Chapter 10
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Your 【Staff】 level has increased.
Your 【Magic Control】 level has increased.
Your 【Earth Magic】 level has increased.
Your 【Water Magic】 level has increased.
Your 【Fire Magic】 level has increased.
Your 【Wind Magic】 level has increased.
Your 【Dark Magic】 level has increased.
You have learned the Dark Arm and Dark Mask spells.
【Dark Magic】 has reached its growth limit. Evolution is now possible.
By consuming 6 SP, 【Dark Magic】 evolved into 【Black Magic】.
You have learned the Black Field spell.
Your 【Null Magic】 level has increased.
Your 【Summoning】 level has increased.
Your 【Enchantment】 level has increased.
You have learned the Double Enchantment spell.
Your 【Magic Circle】 level has increased.
Your 【Necromancy】 level has increased.
Your 【Curse Magic】 level has increased.
Your 【Trap Magic】 level has increased.
You have learned the Double Trap and Twin Trap Array spells.
Your 【Archaeology】 level has increased.
Your 【Linguistics】 level has increased.
You can now communicate with other races.
Your 【Pharmacology】 level has increased.
Your 【Alchemy】 level has increased.
Your 【Appraisal】 level has increased.
Your 【Stealth】 level has increased.
Your 【Sneak】 level has increased.
Your 【Surprise Attack】 level has increased.
The 【Light Attribute Vulnerability】 Skill has been mitigated.
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I logged in. These are the results of Monday through Wednesday. During the day, I farmed Big Slugs in the sewers and practiced alchemy; at night, I repeated hunting and gathering in the forest.
First, 【Enchantment】 and 【Trap Magic】 have been enhanced. Let us look at them in order.
As for Double Enchantment from 【Enchantment】, it now allows me to cast two enchantments on a single target. In my case, casting Magic Boost twice should increase my firepower even further, and in an emergency, perhaps raise my tissue-paper durability to something closer to paper-towel durability.
What? You say that is still within the margin of error? Well, you are right.
Next is 【Trap Magic】. First, Double Trap allows me to place two spells in a single trap. If I load it with curses, there is a chance of inflicting the curse twice, allowing me to weaken enemies even more.
Next is Twin Trap Array, which lets me set two traps at the same time. In other words, I can load a total of four spells into traps. That certainly broadens my tactical options.
The strange one was 【Linguistics】. I wondered what communication with other races meant, only to discover that I can now roughly understand what the Lesser Ratman is saying from its cries. Apparently, I can interpret the languages of other races in real time. I cannot think of a use for it, though.
The most gratifying thing is that 【Dark Magic】 reached its level cap. It is deeply moving to see the magic that has supported my magic battles from the very beginning evolve.
What it evolved into was 【Black Magic】. Not only can I learn more powerful spells, but my existing spells have also been enhanced. It can truly be called an evolution in every sense of the word.
I also learned some new spells: Dark Arm, Dark Mask, and Black Field.
First, Dark Arm creates a gigantic arm from my own shadow. It is mostly for self-defense, but it could become extraordinarily powerful depending on how I use it. Next, Dark Mask places a dark-element mask over an enemy's face. While the mask is in place, it clouds the enemy's vision and inflicts darkness, while dark-element damage continues to accumulate. It is quite an irritating spell. Finally, Black Field fills an area within a set radius centered on me with dark-element energy, and slightly increases the stats of allies in the area if they are monster-type creatures. It is an unusual spell, but I find it quite comfortable, so I have no complaints.
All of them are rather quirky spells, but I have already gotten a feel for how they work. With a little more practice, I should be able to use them more efficiently.
It is night now, and I have come to the western forest. I know this place like the back of my hand by now, and I have a general idea where the gathering spots and monsters are. There was a human party here the day before yesterday, but almost nobody else ever comes. I practically have the place to myself.
What happened to that party? It was a group of five, two women and three men, but they were killed by a Brown Bear that came running in response to a woman's scream after she panicked upon encountering a Wisp. Their average level was eight, the same as mine, but they taught me firsthand that losing one's composure leads to failure. I claimed that Brown Bear for myself, naturally.
Come to think of it, I had wondered why it seemed darker than usual tonight. Is it a new moon? I cannot see the pale blue moon that should be overhead. It would be nice to have it to ease the boredom of a solitary hunt, too.
Oh, this is bad. I seem to have gone a little too far in. Until now, the forest had been dense and overgrown, but I have come out into an open area resembling a fairly large clearing. I still have plenty of time, but I should head back for now...
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You have entered a Field Boss area.
The conditions have been met. 'Trial of the Azure Moon' will now begin.
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"...What?"
What? What is this? 'Trial of the Azure Moon'? Not a boss?
Ignoring my confusion, events continued to unfold. Although it was a new moon and there had been no moon in the sky until moments ago, one had somehow appeared in the night sky and was shining a vivid blue. Unlike the moon I had seen before, it carried an unsettling air, like an eyeball floating in the sky.
I do not know what is going on, but now is not the time to stand around confused. It looks as though a battle is about to begin, so I should get ready as quickly as possible.
"Magic Boost, Magic Boost one more time, Set Trap, and Set Trap one more time..."
I am not a frontline fighter who can win a battle head-on. Therefore, I must make sure I am in perfect condition!
"Deploy Magic Circle, Black Field. Meditation. Minions, stand by."
Somehow, I managed to finish my preparations before the battle began. I will have the three minions I now have take the front line. Now, come at me!
Crack...
Just as I heard the sound of the ground splitting open in the center of the boss area, an arm of some kind emerged from it. When did this game turn into a horror game?
