Chapter 51

The three of us passed the time crafting together, then took over from Leonis and the others and went to sleep... but I was jolted awake by the words, "Wake up! Enemy attack!"

When my brother and Naga also woke up, we hurriedly left the tent.

"I'm sorry to wake you up, but it seems that monsters are heading this way. Most likely, it's an injured one and the floor boss chasing it. Lord Crein, could you please illuminate the area below the high ground?"

"Yes! Light!... Light!..."

Every time the cooldown ended, I cast Light, placing light in all eight directions around us. If I kept the eight lights lit continuously, it would consume 8 MP per minute. My MP had recovered quite a bit since before I went to sleep, so it should last for about an hour, but considering the need to use MP during battle, I was worried about the remaining amount.

"The injured one is 200 meters away. The pursuing monster is 220 meters away. They seem to be maintaining a certain distance and heading towards us. Both are surrounded by smaller auras in addition to their larger ones."

"Hmm... Are they trying to push the boss onto us?"

"It seems likely. Can all three of you handle it?"

We stepped out of the tent and looked to the left. With the magic still active, it was difficult to detect magical auras, but when I used Life Detection, I could indeed sense the auras getting closer.

At a human pace, it was a bit faster than a brisk walk but still quite slow. Normally, it would be impossible to escape at that speed, but the fact that the pursuing monster was maintaining a certain distance suggested that it had a certain level of intelligence and was toying with its prey.

I didn't know what would appear... even an injured one couldn't be taken lightly.

"Sure! I'm ready whenever."

"Yeah... Are we going down to fight?"

"Let me... drink an MP potion first."

My brother and Naga were getting pumped up. I... should drink a potion too. Considering the continuous MP consumption, I wanted to have some leeway. Leonis looked at me with a stern gaze.

...I was supposed to keep 60% of my MP remaining, but I used it up with buffs. I'm sorry. I'm the only one not in top condition... and I'm already the weakest in terms of abilities, so I really messed up.

"Naga and Granos will go down with me. Raz Crein, please cast spells from here. Fol, what about you?"

"I'll go down too. We might have to deal with both. Lord Crein, if any monsters come up here, please handle them."

"Yes. I won't let anything touch Lord Raz."

Fol smiled and nodded at my response.

Of course... I know that mages have low defense. Lord Raz is a high-level, high-damage magic attacker, but he can't handle close combat at all. They were worried about me fighting on the front lines because one hit could be fatal. They said I wouldn't be in danger from regular enemies, but a boss might be a different story. Lord Raz's armor looks high-quality, so he won't die easily, but if he's overwhelmed, it could be dangerous.

After a few days of leveling up, I've shown that I can handle some close combat, so I'm probably better off than Lord Raz. I'll protect Lord Raz from getting too close... I'll leave the others to my brother and the rest. Nodding means they understand, right?

As the four of us descended, the injured monster appeared from the forest.

A large cat-like monster. About two meters tall... what was it called? A saber-toothed tiger. A large cat with prominent fangs. Its dull yellow and black pattern resembled a leopard.

It was dragging both hind legs and seemed to be crawling on its front legs. The left hind leg, in particular, showed signs of severe skin damage. Several kittens were clinging to its back. When it reached the open area, it didn't head towards us but changed its course to the right.

"There's no need to chase the injured one. Be on guard for the next one!"

A spider appeared immediately. A giant spider.

It was twice the size of the leopard. Moreover, it was leading many smaller spiders, about 30 centimeters in size... the baby spiders were chasing the leopard. Their speed was fast, and they would catch up quickly. The mother spider was staring at us head-on... it probably intended to make us its prey too.

Naga stepped between the leopard and the baby spiders, shielding them.

"Damn..."

"Flame Whirl!"

The baby spiders stopped moving and were about to spew venomous threads at Naga, so he cast a fire spell to burn them away.

"Sorry! Thanks for the help."

Naga lit his flaming greatsword and began cutting down the baby spiders. Meanwhile, Lord Raz cast lightning on the giant spider, and Leonis held his shield while my brother and Fol followed up with attacks. It seemed the three of them could handle it, so I looked at Naga... he seemed concerned about the leopard and was protecting it from behind. The leopard seemed to understand and didn't move, but honestly, the number of baby spiders was overwhelming, and it was difficult to protect and kill them at the same time.

If I went down to support Naga, Lord Raz would be left defenseless... so I could only provide support from a distance.

"Area Heal!"

I wasn't sure if it would affect the monsters, but I cast a healing spell, hoping it would help. If it worked, the leopard would leave... if it didn't interfere with Naga, that would be fine. The healing spell successfully affected the leopard, and a faint light enveloped it before fading.

After confirming that the leopard's legs had healed, I checked the surroundings.

The spider monsters seemed to have noticed us, and many baby spiders were trying to climb up the high ground. I couldn't deal with them one by one, so I cast Water Wall on the platform's edge and then used Ice Binding to freeze the spiders' legs, immobilizing them.

"...Crein, that's weird, isn't it?"

"Huh? Lord Raz, did you say something?"

I stabbed the frozen spiders with a spear and used a bow to attack those out of reach while keeping an eye on the battle below.

