Chapter 51

"Is this the bear you were talking about...?"

Standing before the three-meter-tall 'bear' that was baring its fangs and waving its claws, Mikoto clenched her fists tightly, her brown eyes not looking at the bear but staring at Mugen, a dangerous blue-white light pulsing on her forehead.

Beside her, Saki also had a troubled look on her face, staring at the 'bear' that Mugen mentioned, unable to swing her White Sakura.

"This is just a bear!" Mugen said matter-of-factly. Compared to the other magical beasts in the Giant Beast Forest, a three-meter-tall body was really not that big, only considered small.

When Mugen first arrived in this world, he encountered a Level 10 wind snake. Although it was only Level 10, it had a body nearly four meters long. Even some Level 10 magical beasts had this size, so this Level 20 brown bear was really not that big.

"Ha... ha..." After taking several deep breaths to suppress the anger rising in her heart, Mikoto raised her electrically charged hand and shot a lightning spear at the brown bear.

All her anger was vented on the brown bear. At this moment, Mikoto seemed to be possessed by a demon, using all her strength to torture the bear, even though it was only a Level 20 magical beast.

Hearing the continuous bear roars, more accurately, the cries of pain, Mugen shivered involuntarily, feeling as if he might step into the gates of death at any moment. Even Saki chuckled nervously and took a few steps back.

The brown bear fell to the ground with a loud thud, raising a cloud of dust. Saki felt a lightness in her body, a sense of comfort spreading through her. She smiled happily, gripped her slightly strengthened arm, and nodded in satisfaction.

Mugen also nodded, pulling up the status list. Saki's character status was below Mikoto's, and Mikoto's was below his, forming a vertical line.

Character: Kikusaki Saki

Ability: None

Strength: D

Endurance: D

Agility: D

Spirit: C

Equipment: White Sakura (D Rank)

Level: 19

Mugen had asked the system about the status of summoned characters. Although there were differences compared to his own status, it was essentially a matter of specific attributes, similar to the equipment ranking system, which ranged from the lowest D Rank to the highest S Rank. Anything below D Rank would simply be displayed as 'None.'

Does 'None' mean there is nothing? If a person's strength is displayed as 'None,' wouldn't they be unable to even walk...

Mugen had complained about this in his heart many times. The system's status was a pit. In the past, his status was displayed as 'Human,' a great term...

"This is leveling up? Hmm... I can indeed feel that I've become a bit stronger!" Saki moved her hands and said with a smile.

"Leveled up? That bear was only Level 20, yet it made you level up!" Mikoto kicked the bear at her feet, puzzled.

Mugen shrugged. "It's easier to level up in the early stages, just like in a game. It gets harder later on. Mikoto, you only leveled up once after killing so many demons in the sealing barrier, right?"

It wasn't just Mikoto; even Mugen himself felt that leveling up was difficult. A Level 60 snake demon, 15 levels higher than him at the time, only made him level up by 4 levels. This was because level increases were relatively easy, but rank increases were much harder.

If it weren't for the 'Ability Acquisition' that gave Mugen a Level 4 superpower, forcing his level to 50, he might not have known when he would level up again.

"That's true. I wonder when I'll reach Level 70..." Mikoto lowered her head and said softly.

She desperately needed power. Only with enough power could she defeat Accelerator and save her sisters!

Mugen had once said that if he hadn't been summoned, he would have had no chance of winning against Accelerator!

When Mikoto was first summoned, she was Level 68. Although she had leveled up once, Accelerator's strength...

Level 70! Definitely Level 70, Eighth Rank strength!

The gap between ranks was hard to bridge, even more so at her level. The gap between ranks was unimaginably large. Just leveling up once was not enough. She needed to reach Level 70 to have a chance!

Not only that, to save her sisters, she would have to face Aleister, the chairman of Academy City, who was even stronger than Accelerator, at least Eighth Rank, and... the angel, Echidna, mentioned by Mugen!

As long as she wanted to save her sisters, she would have to face them!

So, she had to become stronger!

Mikoto's expression was clear to Mugen. He sighed, patted her shoulder, and comforted her, "As long as we don't enter your world, your world will remain frozen. We have plenty of time, Mikoto. Don't rush, take it slow. We have plenty of time."

"Mugen..." Mikoto looked at Mugen with a puzzled expression. "Can I really save all my sisters?"

"Not 'I,' but 'we'!" Mugen corrected with a smile. "We are life-bound, destined to be together forever. Your problem is my problem. How can you forget me!"

"W-Who said I want to be with you forever!" Mikoto's voice, which had been low, turned into a stammer. Her flustered appearance was incredibly cute.

Finally, she's being tsundere!

Mugen smiled. In his mind, Mikoto being tsundere was normal. "Don't worry. Even if they are the bosses, we are the protagonists. They are destined to be defeated by us!"

