Translator: Charlotte Editor: Weasalopes

After the battle, it was only Jericho and I that suffered a decrease in our HP bars.
I used a few potions to recover.
No problem.

One recovery spell wasn"t enough for Jericho, but with two it was enough to bring him to full HP.
I didn"t expect Jericho to take that much damage in the fight.
But then again, it was a fierce battle against a difficult opponent.
There was also an info screen afterwards suggesting that I might get to fight it again sometime.
I honestly didn"t feel up to it.

I opened the gate and looked out.
It was another hall.
Its construction looked similar to the other rooms.
But that hall in particular had a more ancient look about it.
The spa.r.s.e decorations in the hall were a first too.

There was another gate opposite me in the hall.
And two stone statues on both sides of the gate.

I did say I wanted to avoid fighting them again, right?
I did say it.
Although I didn"t say it out loud.
I only shouted it within my heart.

Hey admins! Stop it with these traps!

I turned to leave, but the gate behind me was already closed.
It didn"t look enchanted, but the gate remained shut.
Even Jericho couldn"t open it.
There were no handles on the gate.
I definitely had to push the gate to get in.
But I didn"t realise there would be no way to pull once I got in.
I pushed on the gate with all my might, but it was no use.
Looked like it really was impossible.

I made a mistake.
I was had.

I was being forced to walk straight into a trap.
Or I could use【Return Home】…

No, wait.
There were also gates on my right and my left.
There were stone statues guarding them too.
But neither of the statues were Deva Kings.

The gate on my left was guided by statues of beasts.
They were statues I"d seen before at shrines.
A lion-dog.
Looking closer, the statue on the left and the right were slightly different.
The one on the left had its mouth open, and looked a lot hairier.
The one on the right was the polar opposite, with a closed mouth, short hair, and a small horn growing out of its forehead.
Gatekeepers, huh.

The gate on the right was guarded by statues of beasts too.
But this time, both of them were tigers.
And following the pattern of the other statues, only the statue on the right had its mouth open.
It was a scene I"d seen before, at the Kuramdera temple
The deity there was represented by a tiger, if I wasn"t mistaken.

Anyway.
No matter which way I went, I would have to deal with two statues.
Two statues I would have to fight and defeat to proceed.
No, wait a second…

Hmm…
Could I fight them again?
I suppose I could fight a pair of Deva Kings again…
I didn"t know how powerful the other statues were.
And I didn"t want to risk them being stronger than the Deva Kings.

Of course, it was still a tough choice.
But what eventually swayed me was my MP bar.
I still had enough to fight.

But I still had to decide which pair to fight.

I thought about it for a while.
I took a look at each gate in turn.
I still had the effects of【Sense Magic】.
But my physical enchant spells and resist spells were about to expire.
The same went for【Enchanted Weapon】.
Should I cast them again?

I kept moving while I thought about which gate to pick.
Volff suddenly pulled on my sleeves.
Hmm?
What"s up?

But I was too late.
I walked one step too far.
I triggered something.

Shoot.

《Treasure is sought after because of sin.》

《Treasure has value because of greed.》

《Salvation exists because of sin.》

《Salvation is difficult because of greed.》

《A question for thy heart.》

《Search for the scriptures at the end of your struggle.》

I heard something move.
It was one of the statues.
Oh no.

The sound came from my left.
Oh.
Looked like the lion-dog statues were going to be my opponents.

Lion-dog – Ah form　Lv.3
Divine Messenger　Enemy Target　Active
Battle Position: Ground　Fire Attribute

Lion-dog – Um form　Lv.3
Divine Messenger　Enemy Target　Active
Battle Position: Ground　Fire Attribute

Ooh…
I had a feeling they were dangerous.

I didn"t dare to try intercepting them.
My spells were about to run out.
And unlike the Deva Kings, they were probably fast.
I would have to rely on Jericho as a tank.
The first step would be to restrict their movement.

