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197. The Real Hunting Begins at the 11th Rank
“It’s all finished.”
“You’ve worked hard.”
“It was nothing. Well… I do not know if you’ll like the finished products.”
“As I had thought, your skills are amazing. This is beyond what I had expected.”
“Hoho. You’re praising me too much.”
Dump changed the outer appearance of the artifact in a flash.
His hands moved so swiftly that it would’ve shocked the smith class Awakened back on Earth.
The speed and even the elegance. There were no flaws I could even try nitpicking.
The mix of defensive equipment that each showed off their splendor were now changed into a uniform silver glow.
Even the shapes were so plain that it seemed there wouldn’t be any instances drawing the attention of others.
Also the shape of the weapon had changed as well, changing from the original sword form into a new sword form with the appearance similar to being dipped in ink.
Since the Butcher’s Sword was originally a two handed sword, this new look was better suited.
“Well… I know I’m nowhere good enough, but I tried creating it with my poor skills.”
“What is this?”
“This is an Indomitable Talisman.”
“Huh? An talisman? I do not believe in superstition, but…”
Dump handed me his finished product the size of a thumb.
This piece had many engravings, similar to that of a stamp or a scepter.
Even the glow it gave off was that of a soft golden light, so while I did not understand what purpose this talisman served, I thought it was a decent decorative item.
Seeing that I was looking all over that item, Dump spoke to me.
“Can you show me the right chest portion of your armor?”
“Yes. Huh?”
“There should be a hole there. You just need to slot this in there.”
“What a wonderful decoration.”
“Hoho. It’s not just a decoration, but it should be a big help with your hunting.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“The Indomitable Talisman is a type of guarding charm that increases the stats of a Protector when held by them. This is a charm that increases your stamina. I made it while wishing you safety.”
“Oho… There’s probably a reason behind why you only gave me one, right?”
“Of course. You can only have one charm active at a time. Even if you have multiple talismans on hand, only one of their abilities stay active at a time.
“It seems that I now have a reason to get even higher ranking jewels.”
“This was made from the highest ranking jewel you’ve given me. Since it was crafted by my crude smithy’s hands, the shape is less pleasing than what an alchemist could create, but I can vouch for its functionality. It’s nothing compared to what drops from elite demonic monsters… Think of it as a sign of good faith.”
“Both the shape and its capability are more than satisfactory for me. Thank you.”
“Compared to what you’ve done for me, it is far from enough…”
“I shall tell you straight. Until I regain my memories, I think will be needing your help, Mr. Dump. It means that I’ll be relying solely on you for methods to survive and information regarding hunting. And of course, I’m not asking for all this without payment.”
“As much as you want. I should be the one thankful for this.”
“Sorry for troubling you so far late into the night.”
“No worries. Will you like to at least have a meal…”
“Ah, no thank you. I’m fine. I shall head back for now.”
“If that’s the case… Please take care on the way back.”
“…”
“Yes, then I shall be off…”
Equipping the artifacts that Dump finished his work on, I began to slowly prep for my return.
Fumbling with the talisman in the slot of my chestplate, I realized that I needed to get higher ranking jewels.
The Indomitable Talisman only had the function of raising my stamina, but I had come to realize that there had to be talismans with much greater abilities out there.
Until I meet the elite demonic monsters that he had spoken before, this will be very useful to me.
Other than the first greeting, I wasn’t able to have any form of a conversation with Dump’s daughter Berlette.
Unlike Dump, I felt that she was extremely wary of me.
It was to be expected, as he had informed me that all the Protectors here followed the commands of the castellan.
Just like how the Awakened association administered the Awakened back on Earth, the power to move to the Protectors was held by the owner of the castle, the duke that held a massive amount of power.
Unlike the Awakened back on Earth that worked together with the association to obtain skill books beyond ranking, the Protectors here followed the ruler of the castle due to the duke’s brute strength.
It seemed certain that this was a strong dictatorship under the duke.
She probably thinks that I, the Protector, will have a change of heart and drag her to the castle with the flip of a coin, and was staying wary of me.
Of course, that would never happen.
At least for now, her existence wasn’t that important to me.
All I thought of this outcome was how Dump revealed his daughter and the situation he was in, which has strengthened the bond between us as collaborators.
Leaving the store, I did not head for the inn, but headed for the hunting grounds immediately instead.
For me, the need to eat or sleep didn’t exist after all.
****
“Whew…”
Using the Mass Stealth Jutsu, I was able to hide my form and rush to the 7th tier.
It would be convenient to use Warp, which no longer had a cooldown, but I had chosen the other method instead due to how Barub might find me if I used Warp.
Like a dart board, the hunting grounds were spread out with the castle being the center point.
Since the circumference of the hunting grounds grew exponentially larger with each rank, it was true that there was little chance I’d run into Barub.
However, the power Barub held was twice mine.
Since I didn’t know I’d be attacked the moment my Warp was found, it couldn’t be helped that I had to waste one hour each day to travel.
The time would only increase with each rise in rank.
Resting for a brief moment to catch my breath, I used Mega Cure to recover my health.
After that, I did not hunt at the 7th stage, but headed further outwards.
Just like how the dungeons of Earth was, the difference between each level and stage were huge when it came for the strength levels of demonic monsters.
