Chapter 47

The carnivorous beast in front of me was adorned with a pattern different from that of a tiger.

A pattern resembling black rings.

Unlike the tiger, its fur was almost white, but slightly tinged with brown.

Its belly was pure white.

The fur was long, and the tail was very long.

It had a sharp, fierce face. The body was slightly larger than Volf's, but the thickness of its limbs stood out.

It must be strong.

I recalled Mii and Miko, the tigers summoned by Adel and Irina.

Even at a low level, they had considerable combat power, didn't they?

A leopard might be a step down in strength from a tiger, but would it change much?

Its level is also slightly higher.

The spell I had prepared was already finished.

My plan had completely failed, but I might as well use it.

"Mental Enchant Light!"

It doesn't look like it can use any special attacks like magic, but just in case.

The effects of the enhancement spell from when I fought the snow monkeys are still lingering.

That's the only saving grace.

The leopard roared.

It was a clear threat, but I managed to endure it.

I barely managed to dodge as it lunged at me without a moment's hesitation.

This is bad.

It's faster than I thought.

The leopard quickly turned around and came back at me.

Its fangs were right in front of me.

I instinctively lowered my center of gravity.

The jaw that had been about to bite my throat made a loud noise.

Scary.

This is scary.

And yet, I find myself captivated.

It was then that I finally noticed.

The sensation in my right elbow and right knee was off.

The leather covering was hard.

Had it frozen too?

While I hadn't taken any major damage, the sensory discrepancy was fatal.

The leopard approached me.

But its movements lacked vigor.

I thrust my right palm into its throat.

Surprisingly, I caught its airway easily.

The leopard's jaw followed the movement of my right hand.

I rotated my body halfway.

Ignoring the leopard's front legs, I wrapped my left arm around its neck.

In wrestling, this would be a headlock.

I ran with the leopard's momentum and jumped.

I landed on my buttocks and used both feet to break my fall.

While still locking the leopard's upper body, I used the momentum of the jump to slam it to the ground with my weight.

The sound of the leopard's neck breaking resonated through my body.

I stood there in a daze, holding the leopard's head, which hung at an odd angle.

I couldn't believe I had managed to win such a brutal fight.

《Your victory in this battle has increased your [Grapple] skill level!》

"You didn't change your fighting style even against this opponent, huh?"

"Hmm."

"What should we do?"

Master sat down and seemed to be deep in thought.

I'll do what I need to do.

I used a potion to recover my HP bar.

Then I stabbed the monster with my skinning knife.

This is what I got.

【Material Item】Snow Leopard Skin - Raw Material - Quality C+ - Rarity 4 - Weight 3

Snow leopard skin. Thick and soft to the touch.

【Material Item】Snow Leopard Claw - Raw Material - Quality C - Rarity 4 - Weight 0+

Snow leopard claw. Sharp, strong, and light.

Wow.

Both have a high rarity.

There were three claws.

When I held them, I felt a strange tingling sensation run down my spine.

They are strangely captivating.

The skin is fluffy.

The skin itself is thin but very flexible.

It doesn't seem suitable for armor.

If I use it, it would be for cold protection.

"Master, shall we go collect the wound-sealing grass today?"

"Hmm? No, that's fine. I want to see something."

"What do you want to see?"

"Your usual fighting style."

"Hmm."

"Don't hold back. Take me along."

Eh.

When we returned to Master's house on the Lockbird, it was lunchtime.

After eating the simple meal prepared by Metal Skin, we set out for hunting on foot.

With Master.

He says he'll just watch from behind, but is that really true?

I'm a bit unsure.

Kaya's rod is still broken.

And there's something I've been wondering about.

The info said the skill link was established.

And the auxiliary skill [Dual Wield] became available.

Dual wield, huh.

It sounds good, but since I only have a staff as a proper weapon, it's useless, isn't it?

Oops, I shouldn't be thinking that.

This is a hunt with Master.

Where should we go?

Of course, it should be the forest labyrinth to the west of Regias village.

It feels like a school observation day.

At the entrance to the forest labyrinth, Master passed through without any trouble.

Is it because he's a master?

Or because he's an NPC?

I'm not sure.

He's been flying around on the Lockbird too.

Master also summoned a monster in the forest labyrinth.

The same fox.

It still has its vivid colors and looks like a mirage.

Oh.

I'll summon Jericho too.

With the Wood Golem Jericho in the center, Volf and I will flank him.

Gene the bat will act as a guerrilla.

Rear guard?

There isn't one.

If I have to say, Master will be in that position.

It's the perfect spot for an observer.

