Translator: Charlotte Editor: Weasalopes
There wasn"t anything that looked like a book.
Of course, nothing that looked like scriptures either.
I didn"t even see an exit.
I used【Sense Magic】, but I didn"t find anything.
But there was a gatekeeper.
I had to a.s.sume there was something there.
A trap, perhaps?
《What is a book?》
《Letters, definitely.》
《Words, definitely.》
《We are, in other words, no more than a mould.》
Huh?
That"s all?
《You have acquired the t.i.tle【Knower of the Middle Path】.》
Ah, looks like there was something after all.
I still didn"t know what function the t.i.tle had though.
I knew it had something to do with learning new skills, but I didn"t know what else it did.
I tried focussing on it, but I still got nothing.
Nothing happened.
…right?
Alright. Back on topic.
I returned to the hall and stood in the centre.
It didn"t look like anything was going to happen.
I tried touching the lion-dog statue.
Dangerous…
It seemed like it would be possible to fight them too.
Naturally, I ignored them.
Now, what to do…
Well, for the time being, I could take a break in the portal.
I completely healed Senki using potions.
I didn"t use potions, but it was to preserve the balance between MP and potions I had.
Although I had been using a lot of spells, my MP bar was still at around 70%.
It was about time for me to leave the portal…
But there was one more thing that bothered me.
The Gozu and Mezu.
How far would they level-up?
I was definitely interested.
I would have to deal with them again soon.
At this rate, I was going to spend the whole day in the cave.
I crossed the torii.
There were two possible routes to the mine, and I went in the tunnel that looked bigger.
What did the future have in store?
The situation was different from before.
There were marks on the wall.
Someone had been digging into the bedrock.
Going forward, there were also reinforcements to the ceiling and walls in some places.
The air felt wet.
Here we go…
What"s it going to be?
The tunnel continued.
From the tunnel with the reinforcements, I saw some narrow tunnels extend like tree
branches.
I tried going into one, but it was a dead end.
Well, I suppose that was to be expected.
But I wanted to know.
What kind of creature was I dealing with?
A monster? A phantom?
Well, I didn"t really care either way.
As long as it wasn"t boring, it would be fine.
It turned out to be a normal monster.
Tumbleroot Lv. 3
Monster Enemy Target Active
Battle position: Ground Tree Attribute
A monster…
It looked like a lump of tree roots.
Was it going to be an easy win?
In any case, it was quite amazing.
The monster had the terrain on its side.
It rolled.
It started rolling and came at me.
A number of sharp roots were sticking out of it.
What speed…
It was definitely faster than me.
And on top of that, it made use of the walls and ceiling.
It could bounce too.
To be honest, it was quite an annoying enemy to fight.
So I managed to intercept it.
I shot a spell at it right as it was approaching.
「Fire Shot!」
A fire started from between the roots and the monster burst into flames.
All I had to do was wait for it to turn into a crisp.
I tried hitting it with my staff, but it wasn"t even trying to move anymore.
Hey, hey now…
Wasn"t it a bit too weak?
It turned out that I was the dumb one.
I was in a mine.
Wouldn"t it be better to watch out for the possibility of an explosion?
The monster didn"t drop anything.
It was pretty much just a clump of roots.
I wasn"t in a position to expect anything.
I left the next Tumbleroot to Goki.
He defended with his buckler and cut it with his hatchet.
A very reasonable strategy.
I only had to use my staff to keep it in check.
If I only had to deal with this monster, wouldn"t it be easy?
But they came when I thought they would.
Gozu Lv.5
Phantom Enemy Target Active
Battle Position: Ground Fire Attribute
Mezu Lv.5
Phantom Enemy Target Active
Battle Position: Ground Fire Attribute
Here we go…
They"re here.
The tunnel was sometimes wide, sometimes narrow.
But as soon as I started fighting them, the tunnel seemed very narrow.
Especially for Senki.
But the fight went pretty much the same as always.
I had no complaints.
「Lower DEF! 」
I used a spell on the Gozu.
Goki, Obsidian, and Jean also started moving.
I took on the Mezu on my own, like usual.
It was definitely stronger than me.
But with all the experience I had acc.u.mulated, I was confident.
Not overconfident, though.
It was certainly strong.
But not too strong.
It was still probably weaker than the Deva king.
The fight would make for good experience.
I made free use of all my skills.
I first aimed for the Mezu"s eyes.
I successfully smashed them.
I tried using a technique I hadn"t used in a while.
Although, now that I thought about it, the Mezu were easy targets for just about any skill.
How many times had I already used crotch kicks against them?
Too many to count.
It didn"t look like they could feel pain, so I didn"t feel bad about doing it.
Taking out its eyes was definitely a good idea.
It couldn"t look my way.
All it did was randomly rampage.
It was still dangerous, but I went in with my bare hands.
