Chapter 115.2

115 Part 2

“You’ve got no skill points left.”

Haruki had already spent all of Chep’s Skill Points back in Kamuikotan.

Chep opened her mouth in surprise in response to Haruki’s answer.

“How cruel!”

“Waitwaitwait…”

— Aren’t you the cruel one, snatching away all of the Skill Points for that quest without having done anything?

Haruki coldly looked down at Chep, who rubbed her face against the edge of Karen’s pocket as she cried.

“You don’t have any points left, but I’ve already allocated them for you, so please try to be patient for now.”

“Huh, you’ve already allocated them for me?”

Chep turned around and looked at Haruki with her dry eyes.

— I knew those were fake tears.

“What did you put them into?”

“Shamanism.”

“Shah-ma-neesm?”

“I think it’s similar to magic somehow. You said you couldn’t do anything. I’ve allocated your Skill Points to a level in which I think it would be more usable.”

“Well I’ll be! How disrespectful. I never said I couldn’t do anything, have I now?”

Chep crossed her arms and puffed up her cheeks.

Haruki had thought she had, but thinking back, she never specifically said that she couldn’t do anything.

But while she didn’t say she couldn’t do anything, she hadn’t said that she could do something either.

— This fish is a fraud!

Haruki felt a headache rising, and pushed his temples with his fingers.

“Well? What can you do then?”

“Uhuhu. Quite a lot, actually.”

“We’re going to fight Werewolves. I’d like you to tell me what you can do.”

“A girl like me is entitled to have a few secrets, am I not?”

— This fish…

The sound of Haruki’s back teeth grinding against each other was almost too loud.

At the same time Haruki’s murderous intent surfaced, his Divine Energy caused his mask to shine.

Affected by this mysterious presence, a trembling Chep scurried back to the safety of Karen’s pocket.

“Karen.”

“Yes.”

“Hyaaah!?”

At Haruki’s signal, Karen reached for her pocket and grabbed Chep.

She held her out straight ahead towards Haruki.

However, the next moment…

Chep gave off a flash of light, and disappeared from Karen’s grasp.

That light started to move under Karen’s feet.

The shape of a squirming and weeping Chep appeared on that spot.

“Awwwaaah!”

“Tsk…”

— This fish…

She was proving to be very skilled at using the properties of Karen’s bracelet to her advantage.

She had easily escaped from Karen’s hands and landed wherever she pleased.

It was very likely that there was no way one could hurt Chep unless she was taken by surprise.

And even if she were to be attacked, she would survive because of her “Princess” skill.

All of that worked to spur on her annoying existence.

Haruki felt discouraged as he thought he had to go on adventuring with that fish.

And Karen felt even worse than Haruki.

She seemed to be worn out of having to bear to see Chep’s behavior.

— You can throw that bracelet away if you don’t want her, though.

However, that bracelet’s ability –that is, to increase the wearer’s defense based on their amount of energy– was excellent when dealing with things like the knight’s throwing attack.

That bracelet was too good to just throw it away just because an annoying fish was now living inside it.

*sigh*

The two of them sighed, completely resigned.

Haruki and the others had reached the 15th floor.

After checking their equipment, Haruki and the others came out of the gate and started looking for the boss.

Haruki expanded his Detection range, expecting a Werewolf’s surprise attack.

He continued on forward with his natural stance.

Karen walked behind him with her staff ready at hand.

Rhea was calmly shaking her leaves.

Esta was crawling on the ground, looking for earthworms.

— Can you even find earthworms here?

Someone else could be heard saying stuff like “Ah, Lady Rhea is so lovely! She gives me goosebumps all over!”, but let’s not bother ourselves with that one.

To pay her any mind would be to throw away all of the tension they had built up to get to where they were now.

Haruki could only care about finding Werewolves.

And they wouldn’t leave him waiting for too long.

Haruki detected one 100 meters away from their position.

It appeared to be aware of Haruki as well.

It seemed to be waiting just in front of where Haruki was heading off to.

A single attack from each one as they found the first one.

Karen would stun it with a lightning bolt, and Haruki would slash at it.

That was how Haruki thought the result of their encounter would be.

30 meters left to the Werewolf.

Haruki waved with his hand lightly so as to send a signal to Karen.

The next moment…

Haruki rushed at the Werewolf with all his strength.

10 meters left to the Werewolf.

There, Karen’s lightning struck.

*Vrooooom!!*

“Eh?”

The lightning bolt had struck true.

But despite that, Haruki’s voice came out in an unintentionally dull tone.

The reason for that was the Werewolf that was now in front of him.

Its silver fur had been burnt black, and white smoke was rising from several places of its body.

The Werewolf’s eyes were completely blank as it fell flat on its face.

“Huh?”

Completely puzzled by what he had just seen, Haruki tilted his head to the side.

The Werewolf was still alive.

However, it took a single lightning bolt to knock it out.

The lightning bolt had been about the same size as usual.

The difference was at its central part.

Lightning bolts are magical attacks that looked like lightning, with a mixture of yellow and blue-ish white in color.

But now, the center of that lightning had changed to a darker color.

It was as if the difference in how much power it held had appeared as a color change.

Karen turned around and quickly shook her head.

Her face looked like it was screaming “DON’T LOOK AT ME I DON’T KNOW ANYTHING”.

However, Karen had been the one responsible for that.

It was an inescapable fact.

“At your physical level… So this is the result of the enhanced Magic tree?”

Haruki muttered that as he promptly finished off the fainted Werewolf.

“Wow!!”

The change in power in Karen’s magic was just as Haruki had imagined.

In the ensuing battles, Karen’s magic would render the Werewolves unable to fight with an amazing power.

— But isn’t it a little too much?

Haruki wondered that, but the first time he fought against these Werewolves was before he had obtained the Tree Enhancement feature.

Karen had enhanced her Magic tree to +3.

Besides, after fighting against that lower god, she had suffered from a strong level-up sickness that caused her to faint.

Her physical level was much higher than before.

— It’s amazing that she can leave a Werewolf on the brink of death with a single lightning bolt…

Just as he was absorbed in thought while taking the Werewolf apart, reinforcements appeared from the tall grass.

*Vroooom!!*

She seemed to have noticed that other Werewolf.

Karen struck it with a lightning bolt just as it emerged.

Just like before, a single lightning bolt was enough to leave this new Werewolf at death’s door.

After being done with the first one, Haruki quickly finished off the second one.

“Gyaaah!!”

Haruki suddenly noticed something as he was taking the second one apart.

“Hmm? This means…”

Haruki immediately expanded his Detection range.

He tracked down some more Werewolves, and Rhea opened fire at full force.

That was even more effective than Karen’s lightning.

*Ratatatat!!*

*Boom!!*

The two bullets fired by Rhea literally smashed the Werewolf’s head and abdomen.

Having lost those body parts, the rest of the Werewolf flopped onto the floor.

Before, Rhea’s bullets wouldn’t get past a Werewolf’s thick fur, which would considerably reduce how much she could damage them.

Compared to that time, now it was a force to be reckoned with.

“This is bad…”

Haruki clicked his tongue.

Their awareness and physical ability were completely disconnected from each other.

If they had to fight with the normal species for a while before they could defeat this floor while having to rebalance their misaligned awareness and physical ability, they could end up making a fatal mistake in an emergency.

“Nyoowaahh!!”

“What was that? I’ve been hearing this strange voice for some time now.”

Unable to ignore it, Haruki stopped working on the Werewolf’s corpse and raised his head.