“Are you alright, Ririna? What the hell is that?” I held onto Ririna after pulling her out of danger, and the two of us looked at the new monster that had just appeared. It looked like the two Golem Munchers I beat, but three times their size. Is that really what it is? A giant Golem Muncher? The impact its claw made when it smashed into the ground was stronger than anything I’ve seen so far. Can I do anything about it?
“Thanks, Iroha. You saved me again.” Ririna coughed and recomposed herself after the close call.
I had a surprisingly easy time dealing with the two smaller Golem Munchers. This one might not be that much harder just because it’s bigger. Even though they’re made out of rock, they’re very brittle. A single sword strike is able to completely shatter them. That’s right… It shouldn’t be too different. It may be bigger, but I can do this! I can’t hesitate. I need to stay on the offensive. That’s what’s been working out thus far.
I readied my sword and ran towards the big monster. It’s slow. Even after I approach it, there’s no reaction. I went with the same approach I used to deal with the others and used Agility Burst to get right in front of its face. Then Slash Flurry to cut its head into pieces. “You’re done!”
*Clank!*
But things didn’t go according to plan, and the sword made a sound I hadn’t heard before. It bounced off its head, and the shock of the impact reverberated painfully through my arm. What is this? Why is it so tough? Is it not like the other ones?
The monster brushed me off and charged forward to bite the target in front of it. It was pretty slow, but I had lost balance due to my sword bouncing, so I had to resort to Agility Burst to get out of the way. “Iroha, wait!” I was already on the retreat, so instead of attacking again, I went to where Ririna was.
“Do you know what that is? Why is it so much tougher?”
“That’s not a normal Golem Muncher. You won’t be able to defeat it in the same way that you did with the other ones. That’s either a very mature Golem Muncher or a Titan Muncher.” After hearing those names and seeing this bigger monster, I remembered an enemy from the game. The only problem is that it appeared on the opposite end of the map. If it really is the same enemy that appears in the fractured lands, then it must be around level 40. No way! Is it really the same creature? What’s it doing in the beginning area? “Either way, the bump in its back is still somewhat fragile, but the rest of its body has fully solidified. Its body is now very tough, so you’re going to struggle if you’re using a sword. Get away from here. I’m going to use a bomb.” Ririna starts rummaging through her pockets.
“Uhmm… I don’t think you have time for that…” The big monster stampeded towards us. It wasn’t incredibly fast, but we still had no choice but to run away. I grabbed Ririna by the hand and pulled her along.
“Sarasa! Why did she have to be missing when we needed her the most!?” Ririna screamed while running. We tried to use the rocks to our advantage and weaved our way through them. The big Golem Muncher didn’t care, and just smashed its way through them.
“Iroha, can you distract it for a moment? I can blow it up if you can give me an opening?” Can I distract it? It’s fast in a straight line after it gets going, but other than that, it’s not very agile. Maybe I can handle it.
“Alright. I’ll give it a try.” Ririna and I nodded to each other and ran in different directions. I got closer to the monster and caught its attention. I circled the monster, forcing it to stop its charge and turn towards me. I was now at a distance where it could reach me with its claw attacks. Its slow speed made it easy for me to continuously dodge.
The bump on its back is its weak spot, according to Ririna. If I could find an opening, I might be able to kill it. How many levels would I get if I succeed? I gotta give it a go. I was getting carried away after dodging so many of its attacks. I blocked one of the monster’s horizontal swipes to see if I could handle it.
*Clank!*
The blow was so strong that it caused me slide from the recoil. Even with all my strength, the claw barely slowed down. Nope nope nope, I can’t keep blocking this! I pushed back and sent its claw into the dirt. After so much sliding, I felt one of the tall rocks against my back.
These tall rocks… There’s one here, and there’s another behind the Golem Muncher… Hmmm… Agility Burst! In an instant, I climbed the rock behind me before jumping to a nearby rock and then to the rock behind the monster. The monster barely reacted, and now the bump on its back is right in front of me!
“I got you now!” I jumped down from the rock and sliced across its weak spot with my sword. I landed elegantly in front of the monster, and Ririna looked at me with a stunned look on her face. She was ready to blow it up, but I managed to take it down without her explosives. With its weak spot destroyed, it’s only a matter of time before it shatters.
