Translator: Eisen Editor: Weasalopes
I recall Jericho and summon Zangetsu.
She"s essential for this strategy.
Helix will be checking the surroundings.
I have to make sure I"m not getting in the way of other players.
I don"t think I can pull this off unless the amount of players is small.
It"s also very risky.
Let"s try it on a small scale first.
I"ll be doing something like a "train".
It would be awful if we were to run into other players, but there seem to be only a few of them on this Map.
I can"t be too careful though, so I"ll have Helix look around.
I"ve grown used to casting certain spells while on horseback.
But I have no experience firing off spells while I"m riding.
I wonder if that will work.
That will be the key to this strategy"s success.
Well, if all fails, I can always escape to the Earth Spirit Shrine.
My first encounter is a group of six Snow Apes.
First, I"ll try to run away from them and measure the speed at which they come after me.
Oh no, I"ve put too much distance between us by running at full speed, and they went from Active to Pa.s.sive.
And now they"ve stopped chasing me.
Hmm.
I wonder if running away really is the way to go.
I"ll try to get another group of monsters to follow me.
This time it was only Volff barking at them, but…
All of the Apes around here just turned around and looked at us!
Scary!
None of them are wielding an axe, but still!
It"s another chase.
More Snow Apes are joining into this flock.
There are four more, now.
Those red markers are shining ominously.
It"s intimidating.
At least one of them is wielding an axe.
Well, this seems to be a nice moment to begin our test.
Time to select a spell.
The first thing I"ll do will be simply to check the effectiveness of AOE spells.
All right, what will it be?
「Storm Wave!」
「Eek?」
「Geh!」
I"m trying the Wind Magic AOE spell first.
Strong winds blow around the Apes and damages them one by one.
Save for one of them, their HP bars went down by a little over than twenty percent.
That one individual is quite different from the rest.
It"s one of the axe-wielding variants, and its HP bar has decreased only by ten percent.
I"m glad that my spells are boosted by the Silver Necklace.
Those axe-wielding Apes sure are strong.
「Aqua Slash!」
Next is the Water Magic AOE spell.
Oh.
It seems that it did a bit more damage than Storm Wind.
Unfortunately, it also seems that the Apes at the rearmost took no damage at all.
Could it be that it has a smaller range?
Maybe it"s because I"m moving as I use the spell?
How did it go?
The HP bars of eight of them went down to half.
One of them went down to twenty percent.
The axe-wielding one is down to thirty percent.
And they are still following us.
Now"s the moment of truth.
I"m going to use two spells.
The first one I"ll use is the Steam Magic support spell, Mist.
Then I"m going to use Water Shield.
The idea is to use that spell right after Mist.
I select Mist, activate it, and then immediately switch over to Water Shield.
Until now, I haven"t noticed much of an effect from【Speedcasting】, but I"m glad I have it.
Right after I finished activating the second spell, the first spell fires off.
「Mist!」
Then the second spell comes immediately after that.
「Water Shield!」
What would these monsters do the moment their vision is blocked?
I"m expecting them to keep rushing onwards.
If they"re only mindless beasts who just throw themselves into battle, it should go as expected.
Three Apes break through the water wall.
However, they fall on their knees right after that and drop to the ground.
Their HP bars disappear, and so do their red markers.
Four more appear out of the mist.
One of them is almost out of HP.
It falls to the ground and tries to get back up, but Helix quickly swoops down on it.
It"s a direct hit with his beak!
That"s all it takes to put an end to that Ape.
Another one of those Apes is wielding and axe, and it"s at about thirty percent HP.
Still, it tumbles to the ground.
Volff and Obsidian quickly rush towards it.
The other two drop dead to the ground soon after emerging.
Then the last three Apes come out.
Two of those fell to the ground and died instantly.
The other one has almost no HP left.
I quickly take care of it by attacking it with my rod as I ride Zangetsu.
The remaining axe-wielding Ape will be relatively easy to defeat now.
Well, I think it will be hard for it to counterattack if we gang up on it.
After all, we were killing monsters left and right while on horseback just now.
《Summon Monster 『Obsidian』 Level Up!》
《Please add 1 point to a desired stat.》
Oh!
Obsidian has leveled up, huh?
That"s great.
His SPI has increased automatically upon leveling up.
I"ll choose AGI as his second stat increase.
Monster Summon Obsidian Owl Lv5→Lv6（↑1）
DEX 12
AGI 20（↑1）
INT 20
STR 12
VIT 12
SPI 17（↑1）
Skills
Peck Silent Flight Far Sight Night Vision Ambush Sense Danger Divine Hearing
I"ll close Obsidian"s stats window for now.
Time to reflect on the results from the battle.
Did it go as expected?
Well, I think there"s still room for improvement.