My prediction was right.
They were fast.
And it wasn"t just their speed, but how quickly they could stop and change direction.
The Ah form easily dodged Obsidian"s attacks.
I left the Um form Lion-dog to Volff and I took on the Ah form.
I had no intention of chasing it.
My only option was to wait for it to come to me.

「Graaah!」

Volff growled.
An intimidation tactic, huh.
No, a warning?
Both lion-dogs stood still.
It was then that Obsidian attacked the Ah form, and Heather attacked the Um form.
A needle of water and a blade of wind.
The attacks did damage.
The attacks. .h.i.t.
Right?

「Paralysis!」

I cast a spell at the Um form.
It worked.
Volff quickly bit into the paralysed Lion-dog.
But it wasn"t enough to take it out.
The Um form Lion-dog was still holding on.
But Volff continued to tighten his grasp.
Would that be enough?
The Lion-dog struggled, trying to bite Volff.

「Delay!」

I cast another spell at the Um form Lion-dog.
This one worked too.
But I couldn"t rely on it to work all the time.
I had to get Jericho to help out to finish it as soon as possible.

The Ah form Lion-dog ducked to dodge Obsidian"s attack and rushed at me.
I wouldn"t be surprised if flames started shooting out of its eyes.
Its rage felt overwhelming.
I fired a spell from close range.

「Lower DEF!」

The moment the spell hit, I kicked the Lion-dog.
The tip of my boots landed on its neck.
It felt heavy.
Did it work?
Did it?

It looked like it worked.
But it wasn"t fatal.

It got up and jumped, aiming for my throat.
I used a tonfa to hit its cheek, but it didn"t seem to care.
Did that even have an effect?
I wasn"t very confident.
But its HP bar was properly decreasing.

The Ah form stopped moving.
It was clearly planning something.
Like I would let you!
But Obsidian was faster than me.
A water needle rushed at it.
It didn"t even bother trying to avoid it.
A direct hit.
It did a good amount of damage.
When the Ah form Lion-dog"s HP bar was at about half, a change occurred.
A flame enveloped its entire body.
Self-immolation?
I guess that was too much to hope for.

「Lower ATK!」

The spell worked on the Ah form…
But it felt like I was just throwing water onto coals.
It didn"t feel like it would make much of a difference.
Well, it was better than nothing, I suppose.

I intercepted the Lion-dog as it jumped at my throat.
A knee to its chin.
And two simultaneous tonfa attacks to its skull.
But I got scratched in the process and took a considerable amount of damage.
Hot!
It was insanely hot!

「Resist Fire!」

I couldn"t afford not to use that spell.
I had to protect myself from the heat.

The resist spell was doing its magic.
The damage I took from each hit was less than before.
Damage was also starting to acc.u.mulate on the Lion-dog.
Although it was a bit annoying that the fire would damage me each time I went in for a hit.
But after one last water needle from Obsidian, the fight was over.

I looked over at Volff.
Alive and well.
Volff had his jaws around the Um form"s throat, while Jericho was holding it down.
Looking closer, I realised the Lion-dog had an abnormal status condition too.
Darkness.
A status condition, and jaws around your throat?
It was going according to plan.
Nicely done.

Obsidian and me quickly joined the fight.
At some point, it looked like we were just tormenting it.
Sorry.

《Thou wishest for treasure.》

《Thou wishest for salvation.》

《Train thyself. Doubt thyself.》

《Resolve thyself and ask thyself.》

《The answer is hidden to those who seek.》

That"s it?
Was it over?
It was finally over.

《【Ice Magic】Level Up!》
《You have acquired the【Ice Magic】spell【Ice Wall】!》
《You have acquired the【Ice Magic】spell【Freeze Blast】!》
《【Heat Resistance】Level Up!》

Finally…
Time for a break!

