Translator: Cryus
「So, are you free today?」
「Oh, yes. I want to go hunting at night.」
「I"m free too.」
Is this really okay?
The worst happens at night.
Well, I guess it"s fine if they want it.
「Then we"ll hunt in the forest until sunset. We"ll go back to Legias in the evening, then hunt in the forest at night.」
「「Okay.」」
「Where are you going to stay?」
「In Legias, if possible.」
「It"s close to the hunting grounds.」
I see.
This area is good for bow users.
There"s nowhere to hide in the plains, but there"s a lot of cover in the forest.
「Then let"s go hunting in the forest. Make sure to contact me through『Whisper』if things look dangerous.」
「「Okay.」」
I take out the arrows from the《Item Box》.
I exclude the Obsidian Arrows and hand the other arrows to them.
「You can use these too.」
「Yessir!」
「Thank you very much.」
I"ll let them fight Wild Pheasants (F) for a while.
I recall Zangetsu and Helix.
I"m summoning Volff and Obsidian in preparation for hunting in the forest.
Thankfully, my MP hasn"t decreased much.
I think it"s because I leveled up.
It"s a lot more different compared to when I just started.
「Keith, that"s…」
「These are my replacements. They"re a lot more convenient to use in the forest.」
「Can I cuddle it?」
「Just don"t overdo it.」
Adele immediately puts her hand over Volff"s head and puts her head against his.
Sorry about that, Volff.
Bear with it for a while.
To my surprise, Volff doesn"t seem bothered.
He"s letting her do as she pleases.
I"m starting to envision her with her furry empire.
「Let"s stop there, shall we?」
「Okaaay.」
I get Adele to hurry up and head into the forest.
The hunt is going well.
Bow users really are more efficient in the forest.
It applies not only to the use of bows, but also to their monster summons.
The impression I got back in the plains is becoming even stronger.
Mii-chan, the tiger…
Its name is a little weird, but it"s really strong in combat.
It"s undoubtedly a lot stronger than Volff.
I feel a little unsure about letting it scout for enemies, but that"s just because I"m always with Volff.
It"s actually really strong.
I think it has a lot of potential on the front lines.
It"ll take some damage, but it"ll definitely cause even more damage to other monsters.
I"m beginning to pity the Wild Pheasants (F).
…And Toggle, the snake.
It"s clearly fit for combat in the forest.
Its Ambush success rate is really high. It has attacked monsters with the Pa.s.sive status many times.
Seeing it bite into the neck of the Wild Pheasants (F) while wrapping itself around their bodies gets a little scary.
What"s even scarier is the fact that it attacks very silently.
Basically, snakes have a lot of potential down the road.
I can"t let my guard down when facing them.
My kill rate has improved with the increase in my combat strength.
Conversely, it"s taking me a longer time to find monsters.
In situations like this, it"s best to rely on Volff.
He"ll hunt down the monsters once he finds them.
I think it"s common sense, but while Helix is good at looking for monsters in an open field, Volff is better at sniffing them out.
We"re hunting and obtaining items at an alarming rate.
In such situations, it"s probably impossible for humans alone to achieve this.
Now that I"m killing monsters more efficiently, I should start checking the effectiveness of my spells.
Especially my new spell, Call Monster.
I select the spell from the list in the virtual window.
I"ve finished casting.
「Call Monster!」
A circular virtual window appears right in front of me.
There are a few markers within that circle.
There"s a small downward triangle stacked above the red triangle that"s already familiar to me.
I stare at the small marker, which shows me the basic information of the monster.
Wild Pheasant (F) Lv.2
Monster Enemy Target Pa.s.sive
Oh?
This is interesting.
I"ll try calling it here.
It looks like I"m getting it to come this way just by saying『Come』.
I look at the marker again.
Wild Pheasant (F) Lv.2
Monster Enemy Target Active・Guided
It looks like it went well.
This is going to be really useful, right?
Although it costs MP, it"s a quick way of fighting monsters and gaining EXP.
I slaughtered it while it was on its way here. I"m convinced that it"s a good method.
