A day has passed since Asahi started moving for me, and it seems my wanted status in the city has been provisionally lifted.
However, this was only a temporary measure because my lodging was at the Hisame Dojo, and my whereabouts were already known. I heard that most of the Knights’ Order still believed I was a cult messenger.
They seemed to have been fed stories about “the horrors of the Cat Ear Mansion” by the Knights. Even Asahi asked me,
“What kind of place is your home?”
Following the example of many predecessors, I simply replied,
“It’s an amazing place.”
Well, I wasn’t lying, anyway.
Besides, that mansion is just full of various contraptions put there as a prank by its creator. Rooms like the horror room and the rotating room are probably manifestations of a dark sense of service, meant to entertain players. Aside from the traps designed to keep intruders out, there aren’t actually that many that intentionally inflict physical damage.
Or perhaps, in a game world, physical damage that can be instantly reset is less effective than mental damage that can have a real impact. But that’s just speculation.
Now that the game has become reality, I can’t help but feel that the Hisame Family Trial, with all its deadly traps, is far more dangerous than that mansion.
Regardless, it seems it will take some time to sort things out with the Knights’ Order. Asahi advised me not to go to the Capital City for now, though she didn’t forbid me from leaving.
Honestly, I don’t understand the nuances of the situation.
However, apart from my cousin Maki, I have no urgent business that requires me to go to the Capital City right now. I’m thinking of using this dojo as my base and conquering dungeons and fields unrelated to the Capital City for a while.
When I told them my plan, Mitsuki, with her cat ears perked up, and Ringo, with a glass of milk in hand, both agreed.
Kuma just clung to my neck and patted my head, but that wasn’t related to what I said. It was just that Kuma was still angry from before.
“So, where are we going first?”
Mitsuki’s question made me think again.
There’s no immediate crisis, but in “Nekoneko,” wasting time is equivalent to death. This game employs a “War Situation System” to prevent players from slacking off.
Simply put, the War Situation System means that if players engage in battles and complete events, the balance of power against monsters will shift in humanity’s favor. Conversely, if they don’t fight or fail events, humanity will be pushed back by the monsters.
The most straightforward negative consequence is that if you neglect the game too much, the Demon Lord will eventually revive the Evil God, leading to a “Revival of the Evil God Bad End” and Game Over.
The factor that determines the war situation is a parameter called “Monster Invasion Level” for each field. This generally decreases when monsters are defeated in a field and increases when there are many monsters.
If this level rises, the interval between Monster Pops shortens. If it reaches its extreme, monsters may even flood into adjacent fields. Conversely, if it drops too low, Monster Pops become less frequent, which can be an obstacle for leveling up in the same location. It shows the “Nekoneko” staff’s persistent animosity towards leveling up, but I’ll set that aside for now.
Normally, monsters don’t storm in from adjacent fields due to an excessively high “Monster Invasion Level” in a typical playthrough. However, it also affects events.
When the “Monster Invasion Level” is high, monster invasion events like the “Capital City Attack” or mass monster outbreaks become more likely. Therefore, for a safe playthrough, it’s best to keep it as low as possible.
The “Capital City Attack” event, in particular, requires caution. This event seems to be related to the “Monster Invasion Level of surrounding areas” and the “number of days passed since arriving at the Capital City.” However, the exact trigger conditions are still unknown.
But if it occurs while you’re playing casually and aren’t prepared for it on your first playthrough, it’s certain that you won’t be able to deal with it. If it happens when you lack the strength to handle it, or when you’re not in the city, it could lead to a large number of casualties and significant disruption to the city’s functions and events.
Even setting that aside, all the characters in this world are alive. I wish to minimize casualties if possible.
And…
(Maki will also be involved in that battle.)
If Maki’s role is the same as Princess Shelmia’s in the game, she will be on the front lines fighting monsters. Of course, I want to meet Maki, but I don’t want to needlessly put her in danger. She’s not an Adventurer, nor a “Nekoneko” Player; she’s just a girl from the modern world.
Fortunately, by eradicating the monsters from the mass outbreak, the “Monster Invasion Level” around the Capital City should be quite low, and the number of days since arriving at the Capital City is also short. The “Capital City Attack” event is unlikely to occur immediately.
Furthermore, the “Capital City Attack” event, while having some variations in timing and the types of monsters that appear, always occurs from the same direction and follows the same route. With adequate preparation, it can be easily repelled.
This world, in particular, offers more freedom than a game world. I’m even considering setting up traps in advance along the route of the attack to wipe out the incoming monsters.
However, to set up large-scale traps, I would need the cooperation of the people of the Capital City, or at least enough trust so they wouldn’t oppose me. For now, I can’t move yet.
The threats related to “Monster Invasion Level” are not limited to the “Capital City Attack” event.
And other threats exist…
(First, I should check our fighting strength in a manageable place.)
