Translator: Eisen　Editor: Weasalopes

Looking from Obsidian"s eyes high up in the sky, the forest still seems to go on and on.
I use Forest Walk on Senki, Goki and myself in order to increase our speed.
We run as if we were gliding through the trees.
It"s really refreshing, actually.
But all of a sudden, we encounter a group of seven Brown Bears!
Whoa, wait!

「Growl!」

I instantly set up a Fire Wall in front of the bears, but only two of them thrust themselves into it.
The other five go around it instead.
They"re smart, huh?
Wait.
Isn"t fighting against seven Brown Bears a terrible idea?
It looks like Senki has the answer to that question.

Senki grabs one of the bears and hurls it away.
The bear is sent flying towards the Fire Wall.
Naturally, the bear hit the Fire Wall and took some damage.
Ooh.
That"s a good idea!
Well, it"s not as if he actually "thought" about it.

「Geehee!」

「Geh! Geh!」

Senki and Goki call out to each other.
They make a good match.
I order Senki to hurl the bears towards the Fire Wall.
But let"s not just stop there.
I"ll give it a shot myself.

Of course, I don"t have the physical strength needed to hurl a bear away.
Let alone to send them all the way over to the Fire Wall.
So I"m limited to throwing techniques.
Like a circular throw.
I lure the monsters and use a circular throw to send them flying towards the Fire Wall.
This is proving to be very effective!

I also use Fire Shot and compare the results.
That skill damages them for about 10 percent of their HP.
What about hurling them against the Fire Wall?
Considering they also get damaged from hitting the wall, they take over 40 percent.
Besides, I can keep damaging them over and over by repeatedly hurling them against the same wall while it is in effect.
It"s a little riskier, but this is definitely better damage-wise.

I instruct Obsidian and Goki to watch for any other monsters that may approach.
Senki and I are doing circular throws.
I think that this is greatly reducing the amount of time this battle is taking.
Senki is taking no damage thanks to Rig.
I"m getting a few scratches here and there, but nothing that can"t be healed with a single potion.
Hmm.
This is a good way to use a wall!
I never thought I could use the Throw skill like this.

《【Throw】Level Up!》
《Summon Monster 『Rig』 Level Up!》
《Please add 1 point to a desired stat.》

Oh!
【Throw】leveled up.
I guess I did use the skill a lot just now.
And Rig leveled up as well!
Let"s a.s.sing his points quickly.
His AGI has increased automatically upon leveling up.
I"ll choose STR as his second stat increase.

Rig　Slime Lv4→Lv5 (↑1)
DEX　13
AGI　 7 (↑1)
INT　 6
STR　 7 (↑1)
VIT　 8
SPI　 6

Skills
Dissolve　Shapeshift　Viscosity　Surface Tension　Nullify Physical

He"s been doing a great job taking care of the defense today.
Thank you very much!

We head deeper into the forest.
Here we encounter the second b.u.t.terfly.
I can afford to fight it now.
I use Psycho Pod from the start, and I"m taking special attention to the special abnormality markers.
Sleep can be cured with a gentle poke.
The problem is the timing at which the status abnormalities may occur.

Right now, the monster seems to only be fluttering around.
There are no status abnormalities on our side.
The monster perches to the branch of a nearby tree and spreads its wings.
Shortly after, Obsidian falls asleep on my shoulder.
I promptly wake him up with a light poke.

What about Senki?
No status abnormalities.
I mean, he was just running towards the tree and wasn"t looking to the b.u.t.terfly itself.
And Goki?
He fell asleep too.
I get close to him and wake him up as well.

Hmm.
Is it safe to a.s.sume that if it can"t spread its wings, then it won"t be able to inflict status abnormalities?
I use Force Bullet.
After it hits the monster directly, and Obsidian follows up with an attack of his own, the b.u.t.terfly dies.

It"s fragile.
It"s so fragile!

