As Rozen and Silica stepped into the swaying transfer zone that resembled heat waves, entering the forest with ever-changing terrain that made it difficult to leave, they found themselves in an area composed of towering trees.
At first glance, it seemed no different from an ordinary forest. However, as they walked towards the edges, it was as if they were transported to another area. Direction and distance were completely distorted, leading them deeper into the forest.
And of course, the monsters didn't hesitate to attack them.
These monsters were all around levels 35-38.
For players with a safe level, these monsters weren't much of a threat.
Facing them, Rozen and Silica easily dispatched them.
Rozen, naturally, drew out a weapon from his inventory. It was a dusty weapon he had used at level 40. He swung it without using sword skills, just random slashes, and took care of the approaching monsters.
Although Silica's level wasn't on par with Rozen's, she had attained a safe level on this floor, level 45. Faced with monsters of lower levels, she used her seemingly good short sword and sword skills to fend off the attackers.
The two of them continued to defeat monsters as they ventured deeper into the Forest of Wandering. Finally, they encountered the most powerful monsters that appeared in the forest— the "Drunk Ape."
These creatures were covered in dark red fur, stood over two meters tall, and held a rough club in their right hands. In their left hands, they carried a huge pot with ropes tied around it like a gourd.
Since they were apes, it indicated that these creatures were humanoid monsters. In other words, they could use sword skills.
The Drunk Ape could use their rough clubs to employ lower-level mace skills. Their single strikes had significant power. Even players with a safe level would lose a substantial amount of HP with a single hit. If they were hit multiple times at once, their chances of survival were slim.
So, within the Forest of Wandering, these Drunk Apes were undoubtedly the most challenging monsters, their threat level rivaling that of Labyrinth area monsters.
Fortunately, the Drunk Apes' attack speed was relatively slow, and due to their use of lower-level sword skills, their combo hits weren't particularly strong. Regardless of Rozen's opinion, Silica, with her agility, could dodge their attacks.
This was assuming they faced only one of these monsters.
"Rozen-nii, there are too many enemies! Shouldn't we retreat?" Silica shouted anxiously as she gripped her short sword.
//// About silica not recognizing Rozen while she know his name is probably because Rozen is widely know as Magus and few knew his in game name ////
However, Rozen's response was casually dismissive. "Seven of them? That's quite a challenging number."
What exactly did he mean by "challenging"? Did he mean it was a difficult challenge to handle, or did he mean the threat they posed was challenging?
Silica wasn't sure.
All she knew was that Rozen patted Pina's wings, which had been resting on her arm, and said one thing.
"Well then, can I trouble you, Pina?"
As the words fell…
"Chu!"
Pina suddenly took flight and charged towards the seven Drunken Mad Apes rushing their way.
"No, Pina!"
Silica shouted in a panic.
"Chu!"
Unfortunately, Pina fearlessly flew towards the Drunk Apes, meeting them head-on.
"Pina!"
Silica was nearly overwhelmed with worry.
Being Pina's owner, Silica was well aware of Pina's abilities. Although Pina could sense approaching monsters ahead of time and periodically recover about ten percent of Silica's HP, Pina's direct combat prowess was weaker than that of a level 1 player. In addition, familiars generally had low HP. If they were to be attacked by seven Drunk Apes in succession, even without using sword skills, there would be no chance of survival.
At that moment, Silica was about to rush out.
However, the scene that followed left Silica wide-eyed and dumbfounded.
"Chu!"
Facing the seven Drunk Apes, Pina suddenly vigorously flapped her wings.
As Pina flapped her wings, a whirlwind gathered before her, forming a tornado-like vortex. It swept up dry branches and leaves from the ground as it blew forward.
"Howl!"
"Howl!"
Each Drunken Mad Ape was immediately enveloped by the whirlwind. They were spun around and around before the whirlwind dissipated, leaving them stumbling and disoriented.
This was one of the negative conditions in SAO — "Dizziness."
Silica could hardly believe her eyes.
Because, this was an ability Silica had never seen before.
In other words, the previous Pina didn't possess the ability to induce dizziness in monsters.
In this context, how could Silica not be astonished?
"What… what's happening?" Silica muttered involuntarily.
Unfortunately, someone was there to answer her question.
"Are you talking about that skill?" Rozen responded nonchalantly, "It's simple. Pina ate something I gave her, and naturally, she gained that ability."
What did he mean by "naturally gained that ability"?
Could this situation really be explained so casually?
At least, Silica felt like her brain was lagging behind.
If she knew that Rozen had given Pina something worth over 200,000 col, an item that could only be rarely dropped from monsters in the 50th-floor labyrinth area, and used in weapon crafting to imbue weapons with the low possibility of inducing dizziness in monsters, known as the "Spirit Root," she would have felt her brain wasn't enough in an entirely different sense.
But it was precisely because of this that Pina awakened a new ability.
Rozen had expected this outcome.
After all, previously, both Saichou and Hanachou had awakened similar abilities after consuming the Spirit Root — the "Dizziness Powder."
Of course, Saichou and Hanachou's dizziness skills weren't on the same level as the one Pina was using. The dizziness skills of the former two would take several seconds to recover, even for the frontline boss on the highest floor.
In contrast, Pina's dizziness skill only worked on monsters of lower levels, and the duration of dizziness was only a few seconds, provided the monsters didn't possess resistance against dizziness.
Otherwise, the effect might be even shorter or non-existent.
However, for a familiar of a mid-tier player, this was already a precious ability.
"What are you standing around for?" Rozen raised his weapon like a bandit and shouted, "Charge!"
With that, Rozen charged forward.
"Wait... wait up!"
Silica reflexively followed, and by the time she realized it, she had reached the Drunk Apes. She was met with the enraged roars and the club strikes from the monsters that had just recovered from dizziness.
Silica almost burst into tears.
"What in the world is going on?!"
At that moment, Silica, feeling overwhelmed, clenched her short sword and faced the situation head-on.