Itai no wa Iya nanode Bōgyo-Ryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu Chapter 22

Defense Specialization and Friend Getting Stronger

「Alright, here I am.」

What Risa arrived at was a small house deep in the forest. It was a log house.

Right next to the house, a clear brook was flowing and a water mill was slowly turning.

In front of the house there was a small field and some unchopped firewood that must have been left behind after chopping.

The chirping of birds echoed pleasantly in the air.

Risa approached the house, knocked on the door and waited.

A little later, the door was opened from the inside.

A man with a staff and a long white beard came out.

「It’s rare to see someone come to a place like this… well, you should go in for now. There are many pesky monsters around here.」

Saying that, the old man let Risa into the house. Risa obediently followed inside.

If she hadn’t had enough AGI, the old man wouldn’t have been in the house and the event wouldn’t have been triggered.

There was only minimal furniture in the house.

The only thing that could catch one’s eye would be a dagger on a shelf at the end of the room, which was old but had a definite presence.

Risa then did as she was told and sat down in a chair near the table.

The old man put a teacup filled with tea in front of Risa.

「Drink it, it’ll help your body relax a little.」

「Well… thank you very much. Itadakimasu.」

Risa drank her tea. As the old man had said, her body did indeed feel rested.

More specifically, her MP was fully restored.

She couldn’t tell because her HP hadn’t been reduced, but according to the information, it would have recovered as well.

「Hmmm… you should take a rest for a while. I’ll fetch some 【Magic Water】.」

【Magic Water】 was water drawn from which water that restored magic power came out. The location of the spring could be learned from an NPC in the second layer town.

It was a rather distant place, about 30 minutes from the current location.

At this moment, Risa opened her mouth as if she had been waiting for it.

「Yes, well, I’ll go get it for you.」

「Hmm, is that so? …I’ll presume upon you here… My legs have been acting up lately.」

The old man said so and handed Risa a glass bottle.

A blue monitor appeared in front of Risa.

“Yes” and “No” were displayed on it.

Risa pressed “Yes” and accepted the quest.

As soon as they entered the second layer, the crafters examined the 【Magic Water】, but no matter how much they tried, they couldn’t get it out of the spring.

They were able to drink it on the spot and recover MP, but at the moment it was impossible to bring it with you.

The only way to draw up the water was to use the glass bottle given to you during the event.

However, it would disappear from your inventory within an hour of drawing it up.

In other words, this was a spot prepared specifically for this event.

「Well, I’m off then!」

「Sorry… I’m counting on you.」

Then Risa ran out of the log house and headed for the spring.

The monsters inhabiting this area were mainly of three types.

The first one was the Big Spider.

As the name suggested, it was a big spider. It was one meter in size and attacked with spider threads that would bind the target, making it a nuisance.
TL note: English transliteration is used, then it’s explained in Japanese: ビッグスパイダー, デカイ蜘蛛

The second one was the Sleep Beetle.

It was a beetle that used status debuff attacks to put its target to sleep. It was only slightly larger than a normal beetle, so it was a scary monster that was easy to miss and catch you off guard.

The third one was the Treant.

It mimicked a tree and excelled at surprise attacks.

However, its unique feature was that it was the only tree in the forest that bore red berries.

Therefore, if you knew about it beforehand, you’d have an easier time avoiding it. But even with that, its attacks with outstretched branches and roots had a long reach, and many players got killed once they were blocked on all sides.

Risa ran through the forest.

No monsters appeared, just as the prep work suggested.

And it took her exactly thirty minutes to reach the spring.

「Beautiful…」

The crystal clear water shone brightly, illuminating the surrounding trees and flowers.

Risa stopped for a moment to admire the fantastic sight of the spring.

She drank some of the water from the spring to restore her MP and increase her concentration.

「From here… right?」

Risa drew water from the spring into the glass bottle and put it into her inventory. The time limit was one hour.

If she couldn’t make it back to the log house in time, the event would be a failure.

Then, the forest was flooded with monsters that had not been there when she arrived, just waiting for her.

「Let’s go…」

Risa turned around, dove into the forest, and ran. The sickening cry of a spider echoed in the air.

This was where the event truly started.

It took 30 minutes to get there without monsters, but with monsters, she needed to return within an hour.

In order to get 【Super Acceleration】, she had to go through this ordeal.

Spider threads whizzed by from the tops of trees and bushes. If she got hit by them, she would be caught and that would be the end.

「Hnnn! …kh! 【Mirage】!」

As Risa ran, her body was hit by a large number of Sleep Beetles.

However, its shape was distorted and it softly melted into the air.

Shooting it a backwards glance, Risa broke through the swarm of Sleep Beetles.

