Chapter 13: Flight

Allen leaped out of the magic ship with Cecil in his arms. They were more than a hundred meters above ground, but he was almost certain that he would be fine with his current stats thanks to his level and card buffs.

Several seconds later, he slammed into the ground with tremendous force, feet first. The impact caused the beautifully laid stone pavement to shatter into a thousand pieces.

FUUUUCK, that hurt!

The bones in both of Allen’s legs snapped, unable to bear the shock of the landing. However, he immediately used a Leaf of Life to restore himself to full health the next instant.

He checked to see if Cecil had gotten hurt during the fall. To his relief, aside from a few stone fragments that had hit the mantle she was wrapped in, she was entirely fine.

All right. As expected, we managed to escape without Cecil getting hurt, although I did end up using a Leaf of Life. Honestly, the shock didn’t even travel up to my arms. That Endurance stat is really showing its worth here.

Allen’s understanding of Endurance as a stat was that it served as a shock absorber for all physical damage to his body. From what he observed in himself every day, having higher Endurance did not translate to having more muscles. Rather than his body getting bulky or his skin becoming as tough as metal, it was as if there was a protective membrane around him that helped alleviate incoming damage proportionate to the stat. This time, Allen had just fallen more than a hundred meters with his and Cecil’s weight combined. It was not surprising that he had taken damage—his legs did shatter—but thanks to the effect of the Endurance stat, the shock from the impact had been suppressed, leaving Cecil unaffected.

“Lady Cecil, I will free you from your restraints now.”

Just in case, Allen had used a Leaf of Life on Cecil as well right after the fall. Even so, he still carefully checked to make sure she was fine, then used his short sword to slice through all her ropes.

“Allen! How could you just—!”

The moment Cecil was freed, every inch of her body expressed her indignation toward Allen’s unbelievable actions. However, Allen had no time to hear her out. He wrapped his mantle around her shoulders once again.

“I’m truly sorry, milady. The magic ship will be landing soon.”

This should do. It’ll provide some protection just in case any pursuers shoot arrows at us.

“Allen, listen to me! Where’d you take this cape out from?! And what was that just n—”

“Lady Cecil!”

“Wh-What?”

“Our top priority at the moment is to take you somewhere safe. Therefore, we will leave this place immediately. Please climb onto my back so I can carry you.”

Allen’s tone was firm and brooked no protest. It would be hard to run with Cecil in a princess carry, so he was planning on giving her a piggyback ride instead. The magic ship seemed about to land at any moment. Despite being disgruntled with the current situation, Cecil still obediently did as Allen requested.

“Wha— You’re going too fast!” Cecil cried as Allen started sprinting faster than a horse.

“Please hang on tight! Take care not to bite your tongue!”

We’ve got no time left. Horos, guide us to where we need to go!

Four owls appeared in midair, then dispersed to provide Allen with a comprehensive view of how Carnel City was laid out. He quickly worked out the shortest route to a city gate, then headed in that direction as fast as he could.

Nice, Dagrah went to report what happened to the viscount. Yes, please give us more time to get a head start.

All this time, Allen had been using the Bird G left inside the magic ship to continue keeping an eye on the situation onboard. He watched as Dagrah went to find one of Viscount Carnel’s men and explained how Allen and Cecil had escaped through a lower maintenance door of the ship. The viscount asked in an agitated voice, “They’re alive, right?! Tell me they’re alive!” However, Dagrah could only shake his head and say that there was no way to confirm until they were back on ground. He was currently in the middle of explaining that, considering the altitude, there was definitely a chance that both children had died.

While on the fly, Allen quickly changed his card distribution.

• Insect D: 44
• Bird G: 2
• Bird D: 4

The kidnappers seem really flustered. After all, this world has never even heard of a Tamer class before. My Summons were probably a huge shock.

In the games that Allen had played in his previous life, there had been a class that functioned similarly to Summoner: Tamer. The main difference between the two was what kind of creatures they each used to do their bidding, with Tamers using monsters they encountered and tamed and Summoners calling forth beings not normally found in the wild.

As he ran, Allen recalled when he had broached the topic with Raven. The adventurer had said emphatically, “There’s no way anyone can tame a monster!” Based on that, Allen had concluded that this world did not have Taming as a class—the idea had never even occurred to the inhabitants.

This explained why the kidnappers had been so bewildered upon seeing Allen’s Summons. If this had been a world where everyone understood the concept of Tamers, their reactions would have been very different.

