245-221 Koitz, it's red!

But when you're spitting out breath, it's hard to hold them off head-on like you have been.

Oh. I don't want to do this anymore. I've been taking good care of you, haven't I?

Yeah, I know.

Fluffy seems to be okay with her own tail, so I buy a brush and comb it and ruffle it.

As he does this, he sometimes looks at Mary and Mitya's tails and ears.

She seems to have given them brushes, but she didn't say "I'll comb them" or "Let me touch them".

Well, that's a big hurdle, isn't it?

Even with a human woman, if a man says, "Let me touch your hair" or "Let me comb your hair," he will be treated as a pervert.

Unless it's a lover or a family member.

It will take some more time for Toya to get that close to Mary and the others.

As for Haruka and the others, they touch her and comb her hair as usual. I'm a little jealous.

I'm not sure if I should give up on the milk and just kill it.　The speed and power have increased, but the principle of action has not changed, so magic should not be too difficult, right?

It's a frontal assault.

Recently, I've been using the Stone Missile to kill Strike Ox.

If you stand directly in front of it and fly straight at its head, Strike Ox will not be able to avoid it, but rather will be struck by the stone missile with his own speed added to it.

It's quite energy efficient, and it's quite easy to defeat in one hit.

It's possible that Red's skull is harder than Strike Ox's, but ...... it's probably manageable.

I'm not sure what to make of this, but it says here that milk sells for more than strike ox.

It's a good idea to have a good idea of what you're looking for.

But if it's expensive, does that mean we can get better milk than that?

"We'll just have to try milking it at ......, won't we?

Yes. I only have one empty bottle, but I'll transfer it to the ...... pot.

Take out one empty bottle (the one we consumed during break time) and two bottles that still have contents in them, transfer the contents to another pot and clean it with "purification".

We used the bottles and started milking them immediately. .......

It's a little red, isn't it?

Yuki was right, the milk that accumulated in the bottle was slightly red ...... or pink.

I'm sure you'll agree.

But no matter how much of a demon it is, it will never be able to milk strawberry milk.

So, could it be the color of blood?

It's a little hard to drink when you think about it, but ...... Yuki and his friends usually taste it, right?

I'm not sure if it's just me or if there's a lot of difference between this and Strike Ox.

"As for me, I feel like the regular Strike Ox tastes better, but ...... this one is more expensive, right?

"That's what it says. I don't know how expensive it is.

For me, there's no reason to buy this one in terms of taste. Some noblemen appreciate rarity, I guess.

If everyone but me sipped it, I had no choice but to drink it too.

I took a sip and tasted it carefully, but my impression was the same as Yuki's, to be honest. I can't tell the difference.

"Considering the trouble--

Shoo!

Just as I opened my mouth, I heard an unpleasant sound coming from the earthen wall.

Immediately after, our actions were swift.

Yuki retreated with the milking device and the bottle, and everyone else took up their weapons at about the same time.

Not long after that, the earthen wall in front of Red Strike Ox collapsed.

But there was no way we were going to sit back and watch that happen.

Just as Red Strike Ox's paws were about to touch the ground, Toya's sword had already slammed into his head.

With a crunching sound, his body lost strength and he crumpled to the ground, half hanging from the earthen wall behind him.

We all exhaled when we saw it.

I'm sorry, ....... I had more strength than I thought.

The wall that collapsed was the front one I was in charge of.

It's a good idea to have a good idea of what you're going to be doing.

I had poured more magic into it than I had into the Strike Ox, but I hadn't expected the earthen wall to collapse in the middle of milking - it was the third one, so I was almost finished.

I didn't expect the earthen wall to collapse. That's why we were all so cautious.

It may seem like we're talking at ease, but we're dealing with a demon.

Of course, we had discussed how we would react in case of an emergency.

It's no exaggeration to say that we handled the situation without any problems.

I'm not sure if it's a good idea to use too much magic for nothing.

Yuki put away the milk bottle and the milking device in her hands and released the earthen wall that she had built.

It's true that Yuki is right, the optimal amount of magic power - the strength of the earthen wall to allow enough time for milking, painting, and evading for some distance - is optimal, but this time it was a little too short.

In other words, I had misjudged Red Strike Ox's strength, and a mistake is a mistake.

Thinking back, I should have assumed that it was strong enough to push Toya back, and that its leg strength was quite high.

Well, I failed and got burned, too. Oh, 5,000 rares.

