Transition to Another World, Land Mines Included. 035

Transition to Another World, Land Mines Included.

ACT 2: UNION
035: Natsuki & Yuki’s First Battle

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“Ooh! I got a hit on my radar!”

“Report the situation!”

“Possible boars, two of them. Distance of 50!”

“…Nao, Tohya. What’s this skit you’re performing?”

Haruka asked with a tired sigh. Seems like our little show wasn’t going over well.

“What? We’re just talking?”

“Yeah! I’ve been wanting to do this for so long!”

Thanks for having my back, Tohya, even if your Enemy Awareness is much better than mine. Fu fu fu!

We were currently walking along the forest edge near the main road outside the city. It was almost noon, and this excursion was the result of Tohya’s suggestion for us to go hunt some boars as battle practice. Personally, I’d wanted to eat some fowl… Maybe I could suggest that after we finished our boar-hunting session.

“So, there are two boars about 50 meters away from us?”

“Yep. Shall I lure them over?”

“Sure… Tohya, Yuki, and Natsuki will handle the boar when it comes. If both beasts come together, Nao and I will take on the second one.”

“Got it. Oh, Natsuki, take my spear.”

“Huh? But…”

Natsuki hesitated, glancing between the spear I held out and the one she held in her hands. She was probably worried that mine cost at least ten times of hers.

“Just for now, OK? And to be honest, that spear of yours would probably snap if a Tusked Boar comes at you headlong.”

“But you may have to fight as well, Nao-kun. Won’t that be dangerous for you?”

“It’ll be worse if you get hurt, Natsuki. Anyway, I have magic.”

“…Thank you, Nao-kun. I’ll be using this, then.”

Natsuki smiled as we exchanged spears. Driving the butt of the spear into the ground to keep it upright, I headed into the forest. If we were to lure the boars out, I’d need to get them to a clear space. The spear would just be a hindrance if we had to fight amongst the trees.

Locating a small opening between the trees, I entered the forest, while Haruka scaled a nearby tree and prepared her bow. Utilizing my Enemy Awareness, I managed to locate the Tusked Boars quickly.

One of them was easily the largest of the beasts we’d ever encountered. The other one was just a size smaller, so I guess they were a pair, rather than parent and child?

Tusked Boars were mindless creatures, and would usually charge once provoked. Since we had two to take care of this time, we had to plan our attack with a little more care.

I decided to aim for the smaller one. Maybe if I injure it enough, it would choose to run away instead of fight. Fire Arrow would be my best bet here.

I fired my spell at the boar, then jumped in front of the beasts and made a noise to draw their attention. The smaller boar wailed in pain at the attack, while the larger one let out a roar as it turned to charge towards me.

I turned and ran out of the forest, using Enemy Awareness to make sure that the boar was following. Grabbing my spear, I headed towards the others.

“It’s coming!”

Just as I zipped past Natsuki, who had her spear ready in hand, a small depression suddenly appeared in the ground underneath my foot.

Whoa! What perfect timing!

If I was the enemy, that is!

“Whoooooaaaa!!”

I stabbed my spear into the ground, using momentum to vault my way over the depression. Landing on the other side, I quickly regained my balance and turned around, just in time to see Natsuki pierce the larger boar right through its face.

…Wow, she’d gotten it right through the eye, and I could just see the tip of the spear protruding from the back of the boar’s skull.

That’s gotta be an insta-kill. But wait, this was no time to stand around gawking.

A second later, the other boar charged out of the forest, with an arrow embedded in its back. It was the smaller one that I’d hit with my Fire Arrow. As I watched, another arrow flew through the air and struck it, causing the beast to panic and stumble towards me. Already weakened by Fire Arrow and two arrow shots, I managed to finish it off quickly with a thrust of my spear.

“Phew! Great job, guys!!”

Heaving a relieved sigh, I used Enemy Awareness to scan the surroundings quickly to ensure there were no more incoming threats. Even though we were used to hunting boars by now, battles still made me edgy and nervous.

Yuki ran towards me, bowing her head in apology.

“Nao! Sorry! I was-”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. It’s your first time, so it’s OK to make mistakes.”

I smiled as I patted Yuki on the head. I mean, even if she had tripped me up successfully back there, nothing horrible could have happened. Maybe I’d end up with a sprain, but it wasn’t anything Haruka couldn’t heal. And Tohya would have easily handled the second boar. Besides, it gave me a nice chance to show off my acrobatic prowess.

“Yes, yes. That’s why we need to practice,” Haruka added.

She was already back down on the ground, retrieving her arrows from the dead boar.

“Y-Yeah. Sorry, and thanks.”

“Alright, now let’s help you with the Disassembly Skill, Yuki. We’re lucky because we’ll have two boars to practice on.”

“Uuh…! I’ll try…”

Yuki’s face looked a little white, but her voice was firm. I could understand, since I’d felt the same shock watching Haruka the first time she dissected an animal.