Was it overkill that over half of the monsters that went through the wall died just like that?
If I do some damage in advance, could I reduce the spells needed from two to one?
Would adding a second wall increase damage output?
What difference would it make to use Wind Shield instead of Water Shield?
What about Stone Wall?
It"s no good.
If the monsters don"t go through the wall, we won"t be able to attack them.
But I might have to confirm this.
I would like to try many different things.
I have about 40 percent of my MP left.
It looks like AOE spells use up a lot of MP, but this is not the case for wall-like spells.
I wasn"t expecting this, but it seems I can try this one more time.
I"ll think of a plan of action as I peel off the Apes" skins and bones.
This is getting interesting.
Let"s go find another group of Snow Apes.
Having Helix here is great.
He"s quite reliable when it comes to finding groups of monsters.
The third group of Snow Apes is found, which makes it a total of ten monsters chasing after us.
Wait.
There"s something odd in there.
Is that a Snow Leopard?
It"s coming out at the vanguard of the group of Snow Apes.
The gatekeeper of the Forest Maze, Plant Golem, had several Fungi following it.
Have many monsters out there in the field started to group up like this?
That seems to be the case.
This is bad.
I"m running away as fast as a Snow Ape can run.
At this rate, that Leopard will catch up with me in no time.
I"ll select the first spell immediately.
Once it"s finished casting, I"ll select the second one.
Then I"ll open the Spell List to be ready to use the third spell.
「Mist!」
The second spell fires off without delay.
「Wind Shield!」
Then I"ll select the next spell from the list.
What will it be?
Volff rushes towards the Snow Leopard, who came through the Wind Shield first.
The Leopard"s movements are rather slow.
Volff goes for the throat with a ferocious bite.
He first appears to be lifting it above his head, but just like that, he smashes it against the ground.
Did he just do a suplex?
He just performed that move perfectly, as if he were a human.
The Apes are now tumbling down after emerging from the wall, and they all still seem to be alive.
But none of them has more than half of their HP left.
It seems that they are unable to move normally after emerging from the Wind Shield.
「Aqua Slash!」
I"m using the Water Magic AOE spell against these Apes.
At the same time, I"m rushing to attack them while riding Zangetsu.
Helix and Obsidian are providing aerial support.
I thrust my Kaya Wood Rod at them while on horseback.
I don"t have time to check the effectiveness of the AOE spell.
But I think it went well since the Apes are falling one after the other with ease.
And just like that, the Apes are annihilated.
This was just too quick.
What is Volff up to?
He approaches me as I get down from Zangetsu and stand among the Apes" corpses.
He"s dragging the Snow Leopard"s corpse with his jaws.
Volff seems to have lost a little HP, but it"s definitely not a problem.
I think it all went pretty well.
《[Staff] Level Up!》
《[Horsemanship] Level Up!》
Naturally, some skills leveled up as well.
This should make me considerably stronger.
But since they increase little by little, it"s hard to feel any difference.
What I did feel in this battle, though, was【Speedcasting】"s effect.
There"s always a delicate moment when you don"t know whether or not your spell take too long.
I can only imagine how terrible would it be if some spells are not in time when you need them most.
I get two skins and claws from the Snow Leopard.
Also, eight skins and five bones out of the Snow Apes.
This is great.
But it"s also becoming a bit troublesome.
The Snow Leopard skins have a Weight of 3, and the Snow Apes" ones have a Weight of 2.
My《Item Boxes》are up to the brim with Snow Ape Skins.
Since I"ve collected this many, I should better go to Legias today and sell them.
But I"d also like to try doing another train first.
It"s only 3:00 PM.
It"s not too late to give it another try.
In a way, I could see this as a failure.
Before encountering any Snow Apes, I ran into a Black Bear.
It was unexpected.
Still, I tried to use the Mist and Water Shield combo like before.
I was… dissapointed with the results.
Actually, I think it did a lot of damage, but Black Bears seem to be tougher than Apes and Leopards.
We took advantage of our superior speed, and defeated it without taking any damage.
I feel that I wouldn"t even need any spells to hunt Black Bears like this.
I could even hunt fifteen of them in a row easily.
I was afraid that being too quick could to be a problem at first, but it has its uses.
I quickly peel off the Bear"s fur and paws.
But I also got a different item from it.
Let"s check the items one more time.
【Material】Black Bear Paw Raw Material Grade C Rarity 2 Weight 1
Raw flesh from Black Bear"s paw. Soft and tasty.
【Material】Black Bear Fur Raw Material Grade C Rarity 2 Weight 3
Thick fur from a Black Bear. So hairy that you can expect it to be effective in retaining warmth.
【Material】Black Bear Liver Raw Material Grade C Rarity 3 Weight 1
A Black Bear"s liver. Very nutritious.
A liver, huh?
