In the morning, the first dew drops fell along the veins of the leaves, and the slightly cold air carried a hint of humidity. Tsukasa shivered slightly in the tree hollow, feeling that the season seemed to be changing. It was now October, which meant winter would be arriving soon. For this reason, she had to prepare in advance for the winter.
"Whew..."
She exhaled a breath.
Rubbing her palms together, she hugged her shoulders and got up.
These tattered cloth clothes were now completely useless.
By winter, they surely wouldn't be able to ward off even a bit of the cold for her. Although she was now a Mage and had a Cold Resistance skill, winter remained a very terrifying prospect for her.
To resist that beast known as 'Winter',
Tsukasa began to take action.
However, there was still one opponent she currently had to deal with.
The overlord of the forest—Xiao Bai.
Thinking of 'Xiao Bai's' fluffy coat, Tsukasa's determination grew even stronger. She was serious about killing the beast for its loot. In her heart, revenge was prioritized even lower than visible benefits, though these two things were essentially one and the same.
However, the morally upright Tsukasa could no longer calmly use the excuse of revenge to carry out this matter, because it was no longer about revenge, but a dirty struggle for profit.
She wanted Xiao Bai's fur!
But for now, she couldn't guarantee that she could kill Xiao Bai.
Therefore, she planned to train a bit more.
Really, just a little bit more~
She wasn't the type of person to bully animals.
Tsukasa closed the 'door' of the tree hollow and set off.
She headed toward her current leveling area.
That's right.
What used to be a danger zone was now a leveling area. Although danger still existed, she was no longer the same person she was yesterday, so this place was no longer a high-difficulty area marked with an X.
Tsukasa arrived at the habitat of a certain monster.
Then, looking at the empty marshland, she fell into thought.
"Hmm?"
Strange.
Why was the forest exceptionally quiet today?
And the number of monsters was freakishly low.
Only a few avian monsters still remained.
Did something happen last night?
Those wolf howls... "A monster migration?"
Tsukasa thought of this possibility.
After all, there were originally no wolves in this forest.
In other words, the wolf cries heard last night were the sounds of monsters migrating from elsewhere, and at that time, those cries sounded like they were in the middle of a battle?
Since she didn't understand animal language, she could only combine her guesses with her imagination. But besides that, there seemed to be no other possibility to explain what was happening in the forest now.
Because monsters from other places had migrated here,
a territorial dispute she didn't know about had occurred last night.
Some monsters died in battle, others fled.
That's why the number of monsters was so low today.
Tsukasa clenched her fist and swung it at the air.
"Damn it, making trouble on my turf. These monsters should have been killed by me."
The experience she lost—
who's going to compensate her for it?
Tsukasa's cheeks puffed up in anger.
Angry expression.jpg
Eh?
Wait a minute.
Tsukasa's eyes darted around.
"Since a territorial war happened last night, that means..."
"That fellow must have participated too, since it's the forest overlord. And the wolf cries decreased a lot in the latter half of the night, which means that fellow probably won."
"Alright, let's sneak over and see how that fellow is doing."
Skill 〈Stealth Lv1〉 acquired.
Using skill points, Skill 〈Stealth Lv1〉 → 〈Stealth Lv3〉.
"Ah, I really don't have enough skill points. When will I have an inexhaustible supply of skill points?"
Si muttered to herself as she entered a skill state.
In the blink of an eye, she seemed to vanish from where she stood.
In reality, however, this was merely an illusion-based misdirection.
After all, Stealth was just a low-cost technical skill that couldn't compare to the superpower of Invisibility. As for why she chose the unexpectedly useless Stealth over a higher-level Invisibility skill, that was simply a foolish question. Please don't ask her such heartbreaking questions, okay?
She nervously made her way deep into the forest.
The 'thump-thump' sound of a beating heart grew louder and louder.
Was there a heart hidden in the depths of the forest?
What the hell?
It was her own heart!
It was a sound she could only hear because she was overly nervous.
To be honest, she wasn't sure if her heartbeat had given her away.
It really sounded quite loud.
"My dear heart, please control yourself!"
Si tried to communicate with her own heart.
However, it was useless.
Heart-chan was already so terrified that she wouldn't listen to reason.
Well, one could tell just by the frequency of its trembling.
In the depths of the forest, a wave of bloody stench wafted toward her. The foul odor almost made Si vomit up yesterday's dinner on the spot. Her killings had always used flames to purify everything; when had she ever experienced such a stench? Moreover, the scene before her was an extremely shocking sight.
Carcasses of monsters were everywhere.
They were wolf-like monsters with gray-blue fur.
They were quite large in size.
A single curved horn grew from their heads.
〈Appraisal〉
"Monster: Carcass of a Moon-Devouring Wolf."
Moon-Devouring Wolf.
A monster that inhabits the outskirts of the Monster Mountain Range.
A B-rank monster according to the Adventurer's Association's assessment.
The average attribute value at Lv1 is around 80.
They possess extremely rare Light-attribute and Wind-attribute Magic.
Si gazed at the field of wolf carcasses.
"There are so many, which means this was a pack. Naturally, there is a Wolf King within the pack who issues commands. They migrated from elsewhere and, under the leadership of the Wolf King, attacked the overlord of this forest."
That should be the truth.
But she was somewhat puzzled.
The strength of the Moon-Devouring Wolves was certainly not weak, and they moved in a group.
But the White-Eyed Tiger was even more powerful.
Mere Moon-Devouring Wolves couldn't possibly be a match for a White-Eyed Tiger.
Besides, White-Eyed Tigers didn't act alone either.
She thought back to that roar yesterday that had summoned the White-Eyed Tigers.
However, at this moment...
The White-Eyed Tiger was no longer in the Tiger's Den.
The outside of the cave was littered with the carcasses of the wolf pack.
But inside the cave, there were also many carcasses of monsters she recognized.
It looked like they were prey brought back by the White-Eyed Tiger yesterday.
Si didn't dare stay long inside the Tiger's Den.
She did a quick investigation and then hurriedly retreated.
Because she wasn't sure of the White-Eyed Tiger's current situation.
Maybe it just went out for a stroll?
If it suddenly came back and cornered her, what would she do?
Si returned to the outside of the cave.
"Strange. Since it won, why hasn't it done anything with these carcasses? And it's not in the cave right now. Could it be..."
"The White-Eyed Tiger's victory last night wasn't an easy one?"
Furthermore, the Wolf King's carcass wasn't found here.
So, the Wolf King must have eventually retreated with part of the pack.
If the White-Eyed Tiger's strength had been overwhelming, the Wolf King definitely wouldn't have escaped.
Thinking of this...
A very bright smile blossomed on Si's face.
"Mm-hmm~"
"Could this be an opportunity given to me by the heavens?"
In that case...
Then she wouldn't be polite!
Si used her Appraisal skill to inspect the ground.
Then she found the White-Eyed Tiger's footprints on it.
Hehe, this was a new use she had thought of; she didn't expect it to actually work.