Episode 26
"I was thinking of going deeper in today."
Isti said as she entered the forest.
"Why?"
"If Dekal goes to face the Thin Wolf, I'm anxious at our current state."
"Do we need to raise our levels more?"
"That's part of it."
Isti spoke while coolly shooting down the approaching orcs.
"I'll teach you how to call me when you're in danger."
"The way to call you?"
"You ask the spirits."
Then can I call her? Like making a phone call with a smartphone?
I focused on the wind spirit and tried calling for Isti.
The flow of air changed subtly. It was invisible to the eye, but I could feel the change.
"I felt the wind Dekal sent."
"It's nice, like a secret signal just between us."
"You have to focus harder when the distance is far."
Being able to call each other without words is incredibly useful.
"Next, I'll teach you how to protect your body with the wind spirit."
"I'm ready to listen."
I listened attentively to Isti with the posture of a diligent student.
"Picture your body wrapped in wind. So you can protect yourself even when attacked."
Let me try it once.
I could feel my MP draining at a frightening speed.
"It'll be hard to maintain continuously?"
"Short bursts at first. Start by maintaining it partially. Once you're skilled, you can do it as naturally as breathing."
"As naturally as breathing?"
"Yeah. Once you get used to it like me, the spirit will protect you in times of danger."
The spirit automatically protecting my body? That's amazing.
My motivation blazed up.
"Can I reach that point today?"
"Spirit magic is difficult. All you can do is slowly get used to it with patience.
It took me a long time just to obtain the wind spirit."
"I was able to learn quickly thanks to Isti."
I smoothly wrapped my arm around Isti's waist and naturally pulled her close.
Kissing her cheeks and neck, pressing our foreheads together.
Isti giggled as if embarrassed.
"Thank you."
"Don't get hurt. Call me right away when it's dangerous."
"Can I call you for other reasons too?"
Shamelessly, I stretched out both hands and groped Isti's soft buttocks.
"Call me. I'll come running anytime. Like your servant."
Without a shred of doubt, Isti loves me. She entrusts her whole body to me willingly.
If that love is a fake emotion planted by suggestion, would it be disappointing?
No, it wouldn't be.
"Isti Corrupted by Suggestion" is also entirely the truth.
Isti's eyes shine vividly with the desire to be loved by me.
That appearance is so lovely.
"Mmm."
Isti rose on her tiptoes and initiated the kiss first.
I parted my lips slightly and intertwined tongues with Isti.
Perhaps sensing my erect cock, Isti smiled playfully.
"When we get back, I'll squeeze you with my thighs like you love, Dekal♥"
"Thigh squeezes, I'll look forward to it."
Isti smiles lovingly.
The urge to do it right now welled up, but I barely suppressed it.
Sadly, you can't just lay down a mat and have sex in a forest swarming with monsters.
That's how the stupid couples in horror movies die.
"Let's go."
I'll vent this desire by beating up orcs.
Of course, it was Isti, not me, doing the killing, but just watching felt refreshing.
If I imbue Isti's arrows with fire attribute through Fire Enchant, she takes down ten or twenty of them in a single shot.
In ancient founding myths, there are stories of one arrow piercing two or three beasts.
Is this how the people who saw that felt?
It was truly miraculous archery.
At first I knew nothing, but watching continuously, I realized Isti handles the wind spirit extremely well.
Changing the arrow's trajectory comes from perfectly matching rhythm with the spirit to alter the wind's flow.
How much practice with the spirit did it take to obtain such skill? It's hard to even imagine.
"Isti. Can you let one or two orcs slip through over here without killing them?"
"…."
Isti seemed to catch my intention.
"Got it."
The method of protecting the body with the wind spirit.
I want to achieve it myself rather than just hearing about it. It's an adventure I couldn't have imagined when I first transferred to this world.
Isti let one orc slip this way.
This time, defeating it wasn't the goal.
The goal was to calmly endure the orc's attack.
Please! Spirit!