The gates of Carnel City were still open. When Allen produced the crest of House Granvelle, the guards let them through without giving them trouble, being good enough at their job to recognize the crest from a neighboring realm. Allen was aware that, as a boy in a servant’s uniform carrying a girl on his back, he looked quite suspicious. However, it apparently was not enough of a reason for them to detain him.

All right, we’re out. The mountain range is that direction, right?

The stars shone brightly, illuminating Allen’s way as he took off at a run. The first order of business was to distance themselves from Carnel City. Once they got their bearings, then they would head back to Granvelle City.

It’s a relief we managed to get out of the city. Now we’ll have to find the White Dragon Mountains and take a detour around the north of the range. I wonder how many days it’s gonna take us...

After running for a while longer, Allen finally stopped to allow Cecil some rest. She stared as he openly took out an illumination magic tool, water, and foodstuffs from Storage.

A little time into their rest, however, the Bird D that Allen had instructed to remain on standby above the magic ship landing pad caught sight of a troubling development. A group of people had gathered around the conspicuous crater in the pavement where he and Cecil had landed earlier.

Looks like Viscount Carnel’s giving out instructions...and Dagrah’s there too. I guess without our bodies being there, it’s pretty obvious that we survived.

The viscount was gesticulating furiously at the men grouped around him. As Allen continued keeping an eye on the situation through Bird D so as to glean any information he could about any prospective pursuers, he noticed Dagrah cutting the viscount off and making some sort of argument. The Summon was too high in the sky to hear what was actually being said. However, just as Allen was focusing his attention on the Shared feed, Dagrah’s body blurred for a split second, followed by an aura bursting out from it. The next instant, he took off in a flash.

Damn, he’s fast! I knew it; he must have a class similar to a Scout. His Agility stat has to be at least Rank A, if not S.

As Allen continued watching, Dagrah made a beeline for the gate that Allen had left from.

Hm? He’s heading out of the city?

After passing through the gate, the hit man continued running.

Wait, don’t tell me he’s...?

Allen finally realized that Dagrah was running in a straight line right toward Cecil’s and his current location.

Shit! Oh, shit! How is he...? He’s gotta be using a skill.

Judging by how quickly Dagrah was closing the distance, it was clear that he could tell where Allen was, perhaps thanks to the help of a tracking ability tied to his class.

“Lady Cecil, I’m very sorry. There are already pursuers on our tail, so we must resume moving immediately.”

“Huh? O-Okay.”

Dagrah was fast, true, but after rearranging his cards just now, Allen now had more than 2,000 Agility. Despite being handicapped by shouldering Cecil, he should be able to stay ahead for quite a while longer. And so the game of tag began.

Sure enough, Allen stayed ahead, but he never managed to actually throw the man off his trail. He tried various tricks, such as veering in a completely different direction and purposely crossing a river without using the bridge, but nothing seemed to faze the hit man. Even though he was lagging behind quite significantly, Dagrah still managed to stick closely to Allen’s trail.

The Scout class sure is capa— Oh look, a town!

The Bird D that was scouting ahead had just spotted a sizable town. Its gates appeared to be closed, but Allen still veered toward it. Soon enough, they got close enough to where even Cecil noticed the watch fires that dotted the town wall, giving it away.

“Are we going into that town?”

“Yes, milady.”

“But the gate looks closed.”

“It does indeed. I’ll think of something, so please play along.”

Here goes my attempt to lose Dagrah using the town.

“You there! Stop!”

When Allen approached the gate, the guard on lookout barked at him. A boy in a servant’s uniform carrying a young girl on his back dashing toward the town at an incredible speed this late at night naturally cut a very suspicious figure. Not only did the guard look wary, he even brought his spear up.

However, Allen, who was making a show of panting heavily, purposely ignored the man to talk to Cecil in a reassuring tone. “Phew, what a relief. We’ve finally reached a town, milady. Please hold on just a little longer.”

“O-Okay...”

Only then did Allen turn back to the guard. “Mr. Guard, I’m really sorry, but can you let us into the town, please?”

“Y-You know I can’t. We closed this gate ages ago. There’s no way I can let you in. Besides, you seem awfully suspicious, arriving at this time of night.”

“But we aren’t suspicious at all, Mr. Guard.” Allen produced his crest.

“So you’re from House Granvelle...” The man faltered slightly. However, the fact still remained that someone from the family of the baron of the neighboring realm arriving this late at night made very little sense. “Wh-Why are you even out this late?”

“Unfortunately, our carriage broke down a distance away. It’s in such bad shape that it won’t be able to move anymore without attention. However, milady insisted that she could not bear to sleep outside.”

