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“This is bad…” (Souma)

I might have been lacking a bit of foresight here. 

There’s a lot more people than I imagined. 

When I looked at the south gate where we were heading to, there was already a crowd there. 

There were even normal people that are clearly not adventurers lining up there. 

The subjugation contest has a limit of the first 50, so I thought there wouldn’t be that many people, but the outbreak this time around is the Golden Stray Wild Slime with the best experience efficiency. 

Even people who are not participating in the subjugation contest are heading to the plain for the exp. I should have properly taken that into consideration.

(Maybe I should just take a detour to the east or west?) (Souma)

That thought surfaced in my mind, but I immediately gave up the thought. 

The Deus Plain at the south gate is close to the city and it is the place with the weakest monsters.

If it were at another place, it really would be life threatening if I don’t change my equipment. 

In the Nekomimi Neko world, the south is normally the place with the weaker monsters.

Looking at the kingdom as a whole, the Demon Lord Castle is at the north with the capital being at the center. Lamurick is southeast. With that information, you can piece things together. 

But, on the other hand, the enemies are stronger when faraway from a city, so if you go further south from the Deus Plain, the level of the enemies will increase for a while, and after going through around 3 fields, there will be the highest level dungeon for the south side. 

By the way, the boss in the area is said to be the boss that has killed the most players, King Butcher. I was also minced in one hit when I suddenly encountered it the first time. 

Well, a swordsman is a bad match against it, but in the current version, the level 120 Slime Mold Forest is a lot more of a threat. 

On top of being difficult for a swordsman to fight in, the mold monsters that appear there multiply with the passing of time. 

If you ignore it for several months of game time, the Slime Mold Forest will spread to the cities.

It is a place that must be dealt with eventually. 

But…

“We are pushing our way through there and getting outside!” (Souma)

Right now is not the time to be thinking about the future. 

I cut off the unnecessary thoughts, pulled the hand of Ringo, and plunged into the south gate. 

When we get across the gate and go out to the field, the amount of people decreased by an astonishing degree. 

Looks like the people loitering close to the gate were really normal citizens.

There’s no worries of getting attacked by Golden Stray Wild Slimes, and as long as the attacks hit, no matter if it is a regular citizen or a child, they can defeat it. 

The people of the city came to the gate with that in mind, but they don’t have the courage to step into the field, so they are gathering up close to the gate. 

On the other hand, we should be at the field already, but there’s no monsters around. 

I don’t know how this world fills up the explanation for this phenomenon now that it has become real, but in the game, all monsters will disappear from the target location as an omen of a monster outbreak. 

That’s why the people of the city managed to get all the way here, but I have to use this time effectively. 

“…Let’s go.” (Souma)

I urge Ringo on, get out from the vicinity of the gate where the people are accumulating at, and go deeper into the plains. 

I don’t think there’s the need to, but we walk in a way that avoids the gaze of people. 

We take a breath at a place where there aren’t many people. 

“We will be running from here on.” (Souma)

After giving the signal to Ringo, we begin moving for real.

It seems like the city people accumulated close to the entrance and the adventurers plan on defeating the goldens in groups.

It is true that you can reduce their escape routes with large numbers, and the chances of defeating them will increase.

However, the chances of you dealing the finishing blow decrease greatly. 

If you have a way to defeat goldens alone, you should actually avoid people instead. 

The Deus Plain is a location with good vision. The only things you would find here is short grass, the occasional bush, and the big rocks that you can find in important locations. There’s nothing blocking your vision.

After running for a while, there were adventurers here and there who were thinking the same thing as us. 

However, they were not high in numbers. 

The subjugation contest has 50 participants at most. 

If most of them are in teams of 3, it would mean there’s less than 20 groups. 

I was wondering what to do when I saw the gate, but seeing how things are here, I might not need to adjust my plans too much.

“Around here should be fine.” (Souma)

At the very least, there’s no signs of players around. 

Also, the shape of the rock in front of me is familiar. 

If my memory serves right, there should have been a spawn point here. 

“Ringo, the first one should definitely appear close to that rock there. Counting on you for the preemptive strike.” (Souma)

When I say this, Ringo at least nodded with her usual gaze that I can’t tell where she is looking at.

Monsters normally don’t spawn in front of players…but this monster outbreak event is an exception. It is one of the few special events. 

The monsters will spawn even in front of the player, and the respawn time is reduced greatly. 

If possible, I want to grasp the trick of this golden hunt without the intervention of others, and with all our preparation working. 

