Angering the forest

Takemi caught up to Kengo only a few seconds after he killed the orc. Both were injured in the battle, but it hadn’t been anything serious, thus a simple healing potion would restore them to their prime state.

Kengo was leaning on his sword, which was still embedded in the orc’s skull, breathing heavily.

“Are you okay?” Takemi ran over, supporting Kengo despite her own wounds.

“I’m fine, but I think I might have broken a rib or two,” Kengo replied, taking a deep breath, which caused a sharp pain to permeate throughout his chest. “What about you? That kick looked pretty brutal back then.”

“Yeah, it hurt like hell,” Takemi laughed bitterly. “But I already drank a potion, so I’m fine.”

With that, she took out another, handing it to Kengo after opening the lid.

“Thanks.”

As Kengo drank the potion, he suddenly heard a rustle of the palm leaves and a loud buzz.

“We need to head back,” said Kengo after he gulped the potion in one go. “The pufípers are probably not happy with us right now.”

As the healing potion took effect gradually but swiftly, Kengo and Takemi ran out of the forest as quickly as they could.

A few stray pufípers occasionally attacked them, but they were rather weak when isolated. Therefore, Kengo and Takemi cut them down without much effort.

Soon, they returned to the beach, where the rest were waiting for them.

As they appeared, everyone sighed in relief, glad they had made it out safely.

When Takemi and Kengo were first separated during the fight, Tamashi called Awayuki back and instructed him to keep an eye on them, ensuring that nothing serious would occur. Thankfully, Kengo managed to finish the orc by himself, leaving Tamashi very proud of his little brother.

“Good job, both of you,” Tamashi complimented, meanwhile sending another message to Awayuki, sending him back to deal with the slimes.

“Now, we just wait for the second and then the third orc to appear. While you’ll be using the same strategy as before, I trust that you have already learned a few valuable lessons. Thus, the next fight will proceed more smoothly.”

Everyone nodded, then Tamashi continued.

“Remember, always take your time when clearing a dungeon, no matter how confident you feel. It’s better to waste a lot of time than to waste your life.”

They then waited for almost an hour, but eventually, the second orc finally showed itself, attracted to the raw pork. This time, the fight indeed went much more smoothly. Takemi still suffered a blow to her thigh from the orc’s club, and Kengo managed to avoid getting injured altogether.

After another three hours, the third orc still hadn’t shown itself, thus Tamashi changed the plan.

The group moved slowly around the island’s perimeter along the beach, baiting and battling the water slimes instead.

Awayuki was once again pulled back, resting on Tamashi’s shoulder and slowly recovering his mana.

Tamashi himself wasn’t fighting at all. Instead, he simply observed everyone’s movements, giving pointers and offering suggestions to his team.

Uyumi, meanwhile, wasn’t fighting the water slimes like the rest. Instead, with a simple wooden wand in her hand, she occasionally cast the Fireball level 1 spell, gradually burning the palm trees, causing havoc among all the pufípers inhabiting the palm forest.

Tamashi had instructed Uyumi to buy the Waterball and Fireball spells, intending for her to become a mage. She definitely wasn’t suited for melee battles because of her frail body. There was also the option of her taking up a crossbow, similar to Himawari, but with her inferior vision, that also wasn’t appropriate. Therefore, Uyumi had become a mage. Although she only had offensive spells, she would buy the exact spells that Mika had—Buff level 1, Debuff level 1, and Knockback level 1—after clearing this dungeon, making her a useful and all-round supportive mage.

The same went for Mika, but in reverse. She would buy a couple of offensive magic spells instead, since her group wouldn’t have Awayuki’s strong magic to help them in the near future.

The island wasn’t that large, so after only another two to three hours, they got to the island’s other side, opposite to where they had started.

Just then, a loud growl could be heard coming from inside the forest, and soon, the source of this terrifying sound could be seen.

A large orc with a weirdly muscular and disfigured body revealed itself, carrying a heavy iron-spiked mace on his shoulder. Unlike the previous two, this orc was three meters tall, maybe even taller than that. Countless scars marked his body, proof of his lifetime of experience in battles.

However, Tamashi just sneered at this sight.

All the monsters inside the System dungeons are nothing more than a program created by the System. I have to applaud them for this level of detail, though. Including things like scars and old age, truly an impressive game, such diversity, Tamashi thought mockingly.

Tamashi had learned all this information from either tutorial books on the System or from the Guide itself.

“Alright, same strategy as before. However,” Tamashi turned to Uyumi and spoke seriously. “This time, Uyumi won’t be fighting with you. I want you all to try to fight while weakened, since this is a situation that might occur often. This way, you’ll also be practicing your team cooperation better, since Uyumi and I won’t be with you after this dungeon is cleared.”

Everyone’s bodies tensed, but no one objected, knowing that Tamashi was right. Therefore, they just readied themselves for battle, facing the large orc with determination.

Waiting for Mika to use her buff, Tamashi then approached her.

“Mika.”

“Yes, big brother?”

Tamashi suddenly talking to her made her a bit confused, but also happy. Ever since he came back from Tokyo with Uyumi, he had spent less and less time with her, so Mika was undeniably excited. At the same time, she wondered why he chose such a time, when Mika’s three team members were already engaged in battle with the orc.

“Since you’ll also be using offensive magic in the future, I want you to practice your aim with the knockback spell this time. Try to use it whenever possible, while also being careful not to hit Kengo or Takemi. Got it?”

“Got it!” Mika responded enthusiastically, since she had only stayed at the back before, never engaging in direct battle, only using her buffs and debuffs.

Tamashi smiled and patted her on the head.

“Good. I believe in you. Even if you make a couple of small mistakes, it doesn’t matter. Just remember to always learn from them.”

“Yes, big brother!”

Tamashi nodded approvingly, then stepped away.

Mika focused and aimed her wand, waiting for the opportunity to strike.

Walking over to Uyumi, Tamashi spoke calmly like before, but his face was now cold, devoid of the warm and reliable smile he usually wore on his lips.

“The three of us also need to get used to fighting side by side. Therefore, we’ll be handling all the pufípers you have pissed off after burning their home.”

“Eh?” Uyumi blinked in confusion.

Just then, a loud buzzing and hissing could be heard coming from the forest. Numerous snakes with insect-like wings flew out of the forest, heading towards Kengo and the others. Most of them were either dark brown or dark green, eyes black and deep like an endless void.

“Light that tree on fire,” Tamashi instructed, pointing to a tree far to their left. Seeing Uyumi hesitating, he added urgently: “You don’t want the pufípers to collapse on your sister and the others, right? Therefore, we need to gather their attention and make them focus on us.”

“R-right!”

With that, Uyumi quickly chanted the incantation, shooting out a fireball and hitting a palm tree’s crown, setting it on fire.

That act immediately alerted nearly all the pufípers in the area, leaving Kengo and the rest with no more than ten to deal with.

Hmm, that’s still too much...

Thinking that, Tamashi shouted over to Mika: “Mika, use your knockback on the pufípers, ignore the orc until all the snakes are on the ground!”

With those instructions, the other group quickly dealt with the pufípers, since once they suffered the impact of Mika’s knockback spell, their brittle wings would easily tear, causing them to fall to the ground and get heavily wounded. From then on, they were nothing more than helpless—although venomous—sticks, since it was almost impossible for these snakes to move effectively on the ground.

“Now what?” Uyumi asked urgently, seeing that the entire group, consisting of more than a hundred pufípers, was flying towards them, angered by their vile acts of arson.

Tamashi summoned his polearm and rested its hilt in the sand beneath his feet.

“Now? Now we fight.”