Chapter 165 – Visiting My Hometown
Noah and I exchanged glances, deciding that I would take the antra on the left, and he would take the one on the right.
Thinking that I should be careful not to let the wind blow this time, I created a morning star with a long chain in my right hand.
A morning star with a large sphere and several thick spikes.
Even by its appearance, it was a very brutal weapon.
I swung that morning star towards the antra’s head.
“Hup!”
Crack!
The morning star I swung instantly crushed the head of the antra 5 meters in front of me, and the antra stopped moving, scattering green blood.
The antra’s shell was said to be hard, but honestly, the wolf fang’s hide felt tougher and more solid.
It didn’t make sense to compare the strength of monsters living on the 5th and 13th floors, but just by appearance, the antra looked much harder, which felt a little strange.
After quickly dispatching the antra, I looked towards Noah.
Just in time, Noah and the antra were about to clash.
Zzzzzzt!
The antra raised its head and swung diagonally towards Noah, trying to hit his jaw.
“Haaah!”
But Noah jumped up, rotating like a spring, and avoided the antra’s attack.
Then, gripping his dagger, he swung it towards the joint between the head and body.
Swoosh!
The dagger couldn’t completely cut through the antra’s joint due to its length, but green blood spurted out from where it was cut.
Zzzzzzt!
Wounded, the antra’s movements became even more violent.
“Looks like once isn’t enough.”
Noah, who had landed behind the antra, immediately rushed towards it.
“Yaaah!”
He cut off the legs on the right side of the antra.
Swoosh!
Zzzzzzt!
As about two legs were cut off, the antra’s movements, trying to turn around while thrashing, became noticeably unnatural, and Noah didn’t miss the opportunity.
Whoosh!
Noah threw two throwing daggers from his waist towards the antra’s bleeding joint.
Thwack!
Ting!
One hit its mark, and the other dagger bounced off the antra’s shell.
Then, Noah jumped high, caught the bouncing dagger with his left hand.
“Haaaah!”
He spun around, cutting the joint connecting the head and body with both daggers.
Swoooosh!
Zzzzzzt! Zzz… zzt.
With the larger wound causing more bleeding, the antra slumped powerlessly to the ground.
Eventually, even its antennae stopped moving, and the antra seemed to have lost its life.
I approached Noah and said,
“Good job, Noah.”
“Yeah! As expected, the monsters on the 5th floor are harder to deal with than orcs. And…”
Noah looked down at his clothes.
Green antra blood was splattered on his short shorts and vest.
It was the antra’s blood that had been continuously spurting out as he spun and cut.
“My clothes are so dirty too.”
Indeed, it seemed like you’d get a lot of blood on you if you weren’t used to it.
But…
“But somehow, it makes you look like an adventurer, Noah. It’s cool.”
“Huh? Really? Hehehe♪”
Hearing my words, Noah smiled brightly, put his hands on his hips, and puffed out his chest, saying,
“Hmm, is it like this? Like a veteran adventurer who’s been through the wringer? Hah, blood got on me.”
He lightly brushed his bangs with his hand, imitating what he probably thought a veteran adventurer would look like, and I gave him a thumbs up.
“Yeah. You’re cool, Noah.”
“Hehehee.”
“Noah~ How was fighting the antra?”
Just then, Ninya and Elsie approached us.
“Ah, Ninya! It was definitely harder than fighting orcs. But how were my moves?”
“They were fine. You did better than when I struggled on the 5th floor for the first time, you know?”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Hehehee, it’s all thanks to Elsie’s magic. Honestly, if I didn’t have the speed, I wouldn’t have been able to dodge so well… and if I didn’t have the power, it would have been harder to cut the joints.”
“I’m so glad my holy magic was helpful to Noah!”
A harmonious party scene.
Very nice to see!
“And Rent… you’re still amazing. This time you used that morning star to deal with them.”
“Yes. I thought it would be easier to smash their heads with this.”
“But if it’s Rent, you’d be fine even without the spikes, right?”
