First Quests

Although our quests in this area didn't require that we hunt any monsters, the fact that we weren't getting credit for it didn't stop monsters from appearing. We could hardly just ignore them. To handle these attacks, Crimson Rain told Alicia to keep Heather in reserve to help everyone escape, just in case. Wing was given the same duty, which essentially meant sitting around, doing nothing, and being bored.  

Dragon could speak, though I rarely heard her do so, and Fay could share her senses with Storm. This made them perfect for patrolling. Finally, Michael told Nero to have me join Justice in taking down any monsters Storm and Dragon noticed.

Alicia and Nero themselves were set the task of actually gathering the materials for our quests.

As for what the rest of Crimson Rain was doing? They were 'guarding the camp,' which looked an awful lot like lazing around. I suppose they weren’t completely useless. They prepared food, kept the fire going, and kept our supplies orderly and in good condition. I just wasn’t sure I agreed that it counted as a fair division of labor.

"It's just the way things are," Nero said with a sigh. I stayed near him and Alicia while Justice stayed near the rest of the party. "It could be worse."

"That's the spirit!" Alicia said, beaming. "Even if they're not splitting the work evenly, they're still making it easier for us than if we were by ourselves."

When we returned to our tents each evening, I offered Nero whatever I'd gathered on my own. At first, he seemed surprised that I had an Inventory, proving that it was yet another way I differed from your average summon. Maybe that and the Logs were special isekai bonuses. "Don't tell anyone you've got this," Nero told me quietly. "But thanks." He smiled, looking embarrassed for a moment before he blurted out, "I'm glad I summoned you."

I headbutted him a little harder than necessary, embarrassed as well, then curled up in the corner of the tent to sleep.

It took us a couple of days to finish gathering everything from that area, and then we repeated the procedure in several more areas until only one quest remained: the D-rank quest to exterminate 10 Skeletons. The Skeletons were meant to be located on an old battlefield at the other side of the forest we’d been gathering within. If nothing else, I could admit that Crimson Rain chose quests efficiently.

We had just approached the Skeleton's quest area when I received my first 'mission' from Fyth.

Those four will interfere with my plans, Fyth suddenly said out of nowhere. I want you to kill them.

I froze. I was riding on Nero's shoulder. How do you expect me to kill them? Even if I assume Nero’d side with me, it’d still be ten against two!

Perhaps it said something about me that my first objection was to the feasibility of the order rather than the morality, but it wasn’t like I’d expected Fyth’s orders to be good. Would he have bothered trading for my soul if all he wanted was someone to go about doing good deeds? Of course not.

Perhaps predictably, Fyth didn't bother to respond. I sighed. Do I have a timeline? What happens if I refuse?

You should kill them before your owner dies.

Fyth refused to elaborate. Did that mean I just had to kill them sometime in the next seventy years or whatever the average lifespan in this world was? Or was Nero slated to die soon, and I needed to magically intuit the when of it? My eyes narrowed. Fyth hadn’t told me what the punishment for refusing would be, either. Maybe that was supposed to scare me. There were certainly times when the unknown was more frightening than the known, but I didn’t think this was well-executed. Now, my priority was simply to prevent Nero’s death. So long as he didn’t die, I didn’t need to worry about Fyth’s order.

We set up camp on the edge of the battleground. A thick miasma coated it, and within the fog, humanoid shapes shambled about. Fay had Storm scout it out. Storm wasn’t powerful. He could create a shield, but it used up almost all of his Magic, and he lacked offensive attacks altogether. Almost all of his points had gone into skills like Stealth, Scout, and Lay of the Land.

Stealth
Magic Cost: 3/second
Effect: Makes the target invisible for the skill's duration.

Scout
Magic Cost: 5/second
Effect: Share senses with the target.

Lay of the Land
Magic Cost: 15
Effect: Generate an instantaneous map of the mana distribution within a mile radius.

"Alright, there are a lot of Skeletons, which are usually pretty easy to kill, but there are also a few dozen Zombies, and deeper within, there's something stronger, so try not to go too deep, okay?"

"Should we report that to the guild first?" Alicia asked nervously. "The quest didn't say anything about stronger monsters."

Lainie waved the question away. "Nah, they'll send plenty of adventurers this way. We're just one of a bunch. We can report it when we turn in the D-rank, if you want." She beamed. "Now, go on and get in there, you two! You wanna reach D-rank, right? Don’t worry. We won’t steal your glory."

