CH 42

42 Third Area

Now, let’s log in. It’s 1 p.m. on Saturday… middle of the day in-game. The location is the Starting Town’s central plaza. In the morning I took my time reading books in the library.

What should I do today… right, my «Identification» turned 30, didn’t it. Let’s check my equipment. I think there should be more details.

«Identification Lv10»

DEF: △　MDEF: △

Applicable Skill:  «Light Armor»

«Identification Lv20»

HP Recovery Amount Increase: Tiny

MP Recovery Amount Increase: Tiny

«Identification Lv30»

When the owner receives a gods’ divine protection, a new power is released.

Makes the wearer immune to certain specific attacks.

For now, this is the description of the chest piece, the dress… hey, if it isn’t god-related equipment! So it’s not up to how much you improve it with items, but how much divine protection you receive from a god? It’s pretty painful that I can’t predict what’s ahead… Still, this isn’t something you can do by chance. I need to get involved with god-related things and aim for it, since it would be troubling if my equipment remained weak. Thinking of it, I can have high expectations of Lucianna-san’s quest reward.

And speaking of divine protection… should I pray in the church? It might be a game, but praying in order to get divine protection is a little… It feels like there would be a brainwave check and I wouldn’t receive it.

If I was asked in real “Do you believe gods and ghosts exist?” I would say “probably?”. However, since you can’t feel them or be harmed by them it’s more correct to say “It doesn’t matter whether they exist or not" and “Well, I guess they exist?” is more of going with the flow.

Conversely speaking, I don’t think they don’t exist, so I act properly at shrines and temples.

But well, that’s about it… Maybe I should hard-RP and focus on prayer? Speaking of which, we are in this world mainly thanks to Creall-sama’s permission and Stellura-sama’s power. Let’s pray to say thanks for that.

Also, all of the equipment has “Makes the wearer immune to certain specific attacks” which makes me curious, but it’s an unknown at this point.

...Now, let’s go to the chapel right away.

It’s noon, so there is a fair amount of people in the chapel. I pray in front of Stellura-sama’s statue. ...Well, it wouldn’t be any trouble if I received a blessing with just one prayer.

Now, for today’s… hm? My «Intuition» is… The statue’s pedestal… the corner of it started releasing smoke. ...A triangle doggie, is it?

Lord of Tindalos　Lv100

Element: ?　Weakness: ?　Resistance: ?

Genus: Outer One　Family: Ruling Race

State: Normal

...One of the bosses? I can’t see any of his stats. «Sensing Danger» shows no reaction, «Intuition» doesn’t display any weaknesses.

The contours of the Lord of Tindalos who appeared seemed to change with every step it took, but let’s not think over it too deeply. It’s just that kind of existence, so let’s accept it as such. Otherwise I’ll get a SAN check, no? Hahahaha.

More importantly, it started circling around me while looking at me, but what did it come for? My «Sensing Danger» doesn’t react and I did not form any contracts. It stopped circling and stood in front of me. The instant our eyes met, «Sensing Danger» has…!

Along with a sound like that of metal clashing with each other, I felt a slight impact coming from the skirt on my right side. When I put my hand on the rapier’s handle… the attack already ended. I couldn’t see it… As expected of a Level 100. From the look of it, Lord of Tindalos attacked with its tongue.

“So that equipment was a gift from our lord after all. You would not be unharmed otherwise.”

IT SPOKEEEEEEEEEEE!! Is what I thought, but they did say it’s possible to communicate with them.

So immunity against specific attacks meant this…?

With that said, will he answer my questions?

“By lord, you mean…?”

“Goddess Stellura.”

“So this equipment is related to Stellura-sama after all?”

“It is. But there is no doubt it has lost a fair amount of its power.”

“Then… is there a need to give it back?”

“No. The equipment itself chooses its wearer. The fact you wear it means you have the right to.”

Nn… I see. So that is why it stabbed me so many times at first? Honestly, it’s a hazardous item.

