CH 31

Distant Howling



I suppose there is no harm in taking a look for now.

So they were weaker versions of shadow wolves… So, lesser shadow wolves?

That’s a little long for a name. I’ll call them lesser wolves.

These were monsters I was seeing for the first time. And Momo herself was a monster who gained a ‘skill’ through eating a magical stone. It would be a lie if I said this didn’t interest me.



“Wooo…!”



Momo, be quiet.

…It was quite unusual for Momo to react like this.

Up until now, she had never caused a scene, no matter what monster we encountered.

What happened?



“Momo, what is it?”



I asked, and Momo suddenly started to brush up against me.

She was also doing it much harder than usual.

Now she was stuck to me and wouldn’t move away.

The night was cold, and she was nice and warm…wait a minute.



“…Momo, I know this might sound crazy, but are you angry because I was staring at those lesser wolves for so long…maybe?”



At that, Momo immediately reacted.

“Wooo…” she whimpered sadly.



…I was unexpectedly correct.



“No, Momo. Those are just monsters. I wasn’t looking at them to keep, okay?”



“Wooo?”



Momo looked at me with a suspicious expression.

Really, really.

Momo was all I needed.



Those weren’t pets, they were monsters. They were really just experience points.

I tell her this, and Momo finally appeared to be satisfied.

She rubs her body against me one last time before moving away.

Aw, she was so cute.



“—mm, crap. I shouldn’t be looking at other things right now.”



I return my gaze to the direction of the home center.

The lesser wolves were still wandering around the parking lot.

Perhaps they had cautious personalities because they seemed to avoid getting any closer to the entrance with the guards. They were just crawling under cars and sniffing at the ground.



The two students who were on watch had not noticed them yet.

Even worse, they were yawning leisurely.

Hey, hey. Where’s your sense of danger… What is the point in even having you there?



Hmm, if they hadn’t been noticed yet, maybe I could just go down and hunt the wolves?

From what I could see from ‘Danger Detection,’ the lesser wolves were not particularly strong.

They were somewhere between goblins and hobgoblins at best.

I wonder how good their ‘shadow’ skill would be, but I had a feeling that Momo would be above them as well. If I could successfully ambush them, then we would undoubtedly win.



Wait, would we really?

Was it even possible to ambush lesser wolves?

I had convenient skills like ‘Presence Block’ and ‘Conceal,’ but I wasn’t able to completely erase my ‘scent.’

I knew it because of Momo.

And monsters like these were bound to have a good sense of smell.

If they happened to have a sense of smell that was the same or even superior to Momo’s, then I would be caught the moment I got close.

Being able to ambush was my biggest advantage, and I would not be able to use it here.



In that case, maybe it would be best to just ignore this whole scene?

Or I could sneak into the home center amidst the chaos of the students battling the lesser wolves, and help myself to their supplies and run away.

Even I was exasperated at how low a plan that would be, but factually, it held the biggest merit in terms of personal gain.



Though, I wondered what level those students were anyway?

My current level was 7.

I had no one to compare it to, so I wasn’t sure if it was high or low.

If I knew their level, then I would get a better idea of where I stood.



Mmm, the thing was, I didn’t want these people to die yet.

It wasn’t because I felt for them or felt any remorse for taking the food supplies.

To put it simply, it would be much more convenient for me, going forward if they were alive.

Especially that one called Nishino. He seemed like quite the realist.

They might be cautious of me due to the item box incident, but if I played my cards right, we might be able to build a collaborative relationship. Even if we didn’t make direct contact, there would be ways to communicate with each other.



This was different from that time at the shopping mall or with the self-defense force where there was nothing else I could do.

As long as they were able to raise their levels reasonably enough, they could be a pretty good fighting force.

To fight against the high orcs.

Whether I would run or fight, it would not be a bad thing to have others who could fight here.

There were limits to what I and Momo could do alone.



–it was when I still pondering such things, that the lesser wolves down below began to move.

They darted forward and headed straight for the entrance where the students were standing watch.

And it was here where they finally noticed the presence of the monsters.



“Mo-monsteeeeeeeeeeers!?”



“We’re under attack! Atttaaackk!!”



They shouted and alerted the others who were inside.

The fangs of the lessers wolves were now already right in front of their eyes.

One student just barely dodged the snapping jaws.

The lesser wolf who had missed him, crashed into the wall behind instead.

In the next instant, the boy who was on watch began to beat it with the metal pipe in his hand.



“GRRRAAAARRR!”



“You! Yoooouuu!”



The iron pipe went up and down, up and down.

Perhaps the lesser wolf had realized it was no match for him because it then jumped back and retreated from the boy.

What was the other guy doing…?



I looked and saw that the other boy had his arm in the jaws of another wolf.

He was screaming at the top of his lungs and trying to throw the beast off, but the lesser wolf would not let go.



“Shit! Get off of himmmmm!!”



The other student’s metal pipe came down on the biting wolf, forcing it to let go.

There was something oddly stylish about the image of him holding the metal pipe.

Maybe he had some kind of skill for using a cane or staff?



“Are you alright?”



“Aghhhh… It hurts…ugggghh…ahhhh!”



The arm that had been bitten was in a pretty mangled state.

The flesh had been torn and the bone was exposed.

The four lesser wolves were now staring at them as they slowly closed in.

Panic and fear appeared on the faces of two guards.



“You two, are you alright!”



But right then, Nishino appeared from inside.

Behind him were several other students.

The boys who were on guard sighed with relief.



“Ono! Take those two inside! They need to be treated! The rest of us will defend the entrance!”



“‘Yes!’”



They all shouted as they brandished their weapons and faced the lesser wolves.



“GRRRRR…”



The two parties stared at each other for a while, but then, perhaps after seeing that they were at a disadvantage, the lesser wolves began to slowly fall back.

Were they going to retreat?

But my prediction was wrong.

One of the lesser wolves raised its head to the sky and howled.



“AWooooooooooooooooooo!!”



Then as if following its lead, the other lesser wolves began to howl too.



“What, what is it?”

“Are they planning something?”

“It’s a bluff! Let’s go kill them now.”

“Maybe… We should kill them while we can! Hurry!”



The students all looked with suspicion, but only Nishino had a panicked expression.



What?

I didn’t know what was happening, but I had a bad feeling about this.

And that feeling was right.

‘Scouting’ had detected something.

It was the presence of monsters. They were coming here.

And it wasn’t just one or two.

The numbers were increasing.

My ‘Danger Detection’ alert was ringing.



Are you serious?

The had called reinforcements…!