Chapter 11. Day 364 — Beware of Magical Beasts
[You have entered the 6th Floor.]
[Warning: Magical beasts will begin appearing from the 6th Floor onward.]
[Magical beasts are evolved creatures that originated when wild animals acquired mana. They are hostile toward humans, so exercise caution.]
“Magical beasts? Those magical beasts are actually going to appear?”
The warning sign caught me off guard.
Of course, I’d encountered a roe deer on the fourth floor, but I’d never imagined I’d actually run into the term magical beast here.
🙂
“Are you making fun of me for being scared? Wilson, you’ve never encountered a beast before, have you?”
🙂
I swallowed involuntarily.
An unpleasant memory flashed through my mind like a scene from the past.
─Neigh!
“Wilson, you’d run with your tail between your legs if you encountered a bicon, too. It’s not an ordinary horse. It’s huge and muscular, and its horns are enormous. Flames sprout from its hooves, and whenever it shakes its head, lightning strikes.”
😮
After I scared him like that, Wilson seemed to finally realize that magical beasts weren’t ordinary animals.
“No one knows what causes magical beasts to appear. It’s believed that wild animals occasionally evolve by chance.”
Countless magical beasts appeared every day, and there were even dangerous regions where untamed magical beasts gathered in packs.
“But when I think about what happened back then…”
Hermes had clearly released the bicon into our territory deliberately.
He’d even said he’d borrowed it from Zeus.
That meant magical beasts weren’t entirely born naturally.
There must also be quite a number of magical beasts raised by the gods.
Bicons were particularly famous for hunting maidens.
Which made them a perfect match for Zeus, who had fathered countless children by seducing all sorts of virgins.
“Most people don’t know this. Instead, they think the gods are the ones getting rid of the magical beasts.”
Magical beasts were classified according to their danger level, such as low, intermediate, and high grade.
Lower-grade magical beasts, such as earth fairies, were also called monsters. Although dangerous, they were still within a level that the residents of a polis could handle themselves.
“Anything high-grade or above requires the help of a hero. Wilson, I told you about Pente, didn’t I?”
🙂
The Greek and Trojan continents had a guild association.
Its name was Eranoi.
They had branches scattered throughout the region and immediately identified areas where magical beasts appeared, then relayed the information to heroes.
Heroes who accepted the requests would then independently set out to hunt them.
If a polis was unlucky enough not to receive a hero, they had to pray for the magical beast to leave on its own or offer sacrifices to the gods and beg for their help.
That was why every polis had so many altars and temples.
“The gods would even punish people if they failed to offer sacrifices regularly.”
It was essentially a form of taxation.
The gods’ reasoning was: Your cities prosper because we manage the heavens, seas, and earth for you, don’t we?
If you considered Greece a massive empire with Olympus as its capital, it wasn’t entirely unreasonable.
But taxes only made sense when a centralized government provided infrastructure such as national defense, roads, and so on.
And honestly, I wasn’t sure whether natural phenomena like the sky and sea could really be considered infrastructure.
On top of that, there were twelve Olympian gods.
Apparently, there had even been a polis that accidentally forgot to include one of the gods in its offerings, angering them and resulting in a magical beast attack that destroyed the entire city.
At this point, I was inclined to believe that wasn’t just a rumor.
“Anyway, they said magical beasts might appear here. Be careful, Wilson.”
🙂
Whether he understood what was going on inside me or not…
Wilson was always positive.
I, on the other hand, was extremely nervous.
Even if a low-grade magical beast appeared, I’d probably have to fight for my life.
If an intermediate or high-grade magical beast showed up, I wasn’t confident I’d be able to calmly keep pushing Wilson.
A bicon…
That thing had been at the disaster-class level.
It was an absolutely terrifying creature far above even high-grade.
A single disaster-class beast was dangerous enough to destroy an entire city.
Even though Pente was an S-rank hero, there was a reason it had taken her such a long time to subdue it.
What if something like that really appears?
The veins bulged on the arm supporting Wilson.
I felt like I was sweating even more for no reason.
Wait.
Even if injuries naturally healed here…
“What happens if I get hurt badly enough to die…?”
