Ash didn’t have to wait for long as the yeti let out another roar and charged toward him. The red yeti’s speed was nearly twice of that of normal yeti. As soon as the yeti was close enough to Ash, it attacked with the same predictable motion he had seen hundreds of times. Just as he had with the last yeti, Ash moved back while moving his sword into position and braced himself. When the yeti’s arm touched the blade Ash was slightly surprised when the sword was the one pushed back instead. Seeing its attack miss, the yeti quickly followed through with a second strike.
Not expecting the second strike, Ash was only able to dodge thanks to his intense training with Zelan. Moving four steps back, Ash reevaluated his current tactics. The red yeti was stronger and faster than the others he had fought and also boasted a higher defense. After giving it a few seconds thought Ash quickly decided that his best choice was to take a defensive position and counter-attack when the chance appeared.
Holding his sword low, Ash waited as the yeti moved forward to press its attack. When the yeti attacked this time, Ash slid to the side before pivoting to come up the side of the yeti while bringing his sword up with a quick slash. The sword didn’t dig in deeply, but it did draw a thin line of blood across the yeti’s rib line.
Before Ash had a chance to reset his stance, the yeti turned and attacked with a strong left sweep of its claws. Ash wasn’t shaken and he deftly moved to the left while turning his blade to intercept the yeti’s claws. A loud sound echoed through the chamber as the claws met steel and small sparks flashed from the blade for the briefest of moments. Using the force of the blow, Ash took a step back and then let his left leg slide out, lowering his stance and stuck at the yeti’s exposed stomach, scoring another thin hit. As soon as his sword passed through its arc, Ash put his weight on his extended foot as he stood. The yeti attacked, but in a flash Ash was now a foot to the side of where he had been standing a moment before causing the attack to miss.
With three quick movements, Ash came up behind the yeti and struck hard. This time putting more of his weight into his attack. This time his blade didn’t just skip off the hardened fur of the yeti, but dug in and Ash could feel it as the tip of his blade connected with bone. With a strong jerk, Ash tore the blade from the yeti and with a loud scream it fell to the ground.
Stepping back, Ash waited for the yeti to calm its rage as it thundered about trying to stand, only to find that its legs no longer heeded its call. Bellowing, the Yeti tried again and again to stand but was only met with failure. His eyes full of pity, Ash approached the creature from a blind spot raising his sword high in the air before driving it with all his strength into the yeti’s neck. After a few moments of trashing, the yeti lay silent on the ground and Ash used a clean part of its fur to wipe the blood from his blade.
Searching the ground, Ash found a small red orb and almost yelled out in surprise. Killing nearly five hundred yetis had only gained him one monster orb, but this time luck was on his side it seemed.
[Lesser Yeti Knight Orb: permanently increases all stats +1.]
Without a second thought, Ash absorbed the orb into his chest with a large smile. He had thought to sell the next orb to the kingdom. The stats didn’t have a huge draw to him, but any chance to increase his luck was one he would take.
Moving to the next floor, the trio found themselves in a large open area covered by water. Ash cautiously walked down the steps, entering the water. Each step brought him deeper and deeper into the water until it stopped just below his knees. The water was slightly warm and Ash could taste salt in the air.
With the bright open landscape, Ash could clearly see the other end of the room where the boss’s door lay, though it looked more like a dot in the distance. Knowing that there could be deep spots or traps under the water, Ash lightly tested with his foot before he put any weight on it. It was slow, but no matter how much like a game this world was, there was no second chance if you died.
When a large jellyfish like creature rose out of the water, Ash was slightly surprised but didn’t let it show on his face. It had a bulbous body with three long tentacles that hung below it. Taking a step forward, Ash gripped his sword tightly as a tentacle flashed toward him. Ash brought his sword up to block the attack, but when the blade of his sword and the tentacle met a shock ran through his entire body. In the few seconds that his body didn’t heed his commands, the monster struck again, hitting Ash on the shoulder sending another shock along with a burning sensation through Ash’s entire body.
