Let's Gather Materials for a Bow (4)

"Geeeeeh!!"

The boss, Feather Deer, opened with something slightly unexpected: 【Wind Magic】's Wind Lance. I had assumed it would simply charge at us recklessly.

"Kyuaaa!"

Cal responded by defending with 【Fire Magic】's Firewall. It was wonderful to see him properly fulfilling his objective of protecting Shio.

"Kebyaaaaa!"

As soon as Feather Deer realized magic was getting it nowhere, it pointed its horns forward and charged. It possessed the 【Horn】 and 【Charge】 Skills. The charging power those Skills granted would probably deal damage that even I couldn't afford to ignore in my current state.

"Kyuoooooooo!"

In response, Cal also flapped his four wings and charged. Was he planning to settle this with a contest of strength, judging by the way he had drawn back his right arm? He might be quite competitive.

Gokkiiiii!!!

Feather Deer's horn and Cal's claws collided, and a dull, heavy sound rang throughout the area.

"Kyu-aaah!"

"Geh!?"

Cal was the winner of the contest of strength. Honestly, I had expected this result. No, think about it. Cal had enough power to defeat a Wind Wolf one-on-one.

A monster that had only evolved one stage beyond an ordinary deer could easily be defeated, even with the stat boost from becoming a boss. Too bad for you!

"Here!"

Taking advantage of the opening, Shio fired an arrow. It flew straight and buried itself in the base of Feather Deer's left hind leg.

Of course, my 【Imbuement】 was on this arrow as well. Thanks to its effect, it dealt damage incomparable to that of an ordinary arrow. Apparently, it had done more than just deal damage, too.

"Keeeh...!"

Feather Deer was very concerned about its left hind leg, where the arrow had sunk deep. Seeing that, Shio smiled fearlessly.

"Just like Ruby told me. Damage to a body part seems to accumulate. In that case, barbed arrowheads that are hard to pull out once they stick should be devastatingly effective, right?"

So that was part of the reason Shio had chosen to be an archer. When I heard about destroying body parts, I remembered the time we relentlessly attacked the Ratman King's knees. Ruby must have told Shio about that.

It was true that bows and arrows were considered difficult to aim, but if you could hit your target, an embedded arrowhead might impede its movements. That required the skill to hit the same spot repeatedly, but if you had the confidence and ability to do so, bows and arrows might well belong to a very powerful weapon category.

"Cal-kun, let's keep it up!"

"Kyukyuu!"

◆◇◆◇◆◇

Cal blocked its charges, and Shio fired arrows during those openings. Their teamwork was too polished to be called improvised. However, the battle was taking time because their actual firepower was low. The fight had gone on long enough for the effect of my 【Imbuement】 to wear off.

I could simply imbue them again, but Shio said they wanted to try handling things on their own from here, so I left them to it. Thus, the three higher-level members stood by ready to help at any moment while continuing to watch the battle.

"...Here!"

"Geh!?"

As she'd declared, Shio continued firing her arrows with calm precision. She seemed to avoid shooting from awkward positions and focused on hitting the same spot properly each time. The concentration and skill required to actually put that into practice were astounding.

"Geeeeh..."

Her steady attacks seemed to be having an effect. Feather Deer was now dragging its left leg behind it. Apparently, it could no longer even run properly!

"Now's the time to press the attack! Cal-kun!"

"Kyuoo!"

Shio ordered Cal to attack, and Cal responded by charging. They must have intended to press the attack with everything they had from here on.

"Geeeeh!"

"Kyut!?"

"Seriously!?"

Feather Deer had seemed cornered, but incredibly, it ran up into the air!

Come to think of it, it had the 【Air Walk】 Skill. That had to be the reason. With it escaping into the air, Cal's claws missed, and the enemy gained the advantageous position above our heads.

"Gegyaaaaa!"

"Whoa!"

"Kyuuu!"

While remaining suspended in the air, Feather Deer shook its head repeatedly and fired 【Wind Magic】 at us in rapid succession. Since it could no longer use 【Charge】, it had probably switched to a ranged battle.