Why?
I had another weapon up my sleeve.
The wall.
I used a wall.
All I had to do was guide the Mezu and get it to charge into the walls.
I didn"t need much strength to pull off the plan.
I just had to break its balance.
I hooked a foot around one of its legs.
I pulled one of its arms.
Just that was enough.
I delivered some kicks while I was at it, but those were only to counter its attacks.
It easily took the bait and flew at me in a rage.
But all it hit was the wall.
The damage it did was far more than I could do with my staff or my tonfas.
I was grateful for the Mezu"s immense strength.
After repeating the process several times, the Mezu"s HP bar disappeared.
Yup.
It was good terrain for a fight!
The Gozu was still alive.
I used my Staff of Guilt to help out.
Well, it was already on the brink of defeat though.
I could only get in one attack before it was taken out.
《【Punch】Level Up!》
《【Kick】Level Up!》
《You have acquired the t.i.tle【Martial Arts Fighter】!》
《You have acquired the Martial Art Skill【Practiced Spirit】!》
【Punch】and【Kick】levelled up.
And I got a new t.i.tle too.
And, 【Practiced Spirit】?
It sounded like a pretty advanced technique.
But according to the short explanation, all it does is temporarily raise all my stats.
It was like a physical enchant spell, except for all stats at once.
And it didn"t have the casting time that spells had.
Although it was a pity that I could only use it on myself.
The Gozu and Mezu didn"t drop anything.
I didn"t mind.
The next monster I met was a Rock Worm.
But it was big.
Way too big to be an ordinary Rock Worm.
Rock Centipede Lv. 3
Monster Enemy Target Active
The monster was curled up, but it soon uncurled to become even bigger.
It looked like it was going to be a tough fight.
But it didn"t turn out to be that difficult.
Senki stomped on it multiple times and it was no more.
Scary…
They were pretty similar to Rock Worms.
They didn"t drop anything either.
I didn"t have【Disa.s.sembly】activated.
Ugh.
I had to be patient.
The tunnel continued.
The road sloped downward winded left and right.
Sometimes it felt like I was going uphill.
There weren"t that many monsters, but I kept going.
And soon, I ran into them again.
Gozu Lv.6
Phantom Enemy Target Active
Battle Position: Ground Fire Attribute
Mezu Lv.6
Phantom Enemy Target Active
Battle Position: Ground Fire Attribute
Great.
Let"s try it.
「Practiced Spirit!」
I headed towards the Mezu.
And…?
《Summon Monster『Goki』Level Up!》
《Please put one point into a desired stat.》
It was a difficult fight, but I managed to beat the Gozu and Mezu.
Goki levelled up, too.
I meant to use Goki as a sort of shield, but he was having a lot of opportunities to fight on the
front lines too.
Goki used his bow against Float Eyes, but that was it.
I was really happy in my new Martial Art Skill.
It meant that I didn"t have to rely on physical enchant spells so much.
Oh yeah, Goki levelled up.
The stat that went up with the level-up was AGI.
I put another point into SPI.
Goki Demon Lv6→Lv7（↑1）
DEX 19
AGI 15（↑1）
INT 12
STR 18
VIT 18
SPI 12（↑1）
Skills:
Bow Hatchet Buckler Block Evade Hide
And with that, Goki was also about to get a Cla.s.s Change.
I was very excited, to say the least.
Again, the Gozu and Mezu didn"t drop anything.
How far would the pattern go…?
I kept going.
At some point, I ran into a place where the way forward was split in two.
A Gozu and a Mezu were waiting for me.
Gozu Lv.7
Phantom Enemy Target Active
Battle Position: Ground Fire Attribute
Mezu Lv.7
Phantom Enemy Target Active
Battle Position: Ground Fire Attribute
Their levels were increasing as expected.
Of course, I used【Practiced Spirit】again.
I still had over half my MP bar left.
I was confident.
《Summon Monster『Obsidian』Level Up!》
《Please put one point into a desired stat.》
Obsidian levelled up.
My Summon Monsters did have a lot of opportunities to fight.
The many level-ups made sense.
The stat that went up with the level-up was SPI.
I put another point into VIT.
Summon Monster Obsidian Mystic Owl Lv1→Lv2（↑1）
DEX 13
AGI 21
INT 21
STR 13
VIT 13（↑1）
SPI 20（↑1）
Skills:
Peck Silent Flight Far Sight Night Vision Ambush Sense Danger Divine
Hearing Water Attribute
Great.
The Gozu and Mezu were really starting to get difficult.
Especially on my end.
But they were still not bad compared to the Deva king.
【Practiced Spirit】was also a very big help.
But as usual, after I took out the Mezu"s eyes, the fight got a lot easier.
Because from that point onwards, all I really had to do was get it to take out itself.
I even had time to join the fight against the Gozu.
