Astral Online: Cursed by the Demon Lord to Become the Strongest Beautiful Girl, I Rapidly Grow and Dominate with Cheat Skills Despite Being the Weakest Profession - Chapter 148

Chapter 148: What Does a Crab’s Cry Sound Like?

The next morning.

After finishing my usual routine of jogging, showering, and breakfast, I returned to my room and lay down on the bed.

Today’s goal during playtime is to level up as much as possible before the next event occurs.

As usual, I said, “Game start,” and Sora, the adventurer, descended onto the land of ?Astral Online?.

My vision, which had been pitch black, switched to where I had logged out yesterday—a rented room, waking up on the bed.

As I slowly sat up, I noticed a black-haired girl, Kuro, who logged in at the same time as me, right next to me. Our eyes met directly.

“We were almost perfectly in sync,” she said.

“Yeah, we were,” I replied, my cheeks flushing slightly as I looked away, unable to meet her flower-like smile.

In the real world, she has silver hair and blue eyes.

However, this game doesn’t have silver or white as color options in the avatar customization.

So, matching her Japanese father, Kuro uses an avatar with black hair and black eyes.

Since she’s cute by nature, black hair suits her well. It would be embarrassing to say it out loud, so I just thought it to myself as I got up from the bed.

After the two of us did some stretches, Kuro changed from her cute negligee into her battle dress.

Honestly, there’s no real need to change clothes in this game.

But recently, Kuro has been enjoying wearing outfits with designs not found in the real world. She changes into different clothes before logging out and even matches the color of her tights to her main battle dress, putting a lot of effort into her fashion.

It feels like she does it to show me, but just in case I’m wrong, I haven’t asked her about it yet.

Today, after finishing her preparations with a headband accessory, Kuro strapped a vibrant lavender one-handed sword to her waist, while I equipped my silver one-handed sword.

“Sora, how do I look?”

“Yeah, you look cute today too. Shall we go?”

“Yep!”

With Kuro happily nodding and smiling, I left the inn with her, heading from the main street toward the port.

The goal is to complete the daily crab monster subjugation quest given by the port manager, something I’ve decided to make a part of my routine from today.

The title of the event is called ?Crab Infestation?, and it seems to be a limited-time event that occurs from August to September.

Since it’s a special quest, the crab-like monsters that appear, known as ?Increasing Crab?, supposedly offer a substantial amount of experience points.

The one who shared this information was Rinne, the self-proclaimed VR journalist. While she’s not very good at combat, she contributes to adventurers in other ways, like sharing information. She seemed particularly eager about it when we exchanged messages yesterday.

I have no idea what brought about this change in her attitude.

In any case, Sora has promised to share any good information she finds with her in return for useful tips in the future.

“Wow, this always makes me excited every time,” Kuro said, her eyes sparkling as she walked quickly down the gentle slope beside me, deep in thought.

Ahead of us stretched the breathtaking view of a typical medieval European town, a large port, and numerous massive sailing ships anchored offshore—classic fantasy scenery.

This is the land of songs and the sea, ?Enoshigaios?.

The songs here are passed down through generations of royal princesses, and once a month, they perform a song at the port to express gratitude to the sea. It’s said that the princess’s beautiful voice draws royal families from various nations, and on that day, her song echoes across the town and sea.

The sea itself, of course, is represented by the vast port right before us.

The port covers a large area, and its shape could best be described as a “C.”

The morning in this bustling fishing town was lively, with stalls selling freshly grilled fish and fish skewers made from the day’s catch. Other shops were already setting up to sell imported vegetables and fruits, and merchants were displaying their goods after finishing their trades.

People from across the kingdom had gathered at the port to enjoy the scene, which was just as lively as the morning market in the ?Hephaestus Kingdom?.

However, our goal wasn’t to shop.

Our attention was fixed on the large medieval ships lined up side by side in the distance. The sight was nothing short of magnificent, and the cannons mounted on the sides of the ships hinted at the presence of large sea monsters in these waters.