Joking aside, what crawled out of the ground was a dull, tattered kimono... No—that was a karakoromo, wasn't it? It looked like the sort of clothing worn by a Heian aristocrat, straight out of my classical Japanese textbook from high school.
In any case, what appeared was a man wearing it. He had an eboshi on his head, a filthy staff in his right hand, and what looked like a jewel clutched in his left. Since he had not rotted despite emerging from underground, I would guess he was an undead creature—one of my kind. I wonder what sort of opponent he is.
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Name: Obsession with the Moon
Race: Human (Ageless) Lv25
Job: High Noble (?) Lv18
Skills: 【Swordsmanship】
【Spearmanship】
【Archery】
【Dagger】
【?????】
【??】
【????】
【???】
【Fire Resistance】
【Poetry】
【Gagaku】
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What? Huh? The level gap is three times mine! And what does it mean that he has a name? On top of that, he is an undead human? None of this makes sense! Is this really balanced so that I can win?
"O Moon... Tonight, answer my love..."
Kyeeeeeee! Aaaaaaaah! It talked! But putting that old joke aside, what is this, anyway? It is baffling that he is looking up at the moon and talking, completely ignoring the player. I will watch for now. It would be troublesome if I interfered and made him go berserk from the start, and this also buys me time to meditate.
"All the treasures you seek are here! Come, become mine!"
With those words, the man raised the clothes he wore, the staff and jewel in his hands, and a teacup? and a fragment of shell he had tucked into his robes toward the sky. Blue light descended from the moon and illuminated them. It was quite a fantastical sight.
I finally realized what this boss was based on. Then I could already see how this would end. Sure enough, the moonlight illuminated those rather filthy objects that were hardly worthy of being called treasures, and then did nothing more.
"Why?! Why?! Even though I—I, we—love you so much! Even though I yearn for you, why won't you look at meeeee!"
The man in the eboshi wailed and sobbed. Rather than caring about being seen, he seemed so obsessed with the moon that he had not even noticed me.
The event scene seemed to have ended, so I could move on to attacking. Since I had not rushed into battle, meditation had restored a considerable amount of my magic. Time to do this!
"Deploy Dual Magic Circle, Dark Lance!"
"Gah!"
Dark Lance still boasts the highest firepower among my long-range spells, and both lances pierced the man in the eboshi... He is a noble, for short. My base power helped, but Surprise Attack, 'Overthrow,' and Black Field boosted the damage even further. My preparations had apparently paid off, because despite the level difference, my opening attack took away a full tenth of his health.
On the other hand, that meant that after doing all that, I had only taken away a tenth. The level difference really is harsh.
"What are you, you impure thing!"
He has more composure than I expected. Very well. Why not indulge in a little roleplay?
"What am I, you ask? Is it not proper etiquette to introduce yourself before asking someone else their name?"
"Monsters need no manners! Do you know whom you address?!"
"I cannot say I know. Now, who might you be?"
"I have no name to give a monster!"
What is with that panic? Could it be...
"Could it be that you have forgotten your name?"
"Guh...!"
How long has he been doing this to have forgotten his own name? I think I will press on that weakness.
"Even after forgetting your name, you still cannot abandon your obsession with the moon. You are far more of a monster than I am. How laughable, noble sir."
"Shut up..."
"Then I shall introduce myself, you pitiful nameless noble. I am Izam! Merely an aspiring villain!"
"Shut uuuuuup!"
As I introduced myself with a sudden chuunibyou-style pose, the noble charged at me in a half-mad frenzy. Did provoking him during that exchange actually work? I am not good at taunting people, but I suppose that did the trick.
"You fell right into my trap, fool."
"Grrrr!"
The noble stepped neatly into the trap I had set. I had put two curses that reduced movement speed into it. I was worried that the level difference was too great, but they apparently worked. His speed dropped so suddenly that the noble stumbled and fell over backward.
"Wind Wall."
I deployed Wind Wall where the fallen noble was lying. This spell has little physical defensive power, but the wall itself contains a kamaitachi, so anything that touches it is sliced to ribbons.
Just as I had expected, my magic left the noble covered in blood. However, that state did not last long. By their nature, wall spells cannot be moved from the place where they are cast, so the moment the target moves away, it is over.
The noble was in a frenzy and charged in heedlessly, but apparently pain no longer made him flinch. He should have taken considerable damage over time from Wind Wall, but he did not seem to care at all. Still, that was within my expectations.
"Gaaaaaaaa!"
The noble's movements had slowed somewhat, but he still swung the staff in his hand at me. It was quite frightening, but I was not going to lose!
"You look like a beast. Activate Dual Magic Circle, Stone Wall."
"Gii!"
I set up two Stone Walls. This proved to be the correct decision: the noble smashed the first Stone Wall apart with a single blow, but his staff merely ended up embedded in the second one.
"Activate Dual Magic Circle remotely! Send him flying!"
"Clatter-clatter."
"And take this, Dark Lance!"
"Ggah!"
I applied another debuff to the immobilized noble. This time, it was a curse that lowered his attack power. That worked too! I am lucky!
Once I confirmed that the curse had taken hold, I gave one of the minions an order. It was the one I had summoned most recently. I had cast Strength Boost on it when I summoned it, so it was more powerful than the other two, at the cost of being more fragile.
The minion grabbed the arm holding the noble's staff and hurled him far away like a hammer throw. My magic struck him directly at the same moment, sending the noble flying spectacularly, like a character in a gag manga.
That brought the distance between us back to square one. The enemy had a little over eighty percent of his health remaining. In contrast, my own exhaustion was minor, thanks in part to meditation. That did not mean he was an opponent I could afford to underestimate. As always, I would toy with him thoroughly using every indirect tactic at my disposal.