Finishing the making of the bullets, and entering the forest, Kasumi spoke to me in a wary voice.

(Master~ There’s someone following you~)

“Right.”

I kept walking deeper into the forest, ignoring the person who was following me, and started to test my new equipment of course. On the course, I found Goblins, Hobgoblins and those Wasps from before. I tested the blades on them, both with, and without the |Fiery Blade|.

The Goblins and wasps were easily dispatched without the |Fiery Blade|. As for the Hobgoblins, they needed a little bit more of force to cut them, or I needed to use the |Fiery Blade|.

“Alright! Let’s test this gun now.”

While searching for more of the monsters, I kept praying about one thing: Please no Tigrass, please no Tigrass. That was the last monster I wanted to find right now. Imagine that, The Tigrass appears, and whoever is following me appears out of nowhere!

“I just raised a flag, didn’t I?”

(Master?)

“Nothing.”

Thankfully, I didn’t meet the Tigrass, but I found a boar. A Ravenous Boar. It’s a very simple beast actually. Giant tusks, dark brown fur, black eyes, and a horn. Taking the horn part, this would be a very big boar back on earth. And what’s more, Boar meat is delicious!

“And boom.”

Kaboom!

“Gah!”

I wasn’t expecting the explosion. The gun fired, but it exploded and I lost grip, making the gun fly and hit me in the forehead.

(Master!)

“Ouch. Just… Ouch.”

I rubbed my forehead, and got up searching for the gun. I got a bit wobbly, but as I just found the gun-

“It broke. I just made it.”

I grabbed the gun, with a bit of pain coursing through my heart, and started to analyze it again. But it wasn’t very hard to understand why it exploded.

“Hmmm… I think it was gunpowder? Kasumi, bring that small jar with that gray powder, please?”

When she brought it out, I analyzed it once again. Sometimes I hate this scan, simply because it never gives all of the information I’m searching to understand. And this gunpowder was the same!

► Mana Infused Gunpowder ◄

A type of Gunpowder, made out of Sulfur, Carbon{Charcoal}, Mana Infused Crystal powder and Fire Core Powder. It is used mainly in mines to open a path to the deepest parts.

It is not advisable to use such a thing in closed spaces {In large quantities}.

“It could have said that to me! Before! It exploded in my hand!”

The cylinder was destroyed, and the hammer, together with part of the grip, was also a goner. Good thing I asked Kasumi to bring a bit of the materials with her. What about the Boar? Well…

“Wow. The head exploded.”

The boar’s head and neck are gone. I looked around me, since not only I lost one bullet, but I lost all of the 6 on the cylinder. Were they launched with the explosion? Even the cartridges were gone.

I took the materials from Kasumi, and modified the gun, together with the bullets. They had less gunpowder, and I made the bullets a little bit bigger than before. Needless to say, but I lost a pretty big chunk of time just for the remaking of the bullets.

I also modified the way I reloaded. You know, putting bullet by bullet on them would be too much of a damn time lost. So instead, I made the cylinder of the gun removable, so I could reload much more faster. Spend a bit more time and material, but worth it.

It was still morning, but I think I lost more than three hours to rebuild these things. With that done, I asked Kasumi to store the boar’s corpse, and walked even further into the forest.

“Let’s see if this thing is gonna explode again.”

Facing the monsters was much easier with this gun. It didn’t explode(thankfully), but it was a bit anticlimactic.

Imagine that. It was just the other day that I entered the forest, and had a few difficulties. First I faced the Tigrass for the first time. And that was the first time I entered the forest. I’m not saying that I will simply find the Tigrass and fight him, though.

Not only that, but I almost died(just almost), when I faced the Taracs spider, and almost got burned to a crisp when Kasumi tossed that fireball at me.

Now, the gun simply makes things easier. Take the Carnorses, for example. The last time, I tried to parry one of them, and got tossed backwards. This time, though, they didn’t even get to reach me.

I shot them before they even arrived close to me. Not only that, but I also found more of those Demon Coyotes too. Like the Carnorses, they died way too quickly. SO!

“Let’s go to the Dungeon. These guys are way too easy.”

