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Chapter 219 Part 1

Translation: Charlotte
Editor: Weasalopes

I logged in.
As soon as I stepped out, I was surprised to see the waves almost reach my tent!
Looked like the tide was coming up.

The time was already 7 AM.
It was quite a late starting time for me.
I could already see a few parties already hunting on the beaches.
Some of those parties were Summoners.
Crabs and Mermaids were fighting other monsters on the beach.
It looked like they were having a lot of fun.

Well, there was nothing wrong with that.
I decided to go do some hunting elsewhere.

~*~

I summoned Bunraku and left him to do the cooking.
Of course, the ingredients for breakfast were the prawns I got myself the day before.
Just the smell was already tempting me.
Bunraku made a dish involving both beef and shrimp.
Bunraku skewered the meat and the shrimp, and then roasted it above a fire.
I meant to work on my Ancient Stone Pillar for a bit while I waited for breakfast to be served, but I got distracted.
Watching Bunraku cook was very interesting.

Conclusion.
As expected, shrimp is just the best!

~*~

But anyway…
I had to get going.
Of course, my Summon Monster team was one focusing on mobility..
I went with Volff, Zangetsu, Helix, Heather, and Couturier.
I probably had enough fighting power to take on the Stray Horses in the area.
I first headed to the fishing village of Neeme.
I could decide where I would go on the way there.

~o~O~o~

What about the monsters?
I wanted to focus on mobility, so I ignored them.
To be fair, there were a lot of other players hunting too, so there weren’t very many opportunities for me to take down some monsters anyway.
So, where was I going to go?
I decided to aim for the 12 Zodiac Shrines.
There was no particular reason behind it.
Ah, but thinking about it some more, I suppose there was a reason.

From what I had heard from other players, there were some tough monsters there.
I was also very interested in the Area Portal of S2, the Lava Fort.
I heard a Production Job Player base was starting to develop there too.
As a blacksmith, it wouldn’t make sense for Kaya to have his base in the fishing village. It turned out that his proper base was actually in the Lava Fort.
I wanted to make the Lava Fort my own base for a short while.

While I was in the south, I wanted to do some travelling.
It would be nice to have a temporary base in the south from which I could go sightseeing!

~o~O~o~

So, with that in mind…
I started heading west.
There was a mountain range in the distance.
The mountain range was stretching in the boundary between S2 and S2E1.
From what I heard, the 12 Zodiac Shrines were apparently inside a crater at the peak of the highest mountain.
How 12 shrines managed to get up there was completely beyond me.

The slope was not so intense, so I was able to climb the mountain with Zangetsu to some extent.
But the ground was certainly rough, and getting a foothold was tough.
On the way, I took down two Stray Horses, which reminded me even more of the terrain’s negative effects on Zangetsu’s mobility.
I made up for it by using 【Physical Enchant: Aqua】 to increase Zangetsu’s DEX stat, but it still didn’t make fighting as smooth as it usually was on the plains.
Looked like I just had to be more careful.

~*~

Having a trail leading to the top of the mountain was definitely very helpful, even though it was a very messy trail.
Well, calling it a trail may have been a mistake on my part too…
It was probably just formed by a lot of players stepping on the same patches of dirt over and over again, inevitably making some sort of path.
As expected, the closer I got to the peak, the steeper the slope got.
Eventually, I reached the point where it became too tough for Zangetsu.
I recalled Zangetsu and summoned Shishiku.
Guren’s report already had a list of all the monsters I could expect.
But it would help to have Shishiku. Just in case.
It was my first time up the mountain, so I wanted to be as safe as possible when it came to fighting strength.

~o~O~o~

What was the first monster I ran into on the way?
It was like a Blitz… But not really.

~*~

Cliff Goat　Lv.5
Monster　Enemy Target　Active
Battle Position: Ground

~*~

Yeah. I had a feeling it would be an easy monster, and I was right.
It was a very unsatisfying fight.
It definitely felt like I was just fighting a weaker version of a Blitz.
The reason behind that was that it had no attributes.
But in spite of that, its mobility was probably equivalent to a Blitz, and the attack power it had seemed like it was even higher?
Well, I couldn’t properly rate the monster without checking the item drops.

~*~

【Material】 Cliff Goat Fur　Grade C+　Rarity 2　Weight 1+
The fur of a Cliff Goat. Used for the production of general clothing.

~*~

Well, I suppose that was to be expected.
I was very grateful for Couturier in that fight.
The effects of getting stung between the eyes were not to be underestimated.
With Couturier’s support, taking it down with just my bare hands became quite easy.
I felt like Couturier just saved me a lot of trouble.

Of course, Volff, Helix, and Shishiku got out of the fight with no problems whatsoever.
But…
Well, I restrained Heather, so nothing too crazy happened, but she was trying to run in and hit the Cliff Goat with her tiny fists.
Slow down there, the terrain is dangerous! You don’t want to fall down here!

~*~

What about the monsters in the sky?
It seemed like it was still just Wild Cygnus.
Hmm… Would it be worth it trying to call them down?
No… I made up my mind to just try and get to the Twelve Zodiac Shrines as quickly as possible.
I used a spell to strengthen my own mobility as I climbed up.
A bit crazy? Overkill?
No, getting those experience points from using the spells would be very nice.
I had a lot of Support Skills too, so I wanted to make the most of those.

~o~O~o~

Looking westward over the peak of the mountains, I could see the whole map of S2.
The map was mostly made of rocky, rough boulders, with a few small forests here and there.
Looking behind me and comparing it to the fishing village, S2 looked like a very unique map.
I was grateful for the opportunity to see it all beforehand.

The trail kept going to my right.
There were already a few other players on the mountain.
Oops, I had to hurry up.
I kept going up the mountain range, aiming for the peak of the tallest mountain.
I’m coming for you, Zodiac Shrines!
Guren did write up a report about what monsters I could expect, but I decided to come without reading it.
I was just hoping it would be some tough enemies.

~o~O~o~

I arrived at the peak, where a temple-like building was waiting for me.
Yeah. It was probably one of the 12 Zodiac Shrines.
It looked almost like the ruins of a shrine, but it wasn’t the only one, so it didn’t look out of place.
The whole place was oozing with dignity.
They kind of reminded me of the Parthenon temple in Greece.
Just in case, I suppose it would be best to start by using 【Sense Magic】?
After I used the skill, I noticed the whole building was filled with magical power.
But that wasn’t what I was mainly concerned about.
I was wondering what kind of monsters were waiting for me.

There were no players waiting in line to go in.
Well then, there was nothing left to do but head in.

~*~

The inside of the shrine was just as rough as the outside.
There were crumbling pillars everywhere.
This could be a bit awkward to move in…
But as long as it didn’t get too much in the way of battling, there wasn’t a problem.

The ceiling was also crumbling here and there, completely failing at its role.
Well, that made for a much better environment for Helix, so I didn’t mind.