Chapter 69

――Bang!!

A gap of less than a tenth of a second.

Sekihi synchronized with it.

The movements of the werewolf he had fought before,

the movements of the swordsmen he had seen in videos,

and the movements of the werewolf in front of him,

Recalled, aggregated.

His body traced the ideal.

Then, a light lit up behind his eyelids.

―Weakness detected.

That light became a path,

guiding Sekihi's attack.

A beautiful flow.

A flowing blade.

The blade made contact.

In an instant,

the werewolf's left arm flew high into the air.

The werewolf lost its balance slightly.

At that moment,

a spin,

a follow-up attack.

Rea stopped the werewolf's counterattack.

Sekihi's blade made contact again,

deeply slicing into the abdomen.

The lightning strike from Kuren slid into the rising blood.

―Bang!!

The blood and flesh burned.

Boiling blood rose as white steam.

Red and white spread across the field in an instant, along with the smell of iron.

Sekihi delivered the finishing blow to the werewolf, which had staggered.

The werewolf slowly fell forward,

convulsing once before stopping.

Immediately, a strong level-up dizziness hit Sekihi.

It wasn't as strong as before, to the point of losing consciousness...

Still, it's not enough.

Recognizing his own inadequacy, Sekihi laughed.

Even at the intermediate level, the peak of adventurers is still far away.

Despite feeling frustrated, Sekihi was incredibly happy.

Sekihi's level-up dizziness subsided to a strong dizziness.

But Rea and Kuren's level-up dizziness was severe.

Rea's body slumped against Sekihi's back.

Kuren sat down, pressing her fingers to her temples.

"Are you okay?"

"...Yes."

You don't look okay at all.

Sekihi chuckled and approached Kuren, expanding his detection.

Fortunately, no werewolves targeted them until Rea and Kuren recovered.

But it might not be the same next time.

"Let's try to fight near the gate."

If they are attacked while experiencing level-up dizziness, as long as they don't lose consciousness, they can escape to the gate.

The efficiency might be slightly lower due to the inability to move around, but it's safer to fight until the level-up dizziness subsides.

Starting from the gate, Sekihi searched for werewolves alone.

Once found, he pulled them back and defeated them with Kuren and Rea.

At first, Kuren sat down due to level-up dizziness, but as they defeated more werewolves, she gradually stopped sitting down.

Still, a significant gap remains right after leveling up.

Sekihi is the same.

The level-up dizziness decreases with each defeat,

but it doesn't disappear.

His base level is still far below the current floor.

The efficiency of material acquisition is also poor.

However, the efficiency of experience is unmatched.

No matter how many locusts or chacha he defeats, it doesn't match the experience from one werewolf.

Moreover, the combat experience gained is different.

Each werewolf has a different fighting style.

Some are skilled with claws.

Some are skilled with fangs.

Some are skilled with punches and kicks.

Their temperaments also differ.

Some become increasingly erratic as they get angrier,

while others become more refined and calm.

Each individual offers a variety of combat experiences.

With each battle, Sekihi can feel the accumulation of combat experience.

"Amazing."

Even though he is fighting the same monster, Sekihi feels like he is fighting a completely different type of monster.

Different fighting styles require different responses.

With each battle against the werewolves, the combat experience Sekihi lacks is steadily accumulating.

For the current Sekihi, there is no better floor.

After a few battles, he decided to settle in and level up here.

【The Path to Being Noticed】

"Encountering a Familiar Monster on Floor 15"

Hello, it's Kuu (^o^)

Today, we reached Floor 15!

The monster that appeared on Floor 15 was a werewolf.

The same one we fought during the stampede. (^_^)

It was a bit scary to fight again after so long. (;>_<)

I thought I had leveled up quite a bit, but the werewolf was still strong.

I realized I still need to level up more. (=_=;

I need to get even stronger...

To become someone who can stand up to that powerful werewolf! (T_T)

Today, I worked really hard on leveling up!

Maybe I'm one step closer to gaining presence? Maybe?

【Being Tested】Thread about Chikaho 98【We】

607 Name: Anonymous

So, I heard a monster parade happened in Chikaho the other day?

608 Name: Anonymous

Yeah,

Kagemitsu and his merry companions took care of it.

609 Name: Anonymous

Actually, it was Kagemitsu and his merry companions plus the tentacle mask guy.

610 Name: Anonymous

What's that...

It sounds more ominous than merry?

611 Name: Anonymous

It's actually pretty merry.

A floating mask,

with a potato on its back,

feathers on its neck,

and a scaly body. <- NEW

612 Name: Anonymous

That sounds like a monster?

Is that thing a monster!?