Toya took the magic stone from the corpse of Red Strike Ox lying on the ground and checked its value. He put it into the magic bag with the corpse.

The difference between the 3,200 rares of the Strike Ox and the magic stone was more than I expected.

If there's that much of a difference, it's no wonder the mud walls were destroyed. ......

You can handle it, right?

Yeah, no problem. With magic.

It consumes a lot of magic, but it can be dealt with.

The only question is whether it's worth it or not.

The question is whether it's worth it or not. Whether you actually do it or not depends on the difference between regular milk and this.

The more magic you consume, the more you need to rest, and the more difficult it may be to work consistently.

The time required for this and the price difference of the magic stones.

We don't know the selling price of the meat, but we can choose to die without milking.

If we don't need Red Strike Ox's milk, then it depends on the price difference of the milk.

If we were to milk Red Strike Ox as well, it would depend on whether or not we could restrain him before he spits out ...... breath.

"What? That's me doing that, right?　It's too risky!　I don't want to do it!

I don't want to do it!" Toya stops moving, we lift him up with the earth wall, and Toya leaves.

What are the odds that Red Strike Ox will not use his breath during that time?

I don't want to think he can do it in no time, but if he does it again and again, Toya's cuticles might be in trouble.

I'm not sure what to say. You can use Flame Taming, right?

"...... Oh!

I'm not sure what to do.

I've never used it before. I forgot about it because I've never used it before.

Can you use it to withstand the breath?

Maybe.

This spell, as the name suggests, makes you immune to damage from flames.

It is not, of course, 'any flame', but 'in proportion to the magic power put into it', but one breath of Red Strike Ox would not be too difficult.

Although it was quickly extinguished, it was enough to lightly scorch the tips of Toya's hair after she was once engulfed in flames.

If you have a dragon's breath on the other hand, even if you put in all your magic power, the effect will probably wear off in an instant.

Mmm. ...... can do it. But the next time it burns, I'll stop you!

"Okay, okay, okay. But I'll have to talk to Diora first. If you've gone through all that trouble to collect it and it's not worth much, it's not too bright for Toya, is it?

"Of course. I'm betting my fur on it.

Yeah, he seems to be placing more importance on the fur than I expected.

That's why.

We decided to put the milking of the Red Strike Ox on hold and prioritize the search for layer 20.

We avoided Red Strike Ox.

It was more difficult than expected to go around the forest of layer 20 without Red Strike Ox.

The difference in the price of the magic stone was not an illusion, and the detection range was clearly greater than that of the Strike Ox.

Thanks to all the training and practice, all of them had acquired the [Stealthy Foot] and [Concealment] skills, but Red Strike Ox still noticed.

This is probably due to the fact that most of this level is grassland and there is no place to hide, but thanks to this, we ended up defeating quite a few of them.

It's not a big problem, since I'm sure they'll have recovered to some extent by the time I come back next time, but it's a bit annoying to be easily spotted by a demon that seems to be of a lower rank.

As long as the five of us are working together, it's probably unavoidable to some extent, but I'd like to do something about it sometime soon.

In addition, we found a nut called Grifoa in the forest of this level.

The closest one I know is camellia nut.

The flesh is a little thinner and the size is a little larger than that of a camellia, but the fact that the nut cracks open and the seeds fall out is the same.

The color of the seeds is a little lighter brown than the camellia I know.

It is easy to eat. Roast the seeds well and bite them lightly with your teeth, and the shell will split in two.

If I had to pick a nut with a similar taste, I would say macadamia nuts ...... or cashews.

They are a little crunchy, a little moist, a little oily, a little less so than cashews, but with a slight sweetness.

It is the second easiest nut to eat in the nut area after Birrell, but this one is better in taste.

It is easy to collect and easier to process than walnuts.

If they are tasty and easy to eat, it is likely that you will eat too many if you are not careful.

Even if the nuts are good for you in moderate amounts, eating too many of them may not be good for you in terms of calories and other factors, so you need to moderate your consumption.

As usual, the nuts did not seem to sell well, but the taste itself seemed to suit everyone's tastes, and we all worked hard to collect them.

It's not worth the hourly wage at all. ...... Well, there's no point in worrying about that.

Even if the nuts are inexpensive, we can't buy them if they're not sold at Rafan, so we have to collect them ourselves. If you want to eat them.

And so, after collecting the nuts in the forest of layer 20, we were now standing at the end of layer 20.

Yes, in front of the door to the boss room.