Is what I thought and explained, but it seems that I was wrong. It appears that it was only trying to protect its previous wearer. It removed anyone other than those who took the correct route.

If the wearer was still alive, I would not be able to even touch it and my hands would pass through it. In other words, if I leaned the rapier against something and left it like that, other players would not be able to touch it.

“Hm, an Immortal, huh. O’ immature king. Search Nether for the first gate to Medium.”

“So there is an entrance to Medium in Nether?”

“Forget not gratitude, fulfill your duty. And you shall be led.”

“Duty…?”

“First, take control of Nether. They are troubled. Hurry to their side.”

In other words, there is a role for me based on my race? I don’t know if it’s main or sub, but following a story feels nice.

“If I am to give you advice - do not acquire new elemental magic. Also, learn languages.”

“Meaning… I should retain magic as is now? Also, languages...”

“Match Stellura-sama. Only light and dark families. And you will need languages from now on.”

By light and dark families, he means that derivations are not a problem. Luminous and Holy, Darkness and Shadow, as well as Space which is a combined magic, are safe. “Elemental magic" other than that is not? Is it because fire and wind, water and earth are the domain of other gods? Hmm, I had no plans to take them at this point.

The main issue is that I need to raise «Linguistics». I need to read through books in the library. I already planned to do so, but let’s increase the time I spend on reading.

“Oh right, by the way, why did you come here?”

“I came to see?”

"...See me?”

“Indeed. I sensed a prayer of one who is special and came to confirm.”

“I… see?”

“I shall take my leave. Work hard, you of finite lifetime.”

After saying so, the dog-like appearance turned into smoke, was sucked into a corner and disappeared. He came to chat and went back. He seriously just came to take a look?

"...It was a good person, wasn’t it?”

“What did you do…Anastasia-san...”

Lucianna-san came over while massaging herself between the eyebrows. I only prayed, you know? It’s not my fault.

“I only prayed a little. Then suddenly, Lord of Tindalos came over.”

“There is no way a Ruling Race would come because of a simple prayer...”

“I think it’s a racial issue. It said it came to check.”

“Ahh… is that so. Well, then there were no problems of any kind, yes?”

“Looks like it. There are no problems. It already went back, too.”

“It appears it has disabled its aura, none have lost consciousness, yes?”

“Correct, Lucianna-sama.”

“You can go back then.”

Lucianna-san instructed others and returned everything to normal state. Speaking of which, it’s a chapel in the midday, isn’t it. Sorry to disturb.

Now then? I had a chat that was not in the plan, but it’s summer break and I have plenty of time. Moreover, I received valuable information that seems to be related to my future evolutions, so it was very worthwhile. ...The other side’s appearance aside.

To summarize it… there is a need to match the elemental magic families with Stellura-sama’s elements. If I raise «Linguistics» at the library, it will be easier for me afterwards. Aim for Nether. Find the first gate connecting to Medium that is in Nether. That is about it?

So, in order to accomplish these… I need to hunt. Hunt it is. Hunt, and reading in between hunts. If there is an evolution at level 30, I would like to get to Nether before that. And speaking of leveling, it seems like I will be able to raise my level quite a bit during the second official event.

“Oh, hey Princess! It’s good weather today! It’s almost as if my skin is getting a tan! I have none though. HA HA HA HA.”

“Good day, Ske-san. An Undead joke?”

It seems like my automatic recovery outheals the damage, and my HP bar is full. Using the parasol would only decrease the amount of Skill experience I get, so I’m hesitant whether I should use it.

“Wanna go hunt, Princess? East of Belstead. If it goes well, maybe we’ll get to the next town.”

“We will move forward as we hunt, yes?”

“There’s info that a little ahead of there, there’s a horse monster~.”

“I see, by all means I would love to absorb one.”

“Rite~? Alf-san should IN soon, we plan to go then.”

I want a horse. And since I opened my schedule on the weekends to be able to party with them, I have time now.

“Ske-san, what will you do about the event?”

“Of course I’m participating. I’m going with Alf, what about you, Princess?”