"You're just an easy target if you stand still!"

"Gyaa!?"

But remaining stationary had been a bad move. Shio's shooting accuracy was extremely high. Floating in the air didn't make it any less of a target if it stopped moving.

The arrow Shio fired struck Feather Deer in the chest. Whoa, its HP dropped by a huge chunk! Did it hit one of its internal organs?

"Geh... Gegyaaaaa!!"

Feather Deer's HP was almost gone. That was precisely why it made an all-or-nothing gamble. Incredibly, it ignored the pain in its left leg and started running! It was moving incredibly fast, too! Had being on the verge of death brought out some last-ditch strength!?

Its target was obviously Shio. That made sense, since she had dealt the fatal wound. It made a wide circle through the air to avoid Cal, then charged at her with its horns pointed forward without losing speed. I had no choice. I was about to use defensive magic...

"I've seen that already!"

...but before I could, Shio leaped sideways and fired an arrow. I thought it wouldn't hit like that, but apparently she had already gotten a feel for the quirks of the bow she was using. Even while moving, the arrow she fired flew straight toward Feather Deer and...

"Geh...!?"

It pierced through its eyeball and into its brain.

"Geh... Geyaaah..."

Already on the verge of death, Feather Deer took a blow powerful enough to kill it instantly. After letting out a feeble cry, it finally expired.

――――――――――

You won the battle.

You defeated the Field Boss, Feather Deer.

You are the first party to defeat the Field Boss, Feather Deer.

You have been awarded a special reward and 6 SP.

Your Tamed Monster's Race level has increased.

Your Tamed Monster's Job level has increased.

――――――――――

There had been a few tense moments, but Shio and Cal's team defeated Feather Deer. Still, I felt a little guilty about receiving SP despite not doing anything to help.

"Phew. It was a troublesome opponent, but that's all there was to it!"

"Well, that was quite a battle."

"Shii-chan, you were so cool!"

I offered her my sincere praise. She lacked Jigoro's flashiness, but the way she kept firing her arrows steadily, calmly, and without a hint of panic looked reassuring to me.

"Kyu!"

"Oh, you did well too, Cal. You were just as cool."

Cal leaped into my chest, clearly wanting to be praised, so I caught him and gently stroked him while lavishing him with compliments. In fact, it had been admirable that he prioritized working together with Shio instead of charging in alone.

Even so, Cal really did seem to have a tendency to rush to the front. Were dragons naturally combative creatures after all?

In that case, I should have Jigoro and Genzou drill the fundamentals of close-quarters combat into him. What? We had managed to learn at least the basics of self-defense. Cal could aim for even greater heights.

"I've already looted it. I think we've probably gathered all the materials we need now."

Oh, Iris was considerate. And sorry for getting so excited. While apologizing to her in my heart, I decided to check the items she had looted and the rewards.

――――――――――

Feather Deer Horn Quality: Good Rarity: R (Rare)

The horn of a Feather Deer that controls wind.

It carries a faint wind attribute.

It can be processed into a weapon, but is also popular as a material for ornaments.

Feather Deer Hide Quality: Good Rarity: C (Common)

The hide of a Feather Deer covered in feathers.

It carries a faint wind attribute.

It is an excellent leather material, and the feathers can be used for fletching.

――――――――――

I see, I see. So the errand was for hide to use on a grip and a horn to turn into an ornament—that must be the end of it. Still, what a difficult errand it had been. I now understood that Shio was extremely skilled at games, but even so, wouldn't she have died and respawned several times if we hadn't accompanied her?

If this was meant to be a tutorial for clearing fields, then letting her experience dying and respawning would indeed be important. ...Though I have never died even once.

"Anyway, that means we can consider all the items we came for collected, right?"

"Yes, that's right."

"Good. Then let's head home."

When I casually announced that we were calling it a day, Shio's voice sounded troubled.

"Uh, do I really have to climb that sheer cliff to get back...?"