Arriving at the dungeon entrance, it surprised me. The entrance was like a cave, but going downwards. What made me think about it, was the place where it was located. A rocky entrance, in the middle of an empty space, with trees all around. If this wasn’t guarded by some knights, I would definitely think that this place was a den or something like that.

There were two knights guarding the entrance, with a small hut made out of wood on the side of the rocky entrance. The Knights took a look at me, and then at Kasumi since she was at my shoulder. They asked about my Adventurer’s Card, which, by the way, I was still a Low rank adventurer! Well, might be because it wasn’t me who defeated the spider, but whatever.

They let me enter without issues, nonetheless.

It was a strange sight. Well, in games, usually, the dungeons are like old catacombs. If you search for some Dungeon images on the internet, most of them will be like a labyrinth or something. I made my way to the 10th floor, without much issues. I didn’t spend my bullets though. Only Hobgoblins, with a variant with brown skin, different from the usual green.

According to what I heard on the Adventurer’s Guild when I was searching for some quests, the adventurers spoke about the first floors. There were only Hobgoblins, and on the 10th floor was a Hobgoblin knight.

What’s the difference? Well, he’s using armor! Like, a knight. A very crude and battered armor, but an armor, nonetheless. He is also tall, much more than the normal Hobgoblins, to be honest.

I have 173cm in height, while the normal Hobgoblins would be, 150cm or 160cm I suppose? But this guy, he was a bit taller than me, I think reaching exactly 180?

If it was only the Knight Hobgoblin, it would be too easy, but the room also had 4 more normal Hobgoblins, 2 using clubs, and the other two using hatchets, which doesn’t make any damn sense.

Defeating them was a bit hard, since their status was buffed by the Knight Hobgoblin. But their moves were too predictable, since they would simply rush towards me, and try to cut me.

“Too easy. Burn everything to cinders. |Fiery Blade|”

With the |Fiery Blade| I was able to pass through the armor of the Knight Hobgoblin easily, since it was made out of only iron. Now I see why he was so slow.

Finishing the boss, it’s corpse shone a bit, as well as the other Hobgoblins. After that, the bodies disappeared, and a small chest was in the middle of the room. It was a vewwy small chest though. I think only 50cm to the side, and 20cm in both height and length. (Zelda Music Intensifies)

When I opened it…

“A chunk of iron, and a small dagger.”

...Was what I found. An old and rusty dagger, and the chunk of iron that could fit in my hand. I let both fall, and sink into my shadow, and when I looked at Kasumi’s face, she was irritated.

“I’m sorry that I’m using you like this, okay? You are helpful and passing time with you is kinda nice.”

(Uuuuhh… Master~ When can I fight too~?)

“Well, you want to fight together with me from now on?”

(Yes~!)

“You too Amara?”

(It can’t be helped)

Kasumi was on my left shoulder, and Amara, who was in the shadow, was now on the other.

“Alright. Let’s go.”

While Kenji had just entered the Dungeon, someone was approaching the entrance of the Dungeon. The knights at the entrance were about to question the person, but as soon as they saw the person’s eyes, they just ignored him and let him enter.

“Hehehehe! Good choice.”

When the person entered, the knights breathed a long and heavy sigh of relief.

“That was…?”

“Yeah. The Vulture.”

“What’s his name, though? It can’t be Vulture, right?”

“I don’t know man. There’s a lot of name’s that they call him, you know?”

“Well, as long as I don’t get on his menu dish, I’m fine with it.”

They shrugged, and returned to their own boring duty, when one of them noticed the issue.

“Hey. You don’t think that that boy…”

“Yeah. That guy with the fox? He’s probably on his menu. Probably that fox as well.”

“Well, he’s dead, right?”

“Yep. He won’t be able to fight that thing.”

If it was people from Earth, Kenji might have won a bit of sympathy, but since in this world the survival of the strongest was a rule, the two knights didn’t give much thought about what would happen to him.

They weren’t wrong in questioning Kenji losing to the Vulture, but not without a fight at the least.

Together with Kasumi and Amara, we proceeded up to the 20th floor, where another boss was.

The floors 11th to 20th were full of canine monsters. In the 11th was a very small beast, with big ears. When I saw it, it was cute. If you take the sharp teeth and bloodshot eyes from it, you would have a Fennec Fox with you!