Of course, we'll use the light magic Flash Light for illumination.

"Let's go."

"Un."

We didn't see any other parties exploring.

We'll just wander around and earn some experience.

We defeated five mushrooms and four Branch Golems in a row.

In the usual way.

Adel and Irina aren't here, but my fighting style hasn't changed.

Well, it can't really change.

I tear the mushrooms apart in close combat.

I burn the Branch Golems with Pyrokinesis and then destroy the remaining ones with throws.

Nothing has changed.

On the path to the central hall, we fought a Rush Fungus.

I was already used to it.

I peeled off the cap and then split it in half.

The summoned monsters also fought admirably.

Especially Jericho, who takes the tank role, is very helpful, even though his job is subtle.

I always enhance his defense with Physical Enchant Earth.

The monsters can't keep up with Volf's speed and take very little damage.

Gene only performs surprise attacks from the air and keeps them at bay, taking no damage.

I'm taking the most damage.

But I'm confident I'm earning the most kills.

I wonder how it looks to Master.

We pushed straight through to the west.

We emerged from the entrance of the provisional White Square.

Master had no trouble passing through.

From here on, it's the skeleton lair.

Considering the threat of monsters, skeletons are much weaker compared to the mushrooms and Branch Golems.

The problem is their numbers and the trouble of finishing them off.

We easily broke through four groups of skeletons in a row.

Each group had over 20.

The battles themselves are simple brute force, but they're not easy.

The sheer number is terrifying.

I'm enhancing Jericho's defense and my own attack and defense to withstand them.

I didn't expect to get anything from them, but one left behind a magic stone.

I didn't use the skinning knife.

It's strange.

And Master hasn't intervened yet.

My MP bar has decreased to about 70% from continuous spell use.

I'm using potions to recover my HP, so my MP consumption is somewhat controlled.

How far can we go from here?

We came to a slightly open area in the cave.

No, it's more like a canyon inside the cave.

There's no water, it's dry.

I can see the cave's exit ahead.

Whether the Wood Golem Jericho can pass through is uncertain.

Only this area has rough footing.

To prevent falling, I enhanced it with Physical Enchant Aqua.

Right after that, Volf and Gene both cried out.

Something was coming from the cave ahead.

Red glowing eyes.

No, more like ghostly lights leaking from the eye sockets.

It was looking at us with an unpleasant clattering sound.

Skeleton Dog Level 2

Monster - Target - Active

【Identify】 revealed three dogs.

They were the same size as Volf.

They lined up horizontally, baring their fangs as if to threaten us in the dry canyon.

They didn't roar.

That was the only odd thing.

I thought it would be fine to intercept them with Jericho, but they seemed to be targeting me and Volf.

They didn't attack us right away.

They were just blocking the way.

I selected a spell and attacked.

I also had Volf and Gene attack.

I focused on one in front while keeping an eye on the other two.

One was trying to attack me from the side.

Gene had already struck the skull of that dog.

The dog in front of me jumped and tried to bite my neck.

But it was slow.

Maybe it's because I've seen the speed of the snow leopard.

I hit it with an uppercut from my right fist.

I placed my left hand on its body and cast a spell.

"Pyrokinesis!"

Burning undead with fire is a classic, I thought, but it didn't have much effect.

Maybe I chose the wrong spell.

I followed up with a knee strike.

The dog was easily blown away.

When the dog hit the ground, Jericho stomped on it.

The bones in its body shattered.

It was split in half.

The human soul part, like in skeletons, was exposed.

So the way to defeat it is the same.

The human soul scattered with a kick.

The skull also had a human soul.

I kicked it, and it dispersed.

It's the same.

The human soul is just red.

The other two were the same.

I left one to Volf and crushed the other.

Jericho literally stomped on it.

The last one was finished when Volf bit through the skull.

The bones disappeared as the human soul scattered.

Volf looked sad for some reason.

Maybe he was happy to chew on the bones earlier.

Don't get a stomachache.

We won the battle, but got no items.

But maybe we can get something like with skeletons.

This time, we got something different.

《Your victory in this battle has increased your [Fire Magic] skill level!》

《You have obtained the spell Resist Fire!》

《You have obtained the spell Fire Heal!》

《You have obtained the spell Fire Shoot!》

《Your victory in this battle has increased the level of the summoned monster 'Jericho'!》

《Please add 1 point to any stat value.》

The long-awaited level-up also happened.

Looking at Jericho's status screen in the virtual window, the stat that automatically increased was agility.

Hmm.

Well, it's probably been enhanced, but it doesn't change much to go from 4 to 5, right?

It's a 25% performance increase, though.

