The Worst Enemy (2)
The first day. I cleared out the monsters near the village. Most of them were horned wild dogs or giant rats bigger than those dogs—beasts that felt more like vermin than anything worthy of being called a monster. After spending the entire day on it and returning to the village, the rabbit had already secured a small shelter for us. Since all the lights around the area were out, we would have had to camp outside or pay extra to find lodging, but the rabbit’s sense had been spot on.
The second day. I carved a path far enough that the village was no longer visible. The monsters that still appeared were still closer to beasts in appearance. Things like wildcats with four eyes or insane cows with razor-sharp fangs. Since I still hadn’t received any notification about the Demon King’s minions or anything of the sort, it seemed we were still quite far from the Demon King’s castle.
Monsters near the Demon King’s castle are stronger and smarter.
The rabbit’s continued explanation left me unable to fully grasp the meaning behind its words.
And… the higher the Status of a being, the more difficult it tends to become to clear the fifth floor. Though that’s not always the case.
That was how we arrived at the third day. On the road, I witnessed two groups of beasts waging war against each other. A territorial dispute. Most beasts possess their own unique territories. And the smarter and stronger the beast, the wider that territory tended to be.
In fact, this was actually a good sign for me. The more the monsters fought over territory, the higher my chances of benefiting as a third party. In other words, it meant the path to the Demon King’s castle would be relatively easier.
I charged into the battlefield and wiped out the bipedal giant rats. Afterward, I received a notification that I had defeated minions, and from the site I discovered a black stone called a magic stone.
The fourth day. The magic stone I had picked up the previous day turned out to be quite valuable. At first I had no idea what it was even used for, but the rabbit beside me gave a simple explanation of its purpose.
It was a consumable used to gather ambient mana when performing high-level magic and the surrounding mana was insufficient. Occasionally, higher-grade magic stones slowly absorbed atmospheric mana, so they were sometimes processed into magic wands.
I decided to keep the magic stone safely stored away, wondering if I might be able to use it on my sword someday. Of course, with my magic stat already well over forty, I was hardly ever short on mana, but it didn’t seem like a bad idea to prepare for any potential danger.
And so the hunt continued. For some reason, the rabbit wanted to move together with me today. Since it didn’t seem like the creature would get in my way, I accepted its suggestion without much thought.
And that day… for the first time since the tutorial, I hesitated before swinging my sword.
-Kihihit!
The fourth day of carving a path to the Demon King’s castle. The shabby, diminutive creature that suddenly appeared before me instantly made me think of the seven dwarves from Snow White.
“Oh! It’s a Kiringnome!”
“Kiringnome?”
At the rabbit’s words, I tilted my head and stared at the new monster. It wore a slightly grotesque smile. Honestly, calling it a dwarf from Snow White was a stretch—its appearance was more like a grotesque mix of pig and rat, which made it rather creepy.
“Yes, it’s a fairy-type monster that loves playing pranks! Of course, what they consider a prank is enough to make the victim’s head spin!”
“I… I see…?”
“Actually, that might not even be a smile! Its face just looks like it’s constantly laughing, which is why it’s called a Kiringnome. How could anything be playful about everything all the time!”
At the rabbit’s explanation, I frowned slightly and glanced back at it. Because if anyone was playful about everything, it was definitely this guy more than the monster.
“Hehet? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“…Never mind. Forget it.”
Whether it actually had any self-awareness about its own personality or not, the rabbit simply grinned and stepped back behind me. It was clearly saying I could deal with it however I wanted. But unlike before, my hand didn’t readily reach for my sword.
What the hell is this?
The monsters I had fought so far had mostly shown nothing resembling intelligence. They had simply bared their claws and fangs, charging at me with the intent to kill. At times I had felt like a group of monsters was surrounding me as if they had planned a strategy, but that was nothing more than the instinctive territorial behavior of hunting beasts. There had been far too many shortcomings to call it reason or intellect.
But the monster called a Kiringnome standing before me now—
“…Let me ask you one thing.”
“Oh! You’ve never asked questions since coming here. What’s the occasion?”
“Is that thing… crying right now?”
Behind the Kiringnome’s smiling face, I sensed despair and rage. And within the profound terror mixed with faint hope and fear, I discovered a sorrow whose source I couldn’t identify.
“Crying…? Did you just ask me if the Kiringnome is crying?”
The rabbit repeated my question as if flustered. But it didn’t answer right away. Instead, it muttered something incomprehensible.
“I expected rapid growth since you’re clearing it solo, but… isn’t this a bit too fast?”
