When Hiiro landed on the coast, Mikazuki collapsed on the ground in exhaustion. Apparently, it was caused by the fact that she just flew across such a long distance for the first time. Not sure what could happen next, Hiiro wrote the word <Restore> ćå Øåæ«ćon her body, restoring its stamina.
Hiiro, still having a high tension due to arriving on a new continent, began running around the beach shouting. After doing so to his heartās content, Hiiro used the word <Search> to look for the nearest village.
The moment he activated the word, an arrow appeared before him, pointing in the direction of the nearest village.
āThere should be a village up ahead, huh.ā (Hiiro)
The arrow that had appeared was pointing towards the mountains up ahead.
āIs the village hidden in the hill, or is it beyond the mountains? Either way, I need to be as careful as possible.ā (Hiiro)
āKui!ā (Mikazuki)
Mikazuki nodded and shook her back, telling Hiiro to get on. Hiiro ran beside Mikazuki for a moment before hopping onto her back and heading in the direction of the arrow.
After leaving the beach, Hiiro saw a vast grassland spread before him. Beyond the grassland was the hill and mountain range that he witnessed before.
(It feels calm right now but, Iāll never know when something might happen.ā
From what he read about the [Evlia] Continent, the monsters in this area were numerous and more formidable when compared to the other Continents. He didnāt feel that monsters would openly come out and attack, however, as he could be attacked anytime, he decided to prepare some words in anticipation.
Using <Simultaneous Invocation>, he was now able to set up five words at a time. He wrote the words <Speed> and <Protect> on himself and Mikazuki. He also wrote the word <Extend> on his sword. The words faded into the objects. With his preparations complete, he would now be able to activate any of these words at will.
And yet, if he used a Two-Word spell, all the One-Word spells he had set up at that moment would disappear. Thus, he need to be careful to avoid using Two-Word spells.
āIf I level up, I might be able to do more than this. However, I better watch myself for now.ā (Hiiro)
The idea of being able to use Two-Words with his current abilities made him excited. He was determined to continue hunting monsters to raise his level.
While he was casually riding Mikazuki, he saw something move at the edge of his vision.
āStop!ā (Hiiro)
āKui!?ā (Mikazuki)
Mikazuki skidded to a halt.
āKui?ā (Mikazuki)
āLook over thereā (Hiiro)
Hiiro pointed at a monster before him.
It was a slime that was 10 times larger than normal slimes. As it moved around on the ground, it kept making a puni-puni sound. Its body was green, however, it was transparent, to the extent of being able to see the other side of its body. Near the center of the body, there was red mass.
āCould that red, heart-like thing in the center be its weak point? My first opponent is a monster that isnāt in the illustrated book huhā¦ā (Hiiro)
Hiiro was surprised because this was a demon that he didnāt know anything about. He thought it was a unique monster, but he had also seen something similar a while back. Unlike the unique monsters, who generally wandered around alone, these monster looked as if they were working together.
āJust as I heard, the demons of the Evila continent werenāt listed in the encyclopedia.ā (Hiiro)
The encyclopaedia that he had read, only listed the monsters in the Humas Continent and the Gabranth Continent. It didnāt look like it listed any monsters on the Evila Continent.
āI want to find a reference book for this area as soon as possible.ā (Hiiro)
If he didnāt do something like that, he would be significantly disadvantaged when fighting the monsters in the Evila continent. He would definitely be more prepared if he knew about the monsters he was facing beforehand. Of course, he could use word magic to find out about the monsters, however, doing so would not be an efficient use of MP.
Thus, it would be much more efficient if he could find a reference book.
āThat is true, but first off, letās see what the first fight on the Evila Continent would be like.ā (Hiiro)
Hiiro got off of Mikazukiās back and drew out Thorn-Piercer.
āYou, stay back.ā (Hiiro)
āKui!ā (Mikazuki)
It was familiar exchange. Following Hiiroās order, Mikazuki fled the battlefield immediately.
āFirst off, letās try and look into something.ā (Hiiro)
As the slime still didnāt notice Hiiro, he used this opportunity to write the word <Pry> in order to view the monsterās <Status>.
āLetās seeā¦its name is Grand Slime, Rank S. Seriously!? There are several S ranked monsters crawling around here?!ā (Hiiro)
He looked around, noting that there were several other Grand Slimes nearby. He had met S-ranked monsters before, but they were generally considered unique and they were always by themselves. However, as expected, in the Evila continent, there were a lot of S-Ranked monsters wandering around.
(If a rank SS or a rank SSS monster came outā¦)
In the past month, Hiiro had fought with an SS rank monster in the Gabranth continent. Its strength and power were in orders of magnitude stronger than anything he had encountered thus far. He had barely managed to defeat it by making full use of his Word Magic. If he had made a single blunder during that encounter, he would undoubtedly have perished.
At that moment, he felt that he was dancing on a thin line between life and death.
He didnāt want to face another SS rank monster. As his affinity with the type of monster and topology had worked in his favour, he was able to somehow win thanks to good luck. He knew that it was way too soon for him to face an SS rank monster. If he didnāt level up significantly, then he would definitely die the next time.
(Ever since then, I havenāt wished for Arnold and Muirās presence more strongly.)
Although he didnāt show it, when he was working together with Arnold and Muir, they were very helpful. If they were with him when he was facing that SS Rank monster, the battle would not have been so dangerous.
And yet, from now on, he was all alone. Furthermore, the monsters on the [Evila] continent would be much stronger than those he encountered before. If his level was low, he could be killed off pretty easily.
(Taking all that into account, I have no choice but to raise my level as fast a possible.)
He had a strong premonition that he would eventually be fighting monsters that would be of a higher rank than SS in the future.
āFor that purpose, these guys will be my food.ā (Hiiro)
Sensing bloodlust, the Slime stopped and slowly turned to face him. Following this, it leaped at Hiiro with unexpected velocity.
āFast!ā (Hiiro)
Even though it had such a large body mass, it moved with the speed of a small animal. It was full of openings so Hiiro took this chance to jump past the Grand Slime and slice it with his sword.
Zuba (Sound of sword through a slimy body)
He thought he inflicted a significant blow to the slime, yet it was unfazed by it.
āCrap? It didnāt hit?ā (Hiiro)
Hiiro wanted to avoid physical contact with it. However, a bullet-like object suddenly detached itself from the slimeās body and flew towards him. Using both hands, Hiiro braced for impact. However, it was so soft that there was no impact or damage at all.
(Whatās going on?)
He raised his eyebrow, wondering what had just occurred. However, something happened in the following moment.
Boutsu! (Sound of a puff of fire appearing)
The part of Hiiro that was hit with the Slime abruptly burst into flames.
āHot!ā (Hiiro)
He tried to put out the fire by waving it in the air, but nothing happened.
āDamn!ā (Hiiro)
He squatted on the ground and pressed the burning part into the soil. At that moment, the fire went out.
āHah, hah, hahā¦this bastard.ā (Hiiro)
Not only did Hiiro suffer some burns, his red robe was scorched, left in tatters by the flames. He began to regret that he hadnāt used the word <Protect>.
āDamnā¦this canāt be easily restored either.ā (Hiiro)
He drew his sword and slashed at the Slime again. He once again felt the weapon land a solid strike on the monster. Yet, similar to before, it had no effect. Looking closely, he noticed that the parts he had damaged had already been regenerated.
āI see. Physical attacks donāt work on this thing. Now whatā¦ā¦ā (Hiiro)