I'll add the remaining 1 point to vitality.

It will make the numbers look a bit better.

Jericho - Wood Golem Level 2 → Level 3 (↑1)

Dexterity - 4

Agility - 5 (↑1)

Intelligence - 4

Strength - 33

Vitality - 33 (↑1)

Spirit - 4

Skills

Strike, Kick, Magic Resistance [Minor], Self-Repair [Minor], Block

And my Fire Magic has also leveled up.

I had been burning Branch Golems for a while, so it's not surprising it leveled up.

So I finally caught up to Adel.

The growth rate is slow, though.

Well, I'll be happy that I have more spells to use.

We continued deeper into the cave.

The area became larger, but the footing got worse.

I had to constantly enhance Jericho's dexterity with Physical Enchant Aqua to maintain our progress speed.

It's a dilemma.

He's a reliable force, though.

We defeated two more groups of skeletons in a row.

The cave was still a single path.

When the footing seemed to improve a bit, I saw light from somewhere.

An exit?

It seems to be an exit.

Gene flew ahead to check for any abnormalities.

I feel relieved to finally be freed from this gloomy place.

It was indeed a bright place, but it seemed to be a gap in the forest.

The cave's exit was on the side of a hill.

The hill had a Japanese kofun-like atmosphere.

The trees surrounding the hill were tall and impressive.

【Identify】 revealed that many were camphor trees, but there were also katsura, horse chestnut, and cedar.

It's a bit too mixed.

The forest was well-lit with sunlight, making it easy to walk through.

But it seemed a bit tough for the Wood Golem Jericho.

"Hmm. It's quite a nice forest."

"Indeed, the air is good."

"Un. But there's more to it than that."

"Hmm?"

"Try sensing it."

Sensing?

I noticed that the fox Master was leading was wagging its tail vigorously.

Volf's tail was also wagging continuously.

It seemed more like curiosity than joy.

I used the Sense Magic spell.

I could tell that the trees around us were emitting magic power.

It was as if they were overflowing with vitality.

There was also something that caught my attention.

There were places where the effect of Sense Magic didn't work at all.

It was like holes that sucked in magic power.

"There are strange places where I can't sense magic power."

"Un. I'm not an expert, but I've heard that ancient giant trees can house great spirits."

"Spirits?"

"Yes. Some trees can become spirits themselves, or they can become points of connection to the spirit world."

"Spirit world?"

"Elves, right? They are the only ones who can summon spirits now, but it's their homeland."

Wow.

The setting is similar to what it used to be.

"Among summoners, human spirit summoning is a major research topic. It's good to keep it in mind."

"Understood."

"And don't destroy such forests recklessly."

You're right.

Rich forests like this are becoming scarce.

We might only be able to experience them virtually in the future.

The air is so good.

It feels great to be surrounded by the scent of the forest.

I enjoyed a brief forest bath.

Protagonist Keith

Race: Human, Male, Race Level 6

Class: Summoner (Summoner) Level 5

Bonus Points Remaining: 19

Set Skills

Staff Level 5, Strike Level 3, Kick Level 3, Joint Techniques Level 3, Throwing Techniques Level 3

Dodge Level 3, Block Level 3, Summon Magic Level 6

Light Magic Level 3, Wind Magic Level 4, Earth Magic Level 3, Water Magic Level 3

Fire Magic Level 3 (↑1), Dark Magic Level 2

Alchemy Level 3, Pharmacist Level 3, Glassworking Level 3

Coordination Level 5, Appraisal Level 5, Identification Level 5, Insight Level 1, Cold Resistance Level 3

Grapple Level 5 (↑1), Horsemanship Level 4, Precision Operation Level 5, Jumping Level 1

Heat Resistance Level 3, Climbing Level 1

Equipment: Kaya's Rod (Broken), Hare Chest Armor + Series, Snow Monkey Arm Cover,

Wild Horse Boots +, Snow Monkey Leather Helmet, Backpack

Item Box ×2

Held Items: Skinning Knife

Titles: Apprentice of the Old Summoner (Provisional), Forest Guardian's Proof, Seeker of Moderation

Summoned Monsters

Volf - Wolf Level 5

Crescent - Horse Level 3

Helix - Hawk Level 3

Obsidian - Owl Level 3

Gene - Bat Level 3

Jericho - Wood Golem Level 2 → Level 3 (↑1)

Dexterity - 4

Agility - 5 (↑1)

Intelligence - 4

Strength - 33

Vitality - 33 (↑1)

Spirit - 4

Skills

Strike, Kick, Magic Resistance [Minor], Self-Repair [Minor], Block