The Gozu also got easier after taking out its eyes.
The wall was starting to make scary sounds.
It felt like the whole tunnel was about to collapse.
The tunnel led to a hall.
There was a torii at the entrance.
And more lion-dogs.
A torii, and dog statues…
The place felt familiar…
I had just returned to a place I"d been to before.
Back to the portal…
In other words, it was probably the other branch that was the right way forward.
But I could give that a break for a while.
It was time for lunch.
I recalled Jean and summoned Bunraku.
I pulled out a table and chair, and filled a pot with water.
I felt like having some sirloin…
Wow!
While waiting for MP bar to recover, I pulled out a blanket and laid down for a while.
I didn"t log out though.
I wasn"t sleepy anyway.
Senki and Goki sat down next to me and curiously watched me.
「Geh?」
「Gugeh?」
Occasionally, they made sounds at each other.
It was honestly a bit off-putting.
Well after all, I had been fighting a lot of battles recently.
All of my joints were hurting.
They were definitely in pain.
But I was grateful for the pain, in a sense.
Because it meant I survived.
That"s what I felt like. Alive.
A smell.
The smell of cooked meat wafted through the air.
Goki and Senki suddenly got a lot noisier.
No!
That"s my food!
But at the end of the day, I ended up cooking three slices more than I had to.
I hope Senki, Goki, and Obsidian were satisfied.
Anyway.
It was time to draw up plans for the future.
I could go fight more Gozu and Mezu…
I recalled Bunraku and summoned Jericho.
I now had two tanks.
Jericho looked pretty serious.
My whole team was made to fight Gozu and Mezu.
Well, how would they do?
Only one way to find out…
I left the split in the tunnel for later and decided to check out some other places to look for
Gozu and Mezu.
I headed for the very first hall that ended in a dead end.
If I remember correctly, there were a pair of Gozu and Mezu there.
They were there.
But they weren"t just Gozu and Mezu…
Gozu Demon Lv.1
Phantom Enemy Target Active
Battle Position: Ground Fire Attribute
Mezu Demon Lv.1
Phantom Enemy Target Active
Battle Position: Ground Fire Attribute
They were slightly different.
They didn"t look that different, though, but was that because I wasn"t observant enough?
Different colours?
No, it wasn"t just my imagination.
Their weapons were still the same, but they had more decorations on them.
Although, for a monster that was only wearing a loincloth, how many decorations do you
really need…?
I already understood that I shouldn"t underestimate Lv.1 monsters.
But I didn"t expect them to be that strong!
It was pretty close to the Deva king in strength.
I lost count of how many times I had to get the Mezu to charge into the wall.
It was a little more difficult in the hall, but the Mezu Demon easily fell for my provocations.
Easy.
It wasn"t like I had any other options.
Power, speed, toughness….
The Mezu Demon was especially tough.
Its HP bar didn"t go down so easily.
But something unexpected happened.
Jericho couldn"t keep the Gozu Demon down on his own.
Senki couldn"t do much either.
Even though I used【Lower ATK】.
Goki"s arrows weren"t doing much damage too.
Even though I used【Lower DEF】too.
Instead, Jericho"s and Senki"s HP bars were gradually decreasing.
Oh no.
They needed support.
「Change Monster!」
I recalled Goki and summoned Rig.
Rig immediately stuck on Senki"s body.
They should be able to make it with that.
「Enchanted Weapon!」
Just in case, I used a spell on Rig.
It would help in repelling the Gozu Demon"s attacks.
Oops.
I wasn"t in such a good position either.
I held my tonfas in both hands.
All I had to do was dodge the Mezu Demon when it came at me.
I got it to ram into the wall again.
But in the process I got hit by the Mezu Demon"s head.
Just a scratch, though.
But my HP bar went down by 10%.
What a scary monster….
I didn"t have a wall behind me.
And the Mezu Demon was already up and charging at me again.
「Magma Screen!」
If I didn"t have a wall, all I had to do was make one.
The Mezu Demon"s head was absorbed into the wall of lava.
Ooh.
It dealt some good damage.
What about the Gozu Demon?
Obsidian was attacking it while Senki and Jericho were holding down its arms.
It still had 80% of its HP bar though.
Let"s try it.
Senki and Jericho threw the Gozu Demon in my direction with perfect timing.
The Gozu Demon was plunged into the curtain of lava.
There wasn"t a rope to keep it in the ring.
Although it was a bit of a stretch to compare the fight to a wrestling match to begin with.
The Gozu Demon took a lot of damage.
Great.
Wall spells were very nice against them, no, against all charging monsters I suppose.
As the wall spell disappeared, the two monsters came into view once more.
They looked at me with rage.
Both of their HP bars were still slowly decreasing.
Looked like there was a continuous damage effect too.
Both the Gozu Demon and the Mezu Demon charged at me simultaneously.
