Will I End Up As a Hero or a Demon King (WN)

Chapter 141

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Chapter 141 – Successful Experiment

Stepping into the great hole of Deboa, it was like a tunnel with walls of dirt all around.

A cylindrical cavity that could probably fit a car, but the floor was definitely not flat.

As I walked inside, placing the pieces of magic stone I had prepared for the magic tool for light sources, the word Exploration already showed a reaction.

“Ril, it’s about 30 meters ahead. I don’t know what it is, but there are four ants.”

“I understand. I’ll go on from here.”

“It will be dark soon, so I’ll give you this. It’s small, so you can hold it in one hand and swing your one-handed sword without any problems, right?”

“Is this also a light source?”

“Yes, yes. It’s something from Earth that I brought with me when I was sent here, so please don’t break it. Don’t get so excited that you crush it in your hands.”

The one I gave to Ril was the flashlight.

Unlike magic tools, it’s durable, and most importantly, it’s easy to hold.

It’s the kind that only shines in one direction, so it’s probably not very convenient to use in a place like this, but it’s better than nothing.

I mean, I’ve hit goblins with it, so I don’t think it’s something you can just crush with your hands, but…

Seeing that kind of otherworldly strength, I can’t help but worry and feel like giving her a warning.

“So this is from Earth. Okay, I’ll be careful not to break it.”

I turned the tip so it was always on and pointed it in the direction Ril was going, and the flashlight shone much farther than the magic tool for lighting.

“Oh, I see ants.”

“Hmm. It looks like this part is made like a room.”

“Or rather, aren’t they coming towards us in response to the light?”

“Yes, they are.”

“…..”

I can’t help but sneak up behind Ril.

It’s a pretty pathetic sight, but I haven’t even tried to see if I can defeat them myself.

I’m responsible for carrying and dismantling things.

I stare at Ril’s buttocks and mutter softly, “Please defeat them, Ril-sama.”

Meanwhile, Ril also stares at the sword and mumbles to herself.

“Has the time finally come to use this sword in a real battle…?”

Wait, doesn’t that sound like me in middle school?

She looks a little dangerous, but is she okay?

While I was thinking about that, the butt in front of me suddenly disappeared.

“Huh?”

――Zap!

As I looked ahead in response to the sound, I saw the body being cut in half and the impact sending one half flying into the wall next to it.

As I stood there, dumbfounded by the sudden turn of events, I couldn’t see any sword lines; all I could see was the ants’ bodies naturally splitting in front of Ril.

“Loki! Hurry up and finish them off! I’m using Moderation, but they’re about to die!”

“Ah… yes!”

When I see a scene like this, my tone of voice naturally becomes more respectful.

I immediately start running, and while holding the dismantling knife tightly, I stab it into the ant that was closest to me… but…

“(Seriously?!)”

The blade doesn’t go through the ant’s black outer shell, and I can’t do any damage even though I wanted to finish it off.

When I quickly stabbed the dismantling knife into the inner part that was cut,

‘Your level has increased to 18.’

‘Your level has increased to 19.’

‘Your level has increased to 20.’

“(It’s coming…)”

At this point, I am convinced that the experiment was successful.

‘You have acquired Resonance Lv1.’

‘You have acquired Resonance Lv2.’

‘You have purchased Acid Liquid Lv1.’

‘You have acquired Digging Lv.1.’

“(More…!)”

Only one was killed.

‘You have acquired Digging Lv.2.’

‘You have acquired Digging Lv. 3’

‘You have acquired Digging Lv.4’

“(There’s more…!)”

And yet, the announcements that passed in front of my eyes did not stop.

‘You have acquired Acid Resistance Lv. 1’

‘You have acquired Acid Resistance Lv. 2.’

‘You have acquired Acid Resistance Lv. 3.’

‘You have acquired Acid Resistance Lv. 4.’

When the announcements finally stopped, I was at the height of my excitement.

I immediately thought about what to prioritize and what to do in this hunting ground.

“Loki? Are you okay?”

“J-just a moment…”

“?”

“(My skill level went up to 4 in one go. That means you definitely have a skill level of 5… and more than one. And can I come here tomorrow by myself? No, that’s impossible. It’s clearly meant for parties, not solo play. Even if I’m a little stronger, it’s not realistic to walk around alone in the dark with a light source in my hand. Then――)”

I plunged the dismantling knife repeatedly into the ant’s body, and while confirming the announcement that would come after I was done, I put down the basket I was carrying.

“Aren’t you going to dismantle it?”

“Yes, I’m going to throw it away.”

What should be the priority here is not money. I can make money elsewhere.

What should be prioritized is my level and skill level.

That’s it; I’m going to raise my status here all at once.

“Ril, I’m sorry, but we’re skipping lunch today. Instead, you can eat as much as you want for the rest of your stay. So I want you to help me defeat as many enemies as possible.”

“…Of course. This is my apology to you.”

It’s an incredible feeling of exhilaration.

Everyone has their own idea of what they want from a game in terms of enjoyment and excitement.

But there’s a moment when your character suddenly becomes strong.

I think there are a lot of players who get a rush from that.

But what if it wasn’t your character but yourself?

If you had to compare it to something, it would be like winning the lottery.

I think it’s similar to that feeling.

“(Well, I’ve only won up to 3000 yen so far.)”

