Surviving in the Forest (2)
Thud.
“……!”
My eyes flew wide as I stared at the thing that had once been a wolf as it hit the ground, limp and lifeless.
“Steel Sword is amazing…!!”
Using the newly learned second form of the Royal Knight Order’s swordsmanship and my steel sword, I’d split the charging wolf clean in two.
I’d already beheaded a goblin in one stroke with my training greatsword, but that had been a sneak attack from behind.
To think I could cut down something charging straight at me like this…
Aside from the slimes I’d casually carved up after coming here, this was basically my first real experience.
Not in the boss fight on the 40th floor, not in the grind against trash mobs on the 45th floor.
I’d never managed to cut an enemy in half with a single blow.
I couldn’t tell whether the swordsmanship was incredible or whether the steel sword was.
“No… no, wait….”
No, what was incredible wasn’t the swordsmanship or the steel sword.
Rustle—
“I’m the one who’s fucking incredible, right? You think so too?”
“Grrr….”
Wasn’t it just that I was insanely good, having come this far by self-study alone?
Without a teacher, I’d reached this level. My talent had to be what was impressive.
Crack—!!
“Kraaaah!!”
“Split in half and die—!!”
Since Wiki’s abilities were, in the end, my abilities too, this was a level I’d reached with my own strength.
Slash—!!
This is the thrill of action…!
All that time I’d spent ditching magic and grinding swordsmanship like a lunatic had finally paid off.
Tap….
Shuffle—
“Now there are two of them.”
I grinned at the sight of two deer with bizarre horns—companions, or whatever they were.
Raising my blood-red sword and pointing it at them, I gave a light nod, inviting them in.
Flinch.
“If you don’t come, I’ll go to you…!!”
When the two, who had been staring at me for some reason, hesitated, I immediately kicked off the ground.
I was the one hunting here, so why were they the ones looking frightened?
At first I’d been a little scared too, but now that results were actually showing up, I felt exhilaration.
The fight itself wasn’t fun so much as the fact that I could feel myself getting stronger.
“Hup…!”
Whoosh—!!
The sword swung with no room left for improvement.
Even if my stance twisted a little, even if my blade path was slightly off, there was a clear sense that everything was being corrected on its own.
Slash—!!
It wasn’t registered in the skill book, but Wiki must’ve been helping to some extent.
Thinking about it calmly, that had to be right.
After all, I was here doing this despite having never held a sword in my life.
[07:20:12]
Right. Ninety minutes.
Ten minutes had already gone by.
They weren’t swarming in from everywhere the way I’d expected.
I wasn’t sure whether I’d chosen a good spot or whether the range was just narrow, but—
“This is manageable.”
It was so easy I almost felt like I could slap a blatant death flag on it and still be fine.
Flap flap!
“Fwahaaak!”
“You think I can’t get you if you’re in the air?”
I snorted at the sight of the giant bird I’d seen earlier.
So long as it stayed up there, my sword couldn’t reach it. Maybe it was circling, waiting for an opening, but I shoved a hand into my pocket all the same.
Whoosh—!
Cracklecracklecrackle—!!
“Fwahaaak!!”
“……Ah, Lightning Ball!”
The magic stone I’d flicked from my fingertips transformed into a globe of lightning.
Watching the thing scramble upward as if fleeing for its life, I only then shouted the incantation.
Thoom—!
I blinked dumbly at the giant bird dropping helplessly out of the sky.
Wait, so it works if I just picture it?
Incantation, my ass… so I really could just throw it?
Thud—!
After finishing it off by stabbing the bird the size of a person as it trembled on the ground, I dragged a hand over my sweaty forehead.
“Phew….”
Hop!
“……Hello there, bunny?”
“!!!”
I smiled at the sight of an ordinary rabbit, not a monster or a beast, slipping out from between the trees.
When it saw me and started trembling all over, I shrugged and walked toward it, as if asking what the problem was.
You came here because you were drawn in by my pheromones too, didn’t you? So why are you the one getting scared?
“Want to come over and have a bite? I’m the thing you were looking for, you know.”
Hop! Hop!
“Don’t run!! Fight me!!”
I still wanted more of that swordsmanship high, more of that steel-sword high.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
[06:49:13]
“……”
For some reason, monsters and beasts had started coming less and less.
I was thirsty, and I also wanted to wash the blood off my sword and hands, so I’d gone to the stream up ahead.
“……That’s fucking brutal.”
Looking at my reflection in the water and seeing my face splattered with blood, I laughed bitterly.
Maybe it was because I’d wiped the sweat from my face with hands soaked in blood.
No wonder the animals are scared.
If I were on a hunt and the prey greeted me with its whole body drenched in blood, smiling at me, I’d run too.
How was that thing a prey animal? How was it a target?
It was obviously a mutant. An alien life-form, if you asked me.
Maybe I’m better off not wiping it off.
I’d already tested the steel sword and my swordsmanship plenty in actual combat.
I didn’t need to keep fighting just to drain myself further, and I could already feel myself growing.
There was no real need to clean up the bodies and blood of all the monsters and beasts around me.
However strong my pheromones were, the smell of blood thick around me would keep them from coming close.
Wouldn’t they think some other predator was already hunting here?
I didn’t think they’d be eager to challenge me just to fight over territory.
Maybe I’m wrong, but I’ve heard animals have sharp instincts like that.