As the bulbous creature sent another tentacle toward Ash, he regained the control of his body and twisted, letting the thin appendage float by. His feet could move again, but from his shoulder down to the tips of his fingers on his left side no longer heeded his call. Thankfully his sword was not so heavy that it couldn’t be wielded with one hand.
As the jellyfish creature continued its assault, Ash dodged, not daring to defend with his sword again. As he had been taught, each movement brought him closer to his target and when he was so close he could smell the salt on the creature’s body, he struck with his sword.
The body of the creature was nearly see through and Ash aimed his strike for a small solid mass in the center of its body. The flesh parted easily and a viscous clear liquid oozed down from the wound. The body of the creature was so thick, Ash had to sink his sword up to its hilt before it reached the mass at the center, but as soon as his blade found its mark, the creature started to thrash about. Ash tried to escape, but one of the randomly thrown tentacles hit his right leg, paralyzing it and causing him to crash into the water below.
With both an arm and a leg unable to move, Ash was having trouble staying above water. For a moment he feared he would have to release his hold on his sword to keep his life, but then Shina grabbed him and pulled him free of the water’s embrace.
“Didn’t expect there to be sea nettles in the labyrinth,” Zelan said rubbing his chin. “I think this will be good for the next phase of training. The water slows your movement and you can’t block or parry the attacks like you could with a yeti. You will need to get some potions though. It takes half an hour for the paralysis from their poison attacks to wear off. Well, while you wait to get feeling back in your limbs, you can think of how to deal with the next one.”
With Shina’s help, Ash returned to the steps so that he wouldn’t have to sit in the water while he waited. In an attempt to get the feeling to return faster, Shina started to massage his arm, or that was her excuse for doing so.
Ash had expected pain when the feeling returned, like an arm that was numb from sleeping on it, but surprisingly there was no pain when he could once again move his fingers. A few moments after his arm regained its mobility, the numbness in his leg disappeared and he stood ready to try fighting once again.
This time when the sea nettle appeared, Ash didn’t try to block its blows. It was hard to dodge them in the water, but since only his lower half was restricted, it wasn’t impossible. For the first time Ash was happy for the long hours of training while beings forced to stand on that tiny log. The closer he got to the nettle, the faster the attacks became and the less room her had to dodge with. It was a dangerous creature to solo, but Ash could see how it could easily be taken down by a group, though not without a few injuries to the vanguards.
Even with all his training and knowing how the creature attacked, Ash was still struck once by the nettle numbing his right arm from the elbow down. It was a bit harder trying to fight with his left arm, but he was still able to kill the nettle.
With only loss in his right arm, Zelan saw no reason for Ash to stop so he was forced to fight again. As he fought this time, when he was close to the nettles main body, a swift attack came from the side and Ash was left with no choice but to block. As his sword struck close to the base where the tentacle met the main body, the long limb was severed without any damage done to himself. Seeing this, Ash’s tactics changed as he began striking at the remaining two limbs.
As the last two
limbs sunk below the water, Ash struck at the core of the nettle killing it. Without any appendages to attack with, its death throws no longer held any danger and Ash calmly watched as it died with a smile on his face.
Ash fought three more sea nettles before Zelan decided that it was time to head back to the manor. Though it was decided it was time to go back, Ash still had to fight any sea nettle that appeared on their path to the exit.
When he had first walked through the water, he had taken small metered steps but no having found no traps, he walked more confidently but he still kept up his diligence. Just before they reached the door to the boss’s room, they met with one more sea nettle.
With his skills, it still took nearly ten minutes for Ash to get close enough to the body of the creature to do any real damage. Once the nettle died and was absorbed, Ash bent down and picked up something that he saw shining in the water.
[Electro Sac (average quality): Used in the making of magical weapons, armor, and items.]
After placing the Electro Sac in his inventory, Ash walked up to the plaque and placed his hand on it and warped outside.