But the truth is that I was killed by such a monster before.
Back then, it was so mysterious that it was even scary.

Once again, no loot dropped from this b.u.t.terfly.
Well, that"s okay.
There"s two more before ahead!

Let"s go take care of them while Psycho Pod is still in effect.
I guess that if as long as we beat them while they"re fluttering about, there shouldn"t be a problem.
I use Force Bullet in succession in order to prevent them from perching on a tree branch.
Obsidian took care of the first one, and Goki killed the second one.
No items from those either.
But neither of us was afflicted by status abnormalities.
So I guess that settles it, huh?

Let"s head north.
There should be an Area Portal here somewhere.
But it might be hard for Obsidian to search around from above that kind of terrain.
That means I"ll have to rely on mounting Zangetsu for movement.
Let"s go carefully.

That monster seems to be drinking water from the riverside.
From where I"m standing, I"m not sure if I should be fighting that monster.
A turtle?
It"s a turtle.
And it"s huge!
Apparently, it"s not drinking water, but rather eating small animals out of the water itself.

Forest Tortoise　Lv.2
Monster　Enemy Target　Pa.s.sive

I"m not interested in fighting huge carnivorous turtles.
Let"s just leave it alone, shall we?

I know I don"t need to fight that turtle at all.
There are some Active ones after all.

Forest Tortoise　Lv.3
Monster　Enemy Target　Active

It"s only one.
Can we make it?
Look at that sh.e.l.l, though.
That guy"s DEF is high, no doubt.
So, what kind of attack should I start with?

「Lower DEF!」

Let"s lower its DEF with this spell.
It doesn"t look as if it resisted it or anything.

Senki begins by heading towards the monster.
Off to give him a good beating.
But can"t.
Several rocks. .h.i.t Senki all over his body.
But when did that happen?

Senki took no damage, though.
It"s because Rig caught all of the rocks with his body.

Obsidian rushes to attack from the monster"s rear.
But before he could reach the turtle, his attack is stopped by a wall.
Several layers of Water Shield-like walls appear, forcing Obsidian to change his trajectory.

Goki fires an arrow at the water wall, but it drops to the ground before hitting it.
This guy…
Are you going to keep using special abilities against us?

Rocks come flying my way, too.
It looks similar to the Earth spell, Stone Bullet.
They seem to be fired off as fiercely as with that spell, so I can"t underestimate it.
But its range seems to be rather short.

If Senki can get close to him, we can certainly win.
I need to create an opportunity for him.

Let"s try several things out from a distance and see how it goes.
The Tree Magic spell, Branch Bind?
I thought that I would be able to restrain its movements with it, but the monster rips through the entangled branches by sheer force.

The Lightning Magic spell, Paralysis?
Resisted.

The s.p.a.cetime Magic spell, Gravity Bullet?
It doesn"t blow off, so it deals about a tenth of the damage it would usually do.

The Ice Magic spell, Delay?
This one seems to be somewhat effective.
But since the monster is already sluggish by nature, the effect from this spell does not make much of a difference.

The Dark Magic spell, Dark Stare?
This one seems to have worked as well.
The monster seems to have been inflicted with Blindness.

Coincident with the status abnormality, the monster changes its tactics.
It stops shooting rocks and begins to envelop itself in several layers of water walls.
So he switched to the defensive, huh?
If it"s only water, I can deal with it.

「Resist Aqua!」

I use a spell to protect Senki against Water spells, and then get my next spell ready.
I"m heading out to battle as well.

Senki heads towards the monster, in defiance of his water walls.
Rig moves to his back.
Going through the water walls, Senki throws a punch at the monster"s sh.e.l.l.
How much damage did it do?
Not less than 10 percent.
However, it"s going down steadily.

「Resist Aqua!」

I break into the water walls as well.
Of course, I do take some damage.
I can always run away.
However, I won"t be able to forgive myself if I don"t beat this guy.
From now on, I can"t just keep running away.