613 Name: Anonymous

It's not a monster.

I don't know if it's true, but Kagemitsu praised it a lot.

He said they would have died without it.

614 Name: Anonymous

What, really?

Kagemitsu could die?

615 Name: Anonymous

A mob from Floor 30 appeared.

616 Name: Anonymous

The strength of a mob is roughly equivalent to a boss four or five floors higher.

And they only reached Floor 24 at their highest?

Kagemitsu must have been lucky to survive. wwww

617 Name: Anonymous

It was really dangerous.

He was babbling at the Hero's Bar, so it's definitely true.

618 Name: Anonymous

How did they defeat it?

619 Name: Anonymous

Apparently, the masked man dealt a lot of damage with a short sword!

Kagemitsu then delivered the final blow.

620 Name: Anonymous

>>With a short sword!

No way!

Kagemitsu is the strongest adventurer in Sapporo, right?

Even Kagemitsu, who wields a greatsword, couldn't defeat it.

To deal a lot of damage with the weakest domain weapon...

If that's true,

he must be some kind of monster.

***

When the slimy eel doll was appraised by Akane, it turned out to contain a large amount of monster-repelling components, as Sekihi had imagined.

The monster-repelling effect is quite weak in its normal state.

However, the effect becomes stronger when the doll is wet.

The effect lasts until the water dries.

However, since it's a doll, the effect is weaker than if it were alive.

Two dolls dropped, so they decided to split them one each.

However, Kuren refused, saying, "I don't need it!"

The eel doll that Kuren refused looked pitiful.

To Sekihi, the eight eyes of the eel seemed somewhat sad.

Feeling a bit sorry for it, Sekihi decided to use both dolls carefully.

Of course, Sekihi doesn't fight while holding the eel.

Currently, Sekihi's bag is part of Ichiryo's "One" series.

It is much more durable than a regular bag, but it can't defend against attacks.

Sekihi has never experienced a back attack so far.

But it might happen at any time.

If attacked from behind, Rea's planter would probably shatter easily.

Rea herself wouldn't be unscathed either.

To reduce the possibility of a back attack, Sekihi thought about tying the eel to his bag.

Tying the eel wouldn't prevent attacks entirely.

But if it could delay an attack by even a moment, either Sekihi or Rea could respond in time.

It's all to protect Rea!

Sekihi tried hard to convince the reluctant Rea and got her to agree to tie the eel to the bag.

Hunting on Floor 15, returning to the surface to sell materials, and chasing Gejigeji at night before sleeping.

In the morning, heading back to Floor 15 to level up.

At first, Sekihi felt level-up dizziness after defeating one werewolf, but gradually, he needed to defeat 10, then 20, to feel it.

At the same time, his base physical abilities improved rapidly.

Battles where Sekihi was slightly overpowered gradually became ones where he could push back with 80% effort.

Kuren's lightning strikes also had a longer stun time.

The results of leveling up are steadily showing.

Thanks to leveling up, Sekihi's eyesight has improved.

Not his vision, but his ability to see fine movements that he couldn't see before.

His dynamic vision has improved.

The subtle preparatory movements of the werewolves' muscles became more clearly visible.

Sekihi realized that there are no werewolves on Floor 15 as strong as the one he fought during the stampede.

The memory is worn thin from being recalled too often.

But it still remains vivid.

The beautiful preparatory movements of that werewolf...

They are the pinnacle of movement, just out of reach even with Sekihi's full effort.

Sekihi was able to capture the werewolf during the stampede because he was risking his life.

At that time, Sekihi was in an extreme state, with his concentration far beyond normal.

But even then, he still fell short of that werewolf.

The more he levels up, the more he sees.

The more he sees, the more questions arise.

Why did I survive that time?

Thinking about it is pointless.

That battle is over, and Sekihi won.

Whether it was by chance or a miracle, Sekihi won.

He should learn from it, but thinking about the reason for his victory is meaningless.

After all, any reason thought of afterward is just a post hoc rationalization.

Just get stronger.

That's what's important now.

20 werewolves on the first day.

24 werewolves on the second day.

Steadily increasing the number of werewolves defeated.

As the level-up dizziness becomes smaller, Sekihi and the others venture further from the gate into the grasslands.

The number of werewolves defeated increased dramatically.

Even with consecutive battles, the fights remained stable.

After a week of gathering materials, Akane was very pleased.

"I saw 'Become an Adventurer'!!"

"Aha-ha-ha-aan!"

After a week of punishing his own body and Akane's,

the frequency of updates will drastically decrease due to an event (?) in real life.

Updates will be once a week on Fridays.

I apologize for the inconvenience. m(_ _)m