Chapter 1-37 : Rematch
「Yo, it’s been a few days. I’m glad you still have your head attached to your body.」(Alice)
ーSHAAAA…!
Right after I got my new weapon from Walter-san, I went to the northern forest once again.
That’s right. My goal is none other than to defeat the Earth Viper which I failed to kill a few days ago.
When I encountered this giant snake-type monster back then, it was sleeping nonchalantly because it was confident of its hard scales, and it believed that none could hurt it. However, it was awake this time as if it had been waiting for my return.
It glared at me and opened its mouth, showing its huge fangs.
「Trying to intimidate me, huh? Levy, come out.」(Alice)
While glaring back at the giant snake, I took out Levy’s summoning stone and summoned them.
「Kyuu!」(Levy)
Levy appeared out of thin air and wrapped its body around my shoulders as usual.
「Levy, do you remember that big guy? We’re going to defeat it this time. Are you ready?」(Alice)
「Kyu!」(Levy)
Levy replied to me with a firm nod. They looked so enthusiastic.
I drew my new wakizashi, held it firmly, and then dashed toward the giant viper.
This monster is a defensive-type enemy, so my guess is that it can’t move really fast. On the contrary, I’m confident in my speed since my agi boost and dex boost skills had evolved, so I thought I would be able to defeat it with my speed.
Howeverー
「ー!?」(Alice)
I dashed forward and ran with full speed, but suddenly, my legs felt heavy and I was forced to slow down until I completely stopped.
Wondering what was going on, I looked down, but… I couldn’t see my feet.
It was because almost half of my legs were buried in the ground.
「What theー!? A quicksand!?」(Alice)
The ground around the area had turned into quicksand before I knew it.
「Earth magic, huh?」(Alice)
The monster was named Earth Viper for a reason, and that was probably because it could use Earth magic.
「Ugh…! Dammit, I’m stuck! This is bad…」(Alice)
I tried to escape, but the more I moved my legs, the more I got sucked into the ground. Even if I stay still, it’s still sucking me in.
What should I do?
「Kyuu!」(Levy)
While I was looking around and trying to figure out the way to escape, Levy jumped off my shoulders.
Levy then used their shapeshift skill while in the air to extend their body length and quickly bit a branch of the nearby tree with their fangs while extending their tail toward me.
Levy is probably telling me to use them as a rope. Without thinking twice, I quickly grabbed their tail.
Levy then pulled me out of the quicksand with all of their might and took me up into the air. I then landed on the tree branch Levy was biting on.
「Well done, Levy! Thank you!」(Alice)
「Kyu.」(Levy)
After replying to me briefly, Levy returned to their original size and perched on my shoulders again.
「Alright. Now what…」(Alice)
Since the entire ground had turned into quicksand, I couldn’t approach that giant viper from the ground. I have no choice but to use these trees to move around.
I wonder how I can approach it.
While I was thinking of my next move, the giant viper suddenly opened its mouth toward me andー
ーSHAAA!!
ーshot out an earth lance at me.
「ー!!」(Alice)
ーCRASH!!
I managed to dodge the attack by quickly jumping onto the next tree.
The earth lance hit the tree I was standing on and destroyed it. What a powerful magic attack.
「Kyu!」(Levy)
Right after I dodged, Levy warned me.
The viper didn’t stop. While still opening its mouth, it shot another earth lance.
「Dammit!」(Alice)
ーCRASH!
Again, I quickly jumped to the next tree to dodge it.
It wasn’t over; the viper continued shooting earth lances at me.
「Khh!」(Alice)
ーCRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!!!
I kept dodging by jumping from tree to tree.
I don’t have any projectile skills, so the only way I can attack the viper is to approach it in close range, but I can’t even get closer to it because of these annoying earth lances.
First, I need it to stop attacking. I think it’s time to use an evolved skill.
While dodging the attacks, I jumped away from the viper instead of approaching it, and then hid behind a tree.
As soon as I was out of the viper’s sight, I activated my【Concealment】skill , which was the evolved version of【Stealth】.
Noticing I had disappeared all of a sudden, the viper stopped shooting. Seems like it had completely lost sight of me. It started to look around while sticking out its tongue, trying to detect my presence. I could feel confusion in its eyes.
This is my chance!
Now that the barrage of earth lances had stopped, I could safely go around the area and approach it silently.
I saw a tall tree behind the viper. Perhaps I could climb it and use it to attack the viper from above.
Now that I had decided what to do, I started moving while maintaining my【Concealment】skill.
【Stealth】allowed me to hide my presence, but now that it had evolved into【Concealment】, it also completely erased the sound while I was moving around.
I heard that snakes could feel vibration through their skin, but thanks to this skill, I didn’t make any vibration even when I jumped from tree to tree.
I managed to reach the tall tree and climb it without drawing the viper’s attention. It has no idea that I’m standing right above its head.
While looking down at the confused giant viper below me, I activated my【Sever】skill, and just like the last time, a bright red line appeared around its neck.
「Alright. Here we go.」(Alice)
I jumped down toward the viper’s head and swung my wakizashi.
「ーHAA!」(Alice)
Even though the viper was moving its head, thanks to my high points on dex, I was able to hit the red line on the viper’s neck precisely.
ーSLASH!!
Unlike last time, this time, my blade went through its hard scales and cut off its head completely.
ーSHAAAAAaaaa…
The giant viper wasn’t expecting my attack at all. It writhed in pain on the ground for a few seconds, even though its head was completely separated from its body, until it finally stopped moving.
「Phew… I did it! We did it, Levy!」(Alice)
「Kyu!」(Levy)
「This weapon is really powerful. It’s completely different from the beginner’s weapon I had been using.」(Alice)
Thanks to my new wakizashi, I could defeat the Earth Viper. I can’t thank Walter-san enough for this amazing weapon.
However, I managed to kill this monster not only because of this weapon, but also because I had been grinding so hard these past few days.
I doubt I would be able to hide my presence from the viper if my【Stealth】skill hadn’t evolved. Also, I managed to cut off its head probably because my【Sever】skill had improved and did a lot of damage.
While looking at the viper’s dead body that remained on the ground due to my【Hunter】skill, I put my wakizashi back in its sheath.
「Say, Levy, you haven’t eaten anything today, right? You want to eat it?」(Alice)
「Kyu?」(Levy)
「Of course, you can. You saved me from the quicksand.」(Alice)
「Kyu, kyu!!」(Levy)
Levy jumped off my shoulders in high spirits. They then used the shapeshift skill to enlarge their body and started eating the viper.
The fight could have been easier if I used【Concealment】from the beginning and attacked the viper from behind, but since it seemed to have been waiting for my return, I kinda wanted to taste the thrill of fighting it face to face.
I’m glad I did. It’s been a while since I had a fun fight like this.
While watching Levy eat their meal, I got a message. It was from Lynette, and she said that my swimsuit was finished.
Looks like I should go back to Erst Town after this.
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