For example, if a real bicon appeared and charged straight into me, I’d have to be prepared for the possibility of being torn in half at the waist.
I’d never suffered an injury that severe before.
What if I ended up unable to move forever, unable to die despite being trapped in unbearable pain?
“No. Let’s not think about weird things.”
For now, I decided to focus on Wilson right in front of me.
If something truly terrifying appeared, I could just run away then.
The terrain on the sixth floor consisted mostly of grassland.
Crunch, crunch.
I pushed Wilson upward while stepping through the grass and avoiding wooden obstacles.
“Careful, Wilson. The incline has changed.”
There were sections where the slope suddenly turned sharply, and overall, the incline had become steeper.
It required much more strength than the terrain I’d climbed so far.
Actually, this was perfect.
The angle was just right.
Lately, pushing Wilson upward had become easier than before, so my muscles weren’t getting enough resistance.
This was exactly the kind of load I needed for training.
“Hnnngh.”
Several hours passed.
Just when I’d almost forgotten about the magical beasts and become completely focused on Wilson—
─Ssssss!
An ominous sound made the hairs on my body stand on end.
I lowered my head.
Something white was writhing as it rapidly approached me.
A snake!
I recognized that movement.
It wasn’t an ordinary snake.
I could see traces of mana leaking from where it had moved.
It was definitely a low-grade magical beast—a monster.
If it bites me, I’m screwed. I’ll get hit with paralytic venom!
A memory flashed through my mind like a slideshow.
“You shouldn’t pile up leaves like this. They’re perfect for monster snakes to use as nests. You should warn the residents.”
Pente swung an axe as large as her own body, scattering the piles of leaves she’d painstakingly cleared away.
Ever since she’d settled down in my territory, she’d often taught me bits of practical knowledge about everyday life that I’d never known.
She was a hero who traveled the outside world, wandering from place to place on adventures.
It was also an opportunity for me to realize the limitations of someone like myself, who had been born and raised in the same neighborhood his entire life.
─Hiss!
“See? There it is.”
“Whoa! You scared me.”
Without even changing her expression, Pente subdued the horrifying white monster snake that opened its jaws wide with one hand.
You really couldn’t beat someone with experience.
“It’s called a Cocadrille. It’s a low-grade monster, so you can subdue it by hitting it a few times. If you bring their heads to the guild, they’ll pay one silver coin for every ten.”
“What happens if you get bitten?”
“If you extract the venom right away, you won’t die. You’ll just feel a little numb.”
“So you’re saying you’ll die.”
I wasn’t sure if all Amazons were like this or if it was just Pente.
She had a tendency to judge everything by her own standards.
“So when you catch one, you have to grip both sides of its head like this. Then it can’t move at all. Funny how its most dangerous part is also its weakness.”
As she spoke, Pente’s long ears perked up.
“I’ll make sure to inform the residents. Thank you for the useful advice.”
“Yeah. They’re especially active around this time of year, so be careful.”
Together with Pente, I continued scattering the piles of leaves.
We were almost finished with the work when—
─Hiss!
A snake suddenly burst out from beneath the final pile and lunged at me.
“Whoa!”
My mind went completely blank, and I couldn’t react.
I tried to grab its head like Pente had done, but with my pathetic physical abilities, I naturally missed.
“Sisyphus!”
By the time I came to my senses, I was sprawled miserably on the ground, and Pente had already cut the snake in half.
“I’m sorry. I tried to catch it, but…”
“I taught you wrong. Take your clothes off. Quickly.”
“Why my clothes?”
“Quickly.”
I looked down.
There were two tiny holes in my shirt.
Only then did I begin to feel a sharp pain spreading across my chest.
“Oh. I’ll take it off right aw… Brbr…”
“The paralysis is already spreading. I’ll tear it off.”
Riiip!
Without hesitation, Pente climbed on top of me and examined the wound.
Even though my fingertips were already going numb, for some reason, I could clearly feel the softness of her touch against my chest.
“If your chest were harder, its fangs wouldn’t have gone in.”
“…Does that even make sense?”
“It’s true. My chest is hard, too, so ordinary arrows can’t pierce it. If you don’t believe me, do you want to touch it?”
