealt with the other ant very well.
Not a bad result.

《【Cooperation】Level Up!》
《【Precise Manipulation】Level Up!》
《Summon Monster『Goki』Level Up!》
《Please put one point into a desired stat.》

I gained a few level-ups out of the fight.
I was getting stronger.

I focused on Goki"s status screen.
Goki was growing very nicely.
The stat that went up during the level-up was VIT.
I decided to put a point into STR.

Goki　Demon Lv3→Lv4（↑1）
DEX　18
AGI　13
INT　10
STR　18（↑1）
VIT　18（↑1）
SPI　11

Skills:
Bow　Hatchet　Buckler　Block　Evade　Hide

Goki"s stats looked pretty nice.
Let"s keep going.

I counted about 30 dead ants.
Way too many.
It took me about 20 minutes to collect the item drops from all of them.
And that was with Senki and Goki bringing the ants to me.
Although I did get something out of it.
I got 7 pieces of Antman Wax
I got a different item from an Antman p.a.w.n that time.

【Material】Antman Nectar　Raw Material　Grade C　Rarity 2　Weight 0+
Nectar given to the Antman Larvae as food. Can be eaten but has a low sugar content.
The bag is made of Antman skin and can be used as a water bottle.

Nectar, huh.
I squeezed the bag a little and a honey-like substance appeared from the top.
I took some using my finger and tasted it.
Sweet.
But not as sweet as honey.
It tasted a little like artificial sweeteners.

I gave some to Goki and Senki.
They looked like they liked it.
It took a while to get them to stop asking for more.
I was about to yell at them.
Obsidian was completely silent.
Well, he was an owl, after all.

Now, onto the Antman Rook.
I didn"t get anything.
I thought stronger monsters were more likely to drop items…
I kept going.

By the time I saw the light at the end of the cave, I was already used to fighting the ants.
I eradicated three other small groups of ants.
I was honestly kind of sick of them already.
I kept my MP spending to a minimum and used potions whenever I could.
I wanted to do as much exploration in the day as I could.

I stepped out of the cave and onto a plateau.
The place looked a lot like the N1W1 map.
The only difference was that the mountains were on the east.
There might"ve been more trees too.

The time was a little past 4 pm.
I wanted to look for an Area Portal, but I didn"t have the time for that.
I checked my map. I was in N1W2.

Now what?
I guess I could just look around for a while…
I made a mental note to return to the W2 map before night fell.

I kept going into the forest.
I didn"t bother using【Forest Walk】.
I wasn"t planning on staying for too long.
In any case.
If anyone saw Senki, Goki, and me running around in the forest like we were, they would"ve probably mistaken us for savages.
Obsidian flew around above us.

I finally found a monster.
Some kind of bear?

Brown Bear　Lv.3
Monster　Enemy Target　Pa.s.sive

It was a normal brown bear.
It still felt strangely strong, though.
Very much so.
Thanks to Obsidian, I managed to find it before it noticed me.
Senki and Goki stood silently by my side.
No.
They were waiting for me to make the first move.
They were waiting for my command.

I put my Kaya Wood Rod into an《Item Box》and pulled out the tonfas from my back.
I selected and casted some spells.
Of course, I was going to fight it.
Senki, Goki, and Obsidian moved at the same time.
It was time to hunt.

「Branch Bind!」

Branches exploded from my left hand and covered the bear.
The bear finally noticed me.
It tried its best to intimidate me.
While it was busy doing that, Obsidian landed a perfect attack on it.
Nice.

Senki pounced on the bear.
It looked pretty effective.
But the monster"s HP bar didn"t even go down by 10%.

Wow.
Looked like I was dealing with one strong beast.

The bear slowly ripped off the branches binding it.
What a powerful fighter…
As expected from a bear.

「Lower DEF!」

I used a【Lava Magic】spell.
Best-case-scenario, it would lower the target"s DEF.
A small marker superimposed onto the bear"s marker showed that it was under some sort of status effect.
Nice.

Senki sent another fist flying at the bear.
Its HP bar went down by a lot more that time.
Almost twice as much as the first attack.

Goki circled around the bear, releasing arrows.
I stood in front of the bear.
Of course, I wasn"t looking for a fair fight.
I was mostly there to distract it while I left the hard work to my Summon Monsters.
I used my tonfas to keep the bear away from me and buy time.
The bear could only attack with one arm.
Looked like【Branch Bind】was still working its magic.

I saw an opportunity and kicked the bear in its belly.
I wanted to follow up the attack with more tonfa attacks, but I decided not to overextend.
I was already winning, I just had to take it slow.
I didn"t want to take any risk.

Obsidian landed the final blow.
The collapsed bear looked kind of funny.
Although the powerless tongue falling out of its mouth made it look a little pathetic.

「Gigiga!」

「Gohee!」

Senki and Goki stood around the bear and took turns poking it.
Have some respect, please.
Especially for the dead. That"s just the proper j.a.panese mentality.

Having said that, I knelt down next to the bear and stuck my knife into it.
I had to collect my item drops.

【Material】Brown Bear Paw　Raw Material　Grade C　Rarity 3　Weight 1
The meat of a Brown Bear, taken from around its front legs.

