“Gawgh! Gawgh!”
Since Wight had fallen to pieces, I had Partner use [[Fake Life (Soul Appendment)]] on them. After that, Partner started to display some curiosity toward the abyss. While I tried to get Partner to cut it out and leave it, Partner really did seem to want to try out the abyss one way or another to see if it was edible or not. She must be starving half to death. In the end, I gave in and ended up approaching the abyss because I would barely even be able to walk upright if I were to resist her.
Partner cautiously brought her head near the dead abyss carcass, giving it a few whiffs with her nose. With her eyes narrowed, she stuck out her tongue and slowly brought her mouth closer to the abyss.
From there, right before Partner’s tongue made contact with the abyss, Partner opened her eyes. Partner’s eyes met with the eyes on the dead abyss carcass.
“Gaw…”
Partner stopped her tongue just short and retracted her head back, letting out a forlorn cry.
Yep, of course… Whatever the case may be, you can’t bring yourself to eat it, can you? That’s just how it is. I was wondering about what I would’ve done had Partner really dug into the abyss.
Partner shuddered as she shook her head back and forth and looked at me with her eyes about ready to tear up. Look, I know you’re hungry, …but let’s eat something a little more palatable. We’ll have the tributes when we go back to the shrine as well, okay?
We left the dead abyss carcass alone and resumed hunting around the forest. There was even some meat among the tributes, so surely that means that not all the creatures here are gonna be that revolting.
If there are E or F ranked monsters here, then I’d like to go ahead and level-up Wight as well… And once Wight evolves, that should chuck out their tendency to fall to pieces.
I turned my gaze to Wight, who was behind me, glancing at them. Wight looked up at me with their two gapingly empty eye sockets. …I gotta wonder …Do wights eat anything at all? …I suppose not. There’d be no reason for them to, right? At a glance, it doesn’t seem like they have any organs, such as those for digestion. I mean, they’re just bones.
While hunting, I came across some bluish-purplish mole-like monsters, some owl-like monsters, and so on. However all of them were swift to flee. The mole one went and burrowed underground practically at the same time as I sensed it, and the owl one completely disappeared by immediately blending into the background with I guess some sort of skill.
Because there are tons of dangerous monsters out there, they probably all slot into two categories: ones that are swift to flee, and ones that are more or less like parasites like, say, abysses. Now that I’m thinking about it, even though none of the other stats that the manticore had amounted to much, at the very least, it was fast on its feet, wasn’t it? I wonder if it has that speed in order to, say, escape from something…? …If there exist things stronger than that, then I’ve got a feeling I’m gonna be running into a bit of trouble, huh?
But, if this keeps up, then I see no signs of this trend of not coming across any monsters I can let Wight fight without worry stoppin’. If I’m just hunting for food and that’s it, then I feel like I could see myself managing that in some way. But when it comes to me capturing and leaving things alive, weakening them, and setting Wight off on them… hrmm.
I stopped walking and looked behind me toward Wight. Wight followed suit with me and also stopped walking.
For Wight, this forest is just a little too high level for them, huh? If only there was some way to quickly and effortlessly raise Wight’s level here.
As my gaze stayed locked on Wight, I suddenly had a flash of inspiration. There is one… isn’t there? I could totally conjure up a monster with [[Fake Life (Soul Appendment)]] that’s the same level as Wight, right?
Er, whether I like it or not, excessively influencing the cycle of life and death with [[Fake Life (Soul Appendment)]] is, well…
…Still, even that chunk of flesh moved, so it would seem that even if I were to use it on something that’s obviously inanimate and the like, it’ll still manage something, right? So, I don’t feel like I’m doing something sacrilegious to the circle of life even though it monsterizes things that, at their core, obviously don’t look to be living creatures. So, yeah. I’m probably in the safe.
Given all that, it looks like I can immediately conjure up some monster of sorts to level Wight with. So if Wight’s on the ropes, I can just pull some strings from the sidelines. Well, hell, that all worked out in the end, didn’t it? Since that’s now the case, I’ll needa look for something that looks like it’ll be quick ‘n’ easy—something that doesn’t look like it’ll be very strong, even when monsterized…
As I swung my head around, my eyes came across a small tree in the distance—one that probably only sprouted a few years ago. The tree’s bark had yet to grow thick and it sported a beautifully youthful color along with a sparse covering of leaves. It was obviously a suitable candidate.