It sure does feel nice to be able to peel one of these off, huh?
On the other hand, I"ve also obtained a lot of Black Bear Furs.
I have eleven pieces of fur, six paws, and two livers in total.
Those furs are so heavy!
I have two《Item Boxes》, but one of them is already full.
I can"t go on like this.
「Return Home!」
I"m teleporting to Master"s house.
I want to go to Legias and free up some s.p.a.ce.
I leave Master"s house and run through the forest by using Forest Walk while riding Zangetsu.
Then I head for the road to Legias.
Something doesn"t feel quite right.
A party of six players is fighting against a monster.
That monster is a Black Bear.
Huh?
This is the W1 Map, right?
No, I"m not mistaken.
I keep following the main road to the village.
I notice some parties fighting agianst Wild Pheasants (F) and Striped Rac.o.o.ns.
And I also encounter a monster right in front of Legias.
It"s another Black Bear!
How can this be?
I proceed to beat the Bear down, and get another fur.
This was definitely a Black Bear, but why?
This kind of monster belongs to another map!
This might be related to the event.
Legias itself looks different as well.
The guards seem particularly vigilant, and are now opening and closing the gates to the village, which has never been the case before.
The same goes for the rest of the village.
The NPCs that are walking around have this stern expression about them.
There clearly seem to be many anxious people around here.
Let"s go to Rick"s stall.
Is it my imagination, or are there less NPCs coming and going from the stall?
Did something happen?
「h.e.l.lo! I came back early.」
「Oh, Keith! Welcome!」
Rick looks the same as usual.
But of course, the topic of our conversation was the situation with the monsters.
It appears that Black Bears started appearing around Legias at around noon today.
Unlike the ones that are normally found in the N1W1 Map, these ones are not forming groups, and prefer to act alone.
Moreover, it seems that something has happened around the mining camp in the N1 Map.
Snow Apes seem to have started to show up there.
According to Rick, the forums are crowded with reports on this situation.
「I keep finding monsters from the N1W1 map wherever I go.」
「Did you go to the N1W1 Map, Keith? What does it look like there?」
「Monsters are forming groups left and right. Also, there are monsters that are not normally found there.」
「I think it might be related to the event, but I don"t have enough information to be completely sure.」
「It"s probably because of the event. What about the other maps?」
There is an announcement in the forums, but it"s merely an introduction, and there also mentions of suspicious activities in some places.
For example, the Sea area.
A clearly suspicious ghost ship has appeared there.
Rick showed me a screenshot of a pair of Fishermen fighting there.
There"s a group of Skeletons there, wearing sailor-styled clothes.
There also seem to be some kind of zombies thrown into the mix, too.
The hull of the ship is full of sh.e.l.ls and sea anemones sticking to it, giving it that ghost-ship appearance.
One of the Skeletons is wearing a hat like a captain, and a sea serpent seems to be coming out of one of its eye sockets.
It looks creepy, honestly.
But it also looks somehow comical, too.
The presence of the fishermen in the picture kind of ruins the mood.
What a shame.
What are you doing with that skull hanging from the tip of your spear, Mr. Fisherman!?
「The production team will focus entirely on production activities for now, and will wait for more information on the event before doing anything else.」
「Better safe than sorry, right?」
「Stocking up has been quite troublesome as of late. That only means trouble if you"re a Merchant like me.」
That"s what Rick says, but the situation doesn"t look so harsh to me.
He"s as aloof from the world as ever.
But I managed to ease his concerns about lack of stock.
I piled up his desk with stuff.
Skins and bones taken from Snow Apes.
Furs and paws from Black Bears, and the livers, too.
And a few skins from Snow Leopards.
Of course, I won"t be selling any of my Snow Leopard Claws.
I also split aside Lambda"s spoils.
「Oh, this many of them might make the prices fall.」
I thought that he might try to beat down the prices, but that was not the case.
Bones are particularly popular items, and skins have been originally known as rare items that can be used for protection.
The ingredients, like the paws and liver, will go straight to Yuka"s stall.
「I could change the evening menu with these.」
I think both of us got a good deal.
Rick calculated the price for Lambda"s spoils, too.
His items fetched an amazing price!
The fact that my money on hand increased so much just like that makes me a little anxious.
Is there a bank somewhere?
After leaving Rick and Yuka"s stalls, I head out of the village and try to use Call Monster.
I need to make sure just what kind of monsters can be found now around the village.
I can definitely see more Black Bears around.
Instead of forming groups, they seem to be acting alone.
Their numbers seem to be less than that of the Striped Racc.o.o.ns.
I call one Black Bear and proceed to beat it down.
It"s exactly 5:00 PM now.
This is hardly a convenient hour to be doing much.
I don"t have time to go to a different map.
It can"t be helped.
