CHAPTER 64: EVERYTHING IN MODERATION IS A GOOD THOUGHT TO LIVE BY, BUT SOMETIMES IT’S JUST NOT POSSIBLE

“Oooh. Jun-kun, doesn’t that remind you of something?”

“… Ah, yeah.”

“The Leviathan from the game …”

“Don’t say it!”

A massive, snaking body with the fierce head of a dragon with a slim, pointy, angular snout reminiscent to a marlin’s. Two long limbs extended from its body, and from them draped a membrane with a glistening shine. At the end of its tail were fin-like crystalline protrusions that acted like rudders of a ship, guiding its rear half as it sailed through the air.

Although it’s not as big as the Crystal Python, it is still quite large.

And very hungry.

As soon as Seimei-san and I stepped out into the Water Corridor, this big catch came flying out.

“… An elemental drake…”

As expected, the tremble of excitement in Ragnall’s voice indicates we just reeled in a big catch.

Now the question is, which element…

Ka-rrack!

A bolt of ice shoots through the air.

Ah, an ice drake. It’s not going to be THAT bad, if it’s ice…

I’m having that kind of thought, but THAT kind of thought is a pretty ridiculous thought.

It’s a drake, you know, a drake! It’s the kind of thing that can be considered on the degree of a natural disaster. With a speed and agility that’s hard to match, it weaves through the air, alternately spraying ice and then swooping down at us with its fangs bared.

But at least it’s not an electric drake.

Anyway, just the drake by itself is enough to promise a tough fight, but there are a lot of other hungry looking monsters making their appearance. Continuously … making … appearances…

What the heck!

Wyrms, wyverns, nagas, kelpies, manticores, chimeras … these are the types of monsters that are considered myths even in this world, and they’re coming out non-stop!

It’s like we are fighting a boss fight with endless elite mobs flooding in!

And all these monsters are coming in, mouths gaping wide open, aiming for Seimei-san and me. Although the monsters aren’t attacking Ragnall right out of the “water”, they register him as a hindrance the moment he lands a hit, so it’s not like he’s getting out of this easily either.

With a few of my composite spells, a Blizzard spell with a Whirlwind spell, placed strategically around the three of us, I can more or less control the monsters’ rush in with whirlwinds of ice. The problem is, when the ice drake swoops in, he just eats them!

I’m beginning to wish I had practiced spinning fire into the whirlwinds. Because of my lack of experience, whenever I’ve tried to do so, the fire will either be blown out in the whirlwind, or it will shoot into a blazing tower of flames.

The blazing infernos might be useful in dealing damage, but they are completely unusable in a battle like this, where we need to keep clear visibility of the monsters that are attacking.

As the ice drake wheels overhead, preparing for another rush at us, I sigh.

“This might be a little much. I’m getting tired of hewing them down.”

“Yeah. This amount would normally require several armies to subdue.”

“Hm. And how much of each army would be left?”

“Less than 30%, I’d guess.”

Seimei-san and I try to gauge the strength of the never-ending monster swarm while Ragnall answers us. For a horde that would take several nations’ armies to defeat, the 3 of us are chatting away in a rather leisurely fashion.

As for why that is,

“.”

With a single word, the monsters were being slaughtered by Seimei-san. Darkness would cover a certain area of the room, and a hard rain would fall. Some of the monsters without hard pelts, like the kelpies and manticores, would be pierced by the rain. Even if they had scales, the wyms and wyverns weren’t much better off. The heavy, dark rain would cling to them and drag them to the ground where they would suffocate to death.

It’s kind of a horrible death.

Monsters in the rear were destroyed by Seimei-san, while I handled the monsters that got up close.

With my blade I hack and slash at the incoming monsters, using magic only along the blade to channel destructive power into their weak spots.

Aiming for the lines that dismantler’s usually cut along, I butcher the monsters who circle in, unable to bear the idea of marring their corpses too badly.

No, it’s not like I’m only thinking about them in terms of crafting materials-!

Even for me, it’s not that easy to take on more than one of these legendary creatures at the same time. I can handle 2, maybe 3 at most by myself.

The Barriers I set up delay them, but ultimately the Barriers are crushed under the might of the monsters, so I can only spend 5-10 minutes fighting a single monster.

I’ve had to leave many weakened monsters to Ragnall as I turn to take the next one’s attacks. If this were a game with last-hit experience, many a gamer in my position would be crying out of frustration.