I wasn’t sure whether monsters counted, but if they did, that was fine too.
Shuffle…
“If something still comes at me after seeing this, that’ll be impressive in its own way.”
I looked around and gave a dry laugh.
“Thirty… no, forty?”
When had I knocked down so many?
I’d thought I might get worn out if they kept charging at me like this, but when I roughly counted the ones I’d beaten, there were already dozens.
I’m swinging a heavier sword than I did against the goblins….
My stamina and strength really had increased.
Though maybe that’s mostly because the swordsmanship is better than I expected.
I’d taken down most of them in a single strike.
I realized the Royal Knight Order’s basic swordsmanship, second form, was far more destructive than the first.
I hadn’t noticed while practicing alone, slashing at empty air, but once I actually cut things down, the difference was huge.
That meant forms three and four were probably even better.
If I spent a little TP, I could rise to a level that would take other people weeks or months to reach.
It wasn’t something I could quantify, but wasn’t this basically an experience event just for me?
Let’s go, easy gains.
It was a shame I still couldn’t see any path to learning magic without magic stones, but at least the sword side was going smoothly.
Rustle!
“There’s another experience point.”
“Grrr…!!”
“I’m not gonna hit you hard this time, so if you’re confident, come on in.”
For a little over forty minutes, I kept swinging my sword nonstop.
It was a bit bigger than the other wolves, but a wolf like that would go down in one hit—or two or three if it was especially tough.
“Kraaaah!!”
So this time—
Flash—!
Then I’d better pile up some real parry experience.
Tap!
One… two….
“Grrrr!!”
“Three!!”
Timing the glow of the magic circle, I brought the shield down on the top of its head at the perfect moment.
Crunch—!
“Keheng…!!”
“Come again, asshole.”
I’d probably need to replace this wooden shield soon anyway, so I might as well keep parrying until either its head or the shield broke.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
[06:15:12]
About fifteen minutes remained until the trial ended.
From the point when there’d been thirty minutes left, not a single thing had shown up.
I hadn’t moved even an inch from the place where I’d first scattered my pheromones, so the monsters and beasts nearby had probably all come to me already.
Thoom…!
……Though one is just now coming up.
Thoom!!
“K-gghhh….”
“Lucky for me, it’s not that one from before.”
I snorted at the sight of the bear coming toward me without caring whether the ground was littered with blood and corpses.
Fortunately, it wasn’t the huge, scarred bear I’d seen earlier.
That one had the kind of face that looked like it belonged in a final boss event.
Of course, this one looked pretty similar, but it seemed like a still-growing specimen.
Totally doable.
That was my first thought when I looked at the bear.
Even I found it ridiculous.
Once parrying was an option, I didn’t feel like I’d take damage.
Of course, if it were too huge or too fast for parrying to matter, that would be another story—but—
That size is basically a cub.
For a bear, it was fairly small.
Unlike the ones that had gone down in a single blow all this time, this was the kind of opponent that would finally let me really test the effect of my swordsmanship.
Shuffle—
I should test whether this works too.
Seeing it drool like the rest of the brutes who’d come here before, I slipped a hand into my pocket.
Gripping a low-grade magic stone, I looked at the bear, which seemed cautiously wary.
“If your blood smell is strong enough, I’m sure everyone else will be too scared to come near.”
I smiled, eager to verify the effects of my steel sword and swordsmanship, as well as the effects of magic.
And beyond that, to earn myself a barrier of bear blood stink.
“Grrrr….”
The moment it tries to cross that stream, it’s bear barbecue.
Swallowing hard at the sight of the bear baring its teeth, I took a light step backward.
Staring at the water between us, I got ready to throw the magic stone at any moment.
It’s more cold-blooded than I thought.
Was the smell of blood on my body really that overpowering?
When it showed no sign of lunging at me, a prey-marked target, I narrowed my eyes.
Can’t be helped.
I didn’t want to sit around and read the room forever, and I didn’t want to give it the timing it wanted.
Crack—!
“Come on over here and take a big bite, why don’t you—!!”
Shouting at the bear, I turned and ran, showing it my back.
If I’d done that in the wild, I’d have died for sure, but I guess I really had grown some guts.
Thoom, thoom, thoom!
“Kuhwooooo!”
Stirred by instinct, the bear thundered after me, shaking the ground—
Splash!
Chain Lightning…!
The instant it leapt into the water, I hurled the magic stone.
Crackle—KZZZZT!!
I smiled as the casually thrown stone flew perfectly toward the stream with Wiki’s assistance.
“Kraughkghkghk…!!”
“Oh, damn.”
Even by my standards, this was pretty deep water—up to my calves at least.
And there, over that stretch of water, electricity crawled upward like something out of a game.
It seemed to work even better than I’d expected; the bear was trembling all over.
It was still baring its teeth, but the eyes it had fixed on me were wavering.
“KwoooAAAAH!!!”
“So even a cub is still a bear, huh.”
I admired the way it struggled to keep moving, against all instinct.
When its pupils finally steadied again and the body that had been frozen in place began to twitch back into motion—
“Sorry, buddy.”
Crackle—KZZZZT!!
“!!”
I kindly reloaded another magic stone.
“────!!”
As it screamed without even becoming a sound, I tightened my grip on the steel sword.
“It’s not that you’re weak…. I’m just stronger….”
The instant the electricity vanished from above the water, I charged in at full speed.
“Hup…!!”