Allen lied as naturally as he breathed. He made a show to convey how troubled he felt dealing with a broken-down carriage and a demanding mistress. Cecil was dumbfounded at suddenly having all the fault shoved onto her, forgetting to back up Allen’s claim.

“So, that’s what happened?” The guard crossed his arms and groaned. “Even so...”

Oh? Looks like I only need one more push. Dagrah is almost upon us, so I can’t afford to spend any more time here.

“I’m aware that I’m asking for a lot, Mr. Guard. However, would this be enough to convince you to overlook this?”

Allen surreptitiously pressed something into the man’s hand. The guard started, then examined it closely; gold glinted in the light of the watch fires.

“W-Well, I can see that you’re clearly in need of a break. Just saying, though, the inns are all closed by now.”

“I’ll figure something out,” Allen replied, insinuating that he would use money to “convince” an innkeeper to let them stay. The guard shook his head wryly while opening the small door to the side of the gate.

After entering the town, however, Allen immediately turned off the main street, heading deeper and deeper down the alleyways in an irregular, zigzagging path.

“Aren’t we staying at an inn, Allen?”

“We are not, milady.”

There were multiple lodgings along the main street, but Allen had ignored them all. Just as Cecil asked him where they were going, the Bird D monitoring the town gate spotted Dagrah.

Ugh. Just as I’d feared, he does own some form of permit.

After showing the gate guard something, Dagrah also entered the town through the side door at the gate. Then the man took off again at a run.

All right, that confirms it: his skill enables him to follow my footsteps. What a relief that it’s not a mapping skill.

Allen had just finished analyzing Dagrah’s tracking skill based on everything he had noticed during the past few hours. Back when he was Kenichi, he had experienced playing a large variety of classes in his games. Most of the time, he chose classes that focused on dealing damage, such as warrior and mage. He was all about those big DPS numbers using powerful weapons or spells, respectively. In short, he was a bit of a meathead player. Consequently, he was not all that familiar with classes that relied on trickery, like Scout. That said, he knew quite a bit about them. And to his knowledge, there were two main kinds of tracking skills.

• Enables the player to see visible tracks left on the ground by the target
• Enables the player to see the target’s coordinates on the in-game map

Allen could now say with certainty that the skill Dagrah was using belonged to the first type. After all, he was precisely following all the detours that Allen had made, including crossing the river where Allen had instead of taking the bridge. Even now, the man was wasting his time weaving through the alleyways. If he had known Allen’s exact coordinates, he would not have gone to such trouble.

All right, time to try losing him.

“Milady, I’m going to be jumping. Please hold on tight.”

“Wha—?!”

With a powerful leap, Allen landed on the roof of the nearby building and took off again, leaping from rooftop to rooftop. Due to constantly chasing Allen’s tracks, Dagrah had his head down most of the time while running. Allen took care not to draw attention to his position up on the rooftops as he drew farther and farther away.

Hell yeah! Finally lost him! My analysis was spot on. You need a hundred years’ more experience to come after me! Mua ha ha!

Through Bird D’s eyes, Allen watched Dagrah freaking out at seeing Allen’s tracks seemingly vanish into thin air. He turned back as if he thought he had made a wrong turn somewhere. It apparently never crossed his mind that Allen would be taking countermeasures against being tracked and therefore never thought to check the rooftops. At the moment, Allen was already standing on top of the town’s wall.

“Aren’t you going to fight him, Allen?” Cecil asked suddenly. “You’re really strong, though.”

“I’m afraid he’s a bad match for me. I don’t think I would be able to beat him.”

Even if I went all-out without considering the consequences, my chances of victory are probably still below ten percent. My Summons are slow on their feet, and if I tried to set a trap for him and lay in wait, he’d probably just evade it. And even if I managed to land a few blows on him, he probably has HP potions on him. That’s it, we’re leaving town. Bron, come out!

Allen Summoned a Stone D on the ground outside the wall with its shield held aloft horizontally. He then jumped down onto the flat surface, Summoned another one a slight distance away in the same pose, and leaped over. After this, he repeatedly called out Brons and reverted them to card form so he could travel across their shields à la stepping stones. He did this for several kilometers in an effort to travel without leaving any tracks.

I wonder if Dagrah can see the tracks of my Summons the same way he can see mine. No idea, but it does seem like a good idea to do this every once in a while to throw him off the track a little.

As this method proved time-consuming, Allen reverted to running on the ground in spurts, alternating between the two at irregular intervals. In this way, he continued heading toward the northern tip of the White Dragon Mountains, which he had already located with Bird D. Once they passed the border checkpoint, they would be back in Granvelle territory.

