Ch.154Getting to Know the NPC (3)
by fnovelpia
What the hell is going on?!!
“Huff!!”
-Papaat!!
The forest keeper had completely disappeared from my sight.
I was late to start, but I could still see the doll earlier. Now I couldn’t even see it, just tracking the ground and tree marks where it had stepped forcefully. This meant it was much faster than I had thought.
“What’s this? Does dark evolution make you stronger?!”
Does it mean I should become more aggressive and dark like it? Is that the goal of this trial?
Even when fighting that thing earlier, I had felt its movements were slightly faster than mine.
But I didn’t think the difference was that significant, so I believed I could catch it if I got serious.
“Was the difference in how much strength we were holding back?”
If I was going at about 70% seriousness, it was probably at 60%… no, looking at this speed difference, it was more like 50%.
If I had something like those glasses that measure combat power, I might have despaired at seeing its power level at 530,000. Should I keep chasing? It’s not going to transform three times, is it?
I thought I had gotten stronger through my travels, fighting monsters and various scum in real combat. But without my stats and skills, I’m shocked to realize I’ve grown less than [me] who’s been stuck in the mountains all his life.
Feeling this small culture shock, I decided that if I approached it and got attacked again, I would definitely run away. I started reaching the middle of the mountain.
-Baak!! Paaang!!
[Kec⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯?!!]
A sound very similar to the attack that had aimed for my face earlier hit my ears, followed by a howl? No, more like a scream with noise—clearly not from a living creature.
Ugh, that’s a really unpleasant sound.
-Paang! Kwang!! Puk!!!
Following the sound, I saw the back of my black-hooded self, hood now removed, fighting.
The opponent was a demon with arms attached all over its upper body, but unlike the flesh demon, it stood firmly on two legs.
Hmm, I’ve never seen this one in the game, but I can tell. At least a mid-level demon. Level 250 or higher.
I watched the two fighting—the demon charging with loud howls and the other person blocking everything and counterattacking—then looked around.
‘…So this is what happened here.’
This is a place I used to patrol three times a week as the forest keeper.
Before winter, there were edible tree fruits and small animals to hunt here.
On days when I fed Ira well, it was when I hunted small animals and gathered proper fruits from here…
‘…Can’t eat those fruits anymore.’
The surrounding trees were grotesquely twisted into shapes that could only be described as deformed, and the paths where small animals used to roam were completely covered with what looked like black puddles.
This is what the mountain—Ponia—looks like after demons invaded. I understand that the world I saw through the screen was very much sanitized.
-Pueok!!
[⎯⎯⎯!!!!]
-Kung!!
While I had briefly looked away, the forest keeper had kicked the demon’s body, bursting it open.
I’ve never seen myself fighting in the game, but was I always blocking demons like that?
Seeing how easily it subdued the demon, I truly understood that I must have been an important NPC.
‘…Though what meaning does that have now.’
The fallen demon gradually turned to dust and disappeared, and it quickly moved, turning its head in another direction.
As if searching for something urgently, I followed at a reasonable distance.
“Keeeng, keeeeng.”
“Huh? What’s that?”
A whimpering sound came from the dark bushes nearby. I tensed up and turned my head toward the sound near me.
“Miho!!!”
“…Huh?”
When the hood-less figure suddenly shouted, I stupidly blurted out while turning my head. It ran toward me with wide orange eyes.
But what did it just say…
“Krung! Krurung!!”
-Tatat!!
“Move!!”
“Uh, um…?”
It pushed past me irritably and began roughly searching through the bushes, quickly finding the source of the crying.
But, my god, what the fuck?
“Miho!! You idiot!! I told you not to go above the cabin!!!”
“Keeng, keeng.”
“…Damn it. I told you repeatedly it’s dangerous to come this far. Were you hungry? No, more importantly, are you hurt?”
“Grrrung.”
“…You hurt your leg. Well, that’s fortunate. At least it doesn’t seem to be cut off. Let’s go home. I’ll treat your wound and give you food.”
“Grururung~”
…I felt my brain freeze as I watched a man who looked very much like me petting a ‘real’ white tiger, then lifting the fallen white tiger onto his back.
What’s going on here? Miho? That thing? Huh?! There was nothing like this in the game?!!
“…What is it.”
“Ah, no. Um, is the tiger’s name Miho?”
“…As I thought, you’re not me.”
When I pointed at the tiger, slightly larger than a human but not fully grown, he frowned with his face that resembled mine… or more precisely, my face covered with scars.
Hmm, looking closely, that side seems cooler somehow. The scars on his cheek give off the vibe of a veteran who’s been through hell… no, that’s not the point.
“Well, whatever. But I’m not a demon either. That’s a fact, no, the truth.”
“……”
“Grrrung. *lick*”
When I blurted out what sounded like an excuse, he looked not at me but at the tiger that had made the sound. The real white tiger called Miho licked his cheek and started purring.
