Shatei Kyokufuri Yumi-Ojisan

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“Scorched Forest…Lifeflame Jungle.”

Read a partially burnt sign.
Apparently, the area up ahead was slightly different.
There was more red in the trees and plants, and the air was a lot hotter.
The monsters were also more red, and some used fire attacks.
And they also had better fire resistance when it came to defense.
So I wouldn’t be able to rely on Burning Arrow anymore…

“But I have a feeling that I’ll find the mushroom here.”

There was something about the color red that made me think of vitality.
The mushroom that I wanted was probably a bloody red as well.
And so I would carefully make my way forward.

…There were a lot of tasteless decorations everywhere.
Not outright traps, but words written in blood and things like skulls.
It made me think of silly ideas…like cannibals in hidden jungles.

Kiririri…shu!

“Huh…!?”

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That wasn’t an arrow shot by me!
I reflexively jumped to the side, and an arrow pierced the ground where I had just been standing.
Someone was targeting me…with a bow!
But this wasn’t a versus field, so players weren’t able to attack each other.
In other words, there was a monster that used a bow…?

Kiririri…shu!

When I looked in the direction that the sound came from, I saw that someone was hiding behind a tree.
So it was a player?
Most monsters wouldn’t hide immediately after attacking.

Hyu! Hyun-hyun!

Now it was throwing rocks…!?
And they were coming from different directions!
I was being targeted by multiple enemies, and there seemed to be a lot of them.
This couldn’t be a party of four.
There had to be…5, 6…maybe 8?

“I better find out…!”

And so I purposely allowed one of the rocks to hit me.
There was a mild pain as I took damage.

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…So they were monsters after all!

“Seal Demon Bind! Three times!”

I created the magic circles right in their path.
They would freeze any enemy that entered them.
The target…got caught immediately.

Hiiiii-hiiii-hiiii!!!

It was a monkey…no, a baboon!
Its body was covered in red hair that looked like burning flames.
It raised its voice like a mad man and tried to escape from the magic circle.
But I would kill it before it could escape!

“Thunder…! Woah!?”

The other baboons started to attack me!
While I was busy dodging their attacks, the other baboons destroyed the ground under the magic circles and saved their friends.
They…had a sense of comradeship!
When one of them was in danger, they split up into different roles and moved at the same time.
That made them much more intelligent than any monster I had fought up until now.
And so…

“This will be good practice for fighting against parties…!