I confirmed my own equipment before the monster outbreak. 

My initial equipment is the same, but considering the risks of getting attacked are low, I switched all my rings aside from the stamina ones from defense to elemental damage increase. 

I learned fire magic, so it would be nice to test it out when I have the leeway. 

My weapons are Shiranui and the Wakizashi as always. 

The otachi modifiers may not be of use here, but Shiranui is the weapon I have with the highest attack right now.

I actually tried to lend Shiranui to Ringo, but Ringo wanted the Heat Knife more. 

Looks like she took a liking to the heating bright red blade. 

Those are some slightly dangerous tastes there. 

As long as she is attacking with Lightning Strike, her dagger proficiency and fire magic proficiency won’t increase even with a Heat Knife, but the Heat Knife has decent attack power in itself. 

No matter how strong Lightning Strike is, it doesn’t seem to have enough damage to deal more than usual to the goldens, so whichever way is fine. 

At that moment, Ringo raised her face that had been facing who-knows-what until now, and took a stance with the Heat Knife. 

When I look at the time, it is already 10 seconds before it begins. 

I hurriedly got ready. 

“Ringo, once it appears, shoot a Raigeki at full power. I will go in with this when the enemy has stopped its movements… Please, don’t hit me with it, okay?” (Souma)

Ringo properly nodded at my half-joking words.

“…I pray…I won’t hit you.” (Ringo)

Don’t pray, do your best to not hit me -is what I wanted to retort with, but time came. 

Light particles gathered and a single creature was born.

A jelly-like golden body with two cat ear shaped protuberances that are the trademark of Wild Slimes. 

There’s no doubt about it, it is the Golden Stray Wild Slime! 

“Ringo!” (Souma)

The moment I shouted that, Ringo was already moving.

Lightning surges from the tip of the knife.

(Fast!) (Souma)

That attack that even I wouldn’t be able to avoid, the Golden Wild Slime reacted to it. 

But the lightning doesn’t travel straight. 

That thing is as if 5 faintly unraveled lightning arrows were flying at the same time. 

The slime jumped to the side, but one of those lights scraped it. 

No matter how strong of an attack it is, it is a multi-hit attack.

It understandably didn’t get through the defense of the Slime, but it definitely managed to deal 1 damage.

She then shot 2, 3 times consecutively without missing a beat. 

(Nice!) (Souma)

Keeping in mind to hit where it is going to go so that it won’t escape instead of actually hitting the attack, Ringo was herding it with consecutive Raigekis.

Not only that, it was baited expertly by Ringo, and she finally landed a clean hit—

(Right, this isn’t the time to enjoy the show.) (Souma)

I use Godstep Cancel and rush towards the opponent that got a direct hit and had been completely stunned in place. 

Ringo must be showing consideration for me, she stopped shooting Lightning Strikes.

There’s no obstructions on my way to the Wild Slime. 

I use Step and Cancel to close the distance, and enter the skill range. 

The Wild Slime hasn’t moved yet! 

I Short Cancel the last Step, and activate the dagger skill: [Hexa-Stab].

Still not moving.

(I can do this!) (Souma)

If the target hasn’t moved even at this distance, this attack won’t be missing.

I switch my reverse grip, lunge onto the Wild Slime, and…

“Oh?” (Souma)

And went through its body. 

(J-Just what in the world…) (Souma)

I look back in surprise, but the Wild Slime had already become light particles. 

But those were scattered by the wind soon after too.

And that wasn’t the only strange thing.

“…Hm?!” 

When I turned around to the pained voice I am not used to hearing, Ringo made a micro frown, and hugged her own body as if enduring something.

“A-Are you okay?! What in the world happened?” (Souma)

I hurriedly ran there and she said in a weak voice. 

“…vel…up…” (Ringo)

But I couldn’t hear her properly. 

I got my ear closer, and she said once again…

“Level up…hurts.” (Ringo)

…I see.

Looks like leveling up a whole lot in one go is something that hurts the body. 

I leveled one level at a time, and Ina leveled up a whole ton in the Cave of Trials, but the person herself was injured, so that was the least of her concerns. 

But if I take the definition of leveling up as a leap in strength, it would be body modification. 

Then, it wouldn’t be strange to feel a change of some sort. 

Anyways, if the level of Ringo has increased, it means that Ringo dealt the finishing blow on the Wild Slime. 

Meaning that the direct hit of the Lightning Strike was what killed it. 

