“I’ll go after the smoke. Enki, you’ll probably lose sight of me, but come straight after me.”
‘Gogo!’
Once the smoke that signals the arrival of a rare monster appears, I move out. Sometimes it takes a while for it to move, but sometimes it moves immediately.
Judging by how it’s been so far, when it takes a bit, that means the spawn point is nearby. When it moves out immediately, it means it must be far away.
Since it’s moving out immediately, it must mean the spawn point is far from the second corner of the map, where we are.
I make use of my skills to dash after it like a missile. Right behind me is Aki, who is supposedly far below me in terms of stats and skills, and a bit further away are Maki and Ayane. Then there’s Aira collecting items, and Enki running as fast as it can.
As I dash as fast as I can, I hear Aki cackling.
“Oh, you’re fast. About as fast as me.”
“…It looks like this is a breeze for you, Aki.”
“Fufun. I didn’t train martial arts for nothing. I understand how to move my body and use my skills. Once I got really used to it, it pretty much doubled my stats. My little junior here who was a pupil for about three days is not gonna beat me so easily.”
“I will be counting on you, senior.”
“Hnfufu, please do.”
Last time, I rushed Orochi’s smoke alone, and as a result, took a status condition by myself. I have Adamantine Armor, but if something puts me out of action like the Lamia, I’m done.
I can’t charge forward alone, but waiting too long might mean someone else takes it. And so, we decided beforehand who will go with me.
Enki is a good fighter, but even if he’s fast compared to a regular person, it can’t keep up with us when we run at full speed. I could carry it if it purged the armor, but that would make it weaker, so it wouldn’t do.
Then there’s Aira, but she’s in charge of picking up dropped items. Immediately after I reach a hundred and smoke appears, there will be items all over, or maybe even other monsters. She can’t move out with me right away.
That leaves Aki, Maki, and Ayane, and the only one who can keep up with me is Aki. And if she can’t come, the plan is for me to carry one of the other two.
“…Hn?”
I just barely see the smoke, but something’s odd. Normally, monsters run from the smoke, but the goblin squadron staring at it is shaken for a moment, and then glares at us.
‘Gegya!’
‘Gegyagya!!’
“What!?”
“W-what is this?”
They howl at us, and other nearby squadrons respond and charge at us.
I don’t know what this is about, but I can’t stop here. The smoke is still flying deeper.
“Out… Of my way!”
◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇
“Leader, over there!”
“What? Rare monster smoke! Someone fulfilled the conditions.”
“Should we retreat!?”
“Yes, let’s step back a little.”
The Rare Monster Hunter disclosed information about rare monsters the other day, and other information related to that started being discussed.
Luck not only affects the drop rates, but also the probability of rare monsters spawning. This was rumored before, but we had no confirmation. Also, adventurers with the necessary Luck value can see the moving smoke that signals a rare monster is coming.
This can only be seen with the naked eye, not filmed or photographed, so there was never confirmation… But the fact that the Rare Monster Hunter confirmed it made it seem all the more real.
This means that adventurers who invested in Luck are more valuable than ever. Having one means a team can increase its profits, and they have the ability to detect danger before it arrives. Investing everything into Luck would trigger that trap, so caution is needed, but ever since those videos were released, more and more adventurers are pouring SP into Luck.
We’ve also put half the SP we were saving just in case into Luck, meaning we all have fifty Luck. We can all see the goblin smoke on this floor, and we’ve even managed to spawn and defeat a rare monster here.
This information really is invaluable.
‘Guoooo!!’
“Is it spawning? I don’t think there’s anyone nearby.”
“What should we do, leader?”
“…The smoke came from the other side of the fort, and was really fast. If what I heard directly from him is correct, that means the conditions were fulfilled pretty far away. Maybe they spawned it from a safe area because they can’t beat it, or maybe they accidentally spawned it and are on their way.”
It doesn’t look like the rare monster has noticed us. There aren’t any regular monsters with it in this settlement other than the healer goblins that spawned with the rare monster. If we’re going to hunt it, the time is now, before regular monsters respawn, but…
“Let’s wait and see a while longer. If no one comes after five minutes, we’ll draw it out of the settlement.”
“““Got it.”””
A few minutes later, we see something incredible.
A second smoke comes from the same direction.
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Thanks for the treat.