NOVEL WEB Chapter 29 - It Looks Like Someone’s Fighting
It Looks Like Someone’s Fighting
「So is it safe to assume that towns with names on that bulletin board have few requests available?」
「That’s right! There are unfriendly fellows though so you have to be careful sometimes.」
I see. There could indeed be nasty people among strong adventurers. I gotta watch out.
「Incidentally, is this Flame Spear guy terrifying?」
「Not at all. They’re not even part of the subjugation force but they travel across towns and settle requests that were left untaken! They’re no doubt the most famous among the adventurers with aliases!」
That explains the lack of requests. Now that she mentioned it, despite there being room on the request board, the ones I took seemed to be piled up on each other.
That probably means the request board was actually full before so they had to just post the additional requests on top of each other. And the spaces available right now indicates that the requests posted there were already taken by the Flame Spear.
They sure are passionate about their job. I can see why they’re famous.
「I see…」
As we were talking, the receptionist finished processing the requests I took.
「Take care.」
「Thanks.」
I headed to the door. According to the map, if I cut through Fiasta’s First Forest from here and just head straight, I’ll get to Seicient.
There’s plenty of requests there as well so it should be worth it. If the Flame Spear has already taken care of the requests, then I’ll just have to make do with the leftovers and move to the next town.
With that in mind, I left the guild and started for Fiasta’s First Forest.
◇
「Somewhere around here should be all right.」
About thirty minutes had passed since I entered Fiasta’s First Forest. I readied my staff to look for monsters.
「Magic Search.」
Sages have weak monster detection abilities. It’s usually the job of the Scout, an actual class, to search for monsters. Then again, any job class has better detection skills than that of a Novice.
It’s a different story when a Sage uses『Magic Search』, however. It’s a spell that a Sage can learn in lower levels, but it can search for enemies in a wider range than a Scout at his best. On top of that, save for some special ones, you can identify what type of monster they are as well.
So Scouts were deemed unnecessary and the job class was even known as the weakest in BBO. In a game where Sages, which comprised eighty percent of the player base, can use the most prominent monster detection spell there is, there was no need for a scouting role.
「Oh, jackpot!」
I got results from the Magic Search right away. Approximately one kilometer ahead, there’s a swarm of around ten monsters. I won’t know their names unless I get closer, but my guess was the Weed Mantis.
「…Magical Invisibility.」
Hiding myself with a spell, I moved closer to the swarm. Casting another spell will dispel the invisibility, but it allows at least my first attack to go unnoticed by the monsters.
『Steam Explosion』would be best to use in taking out a whole group like this, but unfortunately it can only be learned at higher levels, and I can’t use it right now. Since these monsters have low HP…
「Flame Circle!」
I cast an AoE fire-type spell. It doesn’t have much firepower against individual monsters, but with this, the whole swarm will be engulfed in flames.
The swarm of Weed Mantis screeched, flames engulfing their bodies before dropping dead in agony. It was my first time fighting a mantis-type monster, but bug-type monsters are usually weak against fire. And the Weed Mantis was no exception.
「Magic Search.」
After confirming that they were all dead, I used Magic Search once again and found two groups of monsters this time.
One was a swarm of Weed Mantis while the other was a group of Huge Poison Frogs.
Search monsters with Magic Search, hide oneself with Invisibility, and take them down with magic spells. If one shot is not enough, then cast a binding spell so they couldn’t move to counterattack. It’s basic solo hunting tactics for Sages. There are different courses of action as well, but this one’s the most effective when hunting a group of monsters.
◇
Gradually I moved closer to Seicient while hunting monsters along the way. About an hour had passed when I spotted what appeared to be an adventurer in the woods.
They seemed to be fighting a monster. If it was a common monster, I would be on my way. But based on my Magic Search, they were up against a powerful monkey-type monster – perhaps one that existed in BBO too: a Raging Ape.
Basically a so-called area boss.