Senki tries to lift the monster by grabbing the edge of its sh.e.l.l.
But it looks like it"s too heavy to be lifted that easily.
What"s with this guy?

I also kick the monster in one of its legs and hit its neck with my tonfas.
The damage from both attacks seems insignificant.
And the monster now withdraws its neck and legs back into its sh.e.l.l.
This guy"s a total shut-in!

「Gravity Bullet!」

I try hitting it with an attack spell, but the damage seems to have been reduced further.
This guy…!
This calls for a change of plans.

「Physical Enchant: Fire!」

I cast a spell on Senki to increase his STR.
The idea is, of course, to make it so he can lift the turtle up and toss it to the ground in order to deal some damage.
But despite our efforts, he still can"t do it.
What?
Let"s double-check Senki"s stats.

Senki　Beast Ape Lv6
DEX　10
AGI　20
INT　 6
STR　25 (+5)
VIT　25
SPI　 5

Skills
Punch　Kick　Throw Object　Block　Evade　Climb　Throw

His STR did increase, right?
And yet he still can"t lift this monster.
Let"s try something different then.

Both Senki and I grab the turtle by the edge of its sh.e.l.l and push upwards.
We"re trying to force it to roll upside down.
It looks like it"s going to…!
The turtle is upside-down! But its legs and head are still inside its sh.e.l.l.
c.r.a.p.
I wanted to twist this guy"s neck!

But not everything is bad news.
The water walls disappear completely.
Obsidian and Goki join us in attacking the monster"s belly, but even though it"s not as hard as the sh.e.l.l covering its back, it"s still pretty hard.
What should we do?

I put my foot on the edge of the turtle"s sh.e.l.l, and then put my hand in the hole where one of it"s legs has withdrawn.
I"m trying to tear it off, but of course I"m not strong enough.
But it works as an example.
Senki is trying to imitate what I"m doing.
He pulls with all of his strength.

Just by that action, the monster"s HP reduces by more than half.
Now Rig slips into the gap between the turtle"s sh.e.l.ls.
What is he doing in there?
I don"t want to think too much about it.
I"m only watching the turtle"s HP bar decrease rapidly.

《【Ice Magic】Level Up!》

So the hard work pays off, huh?
I would like to say this to the monster.
Can you win battles by just defending yourself?
Well, it might have been preparing some other kind of attack.
We definitely caught it off guard by peeling off his sh.e.l.l and attacking it from the inside.

As expected, I got an item from this turtle.
But this is way too big!
Well, what can this be used for?

【Material】Forest Tortoise Sh.e.l.l　Raw Material　Grade C+　Rarity 4　Weight 4
The sh.e.l.l of a Forest Tortoise. Very hard and strong.
Not to be used as an ornament.

It"s considerably larger than the shield that Goki uses.
But it"s also proportionally lighter.
I"ll check it out when once we return.

After a quick rest, I recovered our HP with potions and rushed ahead.
Even if I look at the map, it looks as if I"m not making any progress.
Since I"ve been dealing with one battle after another, I might have grown quite impatient.

The terrain is becoming quite steep now.
Using the Wood Magic spell, Forest Walk, is a must at this point.
I"m also losing my way too, so I"m using a magnetic compa.s.s as well.
No more turtles have appeared since the last one, but I get attacked by b.u.t.terflies and bears.
I can take care of them easily if they come alone.
The only problem is when they come in groups, which is when I can"t avoid dropping our marching speed.
It"s quite troublesome.

Eventually, I decided to have lunch before finding the Area Portal.
I quickly cook the ratatouille in a pan and eat it.
I really wanted to relax and enjoy my meal, but I can"t do that while watching out for monsters.

I"m a bit worried about my MP.
I have about 60 percent left now.
Did I use too many spells against the turtle and the b.u.t.terflies?
I"ll have to refrain from using any spells unless I have to fight a group of bears.
Isn"t that too much to handle?

