Chapter 17

"Shaaa!"

The Siegreen Rock Lizard was issuing a warning.

"I remember this one. It's the same one that Taniizumi and the others hunted before. They were pretty proud of it."

"Yeah, I saw them fighting it. It's a monster that mainly uses tail attacks. Be careful."

"What about fire or poison?"

"Probably, its main attacks are biting and tail strikes."

"Got it!"

I stood ready with my Onion Shield, prepared to defend at any moment, facing the Siegreen Rock Lizard.

Meanwhile, Koushin and Hiyama approached from both sides, surrounding it.

It was fortunate that there was only one of them.

"Haahaaa!"

Instead of swinging my sword, I launched a face attack with my shield!

"Shaaa!?"

My unexpected attack worked, and the Siegreen Rock Lizard paused for a moment.

The shield hit its face with a thud. Ouch! It's hard!

"De-yaahaaa!"

"Taahaaa!"

Attacks from Koushin and Hiyama landed from both sides, but Koushin's only grazed the skin, while Hiyama's hit the internal organs.

"Shaaaaaaa!"

Roaring in pain and anger, the Siegreen Rock Lizard wildly swung its tail.

"Ah—"

Hiyama, who had just landed a powerful blow, was about to be hit by the rock on the tail in retaliation.

"Hiyama!"

I struck the Siegreen Rock Lizard's head with my obsidian sword and pushed Hiyama away, catching him with my Onion Shield.

The Onion Shield dented with a squish and I was sent flying.

"Ite-te…"

"Koushin! Are you okay!?"

"Hanahashi! That was… protecting me…"

"Hanahashi! Are you alright!?"

Himezono ran to me, who had fallen, and raised her staff to cast a healing spell.

"I'm fine, but be careful!"

"I know! Sakachi! Hiyama! Especially Hiyama, don't worry about me and keep fighting! You're the only one who can land hits! I'll leave the finishing blow to you."

The Siegreen Rock Lizard was already battered and bruised.

We weren't completely ineffective, but we were struggling a bit.

Was it too reckless for us with our poor equipment?

No, maybe we just went a bit too far.

Hiyama nodded and, taking advantage of the opening I created, drew back her sword to gather strength…

"Thanks to Hanahashi's protection! I'll do my best!"

She struck the base of the Siegreen Rock Lizard's tail, which was swinging wildly.

There was a thud, and something flew through the air.

Focusing, I saw it was the rock at the end of the Siegreen Rock Lizard's tail.

It fell to the ground with a thud, and the Siegreen Rock Lizard let out a cry of pain.

"Only the head is left!"

"This is the finishing blow!"

Hiyama jumped onto the Siegreen Rock Lizard's back, reversed her sword, and swung it down deeply into its head.

With a squelch, the sword pierced the Siegreen Rock Lizard's head, and it fell with a cry.

"We won."

"The battle wasn't that long, but it was a tough opponent."

"Yeah."

Himezono continued to heal me.

The pain was gradually easing.

"Are you okay!?"

Hiyama came running over from the Siegreen Rock Lizard.

"I'm fine, just fell on my butt."

Though I didn't want to mention the bruise forming on my arm where the shield had taken the hit.

I think Himezono's healing will make it go away quickly.

"Are you okay, Hiyama?"

"Thanks to Hanahashi, I'm not hurt at all."

"That's good to hear."

"Still… you were so reckless…"

"You're right."

"If you hadn't, Hiyama might have been more seriously injured."

"That's true, but…"

At that moment, the sound of a level-up echoed.

I had reached level 4.

The experience points were quite substantial… it was a bit stronger than we thought.

"Ah, I leveled up too."

Hiyama said, looking around.

"I think you were already level 5, right?"

"Yes."

"Did you get any new abilities?"

"Um…千里眼 (千里眼, Chireigan)."

"What's that? Sounds useful."

In games, Chireigan usually allows you to see things from a distance.

"I'll try it."

Hiyama seemed to activate the ability.

"Um… it looks like I can register three locations. I don't really understand, so I'll try registering this place."

"Okay."

"Then, Chireigan… huh?"

Hiyama started walking.

Did she see something?

"Um… I can see the registered place… kind of. I can see Hanahashi and me."

"So, you can see the registered location?"

"Maybe."

"It might be useful for teleportation. If there are dangerous monsters at the destination, it could be dangerous."

"Ah, I see! So I can check the registered teleportation destination."

Oh, a subtle but useful ability!

It could have various applications depending on how it's used.

"Maybe we won't need to set up lookouts."

"But… someone will still need to stay behind to cover for us, right?"

"Yeah."

It's not that simple.

"Anyway…"

I checked the damaged shield.

"Koushin, I'm sorry."

The Onion Shield Koushin had made was dented.

It might still be usable, but it felt unreliable.

"No, don't worry about it. I gave it to you to protect yourself in situations like this. I'm glad you're okay."

"Himezono would have healed you if you hadn't died."

In that case, I don't know how long it would have taken to heal.

I don't treat my health like a game, but I think Himezono's healing could handle it even if my "HP" was down to half.

"Don't say such ominous things."

"You're right, Hanahashi!"

Hiyama was clearly upset.

She was a bit teary-eyed.

Compared to her earlier fierce determination, she now seemed like a regular girl.

"I don't want to die protecting you!"

"I understand, but I'm really glad you're not hurt."

"I get it, so let's absolutely avoid reckless actions."

Himezono concluded, and Koushin agreed while rolling the Siegreen Rock Lizard's tail with his foot.

Maybe this one was a bit too tough for leveling up.

"Should we retreat a bit?"

"Yeah. Honestly, this Rock Lizard is a bit too strong for us."

"Even at level 4, Hiyama could defeat it, but it would be dangerous if they came in a group."

"Yeah, it was a bit too strong. We should level up gradually and come back here."

I think the appropriate level is around 6.

Taniizumi and the others probably one-shot it with their abilities.

Ugh… it's frustrating.

"Let's send the corpse and the rock on the tail back."

"Right, this will give us more materials for weapons. We have to do this step by step."

"True. For now, we should level up and improve our equipment with easier opponents."

"Right, we need to level up and take them down physically."

I wanted to ask if there was a way to outsmart them, but we have no such abilities.

I thought about using my ability, but hitting a moving, large lizard is a different story!

"Let's teleport back and continue hunting on the way back. We've just started."

"Okay. By the way, there's something I wanted to say to Hanahashi and Sakachi."

Hiyama put her hands on her hips and explained.

"What?"

"Since we're fighting together, I think it's a bit formal to call each other by our last names."