14 - To the Underground Canal

In the morning, I finished what I normally do, alone, and got ready to log in.

Aya will be home this evening, so she’ll have dinner at home. That meant I had to prepare lunch for one more person.

I couldn’t get used to the disconnection and forced connection when I logged in for any length of time. There’s nothing wrong with my body or consciousness, so I don’t think there’s a problem.

When I open my eyelids, I see the ceiling, which is familiar to me nowadays.

In addition, my eyes met with the purple crystal amethyst eyes.

“You got up nya, I thought you’d be up by now nya.”

“Ah, it’s been a day, Reinya.”

“Master asked me to bring Yuki to him when you wake up. Come on. I’ll get the jar for you.”

He said the Old Man was calling me.

I don’t know what happened yesterday, so if possible, I’d like him to explain it to me.

Growwwwlll~~~.

“…..Are you hungry?”

“….I can’t help it, nya.”

I’m feeding the cat.

◇

“Hohoho, you’re up early, how are you feeling?“

“What was that all about? And where did Uluru and the rabbit go?”

In front of the large desk in the library, there was the same old good-natured old man. On the desk, there is something that looks like a magic tool, though I’m not sure what it is.

“Maa, maa, don’t be in such a hurry. Your friends are safe.”

“Well, if you say so. Now, can you explain to me what’s going on?”

“Umu, why don’t you take out the book first?”

The old man then picked up a book that was on his desk.

Take out the book. What? Does that mean I have that shiny book?

I opened the menu and noticed that under the party section, there was a new section called Legion, but now was not the time to worry about it.

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I opened my inventory, and underneath a lot of grass, stones and nust, I found the “Book of Summoning and Contracts.” I immediately took it out.

It appeared in my hand, and the shiny book was not glowing at the moment.

“Fumu, then, open it first.”

I open the book as prompted.

Owned by: Yuki

The Magic Book of Summoning and Contracts.

This is all the information on the first page.

And I turn the page.

Table of Contents

Uluru

Baby Rabbit

Baby Rabbit

Baby Rabbit

Baby Rabbit

Baby Rabbit

Baby Rabbit

Hmm, interesting, what does this mean?

I turn the page further.

Name: Uluru LV2 State:

Race: Baby Wolf

Skills:

Bite LV2

Enhanced Sense Of Smell LV3

Loyalty LV1

Summonable.

Huh, that means?

“Summon Uluru.”

The book shone with light, and a magic circle appeared on the ground in front of me.

When the magic circle shines more strongly, Uluru appears.

“Kuun.”

“That’s what I’m talking about.”

“Yes, that makes sense.”

While petting Uluru, who was rubbing up against me, I thought about it.

This book can be used to summon Uluru and also send him back.

In addition, it can also be used to summon and send back demons other than summons, that is, demons that have been tamed with magic.

It’s a very useful magic.

“I’ve been studying this book ever since I was given it, and this book is a copy of it.”

The old man waved the book in the air. It was similar to this one.

“This book can contain the souls of demons, and each page contains powerful magic that can be used to seal your men.”

The old man still has the same good-natured look and Reinya was not interested.

“A contracted demon will never die. Even if the vessel is destroyed, the soul is protected by this scripture, and if you let it die, it will come back to life in time.”

I see, that’s powerful.

Just by having it, the disadvantages of summoning are greatly alleviated.

A summon can only summon those who are weaker than him, and a tamer can only make those weaker than them follow.

Therefore, summoned and tamed monsters are weak and prone to death.

“The pages of this book will increase as you accumulate more MP, so be diligent, Yuki.”

◇

“Have you finished nya? Then follow me, Yuki.”

When the old man finished, Reinya spoke to me.

“Follow you where?”

“To kill bugs nya!”

“Uh, Old Man?”

I didn’t know what to say, so I asked the Old Man for help.

According to the smiling old man, there had been incidents of food running out in the royal capital at night for a while now.

It was only yesterday that Reinya started to look into it, because one of Reinya’s relatives went missing.

Reinya herself thinks cats are fickle, and while she does mourn the loss of at least one cat, she has no particular feelings about it.

However, most of the cats in the royal capital are active as Reinya’s eyes and ears, so it was strange for her to suddenly disappear without any information.

Then, one day, she led a large herd of cats to search the darkness in the morning and investigate the whole royal capital at night.

They came across a scene where a subordinate was being attacked by a large insect.

Reinya moderately injured the bug and chased after it as it began to flee.

The bug fled to the abandoned city, the place where I first woke up, and dove into an underground canal.

In other words, this is how it happened.

Tsunderenya, who stood up to the danger of her friends, finally discovered the enemy, found the place that seemed to be its stronghold and reported it to the Old man.

In order to train me, Old Man joined the bug-slaying army led by Reinya and marched into the underground canal.

By the way, from Taku’s email. It seems that most of the current players are fighting for scarce resources in the grasslands, while some of the top players are hunting in the eastern beaches, the southern wild dock forests, and the western riverbanks.

He hasn’t heard anything about an underground canal.

“Let’s go then nya.”

“Hoho, be careful out there.”

“Yes, I’m off.”

◇

It’s been a while since I went through the abandoned city.

Even though it is an abandoned town, it does not look like a ruin. There are stone walls covered with ivy, rusty fences and gates, most of the cobblestones are cracked and weeds are growing in the gaps.

In the bright sunlight, it was more like an ancient city than a ruin.

A place like this is likely to be inhabited by ruffians, but it seems that Reinya and her cat army are chasing them away.

So let’s talk about Reinya and her cats.

First, I open the menu and select Legion.

Legion

Yuki LV3

Uluru LV2

Reina LV?

