After leaving the town, Klyde traveled to where he had killed the Frostma wolf, without crossing the bridge.
"Just across the river is where I killed them. So there should be more wolves on this side, but that's only speculation."
He muttered to himself as he looked across the river, recalling yesterday's fight.
"Come to think of it, those wolves are no longer there. Must've been taken by another monster… or possibly some adventurers."
He then activated his suit's enhancement as well as his blaster.
『 Buffed 』
〔 Strength: 22 → 33 [+10] 〕
〔 Agility: 18 → 36 [+4] 〕
'Most adventurers look like they travel in groups, and here I am all alone. I should be careful. God, this is gonna deplete my power reserves. I should get going.'
Just as he was about to move, a loud howl echoed nearby. It was long and close enough to put Klyde instantly on guard.
"That sounded way too close… came from that way." He turned, away from the river.
He began walking in the direction of the howl, scanning his surroundings carefully as he moved through the forest. He noticed claw marks gouged into trees and animal tracks pressed into the dirt. He followed them for several minutes but still found nothing.
Finally, he came to a halt. A creature stood before him. Its body was covered in black fur, its head bent down as it ate from a bush. From either side of its skull sprouted antlers like a moose's, but made of silver crystal.
『 Greater 』
〔 Tachikara 〕
"A Tachikara? Looks a lot like a moose. It also looks hostile though…" he muttered, raising his hand and aiming at it. "I can't risk it being hostile."
The Tachikara raised its head, Klyde immediately fired.
『 Kill reward 』
〔 Exp: 137 〕
〔 Exp: 272/400 〕
Its body collapsed to the ground. Klyde approached it.
"137 EXP? That's an extremely high amount. Seems the blaster can one-shot a lot of these monsters."
With his sword in hand, he swung and severed the antlers.
"Which means as long as I keep my distance, I can kill pretty much anything that comes my way. Thankfully, I came to this world with my armor and weapons… otherwise I'd be dead."
『 Inventory 』
〘 Items: 4/1000 〙
〔 ID Card 〕
〔 Silver Quaranite Tachikara Antlers : 2 〕
〔 Book: The Book of Arkonridia 〕
---
Kneeling down, Klyde retracted his wrist blade and cut into the creature's chest and ribcage. His hand dug inside, feeling around.
'If I'm right, the core should be in the chest, if it has one of course.'
His hand struck something hard. Wrapping his fingers around the circular object, he pulled it free. What emerged was a yellow crystal sphere, roughly the size of his hand.
"So this is what a core looks like. These must be used for magical weaponry or something similar."
『 Inventory 』
〘 Items: 4/1000 〙
〔 ID Card 〕
〔 Book: The Book of Arkonridia 〕
〔 Silver Quaranite Tachikara Antlers : 2 〕
〔 Tachima Core: 1 〕
"Tachima? Not Tachikara? …Not important right now. I need to find Frostma wolves so I can complete this quest."
Voices carried from his left, growing louder with each passing second.
'People? They're coming closer.'
Klyde rose and turned toward the sound. A group of three adventurers came into view.
The first was a petite, blue-eyed blonde girl with pointed ears poking out from short hair. A leather belt secured her quiver across her body, and she carried a yellow bow, missing its string, in one hand.
The second was a man in brown combat-mage robes. His short red hair framed a face set with focus, and he held a wooden staff topped with a glowing blue crystal orb.
The third had black hair and eyes. He wore a green tunic and trousers, with metal boots and vambraces. At his waist, he carried twin blue-bladed swords.
The group noticed Klyde. The black-haired man waved, and the three approached.
"Unless you're near a dungeon, it's pretty rare to come across other adventurers. You must be the guy I've heard about, the one with Skypirian armor. Hi, I'm Natan, level 105, class: Fighter. These are my party members. The elf is Elenya, and the redhead is Aaron."
Both of them gave a small wave, and Klyde returned the gesture.
"Greetings. I'm Klyde," he said in his usual formal tone.
'Level 105… that means he's stronger than me. I should tread carefully to avoid conflict.'
"Klyde, huh? Nice to meet you." Natan replied.
"Not even gonna mention your class or level? Must be low rank…" Elenya scoffed.
"Not the time, El." Aaron scolded. His gaze shifted and locked onto the Tachikara corpse. His eyes widened. "Is that a Tachikara?"
Elenya crouched, inspecting the severed antlers.
"Silver Quaranite? How the heck did you manage to kill an Ascended Tachikara? Even at long range, they're ridiculously difficult due to their high magic sense. Guess there's more to you than meets the eye."
She stood back up.
"I appreciate the compliment," Klyde said. "May I ask, are you aware of the loud howl that echoed earlier?"
"Oh, that?" Natan raised an eyebrow. "You're not from around here, are you?"
"No, I am not."
"That explains it. To be honest, I'm not sure either. But I'll tell you this: a Gold-rank beast or higher might be to blame. Been happening for a week now."
"I see. Thanks for the clarification."
"No need to thank me."
"I'm curious too," Elenya added. "Why are you here exactly? Headed for a dungeon?"
'Dungeon?' Klyde thought. 'Maybe they can lead me to one if there's one nearby…'
"Yes, actually," he lied. "Though I'm no longer sure where it was."
"Interesting…" Aaron murmured, though neither of the others paid much attention.
"You can tag along with us then," Natan offered. "We're heading to a dungeon ourselves. It's not far."
"Thanks for the offer. I would appreciate your guidance."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go."
"But what about the Tachikara?" Elenya asked. "Aren't you going to take the body? If not, I could use it."
"Sure, you can take it," Klyde replied.
Elenya reached into her side bag and pulled out a white cube. Kneeling, she pressed it against the Tachikara's corpse, and the entire body was absorbed into the cube.
"Okay, now we can go," she said, slipping it back into her bag.
'That cube of hers just absorbed the entire body? Is it like an inventory item for convenience? I have my own inventory, so I shouldn't worry about it.'
Once everyone was ready, they set off together toward the dungeon.