Hearing Mugen's confident words, Mikoto nodded firmly, her expression resolute.

No matter what, she had to save her sisters!

While Mugen and Mikoto were talking, Saki fell silent. She understood a bit of Mikoto's worries from their conversation. She didn't interrupt but looked at Mugen with a strange, fierce light in her eyes, making Mugen chuckle nervously.

Narrowing her eyes, Saki gave Mugen a threatening look, then pulled Mikoto's hand and said, "Let's continue leveling up. I want to get stronger!"

Without giving Mugen a chance to speak, Saki dragged Mikoto away, diving into the nearby bushes, leaving Mugen feeling helpless.

A harem... is indeed hard to manage...

"Where are we going, Saki?" Mikoto tilted her head, looking at Saki. They didn't know the way in the Giant Beast Forest. Without Mugen's guidance, they had a 99% chance of getting lost.

"Let's just look around for magical beasts."

"Will you really find magical beasts by wandering around?"

"Don't worry, don't worry. Mugen said there are plenty of magical beasts here. I think if we walk around, we'll find some."

Oh, come on, I did say that, but magical beasts aren't like bugs that you can find by just walking into the bushes.

"A magical beast!"

"Hehe, I told you. If we walk around, we'll find one. Look, there it is..."

"Uh-huh, but this magical beast looks like..."

Hearing the voices from the bushes, Mugen was taken aback. Well, there are magical beasts that like to hide in the bushes...

With Mikoto around, Mugen wasn't worried about the two girls encountering any danger. After all, this was just the outer edge of the Giant Beast Forest, and the highest-level magical beast he had seen was Level 30.

"Beep! Special event detected. Emergency mission issued!"

Emergency Mission: Rescue!

Mission 1: Defeat all the Fang Dogs in the area. Current progress: 0/20.

Reward: Equipment points, item points, ability points, summon points 3000.

Mission 2: Defeat members of the Iron Dog Mercenary Group in the area. Current progress: 0/20.

Reward: Equipment points, item points, ability points, summon points 7000.

Mission 3: Rescue the captured character 'Lilin' and defeat the deputy leader of the Iron Dog Mercenary Group.

Reward: Equipment points, item points, ability points, summon points 10000.

The system's voice surprised Mugen. An emergency mission? Rescue? These three missions seem to involve more killing than rescuing...

Special event detected? Is it the kidnapping?

System, when did you become a peace-loving, green-hat-wearing person?...

"Yuck! So disgusting!"

"Don't come near!"

Mikoto and Saki!

Mugen took a step and shot off like an arrow, rushing toward Mikoto and Saki. He quickly saw the two girls.

"What's wrong!" Seeing their shocked faces, Mugen asked urgently, looking them over to make sure they weren't hurt before he relaxed.

"So disgusting. Are there dogs in the forest too?" Saki pointed to a beast in the distance, her face full of disgust.

"Dogs?" Mugen was taken aback, turning to look. He saw a dog with long fangs and buck teeth standing there, baring its teeth at the three of them. It had no fur at all, a bald, large dog, almost as tall as the two girls. Most importantly, its mouth was dripping saliva, looking extremely disgusting.

Fang Dog: (Level 20)

I think it would be more accurate to call it a bald dog. But, it's really disgusting...

Seeing the fang dog with its lecherous face and dripping saliva, Mugen flicked his wrist, and Zashiki Warashi appeared in his hand. Without drawing the sword, he flashed to the fang dog and smashed it with the sheath, hitting it hard in the face.

"Ugh..." The fang dog flew high into the air and crashed to the ground with a thud, its face caving in, twitching on the ground.

Mugen disgustingly rubbed the sheath of Zashiki Warashi on the ground, relieved that it hadn't touched the dead dog's saliva, or he would have considered changing the sheath.

"Mugen..." Mikoto and Saki were stunned by this sudden action, not understanding why Mugen had smashed the dog without a word. By the time they recovered, Mugen had already kicked the dog, and it stopped moving.

Mugen walked to the two girls, frowning. "The system just issued a mission!"

"System mission?" Mikoto and Saki exchanged glances. "What mission?"

"Check it out yourselves!" Mugen directly shared the system's mission with the two girls, a feature only available to his summoned characters.

"Is it just killing those dogs? There are 19 more of them!" Saki said, her face twisted in disgust.

"Fang Dogs... Iron Dog Mercenary Group..." Mikoto mused. "It seems these disgusting dogs are raised by the Iron Dog Mercenary Group!"

"Right, that's probably it." Mugen nodded. "And they seem to have kidnapped someone named 'Lilin.'"

"Kidnapping? How despicable!" Mikoto said angrily. Living in the bright side of Academy City and having a sister who was a disciplinary committee member, she had seen many such people and hated them deeply, a result of her strong sense of justice.