Chapter 9: Fierce Battle! The menace of Area 5

Chapter 9: Fierce Battle! The menace of Area 5

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It’s the been 10 days since I started wielding Magic.

My day-to-day life hasn’t changed; I spent my time striking fear into the hearts of Demonic Beasts by slaughtering them, and absorbed enough Magic Stones for Self-Evolution’s to reach rank 5.

I’ve also gained a large number of Skills, as well as Skill Proficiency. The hideout of Gourmet Orcs, which is a subspecies of Orc, was especially delicious as they had a great number of Techniques and Magic Skills.

As for their racial characteristics, most of them had high level of Cooking and Dismantling skills, both going up to about Lv5. It’s laughable, but despite being a Skill that I’ve had no opportunity to use, the only Skill with a level higher than those two has become Sword Arts.

80% of the Plains have been dominated, so now it’s something akin to my personal garden.

『Alright, shall I go?』

My next objective is to explore outside of the Plains. It’s a place that I named ‘Area 5’ without permission.

Somehow or another, the strength of the Demonic Beasts isn’t distributed evenly around here. The farther away from the Pedestal’s Barrier in the Plains, the stronger the Demonic Beasts. As for the area around the Pedestal, only small fries like Goblins appear — so I’ve designated that area as Area 1. As the number increases, so too does the strength of the surrounding Demonic Beasts.

And for now, Area 5 is set as the maximum difficulty.

Outside of Area 5 is completely uncharted territory, but from what I can see the Plains become a Forest. Occasionally, I can catch a glimpse of Demonic Beasts that move between the trees, but they don’t seem much different from the small fries from Areas 1 and 2. There certainly don’t seem to be any that’re stronger than the Demonic Beasts of Area 5.

Well, as for the question of why Demonic Beasts of Area 5 don’t just go there, I figure I’ll be able to understand once I’ve reached there.

『There’re no small fries in sight.』

As the area number increases on the Plains, the number of Demonic Beasts tend to decrease. Instead, the Area widens, and the number of large Demonic Beasts increases. In Area 4, which was my main battlefield until yesterday, I was only able to hunt about 20 of them per day. But, because the Magic Stones’ values exceed 15 each, the gain is overwhelmingly higher than simply hunting hundreds of Goblins.

Ah, by the way, this is my current Status:

Name:Unknown

Race:Intelligent Weapon

ATK:314 MP:1000/1000 Durability:800/800

Skills:

Appraisal:Lv6, High-Speed Self-Repair, Self-Evolution〈Rank 5?Magic Stone Status: 1366/1500?Memory: 34?Points: 23〉, Self-Modification, Telekinesis, Telekinesis ↑ Low, Telepathy, ATK ↑ Low, Owner ALL Stats ↑ Low, Owner HP Recovery ↑ Low, MP ↑ Low, Memory ↑ Low, Demonic Beast Knowledge, Skill Sharing, Sorcery

In regards to Skills I’ve changed them a lot, so I honestly can’t grasp all of them. Among them there’re a lot of Skills that can’t even be used, too.

As for ones that I use all the time, Sword Arts has a Skill Lv. Up bonus, so its level is particularly high.

Initially it didn’t do much, but once its Level exceeded 3 it started showing overwhelming effects. As it increases one’s ability to manipulate a sword, what do you think happens if you are a sword? I became able to attack my opponent’s weak points with deadly accuracy.

In addition, my ability to elude the attacks of giant Demonic Beasts also increased. Because I have the body of a sword, it’s no exaggeration to say that this Skill rose both my Offense and Defense.

『Oh, a Demonic Beast!』

Race :Goblin :Evil Beast :Demonic Beast Lv3

HP:10 MP:2 STR:7 END:9 AGI:8 INT:4 MGC:2 DEX:7

Skills:

Cooking:Lv1, Vigilance:Lv1, Poison Resistance:Lv1

Description: An evil being born of a fragment of the Evil God, which was destroyed 100,000 years ago. These beings are born with strong malice and hatred towards those not of their own Race, so it's impossible for it to them to live in harmony with others. They excel in Agility and Dexterity, and they're violent and cruel by nature. Upon discovery, it is recommended to exterminate these beings immediately. Threat Level: G

Magic Stone Position:Center of the body: Solar Plexus.

I discovered a Goblin walking near the end of Area 2. The Goblins’ nest was annihilated, but you could still see them occasionally.

As for the explanation provided under the rest of its Status, it’s the effect of Demonic Beast Knowledge, which I gained using Self-Evolution Points. It’s capable of being used in tandem with Appraisal.

Thanks to that, battles have become much easier. Why? Because the weak point of Demonic Beasts, their Magic Stone, becomes clear. With that, I’m able to turn my initial attack into a certain-kill.

『But seriously, remove on sight...? They’re treated just like cockroaches.』

This is the first time I’ve met a Goblin after gaining Demonic Beast Knowledge, but I’m getting the feeling that they’re more evil than I initially thought. Well, that could simply be because I’m human-like. I was originally a human, and so I’ve decided to side with the humans at least. I’ll just turn these guys into EXP from now on.

In that way, I move while hunting Demonic Beasts and viewing their descriptions.

『Hyahoー!』

I had come up with a great movement method the other day.

1: Use Telekinesis at maximum firepower, and blast off.

2:Entrust my descent to free-falling.

3:Repeat.