A while later, Allen stopped and got to work preparing a camp for Cecil and himself. Unfortunately, the distance to Granvelle City was much farther than he could travel in just a day or two. Multiple Brons materialized to stand in a protective circle around the two children while Allen took out blankets and other camping equipment that he kept in Storage.

“So you do have a Talent after all...” Cecil murmured.

“Yes, I do. It’s quite convenient too; I can do a lot of things with it.”

“Why did you keep quiet about it?”

“Little good comes from parading one’s Talent, right?”

“I... Yes, I suppose so...”

“We’ll continue running tomorrow. Please rest up for now.”

“Aren’t you going to sleep too, Allen?”

“I will. Good night, Lady Cecil.”

“G-Good night, Allen.”

Now then. I hope we can get back within three or four days. I’m not sure I can last any longer than that.

While staring at Cecil’s sleeping face, Allen checked in on Dagrah through his Summon. His sleep tonight would be brief and fitful as he continued monitoring the situation.

Several hours later, what he had feared came to pass.

Ugh, he’s found the tracks on the roof. He sure knows what he’s doing.

As soon as his trick was out of the bag, Allen packed everything away, shouldered the still-groggy Cecil, then took off again. On the other hand, Dagrah soon reached the town wall. He descended but, upon failing to see Allen’s tracks yet again, started busily looking around.

Heh heh heh, how’s that? No tracks! Wait, what?

Allen was keeping an eye on Dagrah’s movements even as he himself was running. However, as soon as he realized the tracks were gone, Dagrah took off in one direction. After running several kilometers, he began running at an angle, alternating between left and right in intervals of several kilometers.

What is he doin— Oh, shit.

By doing so, Dagrah would eventually stumble upon Allen’s tracks. And sure enough, he picked up the trail soon enough and resumed the pursuit.

This isn’t good. I need to increase the distance where I run without tracks.

Although traveling by Summons did prove effective, Dagrah never failed to eventually discover where Allen had started running normally again. In response, Allen decided to spend more time using his Summons in order to be more thorough with erasing his trail. With Dagrah repeatedly losing and rediscovering Allen’s trail, the distance between the two increased and decreased in a seemingly endless loop.

＊ ＊ ＊

On the morning of the second day, Allen successfully managed to reach the northernmost border checkpoint. He was finally back in Granvelle territory.

“What’s wrong, Allen? Did something happen?”

“I’m sorry?”

The way Allen had immediately taken off again in a hurry after passing through the checkpoint had aroused Cecil’s suspicions.

Ugh, she’s caught on. I guess being honest is the best play here.

“I just lost Dagrah.”

“What?”

All this time, Allen had been keeping a constant eye on Dagrah through a Summon that he was Sharing with. He explained to Cecil that Dagrah was following them—as well as who he was—and that he had a tracking ability. Of course, this required that he reveal he also had a means of tracking someone.

A while ago, Dagrah had suddenly taken off at an incredible speed and lost the Bird E that had been following him from behind. Now Allen had several Bird Es flying around trying to regain a visual on the man. However, because he was running faster than the birds could fly, it was proving very difficult pinning him down.

So he did have a skill that supercharges his speed after all. I knew it.

Allen recalled when Dagrah had kicked him in the storeroom. The man had been so fast that he seemed to have disappeared for a split second in Allen’s eyes. However, whereas Allen had only seen Dagrah use it for the short distance that was the length of the storeroom, the hit man now proved that he could indeed use it for a prolonged period of time to traverse an incredible distance. He had vanished from Bird E’s vision in no time at all.

From her position on Allen’s back, Cecil suddenly said, completely out of character, “If you leave me behind, you’ll be able to get away no problem, right?”

“What are you saying, milady? I would never leave you behind.”

“But at this rate...”

Oh right, Cecil is only still twelve years old. It’s only natural for her to feel fainthearted in a situation like this.

The back-to-back days of being on the run had apparently gotten to Cecil and left her feeling quite timid and out of her element.

“Don’t worry, milady. We will safely make it back to Granvelle, together. I’ve got everything under control. I did make a promise, after all.”

“What promise?”

“I promised Master Mihai that I would protect you. And I keep my promises.”

Surprise flitted across Cecil’s face. After a short pause, she mumbled, “Thank you...” and buried her face in Allen’s shoulder.

I said the cool lines and all, but I really oughta prepare some insurance. Now that we’ve crossed the border, it’s about time.

Allen sent several Summons flying off into the distance as “insurance” and continued scouting the area using Hawk Eye in order to get a bead on Dagrah as soon as possible.