Good luck, Yuki. You’ll get used to this in no time.

I dragged the boar I’d killed over to join the rest of the group, just as Natsuki pulled her spear free from her boar. Though she seemed a little pale, her actions were strong and smooth. I guess it must have been gross to stab an animal right in the face… I felt a sense of admiration at her bravery, remembering how stunned I’d been during my first kill.

“Oh, thank you for your spear, Nao-kun. You were right, my own spear would have snapped during the attack.”

“No problem. Anyway, you’re amazing, Natsuki. You killed it in one shot.”

While it was probably common sense to use a spear to stab a charging beast through its head, it was still Natsuki’s first battle, and to remain that calm while delivering her attack definitely spoke of her courage.

She’d attacked the boar just as I ran past her, and though I’d expected Tohya to jump in to help stop the boar’s charge, it hadn’t been necessary at all. Did that mean she’d stopped that huge animal in its tracks using her spear alone?

It couldn’t be pure strength, so I suspect there was some technique involved… But it was amazing. So that was what a Level 4 Skill looked like.

And while I was an elf, with less physical strength than a human, Natsuki was still a girl, so we would probably be equally matched, but I didn’t think I could have done what she did with my Level 2 Spear Skill.

“Uuh, and all I did was injure Nao… We’re both doing this for the first time! What did I do wrong?” Yuki moaned.

“Maybe it’s because I’ve trained in martial arts back in our previous world? Don’t worry, Yuki, you just need more practice,” Natsuki said gently.

“Yeah, in fact, it’s great that you managed to create a hole at the right timing. It sounds like a tricky spell, so it’s expected that you won’t get it right immediately,” I added.

“Thanks, I’ll continue to work on it.”

“Sure, but now it’s time for Disassembly practice. Copy the Skill from me.”

“…OK.”

Yuki nodded as she took the knife Haruka held out.

“OK, I’ve copied it.”

The Skill did appear to work instantaneously, just like how Umezono managed to run away immediately after hearing all our Skills.

“Alright, watch and follow, Yuki. Natsuki, you can just watch for now, though it’ll be great if you can learn it sometime too.”

“Alright.”

“Nao and Tohya…”

Before Haruka could say anything, I beat her to the punch.

“Can we go hunting? I’d like to eat some fowl.”

“Fowl? Can you hunt those without me?”

Thus far, Haruka had been the one hunting birds with her bow and arrows, but I was sure Tohya and I would figure out a way to do it ourselves.

“Yeah… Since we have nothing to do here, anyway,” I responded, giving an excuse just in case we failed to catch anything.

“OK, just don’t wander too far.”

“Yep. Let’s go, Tohya.”

“Me? Oh, whatever. Let’s go.”

Leaving a worried Haruka, Tohya and I headed back into the forest.

~

“So, how are you planning to catch fowl? Haruka’s always been the one to shoot them down with her arrows.”

Fowl were commonplace in the forest, so it was easy for Tohya and I to quickly locate a group using my Enemy Awareness and his super senses. And while I hoped we’d chance upon a delicious species, our first priority was to figure out a way to catch them.

“I’ll hit the one on the right with Fire Arrow, then you just dash over and stab it? You got the Speed Skill, right?”

“What!? I can’t reach a bird that high up with my sword! …Come on, let’s look for some that are on the ground.”

“Oh, you mean those quail-like ones…? Won’t you just end up beating it into minced meat?”

Tohya’s sword was different from the typical Japanese sword, so it was definitely more of a blunt weapon than a cutting one. If he attacked a quail with it, the bird would stand no chance.

“Then we’ll find bigger ones, as big as a pheasant or pigeon? I can also use my Roar to stun them…”

“Nope. That’ll scare away any others, and we’ll only end up with one bird.”

While Tohya’s Roar Skill allowed him to let out a deafening roar to stun the enemy, it wasn’t the most effective Skill to use in battles.

Tusked Boars usually charged without much provocation, so there was no need to use Roar against them. In addition, Vype Bears were too menacing to be scared by any loud noises. We’d fought goblins twice so far, and Tohya managed to use Roar successfully against one of them, but since it was rare to come across those, he hadn’t gotten another chance to use it again. Of course, he could use it on small creatures like birds and rabbits, but that would only serve to stun one animal while scaring all others away.

“Look, let’s find a big bird. If it’s within striking distance, you go for it. If not, I’ll hit it with Fire Arrow.”

“Sounds good, but can your Fire Arrow kill the bird without cooking it into a crisp? Maybe you can just burn its wing, then I’ll stab it.”

“Tsk tsk. I’ve improved my Skill, you know? My control over Fire Arrow is much better now.”

Thanks to some hard work, my magic had indeed become much better. And while my Skill level had yet to go up, my abilities had definitely improved over time.

“It’s sort of like Fire Arrow 2.0 now!”