12th and 13th, were the Demon Coyotes, in a pack of five. I didn’t think I would be able to defeat them alone, and with Kasumi as a mage, and Amara as a tank, we were able to dispatch them rather easily. If you take out the fact that Amara was complaining about being treated as a Punch bag, while me and Kasumi killed the monsters, everything was ok.

The 14th and 15th were Wolves. If compared to the normal Gray Wolf, these were bigger. If I remember correctly, Gray Wolves were around 140cm in height, but these guys were at my height. Good thing on the 14th there was only one, and on the 15th there were 3. They were called Green Wolves, although their fur was a tinge of gray.

“These things are huge. Also, these furs are very smooth.”

Another thing I almost forgot to mention, was that, instead of treasure chests, like the 10th floor, in these, the fur of them simply appeared after the body was consumed by the Dungeon. Good thing I don’t need to dismantle them. Although it would be nice to train my [Dismantle] Skill more.

From the 16th to the 19th, were a mix of the previous floors. The 16th was 3 Fennec Foxes, 2 Coyotes and 1 wolf. The moment I got inside, I killed the Wolf with my gun, Kasumi shot three spheres, one of lightning, fire and darkness at the Fennec Foxes, and Amara took down the two coyotes.

One thing that happened while we were fighting in these last 4 floors was that Amara skills, and classes, were unlocked. But as soon as we stopped fighting, they would be locked up again.

The 17th floor had even more monsters, and every time we advanced to the next floor, the numbers of canines would go up by one. Which means…

17th = 4 Fennec Foxes; 3 Demon Coyotes; 2 Green Wolves

18th = 5 Fennec Foxes; 4 Demon Coyotes; 3 Green Wolves

19th = 6 Fennec Foxes; 5 Demon Coyotes; 4 Green Wolves

Until the 17th, we defeated them rather easily, since Amara’s [Venom Fighter] skill was killing them very quickly. But on the 18th, it got harder. With Amara’s venom we defeated them fast, but that didn’t make me less wary.

And what do you think it was the hardest to kill? If you thought the Wolves… Congratulations! You’re wrong. The 19th floor, for example, was the worst. Simply, the Wolves were commanding the others! They were pumping their stats even more.

Oh, and another thing. When I made the contract with Kasumi, the window appeared and told me that our stats would double when fighting together. But what do you know? Kasumi’s status didn’t double. When I did the math, it wouldn’t double, but it would go for about half of the half. That was for her, but for me, it wasn’t like this. My status would double at least. Thank you.

And now, we are at the 20th floor entrance. I checked our status, and maintained my blades. They chipped away a bit, but with my [Transmutation], I was able to fix them very quickly.

“Hmmm… it might be a good idea to practice a bit more.”

(Master~ Let’s go~)

“Okay. Let’s.”

I opened the door, remembering one game I played a bit. When you opened the door, it creaked and the other side was dark. It was a zombie game, if I’m not mistaken.

In the room was a big wolf. Sorry, not big, but Huge!

► Brute Black Warg ◄

A type of monster, which has a relation to the infamous, and powerful Fenrir. This one has chosen another path, so it cannot evolve into a Fenrir anymore.

It is not easily found in nature, but whenever it is found, it is ill advised that someone do not engage against it, simply because it will never be alone, often found with 4 or more wolf type monsters.

It’s fur is extremely valuable for its smoothness, and resistance against magic.

Danger Rank Alone – C / Danger Rank With Pack – A

“Well, Scan is never precise. Whatever.”

As soon as the scanner finished informing me of the necessary(for now, I hope) I just took my gun and shot, killing one of the wolves with him in the room.

Bang!

I tried to shoot another one, but it avoided the shot.

“Let’s do this! Burn everything to cinders, |Fiery Blade|!”

(Yes, Master!) (Yes~!)

I put my gun back in the holster, and activated my blades. Amara returned to her former size, and engaged against the Warg, while both me and Kasumi would take care of the other 3 wolves.

Oh, and the other 4 wolves, weren’t the Green Wolves from before, but they were Black Wolves. Really? Isn’t there a unique name to them? They’re simply categorized as colors? They were an evolved form of the Green Wolves, and focused on strength and durability.

