I turned around and hooked an arrow onto the bowstring.
Behind me, a single black cat was running toward me.
Perhaps because its body was small, the speed I felt from its running was no joke.
I drew the bowstring shortly.
About one-tenth of the limit.
Its power would be far weaker than when I drew the string to the maximum, but in terms of rapid fire, drawing it short was overwhelmingly faster.
TWANG—!
After shooting one arrow, I immediately stepped backward and nocked a new arrow to the string.
Luna noticed that I had changed my strategy to focus on rapid fire, and she too changed her form in order to respond accordingly.
“Grrrr.”
From the form of a black cat, into a giant jaguar whose entire body was wrapped in an exoskeleton like a turtle shell.
It had the same black fur and was the same feline, but the difference in size class and additional abilities was as vast as heaven and earth.
It was an appearance that contained exactly the traits of the highest-level monster in Cat Forest, which I had heard about from Nadan.
Its official name was Shell Jaguar.
It was a monster evaluated at level 40.
Luna had the ability to transform into feline monsters she had hunted, so in other words, it meant she had succeeded in personally hunting a level 40 monster.
If she could hunt a level 40 monster, that meant she could wield strength even greater than a level 40 monster......
While I was feeling that something was off, the arrow I had just shot embedded itself in Luna’s left foreleg.
THUNK!
Although it had hit, it was hard to call it an effective blow.
Nadan had said so. Earlier, Luna had changed only her right leg into a Shell Jaguar’s leg and pretended the arrow had embedded itself.
Even if it looked on the outside as if the arrow had hit, in reality, it was likely blocked midway without piercing the Shell Jaguar’s shell.
I shot a new arrow at the place I had hit.
TWANG—!
The arrow embedded itself near the spot where the previous arrow was already lodged.
As the second arrow struck, a crack appeared in the shell covering Luna’s left thigh.
When arrows hit in succession, Luna growled and advanced one step at a time.
“Grrrr.”
For something angry, her movements were slow.
If the black cat from earlier had been at normal speed, the Shell Jaguar’s speed was about half that.
I decided there was no need to run, so I stopped sprinting and slowly reduced my speed, leisurely maintaining my distance from the Shell Jaguar.
It was just as Nadan had advised. The Shell Jaguar’s weakness was that although its defense was high, its movements were slow.
I calmly maintained the gap while not slowing my rapid fire.
Perhaps because my intent was obvious, from the third shot onward, Luna did not take it so easily.
“GRRROAR!”
Even if she was slow, she twisted her body so arrows would not strike the same spot one after another, controlling the parts where the arrows landed by herself.
Luna knew it too.
This fight with me was a battle of one hit.
If even one of my arrows touched her flesh, it was my victory.
If Luna landed even one blow on me, it was Luna’s victory.
Even Nadan had gone down after being hit once, so there was no way I, with armor inferior to Nadan’s, could withstand one blow from Luna.
TWANG—! TWANG—! TWANG—!
I had plenty of arrows left.
I would shoot as many as it took.
When the number of arrows embedded in Luna’s shell reached ten, Luna took an unexpected action.
She folded all four legs, flattened herself against the ground, and curled her body round.
“Kyao.”
Had she given up?
Just as I was about to shoot an arrow aimed between Luna’s brows, Luna sprang out of her crouched posture and leaped high.
The crouching motion had merely been a feint.
It had been preparation for a great leap.
“GRRRAAAH!”
Luna fell exactly toward the place where I stood and swung her foreleg, and I threw myself sideways, moving out of Luna’s attack range.
In the same situation, Nadan had used the centrifugal force created by rolling on the ground as it was and stood up.
When I copied the little technique I had seen once and put it into practice myself, I was able to rise without difficulty and regain my stance.
While I used breakfall, Luna swung her foreleg at the place where I had been standing until just before and struck an innocent boulder.
CRAAASH—!
It was a huge boulder, large enough that three adult men would have to stretch out their arms to encircle it. No, it had been a boulder.
The boulder shattered in a single blow, and large and small fragments flew in every direction.
Perhaps because she had forced her body, which had countless arrows lodged in it, to make such an extreme movement.
The cracks spread across the shell in various places widened even further, and the hide covered in black fur was revealed.
Luna realized the shell was falling away and roared loudly.
“GROOOAR!”
Luna’s body was engulfed in a mass of light, and her silhouette writhed, changing into a completely different form.
From the form of a Shell Jaguar to a completely different form.
A Shell Jaguar with its shell broken was nothing more than a large and slow target.
Knowing there was no point in maintaining that form any longer, she was attempting to transform into a different breed.
Luna’s bodily change was also the moment I had been aiming for all along.
When Luna transformed, a slight opening appeared.
I had learned that by watching Luna transform several times, so there was no doubt.
I brought my right arm behind my shoulder to load an arrow.
To reach the quiver on my back.
But Luna’s form after finishing her transformation was very strange.
It was not the form of a monster.