I searched my mind for a suitable place to test our abilities. There were countless options. With our current strength, as long as we don’t challenge the Demon Lord’s castle head-on, we should be able to get through most places.
Since I want to return within the same day, I’ll limit the search to nearby locations. I’ll also add the condition of not having life-threatening dangers or severe traps. And, since we’re at it, a place where we can obtain useful items… Yes, I think I’ve narrowed it down.
“Alright, then today we’ll go to the ‘Flowing Water Cave’.”
I decided on our next destination.
I went to get permission from Asahi to go out, and to my surprise, she granted it very easily. She didn’t even ask where we were going, even though I was taking her daughter with me. I suppose she trusts me.
What was more troublesome was that Miducca, the clumsy girl who was there, heard that we were going on an adventure and excitedly started preparing a lunchbox, saying, “Then I’ll make something that will last!” No matter how much I refused, she insisted and handed me a large quantity of mitarashi dumplings, saying, “Please eat them with everyone!”
I wondered why dumplings, and why mitarashi, but it turned out that among all types of dumplings, only mitarashi dumplings don’t degrade over time, making them a staple food for preservation in this world.
…Well, that’s that. I don’t know much about food-related items because there are so many of them and their settings are so arbitrary, but it makes no sense that dumplings are fine on their own, but become preserved food when covered in mitarashi. This is a common phenomenon in “Nekoneko,” a well-known bug.
While marveling at how bugs had subtly permeated everyday life in the “Nekoneko” world, I accepted the mitarashi dumplings. As for the taste… well, I’ll just say they probably mixed up the sugar and salt.
After many twists and turns, we finally departed the dojo and managed to reach the “Flowing Water Cave” before sunset.
The “Flowing Water Cave” is a Dungeon with a level of 110. Because its entrance is in a hard-to-find location, the enemy levels here are high despite being close to the Capital City. In terms of level, they should be slightly above me and Ringo. However,
“As expected, you two are incredible.”
We continued our unstoppable charge, not showing any signs of the difficulty.
The only enemies here were Water Elements. These large masses of water floating in a zero-gravity space drifted around a spacious cave, but frankly, they were nothing more than targets for Ringo’s lightning strikes.
Ringo’s attack power with her wakizashi is incredible. She dispatches enemies, who should be stronger than her, one after another with a single lightning strike. It’s less like defeating them and more like mowing them down.
Since she defeats them in one hit, it’s hard to gauge the full power of her lightning strikes. I’m not sure if this counts as a successful test of strength or not.
Mitsuki also attacked without regard for the enemies being airborne. It was like she’d jump for a moment, and the enemy would already be defeated, as she shot down element after element with such speed.
By the way, when I asked them to hold back and tried using Horizontal Slash with my enhanced Fire of Sh, I was able to defeat them in one hit. For now, I’ll consider it a win that we confirmed both Ringo and I have enough attack power to defeat enemies of around level 110 in a single blow.
However, this is too anticlimactic, even though I chose this dungeon specifically because it would allow us to defeat enemies even with insufficient strength. An idea suddenly struck me.
“Ah, speaking of which, Kuma. Would you like to try defeating an enemy too?”
If Kuma can defeat cows, maybe he can level up too. Well, with this body, it’s impossible to equip armor, but if he can equip weapons, there might be a chance. At least he could probably thrust a wakizashi into a near-death opponent. Seeing Kuma nod, I grinned.
“Then, Ringo, please hand Kuma the wakizashi.”
Even with a high-power wakizashi, it’s possible that Kuma would be defeated in one hit if he took an attack. First, I decided to use my game knowledge to sufficiently weaken the Water Element.
“Actually, this Water Element monster, though it looks hard to hit because it floats in the air, actually has many weaknesses and is very easy to defeat. First…”
I threw a red ball towards the Water Element. It was one of the items I bought in bulk from the item shop, the Red Ball. Ball-type items are consumable items that deal fixed damage, similar to darts. They have attributes corresponding to their color, and when they hit something, they burst, scattering elemental damage around.
However, being cheap at 50 E each, they only deal 10 damage and can be reduced by elemental resistance. But,
“Did its movement stop?”
It’s effective against this Water Element. Element-type monsters have a habit of becoming rigid and unable to move for a certain period when hit by an attack of their weak element. And among the elements, the Water Element has an even greater weakness.
“The standard procedure is to stop its movement with a fire-attribute attack first. After that…”
Next, I took out two potions from my bag and splashed them onto the monster. The green and yellow liquids collided and mixed, and the Water Element’s body, which was originally blue, turned green and yellow.
“That was poison and paralysis. Because its body is liquid, liquid-based poisons are 100% effective. And since it’s now poisoned and paralyzed, we can do whatever we want. Well, in this case…”
Without delay, I held up Koganezakura, which I had taken from Ringo instead of my wakizashi, and activated a ninjato skill.
