森の端での生存

 

The battle in the shoreline became the new training regime and eventually I was able to fight 5 GREYWOLVES at the same time on my terms. But let’s face it, not all battles are in congruent with our terms.

 

If I have to put it on a simple metaphor then it would be me playing video games. In some of the RPGs I used to play, I always get frustrated when boss monsters heal themselves once, when I use heal on my own parties almost all of the time.

 

This is also the same in real combat. There are times when I won’t be able to exploit anything like the one I have been using in this beach.

 

Thankfully my combat powers are finally coming into shape, I thought it was time to put my hard work into practice and decided to enter the edge of the forest. While I could just do the luring strategy, somehow the monsters tend to stray away even the edges of the forest as if they do not want to get lured, that and I really think that it is time to proceed.

 

And finally after staying in the beach for 6 whole months I decided to enter the forest edge. But before completely entering it, I needed to relocate Grimoire-chan.

 

The reason:

Although an uncharted island, it would not be undeniable that the ship is still out in the open sea, should pirates, or other seafarers see a ship unmanned and unguarded waiting to be taken, I dread the possibility.

 

I surmised that Grim-chan will not allow anyone to navigate her aside from me. So the next thing they would do is to try and sink her. I will not stand it! No one will harm her!

 

So to avoid those possibilities, I needed to relocate her to a safe place, using the map in my cabin as a guide and head west from my starting point.

 

Navigating Grim-chan, just a bit far from the shoreline, I was looking for an inlet that would at least camouflage Grimoire-chan from direct sight.

 

At first I thought that it would be safer if she was in my storage inside somewhere in my body. but, since I have decided to enter the forest, I needed a safety-harness should I feel that I am in grave danger.

 

I had experimented beforehand and tried to use the 《RETURN to SHIP》skill while Grim-chan is in my storage but it did not work, when I check the Log in the Captain’s Room the ‘Unable to use skill when ship is inside the BARRIER HOLY PRECINCT of DARKNESS’ was logged.

 

'BARRIER HOLY PRECINCT of DARKNESS' was a bit blown in proportion but, it must mean that Grim-chan is transported in this so called HOLY PRECINCT of DARKNESS and a barrier is erected to ensure nothing else enter it except for the ship.

 

Another note to take is that if I am within the ship and try to store Grim-chan, the same system call stops me. I am guessing that it works in the same principle.

 

So here I am looking for an inlet and as soon as I found it I carefully navigated Grim-chan inside. It was in the southwest area of the island. The inlet had a stream that also seems to stretch towards the mountain I could see in the unobstructed canopy by the trees.

 

For now I have decided not to stretch to far away from the open sea. I might also need to have an easy getaway.

 

*****

 

Before completely leaving the vicinity of the ship, I needed to make sure nothing attacks Grim-chan while I was out hunting or foraging in the forest this is also a good way to gauge the areas combat rank as oppose to mine, and for that I needed to make my dominance in the area.

 

Thankfully, just a few meters away from the ship a giant heap of soil where giant ant like monsters welcomes me with open hostilities well, they are really just trying to protect their territory from an intruder, but I reply to their hostilities with my own.

 

Unlike the GREYWOLVES the ant like monsters were not very agile and it would be easy to target them with my weapons, however they were hard, according to the Grim-chan’s log the monsters seems to be called SOLDIER ANTARES.

 

These SOLDIER ANTAREs have armor like carapace, if I do not concentrate my attacks and coat it with KENKI, I could hardly penetrate it. But as soon as I spread my KENKI, slicing the carapace becomes slightly easier.

 

They were also slightly weaker than the GREYWOLVES, but the greatest problem fighting them is that they attack in swarms and if I don’t observe their movements well, it could lead to my downfall.

 

It is also worth mentioning that for the entire duration of my combat with the SOLDIER ANTARES none of them attacked the suspicious 'thing' that was docked in a few meters of their colony. It looks like they do not attack areas without life on it.

 

The sunlight that had crept inside the little openings of the thick canopy of trees has started to fade little by little. Night must be falling. With the monsters turning in as well, I decided to turn in for the night, fighting with zero visibility is after all foolhardy.

 

I slept in the deck this time instead of my cabin. I needed to be able to move and intercept any intruders that might invade. Despite the freezing night breeze, I was able to sleep soundly and woke up the morning next day without as much as a cold.

 

It would seem that the SOLDIER ANTARES were at least rank E or below monster. The 《MONSTER REPELLENT》skill must have warded them off. When I have spare monster cores and have the right attributes, I should increase the level of the 《MONSTER REPELLENT》skill to ward off stronger monsters. The Concealment skill seems handy too.

 

"No walk in the park..." I sighed loudly but... "Today's another day."

 

This time I had an easy fight with the SOLDIER ANTAES as I got used to fighting them previously, now the monster I needed to be wary off were the FLYING ANTARES.

 

They were a bit cumbersome because of their mobility, however their carapace was somewhat soft compared to the SOLDIER ANTARES. I was able to fend them off thanks to my practiced throwing hands.

 

Thankfully with the trees, in my surroundings they could not attack my flank if I station myself near a giant tree. My back was somewhat protected. There were still attacks from above but with the rustling of the branches, twigs and leaves I was able to detect where their attacks would approach.

 

I also found out that the FLYING ANTARES should also be at Level E or below. One time I kicked one near Grim-chan and as if feeling the pressure of a strong being, it fled away from her like its life depended on it.