＊ ＊ ＊

The third day out of Carnel City started once again with Allen shouldering Cecil and taking off at a run early in the morning. He was hurrying with the aim of reaching Granvelle City within the next day.

At this time, there was a monster eyeing one Bird E from a distance away. The monster had learned that this bird’s presence indicated that a certain playmate, whom it once had so much fun with, was close by. Its half-human, half-doglike face with one squashed eye twisted into a sneer of sheer ecstasy before it set off at a bound.

The Bird E, which Allen was naturally Sharing with, eventually noticed the approaching monster. It was a being that he was very familiar with.

Huh?! It’s the murdergalsh from before. It’s heading straight for me.

The monster had managed to close the distance quite significantly before Allen caught sight of it. It was only several kilometers away by this point.

What should I do? Can I outrun it? My Agility’s gone up a lot more since three years ago.

Allen racked his brains trying to work out what the best course of action would be. He had Cecil on his back and no idea where Dagrah would pop out from. If possible, he preferred to avoid getting into combat. However...

“What’s wrong?”

As it turned out, Allen was not very good at maintaining a poker face. Either that, or Cecil had an exceptionally sharp intuition. Either way, she picked up on the change in his demeanor almost immediately.

“Huh? Ah, well...we’re now being chased by a murdergalsh too.”

“What?!”

Allen candidly explained that the monster was several kilometers away and currently heading straight for their location.

“In this situation, being chased by two pursuers at the same time will make things very complicated, so I’m considering killing the murdergalsh first before going any farther.”

With my current abilities and stats, I should be able to kill the murdergalsh. The best way to handle this is to kill it first before continuing on.

“You...can beat a murdergalsh?”

“I think so. After all, it wouldn’t be my first time fighting it.” I fully analyzed what it’s capable of three years ago.

“All right.” Cecil believed in Allen’s strength, so much so that when he said he could win, she did not question it.

Several minutes later, the murdergalsh had caught up to them. Allen faced off against it, with Cecil already hidden safely a distance away.

Okay, now that Cecil is safe, it’s time to get rid of this pest.

“AAAAAUUUUHHH!”

With a human-dog face, a humanlike upper torso and arms, and a wolflike lower torso, this one-eyed murdergalsh was the very one that had chased Allen for three days straight all those years ago. The five-meter-tall monster was so excited about getting to fight him again that it was unable to wipe the smirk off its face.

“Look, mutt, I don’t have much time. Let’s get this done and over with.”

After declaring that he would instant K.O. the murdergalsh, Allen Summoned twenty Beast Ds around the monster and sent them all charging in at once. It was the same simple strategy that had worked on both orc kings and armored queen ants: whittle the enemy down with sheer numbers.

As expected, Spider Silk isn’t very effective. It’s not lowering the mudergalsh’s speed by any noticeable degree. There’s no point in using up card slots for them when I can have more Beast Ds instead. Ah, Brons, hold it down!

Based on his experience fighting against other Rank B monsters, Allen came up with the idea to use four Stone Ds to hold the murdergalsh down from all four sides. This made it much easier for the Beast Ds to land their attacks, which meant the battle could finish faster and with fewer Beast D casualties.

Even so, Beast Ds kept getting killed one after the other. At the same time, Allen’s grimoire flapped furiously overhead, Creating, Strengthening, and Summoning more as replacements. The Teddys continued spamming Crush, drawing blood from all over the murdergalsh’s body. As it writhed in pain, Allen kept throwing iron balls at its remaining left eye.

If possible, Allen wanted to completely rob the monster of its sight. Even if he himself got done in, there was a chance for Cecil to survive. However, Allen was having difficulty getting his throws to land, even with his stats being so much higher after all the level-ups and buffs from cards. Without the element of surprise on his side, the murdergalsh had no issue swatting all the iron balls down.

An orc king would have already died by now. I guess this is an upper Rank B for you. But still, I think we’re almost there.

About ten minutes in, the murdergalsh was bleeding from all over and seemed on the verge of collapsing. That very moment, however, it flexed its back legs and leaped with every ounce of strength it had remaining.

“AUUUUUUH!”

“Huh?!”

CRAAAAASH.

After running out of iron balls, Allen had retreated about twenty or so meters back to direct his Summons from a safe distance away. However, in the blink of an eye, the murdergalsh came crashing down at his location. In a panic, Allen willed all the Beast Ds to rush back to his side, but they were too far away. He had kept four Stone Ds at his side just now as a precaution, but the monster swept them all away with a single blow, desperate adrenaline coursing through its body. Then it grabbed Allen with both its hands and started squeezing him like an iron vise.

Uh-oh, am I in trouble now?

