“Hiss—!”
The Round-Headed Spider launched another silk attack.
At the same time, the severely injured spider on the ground also spat web!
Yukino’s vertical cat pupils sharpened as she tracked both ranged attacks.
The parabolic arcs of the webs were crystal clear in her vision.
A weightless sensation swept over her body, as if gravity had dissolved—she had never felt so fast and free before!
Wrapping her arms around Natsuyu’s waist, Yukino leaped powerfully into the air, carrying Natsuyu a meter sideways before gently lowering him to the ground.
“You can trust me completely.”
Yukino pursed her lips and declared softly.
Natsuyu’s ear tingled again from the breath she exhaled.
Shaking his head slightly to clear the sensation, a heavy Stone Pickaxe materialized in his hand.
Aim, pivot, throw!
SPLAT!
The heavily injured Round-Headed Spider’s head was smashed open by the heavy Stone Pickaxe, spraying green hemolymph and brain fragments everywhere!
A strand of Spider Silk and a purple Poison Gland instantly dropped next to the carcass.
Direct hit, 100 points!
[You killed 1 Low-Level Monster.
Experience +1!]
‘Is this the newly unlocked Experience Gain ability?’
Gaining Exp by killing monsters—Natsuyu felt that his path to becoming invincible was now only a matter of time!
“HISSS—!!!”
Seeing its companion’s brain crushed, the last remaining Round-Headed Spider was utterly terrified.
Driven by biological survival instinct, it turned and fled, its eight legs scurrying so fast they became a blur!
To Natsuyu, this fleeing spider was literally walking Exp!
How could he let his hard-earned experience run away?!
“Yukinoshita-san, let’s chase it down!
If it brings back more spider friends, we’ll be in big trouble!”
Normally, Yukino would have found Natsuyu’s thrown-together excuse a bit far-fetched.
The time it took for the spider to flee and call reinforcements would be more than enough for them to leave the area.
However, perhaps because Yukino was already used to following Natsuyu’s lead, before her brain could process it, her hands grabbed Natsuyu’s waist and carried him across the stream in a swift leap!
Mid-air, feeling the warm touch of Natsuyu’s hands, Yukino finally snapped back to reality.
‘Wait…
why are we chasing down a fleeing monster?!
This makes zero sense!’
Patter, patter.
Both of them crossed the river and landed safely on the dirt.
Yukino opened her mouth to complain, but an excited Natsuyu immediately grabbed her hand and dragged her forward in a sprint!
‘His physical strength is so insane, and his speed is so fast…
does he even need my help at all?!’
“Yukinoshita-san, hand me one of your weapons!”
“Oh, alright!”
Taking the weapon, Natsuyu didn’t waste a word, dragging Yukino along as he wound up his arm and threw the axe!
The Round-Headed Spider’s fleeing speed was no match for Natsuyu and Cat-Girl Yukino.
The distance between them closed to five meters in seconds.
Natsuyu’s throwing axe hit dead center, slamming right into the Round-Headed Spider’s bloated abdomen!
SPLAT!
Its abdomen ruptured instantly.
With a faint hiss, the Round-Headed Spider lost all signs of life, collapsing onto the dirt.
A large chunk of purple Monster Meat dropped beside its carcass.
[You killed 1 Low-Level Monster.
Experience +1!]
“Phew!
All done!”
Natsuyu grinned brightly, showing his white teeth as he released Yukino’s hand:
“Yukinoshita-san, thank you for your help.
I didn’t take a single hit thanks to you.
You worked hard!
As expected of the great Yukinoshita-san!”
‘Was he really just acting out a role earlier?’
The suspicious questions Yukino wanted to ask were completely buried under Natsuyu’s sincere praise.
Her thin lips twitched, but she couldn’t bring herself to complain.
She gently brushed her long hair, offering an elegant smile:
“After all, I am a 7th-degree amateur black belt in Aikido.”
Natsuyu’s gaze burned as he noticed her cat ears twitching slightly with her hair movement.
Soon, his eyes drifted lower, locking onto the fluffy, round black cat tail swishing rapidly behind her skirt.
‘She even has a tail?!’
‘Where does that tail actually grow out from?!’
Whether it was the ears or the tail, Natsuyu desperately wanted to feel what they felt like.
There was no dirty motive—it was purely a man’s intense curiosity toward a real Cat Girl!
“Don’t look.”
Yukino noticed Natsuyu’s overly intense, burning gaze.
She swished her tail in embarrassment and annoyance, hiding it behind her back while glaring and hissing at him like a wary cat.
The very next second:
Her cat ears folded in, her eyes returned to normal, and though he couldn’t see behind her, her tail undoubtedly vanished as well.
Yukino transformed back into an ordinary high school girl.
Besides being breathtakingly pretty, there was no longer any fantasy cat-girl element to her appearance.
Natsuyu averted his eyes with a sigh of regret:
‘So stingy…
She won’t even let me look, so she definitely wouldn’t let me touch.’
“Sorry about that.
It’s my first time seeing a real Cat Girl, so I was a bit overly curious,” Natsuyu explained with a light chuckle, then asked out of interest:
“Didn’t you say your ability was transforming into a cat? This chapter is updated first at g.com.
So why did you turn into a Cat Girl?”
The term “Cat Girl” made Yukino’s eyebrows twitch.
She wanted to tell Natsuyu to use a more dignified term, but she couldn’t think of one.
After all, “Cat Girl” was an accurate description of her appearance just now.
Yukino took a deep breath, putting on her polite, composed smile:
“No, I can transform completely into a cat.
That form was just another application of my ability—utilizing a cat’s physical traits while retaining a human body.
I didn’t expect to transform into a semi-human form either.”
Natsuyu remembered something and offered a polite, respectful bow to Yukino:
“Thank you.”
Yukino stared at Natsuyu in confusion:
“Why are you thanking me again all of a sudden?”
Natsuyu straightened up, his voice turning soft and sincere:
“Because earlier, you were so hesitant and reluctant to use your ability in front of us.”
“Yet when I was in danger, you didn’t hesitate for a second to activate your powers and fight by my side.”
“Of course I have to thank you.
As for your secret Cat Girl form, as long as you don’t mention it, I will never reveal it to anyone else either.”
This scene felt strangely familiar.
Except this time, their roles were reversed!
Yukino stared at Natsuyu for two seconds, recalling how Natsuyu had responded to her earlier thanks.
From the bottom of her heart, she said:
“The main fighter was still you.
The way you look when you’re fighting seriously is actually quite handsome.”
Natsuyu replied:
“I have always been handsome.”
The two of them silently replayed their previous banter, locking eyes and smiling at each other.
Yukino was the first to react.
Sensing the warm, slightly cozy atmosphere created by Natsuyu’s gentle smile, her body stiffened.
She quickly turned her head away, tucking a strand of black hair behind her ear, pointing at the drops near the spider carcass to change the subject:
“What are these?”
Natsuyu’s attention was diverted.
He explained:
“Just like logs dropping from trees, these are resource drops from killing monsters.
You can think of them as monster loot drops in a game.”
After saying that, Natsuyu used [Information Appraisal] on the dropped item, reading the floating status panel with excitement:
[Monster Meat (Freshness: 99%, rots in 3 days): Low-tier raw food material.]
[Effects upon consumption: Poisoning, Sanity/Mood drop, Diarrhea, Satiety.]
[Evaluation: Only consume when on the verge of starving to death.]
Seeing the list of nasty side effects, Natsuyu felt the system’s evaluation was spot-on.
Unless someone was literally dying of hunger, who in their right mind would eat raw monster meat?!