“…It, it looked cool.”
Ninya winked at me and said,
“Hehe, that ordinary boyish side of you… is so cute, Rent♡”
“Ahaha…”
“Rent! H-how about trying close combat with a sword next time?”
Elsie’s eyes sparkled as she requested the next mana weapon.
As expected, Elsie seemed to prefer swords, which are the most standard and often appear in stories.
Hmm, hunting giant insect monsters with a large two-handed sword would be pretty cool too.
“Okay, I’ll do that next time.”
“Yes!”
After finishing the cleanup, such as collecting the throwing daggers and extracting magic stones or collecting jaws, we walked on again.
Not long after walking, this time, five antra appeared.
I immediately stood in front of Noah.
“I’ll take care of three of them right away.”
Two might be okay, but if Noah had to deal with more than that, it might be dangerous.
Noah seemed to know this too, as he nodded.
“Okay. Please, Rent.”
I stepped forward and created a sword as Elsie had requested.
I imagined a large greatsword with a wide blade.
Feeling like I was doing a muscle car start, I pushed off the ground.
Whoosh!
I instantly moved to the side of the antra on the far right.
“Haah!”
Whoosh!
I swung the greatsword towards the joint connecting the antra’s head and body.
As if tearing through paper, the antra’s head and body separated.
Before the blood could splatter, I immediately pushed off the ground and rushed towards the next antra.
“Hup!”
This time, I slashed upwards from below, cutting through the antra’s joint.
And I quickly moved to the third antra and cut its joint as well.
A simple triple decapitation.
Downwards slash, upwards slash, downwards slash.
But when I thought about the movements I had just made, it felt like I was doing a combo from a fighting game.
The large amount of green blood flowing from the three antra soaked the desert sand.
After finishing off all the antra I was going to hunt, I shouted to Noah,
“Noah! Do your best!”
“Rent is really strong… Okay! I’ll do my best too! Yaaaah!”
And Noah also rushed towards his prey.
◈
In the morning, Noah and I hunted antra together.
The reason I hunted with a greatsword once was because Elsie’s reaction was so good, and I continued to hunt with it after that.
Honestly, it was also gross to crush the antra’s heads directly with my hands, so it worked out well.
Noah also gradually got used to hunting antra.
Noah changed his strategy from aiming for the joints first, like he did at the beginning, to quickly cutting off the legs first and then aiming for the joints.
He said it was much safer that way.
However, the more antra he hunted, the more Noah’s skills improved, but conversely, his movements gradually began to slow down.
“Haa… haa… It’s hot…”
Even though he had leveled up, it was hard for Noah, a beastkin, to keep hunting under the blazing sun.
Of course, it wasn’t just Noah who was hot.
“Hoo…”
Even Elsie, who was wearing the thickest clothes among us, even though she wasn’t participating in the battle, had beads of sweat on her face.
Ninya still looked fine.
“Are you okay, Noah?”
“I’m a little tired…”
Noah honestly stated his condition.
It was time for lunch.
Let’s take a break here for now.
“Noah, let’s rest while we eat.”
“Okay…”
Noah’s ears and tail were drooping, as if he was really hot.
We went to the largest rock nearby and settled down in the shade.
Before eating, I created a fan and fanned Elsie, Noah, and Ninya.
Flap flap flap flap flap flap!
“How is it?”
As soon as he felt the breeze, Noah smiled brightly and said,
“It’s cool! Rent, you’re the best!”
“Thank you, Rent.”
“Aren’t you hot, Rent?”
I nodded at Ninya’s question.
“Yes, I’m fine.”
Actually, I wasn’t sweating more than necessary.
My body, which had a higher existence than a hero, a dragon, or a demon king, was unaffected by this level of heat.
I was about to unfold a cloth with my mana weapon.
But I thought that if we sat down and ate like this, sand grains might get into the lunch boxes.
As I was wondering what to do, an idea came to mind.
I created a table and chairs with my mana weapon and placed them on the ground.
