Chapter 104
Now then, we're still waiting for word from Nishino-kun, but we should make good use of our time.
For now, I'll finish allocating the stat points from my level-up.
My current level is 19.
I have 24 JP, including the amount carried over from last time, and 20 SP.
As for JP, I'll raise both Ninja and Hunter to Lv. 7.
Next, for SP, I'll first raise Physical Enhancement to Lv. 6... No, I might as well raise it to Lv. 7.
There’s no harm in raising my base abilities.
That leaves 7 points.
Which one should I raise?
My Job, 'Shadowmancer,' is currently Lv. 5, so maybe I should raise 'Shadow Manipulation Lv. 5.'
The higher the level, the greater the SP savings when leveling up a Job, too.
"..."
Then my eyes happened to fall on the Skill at the very bottom of the Skill list.
'Mental Pain Resistance Lv. 4.'
It was a higher-level Skill that had branched off when Stress Resistance reached Lv. 10.
Since Fear Resistance and Taunt Resistance had also been integrated, it probably granted resistance to all forms of mental strain.
(Could this perhaps work against 'Charm' and 'Brainwashing' as well...?)
If so, it might be an effective card to play against that female student council president and any enemies I might encounter in the future who possess Skills of that sort.
(Its level is still low, so maybe I should raise this one...)
Just as I was thinking that and about to raise the Skill's level—
"Woof!"
"Hm? What is it, Momo?"
"Woof, wooo."
When I looked over, Momo began manipulating 'Shadow' while circling around me.
"Woof!"
Once Momo finished making its case, it sat down facing me and looked up at me.
I patted Momo's head. There, there.
"Whine..."
Momo's eyes narrowed blissfully.
"Um... do you want me to raise 'Shadow Manipulation'?"
"Woof."
Momo nodded in agreement.
Hmm, so Momo recommends that one.
But I'm still having trouble deciding.
I feel like there would be no harm in raising Mental Pain Resistance, either...
"Whine...?"
As I hesitated, Momo came closer.
Oh, stop, Momo!
Don't look at me with those sparkling eyes!
Don't rub your body against me like that!
The floof is attacking me!
Damn... But I have to think this through calmly... Yes, think calmly.
I absolutely won't give in to floof like this!
Absolutely not!
≪You spent SP. Shadow Manipulation increased from Lv. 5 to Lv. 6≫
I couldn't resist the floof...
I think I understand why female knights can't defeat orcs.
Humans are weak against pleasure...
And pleasure isn't something you can resist simply by trying to resist it...
Momo's floof is impossible to resist.
For now, I'll save 1 SP.
"Now then..."
After finishing my stat allocation, I headed toward a place that had been on my mind.
The fountain in the park whose water had stopped flowing.
I broke into a huge grin at the thing floating in the pool of water inside it.
"Oh, there you are."
"... (tremble-tremble) ♪"
Aka seemed happy too, quivering ever so slightly.
Yes, the thing floating in the fountain's pool was a slime.
I hadn't encountered any slimes since Aka had been depleted at the high school.
This was great.
Since 'Search' didn't work on them, I had no choice but to look for them with my own eyes.
Let's see... one, two, three... There are eight in total.
That's quite a few.
"I wonder if slimes tend to gather around water or in shady places...?"
The first slime I encountered had been hiding in the shadow of a home improvement store, and Aka had been inside an inconspicuous garbage dump.
There had also been a huge number of slimes in the rice-paddy ditch—or, more accurately, it had been clogged with them—so perhaps different monsters preferred different places.
Anyway, it was lucky that I had found slimes here.
I'll have Aka absorb them right away.
"Momo."
"Woof!"
Slimes were difficult to catch with bare hands, but I transformed 'Shadow' into a net and dragged them in like a seine net.
The slimes offered no resistance at all, so this made them easy to catch.
"That Skill is seriously convenient, no matter how many times I see it."
Rikka-chan, who had been staring intently at Momo and me fishing, gave her opinion.
She was crouching in a miniskirt, so her panties were very visible. White.
"...It isn't quite that versatile, though."
"Really?"
"Yes. It has proper limitations and weaknesses."
The effective range of 'Shadow,' the shapes it could take, and its size all depended on its level.
Also, just like Momo and the Shadow Wolf, 'Shadow' couldn't be produced unless my feet were touching the ground.