I"m worried that I"ll have to recall Rig and summon another Monster Summon.
But I"m also worried about who else to bring.
I don"t know what"s waiting for me at the Area Portal.
And I can fight the Area Portal"s guard only once.
At least that"s how it"s been so far.

Obsidian finds the place.
It clearly looks suspicious.
Even though it"s surrounded by the forest, there"s an open place that looks like a round plaza.
Well, what shall we do?
Of course, we go ahead!

After using Sense Magic, we proceed into the opening.
Well, what"s going to happen?

《O traveler.》

《We art visitors from afar.》

《We art hounds.》

《We art madness.》

《If thou wanteth to open the seal of these impure lands, taketh our trial.》

《Good things shall cometh shouldst thee overcome this trial.》

《The curse of these lands shalt be cleared, and thou shalt be healed.》

Naturally, I answer《Yes》in order to proceed with the event.
Well, what now?

A small b.u.t.terfly-like humanoid appears.
I put myself on guard without thinking.
Oh, but before that, let"s use【Identify】on it.

Trickster Half-Fairy – Rogue Pixie　Lv.5
Event Monster　???

What with this guy?
Small.
Yes, it"s rather tiny.
It also looks somewhat cute.
But make no mistake, this is an opponent that I must fight.
The red marker is definitely there.
And through the use of Sense Magic, I can see something terrible about this monster.
I can see it has an overwhelming amount of magical power.

It"s like a human-looking doll with wings.
It has quite the perplexing appearance.
Remember the Area Portal guards I"ve seen so far.
Many of them looked like bad guys.

The monster draws something that shines with a phosph.o.r.escent light on the ground under its feet.
It"s a magic circle.
What will come out of it?

Minor Ent Slave　Lv.2
Servitor Spirit　Enemy Target　Active

This one is huge!
It"s a monster that looks very much like a tree.
Its feet are its roots, and its arms are its branches.
It has a creepy-looking face on its trunk.
Senki is pretty big himself, but he can"t compare to this guy.
It looks as if it"s emanating magical power from its body as well.
But it can"t compare to the Rogue Pixie beside it in that regard.

I have a spell ready to use.
But what is the best way to do this?
This looks like it"s going to be a serious fight.

As the battle begins, I"ve come to understand one thing.
This is not a serious situation.
It"s an overwhelmingly disadvantageous one.
The flying speed of the Rogue Pixie is not that high.
Obsidian can catch up with it easily, but the pixie seems to not have much trouble evading his attacks.
He does manage to land an attack once, but the pixie"s HP doesn"t decrease at all.

After I use Enchanted Weapon on Obsidian, his attacks seem to have a much better effect on the pixie"s HP.
Just as I thought.
In addition, I"m going to use Physical Enchant: Aqua to increase his accuracy.
How will it go now?

But there seem to be more surprises in stock for us.
Though Obsidian lands an attack that reduces the pixie"s HP by about 20 percent, the pixie"s HP seems to be regenerating on its own.
And the pixie is also attacking while evading Obsidian"s attacks.
The pixie"s attacks. .h.i.t like an arrow of light and can"t be avoided.
They don"t deal that much damage, but I can"t ignore them, or they will pile up.

It feels like a stalemate.

What about the Minor Ent Slave?
You could say it"s both strong and weak.
Having Rig around is a great help, but the ent proves to be a match for Senki.
Its movements are slow.
But its power seems to exceed that of Senki.
One of its attacks barely grazed me, but just like that 20 percent of my HP was gone.
If I hadn"t been ready for it…

However, I know how to deal with wooden monsters like these thanks to the Branch Golems.
I use the Fire Magic spell, Pyrokinesis, to set it on fire.
It"s certainly burning.
But the fire is being extinguished.
That pixie is putting out the fire.
It seems to be using some sort of spell to do that.

