LXIII

I continue my scouting duties as the only member of our force tasked with such, wading through the mud with the aid of earth and water manipulation, sensing the surroundings for any activity not related to us.

I would perhaps rely on flight, possible only because the foliage has greatly thinned out, but wind sensory techniques are not nearly so effective as earth and water sensory methods, thus I am forced to pass through the same muck as my comrades.

An hour passes without event, and then another, our group forming a long train as we take a circuitous route around the deeper and more dangerous section of this mud lake. I am beginning to hope that our journey may be uneventful when I sense something moving slowly through the fog a few hundred feet away.

I fly up out of the muck, bursting towards the motion with as much speed as I can muster. I use all my might to quickly blast a gap in the fog. The gap barely persists for a second before again being filled in by the fog, leaving me a good fifth of the way towards total magical exhaustion after a single move.

Still, this one spell is enough. For a moment, though that moment felt like several with the aid of DNTI, I had gotten a peek of a deerlike creature, with antlers atop its head and razor sharp teeth, alongside beady red eyes. Judging from how it easily stood over the surface of the water, I can only assume that the legs are disproportionately long for its body. It had glanced at me before the fog rolled back in, so it must know that I am here.

Though I am less able to sense location while in the air, I feel that the benefits of being impossible for the beast to hit outweigh the cons of it being hard for me to protect, so I remain in my elevated state.

Still, I am obviously going to move to score a quick victory. I cast a blade of wind at the beast, wind that barely dilutes the fog it passes through as it heads towards where the deer was a moment before.

I follow up this attack with a thin stream of wind elemental particles, intent to feel out whether I had actually killed the deer. When I hear and feel no response, I am left to assume my attack was a miss.

[Eh, screw it. I have plenty of endurance potions, and with Lector handing them out like candy, I could surely get more. I may as well go all out here.]

With that thought in mind, I release another whirlwind attack, this one with enough force to kill. With all cares for overexertion thrown out the window, I throw in the ability to blow away fog as well, for good measure.

The attack rips through the surrounding fog, burning through a good half of my exertion capability in the process. Thankfully, it is quite successful; the attack shreds through the beast that is directly below me, as if waiting for me to come down, leaving it certainly dead as the beast lays in pieces.

[Hmm? Well, I suppose it would only be natural for the native monsters to be able to see through the fog, and this provides good evidence for such an idea. The monster clearly must have been able to see me somehow, to be able to lay in wait directly under me. Now, if only killing it had granted me that ability…

[Thus far, the only ability that I have received from a monster was 'venom,' a skill so useless that it is entirely unemployable. I know that obtaining skills from killing monsters is rare and all, but I at least would like it if the skill was useful! And I can't think of any skill that would be more useful in this circumstance than one that would allow me to see through this absurd fog!

[Ah well. No use complaining about things I don't have. The ability for my eyes to permeate this fog would be nice, but it's not wholly necessary; for so long as I have a supply of endurance potions, I can rely on my wind manipulation to clear the air to an acceptable degree.

[Well, I'd better go report this to Lector.]

I fly back to the soldiers, simply heading in their general direction until I bump into the chain, before then heading in the direction the group is facing to find the head of the chain, where Lector and Reinhart lead.

"Master, I have a report," I say, facing the silhouette of Sir Lector a couple feet into the fog.

"Oh? Go on," he replies, not slowing down his pace at all.

"I just killed the first monster of this expedition, a deer-like thing, with sharp teeth, red eyes, and legs long enough that it stood over the surface with ease."

"Ah, a Grin Deer, perhaps? Did it seem to have any trouble seeing through the fog?"

"No, sir, from our brief interaction it appeared to have no difficulty with seeing me."

"So yes, a Grin Deer then. A very common creature around here, best be prepared to fight more. That said. please continue to notify me of anything you dispatch."

"Yes, master," I respond, separating away from the group once more to continue my task as a scout/ huntsman.

The next few hours seem to prove Lector right, as I kill Grin Deer after Grin Deer, alongside a handful of other monsters. It eventually progresses to the point where I am running from place to place to keep up with Grin Deer and occasional Grin Bears, gulping down endurance potion after endurance potion as I make my way between monsters.

As for the Grin bears themselves, they share the Grin Deers' red eyes and triangular, serrated teeth, but they are much bigger and bulkier, not to mention prone to using swipe attacks to counter me.

Actually, my first encounter comes with a rather close call, as I barely avoid the bear's attack after it avoids my first attack and fades back into the mist only to reemerge with a swipe from behind. Thankfully, my reaction time under the effects of DNTI allows me to barely easily fly away before the blow lands, even with only a foot of advance notice.

After that, I am far more careful, and my hunting experience comes without any further mishaps as I butcher beast after beast, monster after monster, in an attempt to keep our troops safe.

By the time that I have dealt with a couple dozen Grin Deer and a few Grin Bears, I really begin to get a feel for why their name has the word 'grin' in it. Their mouths are stretched unnaturally wide by their massive, strangely bright teeth and a look that can only be described as an unsettling grin.

Once I notice this strange detail, killing the monsters become a very uncomfortable experience as I invariably return their smiles with absolute carnage; still, I am more than capable of killing surrendering and quivering humans, how could I be truly disturbed by some run of the mill monsters with somewhat strange teeth?

After a few hours of this onslaught of creatures, the number of them begins to die down, signaling to me that we have left their territory. Such an assumption only leads me to the next question: what type of monsters control this territory that the grin beasts would not want to go against them?

