Basically, each monster-infested area had fixed types of monsters that inhabited it.
Monsters set their own territories among themselves, lived within them, and had a habit of not breaking the food chain formed inside their territory.
No matter which region one visited, a monster-infested area was only part of that region.
In other words, for a monster to move from one monster-infested area to another, it had to cross an entire region where humans lived.
And while suppressing its instinct to attack humans, at that. Quietly, as if dead.
In short, new species that had not existed before never appeared in monster-infested areas.
Originally, that was normal, but.......
“OOHOOO!”
Its height was around four meters.
Black fur sharp as thorns.
Flesh-colored skin with bulging veins.
It had only one arm, but that one arm was abnormally thick and enormous. A gorilla.
Its official name, apparently, was Ogre Kong.
We were currently surrounded by five Ogre Kongs.
Until several dozen seconds ago, we had been passing through the 2,000-meter elevation point, peacefully following the valley toward the final work site that was our destination.
But suddenly, monster-class gorillas appeared from the slopes stretching along both sides of the valley, and in the blink of an eye, they surrounded us and formed an encirclement.
For the first time, a grave air lingered around Grenda, who had shown nothing but composure throughout the entire schedule.
“How did this happen? Ogre Kongs are not monsters that live here.......”
As if declaring that there was no time to hide the fact that she was my familiar, Luna openly changed both hands into monster forepaws even though Grenda was beside us.
“Master, Ogre Kongs are level 80 monsters. If we look only at objective combat strength, they are not monsters we can handle.”
When I heard the Ogre Kongs’ level, my expression changed.
“Level 80? Didn’t you say level 50 to 60 monsters appear around here?”
“That is why it is strange. Ogre Kongs are monsters that inhabit a northern region far away from here. If creatures this large had attempted a large-scale migration, the nearby territories would have noticed.”
“Forget the rest. Just tell me our odds.”
“If we face them head-on, our odds are close to zero. Unless we can intercept them one at a time.”
No sooner had Luna finished speaking than Grenda took unexpected action.
Without any prior agreement, she charged forward alone.
Grenda lowered both arms diagonally and spoke.
“If we want to create even an angle for retreat, we have to reduce their number to two or fewer. I will hold four of them in place, so the two of you cooperate and steadily reduce their numbers one by one.”
The Ogre Kongs tracked the human taking especially conspicuous action with their eyes.
Four of the five narrowed their target to Grenda alone and reconstructed the encirclement around her.
“OOHOO! OOHOO!”
“OOHOO!”
Grenda entrusted her lifeline entirely to us and voluntarily took on the dangerous role.
“Shadow Knock.”
The shadows stretching at the feet of the four Ogre Kongs chasing Grenda changed shape, became thick wedges, and shot up, stabbing the Ogre Kongs in the backs.
SQUELCH! SQUELCH! SQUELCH!
Every monster we had encountered until now, without a single exception, had been pierced by the wedges made of shadow, and the wedges that dug into their backs had protruded out through the front of their chests.
But the Ogre Kongs were different.
The tips of Shadow Knock’s wedges only dug about three centimeters into their skin.
They had merely pierced the thick hide and left scratches on the solid muscle beneath.
The wounds were shallow, but the goal of provoking the Ogre Kongs and making them look only at Grenda was achieved.
“OOHOOO!”
“OOHOOO!”
The Ogre Kongs raised their single arms high and slammed them down, or swung them as if flinging them away to threaten Grenda.
Where an Ogre Kong’s fist fell, a deep pit appeared along with spiderweb-like cracks.
BOOM!
Where an Ogre Kong’s arm swept past, large and small rocks bounced noisily like gravel.
RUMBLE, RUMBLE, RUMBLE!
The scenery inside the valley changed in real time.
Merciless brute strength that could manipulate the terrain at will.
The Ogre Kongs wielding such incredible brute strength were one thing, but Grenda, who was deftly weaving through the gaps between four Ogre Kongs, was anything but ordinary too.
“Shadow Walk.”
Grenda’s body dyed black like a shadow, and the Ogre Kong’s fist passed through the blackened Grenda.
It seemed to be a skill that made her body take on the properties of a shadow, allowing enemy attacks to flow through her.
Basically, she dodged the Ogre Kongs’ attacks using instantaneous judgment and physical ability, and when she saw no possible angle to evade, she displayed the wit to escape the crisis using an evasion skill.
Unfortunately, I had no time to leisurely appreciate the godlike combat ability Grenda was displaying.
While Grenda kept most of the Ogre Kongs occupied, we had to deal with the remaining one.
The Ogre Kong facing Luna and me snorted hot breaths, then curled its only hand into a round fist and beat its chest.
“OOHOOOOO!”
THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!
It was the action gorillas commonly took, known as drumming.
Luna raised the claws on both hands and took the vanguard.
“Ogre Kong’s specialty, Power Drumming. Think of it as a skill with a doping effect.”
I raised my bow and aimed at the Ogre Kong we had agreed to handle.
“So it is already strong, and when it uses the skill, it becomes even stronger.”
“Be careful. There is a record of one fighting evenly against a level 85 monster while in its doped state.”
“Even so, in front of the Deros Bow, they are all the same.”
The Deros Bow’s Paralyze Enchant lasted a full hour on monsters level 50 and below. Against monsters above 50, the higher the level, the shorter the paralysis duration became.
At level 80, its body should be paralyzed for about twenty to thirty seconds.
It would take some time for the paralysis poison to take effect, but as long as I hit it once, I could seal the Ogre Kong’s movements for twenty to thirty seconds.
In the stance of drawing the bowstring, I activated my skill.
“Stabilizer.”
A long line appeared in my vision.