Nonetheless, if they were indeed strong…? They were not. Two of them charged on me, with one targeting my legs, and the other one jumped towards my face. I ducked and with my left arm, I slashed on the one that came on my legs. Their fur was strong, but the Hihi’irokane was good enough even against it, simply cutting through the wolf skin easily.

I turned around quickly, and the other wolf was charging against me again, but he jumped as before. A little tip, if you fight against a wolf or canine monster, just wait for it to jump, and…

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Shoot them down fairly easily. I stepped aside and let the corpse drop on the ground, and with a last twitch, the wolf was gone. Looking at Kasumi, she…

(Maybe Wolf meat is good~?)

“Yep. Let’s not think about it.”

After hearing what she said, let’s just leave her there. Nope, I didn’t see her roasting the wolf still alive, using her shadows to hold the wolf in a position and spinning him with a red strong flame right below him. Nope.

Looking at Amara, she was only…

“Why haven't you killed him yet?”

She had coiled herself around the Warg, and was constricting him very tightly. I could see the Warg’s face starting to get another color.

(If I kill it, Master won’t receive the mana would you?)

“Mana? You mean the thing to level up?”

(Yes.)

So, for monsters is mana, not XP? That’s interesting to know. Brushing that aside, I grabbed the gun, and at point blank range, shot at the Warg’s head.

Raaaaawr!

“Woah! He didn’t die!”

He started to thrash more, trying to escape Amara’s constrict. I would shoot him more, but instead.

“Oh yeah! I didn’t test the Mythril Wires!”

Remembering that only now, I slapped my own forehead, and put my gun away.

I looked at each gauntlet, and started to pour mana on them. I made the gauntlet haphazardly, with a magic circle I copied from the notepad that I received before. Put it simply, it was terrible. I could use it, but it wasted mana very quickly.

“Let’s see. Pour a bit of mana and try to control the wires. It was written as such.”

I did so, and 10 very thin wires shot from the fingers on the gauntlets. They shot, but fell on the ground very quickly. I used one wire, and cut off the rest of them, and gave another approach.

I reached the Warg’s belly, and put my fingers on it. No, I wouldn’t pet it. I would do something horrible if this was a doggy.

I concentrated a bit, and then poured lots of mana on the gauntlets. I felt the gauntlets trembling, and then a bit of blood came from the Warg’s belly.

(Master, please, kill it already! He’s trying to shake me off!)

I pulled my hands away from the Warg’s belly, and could see the wires with a bit of blood on them. Then, I pulled my hands with the palm turned to me, and closed them.

Rawr-Ah-Ah-

The Warg left out a small roar like sound, stuttering. After that, he fell limp with his head.

“Phew! It worked!”

I cut the wires off, and let out a sigh of relief. I looked towards Kasumi who was…

(Hmmm… Not good enough~ Too tough~)

She roasted the wolf alive, and started to eat it?! She was munching on something, which was, of course, the Wolf’s meat. The wolf was completely roasted on the ground, with it’s fur more black than before, and with a terrified expression. If that can be called an expression, that is.

“Alright! All of them were defeated!”

Kasumi spit on the ground whatever she was munching on, and walked to me, like nothing happened. Soon, the five bodies disappeared, and a chest appeared in the middle of the room. The chest was taller than the one from before, and had a more new glint to it. Although it was still a simple chest.

When I opened, I found a small pouch inside, a bit bigger than my hand, but still small. With my Scan, I looked into it a bit more.

► Small Pouch of Holding ◄

A small pouch, found in the Elven Dungeon, enchanted with Space Magic. It has a small capacity on it, capable of holding 100 Items only, no matter the weight. It cannot preserve things.

“Well, that’s a start.”

Other than that, was a giant fur, black in color, and very soft to the touch. This is so soft, and big. Maybe it’s the Warg’s fur? There was only one small fur, though. Also, there were a few bones, and two big fangs, belonging to the Warg of course.

“Just that. I say just that, but it’s plenty enough.”

I tested the pouch at that moment. The furs, the bones, and fangs all entered inside the pouch easily. Looking at that, and remembering my phone, it gave me a very nice idea.

(Master!)

But before I could dream more, Amara’s voice brought me back to reality. I turned around, seeing a strange thing, jumping at me. I dropped the pouch, which was absorbed into my shadow, thanks to Kasumi.

