Chapter 77 - Desmond Cemetery 3_3

This part of the cemetery is filled with mushrooms! That's what I was thinking about the moment I arrived at this place.

In here, thousands of mushrooms of various sizes sprout and decorated this place. The place where hundreds of tombstones are being piled up dan being planted haphazardly existed.

The mushrooms have a white stem and a purple umbrella with red stripes. They are similar to Decaying Illusion Peshrooms. But, these mushrooms don't have faces, that's what sets them apart from the mushroom monster.

Not only mushrooms and tombstones but this place was also filled with tens of Headless Ape that were being turned into dolls and food by the Decaying Illusion Peshrooms.

A combination of those three made a scary but quite wonderful scenery.

Anyways, the point is, this place on the south side of Desmond Cemetery is the best place to harvest abundant Exp which we will use to raise our level.

Yes, disappointingly enough, this place is not in Ark Fantasy Online. There's no respawn concept here, the monsters will not keep appearing. 

However, if we manage to kill tens of the monsters that roaming around in here, I'm sure, we'll get about five or six levels up.

Kimi is level 11, Chloe is 10, and Alan is 12. If they get an additional five levels, I'm sure, at least they will be able to follow the Headless Ape's movements and can survive after receiving the monsters' attacks.

This will make me not need to protect them too often, I will get more free time that I can use to beat the Headless Ape!

And if I also get these additional five levels, it will make things to be easier for me to defeat those monsters.

"Before we start hunting, there's one thing that four of you should pay attention to. I'm talking about Decaying Illusion Peshrooms-"

For a few minutes, I gave them a full explanation of the monster. About their ability, their looks, and their weakness. And when I finished, the four people swallowed their saliva.

"Are you sure we'll be okay?" Ruciel asked. Her voice was colored by worry.

"Yes, we have Puppet Lemon, once we eat that fruit, Decaying Illusion Peshrooms won't be able to take over our consciousness and body so easily. Now, please eat your fruit."

They do what I say. And once we were ready, I shouted, "let's start this hunt!"

We unsheathed our weapons and approached the nearest Headless Ape. The monster was controlled by a Decaying Illusion Peshrooms and it makes the monster less dangerous.

The monster's movements became so stiff and slow. We got easy times fighting against the monster.

The kids even could fight one of them without my or Ruciel help.

"[Heavy Slash]" Kimi shouted.

The little girl uses Arte to cut off the monster's leg. Although she couldn't completely cut off that leg, her attack was already more than enough to make the monster down to its knees.

"[Stinger]"

Alan ended the monster's life with a stab in the chest. Then, Chloe got into the fight. 

"Un!" 

Making a cute battle cry, she kills the Decaying Illusion Peshrooms attached to Headless Ape's body using her staff.

What about me and Ruciel?

Well... I also killed the Headless Ape. I didn't need much effort to do it because they were so slow. My high AGI did all the jobs for me.

Ruciel, that girl is also doing her job. She collects the Magic Stones of the Headless Ape and the corpses of Decaying Illusion Peshrooms as I wanted.

So... yes, although Decaying Illusion Peshrooms managed to attach itself to our bodies to absorb our HP and SP several times, I can say, this is an easy hunt.

Puppet Lemon played a big part! If we didn't have that fruit, it's certain, we'd be one of these mindless doll Headless Ape.

After a few tens of minutes had passed, Kimi shout, "My level is up!"

Oh! It was faster than I expected. They had just defeated three Headless Ape and they already level up! If it was like this, they would probably get more than five levels.

< Level up! 5 to 6 >

... I can't say anything.

Then, for the next few hours, we continued to hunt the monsters in this part of Desmond Cemetery.

< Level up! 6 to 7 >

< Level up! 7 to 8 >

< Level up! 8 to 9 >

< Level up! 9 to 10 >

It's so amazing! Previously, it took me a few weeks to reach level 10! But now, I reached it in less than half a day.

