283 – A Temporary Ceasefire

To begin with, I’ll check the spiders’ levels.
Exhausted, they move listlessly.
Despite their exhaustion, I see them carrying abyss bits in their mouths. 

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Species: Kid Araenie
Condition: Normal
Lv: 9/30
HP: 4/57
MP: 2/36
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Ooh, it went up quite a bit.
I take a look at a few more of them and, though there’s some variation, they’re all around the same level.

Next up, I take a look at the petit nightmare, which is still clinging to my partner.

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Species: Petit Nightmare
Condition: Normal

Lv: 12/45
HP: 23/101
MP: 2/93
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Ooh, it’s really got the hang of this.
It was flinging them down with its thread from a safe area, disrupting the battlefield.

…Next up, treant-san’s.

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Species: Lesser Treant
Condition: Cursed
Lv: 11/25
HP: 19/75
MP: 2/60
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Ah, it didn’t go up much… It should have already been level 9 before going down the cliff, right? No, well, it’s harder to raise it from a higher level, so it can’t be helped, but…you’re being overtaken by your petit nightmare kouhai, you know? Though I think it’s just that the petit nightmare was starting from a lower level so its level went up faster.

Seeing my facial expression, the lesser treant’s eye-like cavities warp, and it bends its trunk as though bowing in apology.
Caught up in the moment, I bow my head as well.
N-no, everyone’s always saved by you at every crucial moment.
Please continue to take care of everyone.

And now… What’s important is Aro.
She was level 20… So to be able to evolve, she would need to have raised her level by 10.
She contributed quite a bit to the fight with her repeated magic, but the amount of experience points she needs to progress is quite severe.
Almost always, it seems the amount of experience needed jumps up every 10 levels.
It’d be great if she’s gotten past that hump, though…

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Name: Aro
Species: Revaana Mage
Condition: Cursed
Lv: 28/30
HP: 69/114
MP: 56/126
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…2 more to go.
She hasn’t reached evolution yet, but it’s more or less within her reach.

Those fifty won’t have been the entirety of their forces.
That must have just been their vanguard.
Just fifty is not enough to account for their out-of-control propagation in this forest, after all.
It’s most likely that more abysses lie in wait at the bottom of this chasm.

After pulling through the next round, there’s no doubt that Aro will be able to evolve.
We’re finally getting to that point.

I stare at her head.

At the start, she was just a skeleton.
Then she evolved into a skeleton that can wield magic, and from that, even though her skin’s poor quality and her hair’s dry, she managed to achieve a human form.
Probably, she’ll be indistinguishable from a normal human with her next evolution.

She has some lingering attachment to her human body, but I don’t know the reason for that.
I don’t know if it’s her natural instinct as a human to want to have a living body, or if she might have some other regret.
I get the feeling that even though she’s now able to explain her reason for wanting a human body, she’s hesitating to tell me for some reason.
Even if she really manages to get a human body, that won’t necessarily mean she’s achieved her goal.
Of course, no matter what her goal is, even though it looks like it’ll be difficult, I’ll do my best to help.

Not wanting her undead face to be looked at too much, she hangs her head shyly…

“Gaa…”

I quietly apologise.
Then I take a few steps forwards and peer down the cliff.
The bottom is distant and dark, so I can’t see clearly, but it looks like it flattens out.
Hard blackish tree roots are sprouting out of the wall here and there, and the wall’s surface is peppered with holes.
I also see a few things that look like monster corpses.

Moreover, the complete silence of the place is eerie.
When I search around with [Presence Perception], it feels like the chasm bottom is a blank space cut off from the world, producing a peculiar sense of discomfort.
Abysses have a skill to obscure their presences, but when so many of them gather and use it together, it produces the illusion of being detached from the world… Somehow, I understand why they’re called abyss.

Aro excluded, it might be better to leave everyone behind.
Even if they’re attacked, if they fight with the petit nightmare as their centre and the others as support, they should be able to deal with a single abyss.
That’s only restricted to a single abyss, but as long as I return the moment I sense a presence above, it should be fine.

For now, I get my partner to heal everyone to full with [High Rest].
Once she’s done, I get Aro to suck up my MP, stopping when a black light starts leaking from her body.

“Gaah!”

I bark at the petit nightmare.
It was crawling towards my partner, but turns to face me upon hearing my voice.

I turn to look to look to the side.
Following my line of sight, the petit nightmare looks in the same direction.
At the end of my line of sight are the spiders eating the remains of the abysses they brought back.

It looks like it understands that I’m asking it to babysit, but despite that, the petit nightmare abruptly turns away from me and spits out its thread to move to my partner’s head.

…Hey partner, do you mind asking? After a brief interval she nods her head, then raises her eyes high.

“…Gaa”

Hearing her voice, the petit nightmare jumps down and faces her.

“Kikih! Kikih!”

After crying out, it moves to join the other spiders… It looks like she was able to ask it.

I turn to face Aro.
Meeting my eyes, she glances at the cliff in confirmation, then nods as though she’s resolved herself.
Though I don’t know whether that’s the resolve to plunge into the depths of the chasm, or the resolve to do whatever it takes to get back her human body.