After firmly fixing them to the sandy ground so they wouldn’t tilt, I took out the lunch boxes from my inventory and said to everyone,
“Okay, let’s eat.”
“…The meaning of ‘weapon’ in mana weapon has disappeared.”
Noah retorted.
Noah, you already knew that since I made the vibrator, right?
And these things are all weapons if you swing them.
While eating lunch in the shade of the rock, we talked about our plans for the future.
“I… I want to go back. It’s hard.”
Noah, who really disliked the heat, suggested that we finish for the day after just the morning session.
“The 5th floor is quite hot.”
At Elsie and Noah’s words, Ninya chuckled and said,
“Right~ Actually, if you want to move around on the 5th floor for a long time, you should cover your body with white cloth or use a parasol to block the sunlight.”
“…Huh? Ninya, did you know and not say anything?”
“You need to experience this kind of hardship at least once. Besides, I also needed to test if you could fight properly even in this hot situation. Noah, who has been fighting hard all morning, has passed♪”
“Ugh, Ninya, that’s too much.”
“Hehe, sorry, sorry. Let’s call it a day for today. We’ve caught about 50 antra. Ah, come to think of it…”
Ninya looked at me and asked,
“Rent. When are you going to go back to your hometown?”
“Hmm…”
If I was going to go back, it would be better to go soon.
I also wanted to quickly let my mom and dad eat the orc champion steak and give them the money to let them know that their son was doing fine.
It was a 3-day trip by carriage.
But if I ran on my own legs, it would be about a day’s distance.
Then, wouldn’t it be better to go tomorrow?
“I’m planning to leave tomorrow if possible.”
“Oh my, that’s fast.”
“I want to give them the money quickly… and above all, I have delicious food stored right now.”
“Hehe, Rent is such a filial son~ Okay! Then let’s finish up here for today… Rent said he was going to exchange gold, right? Let’s exchange the gold.”
“Yes, Ninya.”
“Hehe, Rent’s parents… aren’t you excited to meet them in person? Elsie, Noah.”
“Yes, yes! I’m excited, but… I’m n-nervous…”
“I wonder how big Rent’s dad will be!”
After deciding on our plan for the day, we finished lunch and headed back to the surface.
◈
As we were about to return using the muscle carriage because Noah hated the heat,
I thought of a way to make this situation more comfortable from Ninya’s story.
That was to create a large parasol to block the sunlight.
As a test, I created a giant parasol with a radius of about 5 meters, and a large shade was created around us.
This giant umbrella was a big hit with Noah.
However, since I had to hold the parasol with one hand, I could only carry one person directly using the muscle carriage.
Elsie won the fierce rock-paper-scissors game among the three lovely ladies.
I took out a carrier, connected two seats, and then carried Ninya and Noah on my back while holding Elsie in my arms.
“R-Rent…♡”
Perhaps as revenge for what happened in the morning, this time Elsie hugged my head as I first lifted her up, pressing her chest against my face.
…I’m happy.
“Uuu~ Elsie, you’re getting revenge.”
“Hehe, Elsie got one over on you.”
From behind, Noah patted my shoulder with his palm.
“This carrier is comfortable to sit on, but even if I reach out, I can only touch Rent’s back and shoulders…”
There was a fair distance between the seat and my back because there needed to be space for their legs.
“And there’s a safety device, so I can’t press my chest against Rent. It’s uncomfortable~”
I want to feel the soft sensation of her chest on my back.
But if I kept doing that at the speed of the muscle carriage, I might accidentally fall off.
“It’s dangerous, so you shouldn’t remove the safety device.”
“Okay~.”
“R-Rent… let’s go.”
Satisfied, Elsie took her chest off my head and put her arms around my neck.
…I’d be fine if you hugged me for another 5 minutes, Elsie.
In my right hand, I held the parasol, and on my back, I carried Ninya and Noah.
And with my left hand enjoying the soft sensation of Elsie’s thigh, I ran towards the surface.