Jericho was practically unharmed, but Volff took quite a bit of damage.
I used a few potions and recovery spells to heal him back to full HP.
The Darkness status effect was slowly fading too.
Heather"s MP bar was at about 40% too.
The two Lion-dogs were probably equally strong.

Great.
The two Lion-dogs returned to being just normal statues on both sides of the gate.
I had to be careful.
I didn"t want to walk even further into a trap.
Although it looked like I had no choice but to proceed.

The gate opened easily.
As expected.
There was a handle on the other side.
It still looked suspicious.
The first thing I did after the gate closed behind me was try to return.
Maybe that was a bit too paranoid of me.

There were no tricks on the gate.
The gate led to a room.
A well-lit room.
The walls consisted of bare rock.
The walls shone in some places.
Some kind of glowing mineral?

I looked around for anything strange.
Any monsters?
Any traps?

All I found was a spring.
The water was warm
It looked like a hot spring.

I took a pot out of my《Item Box》and used a ladle to sample it.
It must be acidic, or poisonous.

It didn"t look particularly weird.
The temperature wasn"t that high either.
It was too hot for a bath, though.
I used【Appraise】on it, and it was just normal water.
I transferred some of it into a potion bottle and used【Appraise】on it, and it was just normal water.
Looked like I really was just being paranoid…

Volff and Obsidian weren"t acting strange either.
And they were better than me at detecting danger.

Good.
There weren"t any monsters around too, so I relaxed for a while.

I decided to recap for a bit.
It was still 11 am.
Wait, 11 am?!
I felt like it was already in the evening.
Maybe because of the fierce battles, I felt like time was moving extra slow.

Everyone"s HP bars were at full.
My MP bar was at a little above 50%.
I didn"t use that many spells in the fight against the two Lion-dogs.
That was because the spells I cast on myself when I was fighting the Deva Kings were still active.
I felt like I had just gotten a bargain.

Obsidian"s MP bar was at around 30%.
Heather"s MP bar was at about 60%.
Another fight against a pair of statues would be tough.
I felt like Obsidian would need at least 40%.
Should I switch Summon Monsters?

Well, whatever.
I could do it after my own MP bar regenerated a bit.
I sat down and rested.

I took the opportunity to add the new【Ice Magic】spells to my shortcut list of spells.
Another wall spell and another areof-effect spell.
I had too many spells to count.

The room I was in wasn"t an Area Portal.
I decided against summoning Bunraku and eating something.
Instead, I ate some Portable Food for the first time in a long time.
Ugh.
It was the first time in a long time, but I was already missing my usual meals.

Great.
I decided to kill time by making arrows.
I cut off some wood, plucked feathers from wings, and fastened stings.
Although Bunraku and Goki were still using Evil Ant Arrows, I wanted to try switching them out for superior Crest Bee Arrows.
I went ahead and made a lot of them.

I used up all the Crest Bee Stings I had to make arrows.
I was about to run out of wood too.
I would have to work on replenishing my supply of wood too.

The time was 1 pm.
My MP bar was at over 60%.
Obsidian"s HP bar was at 50%.
Heather was at well over 60%.

I had managed to get myself some more wiggle room.
Let"s get moving.

Of course, I headed out with the intention of getting into a fight.
I used all the necessary enchant spells in advance.
Just from preparations, my MP bar was already starting to look like it was in a bit of a dangerous spot.
But without the strengthening spells I probably wouldn"t be able to handle them.
Even if I ended up not fighting anything, it was good to have insurance.

Here we go…
I went back through the gate and stood in the middle of the hall.
Let"s see…

《Without good or evil…》

《We continue to fight.》

That was all.
It felt rather… lacking.

Oh no.
A pair of statues started to move.
Which ones?
The Deva Kings.

Deva King – Ah form　Lv.2
Heavenly Commander　Active
Battle Position: Ground　Wind Attribute

Deva King – Um form　Lv.2
Heavenly Commander　Active
Battle Position: Ground　Water Attribute

I more or less expected that.
I selected a spell and thought about my strategy.
A tough fight was inevitable.
But somehow, it was fun.

