I was wondering what I should make next as I stood in front of the storehouse looking at my menu. As I looked at it I noticed that there was something new I could create.

  There were two materials needed, warrior(bushino) stone and the claws of a slavebeast.

  I used my magic and made the magic circle.

  We had quite a lot of warrior stones inside the storehouse so it was pretty obvious that the arrow would point at it.

  The other arrow pointed off towards the horizon, when I looked in that direction I saw the ground shining.

  Outside the town there was a patch of empty wasteland shining.

  I was wondering why it appeared so close as I headed towards it.

  Then,

  「This……this is the ape’s claws?」


  It was the claws of those apes that rushed over and attacked, had vicious faces, and turned back into humans once I defeated them.

  Since the things that were shining should be the slavebeast’s claws, then those ape things should be called slavebeasts right?

  The arrow was pointing at these claws on the ground.

  When I saw that, I thought for a bit.

  After a bit, I pulverized the claws on the ground into little bits.

  The arrow shifted by 90 degrees and pointed in another direction.

  There should be slavebeasts……ape-people in that direction!

  ***************

  I chased after the arrow.

  I walked until I was about 30 minutes away from the town.

  Just when I was starting to get sick of it, I finally encountered the slavebeasts.

  There were about 20 apes hanging around on top of a rocky mountain.

  They were as vicious looking as always and their claws were shining.

  「20 of them」


  I muttered. I crushed the claws so that I could use the magic circle like a radar to get here.

  My objective is to defeat the slavebeasts, turn them back into humans, and increase the number of people in my town.

  The apes came down the mountain one after another and headed towards me.

  Their vicious faces and aggressiveness is the same as before.

  They’re probably as weak as the ones before too.

  ‘I’ll accept your challenge’-I thought but at that moment…


  「U-uki……」


  The apes were frightened.

  As they were heading towards me they suddenly stopped, looked terrified, did a 180, and all ran away.

  What’s going on?

  I don’t think that it’s me that they’re scared of…


  I turned around.

  And there I found the 「thing」 that the apes were afraid of.

  From my left a monster appeared.

  It was a giant caterpillar covered in white hair, an elka.

  It was charging——but suddenly it slammed on the brakes, and with a speed I’d never seen before, it turned 90 degrees and started to dash away.

  It wasn’t an attack; it was running for its life.

  The elka used all of its inborn running ability to escape.

  After that, several monsters appeared, saw something, panicked, and ran.

  I looked in the direction where the slavebeasts were staring intensely.

  And there I saw a single scorpion.

  It was around 30 cm long. For a scorpion it was pretty big, but it was nowhere near as surprising as the elka’s size.

  Is everyone-afraid of this thing?

  It wasn’t moving. It was looking in my direction without moving at all.

  Glaring at me.

  That was the impression that popped into my head.

  This was the first time I had seen this monster, but I felt some kind of intimidating pressure coming from it.

  A rumbling sound came from the earth.

  I turned to look where the sound was coming from. There was a dragon.

  Not ‘like a dragon’, but an actual dragon.

  A big dinosaur looking dragon was heading my way.

  The opposite direction of the rest of the monsters.

  It’s not running away?-I thought, and in the next moment…


  The scorpion leapt at the dragon.

  As it leaped it struck out with its tail.

  「GUOOOOOOO!」


  The dragon let out a fierce roar that caused the air to shake as I instinctively covered my ears.

  Next, I couldn’t believe my eyes.

  The part that the scorpion struck swelled up then melted like mud.

  The flesh melted and showed bone. Then the bone itself melted as well.

  The scorpion then struck at the rampaging dragon’s foot. It also melted away the same as before.

  The dragon’s huge body fell to the ground and stopped moving after a while.

  Then the scorpion started to crawl towards it.

  This was definitely a fight between a giant and an ant, but their strengths seemed to be reversed.

  「……is it going to eat that?」


  The scorpion began to eat the dragon. It melted it then sucked the resulting sludge into its mouth.

  After only 5 minutes.

  The dragon that was as big as a house had been eaten by the scorpion.

  There’s no longer any room for doubt, the monsters were all afraid of this guy.