Well, there was no need to explain all that to her.
"Hmm..."
Even though Ichinose-san and Momo said Rikka-chan was all right, I still hadn't come to fully trust her.
Momo and I continued working in silence, carrying the slimes over to Aka.
Rikka-chan watched us intently.
Meanwhile, Ichinose-san was sitting on a bench and cleaning her gun.
She must have been concentrating, because an intense don't-talk-to-me aura surrounded her.
Yet the sight suited Ichinose-san oddly well, creating the impression of a veteran warrior.
She certainly didn't look like a shut-in who had puked at someone.
Just from her appearance, she looked like an incredibly capable person.
"All right, that's all of them."
"Woof!"
The work was complete.
All that remained was to have Aka absorb them.
Then Rikka-chan called out to me.
"Good work... By the way, big bro..."
"What is it?"
"I don't mind, and you can look at my panties all you want, but girls can actually tell when someone keeps glancing at them. You should remember that."
...She noticed.
Rikka-chan was surprisingly sharp.
Ah, of course, I apologized properly.
Sorry.
"Here you go, Aka. Eat up."
"...! (tremble-tremble)"
Aka absorbed the slimes in an instant, as if saying, Yay!
Aka's body grew a couple of sizes larger.
"Wow, it's bigger than it was a moment ago. Slimes are amazing! Whoa, it's this big, but it's still all squishy!"
Rikka-chan poked the enlarged Aka with a finger, fascinated.
Yes, Aka was definitely bigger than before.
But...
"...It's still not enough to return to its original size, huh...?"
Aka's body had been a little larger when it was at its peak.
There probably still weren't enough of them.
Come to think of it, the amount of slimes Aka had absorbed in the rice paddies had been considerable.
"..., ... (tremble-tremble)" Aka drooped.
"Hey, don't worry, Aka. It's okay. Even as you are now, you're more than helping us."
"Woof, woof!"
"That's right! Aka-chan is super cute, and super helpful too!"
Momo, Rikka-chan, and I did our best to comfort Aka as it trembled apologetically.
(But realistically, it would be a problem if Aka stayed like this...)
Aka was now an indispensable member of our party.
To survive in the future, we would absolutely need Aka's strength.
Especially after encountering a monster that far outside the norm.
(That golem...)
The rock giant had appeared out of nowhere and completely destroyed everything around it.
It was simply enormous, and therefore an overwhelmingly powerful monster.
Against something like that, my attacks using 'Item Box' and my Ninjutsu would have been almost completely useless.
(We got lucky and escaped this time... but that doesn't mean we'll be so lucky next time.)
It would be far too dangerous to naively assume that we could manage as long as we focused on dodging and running away.
The High Orc had already driven home repeatedly how naive that assumption was.
That was precisely why we needed countermeasures for when we found ourselves in a situation where escape was impossible.
(For starters, what even was that golem...?)
Neither 'Search' nor 'Hostility Detection' had reacted at all until just before it appeared.
'Crisis Detection' had reacted at the very last moment, but even then, it had been far too sudden.
(Besides, it hadn't seemed to break through the ground and emerge.)
That was... yes, if anything, it had felt closer to my own 'Ninjutsu.'
The Earth Release Technique. A Skill that allowed one to move through the earth as if swimming underground.
(If that thing can move freely underground...)
A chill ran down my spine.
If that was the case, there would be nothing strange about it appearing here again right now.
And somehow, I had a feeling that prediction was correct.
(Being able to launch surprise attacks with that enormous body is just absurd...)
It was absurd beyond all reason.
That was precisely why I wanted Aka to regain its strength as soon as possible.
Aka's defensive abilities would absolutely be useful against that thing.
(No, ideally, I want Aka to level up much further and grow stronger.)
(A place where there might be lots of slimes...)
Shade and water...
Come to think of it, there was a sea a little farther in that direction.
A beach.
There might be slimes there, too.
I could picture slimes washed up along the waterline.
Besides, the coast would probably have 'that' as well, so there was no harm in going there.
It wasn't very far, so maybe we should head that way.
I still hadn't heard from Nishino-kun, and we couldn't just sit around here doing nothing.
We couldn't afford to waste time.
"Ichinose-san, Aisaka-san."
I called out to the two of them.
"Why don't we go to the sea?"
And so, we headed for the sea to find slimes.