Chapter 67
It took Allen quite a while to defeat the Armored Ant. More than two hours had passed from the moment he found it to the moment he finally killed it.
(That took forever. Now, I need to retrieve its Magic Stone.)
Cursing under his breath, he drove his dagger into the overturned Armored Ant's thorax.
Clang!
"Huh?"
The sound escaped him before he could stop it. His dagger had only slightly dented the exoskeleton on the Armored Ant's thorax. He tried stabbing it a few more times.
(This is bad. What if I can't even get its Magic Stone out with this dagger?)
It seemed that a dagger worth fifty silver coins wasn't enough to dismantle an Armored Ant. The blade was close to chipping, and he couldn't afford to spend any more time on it. He'd learned that this dagger could only cut through the joints.
It had taken too long, and he couldn't retrieve the Magic Stone. Several of his Beast E Summons had been taken out, too, costing him Magic Stones.
(This isn't an enemy I can beat with physical attacks. Maybe magic? If I want to use physical attacks, I'll need a large weapon, like a two-handed sword.)
Allen decided that Armored Ants were difficult enemies to defeat.
Allen looked up at the sky. His three Hawks were already soaring overhead, perhaps having finished scouting.
(Hawks, this ant's no good. The one that found an Orc, come down here.)
One of the Bird E Summons descended. Allen had it lead him to the Orc.
After running for twenty minutes, he found a monster asleep with its back against a tree.
It was a pig-faced monster wearing tattered clothes. Since it was sitting as it slept, he could only see its seated height, but it was clearly larger than an adult human. A large spear lay on the ground beside it.
(Monsters sleep, too? Well, Ageha's special ability can put even ants to sleep. Nothing surprising there. Still, so Orcs carry spears. Since it's already asleep, this is perfect. Tamas, come out!)
Peering from the shade of a tree, he summoned fourteen Beast E Summons.
'Grrrrrr...'
The Beast E Summons surrounded the Orc sleeping in the shade. They used Scratch, their special ability, now enhanced to level five.
'Squeee!'
The Orc was suddenly attacked and let out a shriek. Its fresh blood stained the brown fallen leaves.
(Oh! So that's what an attack power of 250 from Enhancement level five can do. Scratch gets through an Orc's defenses.)
With fourteen against one, they looked like they could defeat it without Allen joining in. Watching the Orc reminded him of something.
(I see. Good thing I arm-wrestled them.)
He remembered arm-wrestling Rodin and Gerda some time ago. He'd beaten Gerda but lost to Rodin.
Based on Allen's attack power at the time, which had been just under 300, he'd estimated Rodin and Gerda's approximate attack power.
Rodin: Attack power 300–350
Gerda: Attack power 250–300
Rodin had delivered the finishing blow to the Great Boar. That meant it took an attack power of 300 to 350 and a spear to defeat one.
While Allen was thinking, the Beast E Summons continued attacking. With a rumble, the roughly two-and-a-half-meter-tall Orc collapsed to the ground.
'You defeated one Orc. You acquired 1,500 EXP.'
The Beast E Summons, with an attack power of 250, had just dealt damage to and defeated an Orc, a C-rank monster of the same rank as a Great Boar.
(I managed to defeat a C-rank monster. Maybe Scratch multiplies attack power by 1.5.)
He deduced the effect of Scratch from the arm-wrestling and how the Orc had fared.
The most important thing when hunting C-rank monsters was whether the Beast E Summons, which specialized in offense, could land their attacks.
The Beast E Summons' normal attack power of 250 wasn't particularly high compared with his father Rodin's or the people who hunted Great Boars. Orcs and Great Boars probably had different defense, but he'd been worried that their attacks might not get through.
If their attacks couldn't get through against Orcs or Armored Ants, which were the same rank, he'd been thinking of going back to hunting goblins.
The Armored Ant had been difficult, but the combined effect of the Beast E Summons' 250 attack power and their Scratch ability seemed to have worked against the Orc.