In fantasy stories, the classic large sea monsters that often appear are probably something like a kraken.

Skillfully weaving through the bustling crowd, Sora and Kuro stopped in front of an elderly man who was giving out instructions at the port.

“Excuse me, we’d like to take on a quest. Is that alright?”

“Oh, young adventurers, are you? Could it be that you’re here to help thin out those troublesome crabs?”

“Yes, that’s right,” Sora replied.

The old man with blue hair grinned deeply, his wrinkled face lighting up with joy.

“That’s a huge help. Everyone’s been so busy, and we’ve had no choice but to leave those annoying crabs unchecked.”

Looking around, there didn’t seem to be any monsters in sight.

It must be just quest dialogue.

A two-option choice appeared before me, and without hesitation, I touched “Yes” to accept the quest.

“Alright then, I’ll give both you and the young lady here 10 sets of bait and fishing rods each. Come back and report to me once you’ve taken down 20 of them.”

“Got it. Let’s go, Kuro.”

“Yes, I’ll do my best!”

The two of them moved to a spot where they wouldn’t be in the way of the workers. Taking a fishing rod in hand, they opened their inventory screens and equipped the worn-out fishing rods in their empty left hands.

It had been a long time since I’d done any fishing in a VR game, but with a guide popping up to show me how, it seemed easy enough.

I set the bait, took note of my surroundings, raised the long rod, and then threw it with all my strength.

The bait flew in an overhand throw and landed with a splash in the sea.

Just as Kuro, who had been watching closely, tried to imitate me and cast her own bait, the rod I had thrown suddenly bent sharply, and the line straightened with a snap.

Feeling a strong tug as if something was pulling, Sora exclaimed in surprise.

“Whoa! Already caught something!?”

Startled but following the guide that appeared on the edge of my vision, I lifted the rod and began reeling in the line.

It took considerable effort, but Sora gradually managed to reel in the struggling catch.

Then, just as the creature was about to surface, it suddenly changed direction and started coming straight toward them.

“Kuro, prepare for battle!”

“Roger that!”

The creature shot up from the water and burst out into the air, spinning twice before landing on the ground with a solid thud.

The figure that appeared before them was unmistakably—a crab.

It looked just like the kind of edible crab you’d commonly see in shops, with a bright red shell, ten legs, and two sharp pincers that snapped open and shut.

But what surprised Sora and Kuro the most was…

“Garrrrny!”

“Couldn’t it have made any other sound!?”

The ?Increasing Crab?, a level 59 enemy, appeared ready for battle. Sora, drawing her sword, which was imbued with three buffs, charged forward.

The enemy responded by using its ?Crab Scissors? skill, but Sora bent down under the attacking pincers, dodging them, and rushed in close. she raised her sword, infused with lightning attributes, into a high stance.

The combined skill of a vertical slash and level 5 lightning attribute, known as ?Thunder Vertical Slash?, struck down like a bolt from the sky, slicing through the hard shell of the monster, splitting it cleanly in half.

“Garrrrny!?”

It almost sounded like the monster screamed, “Impossible!”—though Sora figured that was just her imagination.

The ?Increasing Crab?, now neatly divided into two, let out a final cry and was defeated in less than a minute after emerging from the water.

Exhaling heavily, Sora sheathed her gleaming silver sword, feeling oddly exhausted from all the absurdities. A large amount of experience points and a crab-like pincer dropped as loot. she turned back and headed over to Kuro.

That’s when she noticed how eerily quiet the surroundings had become.

Curious, she looked around and saw the dock workers, market vendors who had come to check their goods, and even the old man who had given her the quest. All staring wide-eyed at her.

They were all pointing at Sora, trembling slightly, and then suddenly began shouting at the top of their lungs.

“She took down that super hard crab with one hit!?”

At that moment, Sora realized what had happened.

Apparently, she had done something outrageous again.