15 Episode 14 Ranks and Hordes




 Today I woke up to the sound of bells. I ate a good meal and went to the guild, enduring the high tension as usual.
 I take a look at the F-rank requests for defeat and extermination.
 Hmm? What's the difference between a kill request and an extermination request?
 Sally was nowhere to be found today, so I asked a random receptionist nearby. It would be rude to call her random, but...

Excuse me, I have a question.

"Yes, what is it?

What's the difference between a request for defeat and a request for extermination? They're both requests to kill demons, right?

 How do they distinguish between them? Is it the strength of the demon? But there was no particular distinction between the two depending on the rank of the request.

Yes, that's right, basically you don't have to accept a request to kill a demon. It doesn't matter where the demon was defeated, and it doesn't matter if some time has passed since the demon was defeated. This is mainly for demons that are more likely to cause damage if their numbers increase.

 I think it says that you don't have to accept the request to defeat it. That was a blind spot.

If you're not sure what you're looking for, you may want to check with your local library. You can't kill a monster that has been killed before. Naturally, the reward is higher than that for the same monster, because of the restriction.

 If there is a request for extermination, they will do it, if not, they will do it.

"Even if I kill a demon in a place that is the target of an extermination request, will I still be able to fulfill the extermination request?

 In short, if the demon disappears from the place, it's fine.

Yes, it can't be accomplished. We have no way of knowing if this is true or not. If you have received the order, the guild card will tell you if you have accomplished the request, but if you haven't received the order, it will only tell you when you killed the monster. The original guild card, which was made in the old days, seemed to know where the monster was defeated, but unfortunately, the guild card does not reproduce that much.

 In other words, the reason why extermination requests require an order is because the incomplete function of the guild card cannot determine if a previously defeated demon is the subject of the request.
 If this function is applied, it might be useful for interrogation.
 For example, you could have the player accept a request to "tell me what you think", and then bombard him with questions while observing his guild card.
 It may not be useful for getting people to talk, but it may be useful for judging the truth of what they say when they do. Well, that's none of my business. I don't want to be interrogated.

"All right. I'll go check on the request.

Okay. Have a good day.

 I go through the requests again. However, there was no F-rank extermination request. I wonder if it's because they don't want to leave urgent requests to an F-rank.
 Instead, there were requests to kill Green Wolf and Big Mouth. I got the rewards when I was G rank, but I wonder if the rank doesn't matter.
 I guess it doesn't matter if you don't need to get them, because the requests you can get are within your rank.
 It would be interesting to kill the demons listed in the C-rank requests and report them, but there is no need to take unnecessary risks.
 Besides, even if I could rise through the ranks in such a way, it doesn't mean it would be a good thing.
 Even if I have high magic and other specs, I'm not an experienced adventurer. There will be requests that require such things.
 Let's just go with it. ............!

 So I'm going into the forest without accepting any requests, since I'm only going to do requests for killing.
 I'll show you the power of the magic barrage!
 Well, I don't want to run into a situation where the barrage will come into play too much.
 Today, I'm heading deeper into the forest without gathering any herbs. After ten minutes of running, using the speed I've gained by leveling up, I finally encounter the first dog. A green dog.
 I put on my gear from the item box and fire a rock spear at it, deliberately missing its vital point. Now that I'm up to the next level, I should check its power while I still have time.
 The rock spear that I randomly shot at the body pierced the green dog at a higher speed than before and shattered it. However, the green dog seemed to have already suffered a fatal wound and only twitched its legs.
 While I was watching, the green dog seemed to have died, so I put it in the item box and moved on.
 It seems that demons, including Green Dog, have magic stones inside their bodies, but I have yet to see one. I have never seen a magic stone.
 Also, it seems that magic stones are not sold in their original state in general stores, and small ones are crushed and used as batteries for magic tools, while large ones are processed as they are. Well, I don't feel like dismantling a green dog just to see it. I don't think I'll get a chance to use this sword yet. I'd like to use it, but I don't think it's a good idea to waste it.

 As I walked deeper into the forest, five green dogs appeared at once. I fired five rock spears at them and killed them immediately. My INT didn't increase by much, but the green dogs were dying in an interesting way. I guess the wand has made it easier to aim, but this is very useful. Thanks to this, I don't have to use my sword at all.
 Just as I'm about to start stripping, I notice a large number of reactions on the left side of the tentacles. You quickly turn your head to the left and see a bunch of green dogs. How many are there? I don't know. I don't even want to count them. How do I escape? ....... If I tried to burn them all down with a fireball, I'd have a forest fire on my hands. .......
 There are so many of them, but they are finite, unless they come from spawn blocks or something. It's better to reduce the number for now.
 So, take out a potion of accelerated magic recovery from the item box, open it, and chug it. Opening the potion was done by image.
 Then I started shooting rock spears with all my magic power. The pack of green dogs fell down, but I stepped over them and came closer and closer.


