“Ninety-nine… One hundred.”
I see the smoke welling up in front of me, and it immediately heads to where it will spawn. I give chase, and Ayane and Aira are right behind me.
“Ayane, is the camera ready?”
“Ready!”
“It won’t attack from a distance, so when I attack, you two attack it once too.”
“Got it.”
“Understood.”
A giant body crawls out from the smoke. It’s been a while.
“I-it’s all golden!”
Ayane’s eyes shine.
“Well then… Hmph.”
I throw a small rock to remove the Adamantine Armor, and quickly get close to attack.
Slash!
“Shrrr!?”
“Haha, you’ve gotten pretty soft!”
I traded my main weapon from the Ghost to the Mithril Sword, and my Physical Strength has more than tripled.
I can easily take it down without using skills.
“Ayane, Aira.”
“Yes! Fireball!”
“Shrrr!?”
“…Fuh!”
The Golden Worm writhes when the ball of fire hits it, and Aira thrusts at it.
Yes, now that they’ve attacked it, it’s time to finish it.
“There!”
I feel like the Golden Worm used skills when Ayane attacked, but I know its stats. Even if it uses skills, I can easily take it down.
I’ve gotten a lot stronger.
【Level up】
【Leveled up from four to forty】
Hm… It’s not quite enough.
But back when I took down a Murder Rabbit, it went from four to twenty-five. And its level was twenty. The Golden Worm was level eighteen.
I’ve thought about this before, but I think the experience I get is based not just on the level, but on the rarity of the monster too.
“I leveled up too!”
“Congratulations Ayane. That makes you level fifty-five, right?”
“Yes. Leveling up is easy when hunting with you.”
“Well, there’s also the rare monsters that give a lot of experience… Woah.”
Ayane is about to jump at me, but I grab her and stop her.
She looks a little sad, because she thinks I’m rejecting her hug.
“Darling…?”
“Ayane, if you want to hug me, take off the camera on your head.”
“Ah, yes!”
She quickly does that and hugs me. There there.
After pampering her for a few minutes, she puts the camera back on.
“Is it time, master?”
“Yes. It was six minutes last time, so I think it’s almost here.”
“Then I’ll take some distance.”
Ayane trots away towards the forest.
There’s silence for a bit, and then it happens.
“…It’s here.”
The dissipating smoke gathers and swells. This is always so exciting.
The smoke swallows the remains of the Golden Worm, rises slowly, and a shining golden swallowtail butterfly appears.
＊＊＊＊＊
Name：Golden Swallowtail Butterfly
Agility：800
Intelligence：800
Luck：None
Equipment: None
Skills：Adamantine Armor III, Wisdom of Sorcery, Wind Magic Lv4, Magic Energy Recovery Lv1
Drops: Golden seed (large), golden nectar, golden aroma
Magic stone: Extra large
＊＊＊＊＊
“Is it above a powered up version?”
The second kinds I’ve faced have had lower levels than powered up versions.
The powered up ones have double the level, with the second kinds being somewhere in the middle. I figured this wouldn’t always be the same, but it looks like it doesn’t apply with this one.
“It’s beautiful…”
“Yes, it is…”
The Golden Swallowtail Butterfly slowly and continuously flaps its wings. Strangely, despite how slowly it does it, it stays in the air. Is it just that light, or is that because of Wind Magic?
Even its scales shine, giving it a mystical sort of quality that leads me to stare at it.
“It really is beautiful…”
It looks like it’s the same as the Golden Worm, in that it’s not active. We keep looking up at it, but it shows no signs of attacking. It’s just hovering and spreading its scales.
…We feel more entranced the more we look. It’s like the world is getting narrower, and all we can see is the Golden Swallowtail Butterfly…
“I can’t take down such a beautiful being…”
“Y-yes…”
“Ah…”
I can’t do that… I need to protect this sight…
“Darling, let’s go back.”
“Yes, let’s…”
I slowly turn around and walk over to Ayane.
Aira is about to take Ayane with us, when she looks up at the Golden Swallowtail Butterfly with an entranced expression still on her face.
“…?”
I suddenly notice a hard sensation on my hand. I’m gripping the Mithril Sword.
“…”
I try to let go, but I can’t.
…Wait, I intended to hunt that monster until just now.
So why…?
“Darling?”
“Master, let us leave.”
They sound concerned because I suddenly stopped, and try to pull me away, but I don’t budge.
“The reason why I came here…”
I feel strong wind behind me. I feel like the noise of the flapping wings is getting louder too.
But I don’t move.
“My reason to fight…”
That’s…
“…Yes, I…!”
I use my free hand to almost unconsciously hit my face.
A metallic taste fills my mouth, but it wakes me up.
I’m in the dungeon to hunt rare monsters!
“To discover the secrets of the dungeons!!”
I fire myself up, and shift myself to fighting mode.
My unnatural intention to leave is blown away, and I face forward again.
“Ayane, Aira!”
Both tremble when I call them.
“M-master?”
“Fueh? …???”
Aira blinks rapidly, and Ayane is confused by this sudden occurrence.
“Master, what was I… Ah!”
Aira immediately understands the situation, and covers her mouth with her hand. And she takes a few masks from her bag.
“Master, use this! Those scales are attacks!”
“I see, so that’s its trick.”
I quickly put it on and turn around.
Now that I’m looking at the Golden Swallowtail Butterfly again, it doesn’t seem nearly as enchanting. It’s pretty, but not enough to where I don’t want to hunt it. I tend to only look at skills, but there might be some sort of ability at play that doesn’t show up there, like with the Emperor Goblin.
After Aira looks after her, Ayane returns to normal too.
“D-darling!”
“Ayane, are you back?”
“Yes! This thing is a hundred years too early to enchant me! What truly enchants me is not some monster, but my darling!!”
“…O-ou…?”
I like the way she put that, but we need to deal with the monster first. This is one of those tricky ones that doesn’t just attack directly. We need to go at it with full power from the start.
I unsheathe both the Mithril Sword and Ghost, and turn the scales to ash by enveloping them with flames.
“Let’s counterattack!!”
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Thanks for the treat.