I turned my head to look at the rabbit again. Sensing my gaze, it made a soft tch sound and stroked its chin for a moment before finally giving an answer.
“Yeah, it seems so.”
Its reply was concise. But the rabbit continued explaining things I hadn’t even asked about.
“Player Kim Siin. Do you know what the biggest difference between constellations and players is?”
“……”
“Humans possess five senses—sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. But sometimes, among those with slightly higher Status, an additional sense manifests.”
The sixth sense. A sense that allows one to intuitively perceive the essence of things that cannot be explained by science or common knowledge. And the rabbit said this represented the awakened state of transcendents that came with rising Status.
“Player Kim Siin, how did you know that monster was crying? It’s a species that doesn’t even shed tears.”
“Just a feeling.”
At my answer, the rabbit let out a hollow laugh.
“That means the level of your Status has finally begun to surpass that of a helper. Do you understand?”
The statement that I was becoming something that transcended humanity. I understood the words, but it was difficult to accept them immediately. The term “sixth sense” was commonly used in everyday life, and it was a fairly common experience I’d had even before the apocalypse.
But right now, I could no longer analyze the rabbit’s words. What was bothering me wasn’t some difficult, complicated theory about Status. It was the fact that the monster before my eyes was expressing the emotion of sorrow. Moreover, it was desperately pleading with me, as if longing for something, begging for its life.
Srrrng. Clack!
I sheathed my sword. At that, hope bloomed in the Kiringnome’s emotions, and it gestured for me to follow.
-Kihit! Ihit!
I couldn’t understand the words. But I could sense that it was asking for help with something.
“Oh? You’re going to follow it? How do you know what it’s planning? That thing’s pretty cunning, you know?”
“It just feels a bit off.”
The rabbit chimed in slyly. I wasn’t unaware of what it was worried about. No matter how alive its emotions were, it was still a monster in the end. The remnants of the Demon King who opposed humanity weren’t likely to do anything beneficial for a human—especially not for me, who currently held the role of hero on the fifth floor.
But even so…
“I can’t ignore something that makes me curious.”
“I thought you were aiming to be a pushover. Then let’s go together! I haven’t explored the entire fifth floor either, so I’m curious too!”
Together with the rabbit, I followed the Kiringnome into the forest. Its footprints were abnormally large compared to its small stature. But since its lower body wasn’t particularly long, its stride itself wasn’t very wide.
…Ting.
“Did you hear that just now?”
“Hey, what’s with you? This helper form is a rabbit, remember? Want to bet on who has better hearing?”
At my question, the rabbit grinned and hopped along behind me. Sounds of fighting and shouts. Along with screams, the noises of something being slashed and stabbed gradually grew louder, and I realized that what was called a territorial dispute among the so-called monsters was taking place here.
But there was one thing different from the fight I had seen a few days ago.
“Crazy…”
A groan full of bewilderment escaped my lips.
Slash! Slash!
The muscular giant monster’s heavy axe strikes severed limbs, sending Kiringnomes flying in all directions. They had drawn their weapons and were fighting desperately, but it was clearly too much for them to subdue monsters whose basic physique was four times their size.
-Kill them! Queeek!
-Kiringnome! Today’s lunch! Queeek!
No reason to spare them!
Warriors with gray skin and two pairs of massive upward-curving tusks. Creatures with heads resembling wild boars were indiscriminately smashing the Kiringnomes’ huts with enormous greatswords and double-bladed axes.
Swish.
“…Gray orcs.”
As I hid my body while watching them, the rabbit behind me quietly tugged at my clothes.
“…I usually try not to interfere, but let’s get out of here. I’m technically a player here too, so I could actually die. Haha.”
The rabbit’s suggestion to run. I honestly thought the same. No matter how close we were to the Demon King’s castle, the aura these creatures gave off was far more threatening than any monster I had encountered in the past four days.
If there were only a few, it wouldn’t have been a big problem. But what they were engaged in now was a territorial war. They were fighting a war for survival, which meant their numbers easily exceeded a hundred. That was the problem.
And at that moment—
-Kihihihiiiit!!!
The Kiringnome that had led us here let out a strange cry and drew the stubby sword at its side.
Swish! Swish!
The problem was that every orc in the area turned their heads at its battle cry.
-Queeeeeeek!!! The cowardly gnome bastard called a human! Kill them!
-U! U! U! U!
I had suddenly become the gnome’s champion. Seeing a massive axe larger than myself being thrown at me, I hurriedly drew my sword.