 The fanfare of leveling up echoed in my head continuously.
 As you hit, you make the most of your tentacles to find obstacles and retreat. But the violence of numbers is a terrible thing, and a few green dogs appear, having escaped the rock spears. And while you're dealing with them, they close the distance between you and them. Through this repetition, the distance between you and them has become much smaller.
 The density of the green dogs seems to be decreasing, but there are still many of them. There are only about two meters left. In the beginning, there must have been five times as many as this.

 Suddenly, one of the green dogs jumps out at your face. I quickly thrust my right sword into it.
 I felt a thud, and the sword pierced the green dog's neck. It was my first time using a sword, but for some reason, the sword went in unexpectedly easily. He then pulled the sword straight out without hesitation and held it at the upper level.
 The rock spear was still firing with all its might. The momentum does not seem to be waning.

 --I can go, I thought, amidst the background music of the slightly slowing fanfare and the barking of the green dog.

 I stopped retreating and stayed where I was. I stopped using my rock spear to kill the approaching enemies and decided to reduce their numbers by running straight into the pack as much as possible.
 Cut down two approaching green dogs at once. As the power of the rock spear increased with level, so did its penetrating power, and the rock spear was now capable of skewering two green dogs with a single blow.
 The sword is also incomparable to what it was at the beginning of the battle. The sword, which had initially lost a lot of momentum just by killing one green dog due to its increased skill, strength, and speed, now could slice through three green dogs at once and still retain its momentum. The relentless barrage of powerful rock spears and swords made the initially seemingly hopeless battle with the green dogs seem a little more manageable.
 As the corpses piled up, it became easier to be attacked from above, so I retreated little by little and just kept slashing at the green dogs. I knocked down a green dog from the left with my shield, swung my sword to the left to stop it, and swung my sword to the right to cut in half the upper body of two green dogs that had attacked me at once.
 I look to the side where the pack was coming from, but all I see is a series of dead green dogs. There are no more biological responses left on the tentacles except my own.

 I've won, against the green dog pack.

 Now, after the fight comes the cleanup. I have to collect these things. I realize that I don't need to touch them, so I lightly step on the corpse of the green dog and store it in the item box. As I store them, I look at my status. I don't remember the number of fanfares, as I was so absorbed in the game that they were just background music.

 Name: Suzumiya Kaede
 Age / Race / s*x : 21 / Human / Male
 Level: 17
 HP:631/631
 MP:755/9112
 STR:90
 INT:148
 AGI:112
 DEX:124
 Skills: Information Manipulation Analysis (Concealment), Complete Mastery of Otherworldly Languages (Concealment), Magical Qualities (Concealment), Martial Arts Qualities (Concealment), Otherworldly (Concealment), All Attribute Affinity (Concealment), Fire Magic 3 Earth Magic 3 Water Magic 3 Pressure Magic 1 Perception Magic 4 Restoration Magic 2 Swordsmanship 2

 My skill level has not increased, but my status has increased rapidly as my level has increased. My magic level will increase as I develop it, so it won't be a problem even if it doesn't increase along with my level. Maybe.
 My MP seems to have been in a bit of danger, but that fight that seemed like an eternity actually lasted about three minutes. If I had run out of MP without realizing it, I might have been in danger.
 But it was a fruitful three minutes, that's for sure.

 I've finished collecting them. It seems there were 513 green dogs.
 Considering that the battle lasted about three minutes, that means I was killing less than 200 per minute, or about 3.5 per second.
 The number of rock spears fired per second should be about 14, so even if we don't consider the slashes, 4 spears would have killed 1 fish.
 He might have wasted his spears on those who were already dead. This remains as an issue.
 As I was feeling very tired, I decided to go back without going any further.
 And then I look at my hands and realize. I'm covered in blood.
 Even though my clothes don't get dirty easily, it's only natural that I'm covered in blood.
 But I can't just go home like this. Maybe I should find a river and bathe in it with my clothes.
 And then I realized. Why don't I just wear a water magic mask?


 For the time being, flush the equipment with water and store it in the item box. There is an item box that won't take long to clean, so it's better to leave it to the experts than to let amateurs clean it. The wand doesn't seem to need any maintenance, so I'm going to leave it as it is.
 So I'm going to cover my head with water magic like a hose. It's like a shower coming out from 30cm above your head.
 The water will be poured over your body as well. For some reason, this is the only way to wash the clothes in this world. And they dry quickly.

 I've finished taking a shower. Your clothes are still wet, but they will be dry on the way back.
 On the way back to the city, my speed has increased considerably. It was obvious that the scenery was flying backwards at a faster speed than before.
 After about ten minutes, I arrived at the gate. The gatekeeper who was checking my guild card didn't look particularly strange, so I'm sure I'm not dressed that strangely now.

 It's Eine! I'm back!