“Sounds cliché, but OK.”

“Shut up. Anyway, I can focus it better now, and control how deep I want the spell to penetrate. If all goes well, I can even burn the head off a quail.”

“…If all goes well?”

“I’m still working on accuracy. Once I master that, you can look forward to seeing Fire Arrow 3.0.”

Currently, I could focus my attack to hit within a 20cm radius of an unmoving target about ten meters away. For something as small as a quail, I’d probably need to get within five meters, and it would be difficult even then.

“…So we’re looking for big birds.”

“Yeah. Let’s hope their meat won’t be that tough.”

It was hard using Enemy Awareness to locate small birds, but they did taste more delicious.

“Alright, let’s start searching.”

“OK.”

By searching, we meant focusing our Skill or senses to detect any traces of life, then approaching the animals to check out what they were.

Unfortunately, Enemy Awareness was not able to tell me exactly what type of animal I was tracking. However, it was a Skill with levels, and I’d learned to be able to use it to recognize Tusked Boars, so maybe I would be able to use it to recognize more animals in the future.

Either way, it was better in that sense compared to Tohya’s super senses, which wasn’t able to give him that type of information at all, though it was great at sensing hostility.

“Ooh, I got a hit on a bird. Something called Cotas.”

“Are you using Appraisal? It looks quite small…”

Even so, it was still larger than a quail. Its feathers were a light brown, with no discerning pattern.

“OK, I’m gonna use my Fire Arrow 2.0.”

“OK.”

I focused my energy as much as I could, then released Fire Arrow. A flame as thick as a ballpoint pen shot forward, grazing past the Cotas’ head and striking the ground.

“Missed!”

Before I had time to react, Tohya had already dashed forward and stuck his dissecting knife into the bird’s neck.

“Huh, hey!!! So you didn’t need my magic after all!!?”

Especially since he hadn’t even waited and had dashed out at the same time as I released my spell. Did he not trust my magic at all?

“I guess not. I just moved out of instinct… Like, just to catch it before it flies away. In case you missed, you know.”

“Aargh…!”

I swallowed my frustration as Tohya grinned. I mean, I had fired my shot from a distance of less than five meters, so it was really my own fault for missing my target.

But the Cotas had such a small head. Smaller than 3cm, I think? Of course it would be hard to hit.

…Wait. But Haruka always managed to hit boars in the eye with her arrows. And Natsuki did it just now as well?

“…Whatever, I’ll leave the Cotas hunting to you, then. I’ll take charge of the birds you can’t reach,” I grumbled, forcing myself not to dwell on painful reality.

“Well, if the birds are big, I’m sure you can hit them with Fire Arrow 2.0. It’s OK to hit them in the body too.”

“No, I can hit them in the head! I’ll do it next time. Definitely. Yeah!”

We continued our hunt for Cotas, and after a while, we finally managed to find something better.

It had a wingspan of about 50cm, with a dark brown body and a small white patch on its tail. It was perched high up on a branch, so I didn’t have to worry about Tohya stealing the kill.

…Though that meant I had to hit it without missing.

“What’s that?”

“A Kuuras. Is it edible? It looks like a crow.”

“Should be fine. Help labels it as Kuuras (Food).”

The first time we’d encountered a Tusked Boar, Help had only labeled it as ‘Beast (Food)’, so I’d expected it to label the Kuuras as ‘Bird (Food)’. However, Help had labeled the Kuuras by name this time. Maybe because I already knew its name?

“People don’t eat crows now, but I think we used to hunt them in the past?”

I’d heard stories of how people used to catch and eat crows during the time of our great-grandfathers. Since the crows lived in the cities, they were easy game for those living there, and eating the crows also reduced the amount of harm they could cause, so hunting them was a quite a widespread habit.

However, we’d come to attach a bad image to that over the years. In addition, those birds were smart, and started building their nests outside of the city so they wouldn’t get hunted so easily.

“OK, I’m gonna hit it.”

“Yeah. Good luck, 2.0.”

“Shut up. Fire Arrow!”

Taking a deep breath, I took a good aim and released Fire Arrow. The blast flew towards the Kuuras, and in the next instant, its head exploded into nothingness.

“Yeah!!”

I ran forward to collect the dead bird which had fallen to the ground. Checking out the carcass, I didn’t spot any damage to the body. Wasn’t this just perfect?

“Ooh, that went well. But now we can’t drain its blood.”

“Oh.”

Fire Arrow had cauterized the wound and stopped any blood flow. I took out my dissecting knife and made some small cuts to let the blood out.

“Shall we head back now that you’ve gotten your kill?”

“…Yeah.”

Tohya had already killed six Cotas, so there was no need to hunt for more Kuuras for our lunch, but I wished he’d let me get a few more kills in. I mean, it was embarrassing that he’d killed six, while I had only one.

Shaking the Kuuras to ensure all its blood had drained out, we started to head out of the forest.

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