Thinking about it, monsters remain for a while even when defeated in Nekomimi Neko. 

Looks like the Wild Slime had already perished by the time I had charged in. 

No wonder it wasn’t moving at all! 

Well, this was the first one, so I simply was flustered here. In a sense, this was exactly as planned! 

I desperately make up excuses in my mind and approach Ringo. 

And then, she hesitantly asked.

“…Should I…hold back next time?” (Ringo)

I was moved by how Ringo can now be considerate like this and shake my head to the sides.

…Listen here, Ringo…there are times when kindness can hurt people, you know?

• Chapter 48: Running Shadow

With the Lightning Strike of Ringo and my splendid charge, we defeated the first golden (prematurely died), and without waiting for it to respawn at that point, we moved to search for other goldens. 

This is our plan taking into consideration that I know beforehand about the mechanics of the monster spawning and the respawn amount at monster outbreak times. 

The monster spawning of Nekomimi Neko is incredibly simple.

There are places called spawn points in fields where monsters will appear, and then…

1st: 50%

2nd: 30%

11th: 20%

Respawn: 600 seconds.

That’s basically the number of the monster group spawning, their chances of doing so, and the respawn time. 

In the case of the upper one, if the 1st monster is a Wild Slime, the 2nd an Ugly Wild Slime, and the 11th is a set of Wild Slime and Ugly Wild Slime, there’s a 50% chance of the monster spawning in that point being a Wild Slime, 30% being an Ugly Wild Slime, and 20% of it being both Wild Slime and Ugly Wild Slime. 

The respawn time is 600 seconds, so they will respawn in that spawn point 600 seconds after the monsters there are defeated. In other words, new monsters will appear. 

However, most of those settings will serve no purpose in a monster outbreak. 

First, when a massive outbreak flag happens, no matter if the spawning monster chosen is the 1st, 2nd, or 11th, the monster chosen for the outbreak will 100% spawn. 

Right now that’s the golden slime so, no matter what the original monster was, all of them will have golden slimes showing up for sure, or more like, that’s the only thing that shows up.

I will be digressing here, but in a certain beginner dungeon, there was a goblin outbreak, and not only the small fry monsters, even the boss became a goblin. 

The issue here is that bosses and event monsters alone shouldn’t be overwritten by the outbreak, but they forgot to categorize the important monster as a boss, and the boss ended up turning into a goblin too. Well, it is a mistake that you normally see in Nekomimi Neko.

By the way, the result was that the dungeon was easily cleared, but you couldn’t fight that boss ever again, can’t get the drop items, and because one of those drops was an event item, it was impossible to proceed with the event; a total mess.

Anyways, there’s a bigger change than the types of monsters in a monster outbreak. 

All the respawn timers will change to 300 seconds, and it is possible for them to spawn again despite there already being monsters there.

In other words, regardless of if the monster is defeated or not, a new monster will definitely appear 5 minutes later. 

It might not click, but this is quite the brutal setting. 

According to the Nekomimi Neko Wiki, there’s 50 spawn points in outskirt fields.

In other words, 50 new monsters will appear every 5 minutes. 

There’s of course not going to be any problems right at the beginning of the subjugation contest. 

You simply have to defeat the monster that appeared nearby, and you would think this is easy-peasy. 

But as the instances pass, there will be points not hunted, and because of injuries and MP running out, your numbers decrease. 

This monster subjugation contest that should have begun with 50 people vs 50 monsters, turns into  200 monsters vs 20 people 30 minutes later.

However, the spawning of monsters stops at the 10th one; 45 minutes after it began.

If you can wipe the monsters at that time, the end of the competition will be announced without having to wait for the end of the monster outbreak 2 hours later, but that doesn’t happen unless the player and the participants are really high level.

I don’t know what will happen in this contest, but I decided on making my strategy with this information as the foundation.

In summary, there’s 50 spawn points in a field, and 10 monsters will show up from them. 

The result is that there will be a total of 500 Golden Stray Wild Slimes showing up this time around.

If we can perfectly defeat 250 of those 500, we will definitely become 1st place, but that’s not realistic.

80 would most likely make us impregnable, but I feel like that’s wishing too high here.

…That’s why, 50.

From my calculations, as long as we defeat 50 before the competition ends, our hands might be able to reach victory.

And if we have to defeat 50 in 2 hours, that would mean we have to defeat 1 every 2 minutes on average. 