Ah, right. As a Birdian Chick, she still couldn't fly. She must have assumed she would have to make her own way home.

Heh heh heh! But she had no need to worry. After all, I had 【Spacetime Magic】!

"No, it's fine. Everyone, come over here."

"Hmm? Is something happening?"

"That's right... Base Teleport!"

As soon as I chanted the spell, our entire field of vision shifted in an instant. Before we knew it, we were back at our home. With me around, returning to our base was this easy.

"Whoa! You can use teleportation!? How do you use it!? Please teach me!"

"Whoa, what's wrong?"

What was this all of a sudden!? Shio came rushing toward me with an intense look on her face! Huh? What was with this girl? She was kind of scary!

"Magic? It's magic, right? There wasn't anything like that among the starting magic!"

"S-Stop! I'll teach you! I'll teach you, so...!"

"Oh! Sorry..."

Shio had lost herself for a moment, but she somehow seemed to have calmed down. Still, what had that been about?

"Shio-chan's bad habit came out again."

"Uuuh..."

With a bounce, Ruby landed on Shio's head. She had called it a bad habit, but was Shio the sort of girl who did this kind of thing regularly? How unexpected.

"You see, Shio-chan gets just a little excited when something catches her interest or there's something she really wants."

"A little...?"

"Ugh!"

I certainly didn't have the nerve to call that "a little"... She seemed aware of it herself, since her face had gone stiff. She appeared to regret it, so I decided not to press the matter any further.

However, if Ruby's words were accurate, then Shio really wanted to learn how to use teleportation no matter what. Why was that?

"Positioning and movement are pretty important for shooting and sniping. Being able to fly isn't enough; if I could use teleportation to make those things easier, it wouldn't just be convenient—it'd be incredible."

Come to think of it, I had seen something like that in a book or a movie. Even if a sniper took up a position suitable for sniping, firing a shot would give away their location. Once that happened, they had to move to another position quickly, or something like that.

Since VRS had so little divergence between reality and games, those things probably worked almost the same way there. Shio had experienced that in several different titles, which was why she wanted to learn how to use Teleport.

It wasn't something we needed to hide from our companions, and it would probably be posted on the forums sooner or later anyway, so I decided to tell her right away.

"You can use Teleport by acquiring 【Spacetime Magic】. You can acquire it by evolving both 【Light Magic】 and 【Dark Magic】. At first, you learn Short Teleport, a spell that instantly moves you to a place within your line of sight. Once you raise it to level 5, you learn Base Teleport, the spell I used earlier, which returns your entire party to the location designated as your respawn point. That's everything I know about 【Spacetime Magic】."

"Ohhh, is that so!? Then I'll acquire 【Light Magic】 and 【Dark Magic】 right away!"

Whoa, she made that decision fast! In that case, I had to tell her this as well.

"Also, save your SP. Evolving 【Light Magic】 and 【Dark Magic】 costs 6 SP each, and acquiring 【Spacetime Magic】 costs 30 SP."

Acquiring 【Light Magic】 and 【Dark Magic】 as well meant she needed a total of 44 SP. That's the equivalent of 22 levels. It would be difficult to afford that without actively defeating bosses and discovering hidden areas.

"That's pretty expensive~. But it's fair when you consider the effects."

"H-How can you be so carefree..."

"Huh? You don't know? From the Second Wave onward, you get 2 SP per level from leveling up until level 20."

"W-What did you say...?"

I was shocked. Did that mean second-wave players would have at least 40 SP by the time they reached level 10!? I was so jealous...!

"Apparently, it's to balance out the event used in the PV. You could earn a ton of SP from that event, right?"

Ah, when you put it that way, she had a point. The players who portrayed the bosses and the players who provided information about the bosses should both have earned a lot of SP. In that case, I couldn't call it unfair.

"More importantly, let's go make a bow!"

Unusually, Iris was urging us along. She must have wanted to find out how to make a bow as soon as possible. Smiling wryly, I left the house with the three of them.