NOVEL WEB Chapter 9: Holiday, Defeating Monsters in the Forest
Chapter 9: Holiday, Defeating Monsters in the Forest
Today was the rest day, so we came to the forest where I tamed Lime. We have to defeat some monsters, or else we won’t get stronger.
“Now, Lime.We’re going to get stronger here today.”
“…!”purupuru!
Good thing you’re motivated. I’ll wear them down until it can’t move anymore, so eat them Lime.”
“…?” purupuru?
“Well, I can use something like body strengthening a little, so I’ll manage. I wanted to bring Ruu, but it doesn’t look like she’d be able to hold back…That and she stands out, so monsters might not come out.”
“…” purupuru
“Alrighty, off we go!”
Things like swords, I’ve only ever used them in kendo class, but I only have this as a weapon. Just in case, I’ve been continuing my practice swings, so if I get into my kata then I can use it. Hell, I wonder why they make us practice swinging with a bladed sword. Ain’t it dangerous…Because of that though I was able to get my hands on a weapon, so I guess I can’t complain.
In terms of heaviness, I can swing it around with one hand. Shouldn’t overdo it, huh.
We entered the forest, and quickly encountered a monster. It’s a huge caterpillar. The name’s also exactly the same, ‘Caterpillar’. Seems like villagers can also beat it easily, and it’s something often served on the dining table.Is it delicious…Must be full of protein.
It looks at me, and suddenly springs toward me. Hey hey, you’re a caterpillar aren’t you! Why’re you so violent!?
When I dodge it’s body blow, it’s back is left wide open.I quickly draw my sword, and strike it down as it is.
My sword sinks deeply into the caterpillar’s body. When I pull it out, bodily fluids fly out with a ‘busha‘! sound. The blade is even coated with fluids. But, the caterpillar doesn’t die yet. Only insects have vitality this strong.
“Oryaa!”
Before I’m attacked again, I stick my sword behind the caterpillar’s head. It looks like it’s going to die soon, so I have to make Lime deal the finishing blow.
The caterpillar is reduced to squirming. S’about Lime’s turn.
“Lime, go ahead and dig in.”
“··· ?” purupuru ?
As if bouncing happily, Lime jumps on top of the caterpillar. It spreads its body thin, and completely enveloped the caterpillar.How long will it take for it to digest?
Digestion finished in about five minutes. Looks like organic matter digests quickly. Since we were attacked by caterpillars a few times while Lime was digesting, I left them barely alive. They have a lot of vitality, so they won’t die that easily.
The caterpillars keep coming, so no matter how much Lime eats the stock won’t run out. They won’t surround us so it’s not hard, but it’s gotten a little tiresome.
“Hmph! Lime, eat faster now. If you don’t, the caterpillars will die.”
“…” purupuru
“Hang in there hang in there. Eating caterpillars is your job.”
After continuing to beat down caterpillars for a while, they finally stopped coming. Finally a break…
Lime is trying its best to eat the caterpillars, there are still some left. Gotta make it eat faster.
“Lime, is it tasty?”
“…!” purupuru!
Looks like it’s delicious. It was worth it to swing my sword around that much then. Though, body strengthening is amazing. My breathing got heavy, but I can still move around.
After about an hour, all of the caterpillars were finally eaten. Now then, shall we continue beating caterpillars?As I moved to stand up, I heard a “Gurururu …”sounding low growl in my ear. When I looked in the direction of the sound,
“” Gurururu… ‘”
Two brown-furred dogs slowly approached us. Geez…it’s just one thing after another.
“Lime, get behind me. It’s dangerous.”
“…” purupuru…
Lime hides behind me and trembles. Lime is really scared, huh…If I can feed them to Lime, it looks like it would get a lot stronger.
Duel with the dogs, eh. From their looks, they don’t look that strong, but…As long as there is no fear of disease, then there shouldn’t be a problem even if I get bitten. Even if bitten by a dog, it doesn’t hurt that much. We’re okay as long as it doesn’t hit an artery.
” “Guaaa!” ”
The dogs jump in from both sides. I decide to beat one of the dogs first, and rush towards the one of my right. As though they didn’t think we would react, the dogs appear surprised.
I thrust my sword, and pierce the dog’s stomach. The dog on my left pounces in, so I guard with my left arm. A sharp runs through my arm, but I bear it and pull out my sword.
The dog on my arm shakes its head, and the wound slightly widens, but doesn’t do much damage. I thrust my sword through this one too, and half-kill it.
Under my feet, the dogs are writhing. Just in case, I’ll cut off their legs too…. And we’re good!
“Lime, devour these guys.”
“…! … ?” purupuru! purunpurun ?
Lime quivers in delight.Like an arrow, it flies into the dog. Guess I’ll treat my wounds. For now, let’s wrap it in a clean cloth. Good thing I brought one.
Lime quickly finished eating the first dog, and is delightfully eating the second one. I hadn’t been feeding you meat, so I wonder what you think about it?
“…. …!” purupuru. . . . purupuru!
What, you want to eat more!? Was it that good? Honestly, it’s like I’ll get injured every time I fight so I don’t wanna but…Well, I’ll try my best, but… Don’t ask for the impossible okay?
After feeding Lime six dogs, it seems that it was finally satisfied. Its body has also grown a size larger.
“…” purupuru
“Already full? Okay then, let’s go home. I want to eat lunch too.”
I ended up with 16 wounds on my arms, but well the results were good one could say. But, the hunting up until now was a warm-up. From here on out it’s the real deal. Before that though, let’s get back to a safe spot.
“Lime, we’re heading back. Let’s be careful, so that we don’t run into any caterpillars.”
“…” purupuru
After smoothly returning to school and eating lunch, Lime and I face each other on the field.