“…Fine. I’ll believe you’re not a demon for now.”
“Can it identify demons?”
“……”
Apparently because the white tiger showed no hostility toward me, he seemed to believe me and started walking quickly, ignoring my question. Since I had nowhere else to go anyway, I followed him while thinking.
‘Could it be that this trial world is connected to my reality, which is why it looks like this? There was no character named Miho in the game, and I’ve never seen the forest keeper NPC raising a tiger. Is it expressed this way because I know Miho in reality?
Then, what about the others? Ira, Ray, Ragni, Gor. Could they possibly appear around here in similar forms?
I quickly processed these thoughts, considering various scenarios that might happen in this “fake world” as I followed him.
“Krurung!!!”
[Kec⎯⎯⎯⎯!!!!]
“Tch! We’ve gone too deep.”
“…Is it the same demon as before?”
The white tiger was the first to sense something and howled, followed by that terrible cry. He clicked his tongue in annoyance.
I tilted my head and asked him.
“Yes, one of the Seven Deadly Sins. A mid-level demon created by the demon of Lust. Hey, you…”
“I see. So, any precautions?”
“Just let me put Miho down… What?”
He stopped awkwardly, about to lower the tiger from his back, and I just shrugged.
“If you can defeat it, I probably can too. But I’ve never faced that thing before. Besides, you still don’t trust me, right? Yet you’re trying to leave that tiger with me?”
“……”
At my words, he seemed at a loss for words and just stared at me silently. I stared back, not avoiding his gaze.
Well, what can you do.
“…It has many arms on its body, but basically only the six arms in front can move simultaneously. The rest just flail around.”
“What if I get caught?”
“…In my case, if it wasn’t the front arms, I could tear myself free even if caught.”
“Then I can do it too.”
I loosened my shoulders and moved toward where the demon’s sound was coming from. The demon, perhaps targeting us from the beginning, was quickly approaching.
Ugh, it looks even more horrific up close. Is that a mouth in the groin? Fuck, why is there a mouth there?
“Ugh, I really don’t want to do this.”
Having spotted me as the closest target, it started running quickly in my direction. I kicked off a nearby tree and rushed toward it.
But wait, it has no eyes or nose—how does it see to run like this?
“Right, this is fantasy after all.”
Feeling strangely capable of quick judgments today, I dodged its arms and kicked its face(?).
*
What on earth is that guy?
-Pueok!! Baak!!
“Shit!! It’s disgusting!! Filthy!! Ack!! There’s a mouth on its palm too?!!”
Watching the man with my face fighting with the same combat style—no, a slightly rougher version—while carrying Miho, I grew increasingly puzzled.
‘The movements, the punches, the kicks. Even the way he kicks off trees and jumps around, everything…’
It’s the basic forest keeper techniques I learned from my father.
Techniques that were drilled into me as the son of a forest keeper, preparing to become the next generation keeper.
At minimum, I should be the only person in this world who knows these techniques now. And yet.
“Ah shit?!! The precaution wasn’t just about the arms, you crazy?! Hey!!! Why didn’t you tell me the other arms can extend?!!”
The way he broke free and escaped after being caught by one of the supposedly will-less flailing arms that could extend—using techniques I learned from my father—was very similar to how I first faced that demon.
Could it be that this guy is a demon created to mimic me from that day? I shouldn’t trust him after all…
-*lick*
“…Miho?”
“Grrrung♡”
For some reason, despite being injured and in pain, Miho licked my ear happily and started purring contentedly.
No… I know why Miho is happy.
“Damn it!! Die!!!”
-Bueok!!!
[⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯!!!!]
-Kwaddeuddeuk!!!
Like a proper forest keeper identical to me, he used techniques learned from my father to grab the demon’s back, deliver a rough punch to knock it down, and then crush it with his knee, killing it instantly.
…That’s also the method I used when I first encountered that demon.
“Ptui, ptui!! Shit. Ah, flesh splattered!! This sucks?! Hey!! I asked for precautions and you said what?! Just watch out for the front arms?!!”
“I never said to only watch out for the arms.”
“What the hell?! Your only precaution was that the six front arms move simultaneously!!”
“I didn’t know if you were really not an enemy, so I figured you could figure out the rest while fighting.”
“…Oh shit. I really, really don’t like you.”
“That’s fortunate. I don’t like you eith…”
“Grrrung, grung.”
“What? Why’d you stop talking?”
“…It’s nothing.”
At Miho’s growl while gently pressing on my shoulder, I turned my head and started moving. He didn’t seem to care about my behavior and just kept grumbling irritably about getting dirty.
…Sigh.
“Follow me. You can’t bathe at our home, but you can clean yourself up.”
“Don’t worry, I was planning to.”
“Grrrung♡”
“……”
Miho’s happy purring, as if pleased that there were now two of ‘me,’ honestly didn’t sit well with me right now.
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