A few similar situations arose after that.
It was still dangerous for Chaerin to take on many monsters.
So whenever a stronger monster appeared, I ended up repeating the job of filtering them out for her a few times.
I had never played the VR game [Demon’s Saga], but I knew that a level difference of 10 was quite significant.
Ah, what a considerate guy I am. I seem quite kind-hearted.
“…Hiiing.”
However, Chaerin’s reaction was a bit strange.
I was only trying to help her by filtering monsters, but she seemed rather gloomy.
Her shoulders drooped, and her usual lively demeanor had vanished, as if her spirit had been crushed.
Even the viewers were empathizing and trying to comfort her.
[It’s okay, Chaerin. It’s just a bad opponent.]
[But stop whining! Aren’t you supposed to be a tough guy?]
[The tough guy right now is Yor, though?]
[Strong men… can you please be moderately strong…?]
[They’re all one-shotting, what the hell, lol.]
It seemed my consideration had scratched her self-esteem.
Maybe it was because I had been detached from society for too long, but understanding someone else’s feelings was quite difficult.
I should have met people more often.
“This is strange… The wolf we encountered before didn’t have such a high level…”
“Maybe it was a juvenile.”
“Isn’t it weird that something not yet an adult could be that strong?”
“Well, a carnivore wouldn’t be weaker than a roe deer, right?”
But on the other hand, I felt a bit excited.
It’s a common trait among people.
When they encounter a field they are confident in, their self-esteem rises, doesn’t it? I was exactly in that state.
At least, in terms of this forest, there weren’t many that had more knowledge than I did.
“Oh, that looks good.”
After wandering around for a while, I finally found a monster that matched her level.
“…Kyu?”
[Mutated Rabbit Lv 81]
It was a rabbit.
Still, since it had ‘mutated’ in its title, its magical aura felt considerable, and it was quite large.
But, it was only about half the size of her body.
In any case, it was definitely not something to dismiss just because it was a rabbit.
Regardless of the level, that thing was agile and aggressive.
To be honest, I had struggled against such rabbits back in the day.
But there’s often a sense of inadequacy when you look at their appearance.
The moment I laid eyes on the rabbit, ridicule erupted in the chatroom.
[After walking for a while, the opponent is a rabbit? lol]
[Yor said, you’re only catching rabbits.]
[By your standards, you’re way too weak to fight a wolf~]
“No, wait. Look at the level! Don’t underestimate it!”
Seeing the chatroom, she shouted in anger.
Of course, I agreed with her. Judging solely by appearance is foolish. Arrogance and carelessness are shortcuts to death.
So, I decided to cheer her up and boost her courage.
“You’re right. You can do it. Don’t let your guard down, observe your opponent closely.”
[That’s right, Chaerin! You can do it! Uwujju~]
[We’re cheering for you, our little bunny!]
[???: Don’t underestimate a rabbit! (while one-shotting an owlbear)]
“…Ugh!”
It seemed my encouragement didn’t help her much though.
Anyway, she found her opponent and began charging towards the rabbit. The two daggers made from the wolf’s fangs shone brightly.
The monster reacted to her sudden aura.
“Kyu?”
With a cute beastly sound, the battle began.
Yoo Chaerin’s intersecting blades were dodged by the rabbit’s rapid two-legged jumps.
The mutated rabbit was not very big.
At most, it barely reached her lower body height.
In other words, that small body possesses the strength of a B-rank adventurer.
True to its name as a quick rabbit, it seemed to have plenty of room against the agile rogue’s attacks.
Even though she swung her daggers wildly, she couldn’t even touch a hair on it.
Then, during the fight, she allowed the monster to attack her.
“Kyuuck!”
“Ouch!”
The rabbit’s kick hit her right shoulder.
Considering the monster’s small size, it wasn’t serious, but she definitely took damage.
As the viewers witnessed this, they began to tease her again.
[Seriously, such a pathetic fight, lol.]
[Can’t you even land a hit?]
[Hey, want me to tell you how to win? Just hit the enemy, okay?]
“Ah, be quiet! I can’t focus with all this noise!”
Of course, each time, Chaerin got angry.
I could understand the viewers’ feelings.
It must look ridiculous for her to be fighting a cute rabbit that was less than half her size in a do-or-die battle from the perspective of a third party.