Call to Assembly

We ran and ran, relentlessly slashing the ants and diving deeper and deeper into the hole.

There were three kinds of monsters and the queen ant, according to the Hunter Guild’s data.

I don’t plan on killing the queen ant, but I still want to improve the three monster skills as much as possible.

I’m going to push forward with that desire alone.

Without dismantling them, I’ll just keep killing them.

When I was level 30, I could stop them just by kicking them hard as I approached them.

If I don’t have to crouch down every time, that alone will save even more time.

The farther I went, the more forks I saw in the holes, and at first, I had to remember them all as I went.

I would check the map to see if there was a fork, but it didn’t conveniently switch to the inside of a hole.

In this case, I had to remember them all on my own, but the holes spread out in a fan shape and downwards, so it was relatively easy to get back to the exit.

If I went to the hole that went up, it would lead to the exit.

The farther you went, the more ants there were, and soon another kind of ant appeared that was difficult to see at first glance, even when you shone a light on it, although its reaction was clearly visible.

This was the killer ant that the guild documents said would attack without warning.

Unlike the soldier ants with black exoskeletons that were there from the beginning, the killer ants had brown exoskeletons.

Since it blends in with the brown clay walls, it would be a formidable monster in a dark hole like this, where visibility is poor and you’re dependent on light sources.

Well, it seems to be a small matter for Ril.

Whether it jumps suddenly or attacks from the ceiling, she slashes it down with super reaction even though she doesn’t use any skills, and even when it bites her occasionally, she doesn’t seem to feel any pain.

It really is a fascinating superalloy body.

By the way, I was able to get the Camouflage skill from the killer ants, so I later found out that they were not just brown but also used their skills to hide.

I used the Exploration skill to go to the hole where there were more ant reactions, and if it was a dead end, we would run back…

I kept doing this, and I think by this time, we had gone through about 30 rooms?

Finally, the third type.

The slightly smaller black ants known as leviants began to appear.

And the abilities these leviants had were different from the soldier ants and the killer ants.

One of them was the Call to Assembly skill that I had used earlier.

When I used Call to Assembly level 4, the monsters within a 180-meter radius with Call to Assembly would gather around me one by one.

“(Haha… It’s a huge wave.)”

The number of them is so large that even with Presence Detection, it’s impossible to grasp the full extent of the army, let alone with Exploration.

The enemy’s presence is huge, and it’s like a thick wall closing in on me.

If I were alone, I would definitely be overwhelmed, swallowed up, and eaten alive.

But I have the superhumanly invincible Ril-sama on my side.

“Ril! Hurry up! Hah… hah… There are so many of them!”

“Leave it to me! I am the Goddess of War!”

When I use Call to Assembly to get a little ahead and bring back a large number of them, Ril will charge into the swarm at a tremendous speed and cut them down.

If she hits them in the passage, they will be within sword range, and there is no chance that they will get behind her.

After I learned how to use Call to Assembly, the roles of me, the one who lures them in, and Ril, the one who cuts down the ants in the passage, became established.

Sometimes, one or two soldier ants appear behind me, but with my status already raised, I can easily kill them.

I kick up the pile of corpses, stab them with Paisa-san’s masterpiece sword, and if I have time, sweep them away with Wind Magic.

‘Your level has increased to 39.’

Finally, my level is about to reach the next big level, ’40.’

I don’t know how many hours we’ve been hunting, but I’m sweating and exhausted.

“Ril, let’s take a short break… I’m really tired!”

“Already? Loki doesn’t have much endurance. You should train more.”

“No, no, I’m training… I run when I move between hunting grounds… ah, I’ve been relying on Flight lately, and maybe I’ve been slacking off a bit…”

“If you want to use a sword, why don’t you practice at the inn? It seems like a lot of people do that, right? Actually, if you keep using it, your skill level will naturally increase.”

“Repeated use for the natural increase is more like magic~. The last point is that. But more importantly, how is it? Do you feel like you’ve become stronger, Ril?”

“I feel like I’ve gotten stronger somehow! Somehow!”

I can’t help but think to myself, “I bet you have.”

Even though your level increases, each stat only increases by 3 or 4.

The fact that all stats increase evenly is a good thing, but more than that, the high-level bonuses for skills in this world are too good.

At level 6, you get +30, and at level 7, you get +60, so when you get to level 9 or 10, you should get a bonus of over 100 for that level alone.

I think Ril has a number of such high-level skills that are beyond my ability to predict, so even if the level of a skill that was 1 were to increase to 40, the difference would be so great that it would be impossible to notice.

What’s more, since she’s currently in a split body form, even if the main body becomes stronger, the stats will be split.

Now, strength is basically a matter of “little by little.

It’s all about working hard.

I can’t say this, but I’ll try to make Ril understand the process of people’s efforts and growth.

“Phew~… Okay, let’s get back to it!”

“Mm! It can’t be helped; the monsters are attacking me. I’ll defeat everything that comes my way.”

She stood up with a wry smile.

Depending on the game, the experience point limit may be applied not only because the player’s level is too high compared to the enemies but also because the player’s level is too low compared to the enemies.

So, I didn’t know which way it would go until the experiment was done.

But…

“(I never thought the experiment would go so well…)”

The power leveling was a success.

Even though it was only for one day, the result was huge.

While trying to suppress my trembling heart, I ran away again as bait, deeper into the hole.

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