*GHRAAAAAA!*
“Wha- Guhh!” The monster groaned in pain and swatted me away as it flayed wildly. OUCH! Its gigantic claw sent me flying and caused me to roll on the ground before one of the rocks caught me. It hurts so much! It feels like a truck just hit me! I thought the existence of portals meant there was no need for that! I stabbed my sword into the ground and used it to pull myself up.
“No! Iroha! Hang in there! I’ll finish it off, and I’ll be right over there!”
Ririna was holding onto a small orange orb that looked it was made out of magma. The orb started glowing, and she entered into a throwing stance. Before she was able to throw anything, a shadow cutting through the air dropped down on the monster. The Golem Muncher turned into a big cloud of dust.
“What was that?” Ririna was completely frozen, and the two of us waited for the cloud to subside.
“Heya! That’s another one down. Are you two okay?” As the dust died down, we could see Sarasa casually standing on top of the fragments of the big Golem Muncher.
“Sa- Sarasa!? You’re late! Where the hell did you go?” The orb stopped glowing, and Ririna put it away as she ran towards Sarasa. I don’t think I’ve seen her this angry yet. I guess she’s reached her limit.
“Am I? I don’t see anyone dead yet.” Sarasa looked at me and Ririna with an unperturbed expression.
“Well… No one died… But it was close!” Ririna sighed, and her anger quickly subsided. “That’s right! Iroha, are you alright?” Ririna forgot about Sarasa and ran towards me.
“It hurts, but I think I’ll be fine.” Ririna was buzzing around me, checking for wounds from every angle.
“That’s not how it works. Stay still. I’ll give you some treatment.” I was kneeling while holding onto the katana for balance. Ririna got behind me and started rummaging through her stuff again. “Why did you have to try to fight it? Didn’t I say I was gonna use a bomb? All you had to do was buy me some time.” Ririna was lecturing me, but her voice sounded somewhat happy.
“Sorry… I saw a good opportunity, and… well… I didn’t want to give it up without trying. I guess it was all for nothing. I had no idea Sarasa would be able to kill it that easily.” My face turned into a wry smile, and I let out an awkward laugh.
“That’s not true. I only had such an easy time because weakened it for me.” Sarasa’s words caught me by surprise. Seriously? My attack did something?
“I actually thought you got it when I saw you cut through its back.” Ririna touched my back a few times as she prepared to treat my wounds. “It looked like it was about to shatter. If you hit it with a slightly different angle, you would have killed it. I’m gonna use some ointment, okay?” Ririna shared what it looked like from her point of view.
Was it really that close? That makes me kinda happy. How strong was that enemy anyway? Was it really level 40? Doesn’t that mean I’m getting really strong? I’m only level 6! If I’m able to come close to defeating an enemy so much stronger than me, then… Hm? The back of my shirt fluttered, and it distracted me. If I can come close to beating a level 40 enemy, then isn’t that proof that I’ve gotten really strong-
“Ahh~!” Not there~ Suddenly, a set of cold hands rubbed my back under my shirt. The sensation caused me to let out a small moan. Ririna?! Her small, wet hands massaged my back, thoroughly spreading her healing ointment. How did it come to this?! Her hands feel so good! No! Stop! Nooooo!
“There! That should make you feel better!” Ririna stood up after she finished treating me.
“*Pant… pant…*” Make me feel better? That made me feel too good! My face was bright red as I tried to catch my breath. That was so embarrassing! I can’t believe she would start massaging me like that all of a sudden! Is she trying to drive me crazy? Could they see my reactions? I know I started looking straight down right after my voice escaped, so I should be fine. Wow… That was something else.
“Did it work, Iroha? Can you stand? Can you walk?” Ririna offered me her hand.
I gotta calm down. I took one deep breath and tried to calm my heart. “I’m fine.” Ririna pulled me up, and I stood up just fine. “Wow… there’s no pain anymore.” Despite how embarrassing and wonderful that experience was, the results spoke for themselves. Ririna’s medicine really did work. “Thanks, Ririna.”
“No, thank you, Iroha. You did a lot for me today. Thank you.” Ririna flashed me a wide smile while still holding onto my hand. My face was still half flushed from before, so seeing Ririna’s pretty face like this is only gonna make it worse. “If you’re feeling alright, then I’m gonna go grab the crystals. If something starts to hurt again, tell me, and I’ll give you something else.” I nodded back to Ririna, and she left to loot the monsters.
