Episode 52: Steady Progress
Paula comes every other day. It seems she has her usual adventurer work and other errands, so she can’t come every day.
Today is one of the days she doesn’t come, and I’ve been wandering the forest since morning, looking for prey.
“Grrrruuuul…!”
“Swish, swish.”
Currently, I’m facing a jet-black giant wolf. Its 〖Beast Rank〗 is probably 〖Dire Beast〗.
Its pitch-black fur, which stands out even in the dim forest, and its gleaming silver eyes are distinctive.
The great wolf wasn’t accompanied by any companions, but it was still a formidable opponent.
Its jet-black fur doesn’t allow blades or lightning strikes to pass through, and on top of that, it possesses high attack power and agility.
By using 〖Flash Step〗 and activating 〖Dance〗 while being mindful of dance steps, I was barely able to evade its attacks.
I’m so busy evading that even when I find an opening to counterattack, they’re all dodged.
The situation continued for a while where I could evade the opponent’s attacks, but my attacks were also dodged right before they hit.
But now, that balance is about to crumble.
“Gwaaaugh!”
“(〖Heavy Slash〗!)”
Just when I was finally getting used to the opponent’s high-speed movements, I unleashed a 〖Weapon Skill〗 while narrowly dodging a claw attack.
I activated 〖Dance〗 while being mindful of the ‘rotating the upper body’ movement, and sent the sword blade towards the great wolf’s face.
But the enemy was no slouch either.
It reacted to the sudden counterattack, and with its gleaming white fangs, it tried to catch the sword and crush it.
“(No way!)”
“Gau!?!”
But there was no way it could crush the sword that was my transformed body.
It was simply cut open in the mouth by the heavy slash.
〖Heavy Slash〗 is a 〖Weapon Skill〗 that Paula taught me—or rather, she can’t use it either, so she asked someone who could for tips.
By pouring all your strength into it, you can unleash a powerful slash. By the way, I also learned 〖Heavy Thrust〗 and 〖Heavy Shoot〗 along with it.
There’s no way you can be okay after taking such a powerful slash to the face.
The great wolf staggered back a few steps, and once the tide had turned, things went quickly.
Without a moment’s delay, I pounced on the great wolf and activated 〖Capture〗.
I firmly captured the struggling great wolf and digested it with 〖Tear Apart〗 and 〖Decomposition Fluid〗.
“(Phew, it feels like I’m almost there, though.)”
I muttered to no one in particular, looking at my 〖Level〗 that hadn’t gone up.
My current 〖Level〗 is 98. Once I reach 99, there’s something I want to try… but it just won’t go up.
“(Haa, more exploration, huh? If only a horde of Demon Beasts would conveniently come along—)”
““Buoooohhhh!””
“(—Seriously…)”
Looking, I saw a horde of humanoid pigs—I call them Orcs—running towards me from afar. What luck.
Counting them from a distance, there were about ten of them.
Most of them seem to be 〖Greater Beasts〗, but it looks like there are two or three 〖Dire Beasts〗 mixed in.
Since they’re still far away, I’ll whittle them down while I can.
“(〖Replicant Form・Imitation〗)”
I fashioned two (..) wind-breaking bows.
I nocked an explosive arrow—something Paula brought me before, and I’ve been diligently mass-producing imitations of since then—on one of the bows, quickly aimed, and fired.
“(〖Compact Shoot〗!)”
With the effect of 〖Sniping〗 combined, the explosive arrow hit the abdomen of a 〖Greater Beast〗 Orc without missing its mark. And then it exploded.
The shot Orc collapsed to its knees.
Explosive arrows are expensive, but their power is enough to be effective even against 〖Dire Beasts〗.
Combined with the wind-breaking bow, even 〖Greater Beasts〗 can be easily slaughtered.
Now, this time I imitated two bows.
And the bow I didn’t just shoot is already nocked with an explosive arrow.
I aim with that one and shoot.
“(〖Compact Shoot〗!)”
This time, the arrow exploded the leg of a 〖Greater Beast〗 Orc, successfully causing it to fall.
In the meantime, I finished nocking an arrow on the bow I used for the first shot, aimed, and fired. By the time I did that, the other bow was ready.
In this way, I’m firing explosive arrows in rapid succession. This is also a technique I’ve been practicing recently.
At first, I was practicing shooting them simultaneously, but it was difficult to aim with two at the same time, so I switched to a rapid-fire method.
With the rapid-fire method, if I practice until I can nock arrows unconsciously, then all I have to do is shoot one by one, so the difficulty is completely different from simultaneous aiming.
With that rapid fire, the number of Orcs rapidly decreased.
Orcs are Demon Beasts that fight with their bare bodies without weapons or armor, so if you hit them, you can deal a lot of damage.
The rapid-fire tactic is quite compatible with them.
So, I think the Orcs should retreat quickly, but maybe they can’t back down after coming this far, or maybe they’re afraid of being attacked from behind. Even though 〖Challenge〗 hasn’t been used, they’re advancing at full speed.
In the end, while all the 〖Greater Beasts〗 were annihilated, two 〖Dire Beasts〗 reached me.
“(Here you go!)”
““Buooohhhh!?””
I canceled the bow transformation and immediately imitated four kusarigama. I directed all of them towards the 〖Dire Beast〗 Orcs.
The original range of a kusarigama is about five meters, but I extended the range by attaching it to the tip of a whip made by transformation.
I freely manipulated the four kusarigama, and I toyed with the Orcs.
Thanks to manipulating my eight legs whenever I had free time, I can manipulate about four without much difficulty.
“Brrrrrrr!”
It seems they realized that they would be at a disadvantage if they continued to engage in mid-range combat.
One of the Orcs crouched down, and then suddenly started running.
It was close to its previous top speed even at the start, and I was a little taken aback.
“(But, this much is no problem.)”
I was surprised, but I had the leeway to react after seeing it. I used 〖Flash Step〗 and 〖Dance〗, and beheaded it as I slipped past.
Blood gushed out like a geyser, and seeing that, the last 〖Dire Beast〗 tried to escape, but there’s no way I’d let it get away at this close range.
“(〖Leap〗, 〖Charge Thrust〗!)”
I imitated a crimson spear and charged.
I pierced the Orc’s chest.
~Unidentified Information Recording Area~
…
Fue Toukouya (Jewel Armory Slime)’s 〖Soul Accumulation Value (Level)〗 has increased to 99.
…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“(Ohh, my 〖Level〗 finally went up!)”
I confirmed that my 〖Level〗 had reached 99 in my 〖Status〗 and let out a cry of joy.
I had a feeling it would, but I still wanted to confirm it properly.
Looking at my 〖Status〗 again, my 〖Skills〗 had become quite proficient, and my 〖Level〗 had also gone up nicely.
“(It looks like I can challenge it now—)”
—The other 〖Feral Beast〗 that lives in this forest.