Wildcat LV?

Wildcat LV?

Wildcat LV?

……..

There were about 80 cats in total. To make a long story short, this was not an abandoned town or an ancient city, but a cat town.

It’s been a while since I’ve been in the cat town.

As I followed Reinya through the intricate streets, we stopped in front of a half-opened door.

This must be the entrance to the ground canal.

“Let the darkness guide those who walk the dark path. Dark Eye of Night. Go nya!”

「「「Nya!」」」

“Y, yes!”

Raising my fist lightly, I and the cat army walked toward the underground canal.

It was very, very dark in the underground canal, and in places there were lit stones that had lost their brightness, and some of them had completely lost their light.

However thanks to night vision, I can see well even with little light, and it seems that night vision has a higher level of magic, which would allow me to see even better.

Light stone Quality:E Rarity:2 Durability:C

Note: The magic circle of Luminescence is engraved on the light attribute stone. It is out of magic power.

Degraded lamplight stone Quality:F Rarity:2 Durability:E

Note: The magic circle of “Luminescence” is engraved on the light attribute stone. The magic circle is partially frayed and useless.

I pick it up off the ground.

“Reinya, can I have this?”

“It looks broken, so it’s okay.”

“Then, I’ll take it.”

I collect the occasional magical items. I’ll analyze them carefully later.

◇

After some time in the underground canal, we finally encountered itl.

“…Woah”

“Let’s do it nya!”

「「「Nyaa!」」」

Swarmed by a large group of cats, it desperately resists…

It’s antennae flew off, its limbs were torn off, it was turned over and then it died with its still moving limbs moving in a whirring motion.

Big Cockroach Corpse Quality:E Rarity:2 Durability:C

Note: Many scars. A young individual.

It’s a huge cockroach, maybe as big as a small dog.

It has a shiny black shell.

Aya and I don’t have to worry about them in the house. Of course, we don’t want to get close to them, but we can kick them out, kill them or burn them to the ground.

“Nya, I don’t want this, so I’ll give it to Yuki.”

“Eh? ….Yeah, I wonder if I should take it…..”

“Nya, it’s a little smaller than the one I saw nya, but there are a lot more of them nya.”

“Yeah, looks like it….”

And it seems to be a young individual….

◇

Big Bat LV?

Scavenger Slime LV?

Wild Mouse LV?

Pebble Soldier LV?

Ghost LV?

Big Slug LV?

Big Cockroach LV?

These are the demons we encountered in the underground canal.

Each of them—

Big bat is a big bat.

Scavenger slime is a cloudy slime.

Wild Mouse is a rat.

The Pebble Soldier seems to be a relative of the Golem. They are very hard, but when they fall, it takes a long time for them to get back up.

Ghosts seem to be a collection of small souls. They are translucent and almost immune to physical attacks.

Big Slug is a giant slug.

Big Cockroaches are giant cockroaches.

And so on.

Almost all of the items, such as corpses, were kindly given to me by Reinya.

The slimes and ghosts could not be defeated by mere cats, so Reinya used lightning magic to defeat them.

Scavenger slimes, big slug and big cockroaches seem to attack with poison and Reinya often supports the cats with “Detoxify” and “Recovery Small” magic.

After hunting down the demons, we proceeded for a while.

I heard an unpleasant cracking sound.

Uluru, Reinya, and the cats seemed to have noticed the sound, and all of them stopped moving.

At the far end of the straight corridor, my eyes, which could see better due to the magic of night vision, caught them coming towards me.

On the floor of the passageway——

On the wall——

On the ceiling—–

——-A horde of cockroaches.

“Reinya, I’m not so sure about this one….”

“Nyaa, I think that’s disgusting too….”

Even the cats were frightened in the face of the swarm.

The number of cockroaches is clearly higher, and the entire corridor is stained black.

“Uh, what should we do now? I don’t think we can get away.”

“It’s no use nya, I will exterminate them nya.”

“Can you do that?”

“Maybe.”

If you can do it, please do so, because it will be a traumatic experience for me and Uluru, but if the cats die, that’s it.

“Quickly, lightning, manifest! Lightning Storm, Lightning Tornado!”

Reinya chanted her magic with the most enthusiasm she had ever felt.

The outpouring of lightning-attribute magic power passed through the large magic circle drawn by Reinya, becoming a lightning-covered tornado that surged forward.

Flash of lightning—–

—-And a roar.

After it passed, the swarm of giant cockroaches that had filled the passage turned into mere pieces of meat.

《Your level has been raised.》

“…Reinya, you really are a magician, aren’t you?”

“I told you before nya.”

“Yeah, I heard you.”

I did hear her…….

I tried to ignore the dismembered corpses, thinking that I couldn’t use it anyway, but it occurred to me to acquire the skill “Dismemberment”.

I stuck a knife into a piece of cockroach flesh and chanted “drop”. Some of the surrounding pieces of flesh disappeared and a shiny black shell appeared in front of me.

….I was distraught.

Anyway, that’s how I went about collecting the cockroach materials.

Big Cockroach Shells Quality:E Rarity:2 Durability:C

Note: Big Cockroach shell, slightly scarred. One of a kind with a reasonable hardness.

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Big Cockroach Feather Quality:E Rarity:2 Durability:E

Note: Thin Feathers of the Big Cockroach.

Big Cockroach’s Magic Stone Quality:C Rarity:2 Durability:C

Note: A small magical stone with low magic power.

Big Cockroach Meat Quality:E Rarity:2 Durability:E

Note: Big Cockroach meat, a delicacy.

After collecting all the materials, we continued to the end of the corridor, where there are probably more cockroaches.

TL: 3/5