Countless monsters fell to our attacks until the corpses littered the floor, but still the ice drake soared over head, expertly dodging Seimei-san’s Shadowed Rain. Even when it swoops in to attack us, its high-specs made it difficult for me to land an attack as it would either dodge out of the way, or repel my attacks with ice magic.

Like a hawk hunting, it cleverly dodges our attacks and veers away, only to dive-bomb us while unleashing torrents of ice.

I really want to take down that ice drake. The tail fins … I wonder what kind sword could be made out of them!

While metal swords are the best for channeling magic and spells down, swords made from monster parts hold enchantments better.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Umu … I really want those glistening, crystalline tail-fins!

Although I love forging swords, I’m in another world after all, so why shouldn’t I try other types of sword-making?

There should be merits in all the different ways the people of this world make weapons. In order to maximize my abilities, I’m trying out all sorts of different things.

So why do I dislike casting magic circuit swords?

Haa… well, first of all there’s that previous dislike of weak cast swords as a forger. I can’t deny that. But there’s also the fact that the internal vibrations can damage the magic circuit on the inside of the sword, and then how can you fix it?

Keep the circuit on the outside to make it easier to fix? Then I might as well engrave a forged sword and try to embed the craeftite silver in the engravings.

The reason I don’t do it, besides the fact that silver is soft and easily damaged, is that magic circuits aren’t necessary to make a magic weapon. And to be honest, I think they’re way too complicated for simple effects, and I can’t even begin to picture a circuit for the more … interesting effects I want to make.

For example, the dagger I made that senses malicious attacks. For a magic circuit that does the same thing, of course I have to define the glow, brightness, color, etc, but the difficult problems is defining what an attack is (or isn’t), and then what’s considered “malicious”. How the heck are you supposed to define “malicious” in magic? I can’t even give you an absolute answer in Japanese.

Even if I wanted to cut out the “malicious” part, just defining what an attack is … haa… I feel my face going blue just thinking about trying to work out the difference between an accidental shove and a purposeful punch. The technical difficulties of smelting the magic ores are much less fussy than having to make that circuit.

… Well, I’m better at making things with instinct than logic … I only really use magic circuits to induce magic flow, or change the end objective. If it’s that much … well, I could probably just put in the circuits in the grips or something.

I’m currently researching enchantments, though, so I’ll investigate circuits more another time.

Because enchantments are seriously fun. Sure, they won’t be able to do anything too pin-pointed, but with a sword, “explodes on heavy impact” kind of works really well.

With weapons, simple is best.

But the smiths at Helward’s said that monster part weapons are the things that hold enchantments best. Metal mixed with monster parts and smelted with magical additives do alright, but weapons made purely out of monster parts are prized above all else for enchantments.

Especially the draconic monsters.

And that ice drake lies in the dragon family, doesn’t it?

“Their numbers are beginning to increase, huh? I think a strategic retreat should be our next action.”

Calmly observing the situation, Ragnall points out that we should begin thinking about bringing our never-ending battle to an end.

“Then should we retreat?”

Seimei-san glances towards both the exit and the pavilion in the center of the room. To be frank, we didn’t need to move much during this hunt so the exit would be closer, but it’s also an attractive idea to hunt on the way out …

Although looking at the monsters already littering the floor, the amount would already cause an uproar at the Guild.

“If you care to move towards the pavilion, I would be able to recover the monster materials more leisurely. Since neither Jun nor Seimei-san would be able to go out into the room.”

“Understood. Then let’s move to the pavilion.”

“… It’s regrettable.”

I mumble that under my breath, but Seimei-san, who was near me, over hears it.

“You want to take down that drake, huh Jun-kun?”

“Eh? Was it that noticeable?”

“It’s rare for Jun to look at something with greed written all over her face.”

Ragnall laughs as I pat my face.

“Ah, well I suppose it would be strange compared to Ragnall, who always has greed written all over his face.”

I retorted curtly, turning away. It’s embarrassing, so both of you, stop looking at me.

“Then… Let me try something.”

Seimei-san grinned widely even as monsters smashed into the Barriers I had just formed, preparing to run.

Is this going to be ok… I mean, the Shadow Rain aside, when Seimei-san used his lowest level spell, the monster turned into a splatter movie victim.

“Hm… then … .”

Before I can say anything, Seimei-san casually activates his spell, pointing his finger at the drake. It’s an ice drake, so maybe it will hold up better?

In front of Seimei-san’s finger, a large, dark spot appears. At the same time, a similar spot appears near the drake.

When it dodges out of the way, the spot – no, it’s more like a portal? – rotates, keeping its opening directed at the drake. And then, in the next second,

K-slaaaash!