On Earth, it would be the difference between experience points and artifacts that made the distinction, but here, the difference in one’s growth was much more personal.
I had completely hidden my outer appearance. There was no longer a reason for me to stay at the 7th stage, which had grown boring for me.
“Is it around here?”
“Keehik!”
“Keeaaa!”
“Seems like it, since the 8th stage monster Frost Queen is here.”
For the last 3 days, I read the encyclopedia to the point of getting sick of it.
It was obvious, since this was all I had regarding information on hunting.
There were roughly 5 to 6 different types of monsters per tier, and as the tier rose, I could see that the number increased due to the mixed presence of both the current tier’s monsters and the monsters from the lower tiers.
Not only that, but despite not having a clear boundary, I could tell the hunting ground’s scenery was changing as I continued to progress forwards.
This was especially true for the 8th tier, where the air became frigid unlike all the previous tiers.
The monster that let out a laughter that seemed to rip apart the very air itself while appearing before me was the demonic monster representative of the 8th tier, Frost Queen.
It was explained in the encyclopedia that these half transparent ice statue-like figures poured out extremely frigid blasts of air to attack.
They did not act alone, instead choosing to move in a group of 3 or even up to 5, and when their aggro was pulled to start the battle, they would immediately form up ranks and drag in nearby monsters into the battle as well, making them incredibly difficult to hunt without a party.
One amusing fact was that the other demonic monsters did not not even get close to the group of Frost Queens.
As I mentioned before, these monsters did not use physical attacks, but instead blasted out frigid air, so I imagine that they can deal collateral damage to nearby demonic monsters when they attack.
Covering my body with a barrier, I looked around my surroundings.
As expected, as the tiers rose, so did the rate at which I stumbled upon other Protectors.
Not only that, but after the 5th tier, people who traveled solo like me were rare.
While stealthed, I had come to a place where there was the least amount of human presence, so I thought to myself that the chance of meeting Barub here was nearly impossible.
“Since it’s frost, it’s obvious I should take them down with flames, right? No… Even if it makes sense to use this, it’s still too dangerous to do so.”
Did I get too comfortable?
I was mid cast Meteor Call without much thought before hastily canceling it.
It was frustrating that I couldn’t even hunt as I pleased.
I had fallen into the habit of checking for the presence of others, almost to the point of making me wonder if I was putting on a show for someone.
But what choice did I have? If a complete foreigner who casts spells that others cannot and displays destructive force so strong that it would be hard to believe, it was obvious that I would draw a ton of attention.
If any of those eyes that were drawn to me were that of Barub, then there was no denying that it would be a huge issue.
“I should be satisfied with this.”
The Frost Queens that gathered near me with haste blasted frigid air towards me.
Their attacks weren’t visible to the naked eye, but the area around me froze at a rapid pace.
It was almost as if my surroundings were covered with liquid nitrogen.
At the same time, monsters like the Yeti and Ice Gargoyles were falling far back.
Their movements suggested that they did not want to get involved in this fight.
If I started my attack towards them, all the nearby Ice Queens would gather towards me.
Even without bunching up all the monsters by kiting them all to a single spot, I was able to hunt them en mass.
I wasn’t sure if others realized this, but this was quite an easy and simple way to hunt.
Just like that, I blew forth Normal Breath towards the demonic monsters in front of me.
Almost as if I was using a flamethrower, flames burst forth towards them.
Normal Breath was one of the flame magics used by the Protectors here.
The effect was dull, but the skill did quite a decent amount of damage.
It was an area of effect attack that was designed against many targets, and I had already seen in person the skill spewing forth flames without limit.
However, the flames that I was shooting out was an attack tens of hundreds of times more powerful then what the other Protectors used.
I had only copied the appearance of the attack, because this attack was obviously not only infused with mana and magical energies, but also with the powers of the six gods.
“Did I mess up on my control of the flames? I burnt them all into a crisp.”
It was enough to make me wonder if I had stopped at the 8th tier because of fear didn’t have any reason to be fearful.
The representative of the 8th tier, the Frost Queen.
An elite demonic monster, according to Dump. This meant that, if put Earth terms, unless a hidden boss didn’t appear, there weren’t any monsters stronger than the Frost Queen on this tier.
However, when the flames made contact with their forms, not only did their bodies melt, but their entire form had evaporated into thin air.
It was as if I had thrown some straw into a boiling hot blast furnace.
To hide my strength and appearance, I had conducted a small scale hunt, so I didn’t even use half my strength.
However, since that restriction I had placed on myself had been lifted, I could easily defeat the demonic monsters of the 8th tier with such ease.
I came to the conclusion that I would easily be able to get past the 10th tier that the Protectors had founded.
After they had perished like that…
What sounded like boulders rolling down, I could hear around me.
That must be the sound of the Frost Queens in the area gathering towards me.
Since the fight was quite easy, I had planned to hide my form and skip to the 9th tier, but after seeing the sheer number that showed, the desire to do so completely vanished.
“I can now understand why this fight would be difficult without a party.”
It was enough to make me wonder if this encyclopedia really was made for beginner Protectors.
No matter where I looked around me, I could see them.
The entire field had been completely filled with Frost Queens.
Even for a hunting party, these numbers would make it challenging.
All the other monsters, as if gone extinct, had completely disappeared from view.
“Shall I become the reason behind climate change?”
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