Leonis was tanking, and my brother and Fol were moving well. Naga was dealing with the baby spiders alone. The leopard was gone... huh?

*Thud*

"Huh? What was that sound?"

*Grrr*

The leopard, which I thought had disappeared, used the immobilized baby spiders as a stepping stone to climb up the high ground. It positioned itself between me and Lord Raz, but then it put down the three kittens and went back down to help Naga with the baby spiders.

"Meow..."

"Um... what should we do?"

"Well, they won't hurt the kittens, so it's probably fine to leave them. Besides, they probably felt safe because Crein healed them, right?"

That's my fault... and it's also my fault that Naga was protecting them. He seems to like small animals... I think he just couldn't ignore them.

Protecting them would hinder the battle... I thought they would run away if I healed them, but this was unexpected.

The kittens were huddled together quietly, so we left them and focused on defeating the spiders. We had almost finished off the baby spiders and were on alert, but it seemed the boss had been defeated.

After the spiders were defeated, the mother leopard quickly ran back into the forest. The kittens seemed to realize they were safe and were playing with each other... what would happen to them?

Naga was watching them happily. Yeah, animals are soothing.

But then, a voice called out from behind.

"Crein, Naga, sit down."

"...Yes."

"...Yeah."

Leonis was angry again. We obediently sat in a seiza position. My brother sighed and sat next to me.

"Granos, you can rest."

"Solidarity... as the oldest, I also have responsibility."

"I see... Naga, I don't tell you to kill monsters that aren't hostile. But don't make rash decisions that put others in danger. Raz and Crein's safety was somewhat guaranteed, but not absolutely."

"...Sorry."

He's right. When the mother leopard climbed up, I thought it was bad. If we had to fight, Raz and I would be preoccupied, and we wouldn't be able to support the others against the giant spider.

It was partly because I healed it...

"Crein, you too. What were you thinking, healing a monster without considering the consequences? What if it attacked Naga from behind!"

"Uh! Well, because... Naga was using it as a shield... I thought it would run away if I healed it."

"Don't make rash decisions that put others in danger. Think of the worst-case scenario. Do you want to die?"

"Sorry!"

Indeed... I should have considered the possibility that Naga might be attacked, not just Raz.

"Meow~"

"Huh?"

While listening to Leonis's lecture, the mother leopard appeared next to me. It had something in its mouth and placed it on my lap.

It was another kitten. When I identified it, it had burn, paralysis, and poison status effects, and its HP was almost zero. It was on the verge of death. The mother leopard bowed its head in front of me, and the three kittens that had been playing were now quiet.

"...Leonis."

"Fine... do as you wish."

I thanked Leonis, who reluctantly agreed. First, I cast Heal to restore the kitten's HP. Then, I cast Dispel to remove the status effects.

However, I had never used a status recovery spell before, so it was my first time... and it consumed a lot of MP.

The kitten had three status effects, and trying to cure them all at once drained my MP quickly without any visible improvement.

I stopped the spell and cured the effects one by one, starting with the poison. I cast the spell three times, once for each effect, to finally restore the kitten to a weakened state.

For the weakened state, there was nothing I could do but let it rest. I also cast Heal and Refresh on the mother leopard. The other kittens didn't seem to need healing.

"...What should we do?"

"The kitten is healed, right?"

"Yeah... but it's still weakened..."

Honestly, if I returned it to the mother leopard, it might die. I could regularly cast healing spells, but I couldn't carry it around all the time, so I was at a loss.

"...This kitten will need ongoing treatment. If it continues to recover, it will survive, but what should we do?"

"Meow... *purr*... Meow!"

When Naga asked the mother leopard, it licked the kitten and then rubbed its nose against its belly before letting out a cry and leaving with the other kittens.

"...Monsters can only be brought into town if they are tamed. Even if you save this kitten, it won't survive alone."

"I'll tame it... if I can."

Leonis scratched his head, wondering what to do... but Naga actually has the monster tamer ability. He had mentioned wanting to keep a cat before, so I knew he liked cats.

However, considering its size... it's quite a dilemma.

"Got it. Do you know how to tame it?"

"...Can you teach me?"

Taming involves putting a collar on the monster, giving it a name, having it lick the tamer's blood, and casting Monster Tame. If the monster doesn't refuse, the contract is formed, and it will obey.

"Name. I'm Borongo."

"Yeah. I'm a Chiroru fan."

The appearance... we seemed to have similar thoughts. It looks like a Baby Dragon, with a leopard pattern... it doesn't have the mane, though.

"...Momo."

"Ah, yeah. Of course, you can decide, Naga. Where did you get Momo from?"

"You'll reveal your age. The name was added in the remake. I've played both versions."

"Huh? No way, I didn't know..."

I knew... but now it's confirmed that Naga is younger. Probably my brother too. My brother seems to realize and treats me like a younger sister...

Still... I didn't know about the remake. Momo is a new name.

We successfully tamed Momo and decided to rest again. We needed to recover MP, so we were told to sleep for about four hours.

After collecting the spider's magic stone and cleaning up, we returned to the tent and went to sleep.