 

The only thing that could probably threaten Grim-chan came face to face with me, the GIGANTIC ANTARES.

 

It was huge, at least a quarter size of Grim-chan. It seems to be ruthless unlike the ants I know in the other world. It tossed the SOLDIER ANTARES and stepped on the fallen FLYING ANATARES as if vexed for not having killed me yet despite its superior numbers, it started to mow me.

 

Truthfully if this was an open space it would have been my loss. But with the trees, The GIGANTIC ANTARES stopped its berserk dashes to try and avoid hurting itself.

 

With great observation combined with versatility and agile movements became my saving grace as I used them on my surroundings to confuse the giant insect by moving from tree to tree. Of course I won’t be able to penetrate its hard carapace, which was harder than the SOLDIER ANTARES without KENKI.

 

First I took out its mobility by getting rid of its leg. With a repetition of that, I was able to take out the GIGANTIC ANTARES. After seeing that I have defeated the giant ant, the rest of the Soldier and Flying ANTARES fled from the area.

 

“hah hah hah…” I puffed out some erratic breaths after doing a lot of strenuous movements.

 

…And with my remaining strength.

 

"Return to ship."

 

.『Grimoire Atelier』Memory Log {

• Defeated the GIGANTIC ANTARES
• Captain Congratulations!
• First Mid-Boss Defeated!

}

 

In response to Grim-chan’s greetings, I lightly tapped my fist on steering wheel as a means of acknowledgement and slept for two days without waking up.

 

With the battle that occurred in this forest against the swarm of ANTARES, I have to a point achieved one of my goals -getting stronger. However it should still be minuscule compared to what I will be pitted against in the future, but it should be a first step.

 

 

*****

 

The morning after no ANTARES was seen near the ship. I strained my somehow heightened senses, but I could not pick-up any movement from the area. There I finally decided to move to my next step and traverse the forest a bit from Grim-chan.

 

Making sure not to let this small victory get to my head, I will be gaining more combat experience while foraging and hunting for my basic necessities only on the forest edge instead of going deeper in the forest.

 

While it was easy to get more food deeper in the forest, I have judged that my skills should still be low to handle the monsters that might forage deep in the forest. While I do not have any concrete evidence on it, since my instincts tend to be correct even in the previous world, I decided to adhere to it and stay close to the edge where I can see the open sea.

 

"Grim-chan, see you in a week!" this should be the first time I will be away from Grim-chan, I am praying that my conjuncture that only Rank E or lower monsters are roaming here in the forest edge and her safety at the least secured.

 

I have been in her care all this time and after shedding a pint of my tear I wave momentary goodbye to Grim-chan's way and headed to the unknown.

 

****

 

My route is to head further east bound while mainly traversing where I can see the open sea. If I am to make a reference to the ship’s map the place I’m going should be the southern part of the island, while gaining combat experience along the way and collecting whatever edible foods I could find, I did not forget to take notes of the monsters encountered.

 

 

The monsters are of the insect types:

 

Like for example the huge wormlike monsters, which would be logged in the ship’s Memory Log are called LARVAE, these guys are relatively slow but when sliced wrong their bodies explode like bombs and expel poisons in the process like some kamikaze attack.

 

There is also giant dragonfly like monsters known as FRAYGRA which can breathe magical secretions through their mouths. Quite troublesome things, since they can be of different elements, fighting swarms mean one has to deal different elemental attributed magic in one battle.

 

ARACNAE, spiderlike monsters that spins magical attributed webs, they seem to also inflict other ill-natured status DEBUFFS that are detrimental to combat if fought longer.

 

And all of these have queen like existence much like the ANTARES. They were troublesome but compared to the QUEEN ANTARES carapace, they did not pack any defense. Apart from their elemental attacks (which were troublesome whatever insect type monster I encounter) they were easily sliced even if I only coat my Wooden Trials with little KENKI.

 

The plants, fruits and other vegetation that look edible which I had gathered are the following:

 

Some berries, vegetables which look likes one from the other side such as: lettuce, tomatoes, unions, gingers, and other spices

 

I also harvested some strong vines, strong hardwoods, branches and twigs.

 

Using some other vines, I crafted a makeshift net which I had learned during high school and used them to haul my finds on trees. After 5 minutes, the items whose ownership has become mine since I collected them are then transported to the Grim-chan.

 

*****

 

I have been talking about edible plants and spices for a while, you might be wondering what I have been eating upon arriving in this island. Aside from eating directly from fruits I still needed proteins to have that diet meal. So far 80% of my diet consisted of fruits and vegetable. The remaining percentage is meat.

 

When I first came to this island in the beach, unlike in most MMO I have played, the bodies of defeated monsters disintegrate into particles of light then drop monster items.

 

However, this is not true in this world after all this is no game. The bodies of the defeated GREYWOLVES remained and I had to process them so that I can cook them.

 

Let me tell you, it was hard for the first two weeks. I was not much of a cook in the previous world and I never processed meat raw before. The scent of blood made me nauseated and the sight of bloodied organs almost made me faint but, if I don’t eat no matter how strong I will become I will die.

 

So I made sure to learn the process. Skinning and drying the fur, bleeding and cutting meats into rations, scraping other bones that could be used outside of cooking.

 

While no 5 star chef I was still able to cook nutritious food that would sustain a balance meal.

 

And that was how I also survived in this forest.