“‘Nirvana Before Death’!”
“Nirvana Before Death” is a skill for holding back. It’s a convenient skill that leaves the HP at 1, even if it deals lethal damage.
There’s no way I could miss an attack on an enemy that’s paralyzed and immobile. My strike perfectly hit the Water Element’s body and,
(I felt it!)
It reduced its HP to 1. A perfect execution. Now, with Kuma defeating the paralyzed Water Element with 1 HP…
“…Huh?”
As I was calculating this in my head, the green and yellow tinged body of the Water Element wobbled and fell to the ground. It dissolved into the air, still murky, and disappeared.
“What? Why…?”
To my confusion, Mitsuki quietly said,
“…When it’s poisoned and its HP is 1, it naturally dies immediately.”
“Ah…”
An indescribable silence and a somber atmosphere filled the cave. Mitsuki’s cat ears drooped as if she were embarrassed, which somehow felt pitiful.
Feeling dejected, a new Water Element immediately emerged. Trying to dispel the awkward air, I called out,
“L-Let’s try for another one! The point is not to use poison. If we only use paralysis poison, we can hold back for Kuma…”
As I was saying this, a silver flash streaked past me.
“Huh?”
Looking where it went, I saw a wakizashi already stuck in the middle of the Water Element. Hurriedly looking back, Kuma had no wakizashi in his hand, and his arm was extended towards the Water Element as if he had thrown something.
“Throwing Skill…”
I muttered in disbelief. The power of the skill, which had taken down countless players before, was still intact. The Water Element fell to the ground with the wakizashi still embedded in it, and then dissolved into the air and disappeared.
“My… purpose…”
An indescribable silence and a somber atmosphere filled the cave, while only Kuma grinned with apparent enjoyment.
Although we couldn’t confirm it clearly because the Water Element was too weak, a suspicion arose that this unique skill might have the same power regardless of who used it. This raised further doubts about Asahi’s role, but I didn’t have the mental capacity to think about such things right now.
Still, the exploration proceeded annoyingly smoothly. When there were two or more enemies, Ringo handled them with lightning strikes. When there was only one, Kuma dealt with them using his throwing skill, and we quickly reached the boss room. The boss was a large Water Element, and I, taking out all my frustration, immediately threw a red ball at it, splashed it with paralysis potion, and then mercilessly attacked it once it was immobilized. It was pure venting.
Thanks to that, I regained my calm and obtained a water-attribute spear and Magic Seeds as boss drops.
(Well, for now, this will do.)
Although I made a rather embarrassing display midway, the overall content of today was not bad. We felt our growth, and we obtained a water-attribute weapon we didn’t have before.
Also, defeating a Dungeon boss significantly lowers the “Monster Invasion Level” of that area. So, we probably don’t have to worry about this region for a while.
However, as I considered this, a nagging feeling arose.
(“Monster Invasion Level,” huh… I guess I can’t ignore it after all.)
In fact, the moment I recalled the term “Monster Invasion Level,” I remembered a place I absolutely had to go. Although I used testing our current strength as an excuse for a side trip, I can’t keep running away forever.
“Listen up, both of you.”
So, I opened my mouth with determination. Mitsuki and Ringo, along with Kuma on my head, looked at me.
“I believe today’s exploration was a success. We’ve reconfirmed our strength. That’s why there’s a place I absolutely must go.”
“A place you absolutely must go?”
To Mitsuki’s question, I nodded and replied,
“Yes. The mountain range to the south of here, and the field at its base, the ‘Slime Forest’.”
I said this with considerable resolve, but their reactions were less than enthusiastic. Ringo probably didn’t know the place, and Mitsuki, precisely because she did know it, probably couldn’t understand my sense of urgency. As expected,
“Is it a place we need to be so wary of? I recall that forest being a field of around level 120.”
Mitsuki tilted her head, as if to say “That’s strange,” but these were the words of someone who didn’t know the horror of “them.”
“They” truly begin their active period from the start of the game. I don’t know how this world reconciled the fact that “they” weren’t active before, but the moment I arrived in this world, “they” must have begun their “invasion” of this world, just like in the game. If things continue like this, this world will be dominated by “them.”
So, I must stop “them” before it’s too late. The masters of the “Slime Forest,” and the monsters that made “Nekoneko” players say things like:
“Demons, demons! Yellow demons…!”
“If you see one, assume there are ten thousand.”
“They’re definitely killing more monsters than we are.”
“While we’re playing RPGs, these guys are playing a strategy simulation.”
“Let’s go to town, Slime Forest!”
“Was the War Situation System created just for them?”
“Probably, among the cat-ear loving staff, there’s one weirdo enthusiast mixed in.”
“The detail and dedication are insane, in a bad way.”
—The Yellow Slimes, the worst monsters in “Nekoneko” history!
