Chapter 23 - Chapter 18

The journey towards the Skyscraper ruin was mostly peaceful, with only a handful of Monster encounters on the way. And as expected, Melania was more than capable of handling Monsters all by herself. Though, that fact only adds more towards Luke's undying crush on her, he's also getting more and more brave in flirting with her. I'm really getting secondhand embarrassment here.. Where did that courage come from all of a sudden??

That said, we're currently resting and preparing for camp. Somehow, I was the one in charge of cooking our meals, even though I can't taste anything... But I managed to cook a nice enough meal for Luke and Melania with the help of Luke tasting my cooking first. Today I'm making a simple curry using an instant curry block I bought, which is suspiciously similar to a Japanese instant curry. Once again, this is probably the work of an other-worlder. Since there was no rice in this world, I substituted it with something that looks like naan bread, but this bread was slightly fluffier than naan.

We were all eating together around the campfire, well, I say "we".. Only Luke and Melania was eating.. I, on the other hand, is merely pretending to be eating for appearance's sake. I don't know where the food I ingest all go to in the end, because I don't need to excrete waste. Well, whatever, What's important for me is that my energy level is at a healthy, comfortable 67%.

Looking around, I saw that Melania and Luke were having a nice conversation with each other, I'm glad that they're getting along nicely, well, a little too nicely.. During our trip, I would hear an unreasonable amount of "nightly activities" coming from Melania's tent... I mean, I kind of understand, he used to be an ordinary high school student before coming here, to another world, he's at "that" age, after all, even I have gone through that phase.. But damn, doesn't he have self-restraint?? Even though I was supposed to share the tent with Luke, he'd always end up sleeping with Melania. I just hope that no "accidents" happen between them. Because that'll be an embarrassing thing to happen. And whenever I protested Luke about that, he'll just have this indescribably dumb expression and he'll just chuckle a little. This man is in heat.. I'm scared.

And once again, even though tonight's night watch was supposed to be Luke, he went off with Melania towards who-knows-where. I warned him to take a weapon with him, but that bitch had the audacity to ignore my warnings. Whatever, it's not like I care about him or that I was supposed to keep him safe or anything. Nope.

So now, I'm just sitting down, watching the campfire absentmindedly, waiting for Luke and Melania to come back. While waiting, I decided to check my Status to pass the time, after all, it has been a long time since I last checked on it. So I chanted, << Status >>

=====[ Status ]=====

Name : Evan Myers

Race : Monolith

Level : 12

Energy : 67%

Condition: Healthy

Aptitude : << Space Magic >>, << Earth Magic >>, << Wind Magic >>, << Fire Magic >>, << Lifestyle Magic >>.

Skills : << Levitation ( Unavailable ) >>, << Syphon >>, << Status >>, << Pocket Dimension >>, << Dark Vision >>, << Body Strengthening >>, << Detect Presence >>, << Form Imitation : Human >>, << Intimidation >>, << Cooking >>, << Tea Brewing >>, << Domestic Cleaning >>.

Spells : << Space Magic : Void Blade >>, << Space Magic : Void Bullet >>, << Space Magic : Void Shield >>, << Earth Magic : Earth Wall >>, << Earth Magic : Sinkhole >>, << Wind Magic : Wind Cutter >>, << Wind Magic : Sudden Gust >>, << Fire Magic : Spark >>, << Fire Magic : Fireball >>, << Fire Magic : Fire Storm >>, << Fire Magic : Fire Wall >>, << Lifestyle Magic : Drying >>, << Lifestyle Magic : Heating >>, << Lifestyle Magic : Cooling >>, << Lifestyle Magic : Illumination >>, << Lifestyle Magic : Cleansing >>.

===============

⟨ My level really has risen since I got here, huh? ⟩.

To be honest, I was pleasantly surprised to see that my level has risen quite dramatically ever since I've been under the tutelage of Maxim and the others. That means that the struggles I went through has been rewarded with progress. There are completely new Skills and Spells that I learned. I even mastered a whole new Aptitude. But to think that after cleaning around the Draculesti estate, I'll obtain the << Domestic Cleaning >> skill, There's even a << Cooking >> and << Tea Brewing >> skill. I hope they're all as convenient as they sound.

As I was ingesting a couple of Magic Stones, I heard screaming and yelling from the distance. It sounded like Melania's voice.

⟨ God damnit, I already warned them, didn't I?! ⟩.

So I quickly swallowed the Magic Stone and rushed off towards the source of the voices. Since I already have the << Void Blade >> spell, I didn't need to carry around a weapon on me, in order to minimize personal luggage. I also have the << Void Shield >> spell, so no need for conventional shields either. So I casted both << Void Blade >> and << Void Shield >>, and used it just like a normal sword and shield.

From a distance, I hear sounds of fighting, they must be over there.

After a few seconds, I finally located the both of them, they're in the middle of a forest glade, near a pond. It's a really romantic scene, if you choose to ignore the demonic looking ogre type creature looming over both Luke and Melania. They're currently struggling against the ogre, with Luke casting offensive spells, and Melania attacking from close range.

