Chapter 10: Chapter 2: Part 5
One of the monkeys leaped on my back. I tried to knock it off with an elbow, but it easily avoided me while screeching. If I stood up, I'd get hit with a stone again, so I wouldn't stand up and cover my face with my arms.
A shock ran up my whole arm. In an instant, a common reed-like vine shot through the gaps between stones in the river and tied me down. The phrase [Plant Magic] came to mind.
I was completely bound and surrounded. The only future I could see was my death. Those Boagnons were dancing around my tied up body. Was that some kind of dancing ritual before they eat their prey?
If I wasn't restrained, the dancing monkeys would be funny, but I could only sweat when thinking about what would happen when they finished. I was in serious trouble. How could I get out of this crisis?
This common reed would burn easily if I used [Ignition], right? Ah, but I have to be ready for it to burn me as well. Will those swarming monkeys be flushed away if I use [Spring Water]? I have to give it a try.
"[Ignition]!"
I set the vines on fire.
Ow, hot, hot, hot, hot, hot, hot, hot, it hurts, goddammit, it fucking hurts!
Since it's a plant, it seems to burn up more easily than monsters, but it also burned my own body considerably. The monkeys suddenly stood aside to watch me burn up (restrained by the common reed plants).
Lots of those monkeys expressions looked comical because they were dumbfounded to see this during their dance. I'm burned all over and in a lot of pain, but the best time to attack them was while they were confused!
"[Spring Water]!"
A torrent of water surged in all directions around me, sweeping away the addled monkeys. I saw one of them being carried away by the Ellyn River and drowning after my [Spring Water] carried it in.
Looks like these monkeys can't swim.
I activate [Spring Water] again, since the first time wasn't enough, and took out some recovery meat from [Material Storage] and popped it into my mouth. The severe pain subsided, but not completely, so I took another piece.
It's about time to replenish the recovery meat. Fortunately, there was still plenty of meat left from the cat monster.
While I was thinking this, I saw the monkeys looked pretty exhausted already and figured this was a good chance. I activated [Ignition] as soon as I approached the nearest monkey and sent it flying at the same time. "Eat this, Ignited Kick!"
Even though I made a clean hit on the monkey's face, it still didn't deal a significant amount of damage, but since its whole body was on fire, it was flailing around from the pain and heat. I laughed maniacally, shouting, "Burn this horror into your mind, and fear me!"
I don't think I want to play the part of a villain, but it seems to be a good way to clear my anger so far. I felt a lot better after killing the monkey with [Ignition]. As you might expect, I didn't bother kicking them anymore.
Some of the monkeys managed to run away when I approached, but I was still able to ignite twelve of them. I got a level up notification when the third monkey died, and again after the eleventh. The twelve dead monkeys were dismantled and put in [Material Storage].
The monkeys that were dismantled splattered into neat piles of fur and meat. Everything except the meat was stored in [Material Storage]. I activated [Cooking] after putting the tasty-looking meat on a flat stone to grill it. It appeared in bite-sized pieces as usual.
Grilled meat of the Forest Monkey ⇒ Do you want to learn the [Plant Magic] skill?
Ooh! Am I finally becoming a magician!? I jumped for joy and took a bite!
…Ugh, it's bad! It's so bad! The meat is chewy and it smells awful! I did my best to endure and forced it down.
You have learned the [Plant Magic] skill.
"Yeah!"
Hehehe, my hands are throbbing. It reminds me of the good old days… in middle school… Nah, nevermind, they weren't that good!
After winning the fierce battle with the monkeys (Boagnon), I followed the Ellyn River downstream. As you'd expect, walking and battling all night long ate away at me both physically and mentally, but I had to endure it, because if I stuck around, I could very well have gotten attacked by monkeys again.
When the sun was finally visible above the trees, I found a hollow in the trunk of a large tree that could be used as a shelter. It was just big enough for me to fit inside, but apparently it already had an occupant.
Race : Dark Bat, Level 160
Skills : [Ultrasonic] [Wind Magic] [Silent Flight]
Attributes : HP [C] | MP [B] | STR [C] | INT [B] | AGI [A] | DEX [B] | LUK [F]
It was a monster hanging upside down from the ceiling. Because it was around noon, the bat monster was sleeping and hadn't reacted to me. This was my chance, right? I still had to raise my level more greedily than anyone else, so I decided to fight the dark bat.
"[Spring Water]."
A large amount of water gushed out of the hole and smacked into the dark bat.
I couldn't just burn the very shelter I took so long to find, so I didn't start off with Ignition.
Before the dark bat could react to the Spring Water, I restrained it with [Plant Magic] and got up close for a finishing blow with [Ignition]. It was a triple combo of [Spring Water], [Plant Magic], and [Ignition].
[ Level Up ]
The notification appeared. My level is now 141.
The inside of the hole was damp, but I grabbed some stone from the riverbed, laid lots of branch onto that, and lit a fire with [Ignition]. I pictured the fire as being weaker than a bonfire, so it didn't burn very intensely. With that, the inside of the hole would soon be all dried out.
While the fire was going, I dismantled the dark bat and baked its meat with [Cooking].
Grilled dark bat breast meat ⇒ Do you want to learn [Wind Magic]?
"Yeah!"
I couldn't help cheering. It's been cut into bite-sized pieces as usual, so it's easy to eat. It tastes a little better than the monkey meat, but that's still not saying much. I can tell the taste is different depending on what part of the monster the meat came from. Well, that's natural, isn't it? If everything was equally delicious, the concept of 'rare first-class meat' wouldn't exist.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone