Chapter 460: 460

460 -The Current Situation and Hereafter

I cautiously proceed through the forest, dragging the fenrir behind me with my jaws.The fenrir was an aggressive beast, but it seems the other monsters around here aren’t as aggressive.

Along the way, a tree that we walked close to seems to have been a kind of treant, as it suddenly opened a huge mouth and roared “GuooOoOOOOO!” before uprooting itself and running away, roaring all the while. Even I was a little startled by that.

Checking its status, I found it was a B rank treant called a [Troll Wood]. It completely avoided my [Presence Perception]. It was a brilliant camouflage.

It kind of seems that treants tend to have strong quirks. I glance back at my treant-san. Treant-san’s eye holes are opened wide in surprise as it watches the Troll Wood run off into the distance… It would have been nice if you were at least a little more capable of spotting other treants for us.

Then again……even now, it’s just B rank monsters, huh. On the giant tree island, there were a fair few B+ and A- monsters around. It also kind of feels like the monsters here are frightened of something I wonder if there’s something especially dangerous here?

After travelling for a while along the coast, we come across a place where a river flows the forest into the sea. Just in case, I check if there’s anything strange in the water. It’s the water of this land. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if there was a curse or poison in it that would turn us all to stone or something.

【[Water of the Spirits: Value B-]】

【Water that has flowed from the Spring of Spirits and has been tinged with strong magical power.】

【The magical power contained within disrupts the flow within the body, inflicting a slight drowsiness and agitation.】

【Additionally, it mildly recovers the magic power of those who drink it.】

【Upon being removed from its natural source, this water loses its mysterious properties.】

…Drowsiness and agitation, in other words [Sleep] and [Berserk]? Isn’t that basically alcohol, then?Though, depending on how it’s used, it might come in handy.

I try drinking the water from the river, but I don’t feel any particular status conditions, nor any sense of discomfort. It has a faintly sweet, calming taste. Armed with the knowledge that water won’t be an issue as long as we have the river, I decide to follow it upstream.

The fog becomes denser and the visibility worsens as we approach the mountain. The further we go, the more gnarled the trees look, and the more ominous-looking thinks I see. There’s even a strange tree growing almost horizontally along the ground. Combined with the poor visibility, it’s enough to convince me that some of them are monsters.

The river is running out of a large cave at the base of a mountain. I try poking my head inside, but the cave isn’t very wide. I see a waterfall pouring out of a large hole in the ceiling at the back. It looks like the spring isn’t in this cave, but is even further up the mountain.

My attention is drawn to the misshapen, tumour-like mushrooms that are clinging to the cave walls, and to the chicken-like monsters that have huge mouths where their faces should be (C- rank [Ogre Chickens], apparently), but otherwise, nothing about this place bothers me too much. Upon noticing my presence, the chickens flee at full speed into the river.

For the time being, I’ll make this cavern into our base… That being said, there are no paths into the cave other than the river, and if each time I go inside I’d have to soak in the river but… It’s not as though I absolutely need to enter the cavern myself. If anything comes to attack us, it’d be better to just struck back immediately.

I used my claws to cut off the fenrir’s head and limbs and then divide it into ten rough pieces. I ask Volk to butcher the pieces further, and the nightmare hang the meat from the ceiling. I have no idea if it’s going to taste horrible or delicious, but for now we probably won’t have to worry about food. We can get salt whenever we want from the sea, so I’ll go and collect some later.

For now we’ll rest a while at the cave entrance and plan what to do from now on.

But still, I really am grateful for Volk and magiatite-jii choosing to come with us. Volk sometimes gives the impression that his brain has been swapped with a monster’s, but he knows more than any of us about human civilisation. Magiatite-jii is also knowledgeable in other ways, owing to his long life as a monster.

So, to start with, about my own leveling…

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[Irushia]

Race: Ouroboros

Status: Normal

Lv: 123/125

HP: 3138/3138

MP: 3011/3026

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Just two more levels and I’ll be able to evolve. It all depends on how long it takes me to get those two levels, and then how much levelling I can get in before Lilixira attacks. Once I become Legendary-class, each level will probably take a long time to raise. Since my level is reset upon evolution, in the worst case scenario the battle might happen while I have stats lower than my current ones.

……If Partner was here it’s possible it wouldn’t have been a bad idea to prioritise levelling our companions and adding to our subordinates with [Fake Life], before fighting a battle of attrition where the ouroboros’s MP pool and healing abilities could shine. But there’s no point thinking about that now. Besides, once I’ve hunted a good few B ranks, I’m sure I’ll be able to regain my current stats. I’m not going to prioritise the battle of attrition plan.

I turn to look at Aro, and watch as she plays with the black lizard outside the cave. She giggles as she chases the black lizard, while the black lizard plays along with a slightly reluctant expression… Seeing Aro in such high spirits and acting in a manner appropriately for her age, I can’t help but sigh in relief.

