I lost weight before I knew it. It’s like I’m back to how I was.
It’s not like my body feels light or anything, but I feel like all the fat I lost has made it easier for me to move.
This sheep wool processed with magic energy is white without anything fancy, but the fact that I can change its size by infusing it with magic energy is really useful.
At first I attached equipment I got from demons to these white clothes, but once I learned I could increase the defensive power of the clothes to a certain extent with magic energy, I removed everything except the chest plate.
I want to at least protect the spots where I can be killed instantly. That’s why I’m also wearing the kind of wool hat that protects the ears too, used by people in cold countries.
It’s warm and picks up a lot of sounds, so it’s nice and useful.
As for the weapons, the greatsword of fortitude is broken, so I’m using the longsword the silver-haired guy used.
The handle and guard are white, and the guard is a simple hexagonal shape. The blade has letters on it, that I can’t read.
I’ve learned that like the greatsword of fortitude, I can send out a projectile slash by infusing it with magic energy. And it has a self repair feature.
It’s nice that I can just infuse it with magic energy and don’t have to maintain it. But it feels like it has more abilities, so I’m not using it to its fullest.
At times like these, I wish I had the Appraisal skill.
Next, Fuuma.
Brrr!
It’s turned into a nice thoroughbred.
When I was a kid, my family went to the horse races.
My father didn’t gamble, he really just wanted to see the horses.
The horses looked very big back then, and toned with intensity to match. But Fuuma looks even more impressive.
It’s still dapple-gray, but it’s now two meters tall and has a virile face. Its saddle was for miniature horses, so it didn’t fit at all, and I’m now using the thoroughbred saddle I bought for no real reason.
Its intensity now matches Kokuoh’s.
I’m surprised.
The weapon store owner said Fuuma would change if I did, but I wasn’t expecting it to change physically. That was a real blind spot.
I won’t feel embarrassed taking this thoroughbred anywhere, and I’m sure it would win the Arima Kinen too.
I say let’s go, and Fuuma walks towards the forest.
It used to walk with these pathetic tiny steps, but now each step is large and it walks gallantly.
Hm, I nod, very satisfied as we enter a forest.
I say forest, but the trees aren’t tightly packed together.
I look up, and can’t see the sky because of the thick green cover. That said, I don’t think anything of it because the dungeon sky doesn’t change.
I hear the sound of something moving deep in the forest.
They’re large monkey monsters with two tails. They use both their limbs and tails to jump around between trees.
This group of monkeys is heading this way.
Among them, one stands out for being bigger. Their boss sees me as prey.
The boss yells, and all the monkeys stop.
The boss monkey points this way, prompting them to groan in unison and move again.
Some jump from tree to tree, while others come down to the ground and run.
The monkey monsters are clearly raring to go.
They’re humanoid, and a little bigger than humans, so shouldn’t they be more intelligent too?
There was that manga with cockroaches that were smarter than humans so it could work on monkeys too.
They just charge forward.
I jump down from Fuuma, drop my posture, and take position to unsheathe the longsword.
All the charging monkeys use magic to create weapons from the ground, and control trees to extend branches this way.
If I don’t do something, they’ll overwhelm me with numbers, so I unsheathe and send out a projectile slash.
A horizontal line flies out, and a diagonal one on the rebound, and I keep doing it to exterminate the monkeys.
The waves cut trees, which collapse, and I manage to take out most monkeys.
Their boss is now alone. Others are still breathing, but too injured to move, so it’s a one-on-one.
The boss howls, trying to intimidate me like a beast.
I drop my posture and send more projectile slashes.
The boss monkey sees this, leaps back, and flees, leaving its comrades that are still alive.
I could chase it, but I won’t. I don’t think that monster will attack me again.
I get on Fuuma again, and head deeper into the forest.
Before I entered the forest, I saw it from above, but like the river, it looked like there was no end to it.
I thought about flying with magic, but there might be a clue here about how to go back.
Fuuma steps forward, casts Wind Magic, and floats. After another strong step, it dashes between the trees in low altitude.
We pass by the fleeing boss, but ignore it.
If the space between trees gets any smaller, we’ll have to walk, but for now it’s still wide enough.
Thanks to the monkey monsters, other monsters around here know how strong we are. And with Spatial Grasp, I doubt we’ll be ambushed.
After a while, I hear wings behind me.
I turn around and see a two-headed stag beetle after us.
It’s also big, and its big spread wings scrape the trees when they touch them.
I try to shoot it down with many wind blades but they dissipate when they hit it.
Then I create a rock spear with Pierce and Speed Up, but they’re also deflected when they hit it, landing harmlessly on the ground.
This one will be tricky, I think as Fuuma turns around and runs right towards it.
I wanted to take it down safely, but let’s leave it to Fuuma since it’s raring to go.
I take the longsword, and get ready to deal with whatever comes. But there’s no need.
The stag beetle monster sees us rushing towards it, accelerates and opens its scissors widely.
It’s confident that it will win a direct clash, but so is Fuuma.
Fuuma neighs and clads itself in a golden aura, and then raises its upper body.
As we get close, it stomps its legs down.
There’s an impact that cracks the ground.
The stag beetle monster is stepped on, and its head is crushed beyond recognition. The body is left twitching.
Fuuma’s fighting power took a hit because it lost the rising dragon chakram, but the now thoroughbred Fuuma can fight up close.
Since its appearance and attacks improved, I’ll call this a plus in the end.
Fuuma snorts like it’s bragging. Its great body matches its smug expression.
With the monster down, I collect materials.
I also collected the monkey monsters, but I don’t know if their meat is edible. Many of the monsters in The Abyss have meat that either tastes bad or is so sinewy that it’s hard to chew.
The only ones I can eat are the sea turtle, and the round red monster with a lot of tentacles I met before.
The tentacle monster blends into its surroundings, and doesn’t let any magic energy leak, and stops its vital activities until prey passes by.
I couldn’t tell there was a monster until it moved. Spatial Grasp didn’t pick it up either, so I ended up letting it attack me from behind.
It was all I could do to react and block tentacle blows, dodging was impossible. I was scared it would wrap its tentacles around me in a pervy way, but it just constricted me.
It did the same to Fuuma, and it was hard to escape.
Magic wasn’t very effective and I couldn’t cut the tentacles. It ended when I used Limit Break Burst and drew the longsword, but it was a tough opponent.
And the meat wasn’t tasty, but not inedible either. It didn’t taste like protein, it was tasteless and odorless.
I want to get other tasty meat aside from the sea turtle, but I don’t think I can expect much. And this one is a bug anyway.
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