Ahh~ Ririna…
Sarasa found and defeated a couple more Golem Munchers when she was on her own. Ririna went around gathering all of their crystals, and by the end, she said she had enough for the request. We then left the area with the Golem Munchers and stopped by a field with some crops on our way back to town. Ririna wanted to make a prototype for the dirt she needed to make for the request. Me and Sarasa watched as Ririna did some improvised alchemy.
Ririna spread out a piece of cloth on a nearby tree stump and started working. She started by mixing a handful of common dirt with some plants she had. She processed and mixed some other materials, before putting one of the small crystals at the end.
She mixed a handful of dirt with some plants she had and did a lot of other things before finally putting in one of the small crystals she got from the monsters.
I don’t really get it. Is that how alchemy is supposed to work? Isn’t it about turning random crap into gold? She did say it was improvised… I hope it goes well for her. As for me, I’d say it’s been going well…
[Iroha Shinohara: Lv.7]
[HP: 655/655]
[MP: 328/328]
[Skill Points: 10]
I got another level, so I have nothing to complain about! I ended up coming to this world earlier than expected, but it led me to meet Ririna and gain two more levels. I’m glad I didn’t go home right after finding the portal. Thinking about it now, this would have all gone way differently if I had been too scared to enter the portal. I wouldn’t have met Ririna, and I wouldn’t have had the amazing experience I had earlier. I’m getting embarrassed again… Anyway, I’m happy about the levels, but that’s not all!
[Momentum – Agility Burst is now Lv.2]
[Momentum – Nimble is now Lv.2]
[Swordsmanship – Sword Mastery is now Lv.2]
[Swordsmanship – Sword Flurry is now Lv.2]
Half of my skills are now level 2! And I didn’t have to spend any Skill Points to level them up. Sometimes it can take a long time for skills to grow on their own, and it’s just as expensive to pay to level them up. For now, I don’t have to worry about that. Everything’s growing so fast that I can’t keep up with everything. It’s obvious to me how much stronger I am becoming during combat, but I’m starting to feel the effects in my daily life. I basically don’t get tired anymore, and some of the things at home are so much easier to pick up and move around. It’s a little scary. Since when was I a flexible girl? I got so engrossed watching anime the other day, that by the time I noticed how I was sitting, I was practically doing the splits… Like, hello? Who is this?
“It’s done!” Ririna exclaimed, and the dirt in front of her now had a much deeper color, and it looked like it was sparkling.
“You got it?” Sarasa quickly ran to Ririna’s side to take a closer look. “What now?”
“Now we’ve gotta make sure it’s working. I got permission to experiment with the crops here. I’m gonna replace the dirt around one of the carrots and we’ll see.” Ririna wrapped the dirt she created in the piece of cloth and carried it over to where the carrots were. She then carefully dug out the dirt around the carrot and replaced it with her own. She patted the spot around the carrot a few times just for good measure.
“Is it working?” I’m not sure what we’re looking for, so I was hoping Ririna would tell me.
“I think so, but it’s too early to tell. Let’s wait a few minutes first.” I thought I was seeing things as the leaves of the carrot seemed to start growing. “Yep! It’s working!” After a couple more minutes, Ririna pulled out the carrot in question, and it was larger than most carrots I see.
“Wow… That’s impressive!”
“You haven’t seen anything yet, Iroha. If we leave it overnight, it should grow to three or four times this size. Assuming I didn’t screw up anything, that is. But for now, it looks like it’s working. It’s only one carrot, but this should be good enough for a prototype.” Ririna packed away the carrot and the rest of the dirt, and we got ready to head back to town.
“So, this dirt you were asked to make causes plants to grow faster?” That’s what it looked like to me, but I wanted to know if there was anything else.
“That’s right. Apparently, my client received a huge order from Azcester. They need to get a big harvest in a short amount of time.” Azcester is the name of the floating city and the most important human country. I didn’t actually remember the name, even though it sounded familiar. It came up in conversation earlier today, so I ended up connecting the dots.
“Job’s done then! That’s great!” Sarasa celebrated the experiment’s success.
“I need to deliver a lot more than just this, but I’d say the hardest part’s out of the way!” Ririna looked pleased as she finished cleaning up. “Sarasa, Iroha, thank you so much for helping me out! I’m sure you already know, but if you ever need anything, I’ll be happy to help out!”
Ririna gave us a heartfelt thank you for the help we’ve given her. This whole thing has been a huge success. When I look at Ririna’s happy face, I feel very glad that I was able to help out.