A dark spike exploded out of the portal near the drake, and

Zuba-!

Its head went flying through the air as the spike speared through the drake and several other monsters before disintegrating and leaving nothing behind.

“Hm. The spell looks different, but in the end, the result is mostly the same.”

Seimei-san nonchalantly analyzes his spell as Ragnall and I gaze jealously at the ice drake’s body, plummeting to the ground.

1 hit!

How enviable.

—

Shadowed Rain is a debuff spell from the game that lowers enemy defenses and speed.

It was properly a mass area-of-effect destruction spell HERE, though…

Seimei-san, I don’t think you’ll be able to use your full power any time soon.

That said, Seimei-san really is only powerful in offensive magic.

I was going to set out a lunch so Seimei-san can eat while Ragnall and I clean up the corpses and check the conditions of our weapons and armors, but Seimei-san can’t eat right away.

“Sorry, I’m a little tired.”

His face is somewhat pale, and his chest is heaving as he breathes heavily.

Although he’s been trying to hide it, there’s no doubt that we’ve probably pushed Seimei-san a bit too hard with the 2 day march down here, and then the continuous hunting a few moments ago.

Come to think of it, we’ve probably been going at a pace that most people would have fainted under long ago. We properly took breaks on the journey downwards, but I see now that it might have been too strenuous for a normal person.

After he gulps down some water, Seimei-san looks out at Ragnall, who is easily lifting 100 kg monster corpses.

“I knew I was physically weaker than the other gamers, but I’m disappointed to learn that I’m also physically weaker than some of the residents in this world.”

“Um… You’re probably above the average of the normal citizens.”

“…Thanks.”

No, it would be completely cheating if you were peerless in everything, Seimei-san. And Ragnall’s … different than the average resident.

Ragnall has been leaving the corpses of the monsters right on the pavilion, so I take the opportunity while Seimei-san is resting to store them in my Inventory.

There’s already over 50 monster corpses in Inventory. We’ve slaughtered close to 100 of them, I think.

In the end, Ragnall has to drag the ice drake over. It seems considerably heavy, but it packs neatly into Inventory as ‘Ice Drake Body (x1)’ and ‘Ice Drake Head (x1)’.

“Haa… at first I was really happy about the haul, but now I’m wondering if we can even sell any of these. It might be best if you just hang on to most of it, Jun.”

Ragnall complains as the 3 of us sit down to lunch.

We’re lucky that Inventory stops time. Without having to light a fire, there’s hot tea and a warming meal readily available. I picked more satisfying food from among the packed meals in my Inventory after seeing Seimei-san’s tired face.

“You’re not advocating to sell? Is it a worry about crashing the market?”

Although Ragnall seems to live to make money, he’s also very conscientious about affecting the economy too much.

“Rather than crashing the market… any one of these monsters can be considered materials that aren’t seen in 100 moons.”

Ah, I forgot. They kept popping out like flies, so it’s kind of hard to remember that these were monsters that most people wouldn’t see in a life time.

“With those kinds of monsters, I’m not sure how many people would be able to afford refining the materials, let alone be able to make a profit from them. If that’s the case, it might be better to sell off only a few of the corpses and keep the rest to craft yourself. There might be more buyers for a finished product than the raw materials.”

There’s that, too, I guess. If I keep the materials for myself and refine them myself, in the end, the profit might be bigger for us.

“You’re saying that, Ragnall, but isn’t Seimei-san the one who killed most of them?”

Seimei-san laughs at my stern warning, waving a hand carelessly.

“Of course not~.”

He says in a frivolous tone.

That’s right. Seimei-san is still pretending to be weak.

“Anyway, it’s better if the crafter gets the materials, right Jun-kun?”

“If that’s what you think …”

It’s kind of creepy to think of the naga and manticores sitting in my inventory, though. Although it’s not like the faces are the exact likeness of a human, the resemblance is eerie enough that it makes me nervous.

“It’s strange, though,”

Ragnall says, breaking the momentary silence that fell among us.

“What is?”

“I did think that some rare guys would come out because we brought Seimei-san, but to think it would be to this degree…”

Seriously. I was reminded of the image of piranhas coming after us.

“And also, rather than coming for Seimei-san, didn’t it feel like they were coming after Jun?”

Seimei-san was startled.

“Is that true? I was focused on the ones further away so I didn’t notice.”

“I don’t know either. I was a bit busy with the ones up close.”

… Although, now that I think about it, it did kind of feel like they were targeting me at first, and then decided that Seimei-san wasn’t a bad meal either.