I didn’t have enough time to think, so I just grabbed the thing, and using the force of his jump, I turned around, tossing him away from me.

“Tch! You noticed me.”

The thing was displeased, as it spoke about it.

“Surprising someone like that. Not cool, man.”

With my joke, the thing took off it’s hood and robe, revealing a disgusting looking man. Sharp teeth, claws on its hands, red eyes, with his back curved over. That, without mentioning the stench it came from him when I tossed him backwards.

“Kasumi, in my shadow now.”

(Master?)

“That’s an order.”

I talked to Kasumi via telepathy about the contract, and she did as I said. The thing, which I already noticed was the Vulture, looked displeased.

“Where did it go?”

“I’m sorry, have you checked on your ass? It may be there.”

When I finished my sentence, the Vulture charged against me, and in the blink of an eye, we were at the other side of the room of the dungeon, with him pressing me on the wall, and holding me by the neck.

“GAHAH! GUH!”

“No matter. If I have you, it’s enough.”

He licked his lips, and his left hand was itching close to my left eye. Just then, I remembered what the lady told me before: “I’m saying that to you, because he has a skill that, when he devours someone’s part, he can acquire their skill. Even unique skills.”

“I’ll have a good meal.”

Remembering that, and hearing him saying this, I stopped trying to take his hand off of my neck, and instead, I pressed my hands on his shoulders. He stopped moving his left hand, looking at my hands, and at me after.

“What is your idea of- Guh!”

“Koff* Koff*… What’s the matter?”

What did I do? Simple. I pressed my two hands on each of his shoulders, and then activated the blades, piercing through. Fuck! I should have aimed for his head! Or even his heart! As I was musing through my thoughts, something shocked me. Well, even more.

“Tch! That surprised me. Not gonna happen twice.”

His two big injuries healed in the blink of an eye. I got goosebumps by looking at him.

(Get away from my Master!)

Amara’s voice brought me back from my delusions, as she lashed her own tail against the Vulture. He avoided that, and with his claws, he cut through her skin, like it was nothing!

(Guh! What… What?)

Amara tried to counter him, but she fell on the ground after the claws cut her.

“I’m not a big fan of vegetables. So just die.”

I scanned her, finding out that she was with the Condition of Hellish Burn. It is a condition when in touch with Hell Magic. But how?

“What a pretty nifty skill. [Hell Claws]. I got them from a three headed dog a long time ago. Against plants, it’s very useful.”

Plants. That means life. Her HP is decreasing very fast.

“Kasumi transport Amara to your shadow, now! Gah!”

Once again, I was pinned down, with barely any time to react. This time, I was pinned to the ground, and the Vulture stepped on my right arm, held my neck, and was itching towards my left eye again. I grabbed his right arm, trying to get a hold for as much as possible. Scan!

Impossible to Scan!

But before I could at least see his status, that message appeared, blinking in red to me. What?!

“Huh? Did you try to appraise me? Good thing I got [Gluttony] to help me out!”

With that, he put more force on his right hand, and it sinked into my left orbit.

“UNGH! AGH! AH!”

“Don’t move. Or else the meal will be worse.”

His claws pierced through my orbit, reaching the back of my eye. And when he felt the eye between his fingers, he pulled off.

“Gaaaaaah!”

He jumped away, and I was left there on the ground.

My vision was completely blurred, and I could feel blood falling out of my eye socket. Not because of the lost eye, but because of the claws, which pierced my face, and because of the Hellish Burn condition. I still could see a bit, though. And what I saw was the Vulture, licking his lips, and opening his mouth.

At that, I just grabbed my gun, and looked ahead. Then, a small thing appeared right at the middle of my field of vision, or remaining of it. It was like those crosshairs on FPS games. I got surprised, but aimed at the eyes on the Vulture’s hand.

“Fuck it.”

Bang!

I couldn’t see the result, but it was enough for me. If I hit it, nice, if not, then whatever. But apparently…

“No! My meal! You bastard!”

I could feel his stare on me. I smiled and while still holding the left area of my face-

“Kasumi.”

I sunk into the shadow, probably Kasumi’s [Shadow Step] skill. I could hear the Vulture screaming in rage to what happened. But it didn’t take much for my consciousness to fade with the pain I was feeling. Please, just stop.