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Name: Aro

Race: Revaana Lich

Status: Cursed

Lv: 35/85

HP: 446/446

MP: 465/465

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Aro is a B+ rank with [Final Evolution]. There’s no need to try overly hard to get her to the maximum level. But I’d like to at least get her to around level 50.

I then turn to look at the nightmare who is unashamedly snacking on some fenrir meat that she had stashed away.

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Race: Nightmare

Status: Normal

Lv: 29/70

HP: 234/234

MP: 227/227

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She really is a C+ rank with [Final Evolution], huh… To be honest, I’d somewhat hoped that she would have been able to evolve one or two more times. Fortunately, her maximum level is fairly high.

As I watch her and gather my thoughts, she looks up to glare at me. I avert my eyes, then bow my head slightly.

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Race: Magical Tree

Status: Cursed

Lv: 15/60

HP: 223/223

MP: 166/166

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Treant-san is bending its trunk to drink from the river in a very un-treant-like fashion. Treant-san is the same C+ rank as the nightmare…But its upper level limit isn’t as high as her, and it doesn’t have [Final Evolution]. It would be great if treant-san could evolve to B+ and become able to take on a more active role alongside Aro.

…But then, since it’s not really an attacker, getting it experience will be difficult. I’d like to prioritise bringing its level to maximum, but… It’s possible that it would evolve into something disappointing if I helped too much. It is treant-san, after all.

While I do have high hopes for treant-san’s potential, I also somehow feel like it’s hopeless. Any plan that hinges on it would probably end in failure.

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[Volk Veidaf]

Race: Earth Huma

Status: Normal

Lv: 84/85

HP: 870/870

MP: 323/323

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To Volk, for whom even B+ rank monsters aren’t a match as long as he has a weapon, I have nothing to say. I can’t expect any more growth from him, but he should be fine as he is now. There doesn’t seem to be any point in me telling him what and what not to.

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Race: Magiatite Heart

Status: Normal

Lv: 53/70

HP: 114/114

MP: 414/414

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Magiatite-jii is also a high level B- rank with [Final Evolution]. There’s no need to forcefully level him up. Since he doesn’t seem dissatisfied with acting as Volk’s sword, I have no intention of separating the two.

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Race: Venom Queen Lecherta

Status: Normal

Lv: 26/55

HP: 180/180

MP: 198/198

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The black lizard is C rank. After separating from me, it looks like she progressed one stage of evolution. She’s now strong enough to compete with monsters like the little rock dragon or the red ants. However, in our current situation, there’s not much she can contribute to a fight. It makes me want to praise her even more for managing to escape from the A+ rank monstrosity that is Beelzebub.

Bringing her here was probably a little harsh. There was the risk of Beelzebub remembering her appearance, but it also didn’t seem like he was the type who would go out of his way to target her. By no means do I think he’s a good person, but I didn’t get the impression that he would go out of his way to divert from his search for me to kill the black lizard… There was a risk of Lilixira keeping an eye on the black lizard, but even taking that into consideration, bringing her here was surely the much more dangerous option.

…For now, I’ll prioritise my own evolution. I can’t really make any firm decisions about what to do after until I’ve evolved. For now the safe option would be to train Aro and the nightmare, while also making sure the black lizard evolves so that she’s able to protect herself. It would be good if treant-san were to gain some levels too, but I’m not going to try feeding it kills to get it to evolve, yeah.

“Ah!”

It looked for a moment like Aro is about to get atop and start riding the black lizard, but the black lizard just barely manages to evade at the last moment with a display of her nimbleness, and comes running over to my side. As Aro watches the black lizard dejectedly, and the treant puts a branch on her shoulder as if to console her.

Sorry, treant-san. I’m postponing your training this time too, forgive me.

The treant turns its face toward me, and suddenly reaches out one of its branches.

『That is fine, master-dono…』

T-treant-san?! Hey you, seriously, you suddenly started speaking huh. It’s alright for you to use [Telepathy] more regularly, you know.

…However, even though treant-san hardly ever sends out its thoughts with [Telepathy], it picked up my thoughts just fine. By any chance, could it using it to constantly comb through my thoughts? That’s somewhat scary in itself…

“Kishi! Kishii!”

The black lizard comes up to me and stretches out her head. I gently pat her, making sure not to use too much strength.

In the old days, we fought together as fellow D ranks. But at some point, we grew apart into C and A ranks. Back then she would come flying at me and start happily licking my face, but the size difference between us has only gotten bigger.

No, if anything it’s amazing she was able to get as strong as she has. I was only able to get to this point because of my experience-doubling and level-up-threshold-halving skills, on top of having fought off one strong enemy after the next. Normal monsters would surely take longer to grow.

“Kishii!”

The black lizard stretches out to rub her head into my palm. Hey hey, it’s dangerous to move like that, what would happen if you hit my claws?

“……”

Aro, who was watching this from afar, quietly points a finger at me. With a serious expression, treant-san puts a branch on Aro’s arm to stop her. What the hell are these guys doing?

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