I decided to act quickly and fired a << Void Bullet >> towards the ogre, I missed it's head and hit the upper left arm instead. It roared in pain and glared at me, ignoring Melania and Luke. At close inspection, the ogre really is terrifying, with thick muscles underneath it's red skin and a frame of over 3 meters tall wielding a gigantic metal studded club in it's right hand, it's head is adorned by a pair of wonderful, majestic horns. This looks like a demon straight out of some Chinese folklore. Or maybe Japanese, considering the direction this novel*cough*- I mean, world is heading.

I fired another bolt of << Void Bullet >> but the ogre easily evaded that one, even the wound from earlier was starting to heal. Now the ogre was furious, it charged at me determined to kill. Now I have no choice but to engage in close quarters combat. It swung it's club downwards on me, I got out of the way and slashed at the hand it's holding the club with. It let go of the club in surprise, but it simply picked up the club again with it's left hand.

⟨This ambidextrous bastard... No need to show it off! ⟩. I thought.

Now, it went on the offensive again, this time, it intended to stomp on me with it's foot. Again, I simply moved out of the way, but, it seems I have fallen into it's trap, because the stomping, was a feint! And I actually moved right into the way of a gigantic metal studded club hurling towards me at inhumane speeds, I severely underestimated the ogre's intelligence. I didn't even have a chance to raise my shield. and I was swatted away like an insect. All of the air in my lungs escaped out as the club impacted my body. I flew through the air and crashed onto a tree, the momentum was so immense, it almost snapped the tree in half. I felt like I broke my spine... My chest plate was severely dented.

" Ooghf..! ". I couldn't believe I just produced that sound. That didn't even sound like a groan! What the heck was that?!

" Oh fuck! Evan! You okay?! ". Luke asked, panicked.

To that question, I weakly raised a middle finger towards Luke.

" *sigh* I'm glad you're okay enough to do that! You shitty ogre! Suck on this!! << Wind Cutter >>!! ". He yelled as he chanted an attack spell, the blade of wind soared through the sky and then it hit the ogre's neck, but it merely grazed it with a shallow cut.

" Damnit! It's not deep enough! ". Luke groaned in frustration.

The cut wasn't enough to kill the ogre, but it certainly distracted it. Melania used the chance to attack and slash at the ogre's achilles tendon, she was successful and she brought down the ogre to it's knees. While Luke approached me hurriedly.

" Ohh shit! Evan! I'm so sorry I didn't listen to you! Here! Healing potion! ". He said.

" Ugghh... what.. did I.. told you.. ? ". I said, breathlessly.

He positioned the bottle of potion on my lips and told me to slowly gulp it down. It felt uncomfortable letting someone else hold a bottle you're drinking out of so I took it from his hand and drank it by myself. After finishing the bottle, I heaved a huge sigh and stood up. The potion was super effective! My fatigue and pain instantly flew away! What a miracle!

" Well, should we finish up this ogre bastard? ". I said.

" Yeah! ". Luke affirmed.

I once again chanted << Void Bullet >>, this time, I casted it three times, to ensure that the ogre gets absolutely wrecked. I successfully fired the spells, all of them hit their marks, but it still wasn't enough to finish it off. So I chanted another << Void Bullet >>, now, with much more power. It took a long while to charge, and the ogre was starting to regenerate it's wounds, but I made it in the nick of time and fired the spell, it flew towards the ogre with a deafening roar as if it was sucked in, and it blew a gigantic hole through it's torso, along with all of it's vital organs. The ogre, now dead, collapsed like a puppet who's strings had been cut. Seeing that, I heaved another large sigh of relief, as a feeling of drowsiness waved through my body, I fell on my rear, then a familiar voice chimed in saying.

" Energy level at 28% ".

⟨ 28%? How? Wasn't it at 67% just now? ⟩.

" Energy has been drained due to recovery from damage at an accelerated pace. ". It explained.

⟨ Hmmm? Is it because of the potion, I wonder? ⟩.

My thoughts were then disturbed by Luke and Melania rushing towards me, visibly worried.

" Evan! You okay? That was a huge spell you just casted there! So cool! ". Luke excitedly said.

" Yeah! Mr. Evan was cool and brave! I owe you one! ". Melania added.

" *sigh*, even though I was cool and all.. What you guys just did is absolutely NOT professional! What if I dozed off at camp and didn't notice that you're under attack?! You could've been killed! You understand?! ". I said, with a reprimanding tone, to Luke.

" Y-.. Yes... I'm sorry.. ". He sheepishly answered.

" And you, Melania. Although your night life isn't my business, you should still abstain from doing it DURING QUESTS! Am I understood?! ". I also reprimanded Melania.

" Yes... It was my bad.. ". She said.

" *sigh* really... What is your father going to do if he ever hears that you were doing "this and that" during a quest, master? ". I said to Luke.. I feel like today I've sighed more than I have ever in one day.

" Wh-?! Please don't tell anyone about this! Please! I'm begging! ". Luke said, desperate.

To that plead, I simply smiled coldly.

" PLEEASEE! Don't do this to mee! ". Luke yelled.

We headed back to camp while Luke clung onto me, promising various things to me, he even offered to find me a bride. What a deplorable man. Melania just followed behind, giggling a little. The night was noisy.

====[ Author's Note ]====

Okay.. Soo..

I!

AM!

VERY!

SORRY!

FOR!

PROCRASTINATING!

This chapter is the last one for the week, I'm going to have an exam week tomorrow, so I'll be unable to update for a whole week. Sorry about that. (;ŏ﹏ŏ)

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