However, for me, who had faced the battle with rabbits in the past, it felt different.
‘…Not bad, she fights pretty well.’
She seemed to have decent combat sense.
When wielding her daggers, she wasn’t just swinging wildly but was predicting the rabbit’s movements. The problem was, it was simply too quick to land a hit.
It was understandable. Rabbits had their stats skewed heavily towards speed compared to others.
So much so that they could be faster than carnivores a few levels higher than them.
It made perfect sense that she, a level lower than the rabbit, could not catch it.
‘Now, what will she do?’
I silently questioned myself while watching the battle.
If she continued the fight in this manner, it would just be a standoff. Perhaps she might even be the first to tire out and lose.
This meant she might lose if she didn’t devise another plan.
Fortunately, it seemed like she had already prepared that alternative.
“Kyu!”
Again, the rabbit’s feet charged toward her.
Cute and small, yet no kick to be dismissed. Normally, one would defend against it.
But she chose not to defend. Instead, she prepared to launch her next attack. She raised her dagger high while keeping a close watch on the kick.
In due time, the rabbit’s kick connected with her side.
Smack!
“Ugh!”
With a soft groan, she launched her attack.
Seizing the opportunity when the rabbit exposed itself while attacking, her dagger surged forward.
Having already used its turn, the rabbit had no choice but to expose its heart.
I let out a small gasp.
“Wow.”
To take the hit and seize the attacking opportunity like that was not an easy tactic.
Was it possible due to her low absorption rate? Whatever the case, the guts she displayed were quite commendable.
Clap clap clap.
I quietly applauded her, genuinely.
“Good job. You’re fighting better than I expected.”
“…Are you making fun of me?”
Of course, I couldn’t tell if my sincerity reached her.
[My brother is kind of a tease.]
[Inner thoughts: This pathetic fight is amusing. lol]
Anyway, after that, the situation was pretty similar.
Whenever she couldn’t manage to catch a monster, I would cut it down, and when an appropriate one showed up, I’d watch the fight.
As she said, the experience points were substantial, and I even witnessed her leveling up in real-time.
There were just some flashy effects; it didn’t actually replenish her health or mana right away.
It felt somewhat like training a newbie, which was quite entertaining.
“Did you know?”
In between, I was able to gather information as well.
Though the content of today’s hunt was hunting, it wasn’t like there were monsters every single time.
Honestly, there was a fair amount of time spent just walking.
We couldn’t maintain silence during that time, so she would often share little bits of information.
“A new top-ranking otherworlder has just changed.”
As she continued wrapping her wound with a bandage, she carried on speaking.
“The original first place was held by a user from China, who was spending loads of money to maintain their rank. But once they crossed level 100, their growth seemed to have stagnated.”
And it appeared that in the gap caused by that Chinese user’s stagnation, a user from the U.S. had reclaimed the first place. Of course, that guy had also spent a fortune.
Anyway, as it stands, the current game ranking first place is at level 103.
Hearing that, I lightly nodded.
‘103…’
I’m not precisely sure about levels, but from what I heard, approximately 110 is the minimum cut for A-rank adventurers.
And to the people here, even A-rank’s wall is quite high.
Out of hundreds of people who make a living through combat, only a few reach that tier.
It was understandable why she was slowly hitting the wall around level 100.
No, the fact that someone could reach A-rank adventurer status in just 9 months was surprisingly impressive.
No matter how much you can revive infinitely and control pain.
When you broaden the scope to a world level, it seems there are plenty of talents out there.
While contemplating such thoughts, I suddenly had a question arise in my mind.
‘By the way, what level am I?’
Considering that adventurers have precise standards based on levels, there seemed to be a way to measure it.
An NPC wouldn’t just hide its level indefinitely, and perhaps there are items to measure levels directly.
“…Hmm.”
I was curious, but I decided not to find out.
I trust her, but there’s no need to reveal all my cards.
So, I’ll just leave it as a curiosity for now.
With that in mind, I helped her with her content.
Before sunset, she had reached a level where she could take on two mutated rabbits at the same time.
That’s an incredible improvement. Although the chatroom was filled with mockery.
After that, I returned home while enjoying a pastry I had saved.
*
A few days later, I heard some bad news going around.
It was the news of the new demon, Seere, descending.