“…No.”
Pente placed one hand on my chest and another on her own, then tilted her head.
A faint blush soon appeared on her face.
“No, I didn’t mean it in any other way. Don’t misunderstand.”
“Brbrb.”
“Oops. What am I doing? I need to remove the venom first.”
With that, Pente immediately pressed her lips against my chest.
Suck. Suck.
For more than ten minutes, she carefully drew out the blood and venom from the wounds left by the snake’s fangs.
“Hoo.”
The numbness gradually faded, and the dizziness began to disappear.
Thanks to Pente, I survived.
“Sisyphus, are you okay?”
“Hoo… Yes. Thanks to you… I owe you one.”
“Hehe. Looks like your debt just got a little bigger.”
Pente gently stroked my face before wiping the saliva from the corner of her mouth.
“Lady Pente, you really are a hero.”
“Oh my, that hurts a little.”
“Does it?”
“Yeah. Not all heroes chase after nobility and honor. In fact, those kinds of people are rare. If that’s what the public believes, then the guild must be very good at advertising.”
“That’s unexpected.”
“Really? Hehe. Heroes are only half human, after all. It’s natural for us to pursue wealth, power, authority, and love.”
If it wasn’t for honor, then why had Pente gone out of her way to help Corinth?
I was curious, but I didn’t ask her at the time.
“Then I’ll just consider Lady Pente a great hero.”
“I like that much better. Now, let’s get up.”
Pente held out her hand to me.
I grabbed it and began pulling myself up, but then my grip slipped.
Pente reacted quickly and supported my back with her arm.
Is this what it feels like to be a princess being carried in a prince’s arms?
I felt a little embarrassed.
─Rustle.
Hearing the sound of someone approaching, Pente and I turned our heads at the same time.
Clea was standing there with a basket.
She seemed to have been picking mint.
Her expression was cold.
She looked exactly like a grim reaper carrying a list of the dead.
“…Looks like you’re having fun.”
Clea left that one sentence behind—it was unclear whether she was talking to herself or to us—and turned around.
After she disappeared, Pente asked me,
“Who was that young lady just now?”
“My fiancée.”
“Sisyphus, you had a fiancée?!”
Pente covered her mouth with both hands, her eyes wide.
“Yes. We’re not going to get married, though.”
“You have a fiancée but aren’t going to get married…? Human customs change so quickly. It’s not even like a meal that’s prepared just to be admired.”
“There are circumstances.”
And so, that incident became a lesson for me.
Afterward, I continued learning at least the basics of how to deal with magical beasts from Pente.
─Hiss!
The moment the monster snake lunged at me with its jaws wide open—
“Hup!”
Smack!
I grabbed both sides of its mouth with my hands and subdued it.
─Hiss! Hiss!
The snake panicked, unable to even close its open jaws.
Venom dripped from its fangs.
I briefly supported Wilson with my back.
[Activating Endure.]
“Hup!”
I snapped the snake’s neck with a sharp crack and dropped it.
The creature died instantly.
[You have realized the skill Crack.]
“What?”
It was easier to deal with than I expected.
─Sssssss!
But one wasn’t the end of it.
A swarm of snakes came rushing out of the grass like assassins.
“I learned how to deal with this situation from Pente, too.”
I pressed my back against Wilson.
[Activating Hoist Over Shoulder.]
“Wilson!”
⁑ )
I aimed at the approaching swarm of snakes.
Then—
BOOM!!
I slammed Wilson down with all my strength.
The grassland immediately fell silent.
Leaning against Wilson, I looked down at the dent I’d made in the earth.
“Magical beasts… They’re easy.”
[You have subdued a magical beast.]
[The mana of the subdued magical beast is being stored in your muscles.]
[Skill experience has increased.]
─Rustle.
I turned my head at the sound of someone approaching.
Déjà vu?
Behind the dense trees…
Someone was standing there.
“…Pente?”
As if praising me for successfully subduing the magical beasts, she gave me a smile and a few crisp claps before quietly disappearing.
“…Haha.”
That gave me a boost of energy.
I once again pushed Wilson upward with all my strength.
