Chapter 33
Similar situations occurred several more times after that.
There were still many monsters that were too dangerous for Chae-rin to handle.
So whenever a stronger monster appeared, I repeated the process of filtering them out for her.
Though I'd never played the VR version of [Demons Saga], I at least knew that a 10-level difference was quite significant.
Ah, what a considerate man I am. Pretty caring, if I do say so myself.
"...hiing."
But Chae-rin's reaction was a bit strange.
While I was just trying to filter out monsters with her wellbeing in mind, she seemed quite dejected.
Her shoulders were slumped, her usual energetic demeanor gone, replaced by what appeared to be a severely dampened spirit.
Even the viewers were joining in to console her.
[It's okay Chae-rin, you just got unlucky with your opponent]
[But stop with the 'hiing' shit, fuck's sake are you really gonna show such weakness as a warrior?]
[The warrior here is Yor though?]
[Strong man... could you maybe be a little less strong....]
[He's one-shotting everything lmao]
Seems like my consideration ended up scratching her pride.
Maybe I've been cut off from society too long, but reading others' feelings is really difficult.
Not like I've had much practice meeting people anyway.
"Strange... I'm sure that wolf from before wasn't nearly this high level..."
"Probably wasn't fully grown yet."
"...You're saying something that wasn't even an adult was that strong?"
"Well, a carnivore's not going to be weaker than a deer, right?"
But I was also feeling a bit excited on the other hand.
It's a common human trait.
You know how when your area of expertise comes up, your self-esteem naturally rises? That's exactly where I was at.
After all, there probably weren't many people more knowledgeable about this forest than me.
"Ah, this one looks good."
After wandering around for quite a while, we finally found a monster that matched her level.
"...Kyu?"
[Mutated Rabbit Lv 81]
A rabbit, that is.
Maybe because it had the 'Mutated' prefix, but its mana presence was considerable and it was quite large.
Though still only about half her height.
Still, it definitely wasn't something to be dismissed just because it was a rabbit.
Level aside, it was agile and aggressive.
True to its herbivorous nature, it was also extremely cautious.
To be honest, even I had struggled with these rabbits in the past.
But there was still something inherently pathetic about its appearance.
The moment they saw the rabbit, mockery erupted in the chat window.
[Walking all this way just to fight a bunny lololol]
[Yor says, this is all you're worth fighting]
[You're too much of a scrub to face wolves~]
"N-no, look at its level! This isn't something to underestimate!"
Chae-rin snapped back after seeing the chat.
Of course, I agreed with her words. Judging by appearance alone is foolish. Pride and carelessness are shortcuts to death.
So I decided to give her some encouragement to boost her morale.
"That's right. You can do it. Don't let your guard down, watch your opponent carefully."
[That's right Chae-rin, you can do it sweetie~]
[There there~ Our baby can handle a bunny right?]
[???: Never underestimate a rabbit (while one-shotting an Owlbear)]
"...ugh!"
Though it seems my encouragement wasn't much help.
Anyway, having found a suitable opponent, she charged at the rabbit. Her twin daggers made from wolf fangs gleamed.
The creature reacted to the sudden killing intent.
"Kyu?"
With that cute animal sound, the battle began.
The rabbit nimbly hopped away from Chae-rin's crossing blades with its two feet.
The mutated rabbit wasn't very large.
At most, it came up to her lower body in height.
In other words, that tiny frame packed the strength of a B-class adventurer.
True to a rabbit's nature, it had plenty of leeway even against a nimble rogue's attacks.
Chae-rin's twin daggers were being thoroughly toyed with by its reflexes.
No matter how wildly she swung her blades, they couldn't even touch the creature's fur.
In the midst of this, she even allowed an attack from it.
"Kyuuk!"
"Ouch!"
Her right shoulder was struck by its kick.
While the monster's low weight meant it wasn't quite serious injury level, she had definitely taken damage.
Seeing this, the viewers started teasing her again.
[Fighting so sloppily wwww]
[lololol can't even land a single hit]
[Hey I know how to win: hit the enemy with attacks ok?]
"Ah, shut up, you're distracting!"
