The moment he activated the word, an arrow appeared before him, pointing in the direction of the nearest village.

“There should be a village up ahead, huh.” (Hiiro)

The arrow that had appeared was pointing towards the mountains up ahead.

“Is the village hidden in the hill, or is it beyond the mountains? Either way, I need to be as careful as possible.” (Hiiro)

“Kui!” (Mikazuki)

Mikazuki nodded and shook her back, telling Hiiro to get on. Hiiro ran beside Mikazuki for a moment before hopping onto her back and heading in the direction of the arrow.

After leaving the beach, Hiiro saw a vast grassland spread before him. Beyond the grassland was the hill and mountain range that he witnessed before.

(It feels calm right now but, I’ll never know when something might happen.”

From what he read about the [Evlia] Continent, the monsters in this area were numerous and more formidable when compared to the other Continents. He didn’t feel that monsters would openly come out and attack, however, as he could be attacked anytime, he decided to prepare some words in anticipation.

Using , he was now able to set up five words at a time. He wrote the words and on himself and Mikazuki. He also wrote the word on his sword. The words faded into the objects. With his preparations complete, he would now be able to activate any of these words at will.

And yet, if he used a Two-Word spell, all the One-Word spells he had set up at that moment would disappear. Thus, he need to be careful to avoid using Two-Word spells.

“If I level up, I might be able to do more than this. However, I better watch myself for now.” (Hiiro)

The idea of being able to use Two-Words with his current abilities made him excited. He was determined to continue hunting monsters to raise his level.

While he was casually riding Mikazuki, he saw something move at the edge of his vision.

“Stop!” (Hiiro)

“Kui!?” (Mikazuki)

Mikazuki skidded to a halt.

“Kui?” (Mikazuki)

“Look over there” (Hiiro)

Hiiro pointed at a monster before him.

It was a slime that was 10 times larger than normal slimes. As it moved around on the ground, it kept making a puni-puni sound. Its body was green, however, it was transparent, to the extent of being able to see the other side of its body. Near the center of the body, there was red mass.

“Could that red, heart-like thing in the center be its weak point? My first opponent is a monster that isn’t in the illustrated book huh…” (Hiiro)

Hiiro was surprised because this was a demon that he didn’t know anything about. He thought it was a unique monster, but he had also seen something similar a while back. Unlike the unique monsters, who generally wandered around alone, these monster looked as if they were working together.

“Just as I heard, the demons of the Evila continent weren’t listed in the encyclopedia.” (Hiiro)

The encyclopaedia that he had read, only listed the monsters in the Humas Continent and the Gabranth Continent. It didn’t look like it listed any monsters on the Evila Continent.

“I want to find a reference book for this area as soon as possible.” (Hiiro)

If he didn’t do something like that, he would be significantly disadvantaged when fighting the monsters in the Evila continent. He would definitely be more prepared if he knew about the monsters he was facing beforehand. Of course, he could use word magic to find out about the monsters, however, doing so would not be an efficient use of MP.

Thus, it would be much more efficient if he could find a reference book.

“That is true, but first off, let’s see what the first fight on the Evila Continent would be like.” (Hiiro)

Hiiro got off of Mikazuki’s back and drew out Thorn-Piercer.

“You, stay back.” (Hiiro)

“Kui!” (Mikazuki)

It was familiar exchange. Following Hiiro’s order, Mikazuki fled the battlefield immediately.

“First off, let’s try and look into something.” (Hiiro)

As the slime still didn’t notice Hiiro, he used this opportunity to write the word in order to view the monster’s .

“Let’s see…its name is Grand Slime, Rank S. Seriously!? There are several S ranked monsters crawling around here?!” (Hiiro)

He looked around, noting that there were several other Grand Slimes nearby. He had met S-ranked monsters before, but they were generally considered unique and they were always by themselves. However, as expected, in the Evila continent, there were a lot of S-Ranked monsters wandering around.

(If a rank SS or a rank SSS monster came out…)

In the past month, Hiiro had fought with an SS rank monster in the Gabranth continent. Its strength and power were in orders of magnitude stronger than anything he had encountered thus far. He had barely managed to defeat it by making full use of his Word Magic. If he had made a single blunder during that encounter, he would undoubtedly have perished.

At that moment, he felt that he was dancing on a thin line between life and death.

He didn’t want to face another SS rank monster. As his affinity with the type of monster and topology had worked in his favour, he was able to somehow win thanks to good luck. He knew that it was way too soon for him to face an SS rank monster. If he didn’t level up significantly, then he would definitely die the next time.

(Ever since then, I haven’t wished for Arnold and Muir’s presence more strongly.)

Although he didn’t show it, when he was working together with Arnold and Muir, they were very helpful. If they were with him when he was facing that SS Rank monster, the battle would not have been so dangerous.

And yet, from now on, he was all alone. Furthermore, the monsters on the [Evila] continent would be much stronger than those he encountered before. If his level was low, he could be killed off pretty easily.

(Taking all that into account, I have no choice but to raise my level as fast a possible.)

He had a strong premonition that he would eventually be fighting monsters that would be of a higher rank than SS in the future.

“For that purpose, these guys will be my food.” (Hiiro)

Sensing bloodlust, the Slime stopped and slowly turned to face him. Following this, it leaped at Hiiro with unexpected velocity.

“Fast!” (Hiiro)

Even though it had such a large body mass, it moved with the speed of a small animal. It was full of openings so Hiiro took this chance to jump past the Grand Slime and slice it with his sword.

Zuba (Sound of sword through a slimy body)

He thought he inflicted a significant blow to the slime, yet it was unfazed by it.

“Crap? It didn’t hit?” (Hiiro)

Hiiro wanted to avoid physical contact with it. However, a bullet-like object suddenly detached itself from the slime’s body and flew towards him. Using both hands, Hiiro braced for impact. However, it was so soft that there was no impact or damage at all.

(What’s going on?)

He raised his eyebrow, wondering what had just occurred. However, something happened in the following moment.

Boutsu! (Sound of a puff of fire appearing)

The part of Hiiro that was hit with the Slime abruptly burst into flames.

“Hot!” (Hiiro)

He tried to put out the fire by waving it in the air, but nothing happened.

“Damn!” (Hiiro)

He squatted on the ground and pressed the burning part into the soil. At that moment, the fire went out.

“Hah, hah, hah…this bastard.” (Hiiro)

Not only did Hiiro suffer some burns, his red robe was scorched, left in tatters by the flames. He began to regret that he hadn’t used the word .

“Damn…this can’t be easily restored either.” (Hiiro)

He drew his sword and slashed at the Slime again. He once again felt the weapon land a solid strike on the monster. Yet, similar to before, it had no effect. Looking closely, he noticed that the parts he had damaged had already been regenerated.

“I see. Physical attacks don’t work on this thing. Now what……” (Hiiro)

Chapter end