“Sss—”
Henry rubbed his throbbing chest and stood back up.
Despite the pain, Henry didn't shrink back. Instead, the throbbing pain cleared his mind.
I can do this!\n
Once back on his feet, Henry had clearly figured out the Walking Mushroom's movement patterns. Facing the monster again, he began to fight with ease.
Lynn nodded.
Henry's performance was much better than he had expected.
Originally, Lynn hadn't been very optimistic about Henry becoming an adventurer. After all, giving up a secure job as a blacksmith to become an adventurer was hardly a wise move.
But looking at him now, Henry actually had quite a talent for combat, and he was improving rapidly.
The Walking Mushroom flapped its short little feet, wobbling as it charged at Henry, who was rushing forward again.
But Henry simply took a small hop to the side, easily dodging the Walking Mushroom's charge. Immediately after, he swung his longsword to counterattack.
Just as the longsword was about to strike the Walking Mushroom—
「Eldritch Blast」!
A beam of magical energy blasted straight into the mushroom's stalk.
Leaving a charred black mark, the Walking Mushroom wobbled twice before collapsing.
“「Eldritch Blast」 proficiency +1. Current level: Lv.2 (1/20).”
“「Eldritch Blast」 Lv.2 Skill Effect - Continuous: Before the magical beam detonates, you can choose to maintain a continuous output.”
“Defeated one Walking Mushroom. Obtained Bloodline Points (Mushroom) x2.”
The juice box in his mind also progressed by one-tenth, a splash of orange-yellow appearing at the bottom of the bottle.
He could share the opportunity to fight, but he couldn't let someone else take the kill.
Thud—
After the Walking Mushroom fell, Henry looked at Lynn with a somewhat resentful gaze.
He seemed to be complaining that Lynn had stolen his very first kill.
Lynn had no choice but to ignore it.
There was no helping it; he needed this monster to unlock the bloodline tree of the mushroom race.
If it had been a goblin, Lynn might have let Henry have the kill.
Lynn drew his skinning knife and cleanly sliced off the Walking Mushroom's feet and "buttocks."
These were exceptionally delicious parts, as mentioned in the monster encyclopedia.
During the process, Lynn realized that if he tried to slice this monster horizontally, it felt like cutting through leather—it was extremely tough.
This was likely due to its physical structure, which helped the Walking Mushroom effectively defend against melee slashes.
Too bad for it, it had run into Lynn and was instantly killed by a spell, never getting the chance to show off its thick hide.
After putting the sliced mushroom pieces into his pocket, Lynn stood up.
Ever since eating the Moon Fungus Cake, Lynn, who used to be a picky eater when it came to mushrooms, felt like he had grown somewhat accustomed to their delicious flavor.
The mushrooms in this world felt much more savory than those in his previous life, and they lacked that earthy, unpleasant odor.
“Where are we going next?”
Having experienced combat with a monster for the first time, Henry was still eager for more.
Hearing this, Lynn looked up, gazing at the sky through the gaps in the trees.
The gloomy night sky showed no obvious signs of change.
However, Lynn, who had awakened his psionic energy, detected a faint dampness spreading through the air.
Seizing the moment, he cast the cantrip he had learned from the book—「Weather Prediction」.
This Zero-Circle cantrip from the School of Transmutation usually required nearly half a minute to cast, predicting possible weather changes within an hour in the caster's vicinity.
But Lynn, with his awakened psionic energy, finished casting in only about ten seconds.
As his mana extended outward, a vague sensation formed in his mind.
“An hour from now, rain will fall upon the forest.”
Scenes of pattering raindrops hitting leaves and mixing into the mud flashed through Lynn's mind.
This sensation of predicting the future... was truly quite wondrous.
Lynn said in a low voice, “It's going to rain.”
“It's going to rain?”
Henry scratched his curly hair and glanced at the sky, but he couldn't see any sign of incoming rain.
He was somewhat skeptical.
But since Lynn said so, he naturally wouldn't argue.
“Then should we head back to camp first?”
“No,” Lynn shook his head. “Before it starts raining, we need to move quickly and find a few more monsters.”
“Huh?”
Henry hadn't expected Lynn to say that.
He had assumed Lynn's warning about the rain meant they were going back to camp to seek shelter.
Instead, Lynn actually planned to take advantage of the time before the rain to hurry up and kill more monsters...
Was there really such a rush?
If Henry remembered correctly, the quest they had accepted was to subjugate a kobold tribe, not to clear out wild forest monsters, right?
Could Lord Lynn want me to kill more monsters just to gain adventuring experience?
Henry felt a quiet wave of gratitude. He hadn't expected the Mage to be so warm-hearted despite his cold exterior.
But Lynn had already started walking ahead.
With just over an hour before the rain, factoring in the return trip, they had to find monsters within thirty minutes if they didn't want to get soaked. That way, they could make it back to camp before the downpour.
Henry hurriedly followed him.
After the two of them left, the "dead" Walking Mushroom wobbled and stood back up once again.
The spores it had sown grew mycelium, which reattached to the bottom of its stalk, reshaping into its feet.
Time to slip away, slip away...
The "resurrected" Walking Mushroom covered its backside, quickly darting into the bushes and burying itself to hide.
...
Under the effects of the 【Truesight】 Feat, even the dark night forest was almost as bright as day to Lynn. Any movement would be instantly caught by his eyes.
After walking for about twenty more minutes, roughly three kilometers away, Lynn suddenly raised a hand to signal Henry to stop.
“What is it?”
Henry asked in a lowered voice.
Lynn didn't reply. He simply pointed in a certain direction ahead, then silently extinguished the glowing orb of his 「Light」 spell.
The surroundings plunged into darkness. Henry nervously gripped his longsword, but he didn't panic or cry out.
With his “Stealth” active, Henry possessed a basic degree of night vision. He could see that Lynn kept staring in that direction, meaning he had likely spotted something unusual.
But when Henry peered in the direction Lynn was pointing, he couldn't see anything at all.
This was probably due to the gap in their Perception attributes.
After crouching for a minute or two, Lynn suddenly activated Stealth and crept forward.
Henry hurriedly followed.
After another ten minutes of walking, a faint glow suddenly appeared ahead.
A cave came into view, with noisy chatter echoing from within.
Two green-skinned runts stood guard at the cave's entrance.
A scout holding a stone dagger greeted the guards before swaggering into the cave.
Clearly, Lynn had tracked this very scout to find this place.
Henry's heart clenched.
A goblin tribe?!
Rate on N.U.