However, the situation is slowly leaning to our advantage.
After using Physical Enchant: Fire on Senki, he seems to be able to stand up to the ent.
And Obsidian keeps chasing the pixie, giving it little room to do much.

It should go smoothly from here.
That"s what I think.

The Minor Ent Slave has certainly fallen.
After Goki changes his bow and arrow for an axe and shield, the ent ends up being cut down to shreds.
But at the same time, the pixie seems to be doing something.
It stops moving and receives two direct hits from Obsidian.

The ground glows and something appears.
At the same time, the pixie starts flying around.
This guy…
Is it going to keep on summon monsters endlessly?
What appears isn"t a Minor Ent Slave.
It"s a woman.
A beautiful woman.
Just my type!

Banshee　Lv.3
Servitor Spirit　Enemy Target　Active

Even someone like me knows this.
This is really dangerous.
I quickly get close to it and wrap my arm around its neck.
I"ll use a rear naked choke.
I can"t let it shriek.

Although I put all of my strength into it, the Banshee"s HP isn"t decreasing.
This one too?
My spell makes it just in time before the monster gets to shriek.

「Enchanted Weapon!」

I empower myself with this spell.
The monster"s HP starts to decrease.
I push its face against the ground and carefully tighten my grip around its neck.
It takes less time to deplete its remaining HP like this.
It looks like the dead Banshee"s body is gradually disappearing.
The Minor Ent Slave that we defeated earlier also left no corpse behind.
Apparently, the monsters that the pixie summons disappear when killed.

Speaking of the pixie.
Obsidian keeps chasing it around.
But again it stops for a moment and makes the ground glow one more time.
Now a Banshee and a Minor Ent Slave appear at the same time.
What"s with these guys?
Does this mean that we need to somehow take care of the pixie first?

Leaving the Minor Ent Slave to Senki and Goki, I turn to face the Banshee.
This one too looks like a beautiful woman.
It breaks my heart.

I strike its belly with my knee and go for a frontal choke.
Then I make it fall on its back.
And at the same time, I twist its neck.
I get a spell ready.
Then I check the movements of the Minor Ent Slave.
After I join Senki and Goki, we can quickly defeat it.

Then I prepare another spell.
I"m not used to it, so it takes some time.
Doesn"t casting spells normally take less time?
I might be getting anxious.

「Change Monster!」

Rig disappears, and Helix takes his place.
He stops over my shoulder and gets ready for my next spell.

「Enchanted Weapon!」

I use this spell on Helix.
Then I go onto my next spell for him.

「Physical Enchant: Aqua!」

This should do it.
Helix flies off my shoulder and goes after the pixie.
If we don"t take care of it first, this battle might never end.

Even like this, we can"t seem to defeat the pixie yet.
We get to defeat two more Minor Ent Slaves and four more Banshees after summoning Helix.
During that time, Helix and Obsidian continue to attack the pixie, but it seems to still have around half of its HP left.
On the other hand, the pixie"s MP seems to be down to 40 percent.
Should I say that it"s finally down to 40 percent?
Or that it still has 40 percent left?

Obsidian and Helix manage to hit the pixie at the same time it summons yet another Banshee.
Its HP was reduced to zero rather quickly, so the attack must have been a critical hit.
I had thought that the remaining Banshee would disappear, but it"s still there.
Moreover, this Banshee seems to be even more beautiful than the previous ones.
This is too much.

But I have no choice but to harden my heart.
I grab its throat with my right hand, and sweep its legs with a kick.
I use a rear naked choke as it falls down.
Then I press its face against the ground.
It looks like a beautiful woman, so I don"t want to see the face it makes as it dies.

《O traveler》

《We art visitors from afar.》

《We art hounds.》

《We art madness.》

《Thee hast cleared the curse of these impure lands》

《Thee hast pa.s.sed this trial in a most admirable manner.》

《Thee shalt receive our blessing.》

《More trials lie in wait ahead.》

I"m in an open, empty s.p.a.ce, but through the use of Sense Magic I can see something changing.
I feel a powerful magic all over.
It seems to be fading away gradually, but it"s concentrating on the center of this open s.p.a.ce.
A young sapling is growing there.
I want to say that it"s a spirit tree, but I won"t push it that far just yet.