I expect to receive my answer immediately, but this part of the forest seems very peaceful. Too peaceful perhaps; even the ever-persistent bugs seem to not be in this area. Still, such a development is fine for me, and everyone else for that matter. No monsters to hunt, no bugs to swat, overall, a good time.

Another few hours pass, time in which we walk more than a quarter of the way around the lake, which I know to be the case because we are headed back south along a curve after heading north for some time.

Honestly, I am beginning to wonder how bad an option the mountains must have been to justify us taking this route. Sure, they may have been difficult to cross, but it's not as though this route is by any means a cakewalk. I guess nobody's died yet, at least, but that honestly is beginning to feel more like luck than anything else.

I am only just thinking that when I detect something moving nearby, the first creature that I have detected in a while. [Oh? Perhaps it is time that I shall finally meet that which even the grinning beasts fear?]

I head over to where I detected the motion, and, keeping a few dozen feet off the mud, release a wind tornado. The tornado represents me going all out, and thus consumes about half of my energy.

"What in the world…" I cannot help saying aloud, as the fog quickly retakes the area. Before it does, I see a creature that can only be described as 'odd;' a giant snail, with a shell at least ten feet tall. From what I can see, it has no fangs; however, at its sides, from the part that sticks out from under the shell, are two muscled arms, balled into fists.

To add to the oddity, there are no visible eyes on the creature, only a single large ear atop each of its eye stalks.

Apparently these ears are rather capable, as it immediately orients itself towards me upon hearing my quiet mumble, arms raised like a boxer in a defensive stance. I see it moving to strike before the fog again reclaims it.

I rapidly increase my elevation, being sure to take a position outside of its range, before casting a very condensed orb of wind. My standard whirlwind attack has already shown itself ineffectual against the snail's shell, so I assume that the only real way to pierce through it is to utilize a much smaller, much more compressed, attack.

From what little information I can gather from air sense, I can confirm that the snail doesn't topple over, at least, leaving me with the recognition that my attack was at least too weak to kill it.

[Oh well. It'd be a bit excessive to kill a snail by targeting its strongest part, something the likes of which only someone much more powerful could do. Still, this monster must be a pretty high-level beast, considering that it can easily resist a much more compressed attack than those nasty scorpions could. My level has been stubbornly holding out at 74 as I've been killing these monsters, hopefully this one will take me over the barrier? I mean, I could certainly handle a boost to my skills right now. In fact, the boost to my sight enhancement skill that it would give may very well be enough for me to see a few yards into this mist. Not very impressive, but much better than a foot.

[So, if I am not to hit the shell, I will have to hit its soft body. It is probably capable of hiding in its shell as well, if it senses that it is in danger and retracts within, it would be pretty tough to kill it, especially with those arms to defend the opening.]

I gulp down an endurance potion in a mouthful, preparing for a heavy usage of energy. My plan is rather simple: use a bladeless-whirlwind to clear out the fog, before then casting a number of compressed lightning attacks at the monster. With the water temporarily blown out of the air, such a move seems relatively safe. Furthermore, I hope that it should work well against this creature, the electricity arcing through the shell and easily killing the snail within.

I wish that I could devote more energy to the attack itself, to ensuring victory, but considering the massive amount required even to clear the fog away for but a moment… well, for not the first time I wish that this fog would respond to my water element manipulation attempts.

I cast the fog-clearing whirlwind, revealing that the snail has retreated into its shell upon seeing that it can't reach me, ears barely peeking out from the base of its shell, its armored fists guarding the entrance to its makeshift home.

Before the fog can again roll in and make manipulating lightning dangerous, I summon a bolt of lightning, effortlessly shaping it into a sword. I then compress it as much as I am able as my time is quickly expended and the fog rolls back in.

Just as the fog pulls near, I release the blast. I just have time to see it contacting the snail's shell before fog re-obscures my view. However, a moment later, my vision expands, encompassing at least ten feet around me.

I sigh audibly in relief, my effort having been proven a success and my gains being substantial. [If I leveled up, which I can only assume I have, the snail is certainly dead… hmm… yeah, I guess it has been a while since I checked my stats, I don't feel any other monster movement nearby, I'm sure it would be fine if I took a moment to look them over.]

I pull up my stats screen for the first time in a few days.

Name: Anetor

Level: 75

Race: Human

Class/Job: Spellsword

Skills: Greater Pain Resistance Lvl. 9, Master Madness Lvl. 9, Greater Sight Enhancement Lvl. 8, Greater Hearing Enhancement Lvl. 5, Greater Resistance Lvl. 5, Moderate Heat Resistance Lvl. 6, Moderate Cold Resistance Lvl. 2, Moderate Thirst Nullification Lvl. 9, Lesser Hunger Nullification Lvl. 6, Greater Sleep Nullification Lvl. 9, Greater Swordsmanship Lvl. 9, Greater Melee Magic Conduction Lvl. 9, Greater Magic Sensory Lvl. 9, Greater Elemental Manipulation Lvl. 9, Lesser Mental Attack Resistance Lvl.3, Moderate Chaos Lvl. 9, Lesser Analysis Lvl. 7, Lesser Suffocation Resistance Lvl. 1, Greater Wrath Lvl. 9, Greater Strength Lvl. 3, Moderate Speed Lvl. 5, Greater Magical Exhaustion Resistance Lvl. 9, Lesser Venom Lvl. 1, Lesser Poison Resistance Lvl. 1, Lesser Venom Resistance Lvl. 1, Moderate Acid Resistance Lvl. 2, Lesser Madness Resistance Lvl. 3, Moderate Alchemy Lvl. 7