“I’ll join then.”

“Okaay, kaay.”

“The second event feels like it would be hard on groups of varied races.”

“Right~? Decided what are you bringing already, Princess?”

“Thinking of an Alchemy Kit. A lot of various things can be made with it.”

...Oh? Speaking of which, Ske-san has an Alchemy Kit, doesn’t he. There is no point in bringing the same thing in a PT, is there? He has no Refining Circle Expansion Core, but if we are to bother about quality, we might as well leave it to specialized crafters...

“I’ll bring alchemy, so how about you take a Cooking Kit, Princess? We can’t eat, though.”

“Hmm… certainly, that might be a good idea...”

Alf-san has logged in. The gathering place is Belstead, so we teleport through the statue.

“Oh? It’s Princess.”

“I heard from Ske-san you are going East.”

“Yup, yup. I leave the lead to you.”

“Sure.”

I invited Alf-san and Ske-san to the party, then after receiving elimination quests at the union, we head East. We need to do quests bit by bit, or our rank at the union won’t go up otherwise.

“What are you taking to the event, Alf-san?”

“I’m hesitating, you see… There is only one type that you can take, so game-wise it’s one slot, so potions aside… weapons only stack up to 1, so you can only bring one.”

“Yes, I know. That is probably the case.”

“If it was one type without a limit on weapons, it would be funny, but I guess we don’t have that kind of money anyway.”

“Rather, in such a case there would be no point in “possession limit for survival”. It seems like we are going to be cast away, so the setting is that “we have the items we were wearing, and luckily retained one item type”.”

“First of all, it’s pretty impossible not to repair weapons until they are completely broken, right? Since it will take 8 days, there will be two, three repairs in total. During the event, money has no meaning, so I guess it will be a pickaxe for Mining during the event.”

“If there was a problem, it would be whether we will be able to meet up with Ertz-san and others…”

“Won’t we go to the same place if we form a raid? Is what I thought, but it probably won’t work. It would make the spawn points too uneven, so it might be a little hard, but we will have to meet up in the area.”

“I guess that’s what you call being castaway.”

While talking we beat the enemies and move forward. For some time after leaving the town, the enemies are only Piggs and Anguses. I got used to beating them.

We heard that it’s best to go to the next town by using a road, so there is no need to hesitate. And by road, I mean, the hardened soil. There is a brown line cutting through the grasslands, so it’s extremely easy to spot.

“I think it’s about time enemies change?”

“King Slimes and Army Horse. In the sky there are Axel Hawks.”

“By the way, how are slimes in this world?”

“They can be really different in every game, can’t they.”

“I think there was a slime person who shared information on the inhuman board.”

We are going to fight them now, so let’s investigate.

«Mucus Body»

Physical Resistance.

Magic Damage Taken ×4.

Super HP Recovery with moisture.

Therefore, in combat, attacks with magic other than «Water Magic» are effective, and it’s best to avoid combined spells that include water magic. The crucial physical resistance reduces physical damage taken by about 80%...?

"...I guess in this game, they can be categorized as strong?”

“I can’t do anything to them, so I leave them to you!”

“Feels like they’ll be strong as hell during rain.”

“Ahh, I see. So they are weather-dependent. That’s interesting.”

Army Horses are left to Alf-san who has a mount. King Slimes and Axel Hawks are up to me and Ske-san.

And when we walked enough distance to would have entered a forest if we went in a different direction from the town, the mobs spawning on the grassland suddenly changed.

"...These slimes look like they were half-assedly comicalized.”

“Yeah.”

They aren’t round like slimes in a certain franchise. They are a gel-like object that is unable to completely take a spherical shape and move by crawling. It feels like it’s losing to gravity. Also, this King Slime is as large as a person. The movement speed is… faster than that of a Zombie.

Ske-san and I sent a lance each at it, and it perished. It sure is sad, the ×4.

“Aah, got nothing.”

“Even if you get a drop, it’ll apparently be Slime Gel.”