Why?
「Ice wall!」
I used a wall of ice that time.
I was sure that it would get shattered for sure, but there was no underestimating its power
nonetheless.
The wall did a lot of damage.
And it slowed the monsters enough for my Summon Monsters to take over.
The Gozu Demon was grabbed by Jericho, and Senki grabbed the Mezu Demon.
They used their momentum to slam them both into the walls of the hall.
A simple strategy.
But very effective.
But the Gozu Demon and Mezu Demon were still trying to get up.
Jericho and Senki kicked them in the face.
What…?
They looked like pro wrestlers.
Let me in on the fun!
Although I had a feeling I was only going to be a distraction.
Wait… I had my tonfas to deliver attacks.
The Mezu Demon was taken out first.
The fight became a lot easier afterwards.
The Gozu Demon now had to deal with both Jericho and Senki.
It was repeatedly slammed into the walls of the hall.
On top of that, Obsidian and me were providing support.
But even then, Senki"s and Jericho"s HP bars were slowly going down.
But still, the Gozu Demon had no chance.
《【Block】Level Up!》
《【Dark Magic】Level Up!》
《【Light Magic】Level Up!》
Hmm…
Nice.
How did I win? There were many factors, but【Practiced Spirit】surely played a big role.
It was a shame that I couldn"t use it on my Summon Monsters.
But I was always having worries about focussing on my Summon Monsters too much and
ignoring my own stats.
At least I didn"t have to worry about that anymore.
【Practiced Spirit】was definitely a cheaper alternative to using six different physical enchant
spells on myself.
I could save time too, and cast other spells instead.
I had no complaints.
【Practiced Spirit】, huh…
It was certainly going to help me fight stronger opponents, that was for sure.
Protagonist Keith
Race Human Male Racial Lv14
Job Summoner Lv14
Bonus Points Remaining: 17
Skill Sets:
Staff Lv11 Punch Lv9（↑1） Kick Lv9（↑1） Joint Lock Lv8 Throw Lv8 Evade
Lv8 Block Lv9（↑1） Summon Magic Lv14 s.p.a.cetime Magic Lv7
Light Magic Lv8（↑1） Wind Magic Lv8 Earth Magic Lv8 Water Magic Lv8 Fire Magic
Lv8 Dark Magic Lv8（↑1） Ice Magic Lv6 Lightning Magic Lv6 Tree Magic Lv6 Dust
Magic Lv6 Lava Magic Lv6 Steam Magic Lv6
Alchemy Lv6 Pharmacy Lv5 Gla.s.smaking Lv3 Woodworking Lv5
Synergy Lv10 Appraise Lv10 Identify Lv10 Discern Lv3 Cold Resistance Lv5 Grab
Lv8 Horsemanship Lv8 Precise Manipulation Lv10 Jump Lv4 Heat Resistance
Lv5 Climb Lv4 Dual Wield Lv8
Physical Reinforcement Lv6 Mental Reinforcement Lv7 Speedcasting Lv9 Spell Effect
Amplification Lv5 Spell Range Amplification Lv5
Reserve Skills:
Disa.s.sembly Lv6
Equipment:
Staff of Guilt x1 Tonfas of Guilt x2 Fork of Guilt x1 Enraged Pickaxe+ x2 Silver
Necklace+ Snow Leopard Push Dagger x1 Gale Tiger Push Dagger x2 Snow Leopard
Bagh Nakh x1
Wild Horse Leather Armour+ Snow Ape Armguard Wild Horse Boots+ Snow Ape Leather
Helmet Rabid Horse Belt+ Rucksack Item Box x2
Items:
Survival Knife Woodworking Set
t.i.tles:
Old Summoner"s Pupil
Guardian of the Forest
Knower of the Middle Path（New！）
Spell Glossary
Martial Arts Fighter（New！）
Monster Summons:
Volff Grey Wolf Lv3
Zangetsu White Horse Lv1
Summon Monster Helix Fighting Falcon Lv1
Obsidian Mystic Owl Lv1→Lv2（↑1）
DEX 13
AGI 21
INT 21
STR 13
VIT 13（↑1）
SPI 20（↑1）
Skills:
Peck Silent Flight Far Sight Night Vision Ambush Sense Danger Divine
Hearing Water Attribute
Jean Black Bat Lv1
Jericho Wood Golem Lv7
Goki Demon Lv6→Lv7（↑1）
DEX 19
AGI 15（↑1）
INT 12
STR 18
VIT 18
SPI 12（↑1）
Skills:
Bow Hatchet Buckler Block Evade Hide
Senki Beast Ape Lv7
Rig Slime Lv5
Bunraku Red Fox Lv5
Mumyo Skeleton Lv5
Ninetails Red Fox Lv4
Heather Fairy Lv4
Tigris Tiger Lv1