“A-ALLEEEEEN!” Cecil screamed from her position at the far back from which she had been observing the fight.

Allen shouted back, “I-I’m fine, milady!” but Cecil very much doubted it.

While he braced himself against the murdergalsh’s grip, his grimoire repeatedly Created and Synthesized cards in a frenzied fury. At the same time, he did his best to reassure Cecil and warn her not to approach.

Despite bleeding all over, the murdergalsh was back to smirking with its hair-raisingly disgusting grin. It stared closely at Allen as it gradually clenched harder and harder, fully intent on slowly torturing the boy instead of killing him off in one swift strike.

Allen was supposed to have died a while ago being crushed in this way. Sure enough, his bones shattered and he spat up blood, but he managed to hold on by using Leaves of Life liberally. Several minutes later, the murdergalsh suddenly loosened its grip, grabbed Allen by his head, then chomped on him with an affected air. Its fangs pierced his abdomen, sending blood exploding like a fountain. From her position in the distance, Cecil crumbled to her knees, mumbling Allen’s name in a small voice filled with despair.

Just as it seemed like everything was over...

“So, mutt. Turns out you’re the type who eats from the tail first instead of the head. I had you pegged wrong.”

With a single utterance referencing the two ways of eating fish-shaped taiyaki, Allen got out his short sword from Storage and held it firmly in his hand.

Since you ate me from the bottom first, I’ll attack you...here!

Allen used every last ounce of strength he could muster in his upper body and jabbed the short sword directly into the murdergalsh’s left eye.

“AAAAAUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHH!”

The monster screamed in absolute agony and flailed around, scattering gelatinous vitreous humor everywhere.

Perfect. Now both its eyes are gone. To follow up...

Allen wiggled the short sword, pushing it deeper. Soon, his entire arm was buried within the gushing eyeball. Even so, he continued pushing with all his might.

“How’s that for size, eh, mutt? If you don’t bite down harder, I just might finish you off first!”

Despite the sword in its eye, the murdergalsh still refused to spit Allen back out. It tried biting harder to finish the boy off, but for some reason, its teeth could not clamp down any further.

“Tough, right? And I’m only going to get tougher. It’s your loss, and the reason is because you took your sweet time instead of killing me straight off.”

The instant he had gotten caught, Allen had started changing the cards in his holders to Stone D, which buffed his HP and Endurance by 20. As a result of him Creating forty-eight copies of it, his HP was closing in on 2,000 and his Endurance was almost 1,500.

When it figured out that it could not crush Allen with its teeth, the murdergalsh shifted to crushing him with its hands. Allen paid its efforts no mind, focusing solely on driving his sword in further.

“Listen up, you mutt. Stats never let you down.”

There was no way to determine the murdergalsh’s exact stats, but the fact that it could not kill Stone Ds with Defend activated meant that its Attack had to be under 2,000. Based on this fact, Allen figured that he was more than capable of finishing off this monster if he continued using Leaves of Life. During the brief naps he had caught during this journey, he had created hundreds of them just in case Dagrah really did catch up.

How long has it been since I felt such an adrenaline rush? This is what I’m talking about!

A similar situation had happened to Allen in his previous life. When he faced a boss that was capable of ending him in several hits, he had to keep a close eye on his HP and rely on spamming healing items while slowly whittling the monster’s HP down. He was doing the same thing here, constantly casting glances at his grimoire to see how much HP he had remaining and carefully timing the uses of Leaves of Life.

The sword had already reached the bone behind the eye and was still going deeper. Although the bone stopped the sword, Allen continued pushing until cracks began forming.

Before long...

“AAAAAAUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHH!!!”

The socket shattered and gave way for the sword to reach the monster’s brain. The murdergalsh screamed the loudest it ever had, then collapsed to the ground. It spat Allen out and convulsed violently, but eventually stopped moving altogether.

<You have defeated 1 murdergalsh. You have earned 82,000 XP.>

“Hmm, this is my complete and utter victory. Though the bottom half of my body is now all sticky and gross.”

“ALLEN!” Cecil rushed over. She looked at Allen from head to toe, checking for injuries.

“Now, what should we do?”

“What do you m— Oh no.”

The next instant after sighing with relief at seeing Allen alive and well, Cecil noticed the man who had just showed up. It was, of course, Dagrah.

“I finally caught up with you little shits!” Dagrah screeched. He was so furious that his voice broke.

Ah, he’s really pissed.

“You aren’t getting away anymore!”

So he’s finally caught us. Though I’d already realized he would when the murdergalsh bit me.