Her slender silhouette told me the form Luna had ultimately chosen.
“A human at this timing?”
As the dust settled, Luna’s form was revealed.
Before I knew it, there was a bow in Luna’s hand.
It was the same kind of bow Nadan used.
Had she hidden the bow she used before becoming a monster in her den?
Only now did I realize that the leap she had made toward me had been a move that read one step ahead.
Even if the attack meant to pounce on me failed, she had calculated thoroughly so that failure would lead directly into a follow-up attack.
The current situation, completed after a contest of moves, was extremely symbolic.
At a distance so close that if we fell forward, our noses would touch, we were aiming bows at each other.
But there was a stark difference in the speed at which we drew arrows.
Luna had already drawn an arrow from her quiver and was aiming at me.
I had only just put my hand on my quiver.
In other words, even though we had been given the same conditions and the same amount of time, Luna moved far more nimbly and seized the advantageous position.
I pushed the corner of my mouth upward.
“Even better.”
I gave up on loading an arrow.
Instead, I swung the bow itself as if flinging it away.
Because I had omitted the process of loading an arrow, I was able to attempt an attack half a beat faster than Luna.
The contest of speed was my victory.
The metal bow drew a fan-shaped arc and struck Luna’s side.
CRACK!
Luna’s body bent sideways like a bow, her eyes rolled back, and she fell backward.
After sprawling on the ground spread-eagled, she only trembled instinctively and could no longer rise.
I shook out my right hand, which had gone numb from the recoil of the fierce blow, and muttered.
“As expected, maybe the paralysis effect really does apply even when I hit directly?”
Now, it was time to choose.
The key was how far I needed to go in order to fulfill the condition of subduing Lady Cat.
Was it enough to restrain her?
Was it until I rendered her unable to use any more strength?
Or all the way to... killing her outright......?
A moment later, as if making my worries look foolish, the problem was easily resolved.
A mechanical voice flowed into my ears and told me.
[Special event cleared at Alhen Region hidden exploration point.]
[Reward: choice granted. Select one of two options.]
Make Luna a familiar and take her as a travel companion. (If a familiar is overwhelmingly stronger than its master, the familiar will attack its master instead.)
Execute Luna and take one of Luna’s skills. (No point consumption. Skill level inherited as-is.)
I lowered the bow I had been aiming at Luna and muttered.
“There’s nothing wrong with adding one cat to the journey.”
It was common during travel to end up roaming together with someone met locally along the way.
I only needed to think of Luna in that same context.
Perhaps recognizing my mutter as an answer, the mechanical voice circled my ears.
[Luna will be converted into Mr. Jo Seong-jin’s familiar.]
[Luna’s physical nature remains that of a monster, but her memories and language ability from when she was human have been restored so her mental nature is no different from a human’s.]
[The current combat-power gap between Luna and you is negligible. Depending on the situation, she may listen well or not listen. Please get along from now on.]
Next, Luna’s specs flowed into my head.
-Luna (LV.62)
-Owned Skills: Stabilizer (LV.15), Cat Copy (LV.10), Dimensional Built-in Wardrobe (LV.1), Arrow Crafting (LV.5)
So her level had been 62.
A little higher than Nadan.
As I checked the options contained in Luna’s skills one by one.
Luna’s eyelids trembled, and her golden pupils were revealed.
Luna staggered and steadied herself, then quickly regained her strength and knelt on one knee, showing proper respect.
“Lady Cat Luna greets Master.”
Master, huh.
It did not sound bad.
Rather than a travel companion, it felt closer to a servant who would attend to me throughout the journey.
I held out a hand to Luna and spoke.
“Can I call you Luna?”
“Please call me whatever is comfortable.”
“Then I’ll give you a cute name suited to a cat......”
“Please just call me Luna.”
The moment I showed signs of giving her a strange nickname, Luna cut me off cleanly and blocked in advance the misfortune that would befall her.
Proud and prickly. She was a cat itself.
It seemed still too early to order her to transform into a black cat because I wanted to pet her.
“You recovered your memories from when you were human, right?”
“I remembered everything.”
“And you no longer feel the urge to attack when you see humans?”
“Not at all. Even if my body is that of a monster, my mind is human.”
“Can I ask you just one thing?”
“Not just one. As many as you like.”
I stared at Luna’s facial muscles, which had not moved at all except when she opened her mouth, and asked.
“Were that way of speaking and personality already like that when you were human?”
“What do you mean?”
“You are too blunt.”
“When I was human, I was different.”
I knew something had felt strange.
Then again, she was of the same blood as Nadan, who had such a pleasant personality and so much playfulness. There was no way she would have a blunt personality with no excitement.
Just as I interpreted it as her personality having been adjusted while she lived as a monster.
Luna added one more sentence.
With a stiff face that made the word wooden suit her perfectly.
“It used to be much more blunt.”
This was her softened version?
Mr. Nadan, what kind of life did you live in the past?