Chapter 56

The old man launched his first move, sweeping from the lower left to the upper right like he was coiling a snake.

It was clearly not a move intended to defeat the opponent outright.

In other words, he considered the prey to be too risky to finish off with a single strike, even for the old man.

The Grith Snake writhed to dodge, but failed, and was flung upward by the old man's incredible strength.

"Think you can escape?!"

It looked close, but the old man's ability to seal the deal was impressive.

If the first strike had missed and the snake had slipped behind the old man, the situation would have become quite difficult.

I judged that the time the old man had bought, though brief, was more than three seconds, and immediately changed my plan.

With eight seconds, I could take care of all the rats.

Being chased by the snake, the rats were running in a straight line, making them not much different from stationary targets. However, with the rapid fire after the first shot, the accuracy was rough, and a few of them were still alive.

But if I could stop the snake and the elemental rats, Amur and Roy would take care of the wounded ones.

I trusted them and immediately closed the distance to a 60-meter radius from the snake, starting to run counterclockwise.

The old man's top priority was to prevent the Grith Snake from slipping behind him.

My top priority was to support the old man so he could quickly finish off the Grith Snake while minimizing risk.

If possible, I didn't want to use the remaining five arrows on the rats.

I kept the wounded rats in my peripheral vision and ran to avoid lining up with the old man and the Grith Snake, looking for an opportunity.

The old man immediately noticed my movement.

He showed a moment of surprise at my movement but quickly understood my intent and adjusted accordingly.

He switched to a defensive stance, creating an opening to land a decisive blow in coordination with me.

This quick adaptability was a hallmark of a top-notch explorer.

I decided to time my shots with the Grith Snake's occasional large head retraction and subsequent strike.

I positioned myself in the snake's blind spot while still in the old man's line of sight and fired an iron arrow.

The arrow, lacking penetration, was deflected by the snake's scales, but the snake, which hadn't noticed me, was momentarily distracted.

Seizing this moment, the old man unleashed a powerful thrust, enhanced by body fortification.

The tremendous force of the blow severed the Grith Snake's head from its body in one strike.

Having witnessed this, I immediately turned to Poo and fired an arrow 20 meters above his head.

"Kyeaaa!"

I had noticed the Loval Vulture, a raptor with a wingspan of nearly four meters, circling at about 300 meters in the sky, waiting to snatch the Rune Sheep.

These vultures don't attack living things but steal others' prey.

They had chosen the perfect moment to swoop down and snatch the sheep as the battle reached its climax.

The Loval Vulture, pierced through the body, screamed and crashed to the ground, dead.

If I had lost the main prey, the Rune Sheep, after all this effort, it would have been a waste.

The other Loval Vulture, seeing its companion killed, made a sharp turn and fled.

◆

"You seem pretty calm..."

The old man approached with a bemused look.

"I'm not calm at all...

I was just focused because you advised me to 'watch the whole party as a rear guard.'

If monsters of that class appeared, I'd be too scared to wander around here with just my Rigo.

I get chills thinking about it.

My hands are shaking."

I stared at my trembling hands.

As soon as the battle ended, I started shaking with relief.

The iron arrow I fired from outside the old man's awareness was easily deflected.

Without the old man, I would have had to take a high-risk approach, like aiming for the mouth at close range.

The old man laughed at my trembling hands.

"Hahaha!

To be able to move like that in that state! You're quite something!

...Usually, I can handle these monsters without much trouble.

Especially in a wide-open grassland like this, it's rare to encounter them head-on.

Today, we just had bad luck."

That's true.

If this happened frequently near the capital, low-level explorers wouldn't be able to complete their gathering requests.

But on the other hand, if you have bad luck, you can die easily.

That's the reality of being an explorer.

To live an interesting life in this world, I need to be stronger than I am now.

It was fortunate to realize this while the old man was around.

I was grateful again for the luck of joining the Apple House, thanks to the invitation from the seniors that day.

◆

Today's spoils included two Rune Sheep, the Grith Snake the old man killed, two magic stones from the Meadow Mares, and the Loval Vulture.

The cart was full with the two Rune Sheep and the Loval Vulture, so the old man carried the Grith Snake, and I, along with Amur and Roy, took turns keeping watch on the way back.

The Meadow Mares, though low in value as materials and difficult to carry, were valuable for their magic stones. We decided to take only the magic stones from the elemental ones.

I extracted the magic stones using a Banrye company knife, following the old man's instructions.

The magic stone of the Meadow Mare was a small red stone, about the size of a bean, located in the heart.

It's hard to describe, but when I held it in my palm, I felt a strong energy pulse.

Though it was said to be a worthless magic stone, holding the first one I had obtained, I realized, "Ah, I'm really in another world."

When we reached the capital, I parted ways with the seniors, who went back to the Apple House to butcher the Rune Sheep, and the old man and I went to sell the materials.

The old man, carrying the Grith Snake's body like a horse on his right shoulder and holding the snake's head in his left hand, and I, carrying the Loval Vulture, attracted quite a bit of attention, with passersby pointing and whispering.

"Hey, Ren! Is that a C-rank Loval Vulture? Did you kill it? You're amazing, even though you're F-rank! I just came back from dropping off my prey at the East Branch, so let me help you carry it?"

While walking through the lower town, thinking I stood out too much, a sweaty, fat man I recognized but didn't know by name approached, pulling a cart and smiling.

"Sure, you're observant."

"Who are you talking to, old man?!"

"What? Who are you talking to? You're disrespecting the Apple Family?"

"What's this 'Apple Family' nonsense?!" *Bang!*

After this exchange, the fat man, whose name I didn't know, helped us transport the prey to the East Branch, making us less conspicuous.

I thanked the fat man, and he said, "Hey, see you!" and left with a smile.

It seems he only knew one greeting: "Hey, see you!"