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“I’ll shoot at it with fire magic. Unleash your arrows as soon as you catch sight of it.”

“Understood.”

 

She nods, I launch the ball of fire forward and slightly at an upwards angle. All it took was to concentrate on the magic like ‘Jack of all Trades, Master of None’ showed, and the fireball launched like a flare and slowly descended. What appeared beneath it was a large, large mole. It must be an elite type of hole mole. The thing was densely covered in hair as its head raised towards the ball of fire above its head.

 

“It is a mega mole! Let us go, Asagi!”

“Yeah, I can do this!!”

 

Daniela shoots. And at the same time, I sprint forward. Her arrow reaches its target first, piercing into the mega mole’s body and causing a shriek that echoed in the chamber. It used its long nails to carefully grab the arrow and pull it out. I did not miss this opportunity.

 

“HAHH!”

 

My foot digs into the dirt as my one-handed sword swings down. And then the ground beneath me disappeared.

 

“Wha…!?”

 

The bastard…! He made a pitfall!! That’s why it didn’t move!”

 

“KGIIIII!!!

 

I had let my guard down. And just as I looked up in surprise, the mega mole’s claws came swiping down. I frantically blocked them with my sword. As I gritted my teeth against the weight of it pressing down, another arrow shot into the mega mole’s body. It let out another piercing cry. Now that it was weakened, I use ‘Legs of the Forest Wolf’ to kick the air and jump out from the hole. As I launched myself up high, I send out balls of fire in all four directions. The chamber was now illuminated, and I could see for a moment that the place was in the shape of a dome. The ceiling was likely around ten meters high. This guy must have dug it up…he had even made a pitfall.

 

“Daniela, there are pitfalls around it!”

“Then I will only use ranged attacks!”

 

With great skill, she continued to successively let loose her arrows. Indeed, if close-range combat was too dangerous, you just needed to attack with some distance.

I put the swords back in my sheaths and thrust my hands in front of me. I would visualize an ‘arrow’ much like the arrows Daniela was using. ‘Jack of all Trades, Master of None’ made this easier, and I quickly generated a whole row of over a dozen arrows. They were all pointing at the mega mole. I would call this spell, ‘ice arrows.’ I never claimed to be good at naming things. But it’s good to keep these things simple!

 

“Hah!”

 

With a shout, I launch the arrows towards their target. They start firing from the right side and savagely break into the mega mole’s skin. The echoing cries make me cringe, but I send every last arrow at it.

Now the mega mole was still. I control the wind around my feet and slowly descend while unsheathing my sword. I can hear the sound of a string being pulled behind me. My backup was perfect. Making sure to not fall into the hole again, I try to confirm if the mega mole is dead.

 

I move between the holes and finally reach striking distance. And then I stab the sword right into its body. …There is no reaction. I try again, and again, but there is no sound, no movement.

 

It had gone completely silent. We had won.

 

“Pheww…”

“Good job, Asagi.”

“Ah, you too.”

 

As always, we made fists and bumped…and at the same instant, Presence Detection caught something large.

 

“What, what is this all of a sudden!”

“I don’t know…but, doesn’t this…’

 

Yes, this size was reminiscent of something. It reminded me of the time when we met Beowulf. It was the same feeling I had when we fought him in the ruins.

 

“But then again, Presence Detection didn’t react during his ambush…”

“It is likely that…he had a high skill level for blocking detection. And the ambush was during the night. This monster clearly doesn’t have the same skills with blocking detection. But where could it have come from…”

“Indeed…perhaps it is a mutated elite monster from some magical pool…”

 

I recalled Macbel’s words, ‘As a monster, he is one level above the rest.’ He hadn’t evolved like this mega mole right here. He was something much more abnormal. Thinking about those words, I scan through our surroundings. I can sense the thin presence of kobolds on the outskirts.

 

“I think that it’s some kind of abnormally evolved kobold.”

“Aye, kobolds usually evolve into kobold warriors or kobold mages, specializing in attacking and magic. But this one is clearly different.”

“Has that happened before?”

“Aye. They are called assault kobolds. They are said to be very shrewd and aggressive.”

 

Shrewd, eh?… And there was something awe-inspiring about the speed at which it was approaching us. It would reach this hall within a dozen or more seconds. This would be the second abnormally evolved monster we have met after Beowulf.

 

Now, which of us would be the faster? …I could hardly wait.

Next Chapter

 

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1. This is my favorite chapter title.
2. Sorry about the chapter mixup earlier.