(Three Tamas were taken out. With Ageha's powder and my support, I should be able to avoid using up too many Magic Stones.)
He pressed his dagger to the fallen Orc's chest and retrieved its C-rank Magic Stone. Unlike with the Armored Ant, his dagger's blade went through. A purple Magic Stone about the size of a ping-pong ball emerged.
(So, in just one year, I've become able to hunt C-rank monsters.)
It was a moving thought. He could now hunt a monster of the same rank as a Great Boar all by himself. He could do it without having to trap one, as he had with the White Deer.
It was thanks to the more than ten thousand goblins he'd killed over the past year to gain levels, and the steady progress he'd made raising his Enhancement Skill.
(Wait, what am I thinking? I still have a long way to go.)
He reined in the pride rising within him. Just over half a year ago, he hadn't been able to land a single blow against Cecil's older brother, Mihai.
All the effort he'd put in over more than eight years had been no match for Mihai, who'd spent only about a year honing his abilities in the City of Academies. He'd realized that just two months of dungeon crawling had far surpassed all the skill development and leveling he'd done over the past eight years.
He'd learned how quickly the talented grew and how powerful they were in a Normal Mode world.
(Especially the academy crowd. They seem to be strong in this other world.)
Mihai had casually told him about the academy. To sum up what he'd said, the difference in strength wasn't simply a matter of whether someone had talent or not.
The strongest were those with talent who had graduated from the academy.
The second strongest were those with talent who hadn't graduated from the academy.
The third strongest were those without talent who were blessed with a strong physique or high stats.
The fourth strongest were those without talent who lacked a strong physique or high stats.
Apparently, fewer than one percent of the population belonged to the first category. The first and second categories together made up around ten percent.
The academy had entrance exams and cost money. Students had to complete several assignments before graduating, or they'd fail. Graduating from the academy sounded like quite a prestigious accomplishment.
As for where the knights fit in, apparently half belonged to the second category and half to the third.
Those in the first category became officer candidates, even among the knights. The Knight Commander and Vice Commander apparently belonged to the first category.
Hearing this reminded Allen of the Vice Commander, whom Krena had beaten to a pulp when she was five. According to Mihai, the Vice Commander was far stronger than Mihai. Allen found that hard to believe after seeing Krena beat the Vice Commander up. He couldn't say whether Krena was simply too strong or the Vice Commander had been holding back.
Apparently, most adventurers belonged to the third category. Almost none of them had talent; those who did tended to enter the service of nobles, so that made sense. Raven had told him that adventurers in the second category could aim for B rank, while those in the first might even reach A rank.
(So, there's more than one kind of Normal Mode. Well, I should get back to hunting in Hell Mode. Next, I'll try taking on a pair of Orcs. Find two Orcs within three kilometers.)
He put those thoughts aside. His hunt wasn't over yet. At Allen's command, the four Bird E Summons spread out to search for Orcs.
About four hours passed.
In the end, he killed one Armored Ant and fifteen Orcs that day, for a total of 25,500 EXP.
The Insect E Summons' powder worked on Orcs, too, but not as well as it did on goblins. It succeeded about sixty percent of the time. He'd also learned that by supporting the Beast E Summons with the powder and iron balls, he could defeat groups of up to three Orcs without suffering too many losses.
(All right, time to head back.)
He checked the sun's position. Since he didn't have a clock, the sun's position was one of the few ways he could keep track of where he was and what time it was. He'd come farther than usual, so he decided to head back early. On the way, he also had to remember to catch a few monsters for meat.
(Hmm. Even when I pushed myself, I think I only got around 25,000 EXP from goblins. If I focused on Orcs and hunted from morning, could I earn 50,000? That would mean a quota of just under forty kills.)
He decided that leveling up by hunting Orcs was definitely feasible. From that day onward, he continued leveling up by hunting C-rank monsters.