Chapter 330 Part 2
I entered the N3E12 map.
Strange….
Or maybe it isn’t all that strange?
I can get some Chimera readings via Call Monster.
But nothing on Lamias or Arachnes.
Well…
Those two monsters tend to use surprise attacks and traps.
There are other monsters whose presence won’t be revealed by Call Monster out there.
I can’t afford to let my guard down.
Still…
I’m picking up readings from other monsters.
And in large quantities.
Orcs.
And Orc Leaders, too.
Their Level is not that high..
Perhaps this Map isn’t supposed to be that difficult?
And what kind of monsters are in charge of the sky?
Here’s what I’ve found:
Stone-Eating Pigeon Lv.3
Demon Enemy Target Active
Battle Position: Mid-Air Earth Attribute
The dove is the messenger of peace.
So these monsters’ appearance is somehow heartwarming.
But…
Aren’t their numbers a little too much?
The area in front of me is full of red markers.
A large flock of birds sure is a horrifying sight.
Which is precisely why I’ve prepared myself for a battle in advance.
I was prepared to take damage, but…
Man, that’s disappointing.
Every single one of these pigeons that had been hit by the AoE offensive spell Force Blast were put on the brink of death just like that.
Even the attacks of my Summoned Monsters easily connect with them.
And it also seems that even Couturier can kill them without resorting to using her poison.
Could it be that they are weak?
Technically, these pigeons had another means of attack besides pecking.
It can throw stones.
That’s right.
They’ve thrown stones at us…
But something like that wouldn’t hit us that easily.
For starters, Aotsuki’s mobility outclasses theirs.
So it’s okay.
If these are going to be my opponents here, I think I can handle any number of them.
Now then.
I tried retrieving their corpses, which had fallen to the ground, to see what items I could get from them.
But I guess this was to be expected.
That’s right…
It’s a stone.
These pigeons drop stones when defeated.
I suppose it makes sense, considering how strong they are.
I tried attacking a Chimera that I saw in a clearing in the forest.
Its Level was low.
Perhaps due to the surprise attack, a single attack nearly killed it.
That was a bit underwhelming as well…
Umm…
Wasn’t it S1W3 where Chimeras appeared from the west?
Considering the difficulty of other monsters around, it feels like the equivalent of three squares from Remut.
If that’s the case, trying to earn experience points here seems to be rather inefficient.
Let’s see.
What to do?
How about moving on the ground and fighting Orcs?
I feel like I want to shy away from that a little.
While I can get some gems from the Orc Leaders, there are other monsters out there that I could benefit more from hunting.
That’s right.
Let’s just keep moving through the air like this.
Should I just check the Area Portal?
I could tell right away that that place was a town.
Because there was a constant flow of people.
Is it a fortress city surrounded by a wall?
It looks like a considerably sturdy fortress.
It’s also undoubtedly larger than Twilight Castle.
I could see soldiers moving on the castle walls.
What should I do?
Of course, I’ll go there.
Though perhaps it’s better to avoid descending directly into the fortress from the sky and arrive there from the ground, right?
I have a bad feeling about this.
The flow of people leaving the city gate is bad.
The flow of people entering the city gate is even worse.
That’s right.
The gatekeepers seem to be checking something every time someone comes or goes.
An inspection, probably.
And the gatekeepers surround any carriages while wielding spears.
This isn’t normal.
I need to be careful.
Maybe I should gather information around here.
「What town is that?」
「Don’t you know? It’s Pietro’s castle.」
「Is it difficult to enter?」
「Unless you’re an official merchant, you’ll be charged a toll. Are you an adventurer?」
「Yeah.」
「You should forget about it then. They’ll just catch you and throw you in jail.」
The fourth carriage I asked finally had some useful information.
The man who told me this was the carriage’s coachman.
His companions inside the carriage excused themselves in order to take care of some business outside the main road.
They’re Merchants.
He quickly identified me as an adventurer.
The only Summoned Monster I had on me was Aotsuki.
Merchants, huh?
I’m not very good at negotiating.
「あそこの領主様は冒険者はならず者って思っているようなお方だ。行かないこった」
「The lord over there seems to think adventurers are rogues. You’d better not go.」
「はあ」
「Huh?」
Was the man I was talking to just now simply being friendly?
No.
He held out his hand towards me.
There was a certain meaning behind his smile.
I see.
He wants a bribe, huh?
It can’t be helped.
I casually hand him a few Dyne coins.
「Well then. Being an adventurer isn’t popular in this country. You ought to cross the sea and go west.」
With those words, he left with the men who had finished their business.
Hmm.
I came from beyond that sea, you know?
What to do?
Should I consider the Map around this area to be a kingdom, or rather, the territory of some nobleman?
If so, how should I proceed?
Maybe it’s better to go back to Remut and gather information.
Shall I check things out a little?
Let’s move.
I head to the west side of the Map, where the royal castle is.
Let’s take a look around N1E11 via the N2E11 Map.
I returned to my previous lineup, and after going through the N3E11 and N2E11 Maps, I finally arrived at N1E11, but…
There’s Steppe Hawks here.
And Horn Rabbits.
And their numbers are surprisingly low!
In fact, from the N3E11 Map to the N1E11 Map, there seems to be a continuous stretch of granaries and villages.
The Steppe Hawks won’t attack…
And I can’t seem to find anything resembling an Area Portal..
Boring…
Booooring!
So let’s go west.
Surely it won’t be like this all the time, right?
I’ve arrived at N1E10.
Half of it is forest, and the rest is nothing but plains.
The situation hasn’t changed much.
The only thing is that there are Wild Pheasants here instead of Horn Rabbits.
Though their numbers are still unusually low.