“Tomorrow while you’re in town, make sure to get something to combat the sea nettle’s paralysis,” Zelan said on the way back.
After returning to the manor, Ash did the same thing he had almost every day. He took a quick bath while trying to make sure no one was peeking, ate a large supper, and then spent a little time with Emelia in the study reading. By the time it came to his reading time, Ash was so tired that he often fell asleep in the study, but Emelia refused to let him go to his room before they spent any time together. After leaving the study, Yuki would help him take care of his gear and if he happened to fall asleep before they were done, she would forgo returning to her room and crawl into his bed alongside him.
4-2
The next morning Ash woke and found that the sun was already peeking above the horizon. He didn’t know if it was because he was tired or that part of his mind knew that he had a day off, but sleeping in felt good. Stretching his sore muscles, Ash got out of bed and quickly dressed while leaving his armor aside for the day.
As he headed to town, Ash felt slightly naked without his armor. He had almost left his sword behind too, but decided at the last moment to put it in his inventory. Taking a thin side street, Ash headed for his first stop the adventurer’s guild. He still had plenty of copper and iron pennies, but he was down to two silver coins and he doubted that would be enough for shopping.
Having no real need for the items in his inventory, Ash sold everything. The lady behind the desk widened her eyes at the large number of items that appeared on the counter as Ash pulled one thing after another from his seemingly small pack.
Ash wasn’t worried that the receptionist would think anything was amiss since he learned about the bag of holding, so he continued to pile things up until they started to fall off the pile and into the floor.
Thanks to the large number of items, it took almost an hour for everything to be calculated up. Just as with his other times, the young lady counted off the items sold and the price for each while at the same time handing him a piece of parchment with the same numbers on them.
“Three low quality fire lizard skins at twenty copper a piece, eleven average quality fire lizard skins at thirty-five coppers a piece, thirty-seven good quality fire lizard skins at sixty copper a piece, eleven low quality sugilite at seventy-five coppers a piece, eighteen average quality sugilite at one silver a piece, twenty-six good quality sugilite at one silver fifty coppers a piece, forty-two low quality yeti furs at one silver a piece, one hundred thirty-one average quality yeti furs at one silver forty coppers a piece, two hundred sixty-one good quality yeti furs at two silver a piece, one low quality electro sac at one silver sixty copper a piece, one average quality electro sac at two silver ten copper a piece, two good quality electro sacs at two silver eighty copper a piece, and one good quality golem core at ten silver a piece. That comes to a total of eight gold fifty-five silver and eighty copper coins.”
Ash couldn’t help but smile. For the first time, he had gold coins of his own. If he converted the gold into the currency from his own world, he would have almost nine thousand dollars. It was more than he could have ever hoped for in his previous life.
“Do you have anything that cures sea nettle’s paralysis poison?” Ash asked as he placed the coins in his inventory.
“Of course,” the young lady said, pulling out a bottle with a light grey liquid inside. “If you drink this then it will work.”
“How much are they?” Ash asked as he looked at the thumb sized bottle.
“Two silver for each one,” she answered, making Ash’s heart drop.
Ash knew that Zelan would be making him fight the sea nettles until he could kill them without being touched. If that was the case, then he would need a lot of potions, but at that price it would cost him a small fortune. Sighing Ash pulled out a single gold coin and placed it on the counter. “I’ll take fifty,” He said, his face slightly crestfallen.
Looking at the price of an Electro Sac, he would have to get an average quality or better one each time to make a profit from hunting sea nettles if he was forced to use a potion after each fight. With that thought in mind, Ash felt a huge weight press down on him. He had just started to see the light at the end of the tunnel and now he could see it collapsing around him.
Though he had taken a heavy mental blow, his spirits didn’t stay down for long. Soon the sights and smells of the market district sprang up around him. Small stands stood around the square where a number of foods and small goods were sold.
After buying a small candied peach slice on a stick for four iron pennies, Ash walked among the stands looking at the goods. A number of them would be nice for a young lady like Yuki but nothing really caught his eye so he decided to keep looking around.