【Material】Brown Bear Fur　Raw Material　Grade C　Rarity 3　Weight 3
The fur of a Brown Bear. Has a heat-retaining effect.

I got two items from the bear.
Sweet.
And some more warm fur…
The message was getting stronger.
Winter clothes, huh…
I made up my mind to make some.

Just one more…?
I used【Call Monster】to try and get another Brown Bear.
I sensed two of them.

I called them one at a time and finished them off without any issues.
On its own, a Brown Bear was definitely stronger than a Snow Ape.
But with the fights being 4 to 1, I clearly had the advantage.
I still always started the fights with【Branch Bind】, though, just to be safe.
It was relatively easy.
I got fur from both of them.
No more meat.

It was a good time to call it a day.
The time was still a little before 5 pm, but I decided to head back.
Through the Antman cave and then to the village.
I was planning on spending the night in W2.

I was attacked by ants only twice on the way back.
Although it was just Antman p.a.w.ns.
Their strength was in numbers.
On their own, they were pretty easy to defeat.

I focused on attacking and tried my best to not give them any opportunities to call in reinforcements.
I took some damage, but the fights went well.
I was already used to fighting the ants.
I was actually hoping for some stronger monsters.
I would kill for a better item drop rate too.

I left the cave and entered another forest.
I kept going without【Forest Walk】.
I wanted to save as much MP as I could.
Well, my MP bar was still at 70%…
No. I had to prepared for night-time.

No pheasants attacked me.
In fact, most of them were cautiously gathering in groups.
At the centre of each group was a male pheasant.

Wild Golden Pheasant （Male）　Lv.4
Monster　Enemy Target　Pa.s.sive

They were pa.s.sive…
Looked like they had the same behaviour patterns as the pheasants I was used to.
Night was approaching.
And along with it, the sense of some impending danger.

I ran into a Raptor on the way to the village.
But when I got close to it, it became pa.s.sive and quickly scurried off.
Strange…
The setting sun looked somewhat off, too.

I entered the village from the north.
I headed into one of the houses.
I got Obsidian to look around, but he didn"t find anything.
The house I was in didn"t have any lights, so I used【Flashlight】instead.
I ate a quick meal.
It was just Portable Food.

Goki and Senki climbed onto the roof of the house I was in.
Playing tag?
The house shook occasionally.

When I finished my meal, I called Goki over and checked his arrows.
I noticed he was using Obsidian Arrows and Evil Ant Arrows a lot.
Goki made a point of reusing arrows, so some of them inevitably got damaged.
There were also times when it was impossible to retrieve an arrow, so the total number of arrows was lower too.

I decided to spend some time fixing and making arrows.
Senki and Goki went back to playing tag.
Obsidian perched on the roof, keeping watch.
My MP was doing pretty well.
We all spent the evening in our own nice ways.

Protagonist　Keith
Race　Human　Male　Racial Lv9
Job　Summoner Lv8
Bonus Points Remaining: 9

Skill Sets:
Staff Lv7　Punch Lv5　Kick Lv5　Joint Lock Lv5　Throw Lv4　Evade Lv5　Block Lv4 Summon Magic Lv9　s.p.a.cetime Magic Lv2
Light Magic Lv4　Wind Magic Lv5　Earth Magic Lv5　Water Magic Lv5　Fire Magic Lv4　Dark Magic Lv4　Ice Magic Lv3　Lightning Magic Lv2　Tree Magic Lv3　Dust Magic Lv2　Lava Magic Lv2　Steam Magic Lv2
Alchemy Lv5　Pharmacy Lv4　Gla.s.smaking Lv3　Woodworking Lv4
Cooperation Lv6　Appraise Lv6　Identify Lv7　Discern Lv2　Cold Resistance Lv3　Grab Lv6 Horsemanship Lv6　Precise Manipulation Lv7（↑1）　Jump Lv3　Heat Resistance Lv4　Climb Lv3　Dual Wield Lv4　
Physical Reinforcement Lv2　Mental Reinforcement Lv4　Speedcasting Lv4

Equipment:
Kaya Wood Rod x1　Kaya Wood Tonfa x2　Snow Leopard Push Dagger x3　Wild Horse Leather Armour+　Snow Ape Armguard　Wild Horse Boots+　Snow Ape Leather Helmet　Rabid Horse Belt+　Rucksack　Item Box x2

Items:
Survival Knife　Woodworking Set

t.i.tles:
Old Summoner"s Pupil
Guardian of the Forest
Man of the Middle Path
Spell Archive

Monster Summons:
Volff　Wolf Lv7
Zangetsu　Horse Lv5
Helix　Hawk Lv5
Obsidian　Owl Lv5
Jean　Bat Lv4
Jericho　Wood Golem Lv3
Goki　Demon Lv3→Lv4（↑1）
DEX　18
AGI　13
INT　10
STR　18（↑1）
VIT　18（↑1）
SPI　11

Skills:
Bow　Hatchet　Buckler　Block　Evade　Hide
Senki　Beast Ape Lv3
Rig　Slime Lv3