Slime Gel was an alchemical material. I think it was possible to make Magic Water with Slime Gel, Distilled Water and Magic Stone. It seems to be used for Magiclay too.

Well, more importantly, the horse blueprint. That is more important. If we hunt two and absorb them with Ske-san, I feel like we should be able to get to the third area’s town.

A Dullahan and an Army Horse started a ruthless battle. ...Neither of them are human, so I guess we can’t expect much humanity from them.

Enemies in the East are Lv24~28. Honestly speaking, we won’t lose against them in 1 vs 1 combat. It's an appropriate level for us, after all. By the way, Ske-san is Lv26, so two levels above me.

“Hmm.. Well, I guess it’s stronger than an Angus?”

“They do a headbutt, a front leg stomp and a hind leg kick, right.”

They are higher level than Angus are, but at this point level doesn’t matter that much. They have a far more aggressive AI than Angus, which makes Army Horses stronger.

After dashing, they do a spin on their front legs to kick with hind legs, the damage looks grievous. If it hits… that is.

Ske-san absorbs the first horse.

“There are plenty of slimes, but few horses.”

“Most likely because they are the strongest mobs on this side?”

"...I would be grateful if they reduced the number of enemies above.”

“Agreed.”

There was a fair amount of Axel Hawks flying at us. They attack from above, so they are fairly annoying. Most likely because he’s riding a horse and is the tallest, Alf-san is aimed at by Axel Hawks the most. It makes things easy in a way, though.

I don’t have a horse yet, and Ske-san hasn’t summoned one either.

...Oh right. Let’s try it. I matched the time when Axel Hawk assaulted.

“【Gravitas】”

“Ohh? Hngh!”

I used «Spatial Magic»’s【Gravitas】to double the gravity on Axel Hawk. The strength of gravity pulling him to the ground increased, it could also be said that his weight doubled… but this is nice.

I don’t know if it has a special anti-air effect, but Axel Hawk who was charging at Alf-san… was unable to correct his trajectory when he was affected by【Gravitas】, and exchanged hugs with the ground. After that, he was stomped by Alf-san’s horse, farewell.

"What was that?”

“«Spatial Magic». It's a gravity increasing magic you can see sometimes in games.”

“Ahh, understood.”

“How is MP efficiency?”

“Hmm… it’s more reliable than shooting blank shots into the sky? That is if I can shoot them down like I did this time… that is.”

“It’s easy if it does work, so how about challenging it and verifying while at it?”

“I guess.”

“Okaay.”

Ske-san takes slimes. I take on Axel Hawks. Alf-san is responsible for Army Horses. Of course, when either of us is free we support each other with attacks, but this is the split for combat with multiple enemies.

【Gravitas】is a spell that specifies a single target. In other words, it’s very easy to hit the target with it. It’s also easy to hit an enemy with coordinate-targeted explosion-types, but the MP efficiency is very bad against single enemies. Flying enemies so far all have low VIT and defenses, so they are easy to beat if they fall down.

“I’m very curious about Slimes’ attack patterns, but I guess there was no hero to try it, right?”

“HAHAHAHA… Of course there was.”

“A whip-like attack, a leap, a weighing on attack that changes into take-in and digestion.”

“Ahhh...”

“Apparently a few seconds after being taken in you get Instant Death. I guess it means you can’t escape~.”

“Coatl in South allowed you to get as far as its mouth, but you received Instant Death when he swallowed you, right?”

So Coatl in the South had an attack like that. An instant death attack you can see in games. Well, I wouldn’t want to stay inside his belly, so I guess that’s for the better.

“Unfortunately, they won’t fulfill a guy’s dream, though! Ha ha ha ha.”

“I guess a lewd slime that only dissolves clothes would be going too far.”

“A slime that mainly eats metals and cloth materials? It wouldn’t be strange if they existed, but this game is all-ages.”

“About that, are King Slimes omnivores?”

“Rather, according to Resident Adventurers’ information they only melt meat and leave equipment behind.”

“So they were gore slimes? The tentacles in the South also come after you to kill you.”