After rushing over to the sapling, I looked down at Wight and gestured toward the sapling with my chin, with my intent being to ask Wight if they could fight this thing. Wight seemed to grasp what I meant and nodded their head up and down.
After that, I turned toward Partner and let out a single cry: ‘Gwogh’.
“Gaw…”
Partner clacked her teeth together, seemingly craving to have something in her mouth. Look, once this comes to a close, we’ll start hunting in earnest, so please… You can have the next meal all to yourself as well. So, I’m asking you. And it’s pathetic when Wight falls to pieces every time after anything happens to them, and it’s time out of your day too, right?
“Gawgh.”
My concerns seemed to reach Partner as she affixed her gaze toward the sapling and used [[Fake Life (Soul Appendment)]], enveloping the sapling in black light.
[Level of normal skill [[Fake Life (Soul Appendment)]] has increased from level 2 to level 3.]
Once the black light dispelled, hollow cavities had formed in the sapling that resembled a face and the sapling had uprooted itself, throwing dirt everywhere.
“Crk- Squreak—!”
The hollow cavity that made up the sapling’s mouth widened, as if splitting open, and from it the sapling let out a bellowing cry.
Species: Little Treant
Status: Cursed
Level: 1/5
HP: 7/7
MP: 6/6
Attack: 1
Defense: 2
Magic: 3
Speed: 1
Rank: F
Characteristic Skills:
[[Dark Attribute: Lv –]]
Resistance Skills:
[[Physical Resistance: Lv 1]]
Normal Skills:
[[Radicate Roots: Lv 1]] [[Clay: Lv 1]]
Title Skills:
[[Minion to the Wicked Dragon: Lv –]]
It-… It’s a complete success. The hell is this skill? I could make as many subordinates as I could possibly want, couldn’t I? Geez, this skill…
It doesn’t have all that much attack and speed, but its HP and magic are pretty high. It seems to be more built for support-related positions.
However, now that I’m looking at the results in this way, I can’t help but feel quite a growing attachment to it as well as feel a bit of excitement welling up inside me wondering about how it’ll develop and grow and such. Besides, judging from the fact that it slapped that title skill on it again this time as well, there’s probably hardly a chance that it’ll harbor any kind of hostility toward me. Given this, it might perhaps be better if I were to revise my plans for now.
“Gow…”
Right as I was just about to call out to Wight, Wight had already started making their move. Wight approached the treant, then dodged its down-swung branches, and then cut around it, getting on its back. Without missing a beat, Wight wrapped themself around the treant’s back. From there, something that looked like black mist suddenly began to leak out from Wight’s body.
In an effort to shake off Wight, the treant twisted its entire body. Wight clung fast to the treant, refusing to be thrown off. Piece by piece, Wight’s bones started falling to the ground, scattered.
“Creak! Creak! Squreak!”
The treant’s movements slowly but surely had started to grow sluggish as the complexion of its overall body had started to lose its luster. And then, finally, its movements came to an end. As the treant’s movements ceased, so too did the black mist that was leaking out from Wight. It would appear that that was the HP-stealing skill.
The treant had withered away entirely, almost as if it had not gotten any water for a very long time. The leaves that had been clinging to the treant had completely changed color and upon a gust of wind, they fell to the ground—branches and all.
Unable to discern whether or not this was something that’d be fine for me to stop, seeing as I was the one who ordered it, I could only look on—dumbfounded by the whole ordeal from beginning to end. By the time I finally came back to my senses, Wight was just about to get ready to approach me as they dragged themself over, seemingly happily, with their body missing a few bits and pieces.
Uh, yeah… Er, no. Well, I do suppose it is my place to give credit where credit is due and give you some honest praise for doing a job well done… But, what should I say about this…? I’m still sorting out all these emotions bouncing around in my head…