The line indicated the expected trajectory the arrow I released would draw if I let go of the bowstring as it was.
The trajectory’s endpoint was the Ogre Kong’s brow.
If I shot now, it would certainly hit.
TWANG—!
The arrow that left the string flew along the trajectory Stabilizer had shown me in advance and rushed toward the Ogre Kong.
The Ogre Kong perceived the arrow and laid its only arm horizontally, covering its face.
The arrow lodged in the Ogre Kong’s forearm.
Luna dug into the Ogre Kong’s chest area and directly confirmed the place where my arrow had struck from up close.
“Master! The arrow did not pierce its hide!”
For Paralyze Enchant’s paralysis poison to take effect, I had to land an effective blow on the enemy.
It was hard to call it an effective blow if the arrowhead merely lodged in the hide.
The Ogre Kong moved its arm away and glared at me.
“OOHOOO!”
The parts of the Ogre Kong’s body not covered in fur heated red.
The muscles emitting hot heat like an overheated machine were telling me.
The doping effect from Power Drumming had begun to take hold.
Luna swung her elongated claws like claws and scratched the Ogre Kong’s instep.
SCRAAAAAPE!
The claws were Shell Jaguar claws.
Among the monsters Luna could transform into, the Shell Jaguar had the sturdiest claws.
However, the Shell Jaguar’s level was only 40.
The level gap was far too extreme to threaten a level 80 monster.
Even though she scratched the Ogre Kong’s instep with Shell Jaguar claws, all she managed was to leave white scratch marks on it.
The Ogre Kong, which had been trying to target me, sensed the slight pain from its instep and lowered its gaze to Luna.
Luna leaped toward the Ogre Kong’s knee and activated her skill.
“Cat Copy, Kitty Thunder.”
Luna’s body changed into a donkey-sized cat with yellow fur, and electricity flowed around her body as sparks flew.
CRACKLE! CRACKLE!
Luna attempted rapid acceleration, reaching top speed from a complete stop in an instant, and before I could blink, she sprinted across the Ogre Kong’s forearm as if it were a road.
Extreme control of tempo, with no delay time needed for acceleration.
The Ogre Kong’s fur was pointed like thorns, sharp enough that it seemed one would be stabbed just by touching it, but Luna cleverly picked out and stepped only on places where the fur lay flat, running across the Ogre Kong’s body.
“MROOOW!”
Even though it was a cat’s cry, I could understand Luna’s cry without difficulty, as if it had been translated directly.
It meant that she would keep drawing its attention, so I should hurry and land an effective blow.
I changed my understanding as I loaded the next arrow.
With my current specs, no matter how many days I shot arrows, I would not pierce the Ogre Kong’s hide.
The solution was already in my hands.
Let’s use the skill points I had saved.
I had saved them for moments like this, so now was the right time to use them.
-6 skill points consumed.
-Current remaining skill points: 1
-Stabilizer skill level increased from 25 to 35.
-Stabilizer’s penetrating power greatly increased.
-Owned Skills: Traveler Package (LV.1), Stabilizer (LV.35), Recovery Acceleration (LV.40).
Assuming all points had been invested only into Stabilizer, at 25, my ability as an archer had been around level 75. Now, it corresponded to specs around level 105.
They said level was not everything, but these were specs equivalent to 105 skill points’ worth, so I should be able to expect remarkable results against a level 80 monster.
After finishing my skill point investment, I aimed at the Ogre Kong and shot an arrow.
TWANG—!
The Ogre Kong realized the arrow existed and stopped its motion of trying to catch Luna, covering its face with its arm.
The moment the Ogre Kong’s arm was lowered to protect its face, my arrow pierced through the thick forearm and lodged in the Ogre Kong’s brow.
There was no need to wait for the Ogre Kong to become paralyzed.
Because the moment the arrow lodged in the Ogre Kong’s brow, news of a level-up sounded.
[Level increased. Level has risen from 28 to 29.]
-Current remaining skill points: 2
It was only a shame that because I had not used Venom Sword, the experience event did not apply.
Even considering that the experience required rose exponentially with each level, my level would likely have risen by six or seven all at once.
When hunting the remaining Ogre Kongs, let’s finish them off with Venom Sword.
“Ms. Grenda! This side is done! Lure another one this way and we will repeat the same process.......”
I realized that thinking about experience events in my head had been a complacent thought.
This was not the time to calculate efficiency or profit.
The four Ogre Kongs were standing still at quite a distance away.
One of the Ogre Kongs held a human in its hand.
A body battered to tatters after allowing several attacks.
Grenda had ultimately failed to handle four Ogre Kongs and had been taken down.
One Ogre Kong lifted Grenda high and tilted its head back.
“GWAAAAH!”
There was no way I could fail to understand what the motion of opening its mouth meant.
I hurriedly nocked an arrow to the string and shot it.
TWANG—!
“No!”
Making my shout meaningless, the Ogre Kong mercilessly dropped Grenda into its mouth.
Grenda’s body entered the Ogre Kong’s mouth, and soon, the moment the Ogre Kong closed its mouth, its throat bobbed.
GULP!
Before I could even check whether the arrow I had released had hit, Luna ran toward me and changed form.
Cat Copy, Ghost Tiger.
Luna transformed into a tiger, took me in her mouth, leaped over the Ogre Kong corpse blocking the narrow path, and ran down the mountain.
As we rapidly moved away from the scene, I ended up seeing it.
On the cliff rising along both sides of the valley, on the cliff to the right from my perspective, a single person was standing.
Because of the distance, there was no way to confirm their exact appearance, but I could clearly tell one thing.
The hair of the person standing on the cliff was blond, a color I had seen somewhere before.