I"ll try using Call Monster one more time.
This time, I"m trying a different method instead of using the marker.
I"m calling the name of the monster out loud.
There"s a monster that"s slightly different from the Wild Pheasant (F).
I"ll go back a step and look at the marker.
Wild Pheasant (M) Lv.3
Monster Enemy Target Pa.s.sive
It"s a male Wild Pheasant.
I"ll try fighting it since I can call it. It"s going to be my first kill for Wild Pheasants (M).
I"m calling it here.
With the command『Come』, I confirm that it"s heading here.
It"s coming from the 10 o"clock position.
I"m warning the girls using Whisper.
『There"s a slightly strong monster coming from the left!』
『『Okay!』』
I sounded a little nervous when I said "strong".
The girls sounded nervous too.
I"m the closest to the monster.
I"ll be the one to engage it.
I"ve seen Wild Pheasants (M) before, but its feathers are puffier and plumper than I remember.
The feathers on its head are standing slightly backwards.
I"ll make my first move.
I cast Physical Enchant: Fire on myself and engage the pheasant.
I thrust my rod towards it.
It dodges my attack smoothly, but I kick it.
It"s a direct hit, but its HP hasn"t decreased much.
Huh?
This feels familiar.
It"s the same with my first Horn『ed』Rabbit.
And the Snow Apes.
And the Wild Dog Leaders, Boss, and Mutant.
It"s the same as those monsters.
This is going to be tough.
『Don"t get too close to it!』
I warn the girls through Whisper and face off against the monster.
But it disappears all of a sudden.
Where is it?
I hear a loud noise from above.
It"s blowing a gust of wind from above my head.
I"m equipped with some armor, but it still hurts my entire body.
This monster probably specializes in wind attacks.
My HP has decreased to about 70%.
I cast Aqua Heal while thrusting my rod upwards where the monster is.
It"s a direct hit.
Obsidian attacks it as well, causing it to land on the ground.
Volff provides support as well, closing in on the monster while jumping.
An arrow hits the monster.
「Aqua Heal!」
My HP is almost full. I get close to the monster.
I pound my rod onto the ground and kick it.
Volff is biting and pulling its head.
I pin its body down.
Mii-chan its neck while its guard is down.
I"m starting to hear 2 different chewing sounds.
This is bad.
The 2 monster summons are becoming wild monsters.
Their mouths are red with blood.
Lick your chops clean!
The monster quickly draws its last breath.
It wasn"t as strong as I thought.
It"s powerless when we"re all ganging up on it.
「Are you alright?」
I look at the carca.s.s of the Wild Pheasant (M) while holding my hand up to signal Irina to stop.
This is tragic.
Can we get item drops when it looks so horrible?
It works when I stick my Survival Knife into it.
Are the item drops unaffected by the damage we did?
I"ll try using【Appraise】just in case.
【Material】Colourful Pheasant Wing Raw Material Grade D+ Rarity 2 Weight 1
The wing of a Wild Pheasant (Male). A material most commonly processed into arrow feathers.
With its very colourful and brilliant appearance, it is also often used in decoration.
Its Grade was probably affected.
The wing looks a little crumpled too. It can"t be helped.
I put it into the《Item Box》and talk to the girls.
「That was good a.s.sistance. Keep it up.」
「「Yessir!」」
We should be able to continue hunting.
Right now, the greatest threat here is the Lost Horse.
At night, it"ll be the b.a.l.l.s of ants and the surprise attacks from bats.
We"ll just have to prevent the ants from gathering by killing them quickly.
The Sense Danger skill from our monster summons will help prevent surprise attacks, but it"s not foolproof.
We"ll have to strengthen our defenses quickly.
It"s going to be difficult to keep hunting while staying clear from Lost Horses.
It might be best to go back and hunt rabbits in the plains.
I should prioritize obtaining more skins and getting armor made for the girls.
It"s probably best if they stay in the rear, but we shouldn"t ignore their defense anyway.
Even I have suffered quite a few surprise attacks.
I don"t really want to think about any of those incidents.
