"Now then. To business!"
Melinda cheered herself on while power-walking through the rain. By doing so, she discovered that the resistance of the storm lessened quite a lot, which made sense only with that odd world.
From the rough map offered by Catherine, she knew where she wanted to go.
Of course, it wouldn't be the low-level areas.
Now that she was level 24, she did have more defense and vitality, but the most important reason she headed to an area with monsters up to level 40 was the sweet, sweet experience points multiplier that one received when facing foes stronger than them.
…anything of lower level would give out experience at a reduced rate because of experience points diminisher, so despite Catherine's best intentions, Melinda would not follow her kindhearted instruction.
There was also another reason - the area she chose was marked as the Boarkin orcs' area.
Both Boarkin and Pigkin orcs were almost intelligent monsters who could craft and use primitive weapons, but the Boarkin instinctively formed groups, which wasn't the case for the solitary Pigkin.
…which Melinda always considered an interesting choice on the developers part back when she was playing the game, but didn't pay it too much mind then and was eager to check whether anything changed…
Curiosity alone wasn't the reason, though, and was nothing more than a bonus—Melinda wanted to tackle a group because she could aggro it and properly start a fight even after killing and ambushing one or a few of its members.
Something that would have instantly ended the encounter if the monsters were recognized as solitary units.
And, of course, the distance.
The area with boarkin orcs appeared to be within the range that wouldn't dissolve Melinda's party - at least if the bracelet was the real thing.
That said, Melinda had to leave the city first…
"...hold on… will they send me back to help secure the harbor if I show them my guild card…?"
The gold-haired girl froze mid-way to the nearest gate and breathed out in realization.
Catherine did say that ALL the adventurers were enlisted for that quest…
"..."
Without thinking too much, Melinda changed her path, moving between the buildings until she reached the tall wall that defended the citizens of Chainlink port city from the monsters roaming outside in its current look for decades.
"..."
The girl then looked around sneakily and…
"HMPH!"
...she stabbed her fingers into the wall's surface and pulled herself up, reaching up with her other hand and stabbing her fingers there, too.
Although the heavy rain made it much more dangerous, it was also providing a nice cover from the prying eyes.
"..."
She had to be careful while climbing to the top, but even the guards who were supposed to patrol it seemed to be holed up in the evenly spread watchtowers, not slipping and falling all the way down.
"Ugh… it is hi-iiigh!?"
Melinda crouched down, preparing to climb down, but as she reached out to stab her fingers in the stone, she did ended up leaning too far, losing her balance and faling down.
"FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF-UGH!"
Melinda was hissing while freefalling like a ragdoll until she splatted into the muddy ground below.
"Ah!"
Melinda gasped, realizing that she wasn't hurt - although partially buried in the softened soil.
"Mud! Yay! But also, higher defense stat! Yay!"
She pulled herself up with a squelch, letting out two small cheers before trotting away, leaving a Melinda-shaped print in the ground that instantly became a Melinda-shaped puddle before turning into just a regular puddle, drowned in by the otupouring rain.
"What in the… they hang out THIS CLOSE to the city!? I didn't need to buy the bracelet at all!"
Surprisingly enough - especially for Melinda - she ended up discovering a group of Boarkin orcs taking shelter from the storm under the thick trees.
It wouldn't be too surprising sight if not for the fact that the trees the monsters were crouching under WERE LESS THAN FOURTY FEET FROM THE CHAINLINK PORT'S WALLS!
It almost looked like if the monsters decided to chop down those trees, they would create a convenient bridge for storming the city without being bothered by the gates!
"Come on! That might have been okay in the game, but why in the world would that be a thing in the real world?!"
"...!"
Melinda leaned back and cried out in a wave of wasted-money-fueled anger - unintentionally making herself noticed by the Boarkin Orcs.
The monsters with heads of boars and wide but rather short humanoid bodies clad in primitive armor made of sticks, bones, and stone plates grunted at one another, pointing at the hooded girl with their stubby fingers.
Interestingly, none had reached out for the crude maces and hatchets by their waists.
Interestingly but also unluckily... for them, that is.
"...anyway…"
Melinda breathed out to calm down and reached down, scooping a handful of damp ground and squeezing the moisture out of it until she was left with a nice compact clod.
She then repeated the motion two more times, held the two clods in left hand while aming the other one with her right…
Flicking her wrist and sending the piece of soil flying...
*SPLAT*
...beheading the first boarkin orc…
*CREAAAAAK*
…and accidentally felling an innocent tree aligned with the creature's head…
"BUHIGH?!"
"BUHII-HI!"
Two Boarkin orcs let out panicked grunts, dodging the falling tree without even realizing that their comrade lost its head…
"BUHIIIIIIIIIIIII!"
The last one focused on the girl, clearly decided that the falling tree was a provocation by her, and squealed in fury, drawing their weapon first, making an example for the other two and charging at Melinda…
…who indeed, was the one who caused the damage…
"Less strength. Less strength… Hooo... Ho~!"
Melinda ignored the squeals of fury let out by the monsters just as she ignored the slight warmth produced by the greedy necklace around her neck. She just casually picked and flicked the rest of her ammunition - pulverizing the heads of two other monsters following the last one behind without destroying any more trees, earning herself a nice level-up which was announced by the very distinct ringing sound in her ears.