Though Chae-rin snapped back each time.
I could understand the viewers' mindset.
Fighting a life-or-death battle with an adorable rabbit half your size would naturally look ridiculous from a third-person perspective.
But to me, having fought bloody battles with rabbits in the past, it came across differently.
'...She fights pretty well.'
She had decent combat sense.
Looking carefully, her blade swings weren't random - she was predicting the creature's path. It just wasn't connecting because the thing was so damn quick.
That made sense. Rabbit-type creatures had particularly high stat allocation in speed.
To the point where they were faster than carnivores several levels above them.
It was only natural she couldn't catch it when she was just one level lower.
'Now, what will you do?'
I silently questioned as I watched the fight.
Continuing like this would just lead to a stalemate. She might even lose by running out of stamina first and having to retire.
In other words, she needed to find another approach or she could lose.
Fortunately, she had prepared such an approach.
"Kyuut!"
Once again the rabbit's feet flew at her.
A kick that, while small and cute, had damage that couldn't be ignored. Normally one would defend.
But what she chose wasn't defense, but a preparation stance for her next attack. She raised her daggers high while carefully watching the kick.
The creature's kick landed on her side.
Pak-!
"Kugh!"
With a small groan, she launched her attack.
Taking advantage of the opening when the rabbit was defenseless after attacking, her daggers rushed in.
Having already used its turn, the rabbit had no choice but to expose its heart.
I let out a small sound of admiration.
"Oh."
To think she'd endure the pain to create an attack opportunity. Not an easy strategy to consider.
Was it possible thanks to her low synchronization rate? Either way, quite impressive nerve.
Clap clap clap.
Watching her catch her breath, I gave her a small applause. With genuine feeling.
"Well done. You fight better than expected."
"...You're making fun of me, aren't you?"
Though I'm not sure if my sincerity came across.
[Our oppa's got some teabagging skills]
[(Inner thoughts) This scrub fight is entertaining lol]
Anyway, similar situations continued after that.
If something appeared that she clearly couldn't handle, I'd cut it down appropriately, and if something suitable appeared, I'd watch the fight.
As she said, the experience points must have been significant, as we could see her leveling up in real-time.
While there were some effects, it didn't seem to restore health or mana.
It was kind of fun, like raising a newbie.
"You know what?"
I could also gather information here and there.
While today's content was hunting, monsters weren't around all the time.
Honestly, the walking time was considerable too.
We couldn't spend that time in silence, so she would share various bits of information during those times.
"The number one ranked Otherworlder just changed."
She continued speaking while wrapping her wounds with bandages.
"The original number one was a user from a country called China, who had been maintaining first place by throwing money at it. But seems like their growth hit a wall after passing level 100."
And in the gap created by the Chinese user's stalled growth, apparently an American user took first place. Though that person also threw money at it, from what I heard.
Anyway, the current game ranking's number one was level 103.
Hearing this, I nodded lightly.
'103 huh...'
While I wasn't exactly clear on levels, I had heard from her that around 110 was the minimum cut-off for A-class adventurer.
And even for the people here, the A-class wall was quite high.
Among hundreds of humans who made combat their profession, only a few reached that rank.
It's understandable they'd start hitting a wall around level 100.
No, it's more surprising they reached near A-class adventurer level in just 9 months.
Even with infinite respawns and adjustable pain.
I guess when you expand the scope worldwide, talent really is abundant.
Thinking about this, a question suddenly popped into my mind.
'Come to think of it, what level am I?'
Given that adventurers had precise standards based on levels, there seemed to be some way to measure it.
They probably couldn't completely hide NPCs' levels, and there might even be items that directly measure levels.
"...Hmm."
While I was a bit curious, I decided not to look into it.
While I trusted her, there was no need to show all my cards.
So I'll just leave it as curiosity for now.
I thought this while helping with her content.
By the time the sun was about to set, she had reached the level where she could handle two mutated rabbits simultaneously.
Incredible progress. Though the chat was full of mockery.
And so I returned home eating my saved pastry.
*
A few days later, bad news reached the public.
News that a new demon, Seere, had descended.