  This is bad, I need to get away.

  「!」


  The moment I thought that, the scorpion leapt towards me!

  I hastily took out the Eternal Slave and guarded.

  *Go!* when the tail hit my sword it let out a deep clang-and I was blown away.

  It was like the floating feeling I had after being hit by that truck.

  The next moment I slammed against the apes’ rock mountain.

  Crap! As I tried to stand up I felt a sharp pain from my leg.

  My ankle was swelling up and turning purple.

  Even though I blocked the attack, I seem to have taken the hit badly.

  I immediately took out a cure-all from my bag and drank it.

  My leg was healed in a moment and I could stand once more.

  The scorpion was slowly approaching me as I felt the pressure increase.

  I can’t get away-I have no choice but to defeat it!

  I prepared myself for the worst, brandished my slave sword, and started my battle.

  It was small, overwhelmingly fast, and had incomparable power.

  If I didn’t have my Eternal Slave then I would’ve been beaten momentarily.

  I block the attacks, heal my injuries with my panacea, and counterattack.

  「Ku!」


  I was stabbed by the tail! I immediately took out some panacea and slapped it on the affected area.

  The swelling area immediately returned to normal.

  I was relieved. I suppressed that feeling and focused on fighting.

  Defend, Recover, Counterattack.

  That continued on and on.

  Finally, the scorpion’s movements began to dull.

  Everything, from its movements to its attacks, had slowed.

  Its attacks have gotten weaker as well. Any attacks from its tail that slip through my defenses hit my arm, but all that happens is that it really hurts.

  Up until just a while ago it would’ve broken my arm.

  Without a doubt it’s been accumulating damage!

  If it’s like this then I can do it-or so I thought…


  「Ku- I’m out of panacea!」


  My bag was completely empty. All of the panacea that I’d brought were used up.

  A word popped into my head…and that was 「retreat」.

  If it’s now, then I can escape. Unlike before, the scorpion is weakened, I can get away.

  But then a phrase popped into my head…「it’d be a waste」.

  Since I’ve made it this far it’d be too much of a waste to leave this weakened enemy behind.

  I hesitate. I hesitate over what I should do.

  I finally decide to continue. Since I’ve made it this far, it’d be a huge waste to just escape.

  But I should fight more cautiously now that I’ve decided to continue.

  I started to make a greater effort than before to not get hit.

  I won’t overextend when I attack, I will only attack when I’m sure to hit, and if it’s even a little dangerous then I’ll draw back.

  A Super Safety Plan.

  I moved as though I had only 1 HP and a single strike could kill me.

  After 5 minutes.

  After carefully attacking the scorpion, it finally fell.

  It tumbled to the ground, twitching. Then it stopped moving.

  「……………」


  I held my Eternal Slave ready. I won’t let my guard down, I won’t let my guard down till the very end.

  I approached it bit by bit-and I carefully, carefully swung my sword.

  *Zaa* the point of my sword stabbed through it without any resistance.

  The scorpion was split in half……it’s already dead.

  「Haa……」


  I lost strength in my legs and collapsed onto the ground in relief.

  I’m dead tired and my body hurts all over.

  It’s to the point where if an elka were to appear I’d just have to give up.

  「Uki」


  「Uki」


  When I turned towards the voices, I saw that the apes were back.

  They were back with their vicious faces and shining claws.

  They all jumped towards me when they saw I was weakened.

  「………」


  I countered with my Eternal Slave.

  1 Hit 1 Kill.

  I was weak, but those guys are an easy victory.

  The apes-the slavebeasts were all defeated.

  Once they were defeated they turned back into humans.

  「Objective……accomplished.」


  This time I was completely exhausted, I collapsed face up as I watched the apes turn back into humans.

  And as the final one turned back into a person…


  —Level Up! Normal Card Has Evolved into Bronze Card!—


  I heard a voice speaking inside my head.

  At the same time a light wrapped around me and my body felt light.

  I felt like I could move again-No I felt like I had completely recovered!

  Then-

  「Menu Open」


  The things in my Crafting list had more than doubled.