Maou ni Nattanode
Chapter 11 In the Forest
I ran.
"Haa…. haa…."
I just kept on running.
With fear and grief in my heart as fuel, I just kept running.
Fervently moving my legs, which wouldn’t listen to me, pushing my way through plants, I just kept on going forward.
I did not have a destination.
I just ran to escape.
I just ran to escape from the despair which kept drawing near from behind.
"Oi, this is bad! That brat ran off into the Devil's Forest!!"
"Wh-what will we do?! If the goods are gone, we will be the ones who get beaten!!"
"Even if you say that, we will die if we go in there!! I don't know why but there have been several reported cases of that ancient dragon being unusually active there!!"
"Tch….! That damned brat…!!"
Without even being able to listen to what they were saying, I just looked forward and ran deep into the forest.
"Fuu–!"
Guchaaaa!
"Haa!"
Bechaaaa!
"Soryaa!"
Nubuchoouu!
"Uwah, it got into my mouth, eww."
Spitting it out, I swung the cheap sword I got for some DP to brush off the pieces of meat stuck on it.
In front of my eyes, there was a monster whose head went flying–leaving just a headless corpse.
It looks like my current body's specs were much more tremendous than I had thought.
I can bring down most enemies with one blow. It kind of makes this 'guchaa' sound when parts of its meat go flying.
Rather, I am using a sword, so I kinda want to cut it off clean with one slash but for some reason it just bursts open making all the flowers in the surrounding bloom with red blood.
Well, the reason for that is probably because I am still not that skilled.
When I brought out this cheap sword, I tried to imitate the fencing I had done in school for a class but before I knew it, I had learned Swordsmanship skill. It is still only at level one so it does not quite mean anything in real battle, though.
Just to the extent to which it makes me think that I was able to move a little better because of it.
I am an amateur, after all. So naturally, I would have a lot of weak points.
When I tried practice-swinging with it, Lefy asked seriously from the bottom of her heart 'You… is that some new kind of a game?'. I want to cry…
Also, my skill Mana Eye, which I did not get any opportunity to use, displayed its true value now.
With this, I can view the opponent's mana flow.
This, being such an exceedingly convenient skill, allows me to view from where the mana is flowing in the opponent's body, where it will get concentrated and how strong it will be.
Thanks to these eyes, I can even deal with enemies who come using earth spear from the ground with killing intent at first sight.
I do have such convenient eyes so maybe I should stop trying to be the combatant type and aim for the mage type demon lord.
A dirty mage who uses magic from long range and when the opponent also tries using long range magic, he uses his unique skill to dodge them.
Also, the feeling of meat twisting around the blade with every slash does feel kinda unpleasant. The enemy just pops, so my eyes also get dirty. Most importantly, it is gross.
Yep, I shall still continue sword practice but at the same time, I should also do magic training.
Speaking of magic training, I have now become completely unable to use fire type magic.
Most probably because the thought that 'fire magic is dangerous' has dyed too deeply in my head.
When I tried using it, it ranked down from lighter to a matchstick level fire.
Well, it is still fine because it looks like my aptitude with water and earth is much higher and I am slowly being able to do more with those. I can properly control the water temperature as well now.
I still can't use magic strong enough to beat enemies yet but I do plan on working on these two elements to lay their foundation properly.
"….Alright, I am done filling the map around these parts too."
Confirming that, I continued using the menu.
Repeating the same things I did the previous day, I went on expanding the dungeon territory today as well. The fights I had carried out were alongside that.
I decided that it is about time I properly come to understand the specs of my own body.
The expansion of the dungeon territory is going pretty smoothly for now. From that place at the middle of the mountain, I gradually kept increasing the territory, making my way down. At the moment, the total amount of DP is three times of when the dungeon just had Lefy.
Well, the DP which gets saved are also used to expand again so it is pretty much zero all the time but with this, I am quite excited to see the end result.
"……Ah?"
Then, while I was just going on expanding territory–something weird appeared at the corner of my sight.
—-At first, I did not know what it was.
Between the plants, something was lying on the ground without moving an inch.
It had blood stains on it and at first look, it looked a corpse of something but…. That area was already inside the dungeon territory so it should show the enemy reaction on the map and—there was a reaction.
Which means it is still alive.
I did not know what it was so I went closer cautiously and—then, I finally found out what it really was.
It was a little girl, all bloody and lying face down on the ground.
"——-"
As soon as I knew what it was, I hurriedly went close and confirmed her condition.
She was unconscious.
She was probably attacked by a monster around here, guessing from a deep claw-like wound on her back.
She was still alive but… frankly speaking, she was close to death. If I was just a few minutes late in finding her, she might have not been alive.
Seeing how big her wound was, I immediately opened up the item box and brought out a small vial from the tear in space.
Umm… If I am not wrong, it should still have effect even if I sprinkle it over…
I carefully dropped the liquid from that vial on the girl's wound opening.
"Nn…." she leaked a small groan.
The moment the liquid touched her wound, it started joining and regenerating at such a surprising rate that it was kind of creepy to watch and — before long, by the time I had poured about half of the liquid, as if her wound did not exist in the first place, the kid's clean back was well again.
That little girl which I had mistaken for a corpse at first because of her shallow breathing, was now breathing peacefully. Confirming that, I let out a big sigh of relief.
Whew… it worked out…
Wiping off cold sweat, I calmed down.
The liquid I just used now was the High Potion.
The effects are just as I had seen, even if one's arm was cut off, if you just pour some of these on the wound, it would grow back like Picco*o-san.
It is quite creepy to be honest. I feel like one could make a real zombie soldier with it.
Lefy had said, 'You seem to be working outside quite a lot now, so it would be better if you had one of these with you. Sure, your skills are pretty high but there are many enemies you can't match, after all.' to which I agreed and got one and put it in the item box even though it was quite expensive.
I had never thought I would be using it like this but… I guess Lefy can say something useful once in awhile. I shall give her some choco when I get back.
—-Even still, this girl was in such a bad state.
I thought after looking at her once more.
She was wearing an old rag and her pretty blonde hair was all ruffled up.
I was too concentrated with the wound on her back but she seemed to have multiple wounds on her skin as well. These are clearly not recent wounds…
It was a terrible spectacle from which I could grasp with just a glance what kind of condition she was in.
"……At any rate, I can't just leave her be like this…."