「Resist Aqua!」

I cast a resist spell on Jericho.
I left the Um form to Volff.
I took on the Ah form.
It pulled out a sword.
A blade of wind.
The blade glowed a faint white.

The Um form also pulled out a sword.
A blade of water.
A smooth and beautiful blue blade.

Obsidian left my shoulder to support Volff and Jericho.
Heather did the same.
In that moment, Heather cast a spell on me.
I felt lighter.
Thanks.
Do the same to Jericho please.

The Ah form kept its sword at hip height.
I still had some time.
But…
In the next moment, I was swept off my feet.
Huh?
I took some damage.
On top of that, I was blown away quite a distance.
But I managed to withstand it.
My HP bar went down by about 10%.
What was that?

Did I miss something?
I must have missed something.
The distance.
I had to get in close range.

I approached the Ah form.
This time, I took the initiative.
A violent wind surrounded it.
It was clearly stronger than the wind that hit me earlier.
But it had gaps in some areas.
I just had to look for opportunities to get closer.

「Resist Wind!」

The Ah form swung its sword down on me.
I used my tonfa to hit its right arm holding the sword.
I stabbed its solar plexus with my other tonfa.
Followed by a knee strike to its kneecaps.
It slightly lost its balance.
I took the opportunity to get another hit on its right wrist.
I twisted the wrist.
It wasn"t enough to break it.
I let go of its wrist for a moment, to pull back and deliver a strong hit using my tonfas.
I beat, pinched, and twisted.
Only after that did it finally drop the sword.
I didn"t want to have to fight it in close range while it had a sword.

「Lower ATK!」

I decided to support my Summon Monsters a little.
After using a spell on the Um form, I prepared my next spell.
Volff and Jericho had taken some damage, but it was still going well.
Jericho only had to grab the Um form Deva King"s right hand to prevent it from using its sword.
The difference in strength was obvious.
Maybe there was a difference between the two forms?

There might have been a difference.
As soon as the Ah form Deva King lost its sword, its fighting style changed.
Not sumo wrestling…
Boxing?
No, it used kicks too.
Something like MMA?
But its movements were clearly rather heavy.

「Lower DEF!」

The Um form"s HP bar was already at 60%.
I wanted to help my Summon Monsters finish it off as quickly as possible.
I cast a spell at the Um form to help with that.
It was already working its magic.

Great.
I placed my focus back on my opponent.

It was a long battle.
The reason behind that was that my attacks just wouldn"t hit.
My opponent had a long reach.
Well, that was to be expected, we had different physiques.
But it was fast too.
Even with【Delay】, it was still slightly faster than me.
The only time I could get attacks in is by first intercepting its attacks.
I could only use counterattacks.
And because of those reasons, I couldn"t get close to trip it either.
The Um form was definitely stronger.
Every time it shot a small jab at me, I wholeheartedly returned with a straight punch.
It was honestly difficult to find opportunities for both offense and defence.

Of course, I took damage in the fight too.
But I managed to get an advantage using attack spells.
It was a good way to spend my MP.
【Volcanic Shot】in particular was a very useful spell.
I was very lucky to get the continuous damage effect too.
No, extremely lucky.

The Um form was finally taken care of.
My Summon Monsters sat around, watching me.
Sorry to keep you waiting.

But I was about to end my fight too.

Its HP bar was just about to hit zero.
I dodged to the side as it sent a left hook at me.
I kicked the back of its knees from behind.
At the same time, I stabbed its side with a tonfa.
And with that, it was finally over.
I had a feeling the fight took twice as long as my first fight with a Deva King.

《Without good or evil…》

《Progress is good.》

Another short info screen.
I expected more for such a fierce battle.

