Chapter 11 (1/2)

I fought to prevent the hunters from reaching the elven village, and now the villagers were pointing their arrows at me. They likely found out about the battle from all the fire magic and the shouting. And it seemed like they realized the men were slave hunters, judging from the arrow through the goon's chest.

Three men. Likely, they were all the fighting force the settlement could muster.

[Adult Elf x3] [Race: Elf♂] [Hunter] [Magic Points (MP): 50/50] [Hit Points (HP): 60/60] [Total Combat Power: 63]

The women had to stay back for their kids. Against 9 slavers, the settlement would've had no hope..

And now they had to contend with a single monster who wiped the floor with those slavers.

Yes, h.e.l.lo, it's me. No wonder they were on guard. The bow-wielding elves weren't so much wary as they were terrified. Likely, it was the reason why they didn't shoot me directly – instead of risking my anger with a hit, they were warning me that they had their eyes on me, that I'd better go somewhere else. No, not a warning. A plea.

Okay, fine…

I drifted off, as non-confrontational as possible. The elves still had their bows trained on me, but relief was clear on their faces. I continued moving deeper into the forest. Once they disappeared from my sight, I hurried upwards to the canopy of a nearby tree and let loose a sigh of relief of my own.

G.o.d, I thought I almost had a heart attack… Well, my body was in cold sleep, but still.

I barely had any magic left. If their bows were magically enchanted, a volley could have killed me.

[NO NAME] [Race: Ghast] [Low Demon (Low-Rank)] ・A low demon made of dust and gases. A fragile spiritual lifeform. [Magic Points: 24/238] [Total Combat Power: 47/262] [Unique Skill: Reroll] [Simple Identification] [Human Form (Terrible)] [Rank-up Available]

I practically had one foot in the grave already.

Now, this Rank-up thing. I understood that it was different from an evolution. Did it mean becoming a stronger kind of Ghast, then? I couldn't even begin to imagine what the result would be.

Well, let's try some [Identification].

[Rank-up Available] ・Transform into a higher-ranking race.

Exactly what it said on the tin, then.

I supposed ranking up would make me immobile again? This probably wasn't going to be as large a change as evolving, so I might as well try…

Just as well that my magic was near empty, then. If ranking up put my magic back to 1 again, it wouldn't make much of a difference. And I should be getting as strong as I can, in preparations for any more unforeseen battles.

I started the process.

Morning of the next day. My magic was back to full. He should be out helping his family around this time, so I headed towards where we promised to meet.

The rank-up worked, nothing particularly noteworthy happened. Didn't have to recover my magic back from 1, and my body didn't change much, either. At most, the gas just looked a little thicker. I moved somewhat better in [Human Form] now, so that was good.

After last night, perhaps the elven boy wouldn't even show up.

On the way, I detoured to where the fight happened to recover my cloak. It was still there, for some reason, but the corpses were gone. Perhaps the elves buried them, perhaps just throwing the corpses somewhere far away, or perhaps like most other games, corpses disappeared after a certain amount of time. At any rate, it had been a whole night. The elves should have gone back home.

I arrived, peeking into the meeting spot from behind a tree. The boy was standing there, alone, a few fruits stuffed in his pockets.

Hey now, that's very dangerous. A little kid all alone in the forest. What if there were monsters?

I turned humanoid, wore the cloak, and moved towards him. He flashed a smile the moment he saw me.

”Hey. You're here.”

Yes, I am.

I ceased my sluggish steps and waved. He didn't get any closer. Good, seemed like he remembered our talk yesterday, as one-sided as it was. He looked relieved, but at the same time, grimaced slightly.

Hmm, what's this? He looked… somewhat different? Ah, right, no basket on his back today. Why?

”Umm… So, uh… We'll be leaving this place soon…” The boy said, forcing the words.

What? I asked him with a head-tilt.

”Some scary humans came yesterday. They were slave hunters. The grown-ups said we'd ran away from them once, when I was younger, but they found us again.”

Yeah, but I dealt with them, though?

”And then this 'white monster' killed them all. It's dangerous to live here now, so we're leaving.”