Enjoying his little tour around the market district, Ash couldn’t help but enter the weapon shop. He knew that Yuki had purchased a new sword and bow with her own funds, but neither of them were high quality. They were only a step above the beginner equipment.
“What can we do ya for?” A burly old man asked as Ash came into the store.
“Looking for a good bow or sword for a young lady,” Ash replied as he looked at the assortment of weapons lined on the wall.
“A weapon for a young lady,” the man said, pinching up his mouth. “We have a few decorated swords, but they would be less than useless if she plans to use them in a fight. Now, if you wanted a dagger, we have plenty of those that have some nice decorative work on them. As for bows, we have two that a young lady might like,” He said as he went behind the counter and pulled out two bows. One was made of a dark green wood and had a silver grip with roses carved into it. The other was a dark black bow with a copper grip with vines carved on it. Ash picked up the first bow and examined it.
[Light Elven Suporo Bow: attack 10-14. Durability: 25/25.]
Sitting the first aside Ash picked up the second bow.
[Light Fae Yew Bow: attack 9-12. Durability 20/20.]
“How much are they?” Ash asked as he sat the second bow back on the counter.
“The elven bow is eighty silver, the fae bow is sixty silver.”
Ash was surprised that there was such a large difference in price. Grimacing Ash pulled out a gold coin and laid it on the table. “I’ll take the elven bow please, and is there anything you can wrap it in.”
“Sure boy,” the man said, picking up the gold coin and handing him back twenty silver.
A few minutes later, Ash left the store carrying a large brown box with a smile on his face. The bow had cost him a lot, but he was sure that the look on Yuki’s face would be worth it. With nothing else planned, Ash didn’t know what to do with his time. Ever since coming to this world, he had been busy with one thing or another. This was the first time that he had allowed himself any real free time. He might have had no idea what to do, but he did know that he didn’t
want to go back to the manor. If Zelan found him just relaxing, no matter if he had been promised a rest day or not, Ash could see him being put into training.
Without anything to do, Ash went toward the center of the market district where a large fountain stood. As he walked, Ash felt as if someone was watching him. Focusing on his spider sense that he hadn’t used in a long time, Ash didn’t sense any enemies.
Even though he knew there were no enemies, Ash couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being watched. Turning around in a full circle, he noticed a young woman with red hair and ears peeking at him from the corner of a building. “Shina, you might as well come out.”
“Master I just…Mou…I was,” Shina stumbled over her words as she approached with her head hung low.
“It doesn’t matter,” Ash said, unable to hide the smile on his face.
“Hehe,” Shina laughed as she clung to Ash’s arm while sniffing him. Ash never noticed at first, but whenever Yuki or Shina clung to him they tended to bury their noses into him while sniffing.
“Would you stop that,” Ash said trying to pull away.
“Mou…But master smells good,” Shina said with her ears drooping slightly.
“It tickles, so don’t do it too much,” Ash said after seeing the sad look on Shina’s face.
Shina smiled and pushed her nose back into Ash and took a deep whiff while chuckling. “Fufu…A date with master.”
Ash and Shina walked around the market. Shina ran from stand to stand and Ash handed her a handful of copper so that she could buy snacks. With five different types of food in her hand, Ash watched as Shina ate with enthusiasm.
Sitting on a stone bench in front of the fountain, Ash watched as Shina ate and played with a number of children. After having spent a lot of time with Yuki and Shina, Ash had started to learn a little more about their mentality. Though Shina was older than Yuki by more than a few years, they were both childish by nature.
At the moment, Shina was dancing around playing a tag like game with eight children from the age of eight to thirteen. Shina was agile and could easily dance around the children, but after dodging for a bit she would allow herself to be tagged and then play around missing the children by only a hair. The whole time Shina was playing, her tail was furiously wagging back and forth causing more than one child to reach out and touch it. Sometimes the younger children would tug too hard on her tail, causing her to wince in pain but she never seemed to get mad.
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