The orc was big but shorter than me and slow in its movements, yet facing it, cold sweat ran down my spine.
It can't be helped. It's not that I'm a coward.
The orc held an old axe in its hand.
Old or not, an axe is an axe. A hit anywhere would be fatal.
To put it metaphorically, it's like encountering an armed thug in broad daylight.
If Isti weren't here, I would have prioritized running away.
But that would be meaningless.
This world is one where you fight monsters. Challenges to internalize this world's ways are needed bit by bit.
I watched carefully as the orc charged and moved accordingly.
I watched its axe-swinging motion closely and dodged.
Seeing it swing with all its might at a distance that couldn't possibly reach, the orc certainly had less skill than a human.
But it had more than enough power to split a human head.
"Hup!"
I baited out the orc's empty swing and approached when its strength waned.
This time, if it swung, I would definitely get hit. If I couldn't block it with the spirit's power, I would surely suffer a major wound.
It's okay. I can do it!
I encouraged myself and strongly focused on the wind spirit.
"Ugh…!"
Was the axe always that big?
I shrank back and retreated. Cold sweat broke out.
Having to stand my ground believing in invisible wind power while a deadly weapon bore down on me.
This required far more guts than I thought.
I tried several times, but the moment the axe came down was terrifying, and in the end I trusted my feet and retreated.
The orc was tired too and stopped moving.
In that situation of facing each other.
I glanced at Isti.
Isti had already cleaned up the situation and was watching over me.
Without arbitrarily mocking or interfering.
Right. If the wind is unreliable, I'll trust Isti.
Even if I get hit by the axe and fall, Isti will help me.
The orc, having recovered its stamina, charged.
Watching the swinging arm motion, I strongly focused on the wind spirit.
Did I fail? Just before the axe touched my body, an invisible wind barrier repelled the orc's axe.
From the recoil, the orc dropped its axe.
"Ha!"
I immediately struck the orc with all my might to push it back and cast magic.
"Fire Arrow!"
The flame arrow lodged precisely in the orc's chest.
(Your level has increased.)
"Phew."
"How was it?"
"I feel like I barely pulled it off."
A gentle breeze suddenly blew.
The wind swept over my body and flowed downward.
"What?"
"The spirit is happy. Because you trusted it, Dekal."
"…."
To think something that isn't even alive could move a person like this.
The communion with the spirit overwhelms me.
When I reached out into the empty air, the wind wrapped around my arm and lingered in my palm. I couldn't see it, but I could feel it.
Now I felt I could trust the wind spirit.
Like a part of my own body.
"I've gained confidence. Let's keep going."
Isti lightly ran.
With my Search Skill activated, I searched for traces while following behind Isti.
"Using the wind spirit, you can move quickly without exerting strength."
Indeed, Isti wasn't kicking off the ground with her feet but moving lightly as if walking on the wind.
Could I do that too?
Trusting my spirit, I clumsily tried to imitate her.
I wasn't as skilled as Isti, but the moment I laid wind beneath my feet and kicked off, I could tell my running speed increased considerably.
"How is it?"
"It truly feels like running on the wind."
It's almost like Instant Movement?
Don't I look pretty cool right now?
"I'll pick up the speed a bit."
Isti suddenly grew distant.
"Huh!"
The distance isn't closing!
Isti slowed down again.
"What was that just now?"
"I accelerated."
Amazing.
At the level of just running a bit faster, I can't even present my business card?
But I'll be able to catch up faster than others.
Since my MP is practically infinite.
As long as I have the leisure to drink from the Goddess's Flask, I can grow endlessly.
"I'll shoot."
Isti took out an arrow.
While running quickly with the wind spirit, I imbued Isti's arrow with fire attribute.
Then, while running, Isti shot an arrow through the trees and took down a group of orcs.
"Wow."
Is this how elves hunt?
I kept running until Isti stopped.
Using the spirit, my body felt like it kept surging forward without exerting strength.
