A bright forest with constant sunlight filtering through the trees. That was the impression I had of the Forest of Monsters.
　The word "demon" tends to conjure up a frightening image, but this is a forest of magic-using monsters.


'Oh, there's a mushroom growing here.

　A magical looking mushroom with a pink umbrella and light blue speckles was growing at the base of a tree.
　When I picked it up, it seemed to be an item and was stored in my inventory.

《Magical Mushroom》

'Why did you mix kanji characters in ......?

"Kanji?
"That's a magical mushroom.
I'm sure it's a unique taste.
"It's a rare thing.
'It's a rare thing.

'What, is this a rare item?

　When I read the description of the item after reading the listener's comment, I found that it 'changes its unique color when it contains magical power. It's a precious mushroom that can be used to make potions. It seems to be valuable, at least according to the flavor text.
　I wonder what a potion is. Is it a different item from potions?

'Let's save it for now: ...... Ah, but it grows a lot.

　You can see the same thing growing here and there, though the visibility is probably good.
　It's also a good way to fill up your sparse inventory, so I decided to pick them up while exploring the demon forest.


'Hmmmmmm ...... Oh, monsters.'

　As I wandered through the forest picking up mushrooms, a butterfly leapt into view.
　It's a pretty big butterfly, about 30 centimeters long. It's listed as a Butterfly Magi Lv 22, so it might be a moderately powerful enemy.

　The Butterfly Magi flapped its wings as if it were dancing, and suddenly drew a magic circle in front of its body and unleashed an ice spell.
　The speed is about the same as a lightly kicked soccer ball, so there is no way to avoid it.
　However, I thought it would be a good idea to take a shot at it, so I took it without defending myself.


　About 80% of my HP was wiped out.


'Seriously?

　It's true that my magic defense is devastatingly low, but I'm a 30 level demon. I should have more HP than most people, but 80% of it was wiped out.
　And that's with a spell that's clearly not a strong spell, just a spell that sends ice balls flying.

　You quickly change your mind and close the distance between you and the Butterfly Magi.
　While closing the distance, he dodged the flying ice blocks and slammed his fist into the butterfly, which was moving erratically.
　You'll need to be able to find a way to get a hold of the butterfly's wings and kick it in the knee, then lift it off the ground and slam it into the ground with a heel drop.
　Fortunately, the Butterfly Magi's HP wasn't too high, and it fell easily with that kind of combo.


'Thank God for its small size.

'Is that a good combo ......?
"You're really weak against magic, aren't you?


"I've never seen an ice ball do that much damage.
"Is that what you call an ice ball?
"It's the initial magic of the ice attribute.
'Were you really in a hurry?

'No, I was really nervous.

　The reason why so many demon players didn't choose the Doji is now clear to me.
　Even the initial magic is that fast and that powerful. Moreover, a stronger spell would have a greater range, and would be more powerful and faster.
　And if they came to this forest at around Lv20, they would be sent to the respawn without question.
　No matter how much of a benefit it is, if you ask me if I can accept this, I can certainly understand why you would groan.

'Anyway, let's drink the potion we bought at the teahouse: ......'

　I drank down two bottles of the potion, which tasted like ordinary herbs. The empty bottles are still in your inventory.
　Having almost given away all my money to Haruru, I used the money I earned on the way to the Demon Forest to buy a potion at the teahouse at the entrance to the forest.
　I didn't think I'd have to use it at this entrance, but I had no choice. I breathed a sigh of relief as my HP slowly recovered, and resumed my search.


　Hmmm, this makes me think even stranger about the wound I received from Apocalypse yesterday.
　The first blow that left me not knowing what it had done to me. I was pierced in the stomach without being able to see.
　I thought I'd been hit by the same light spear that followed, but considering the damage I'd taken from Butterfly Magi's attack earlier, it was obvious that my endurance would not allow me to survive Apocalypse's attack.
　At the time, I thought it might be a magic that specialized in missing parts, but I don't know ....... I'm not sure.

　It's a good idea to have a good idea of what you're looking for and what you can do to help.

☆☆


　According to one of our listeners, the Butterfly Magi themselves are one of the most powerful monsters in this forest. So even if it is hit by the same magic from other monsters, it won't take as much damage as before.
　However, there are monsters that use stronger spells, so we concluded that we should avoid all spells.
　That's fine, but...

'Oh no!

　Now I was in a big trouble.


　It all started about five minutes ago.
　I've been filling in the map for an hour. I'm sure I'd gotten used to fighting magic monsters, mainly butterflies, and let my guard down.

'Oh, look at that. It's a really shiny monster ...... that looks like a fox, but what is it?'

　In the middle of my search, I saw a fox that wasn't glowing or anything like that, but was in a relatively bright forest and was glowing.
　When I sneaked up on it and looked at its name, I saw that it was called 《Shiny Fox Lv5》.

　I felt like this was a rare monster, so I prepared a throwing knife with a little nervousness.
　Since the power of a throw is basically based on muscle strength, I decided that even a low-powered throwing knife would be enough to defeat a Shiny Fox of a different level.
　Even though the gauntlets prevented him from having fine control, it was not that difficult to just throw straight and hit.
　Careful, careful. I threw my knife at the Shiny Fox.



'Gah!

　The plan was certainly correct, and the knife I threw cleanly pierced through his neck, shaving off his HP.
　Perhaps because it pierced his throat, his scream was short and he collapsed.

　That was the moment.
　The Shiny Fox, which had been glowing white until then, scattered red flashes of light around me at the moment of death and disappeared.

'What was that, ......?

　Although I was a little surprised, the battle results showed a large amount of experience, so much that I couldn't believe I had defeated a level 5 monster, and the higher the level, the more experience I gained.
　In addition to that, I got 10,000 Iris. It was an unbelievable reward for a level 5 monster.


'I see, it's a bonus monster.

　I smiled honestly at the joy of the increase in level and the money in my wallet.
　But I quickly changed my mind when I saw two Butterfly Magi appear in front of me.

　Two of them would be a bit tricky. He held up his fist with that thought in mind, but three more Butterfly Magi appeared at the edge of his vision.
　I had a bad feeling and quickly turned around to see not only the Butterfly Magi, but also the normal monsters of this forest, including the Goblin Mage and Magical Matango, popping one after another around me.

　I realized that the number of monsters that had finally popped up around the place where Shiny Fox had died had exceeded 30.


'...... traps, monsters'.

　I muttered to myself in this rather desperate situation.
　The one that could have created this situation was the Shiny Fox, no matter what I thought.
　That last light was probably a skill or something that had the effect of attracting monsters.
　It wasn't just a rare, experience monster. It was literally a trap.

'......'.

　By the time I thought I had failed, the battle had already begun.
　Five ice balls were launched at me with a roar, ready to strike me.