「Careful, careful… nn!」

Sharp tree roots stretched out from under Risa’s feet.

Given Risa’s stats, a single hit from those would certainly be enough to kill her.

Risa avoided the tree roots and checked her surroundings.

There were three trees with red berries on them. Definitely Treants.

「【Fire Ball】!」

A blazing fireball hit the slow-moving Treant, burning its trunk heavily.

The Treant’s angry cry echoed through the forest.

「This…! I think I made mistake…」

Monsters were drawn in by the Treant’s cry and were detected by Risa’s 【Sensing Presence II】.

「【Mirage】!」

Risa sent a phantom of herself running in the direction of the fountain.

It successfully lured the beetles, but the spider? If only. Maybe it had some kind of skill or something, but it was still heading in Risa’s direction.

「I got found out! 【Slash】!」

She hit it twice while dodging the spider’s threads.

Its HP bar was indeed reduced, but there was still about 70% left. She had absolutely no time to take it down.

「Damn it… Those Treants are pesky…!」

The number of enemies was extraordinary, and each one was moving with different intentions.

On top of that, the spider’s AGI was quite high. It wasn’t much different from Risa’s.

That was not surprising, since this was a quest specifically for AGI specialists to take on in the first place.

「【Ocean】!」

A thin layer of water spread out from underneath Risa’s feet. The spider that had been chasing her ran into it and slowed down.

「【Slash】!… 【Wind Cutter】!」

Risa moved further forward, cutting off the branches and roots that the Treants had extended.

The gap between her and the spider was slowly widening.

However, Risa’s nerves were wearing down too.

If she failed to run through, she would be caught, and this was in the middle of a forest.

Trees all over the place, bushes underfoot, and a quagmire could be anywhere.

If she were to get tripped up, the situation would quickly worsen.

Risa heard the buzzing of wings in her ears and quickly turned her head towards the source of the noise.

「Beetles again!? …You’re kidding me.」

The monsters inhabiting this forest were 【mainly】 of three types.

So, even though it was rarely encountered, there was another type of monster.

A giant dragonfly was approaching from behind.

Its name was Wind Dragonfly.

Its name came from the fact that it used wind magic to accelerate as it flew at a speed so fast it was as if there weren’t any trees around.

「This is unlucky! …Damn it…! 【Wind Cutter】!」

She shot a blade of wind behind her to intimidate it.

There was no time to fight in this situation. She had to escape at all costs. The distance between them was still gradually narrowing.

Highly advanced wind magic whooshed by Risa. She used a tree as a shield to avoid the wind magic and spread out her 【Ocean】 to hold off the spider.

She diverted the Sleep Beetles flying at her from the right with 【Mirage】. Then, as she continued running, she was surrounded by monsters again.

An anxious look appeared on Risa’s face.

「Spider coming from the front… Treants from the left. Left it is!」

Making full use of 【Sensing Presence II】, she gathered as much information as possible and chose the best route.

Where the trees were thicker and the dragonfly would have a harder time flying. In front of her there were three Treants. Of course, there was no time to deal with them.

「【Mirage】!」

The Treants fell for it easily and stretched out their dozens of sharp branches, piercing Risa’s phantom.

The Treants let out a creepy laugh, feeling sure that they had won.

「Thanks! Really helpful of you!」

Risa muttered with relief.

It wasn’t Risa who was pierced.

It was one of the Wind Dragonfly’s wings.

Even though it was a Wind Dragonfly, there was no way it could completely avoid the unexpected attack.

Its wing torn off, the Wind Dragonfly slowed down.

The distance between it and Risa widened.

Creaking disgustingly, the Wind Dragonfly unleashed its wind magic at Risa, but the desperate attack was never going to reach her.

「Huff… Huff… here I am! Phew! Seriously, this might be the most tired I’ve ever been…」

The log house was right in front of Risa.

It took fifty two minutes, she barely made it in time.

Risa opened the door of the log house.

「I’m back!」

「Oh! I’ve been waiting for you. I’m so glad to see you’re okay…」

Risa, who had been through dozens of near-death encounters, gave him a miffed look, but the old man was unconcerned and continued talking.

「Hmmm… I must thank you… uh, just a moment, please.」

The old man took out a scroll from a drawer and brought it over.

「You can learn the 【Super Acceleration】 skill. It should be of help to you… don’t be shy.」

As the old man said this, his figure disappeared in a blur.

「I have no need for this.」

A voice came from behind Risa, and she hurriedly turned around.

There stood the old man with a happy smile on his face, like a boy who had pulled off a prank.

「Ho-ho… be diligent.」

「Y-yes!」

Risa replied instinctively and left the log house…

having gained a new power.