“Now, Lime. You ate a bunch of caterpillars and 8 dogs, so…has your body changed in any way?”
From my point of view, I can only say that it looks like it’s gotten bigger. It’d be faster if I had it tell me.
“…? …!” purupuru?… purupuru!
“Oh, you got something? Show me!”
When I say so, a string-like substance comes out from Lime’s body. Although it feels soft when I try to touch it, the exterior feels hard. This is…some kind of thread?
“Hey, Lime. Where does this thread come from?”
“…” purupuru
“What, you’re taking your body and turning it into thread!… Is that, are you okay? ”
“…” purupuru
“‘Your mass isn’t reduced by that much, so it’s fine’ huh….That’s fine I guess, but don’t overdo it okay.”
“…” purupuru
The thread made from Lime’s body…caterpillars spat that stuff out huh. I wonder if it’s the same thing. The reason it was kinda hard, was probably because I made it eat metal huh.
“Lime, can you harden your whole body?”
“…?… ” purupuru? purupuru…
When Lime answers with quiver, its surface quivers less. When I try touching it, it doesn’t have a jelly-like texture and is easy to grasp. Usually, a little bit of its gel pokes out from between my fingers. Must’ve gotten a little bit harder.
“It’d be nice if you eat more metal, and become able to repel attacks.”
“…” purupuru
“Oh, there’s still more? Show me please.”
When I say so, Lime suddenly jumps at the ground. Where Lime jumped, I can see that the brown earth is slightly gouged out. That movement… it’s like when the dogs attacked me with their claws…Lime’s form looked like that, anyways.
“A claw attack, you can do that kinda thing?”
“…. …!” purupuru. purunpurun!
Seems to be correct. It doesn’t have claws, but is hardening its body to attack. If I feed it more dogs, the mimicry proficiency might increase.
“That’s everything huh…Shall we go to the forest tomorrow too then?”
“…” purupuru
“Guaaaa!”
A familiar voice came from the sky. When I look up, Ruu had just returned. In each leg, she’s holding one of those birds that attacked us above the sea. They’re pretty worn down, but barely breathing. Looks like she brought back a souvenir for Lime.
“Guru!”
“…!” purupuru!
Ruu holds the birds down, while Lime pounces on them. Its mass has increased, so it was somehow able to envelope one bird whole at a time.
“··· ?” purupuru ?
Lime continues to digest the bird in a good mood. If it keeps eating like this, I wonder if it’ll be able to make wings eventually.
“Thanks, Ruu. For looking out for us. A monster like that, we definitely couldn’t have beat it. Doing this’ll make Lime’s growth faster, so could I ask you to keep bringing things from now on?”
“Guru!”
“Sorry, and thanks. I’ll make sure to pet you a bunch later.”
“Guru~u~”
After stroking her head, I move my hand under her chin. I feel as though there was one spot with a different feel than the others, but I wonder what it is. When I stroke there, she looks usually comforted…
The bird’s size is larger than a dog, so it takes time to digest. Well, it won’t take long if I pet Ruu though.
“…” purupuru
“Finished, huh. Was it delicious?”
“…!” purun!
“That’s good. Be sure to say thank you to Ruu.”
Lime gets on Ruu’s head, and hops with a ‘pon pon‘ sound. As though it were saying thank you with that, Ruu looks pleased.
From then on until dinner, I flirted with Ruu and Lime. I don’t know if ‘flirted’ is the correct term for it, but Ruu is female, and Lime doesn’t have a gender, so I don’t think there’s a problem.
After that a few days passed, and it’s the day of Taming class. At the Martial Arts class two days ago, many people were able to continue to do practice swings until the end. All thanks to body strengthening, yup.
Today was to be on the field, and everyone brought their monsters. I also brought Ruu and Lime.
Next to that pig bastard Pig stood a small man. He’s armed with a large sword and wearing leather armor. There’s a small horn on his forehead, so I think he’s a goblin. Only him, the atmosphere’s on a different level. Why is that shitty pig able to tame such a monster?
“Now, we will start the lesson. Today is the basic of the basics, practicing the ‘link’ with your monsters.”
Dear me, whatever could ‘link’ be? Then again, I feel like there might have been something about it in the ‘How to’ taming book.
“Link is, the mana link between the tamer and the monster. Through it, the tamer and monster are able to read each other’s thoughts. ”
I see I see, no wonder I was able to read Ruu and Lime’s thoughts.
“In addition, by using Link to send mana to your monster, you are able to strengthen them.”
Mkay, so the reason I was able to send Ruu mana wasn’t because I had Magic Hands.
“From your body, there are mana lines which extend to your monster. Mana is sent through these lines, and therefore a slight loss will occur. Although, if you have skills such as Magic Hands, no loss occurs.”
Chira, Sasha-sensei looks towards me. Don’t look at me! I ain’t gonna do nothing!
“Now then, please try it out, everyone. Feel the lines between you and your monsters, and place mana in them. With proper skinship, and a certain extent of emotional attachment, then this exercise should not be such a difficult task.”
Well, I’ve been petting them like crazy everyday. No way I didn’t have enough skinship.
I send mana to Lime. Up until now I’ve been sending mana through touch, but even if apart I was able to send it. Along the way, I feel mana diffusing into the air. In the end, probably better to send it directly.
The pig is also sending the goblin(?) mana, but most of it is lost along the way. If there is no bond between the monster and tamer, I guess it’d be like that.
“All, it appears you’ve done it. Then, let us test it with duels.”
Duels, ehh. Well, not that it applies to me. Maybe Lime, but Ruu’s level is too different. So I was thinking but…
“Bastard, duel me!”
“… Haa”
Fat arrogant little shit that the piggy is, he says something like that.