But since we"re hunting at a rather good pace in the forest, we should keep up the pace.
I"ve decided to continue hunting here.
The hunt went smoothly after that.
We encountered some Striped Racc.o.o.ns, but they weren"t much of a problem.
Since they didn"t ambush us with fire attacks, there was nothing to fear.
Next was the b.l.o.o.d.y Wood.
Perhaps because we were in a deep, dark part of the forest, we encountered one.
It was a tough one.
The arrows didn"t do much damage against it.
Toggle wasn"t really effective against it either.
Mii-chan"s attacks went through, but there were times when the monster tangled it up with its roots.
I let Volff and Obsidian go all out, but their attacks were horribly ineffective.
Because of that, I went up against it alone.
I managed to finish it off using Throw attacks.
「Um, Keith… Why are you using wrestling moves?」
「It"s just a back throw.」
「No, that was a backdrop, wasn"t it?」
「I said it was a back throw.」
「No, you smashed the monster"s upper body onto the ground, so it was clearly a backdrop, right?」
「It was a back throw.」
It was important for me to deny it outright.
I don"t care what it looked like to anyone else.
What"s more important is my intentions.
Yeah, I"m just lying to myself and running away from the truth.
I already knew that.
Irina knows how to talk back.
I"ll remember that.
We"re heading further west and going deeper into the forest.
We"re getting further away from the village, so there are fewer players here.
Thankfully, there are many monsters here.
We"re hunting monsters at a good pace.
Definitely much better than when I first started.
Even taking our current situation in a large『Union』into consideration, it"s likely that they"ll level up soon.
And that would mean that I could finish my quest sooner.
I wish for them to do their best.
I heard that there"s a place in the end of the Western Forest where no one can pa.s.s through.
That"s where we are.
It"s different from the north of Master"s house where there"s a cliff that stops me from going further.
I heard that over here, you"ll end up returning to the entrance even if you proceed.
There"s a green pathway.
And yet it seems that no one can go through it.
There"s no progress.
I always end up coming back here.
After trying it a few times, I see a ghost floating above me.
《You are not yet worthy to pa.s.s. Leave now.》
I hear the voice in the form of an info popup.
I"m lacking something.
Maybe I can come back when I get it.
「It looks like we can"t get through.」
「Should we go back?」
「Yeah, we don"t have a choice.」
That"s the only thing we can do.
We continued to hunt on our way back to Legias.
I used Call Monster twice when we were about to run out of monsters to kill.
I didn"t manage to pick up many Obsidian Ores even though I used the Earth spell Dowsing.
But I found a sizable amount of Healgra.s.s.
I lost some HP a few times, but it was nothing too serious that I couldn"t manage by using potions.
Overall, I think it was a huge profit.
We hunted monsters while taking a long detour, so it was evening by the time we reached Legias.
Protagonist Keith
Race Human Male Racial Lv5
Job Summoner Lv4
Bonus Points Remaining 17
Skill Sets
Staff Lv4 Punch Lv2 Kick Lv2 Joint Lock Lv3 Throw Lv3
Evade Lv3 Block Lv2 Summon Magic Lv5
Light Magic Lv2 Wind Magic Lv3 Earth Magic Lv2 Water Magic Lv3
Fire Magic Lv1 Dark Magic Lv1
Alchemy Lv3 Pharmacy Lv2 Gla.s.smaking Lv3
Cooperation Lv5 Appraise Lv4 Identify Lv4 Cold Resistance Lv2 Grab Lv3
Horsemanship Lv4 Precise Manipulation Lv3 Jump Lv1 Heat Resistance Lv3
Equipment Kaya Wood Rod Wild Rabbit Breastplate+ Series Snow Ape Armguard
Wild Horse Boots+ Snow Ape Helmet Rucksack
Item Box ×2
Items Survival Knife
t.i.tles Old Summoner"s Temporary Pupil, Livestock Protector
Monster Summons
Volff Wolf Lv4
Zangetsu Horse Lv3
Helix Hawk Lv3
Obsidian Owl Lv3
Companions
Adele & Mii-chan
Irina & Toggle