Not a single one of the Bird Es that had been scouting in the sky remained. The moment he had found Dagrah again, the need for scouting had disappeared. He had replaced the cards with more Stone Ds instead.

Dagrah approached, one step at a time. It was as if time had slowed down. He shot a glance at the dead murdergalsh by Allen’s side, but did not seem particularly interested. A mere murdergalsh was not worth his attention. When he directed his gaze back toward Allen, Allen returned the look and pushed Cecil behind himself protectively.

I have no more iron balls left, and my short sword is still inside the murdergalsh. My Summons are too slow to match Dagrah’s speed. But funnily enough, when I have so few options, it makes it easy to figure out what I have to do.

“Please stand back, Lady Cecil!” Allen shouted, spreading both hands as wide as he could. “I’ll hold him back!” Hopefully, he’ll focus his attention on me now.

“What’s this? The model servant, ain’tcha? You’re putting your own life on the line? That sorta shit really pisses me off!”

Dagrah used some special power to close in on Allen at high speed and kicked him far away.

“Oof!” Seriously? I was looking right at him and he still disappeared from view. My eyes can’t keep up at all.

“Allen!” Cecil screamed, rushing over. However, Dagrah sent her flying with a slap. She lost consciousness from that single blow.

“What’s the matter?” Dagrah asked mockingly. “You not gonna attack me? C’mon, bring out those monsters of yours again.” When Allen remained silent, he smirked. “I see. You used up all your MP fighting this monster?”

After shaking his head to regain his cool, Allen returned, “And haven’t you used up your MP chasing us too? How about saving some for your trip home?”

Dagrah scoffed. “I obviously have MP potions, duh. Don’t put me on the same level as you.”

Looks like we have a chatterbox here. Good, good. So, he does use MP for his skills. This confirms a hypothesis that I’d had all along.

“Brats like you need proper education.”

“What could someone who ran away from the battlefield after a year with his tail between his legs teach me?”

“Y-You fucking piece of shit!”

Allen once again lost sight of Dagrah and found himself blasted through the air. The man was so furious that he felt he had to give the boy a slow and thorough thrashing. As the blows fell like rain, Allen worked out a certain question in his mind. Specifically, what skills were. To his understanding, there were three types in this world.

• First, the kind that Allen had received along with his grimoire when he turned one (e.g., Summoning, Creation)
• Second, the kind that he gained by repeating the relevant action (e.g., Sword Mastery, Throwing)
• Third, Extra Skills (which Allen did not possess)

The first difference between the first and second types that came to mind was whether they cost MP or not. Throwing did not cost MP, but Summoning did—at least, it did during the Creation stage. This led to the next question: how were skills displayed on the Status screens of everyone else in this world? What Dagrah just said had provided a hint to the answer. His indirect confirmation that he had to spend MP to use his skills meant his Status window most likely looked like the following.

Dagrah’s Status Window (According to Allen’s Prediction)
Skills: Scout {5}, Steal {5}, Swift Foot {4}, Sharp Hearing, Stealthy Steps, Presence Sensing, Sword Mastery {5}
Extra Skill: Tracking

Dagrah likely had a basic skill corresponding to his class—like how Allen had Summoning—as well as a few others that branched off of his capabilities as a Scout that became unlocked with each level-up of the basic skill.

The answer had been in front of my face at the very start. It was written right there in the explanation text for Hell Mode that I read before I came over to this world. The text implies that everyone with a class gets a skill tied to said class. Cecil’s Status window very likely has Magic {1} or something similar.

---

Hell Mode

The only skills you start out with are the ones tied to your class...

---

One way that those with a class were distinct from those without was how much their stats increased upon leveling up. However, this was something that could only be seen in their Status windows and generally could not be objectively determined or confirmed by anyone else, short of getting Appraised. Allen had come to the conclusion that there was one other, much easier method to determine whether someone had a class or not: whether they had a skill—or skills—that required MP to activate that could only be developed by repeatedly spending MP.

Dagrah is so strong because he has a class and he’s diligently raised both his level and his skill levels.

“What a creepy-ass little shit you are. The fuck you grinning about?”

“Guh!”

To think that someone with a mere one- or two-star class can get this strong! Just how powerful can I, with my eight-star class, get?

A broad grin covered Allen’s face from ear to ear even though he was being endlessly beaten with blows faster than he could follow.

An hour later, Allen laid on the ground looking like a ragged dishcloth, with Dagrah standing over him, breathing heavily.

“How the fuck are you so tough? You a Monk class? Is that monster over there related somehow?”