If we just camp one spawn point to kill 1 every 5 minutes, we won’t make it at all.

Confirming that Ringo has already recovered from the drastic level ups, we head with hurried steps to search for the next point. 

“I thought a monster would spawn here though…” (Souma)

When I muttered this, Ringo at my side said this.

“…There is…a golden.” (Ringo)

“Eh?” (Souma)

Even when she tells me that, I couldn’t see it anywhere.

But…

“…Here.” (Ringo)

Ringo surprisingly led the way this time, and there certainly was a golden there. 

Does a level up increase your vision too? 

I thought of something silly like that, but what’s more important is the golden in front of me. 

I lowered my speed and whispered to her. 

“Ringo, attack when I give you the signal!” (Souma)

A fleeing monster like the Golden Stray Wild Slime has been set to escape when it has been attacked, but also when a player has approached it to a certain distance. 

I have already mastered how much I can approach by feel before it will run away. 

After I approach as much as possible, I will have Ringo use Lightning Strike. 

I will go around from the side and, this time for sure, I will nail the [Hexa-Stab]! 

I glare at the Slime that is on guard, and after approaching it enough…

“Now!” (Souma)

I shouted.

At the same time as I did, I went around to the side with Godstep Cancel.

But…

“Nani?!” (Souma)

The Lightning Strike grazes the sides too, so I can’t jump in carelessly.

I had her test out her lightning after she leveled up, and the power of it has definitely increased. 

Before the level up, one stray shot hit the rock, and it only had enough power to scratch the rock, but she successfully gouged out the rock after the level up.

If I were to get hit by that, I would be reduced to nothing.

But even with a Lightning Strike that strengthened, it can’t get through the defense of the golden.

I thought it might be possible now that she leveled up, but it seems like it can only deal the normal 1 damage. 

The attacks graze the golden several times and its movements stop. 

(Now!) (Souma)

I push back my fear and charge towards the golden.

“…Should I…hold back?” (Ringo)

The one who said this after the fight was over to me, who had his shoulders drooped, was Ringo.

However, the conclusion was that the charge did succeed and I managed to hit the golden.

W-Well, its corpse, that is! 

Moreover, I couldn’t aim for the critical point at all!

That said, it is true that this is one step forward.

I shake my head with a resolute look at Ringo’s proposal. 

Of course, up and down, that is! 

No, it would be easy if this were simply a matter of defeating them. Then, for the growth of Ringo as well as for the sake of getting 1st place, it is necessary to adjust the power and make it so that I can properly hit the Hexa-Stab…probably.

According to the Nekomimi Neko Wiki, the HP is a fixed 15 for the Golden Wild Slimes. 

That’s why, even with 3 clean hits of Lightning Strikes, or 5-10 grazes, she can defeat them. 

“One little notch more and I feel like I can get that hit in. Can you loosen your attacks a bit so that it is easier for me to approach?” (Souma)

I am not exactly boasting here, but if I were to use all of my skills, I would most likely be faster than a golden. 

The reason I didn’t make it in time there was because I was scared of the Lightning Strike of Ringo.

If she adjusts that, I should be able to manage hitting! 

Golden Wild Slime, next time we meet, it will be your last!!

In my case, when I declare such stuff with full confidence, it is a flag for failure, but it was different this time around.

On the contrary, after that, things went smoothly to a scary degree. 

The effect of holding back might have shown, I managed to hit the next golden with plenty of leeway. 

…To the corpse, that is. 

For the next one, I tried going for the Critical Point that is at the small mole (some say it is a hair) in the middle of the forehead on all slimes. 

At first…it failed.

In order to aim for the middle of the forehead, I need to get to its front, and by the time I was confused where its front was, the corpse disappeared.

However, the next one, I managed to scrape the Critical Point, missing it by a slight margin, but I managed to reach the point of almost hitting, so that served as a confidence boost. 

And then, at the 3rd one, I finally managed to hit the center of the Critical Point of the golden with the Hexa-Stab. 

The next one, I hit the Crit Point of the dead golden! 

The next one as well! 

And the one after that too! -I was slowly perfecting the success rate. 

After that, the golden hunt continued without issues, and as the instances go, Ringo’s teamwork improved.

And then, at the 13th one…

“[Hexa-Stab]!” (Souma)

I finally managed to hit a living slime! 

It was moving, so I didn’t manage to aim for the forehead accurately, but it died from the 6 damage of Hexa-Stab. 

Right after the golden became particles and disappeared, a shock ran through my body.