《N1W2 Map"s Area Portal cleared!》
《You have gained 4 Bonus Points. You currently have a total of 4 Bonus Points.》
《【Joint Lock】Level Up!》
《【Water Magic】Level Up!》
《【Physical Reinforcement】Level Up!》

It"s been nothing but a tough situation after another, hasn"t it?
But we"re not off the hook just yet.
My MP is barely above 30 percent.

All of my Monster Summons have taken significant damage, and I can"t afford to give potions to them all.
Even if I had enough potions for all of them, I would need to use more than one for each, and to do that I"ll have to wait for the each potion"s cooldown time before using the next one.
Well, I guess that means that we"re going to take a little break at this Area Portal.

The time now is 3:00 PM.
This is going to use up some of my MP, but I"ll kill some time while making potions and doing some extractions on Ancient Stones.
There"s no need to hurry.

Protagonist　Keith
Race　Human　Male　Racial Lv12
Job　Summoner Lv12
Bonus Points Remaining 4

Skill Sets
Staff Lv10　Punch Lv7　Kick Lv7　Joint Lock Lv7 (↑1) Throw Lv7 (↑1)
Evade Lv7　Block Lv7　Summon Magic Lv12　s.p.a.cetime Magic Lv5
Light Magic Lv6　Wind Magic Lv7　Earth Magic Lv7　Water Magic Lv7 (↑1)
Fire Magic Lv6　Dark Magic Lv6　Ice Magic Lv5 (↑1) Lightning Magic Lv5
Tree Magic Lv5　Dust Magic Lv4　Lava Magic Lv3　Steam Magic Lv4
Alchemy Lv6　Pharmacy Lv5　Gla.s.smaking Lv3　Woodworking Lv4
Synergy Lv9　Appraise Lv9　Identify Lv9　Discern Lv3　Cold Resistance Lv5
Grab Lv7　Horsemanship Lv7　Precise Manipulation Lv9　Jump Lv4
Heat Resistant Lv4　Climb Lv4　Dual Wield Lv6　Disa.s.sembly Lv5
Physical Reinforcement Lv5 (↑1) Mental Reinforcement Lv4　Speedcasting Lv6
Spell Effect Amplification Lv2　Spell Range Amplification Lv2

Equipment　Kaya Wood Rod × 1　Kaya Wood Tonfa × 2　Enraged Pickaxe+ × 2
Silver Necklace+　Snow Leopard Push Dagger × 1　Gale Tiger Push Dagger × 2
Snow Leopard Bagh Nakh
Wild Horse Leather Armor+　Snow Ape Armguard　Wild Horse Boots+
Snow Ape Leather Helmet　Rampage Belt+　Rucksack　Item Box × 2

Items:
Survival Knife, Woodworking Tools

t.i.tles:
Old Summoner"s Temporary Pupil
Protector of the Forest
Man of the Middle Path
Spell Glossary

Monster Summons:
Volff　Grey Wolf Lv2
Zangetsu　White Horse Lv1
Helix　Hawk Lv7
Obsidian　Owl Lv7
Jean　Bat Lv7
Jericho　Wood Golem Lv5
Goki　Demon Lv6
Senki　Beast Ape Lv6
Rig　Slime Lv4→Lv5 (↑1)
DEX　13
AGI　 7 (↑1)
INT　 6
STR　 7 (↑1)
VIT　 8
SPI　 6

Skills
Dissolve　Shapeshift　Viscosity　Surface Tension　Nullify Physical
Bunraku　Wood Puppet Lv4
Mumyo　Skeleton Lv4
Ninetails　Red Fox Lv3