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Chapter 197 – Part 3

Translation: Charlotte
Editor: Weasalopes

「Gravity Bullet!」

I backed up and fired an attack spell at the Bifrost Guardian from close range, right as it was speeding by me.
Without a moment’s delay, I tackled again.
But it was really insisting on not falling over!
How could it keep its balance so well?
I locked my foot around my opponent’s leg, and…
I shot forward to grab its left arm and neck.
I took the momentum and kicked upwards, sending its leg into the air.
A hooking backward counter throw.
It was a forbidden technique.
But in other words, it was an effective technique.

It was enough to send him to the ground, so I immediately pounced on him.
My goal was its right hand, which was holding its sword.
While I did the hooking backward counter throw, I managed to wrap my Black Rope around its neck and left arm.
Now that I was on its back, I wrapped the rope around its right wrist too, and followed up with a cross choke.
And…?

I couldn’t get it to drop the shield in its left hand.
But the choke did a lot more damage than I expected it to do.
Nice!

After putting a good amount of force into its right hand, I managed to get it to drop the sword.
But that wasn’t the end of the battle.
I pulled harder and flames started rising from the Black Rope around its right wrist, but it continued struggling anyway.
I hadn’t managed to dislocate its arm yet.
I used my body weight to put even more force into my choke.
Would that be enough?
Yep, it looked like that was enough to destroy its arm.
At the same time, the flames from the black rope around its right arm disappeared.

While I was on top of it, I took the opportunity to kick at its shield a few times.
But it still resisted.
I just had to force my way through it.
Its left arm was already immobilised by my Black Rope.
But the Bifrost Guardian’s HP bar was still standing at 70 percent.
How unfortunate… I really didn’t want to do this.

From there, it was just a one-sided beatdown.
Mainly using the base of my palm.
I clenched my fist and beat down when I felt some weak points.
I wasn’t using the knuckles of my fists.
I was using the soft part on the side of my little finger.
The side of the little finger is very similar to the side of the thumb, as in, it has a cushioning of flesh around it.
But even with the flesh cushion, I could still deliver the same amount of force.
It just meant I wouldn’t have to hurt my fist.

It took a while, but I finally managed to take down the Bifrost Guardian.
He was beaten to death.
Well, I just focused on the fact that I managed to win.

What happened to the two Einherjar Soldiers?
It seemed like they had already been defeated.
My Summon Monsters were just watching from the side-lines.
Very good.
Watching someone else at work is a good way to learn, you know?

《【Rope Artes】Level Up!》

Yep.
My Black Rope was really nice.
It was very convenient to restrain movement.
I didn’t think it was as effective as throwing nets, but it was still pretty good.
I wanted to come up with a smarter way of using it though.
And what did they leave behind?

《We are the guards.》
《Eliminate the evil! 》
《Live on, as part of the living! 》
《If thou hast courage, do justice, until you join us as part of the dead.》

Oh?
It looked like they just left behind info screens.
I thought the room I was in was at the end of the river…
Well, maybe I could think about that later.
So, what items did they have for me?

What did they leave behind?

Nothing.
Maybe it was about time to give up on the area…

Well for the time being, it was a good time to have lunch.
I used 【Instant Portal】.
I fully healed Obsidian using recovery spells and then recalled him.
I summoned Bunraku and left him to do the cooking.

I would have time to think about what to do next while I waited for the meal.
I used potions to heal Creep, Ninetails, and Loewe.
Senki wouldn’t be an issue… He could recover by himself, after all.

But how were my Summon Monsters?
I had a lot of Strange Stones, along with a lot of bat fangs.
Maybe I could focus on woodworking?
I could make myself some more bat fang arrows.

I started on the work and took a break when Bunraku’s meal was ready.
I could take the opportunity while I was busy eating to worry about my future plans.
For the time being, I managed to achieve all my goals… Including the reason I went to the east in the first place.
What else was there for me to do…?
Thinking about it, there were a lot of things I could do.

I could try going over to the next map.
But there was something else I had in mind.
The fusion of my Summon Monsters.
I wanted to see it.
It was in the middle of the day, and I wanted to avoid having Zuiun fight the Bifrost Guards in the light, but…
I had several other candidates too, namely, Creep and Loewe.
There were no other players around me.

It was a very nice opportunity.

Nice.
I put all the new arrows I had just made in Bunraku’s quiver, and quickly cleaned up both the desk and my woodworking equipment.
I swapped out Bunraku.
I recalled Bunraku and summoned Nias.

I didn’t know whether my next opponent would be a Bifrost Guard or a Bifrost Guardian.
It might be the same pattern with the Deva Kings, for all I know.
It was just past noon, so I had plenty of time.
Anyway…
It was time to challenge some more groups of Bifrost Guards and Einherjar Soldiers.

After 10 fights with the Bifrost Guards…
It looked like the pattern of their levels was similar to the level pattern of the Deva Kings after all.
The Bifrost Guards appeared from Level 1 to Level 7.
I only ran into one Bifrost Guardian, but it was Level 1.
And the Bifrost Guardian dropped one Móðguðr’s Tears.

I had a feeling that if I challenged them more often, I would get to fight the higher-leveled Bifrost Guardians too.
Well, I had a lot of time and weapons to keep the battles fresh each time.
Whenever I got a bit tired of thinking, I instinctively just pulled out my Snow Beast Mace.
Just emptying my brain and swinging around a mace wasn’t so bad either once in a while.

Bifrost Guardian　Lv5
Heroic Spirit　Enemy Target　Active
Battle Position: Ground　Light Attribute　Earth Attribute

Einherjar Soldier　Lv8
Heroic Spirit　Enemy Target　Active
Battle Position: Ground　Wind Resistance

I ran into the most powerful group of enemies yet.
In the case of Bifrost Guardians, the light attribute seemed like it was fixed, but the other attribute was random?
It looked like the resistance skills that the Einherjar Soldiers had were random too.

Even so, the Bifrost Guardian and the two Einherjar Soldiers were strong.
I used spells to somehow take them down, but there was a moment where Ninetails was in quite a lot of danger.
It was nice to have Nias’s support from the beginning too.
It was a lot of trouble, and a lot of difficult fights, but the harvest made it well worth it.

《【Club】 Level Up!》
《【Synergy】 Level Up!》
《【Sword】 Level Up!》
《Summon Monster 『Ninetails』 Level Up!》
《Please add 1 point to a desired stat.》

Was there still room in Ninetails’s MP bar?
I was taking on the Bifrost Guard on my own a lot, so I wasn’t really paying attention to it.
But the Einherjar Fighters and the Einherjar Soldiers were strong.
Ninetails had a good support role too.
But I had to keep Ninetails’s MP bar in mind.
I would probably have to switch out Heather soon too, her MP bar wasn’t looking so good either.
If not, I could consider giving her mana potions.

Oops, almost forgot.
The stat that went up with the level-up was SPI.
I put another point into INT.

Ninetails　Silver Fox Lv1→Lv2 (↑1)
DEX　10
AGI　23
INT　23 (↑1)
STR　10
VIT　10
SPI　24 (↑1)

Skills:
Bite　Evade　Dash　Predict Danger　MP Regeneration [Small]　Light Attribute　Dark Attribute

It was a bit unfortunate that my Summon Monsters’s MP bars were limited.
But I wanted to keep training my Summon Monsters, so I wasn’t doubting that I was doing the right thing in letting them fight.