What a positive way of framing 'we won't step in, even if you're in trouble,' I thought. Nonetheless, I followed Nero into the miasma. We walked just behind Alicia, who had her hand on Heather’s flank. From our place behind the pair, I could see that Alicia’s hand was trembling and Heather’s ears flicked back and forth nervously, alert to every sound.

"Luna, use Blessing as soon as you see a monster," Nero told me quietly. "Let's not risk them getting close enough to attack if we can avoid it."

I nodded from my place on his shoulder, keeping a careful eye on our surroundings. Even though we’d left the rest of Crimson Rain at the edge of the woods in a sunny, comfortable patch of grass, we now walked through a cold, wet mist. Though there hadn’t been a cloud in the sly before, we couldn’t even see the sky now. The grass beneath our feet was matted and dying, with much of it little more than water-logged plant matter. Fungi grew in circles here and there, and we carefully noted and avoided those.

The first clear view of a monster I got was of a Skeleton, our target. I Assessed it quickly and relaxed. It was level twenty-eight. Even if this area was creepy, the monsters weren’t any higher in level than we were. Blessing! Bright light, not unlike the light that had summoned me to this world, surrounded the Skeleton, and it shuddered before dissolving.

It was my first time using Blessing offensively, and I was impressed. Shadow Claw could one-shot some monsters, too, but it was level 6. Blessing was still only level 1. Of course, it’d be far more useful if we weren’t in a field full of Skeletons. Blessing was a single-target skill, and the surge of light magic drew the attention of the other monsters around us. Almost immediately, three more appeared. Doing this alone would have been suicide, but Alicia, Heather, and Nero were capable fighters in their own right.

"Heather, use Wind Stomp on cooldown!" Alicia commanded before drawing her sword and slashing at the nearest Skeleton.

Nero pulled out his daggers and quickly eliminated his own Skeleton. It made a loud clang! when his dagger hit the hard bone, but with the force Nero put into the attack, he was able to break through anyway. Heather's magic attack knocked down not just her target but also, judging by the sound, several more monsters still hidden by the mist. The elemental attacks weren’t just the same attack with a certain element applied to it. While Shadow Claw dealt damage over time, Wind Stomp applied a knockback effect and Water Leaf eroded the target, making it useful against armored monsters.

The four of us moved in tandem, perfectly in synch with each other as we moved through the area killing Skeletons and Zombies. It went easily. We developed a rhythm, and we went with it. We were in the zone, as they say. But as time passed, I couldn't help but notice - and be unable to communicate - that we were getting deeper and deeper into the miasma.

This was the problem with belonging to a pubescent wannabe hero. He lacked the experience to consider what we were here to do versus what felt right to do. Did these need to be cleared out? Sure. But our mission was only to kill 10 Skeletons, which we could have done by remaining on the edges of the miasma. I cursed the older members of Crimson Rain for letting us wander off like this. They could have called us back before we got too far.

Of course, I say that, but it was something I'd only realized myself after we were already in this situation. Being the first to notice something too late wasn't exactly an accomplishment. Little by little, we were herding ourselves into the center of the fog, where we'd been specifically instructed not to go.

"N-Nero, this might be bad," Alicia said. We'd gotten a breather, but it was accompanied by a sensation of dread that descended upon us. None of us had ever experienced a feeling like this, but we'd heard of it. It was the feeling one got from being in the presence of an enemy far stronger than oneself.

Nero grunted as he decapitated a Zombie (level 30) and retreated to her side. "What is that?"

"I-I think it must be the thing they said was stronger..."

A rumbling sound started, heavy thuds that sent aftershocks through the ground beneath our feet. We were alone on the field now. We'd passed all the Skeletons and Zombies and entered the lair of something too strong for them to exist near. A large shadow began to take shape in the fog.

"What is that?" Nero breathed.

I didn't care. I was waiting for the moment I could see its form properly, the moment I'd be able to cast Blessing. That was another downside of Blessing. I could cast Shadow Claw on a patch of air if I wanted, but Blessing required a specific target. These were details not listed in the store. I’d discovered them over time by using the skills.

A burst of rancid wind cleared the fog immediately before us, and I cast before I even understood what I was seeing.

Thirty Health. It wasn't a small amount. At level 30, I had 40 Health. Heather had 90 Health. Alicia had 190, while Nero had 140. 

And yet, the monster before us, a massive, skeletal figure at least five times my owner's height, appeared to have taken no damage. Assess!

Name: --                                                            Level: 48/50
Summoned: --                                                  Master: --
Type: Skeleton King
Status: normal                                                 Health: 180/210
Skills:
     Active: ??                                                       Passive: ??
Titles: ??