I"ll have to go hunting somewhere nearby.
Let"s go to the Forest Maze then.
And let"s add that new Monster Summon while we"re at it.
As soon as I enter the Forest Maze, I go to an open s.p.a.ce where no monsters show up.
I have to be careful not to encounter any monsters for now.
I"ll take this chance to have an early meal.
I"ll change the lineup completely too.
I recall Volff, Zangetsu, Helix and Obsidian.
Then I summon Jericho, Jean, and Bunraku.
The last member will be the new monster.
That"ll be my eleventh companion.
Well then.
What will it be?
This is the moment I enjoy.
I open the list of the monsters I can summon, and filter the ones that I haven"t summoned yet.
Red Fox
Tiger
Viper
Skeleton
Mist
I kind of wanted to select one at random.
But I think I should choose my companions carefully.
With that in mind, I make my choice.
Mumyo Skeleton Lv1（New！）
DEX 14
AGI 14
INT 11
STR 10
VIT 10
SPI 11
Skills
[ ] [ ] Block Physical Resistance [Slight] Self-Repair [Medium] Dark Attribute
I can choose two of his skills.
Well, what would be good?
A sword would be the standard, but let"s have him use hammers.
For the last slot, I"ll choose Buckler.
Mumyo Skeleton Lv1（New！）
DEX 14
AGI 14
INT 11
STR 10
VIT 10
SPI 11
Skills
Hammer Buckler Block Physical Resistance [Slight] Self-Repair [Medium] Dark Attribute
Yup.
Our new friend is a creepy-looking skeleton.
His stats are rather low, but not "Slime" low.
Self-Repair [Medium]?
It seems to be a superior version of Jericho"s skill.
He also seems to be particularly resistant to physical attacks.
I"ll give him an Enraged Pickaxe to use as a weapon.
He can also use Goki"s buckler.
Hmm.
He"s looking good now.
He"s still a monster, though.
The marker above his head is green, so other players won"t mistake him for a hostile skeleton.
There are some things that you won"t understand unless you try them.
I"ll change from Flashlight to Night Vision in order to secure my field of vision.
Well then, what will happen now?
Protagonist Keith
Race Human Male Racial Lv11
Job Summoner Lv10
Bonus Points Remaining 10
Skill Sets
Staff Lv9（↑1）Punch Lv6 Kick Lv6 Joint Lock Lv5 Throw Lv5 Evade Lv6 Block Lv6 Summon Magic Lv11 s.p.a.cetime Magic Lv4
Light Magic Lv5 Wind Magic Lv6 Earth Magic Lv6 Water Magic Lv6
Fire Magic Lv5 Dark Magic Lv5 Ice Magic Lv4 Lightning Magic Lv4
Tree Magic Lv4 Dust Magic Lv3 Lava Magic Lv3 Steam Magic Lv3
Alchemy Lv6 Pharmacy Lv5 Gla.s.smaking Lv3 Woodworking Lv4
Synergy Lv8 Appraise Lv7 Identify Lv7 Discern Lv3 Cold Resistance Lv4
Grab Lv6 Horsemanship Lv7（↑1）Precise Manipulation Lv8 Jump Lv3
Heat Resistant Lv4 Climb Lv4 Dual Wield Lv5 Disa.s.sembly Lv3
Physical Reinforcement Lv3 Mental Reinforcement Lv4 Speedcasting Lv5
Equipment Kaya Wood Rod x 1 Kaya Wood Tonfa x 2 Enraged Pickaxe + x 2
Silver Necklace + Snow Leopard Push Dagger x 1 Gale Tiger Push Dagger x 2
Wild Horse Leather Armor + Snow Ape Armguard Wild Horse Boots +
Snow Ape Leather Helmet Rampage Belt + Rucksack Item Box x 2
Items:
Survival Knife, Woodworking Tools
t.i.tles:
Old Summoner"s Pupil
Guardian of the Forest
Man of the Middle Path
Spell Archive
Monster Summons:
Volff Grey Wolf Lv1
Zangetsu Horse Lv6
Helix Hawk Lv6
Obsidian Owl Lv5→Lv6（↑1）
DEX 12
AGI 20（↑1）
INT 20
STR 12
VIT 12
SPI 17（↑1）
Skills
Peck Silent Flight Far Sight Night Vision Ambush Sense Danger Divine Hearing
Jean Bat Lv5
Jericho Wood Golem Lv4
Goki Demon Lv4
Senki Beast Ape Lv5
Rig Slime Lv4
Bunraku Wood Puppet Lv3
Mumyo Skeleton Lv1（New！）
DEX 14
AGI 14
INT 11
STR 10
VIT 10
SPI 11
Skills
Hammer Buckler Block Physical Resistance [Slight] Self-Repair [Medium] Dark Attribute