There is a village that seems like it could be the Area Portal, but let’s skip it for now.
I’d like to reach the port at this pace.
At the N1E9 Map…
What are the monsters here?
Wild Dogs and Wild Albatrosses.
The numbers still seem unusually low.
And this is a port city.
I want to gather information discreetly here.
The town has a respectable wall surrounding it, but the gatekeepers there don’t seem to be questioning anyone.
So I can go in.
But perhaps I should keep only Aotsuki around.
This port city is quite lively.
There are stalls and many street vendors.
There’s even a splendid warehouse district.
After gathering information from several places, it seems that this place is under the direct control of the royal family.
Port city of Salinas.
It’s quite a large city.
And the menu for the Area Portal is usable here.
The time is 11:30 AM.
Gathering information in this port city of Salinas has taken a considerable amount of time.
Continuously accumulating information, now matter how irrelevant it would seem to be…
Then asking more in-depth questions according to my reasoning.
This sequence went on and on.
Several things became clear.
Those known as adventurers are being actively shunned.
Not just adventurers, but also those struggling to survive gather here.
And such individuals are being sent west.
It feels like they’re trying to rid themselves of troublesome people by sending them across the ocean.
And then there’s the monsters.
Apart from Defense Valley and its northeastern area, there doesn’t seem to be good prey within the kingdom’s territory.
It’s said that strong monsters appear near the royal castle at night, but they don’t seem to pose a significant threat.
Damn it!
Even the reactions from Master and Juna make sense now.
It looks like I’m heading in the wrong direction.
How about the sea route to the west?
It seems that the monsters do become stronger as you progress further after all.
Hmm…
But also…
There seem to be a strangely low number of Dwarves and Elves in this city.
It seems that this city is a difficult environment for people like us to spend time in.
Should I return to Defense Valley?
Should I continue west?
I’ve come this far…
Perhaps I should keep heading west after all.
Once out of the port city, I head towards the coastline.
Waiting for a place with fewer people around, I start summoning my monsters.
What’s my lineup?
Obsidian, Heather, Couturier, Aotsuki, and Sputter.
Just like before.
I’ve been eating at stalls for the sake of gathering information, so I’m already full.
Time for some after-meal exercises.
Ideally, after a full meal, one should refrain from intense exercise for about 30 minutes.
But, you know.
Time is precious.
These Wild Albatrosses…
How annoying.
Despite being low level, they come in large numbers.
I’m seriously beating them all, but honestly, I’m starting to get bored of them.
I hate feeling like it’s a waste to ignore them.
But as expected, looting their corpses can be time consuming.
It’s a contradiction.
No, I’m just making my priorities clear.
That’s what I’m going to tell myself.
It seems that, this time, Wild Cygni will appear in the N1E8 Map.
These are irritating as well.
The weather is good.
There are islands below us here and there, and the view is quite nice, and yet…
Their red markers come.
Those red markers close in on us.
And so I shoot those red markers down.
It’s the same thing over and over again.
I may say this, but I’d like an opponent that gives me a bit more of a challenge!
I haven’t leveled anything up so far today, and that’s probably because I’ve been hunting nothing but mediocre monsters so far!
In no time, I’m at N1E7.
There’s another type of monster in charge of the sky here.
It’s Frigatebirds.
These guys again!
But the problem is their level and number.
There’s quite a lot of them, aren’t there?
Well, I wasn’t planning to loot their items from the get-go, so I used area attack spells right away.
Yeah.
I’m gonna get the most out of them!
《Summoned Monster『Sputter』 Level Up!》
《Please add 1 point to a desired stat.》
A Level Up at last!
In fact, Sputter has now caught up to Couturier’s level.
Lately, the difference in opportunities for them to shine has become quite significant, hasn’t it?
WhenIf facing large groups of monsters, there will inevitably be a difference in the damage both can deal with their special abilities.
So that fact might be influencing this.
Sputter’s AGI increased automatically upon leveling up.
I’ll choose INT as his second stat increase.
Sputter Fighting Falcon Lv5 → Lv6 (↑1)
DEX 13
AGI 30 (↑1)
INT 23 (↑1)
STR 13
VIT 13
SPI 15
Skills
Peck Flight Far Sight Wide Area Search Ambush Sense Danger Air Mobility
Wind Attribute
But that’s enough for now.
Sputter’s MP bar is less than 20% remaining.
Let’s recall Sputter and summon Ignis.
Couturier’s MP won’t decrease that much as long as I don’t use her Lure.
Whenever she takes damage, I can simply heal her with Dark Heal.
Endurance in continuous battles is also an important factor.
This applies to my other Summoned Monsters as well.
Taylor, for example, excels in that.
Unless there’s a status abnormality, he can hold its ground for quite a while before he needs to be swapped out.
He may be simple, but he’s also incredibly helpful.
What about Obsidian and Heather?
Their MP bars are still about half full.
Aotsuki is around 60%.
They should be able to hold out until the evening, right?
Well, it depends on the monsters we encounter on the way.
Summoned Monsters
Couturier Giant Queen Lv5 → Lv6 (↑1)
DEX 20
AGI 35 (↑1)
INT 13 (↑1)
STR 10
VIT 10
SPI 10
Skills
Sting Bite Flight Evade Ambush Lure Poison
Sputter Fighting Falcon Lv5 → Lv6 (↑1)
DEX 13
AGI 30 (↑1)
INT 23 (↑1)
STR 13
VIT 13
SPI 15
Skills
Peck Flight Far Sight Wide Area Search Ambush Sense Danger Air Mobility
Wind Attribute
NEXT CHAPTER
RELEASE RATE
Summoner is Going
Speed up schedule by 10 hours
Current schedule: Every 80 Hours
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