Even Dagrah did not start out with the intention of beating up Allen for a whole hour. He had shifted from torturing the boy to seriously trying to kill him quite a while ago, but due to the stat buffs from his cards raising his HP and Endurance to ridiculous numbers, combined with his spamming of Leaves of Life, Allen had managed to doggedly cling onto life this entire time.

“Are you done attacking me? Then you should turn back and return to Carnel City. Before you get killed.”

He even used his freaking mithril rapier on me! That actually hurt like crazy. Ugh, I’m almost out of Leaves of Life. Once you go down, I’m taking that rapier of yours.

“Hah! Who’s gonna kill me? You?”

“You still can’t tell? I see, so you don’t have area detection abilities, despite having a Scout-like class.” I’m really learning so much from this encounter.

“The fuck you talking about? Even if you stall for time, you’re still gonna die in the end.”

“It took you way too long...”

“What do you m—” Dagrah cut himself off as he suddenly noticed the dust cloud being thrown up by someone approaching at an incredible speed. As he stepped back from Allen and raised his guard, Captain Zenof suddenly appeared before his eyes.

“Hm, are you still alive?” the knight asked calmly.

“Honestly, I’m only hanging on by a thread. Couldn’t you have run faster please?” replied the parrot on the knight captain’s shoulder with Allen’s voice.

“Come now, you know I can’t run as fast as you. And here you are, still alive. I would say I made it in time.”

There was a Bird E circling in the sky above. When Allen passed through the border checkpoint, he had sent off a Bird E and a Bird G together, the former to find Zenof, the latter to explain the situation to him. Having already learned about Allen’s ability beforehand, the man believed the Summons immediately and promptly rushed over.

Heh heh. Go get ’em for me, please, Boss.

Allen was not picky with how his enemies went down. If the knight captain would do it for him, then he was more than happy to yield the challenge.

“Hmph, Zenof.”

“That’s my name.”

Oh? Dagrah knows Zenof? Is it because they were on the battlefield together?

“Look at this parasite leeching off of a noble, showing up like he’s hot stuff.”

Uh, you’re employed by a noble too, aren’t you?

“A ‘parasite leeching off of a noble’?”

“You heard me. I’m sure you know what I mean. You saw how nobles use commoners like they’re disposable pawns on the battlefield, didn’t you?”

“Well, can’t argue with that.”

“Right? And those who fight with their lives on the line for those shitty nobles are shit themselves. That includes you.”

“Is that so?”

“What did you get for protecting that stupid fortress for ten years? Now you’re only leading a ragtag bunch of sorry excuses for knights here in this godforsaken countryside. What a reward! Sounds like the biggest fucking joke ever.”

Right after speaking, Dagrah abruptly disappeared. The dirt and grass being kicked up into a cloud indicated that he had not fled but was still around, just moving too fast for Allen’s eyes to register.

“Allen, stand back,” Zenof said, his voice like naked steel. “You’ll get caught up otherwise.”

“Yes, Sir.”

The anger in Zenof’s voice was so palpable and terrifying that Allen was already backing up before he knew it. He unconsciously stumbled backward even more due to surprise as, in the next moment, an aura sprang up around the knight captain’s body like a heat haze as he slowly drew his sword.

I see, this visual effect must be the indicator of someone using their Extra Skill. Which reminds me, Captain Zenof never used it when he fought the orc king.

Even in a situation like this, Allen discovered a new fact.

“Where do you think yer lookin’ at?! Die, you insect!”

Dagrah abruptly reappeared and thrust his rapier straight at Zenof’s heart. However, the weapon stopped at the man’s chest, refusing to dig in any further.

“We fought for everyone’s sake,” Zenof growled. “Then all my brothers-in-arms died, every last one of them, leaving me the sole survivor.”

“Fuck! How fucking hard are you?”

Dagrah ignored what Zenof was saying and desperately focused on pushing his rapier forward. It penetrated the knight’s armor, but despite him using both hands, the tip of the weapon failed to draw even a single drop of blood.

Wow, his Endurance must be really high. So this is a Sword Master. I probably can’t even imagine just how much fighting he must have done on the battlefield.

Clearly, Dagrah’s Attack stat was nowhere near enough to hurt the knight captain with his rare two-star class, Sword Master.

“We all risked our lives and fought with every last drop of blood we had! No one—no one is allowed to deny what we did!”

Zenof raised his sword and brought it down, bisecting Dagrah’s body diagonally from the shoulder. The slash generated a shockwave that roared a hundred meters into the distance, tearing the ground apart and sending grass and dirt bursting into the air. Allen gasped at the raw power of the knight captain’s Extra Skill.

And this was how the three-day-long game of tag between Allen and Dagrah came to an end.