“Well, it is all-ages.”

So they are carnivores. “Wait, that’s wrong!” is probably what guys will say. But if they did as guys want, it would turn out that it’s not fair to happen only to women and guys would also get the same treatment. Also what would happen... to Ske-san who’s bones and Alf-san who is armor…? Yup, let’s not think about it.

“Ske-san is already naked and exposes everything, so I wonder if he would be alright?”

“Iyaan~.”

“I guess… there are some guys who get excited over bones.”

“The world is large!”

“Oh, a horse.”

We don’t combat all that frequently. It must be because we are traveling on a trade route. We can pretty much ignore slimes, there are few Army Horses, and Axel Hawks hardly attack as long as you don’t leave the road(?). I guess that even with an escort… if they attacked often, it would not serve well as a trade route.

Alf-san brought an Army Horse and an Axel Hawk.

When an Axel Hawk was diving to assault, I gifted him a【Gravitas】to strike him down. There, Ske-san used «Shadow Magic»’s【Shadow Bind】, from the shadow appeared countless black arms which pinned the Axel Hawk to the ground.

After that Ske-san switches to attack the Army Horse. I approach the Axel Hawk flapping its wings and stab its head with a rapier. There was damage from falling, so this finished him off. From there I help out with the Army Horse and all done.

“A’ight, you can absorb him.”

“Got it.”

〈【Dark Ritual】has acquired “Horse” body.〉

〈【Dark Ritual】has gained “6” Capacity.〉

We disassemble Axel Hawks. What we get are feathers for arrows, however.

For horses, well… we use a set of Skills for movement. «Legs», «Footwork», «Balance Control», «Agility Enhancement», and from Monster Skills, I change «Life Absorption» for «Swift Run». It increases AGI and raises speed bonus when running.

Horse, Battle Horse and Army Horse are available for calling, their size is Medium so the cost is ×4. Army Horse costs 800, hm? Let’s call one and try riding it.

“Now, #1, you’re a horse. Let me ride… can I even ride this?”

“Ahh… right, about that seat.”

“Saddle you mean.”

“Yeah, that. Isn’t it necessary?”

It’s a Skeleton Army Horse, so, bones. In other words, it’s all bones and no meat. Do I have to call a zombie?

“For now, let’s try riding them. It’s a game, so it will possibly be different from how it looks.”

“Well… I guess.”

Based on its appearance it would definitely be difficult to ride, but does common sense apply to a magical creature like an Undead…?

By the way, Alf-san does not have reins nor saddle, and is riding an armor horse.

“Oh, it actually works?”

“...Seems so. However, it might be impossible to combat like this.”

“If you want to fight while riding you need «Riding» Skill. It’s a Skill that lets you maintain balance and fight while riding.”

It’s bones so it’s easy to stabilize our lower bodies and we can stabilize our upper body by holding onto bones, but… since we need to hold onto the horse = our hands aren’t free, so it’s impossible for us to fight while riding.

And according to Alf-san, «Riding» Skill allows you to stabilize yourselves while riding, so once it goes up the need to hold onto the mount will disappear. In other words, it will become possible to fight while riding.

“I’m using a staff, so once I get used to it I should be able to attack with one arm…? But without doubt, my movements will be limited.”

“My weapon is also one-handed, but… how about giving the horse itself a «Riding» Skill?”

“That is worth trying...”

For now, we still haven’t unlocked «Riding» skill, so we slowly progress forward.

...A headless armor riding a headless armor horse. Bones riding a bone horse. A dress-wearing me riding a bone horse. This must be an eerie sight. We ride in the order of Alf-san, Ske-san, and me.

Currently rather than riding, our state feels more like we are clinging to a horse. We are lacking elegance, this will affect my character’s honor. I need to do something about it soon.

The area should have changed, but the scenery in surroundings did not. It’s the same, gentle grassland. Though, there are a little more hills now.

“Enemies here are Rabbits and Wolves?”

“Their higher tiers.”

“Do they form packs?”

“They do. So, they’re linking.”