"[Stat Open]"

『General Information』

[Name: Eclaite | Gender: Female ]

[Race: Two Tail Fox Beastkin]

[Age: 19 | Level: 10/20 ]

『Jobs』

[E-Rank Adventurer, Courtesan]

『Basic Statistics』

| HP: 100/117 [107] 

| MP: 80/145

| SP: 68/132

STR: 80 | DEX: 26]

END: 66 | Luck: 5]

[AGI: 83]

『Skill』

[Heart of Monster] [Doppel?????] ∇

[Water Magic | Lvl 1] New

[Medium Mana | Lvl 1] New

[Spear Mastery | Lvl 3] ∆ Level up

[Sword Mastery | Lvl 1] New

Yup! I'm getting stronger! And I need ten more levels for my second evolution.

After this exploration is done, it might be a good idea if I hunt in this place alone. 

And there's a wish to eat the meat of the Headless Ape to get Stat Points.

I can't do that right now because Kimi and the others are with me. Headless Ape meat is not a foodstuff for people, this meat is different from Leaf Hound meat that usually became a food staple to be eaten and sold in slums.

I want to eat that horrible monster meat?

Unfortunately, yes.

Inevitably, I have to do it.

The incident where I was beaten by Slime and chased by the mysterious silhouette that turned out to be an ugly monster made my desire to grow stronger became brighter.

Therefore, I will try to eat the meat of monsters like this. And yes, I won't immediately make a sharp decision to eat the meat of any kind of monster.

I still have the unwillingness to eat the meat of Corpse Walker and Insect-type Monsters.

As for these horrible monsters, I will start eating them starting from their livers or hearts. I felt it was the right choice rather than the choice to eat their meat.

As for the Magic Stones. Ruciel took them. That's right, if I eat those Magic Stones secretly, that Fallen Elf girl will definitely interrogate me.

Where are the other Magic Stones?

And I can't possibly answer, I eat it, right?

So, yes, I have to do Solo Hunting!

"What's your level now?" I asked the kids as we rested.

We've already cleared half of this place and we've killed dozens of monsters. Therefore, I believe, they gained a lot of Exp. Their level must have increased greatly.

"I'm level 17 now!" said my sister proudly. She puffed out her chest and her hands were of course on her hips.

Alan made a smile. "I'm level 19 now."

"Un! I'm also leveling up! I'm level 19! My level is the same as my brother!" The little girl was more excited than my sister.

Chloe's words made my sister open her eyes wide. Alan who also heard it put on a surprised expression.

The little girl's fox ears stood up as she comes back from her surprising state. Then, she spoke, "how could your level be higher than mine?"

"Because I'm great!"

"It's not fair!"

And that little black fox started making a fuss.

I thought Ruciel would be surprised by their sudden and rapid growth but it seemed, I was wrong. The girl only raised one of her eyebrows then her expression returned to how it was.

"It's quite shocking," the girl said.

And yes, the girl's expression was in no way convincing.

"Since they've already become stronger, are we going to start exploring that place?"

"I want to explore the place as soon as possible but, it's good if we hunt monsters here first. The higher the level of kids, the easier it is for us to explore the Underground Catacomb. The risk of them getting hurt will also be decreased."

Ruciel nodded, her long ears making a strong jolt. "Okay, do what you want to do."

Thus, our hunt in this place continues. I decided to explore the Underground Catacomb tomorrow. And we'll be back in Rishtonbell after we've finished exploring the catacomb.

Our food supplies and Potions weren't enough for five or more days of exploration.

Now, after we rested, we continued to hunt.

And there's a difference in the hunt this time. 

Ruciel suggested that we hunt as a team. She said we would have trouble if our cooperation as a team was still in disorder. Especially when I'm acting as I please and don't understand what cooperation is.

"Hey! I can also work on the team!"

I protested to Ruciel and the girl ignored my protest.

"Then prove you can do it! People want evidence instead of nonsense." She scolds me.

So, I, Kimi, Chloe, and Alan made the dream team.

Strategy? 

I and Kimi were the attackers. Alan was in the back row to protect Chloe. The boy would come to fight with us if no monsters threatened Chloe or when we were just fighting a monster. And for Chloe, of course, she would be a Healer and a Supporter.

With this battle formation, we finished off the Headless Ape and Decaying Illusion Peshrooms at a fast pace.

I also didn't forget to show that I could work in the team well to Ruciel.

Within hours our level went up!

< Level up! 10 to 11 >

< Level up! 11 to 12 >

< Level up! 12 to 13 >

Our hunt is unstoppable!

But then, I never expected that we would confront a Nightmare Illusion Peshrooms!