part1 · 050-ep50

Episode 50: A Powerful, Unknown Foe

A huge monster emerged from the darkness. Ren caught his breath without meaning to.

"...It's big."

Around two meters long. Its body stood on four thick legs, covered head to tail in thick, brownish scales.

A large head, jaws lined with sharp fangs. Thick, long claws on its forelegs. And a tail as thick as its body dragging along the ground.

Yellow eyes locked onto Ren.

"...This one's nothing like the monsters before it."

Ren readied his spear. Information first.

"Appraisal."

《Name: Earthlizard》

《Type: Monster》

《Trait: High defense》

《Attacks: Bites, claws, tail》

"...So it is tough, huh."

That was everything the display showed. No weakness.

Ren studied the monster's body. Those thick scales. An attack from the front didn't look likely to get through easily.

That instant—

The Earthlizard kicked off the ground.

"—!"

The huge body came bearing down at once. Ren leapt sideways.

Right after—

Wham!

A giant claw slammed the ground. The stone floor shattered.

"...That'd be dangerous to take head-on."

Ren put distance between them. The Earthlizard wheeled around.

The thick tail swung in a wide arc.

"Kh!"

Ren dropped low. The tail swept past overhead.

"Fast...!"

A body that big had to be slow. That's what he'd assumed. But it was faster than he'd imagined.

The Earthlizard came charging again.

"《Body Strengthening》!"

Ren sent magic into his legs. His body lightened.

He kicked off the ground, dodged the attack, and swung around to its flank.

"Here!"

He thrust out his spear.

—Clang!

"...!"

The spearhead bounced off the scales.

"Hard...!"

Just as the appraisal had shown. The Earthlizard wheeled around.

Ren put distance between them at once. A claw came down again. He dodged.

The tail came. He evaded.

A bite. He pulled back further.

"No opening to attack..."

Ren studied the monster's movements.

Claws. Tail. Bite.

Taking any of them head-on was dangerous.

Then—

"Stop it from moving."

Ren looked at the Earthlizard's legs. The four legs holding up its body.

"If it's there..."

The Earthlizard came charging. Ren drew it in to the very last moment.

And—

He leapt sideways. As they passed, he drove the spear into its leg.

"Hah!"

—Crunch!

The spear bit into the gap between the scales.

"It connected!"

The Earthlizard's whole body lurched. Ren put distance between them at once.

The monster roared in fury. Its attacks grew fiercer.

"...Don't rush it."

Ren reined in his flow of magic. No more magic into body strengthening than he needed.

Target the legs. Dodge the attacks. Target the legs again. Over and over.

Before long—

The Earthlizard's movements slowed, little by little.

"Now!"

Ren stepped in all at once. Body strengthening drove power into his legs. He readied the spear.

And—

He hammered a blow with everything he had into the Earthlizard's leg. The monster's body pitched hard.

Then it collapsed to the ground.

Wham!

"...Hah..."

Ren breathed hard. Lowered his spear.

"Won..."

This one had been different from all the rest. Hard. Fast. And its blows were heavy.

Even so — watch how it moved, hunt for where to strike, and it could be killed.

Ren gazed down at the fallen monster.

"Appraisal."

《Name: Earthlizard》

《Type: Monster》

《Status: Dead》

《Trait: High defense》

《Attacks: Bites, claws, tail》

"...Yeah, that's all it'll tell me."

There were limits to what Appraisal could show. It seemed he needed to fight things himself and find out firsthand.

Ren extracted the magic stone from the monster's body. A stone much like the ones he'd picked up before.

"...What do I even use these for?"

He had no idea. But that was no reason to go throwing them away, either.

Ren packed it in with the rest of his load.

"Might figure it out someday."

That was all. His thinking about magic stones ended there.

　　　　　◇

Ren looked around. Past where the Earthlizard had been.

A narrow passage ran on — from a direction monsters had never come.

"...Can I get through here?"

Ren advanced carefully. Walked a while.

Then—

The space ahead opened up.

"...Stairs?"

Stone stairs led downward there, running along the wall and down into the dark.

Ren stopped before the stairs.

"Down..."

He'd never seen a place like this in all his time here. Ren stared at the first step.

"...So there is a fourth floor."

He could keep going. But this was somewhere unlike anywhere before.

Ren studied the stairs a while longer, then decided to head back for today.

"Tomorrow, then."

A new floor. What was waiting down there?

With just a touch of anticipation, Ren started walking toward the water.