There are fewer rabbits than wolves. They are Fear Rabbits and Gray Wolves. Both seem to be in their early level 30-ties. Fear Rabbit has a little dark red fur. Gray Wolf is just a gray wolf.

“A Fear Rabbit, hm? A Fear status ailment is a staple, so...”

“But why rabbits?”

“They are usually hunted down so they can’t evolve, but evolved rabbits are strong… -kind of thing?”

““AHH..””

This game’s rabbits are tasty after all.

Well, that aside, we are heading for the center of the map. Our priority is opening a portal.

“Huh? There’s something more. It’s an o...strich…?”

“Clearly an ostrich.”

Avestruz… first half of level 30. It’s an ostrich with sharp beak and strong legs.

Uwah, he’s coming this way.

“We got targeted.”

“RUN LIKE HELL.”

It’s an AGI contest between horses and an ostrich. And both sides are monsters.

Between us galloping, Ske-san is the fastest, next being me, and Alf-san being slowest. Is the difference between me and Ske-san, the weight difference? He’s just bones and I’m not only a zombie, but also my dress is pretty heavy.

Maybe it would be faster if I summoned at triple the cost?

“THAT OSTRICH’S FAST! SCARYYY!”

A group of Undead… chased after by a wildly-charging ostrich doing an ostrich run. Sounds like it would look interesting from the side.

But Alf-san? I think that an armored horse carrying a lump of metal being able to escape an ostrich is pretty horrifying in itself. Even with my buffs, that horse of his is pretty terrific.

...Undead horses are pretty capable, aren’t they? Speaking of which, they don’t have stamina do they. So it’s possible for them to run at top speed at all times? The problem is, the appearance. It’s Inhumans… especially Undead-types fate. The appearance.

By the time we saw the town, we lost the targeting. He was pretty tenacious.

〈You have fulfilled specific requirements, «Riding» was unlocked.〉

Oh, it was unlocked. Let’s try it later. If there is no effect if I give it to the summon… I’ll have to acquire it. It seems like it will be very useful.

“Did the difference in stamina show?”

“Although it’s gentle, it’s still a slope...”

“But, if not for Princess’ buffs, we wouldn’t be able to escape, no?”

“I would’ve definitely been caught.”

We do lose level wise. The fourth area is probably level 40 and above, so it will take a lot of time until we can go there.

In any case, we head to the town we could see.

“S-STOP THERE!”

“I knew it.”

Right. And conversation is my role. For now, it should be faster to dismiss summons.

“Mm…? A necromancer, huh.”

“We are Outsider Immortals.”

“A Skeleton and...”

“A Dullahan. Also, I’m a zombie-type.”

“YOU TOO?! Nn… do you have Adventurer’s Cards?”

“Yes, here.”

“Let’s see… alright, confirmed. Welcome to Barberg!”

“Where can we find Adventurers’ Union?”

“It’s on the South side of the central square.”

“Thank you very much.”

After our union cards were checked, we were let in. As long as there’s an union card, it does not matter whether you are a Resident or an Outsider.

Let’s sightsee later. First we go to unlock the portal in the central square.

〈Barberg portal was unlocked.〉

〈You can set it as your revival point. Yes/No.〉

I select No for the revival point. We’ll have peace of mind for now.

“It’s really white everywhere, isn’t it?”

“It’s probably because this is the country that has the church’s main headquarters. I can’t think of a different reason for it.”

This is the first town of the Nealence Kingdom. There are the church’s headquarters here, and it’s a country rich in agriculture.

It feels like buildings are mainly using white-ish materials. At first look there’s white, white, white everywhere, so they must be very conscious of it. Well, some buildings are aged so they aren’t pure white, however.

“We arrived, but what now? Do we disband for now, or go hunting?”

“Nn… we should hunt while there’s three of us?”

“Yeah. It will be better to explore when we are alone.”

“Then let’s go to the union and report the elimination quests being done, and ask for information about the surroundings.”

I’ll search for ingredients when I’m alone.