A level up!

A sensation that made me understand the reaction of Ringo happened to me too.

Vitality welled up from deep within my body, and I couldn’t stay still.

Wanting to test out that new strength, I dealt the finishing blow on 3 more. 

It is of course not simple to break the defense of a golden. The movements of a living golden are fast, and I could tell that I can’t aim for its Critical Point with my ability, but defeating 3 more spurred on even more growth in my body. 

Remembering the Appraisal Paper, I checked it out, and to my surprise, I have jumped all the way to level 82.

While at it, I checked out Ringo’s, and it was 107.

As expected of the questionable balance of Nekomimi Neko.

The balance breaker of a bonus monster is crazy.

However, judging from this growth, the Golden Wild Slimes must be level 100.

I thought they were a little bit higher level, but even if they are bonus monsters, it is a monster that shows up in the level 50 Deus Plain, so it is understandable, huh.

I deal the finishing blow on one more, and after confirming I am now level 84, I decide to prioritize the hunt rather than leveling up.

I can level up anytime, but there’s no other chance better than this to get a whole lot of money. 

I give all the experience to Ringo, and continue the high efficiency hunt. 

The result was that the hunt proceeded even more smoothly than before, and by the time it hit the 30 minute mark, I had already counted to 22.

Considering how we were fumbling at first, this is a pretty good result, I would say. 

At this pace, we might be able to reach the target 50 by the 45 minute mark. 

It is good that, while we were doing this, I could tell that we might not have to try that hard to get 1st place. 

Even if there’s 50 spawn points, this Deus Plain is decently vast. 

It would take a good amount of time to go from spawn point to spawn point. 

I understood here that it is not that realistic to go from point to point to hunt a whole ton. 

In that case, we are most likely the team that’s hunting the most efficiently and have obtained the most points. 

Or maybe it was fortunate that we did our hunting at the deeper area, in other words, at the southern side.

I barely met any of the competitors, and there were a lot of spawn points that were untouched. 

As time passed, maybe because there have been more spawn points no one touched, the instances where we would find more than 2 goldens in one spot increased.

This might be unexpectedly easy. 

Just when I thought that, an irregularity happened…

“…This is strange.” (Souma)

I have been walking for around 5 minutes, and yet, I haven’t found a single slime. 

I might be missing them just like I did before, so I tried asking Ringo, but it seems it was the same for her. 

Considering there were 2-3 slimes at the spawn points before, this situation is strange. 

Could it be that, different from the game, monster spawning stops in 30 minutes instead of 45? 

While I was having that unease, Ringo whispered…

“…There.” (Ringo)

Hearing that relieved me from the bottom of my heart. 

It may be a bit far, but there’s a Gold Wild Slime in my sight. 

“That’s the next one. We are getting it for sure.” (Souma)

Saying something obvious like that, I hurried my steps and got closer to the slime. 

But the moment we approached the slime to the point of being able to see its face clearly…

“Eh…?” (Souma)

Wind rushed through the plain.

Something flowed from the side as if sliding, and it…crossed the golden for an instant…

My eyes were taken by that shadow that passed at blinding speed for only a moment, and when I immediately looked back at the golden…

“You are…kidding me, right?” (Souma)

The Golden Wild Slime that was fine just a few moments ago was now split in two from the center of its body. 

A little while after, the split slime became light particles and disappeared.

“…Ringo?” (Souma)

At that moment, I felt my sleeve being slightly pulled and looked there.

When I looked, I could see that Ringo was holding the corner of my clothes as if scared. 

This girl that barely reacted to anything she saw, was showing this much distress.

This is of course…not towards the golden slime that was suddenly sliced in two…

It is not that, but the person that came by at such speed you could mistake it for the wind, passing by the golden, and splitting it in half in an instant. 

It went through the defense of the golden that the Lightning Strike of the leveled up Ringo couldn’t even get through, and possesses enough technique to accurately split it in half from the center at that speed.

There’s not many who can achieve that in Nekomimi Neko. 

“You…” (Souma)

That dry voice leaked out from me. 

The one I am facing is a girl that managed to do the feat of slicing a Golden Wild Slime in two and was looking here as if bored.

“So slow…to the point it makes me yawn.” 

There’s only one person who would be able to spit that out towards the Golden Slime that prides on having the fastest speed around the capital.

The one standing there was, of course…

“Mitsuki Hisame…” (Souma)

As you know, it is the ‘Dummy~!’ person.

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