Still, I got tired.
"Hah. Hah."
Seeing me struggling, Isti stopped.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm out of breath."
"Want to rest?"
As I bent over, panting, Isti wrapped her arms around my head.
"Mm."
It felt nice.
"You can do this training while walking, too. It reduces the fatigue in your feet."
True. The wind acted like a cushion, after all.
No shoes in the world would make me envious.
"That sounds good. At this rate, I’ll be bathing in sweat."
Instead of running, I walked quickly with the wind spirit serving as a cushion.
This was nice. I didn’t even get out of breath.
Compared to when I wasn’t making use of the spirit, our hunting speed had become much faster.
If Isti had been running through the forest on her own, how quickly would she have filled up a large soul stone?
Was it because we had come deeper than usual?
Without running into any other adventurers, we smoothly dealt with the orcs and continued onward.
It felt as if we were gradually heading toward the center of the source of the monster outbreak.
Far from decreasing, the number of orcs was growing.
But I wasn’t worried.
Because Isti was here.
I improved my skills by taking down the orcs Isti let through for me.
Now, together with the wind spirit I had built a firm trust with, I blocked the orcs’ axe attacks and struck back.
"Fire Arrow!"
(You have learned Fire Ball.)
Huh. A new skill.
I opened my status.
Level: 87
Status
HP 3469/3469 MP 844/4577
Beleira’s Blessing (True) 「Fire Immunity, Increased Fire Magic Power, All Skill Proficiency Values ++」
Goddess’s Agent 「Communicate in all languages and read all writing. Qualification to cross worlds.」
Wind Spirit 「Can cause wind to blow or alter the flow of air with the spirit’s power.」
Stats
Strength 371 Magic Power 588 Stamina 376 Agility 381
Skills
Fire Ball (☆) - Intermediate fire magic with great power. Burns enemies.
Fire Enchant (★★★) - Magic that grants the fire attribute to all kinds of objects.
Search (★★) - A skill that discovers and analyzes traces through careful inspection and observation.
Fire Ball was a skill that appeared in place of Fire Arrow, whose proficiency had been maxed out.
What kind of skill was it? Anticipation came first.
"Isti! Two orcs next time, please."
"Okay."
I spread my palm toward the two orcs and focused.
(Insufficient MP.)
Gah! What the hell is this? It’s not a hippo, but it’s gorging itself on my remaining MP like crazy.
If I tried overcharging this, things would get out of hand, wouldn’t they?
My body trembled at the sight of the blazing fireball.
It was different from Fire Arrow.
I could tell just by looking at the current of flame surging around it.
In terms of size, it was only about as big as a soccer ball, but the orcs couldn’t even approach because of the heat.
The force of its roaring flames was far more threatening than Fire Arrow’s.
"Fire Ball!!"
I fired off Fire Ball with vigor.
The fireball struck one orc and exploded. The sound startled me.
I had clearly hit only one, but as the flames spread, they caught onto the nearby orc as well.
Until now, Fire Arrow had been a skill that only occasionally left lingering embers to deal damage.
But Fire Ball was different.
It blazed fiercely, as though oil had been poured over the opponent’s body and set alight.
"…."
So I couldn’t help but be frightened.
If this had been a game, it would have been an incredibly satisfying moment, but this was undeniable reality, only in a different world.
The thought of someone firing magic like this at me sent a chill down my spine.
"Dekal. Is that new magic?"
Isti showed curiosity.
"Yeah. It startled me. Do other adventurers use magic like this too?"
"That’s the level of a proper Gold-rank mage.
Even if you went to the guild in the kingdom’s capital, you’d be treated well."
My hands were trembling.
My body was shaken by a new experience I had never felt before.
Fire magic that completely burned two orcs to ashes.
Only after using it with my own hands did it truly sink in that I had come to another world.
"Do you want to rest a little?"
Isti asked in a worried tone.
"No, let’s keep going."
I didn’t want to stop. I didn’t want to do that.