《Job Level Up!》
《【Lava Magic】Level Up!》
《You have acquired the【Lava Magic】spell【Magma Screen】!》
《You have acquired the【Lava Magic】spell【Volcanic Blast】!》
《【Mental Reinforcement】Level Up!》
《Summon Monster『Volff』Level Up!》
《Please put one point into a desired stat.》

Ooh.
It was the first level-up since Volff was taken out.
It felt nice.

The stat that went up with the level-up was STR.
I put another point into VIT.

Volff　Grey Wolf Lv2→Lv3 (↑1)
DEX　12
AGI　30
INT　12
STR　16 (↑1)
VIT　21 (↑1)
SPI　12

Skills:
Bite　Dash　Threaten　Divine Hearing　Sense Danger　Pursue　Night Vision　Conceal

Nice.
Volff tended to fight in the front lines a lot, so it would be good to invest in VIT.
And I didn"t want to see Volff get taken out again!

The Deva Kings went back to being normal statues.
Their swords disappeared.

I recovered all the damage done with potions and recovery spells.
By the end of it all, my MP bar was at below 20%.
I didn"t feel confident in fighting the tiger statues.

Well, that was fine too.
I moved to check out what was beyond the gate.

Protagonist　Keith
Race　Human　Male　Racial Lv14
Job　Summoner Lv14 (↑1)
Bonus Points Remaining: 10

Skill Sets:
Staff Lv11　Punch Lv8　Kick Lv8　Joint Lock Lv8　Throw Lv8　Evade Lv8　Block Lv8　 Summon Magic Lv14　s.p.a.cetime Magic Lv6
Light Magic Lv7　Wind Magic Lv8　Earth Magic Lv8　Water Magic Lv8　Fire Magic Lv7　　Dark Magic Lv7　Ice Magic Lv6 (↑1) 　Lightning Magic Lv5　Tree Magic Lv6　Dust Magic Lv5　Lava Magic Lv6 (↑1) 　Steam Magic Lv5
Alchemy Lv6　Pharmacy Lv5　Gla.s.smaking Lv3　Woodworking Lv5
Synergy Lv10　Appraise Lv10　Identify Lv10　Discern Lv3　Cold Resistance Lv5　Grab Lv8　Horsemanship Lv8　Precise Manipulation Lv10　Jump Lv4　Heat Resistance Lv5 (↑1) 　Climb Lv4　Dual Wield Lv8　Disa.s.sembly Lv6
Physical Reinforcement Lv6　Mental Reinforcement Lv7 (↑1) 　Speedcasting Lv8　Spell Effect Amplification Lv5　Spell Range Amplification Lv4

Equipment:
Staff of Guilt ×1　Tonfas of Guilt ×2　Fork of Guilt ×1　Enraged Pickaxe+ ×2　Silver Necklace+　 Snow Leopard Push Dagger ×1　Gale Tiger Push Dagger ×2　Snow Leopard Bagh Nakh ×1
Wild Horse Leather Armour+　Snow Ape Armguard　Wild Horse Boots+　Snow Ape Leather Helmet　Rabid Horse Belt+　Rucksack　Item Box ×2

Items:
Survival Knife　Woodworking Set

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

Monster Summons:
Volff　Grey Wolf Lv2→Lv3 (↑1)
DEX　12
AGI　30
INT　12
STR　16 (↑1)
VIT　21 (↑1)
SPI　12
Skills:
Bite　Dash　Threaten　Divine Hearing　Sense Danger　Pursue　Night Vision　Conceal

Zangetsu　White Horse Lv1
Summon Monster　Helix　Fighting Falcon Lv1
Obsidian　Mystic Owl Lv1
Jean　Black Bat Lv1
Jericho　Wood Golem Lv6
Goki　Demon Lv6
Senki　Beast Ape Lv7
Rig　Slime Lv5
Bunraku　Red Fox Lv5
Mumyo　Skeleton Lv5
Ninetails　Red Fox Lv4
Heather　Fairy Lv4