I had thought of it while using the Telekinesis Catapult Attack. I name it: The Telekinesis Catapult Movement Method. Because the only expenditure occurs at the start, I can save a considerable amount of MP.

Repeating the Telekinesis Catapult Movement Method, I arrived at Area 4 before noon. The Demonic Beasts in Area 4 are quite formidable. The amount of opponents I can defeat with one attack decreases, and a fair amount of Durability is decreased by attacks from the other side. To compare, my Durability doesn’t decrease by the attacks of Goblins at all, but attacks from the Demonic Beasts in this Area can decrease it by over 100 if I’m hit directly.

And finally, while hunting Demonic Beasts along the way, I reached Area 5.

『Well, what kind of Demonic Beasts will appear in this Area?』

I’m making use of multiple exploration Skills to look for the Demonic Beasts. Finding the other party and landing a preemptive strike is very important while hunting, after all. In some cases, they can be defeated without any damage on my side.

With this, my preparations are complete.

『Phantom, charge!』

Without a sound, the phantom rushes straight at the Slime. In response, the Slime Lord extends a tentacle. With that, the Phantom was struck easily. But that’s fine.

It surely felt the impact that the Phantom gave off, so the Slime Lord extended its tentacle once again to intercept it. That’s important, as while it’s defending, it transports its Magic Stone to the opposite side of the attack. Because its body is completely liquid-like, it can freely move the Magic Stone within its body.

But that’s just what I was aiming for. After all, that means that the slime covering the Magic Stone is thin on its back.

『Even in evolution, habits don’t change!』

I begin funneling MP like jet fuel, and burst forward.

In the end, it was nothing more than a simple dash. However, I put my heart and soul into that dash.

『For this attack alone, I intend to give it a name. I’ll name it: The Heavenly Instant-Kill Technique !』

Because the tension was high I cried out my idea, but if I was calm, it would definitely be rejected. Probably.

All sound disappeared for an instant. That’s the evidence of moving above the speed of sound.

*ZUDOOOOOoooooooo!!*

A mighty roaring echoed throughout the Plains. If I wasn’t a sword and had keen ears, I would have fainted in agony.

The Slime Lord couldn’t react, and a large hole was opened within its body. Of course, its Magic Stone was annihilated as well.

*BURuburuBURUBu*

And with that, the Slime Lord stopped moving, and spread out along the ground. It resulted in the dubious spectacle of some mystery-mucous covering the ground.

『Fuu, it seems I won...... Still, that was quite dangerous.』

Nearly half of my blade was dissolved by the Slime’s skin. If I was taken into him, I would have disappeared in an instant. It was the correct choice to deal with it in a single blow.

〈 The effects of Self-Evolution have been activated 〉

〈 Self-Evolution Points acquired: 30 〉

Surprisingly, it seems that the value of its Magic Stone was 150. As expected of an advanced Demonic Beast.

Name :Unknown

Race :Intelligent Weapon

ATK :352 MP :1300/1300 Durability :1100/1100

Skills:

Appraisal:Lv6, High-Speed Self Repair, Self-Evolution〈Rank 6?Magic Stone Status: 1516/2100?Memory: 40?Points: 53〉, Self-Modification, Telekinesis, Telekinesis ↑ Low, Telepathy, ATK ↑ Low, Owner ALL Stats ↑ Low, Owner HP Recovery ↑ Low, MP ↑ Low, Memory ↑ Low, Demonic Beast Knowledge, Skill Sharing, Sorcery

Now then, shall I also inspect the Skills that I’ve obtained here? There’re some Skills that seem considerably useful.

Here’s the first jab . I can save the main Skills for later, so first I’ll use the Softening Skill which seems quite interesting.

『Ohh. I became limp.』

It doesn’t seem to be strong because its level is low, but my blade definitely became limp. When I shake my body, my blade resounds with a *myonmyon* . Interesting.

As for Mimicry and Hardening, I can’t see any effects. For Instant Regeneration, because I have High-Speed Self-Repair, I wonder if it’ll do anything.

Well, those Skills were only appetizers; now let’s try the main Skills.

『Dimensional Storage: Activate』

It’s the so-called Item Box Skill.

A stone disappears right before my eyes. When I use it again, a stone appears out of thin air.

When I put a bunch of stones and grass inside, a list of stored objects is displayed in my mind. How convenient.

『Now, to test its capacity.』

If the amount’s extremely little, I’ll be quite disappointed. First, I’ll put a bunch of items in to look for the limit.

『Let’s start with this guy.』

I try to store the corpse of the Slime Lord, which was left unattended. Its mass is quite substantial; I think it’d be able to fill about half of a 25 meter swimming pool.

However, I was able to store it in an instant, and it seems that there’s still space remaining.

『As expected of an advanced Demonic Beast’s Skill.』

It doesn’t mean much to me, but I think it’ll be useful for whoever ends up equipping me. For transporting stuff like food, for example.

By the way, once Self-Evolution is activated, my MP and Durability immediately recover. Thanks to that, I’m completely unhurt. Mental fatigue, however, isn’t reduced.

『I’m tired, let’s hunt in low Areas for the rest of the day.』

Note:

“Ugee” is essentially “Yuck” うげぇ!

I don’t have to explain what flags are, right?

Sword-bro is meaning the boxing jab here, so I think he’s making the point of “weakening the number of Skills he’s obtained from the Slime Lord” here. まずはジャブ。

I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that *myonmyon* is a hyperbole for the sound a metal sheet would make if you shook it. ミョンミョン