Kaito stared at the giant tiger before him. He didn't leap high and strike down with his sword.
Doing so would definitely get him swatted away by one of its paws. So Kaito's approach was...
He feigned a rising slash, but suddenly performed a slide tackle, moving with lightning speed, sliding under the giant tiger with his sword.
Anyway, it was big enough; there was space.
Instantly shortening the long, straight rock sword, he aimed at its belly and thrust hard, then extended the rock sword.
Ssssshhhh—!!!
With one strike, he perfectly pierced the giant tiger's body.
Even though its muscles were tough, it hadn't reached the level of steel skin. Besides, Kaito had reinforced this sword!
"Grrrr—!!!"
The mutated giant tiger, in pain, sprayed blood onto Kaito's protective suit. Before crawling out, Kaito used his ability to create two shorter rock knives and stabbed them into each of the tiger's hind legs at critical points.
"Phew..."
The giant tiger collapsed directly onto its haunches. Kaito, who had rolled out, narrowly avoided being crushed underneath.
'By the way, this giant tiger was male, right? Did I just hit a vital spot?'
"Heh... If an ordinary person were dealing with you, they'd either run or attack you with heavy weapons..."
"Probably no one at my same grade would dare face you like this, right?"
'At least around third-grade?'
Kaito smiled slightly at the screaming, enraged giant tiger.
Even though he was only a first-grade attribute powerhouse, he would have dared to do this even in an ordinary state.
Perhaps his speed wasn't fast enough, or his strength wasn't great enough, but Kaito had immense confidence in his martial skills, especially with his abilities!
Even if the humans in this world awakened superpowers, Kaito dared to say that no one could surpass him!
"Let me see how hard your head is!"
He extended his right hand, forming another long, straight rock sword. As the giant tiger struggled in pain, Kaito leaped high and delivered a full-powered slash.
Clang—
Emmmmmm...
'Alright!'
'It was indeed hard!!'
The impact jarred his entire body, especially his hands, making him question his existence for a moment.
The best he could do was cut down to the bone.
"Never mind. I'll just finish you off at your weakest point."
Seeing the surrounding mutated creatures running over to protect the giant tiger, Kaito had to choose to quickly finish it off.
"Kaito!"
"Don't worry. You all continue dealing with the surrounding mutated creatures. Oh, you might have to carry me back later."
Huuh...
Taking a deep breath, the giant tiger endured the pain, determined to crush Kaito no matter what. Kaito prepared to dodge and counterattack.
The moment the giant tiger's terrifying claws came down, Kaito slid underneath to evade, then quickly got up and ran to its side, thrusting again.
Slashes might hit bone, which was too disadvantageous for him.
Only thrusts could effectively penetrate its defense. As long as its muscles weren't as hard as steel, he could pierce it easily.
Ssssshhhh—!!!
Blood spurted out.
Kaito pulled out the long, straight rock sword, dodged the giant tiger's attack, and struck again while it was immobile.
After repeating this process, he finally killed it. Then he quickly swung the long, straight rock sword horizontally, sweeping away the mutated creatures charging at him.
Sephie and Misuzu, worried about Kaito, broke away from the group and ran over to help.
It seemed like killing their king enraged them further. They didn't scatter in fear but became more furious, wanting to kill Kaito.
Thus, the pressure on the others instantly decreased, while the pressure on Kaito's side increased dramatically.
Swoosh—!
"Sigh, it would be better during the day. Visibility is too low at night."
After another horizontal slash felling mutated creatures, Kaito adjusted the flashlight hanging on his shoulder and sighed helplessly.
The battle wasn't as dangerous as he had imagined. Although the giant tiger was strong, it was an opponent he could easily defeat despite the grade difference.
As long as the opponent didn't completely overpower him, Kaito could compensate for attribute gaps with martial skills and abilities.
An hour later...
The number of mutated creatures decreased, and they began to retreat.
Kaito, breathing heavily, sat on the ground to rest.
The others began using knives to dig into the mutated creatures' corpses, looking for crystals.
"Kaito, you worked hard tonight."
"If it was just hard work, that would be fine. The worry is the danger exceeding my control."
But fortunately, this level was completely manageable.
Of course, this was from Kaito's perspective. For others, it might be a different story.
Especially for the people of this world, it was basically despair.
"Sephie, you don't need to stay here watching me. Go help them. I'll rest here alone for a bit and also keep watch on the surroundings."
"Mm, okay."
Since Kaito said so, Sephie nodded in agreement.
After another half hour, after putting all the crystals into backpacks, they had to return to the shelter to rest.
Not only were the other women tired, but Kaito also needed a good rest.
Fortunately, there weren't too many mutated creatures near them, otherwise it would have been troublesome.
"Phew... I'll leave the cleaning to you, Kie."
"No problem. The attribute enhancement from the crystals means I won't be as tired as this afternoon."
Handing his blood-stained protective suit to Kie, Kaito briefly wiped the sweat off his body with a towel and went to the living room.
There was now a problem facing everyone, more important than counting the crystals.
So...
"Cough, there are only three rooms. Since everyone had opinions earlier... how about we draw lots?"
With three rooms, if all the children shared one room, then among the remaining ladies, some wanted to be in a room with Kaito, some disagreed, and some, like Mamako, were a bit shy.
"Uh... perhaps I came at the wrong time?"
Entering the living room and seeing them troubled over the rooms, Kaito suddenly felt he should go wipe off some more sweat.