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 26
Chapter 26: Troublemakers
Sora and their group, having met up with Aria, left the village, seen off by Queen Sylph and the villagers. With her leading the way, they began their journey.
“First, we will head to the base of our comrades who are monitoring and guarding the temple. It will take a whole day from here, so please stay close and don’t get separated.”
Up until now, they had been able to walk without lights thanks to the moonlight, but the place they were heading to was deep within the forest. Ahead of them lay pitch-black darkness, rejecting even the light of the moon.
Aria took out a lantern combined with a compass and a stone from her pocket.
“What is that?”
“It’s called a magic lamp, an essential item for going deep into the forest. By placing a stone that has been exposed to the sun’s magic inside, it can emit light until its magic power is depleted. This also doubles as a compass pointing in the direction of the temple.”
“I see, that’s interesting.”
When the stone was placed inside, the magic lamp emitted light, illuminating a radius of over five meters.
“It doesn’t illuminate all directions, so please stay vigilant.”
Holding the magic lamp in one hand, Aria started walking in the direction indicated by the needle.
Following behind her, Sora stretched her arms and legs and said,
“Oh, it’s fine. You two can relax and enjoy the walk.”
“What do you mean?”
“Sora, you seem confident in your scouting abilities. Do you have any skills?”
“Yeah, I have a ?Perception? skill that can cover about ten meters in all directions. I’ll let you know if any enemies approach.”
“?!”
Kuro, who was clinging to my arm, widened her eyes and stared at my face in disbelief, while Aria nearly dropped the magic lamp she was holding.
As we walked, she exclaimed in surprise, “Sora, do you have the legendary ?Perception? skill?!”
“You have a scouting skill that the leaders really want?!”
“Y-Yeah,” Sora replied, a bit overwhelmed by their intense reaction, nodding slightly.
So, the ?Perception? skill is rare, huh? Considering that even my master don’t have it, it seems like I’m the only player who has acquired this skill.
…Wait, in this world’s setting, the ?Perception? skill is considered legendary?
As expected of the unique skill ?Lucifer?. Perhaps the ?Insight? skill is also a rare one.
Thinking about this, Sora answered them while walking, “I obtained it by completing a special quest. It can detect everything within a ten-meter radius in great detail, so we can avoid ambushes unless something extraordinary happens.”
“That’s amazing. Not only can you use it, but you’ve also mastered it to that extent?!”
“Ah, that’s thanks to playing the stealth action game ?Mind’s Eye Ninja?.”
“Mind’s Eye Ninja?”
“The protagonist can’t see, but they have a special ability called ‘mind’s eye’ that lets them perceive their surroundings. It’s incredibly difficult to use, though…”
The residents of the mansion you’re sneaking into have superhuman hearing, reacting to even the slightest creak of the floorboards.
The key to success is memorizing which floorboards creak and perfectly understanding the residents’ and guards’ movements at different times of day.
And the protagonist is blind.
You absolutely can’t bump into walls, so you must constantly use the mind’s eye to keep track of everything within five meters. At first, it was so mentally exhausting that I had to start with just two meters and gradually increase to three meters, four meters, and so on.
After about a month, I completely mastered it and could constantly perceive everything within a five-meter radius 24/7…
By the way, the objective in that game, after all that effort, is to poison the mansion owner’s drink. If you try to assassinate them with a kunai, the guards will immediately catch you, so every stage revolves around poisoning—it’s really quite sinister.
There’s absolutely no sense of satisfaction.
Man, crappy games are something else.
They stay crappy to the end.
Compared to that, this is much more relaxed since I don’t need to worry about making noise. I just need to extend my perception range and check for any approaching entities.
We could even play a word chain game for fun.
But, to do that, I’d have to start by explaining the rules to Aria.
Thinking about this, Sora glanced at Aria and was taken aback by her appearance.
“…Wow, that’s some impressive gear.”
While we were preparing for battle, it seems Aria had also been preparing with Sylph. She had changed from her defenseless princess attire to a battle dress reinforced with light metal, which had quite formidable defensive capabilities as seen through my Insight skill.
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?Dress of the Spirit King?
A garment imbued with the power of the first Wind Spirit King. By consuming 100 MP, it can activate the advanced defensive magic “Wind Spirit Barrier.”
?Defense?: A
?Durability?: S
?Weight?: 180
—– —– —– —– —– —– —– —–
Wow, as expected of royal equipment. It’s literally on a different level compared to ours.
However, with that weight, Aria likely only has about 30 units of carrying capacity left.
Noticing Sora’s gaze, she blushed with embarrassment while walking.
“S-Sora, why are you staring so intently?”
“Oh, sorry. I was just thinking that your equipment looks quite heavy.”
“Yes, to be honest, while wearing this dress, I can’t carry swords that weigh more than 40.”
“So, does that mean Kuro and I will handle most of the fighting?”
“No, no, I won’t leave it all to you two. Look, I brought this with me.”
With that, Aria pulled out a simple designed bow.
Oh, right, I almost forgot this game has bows too.
Seeing the bow, Sora instinctively used his Insight skill, which he had been using almost reflexively over the past day, to analyze it.
—– —– —– —– —– —– —– —–
?Spirit Bow?
?Rarity?: E?
?Attack Power?: E
?Durability?: F
?Weight?: 30
—– —– —– —– —– —– —– —–
A bow commonly used by wind spirits.
The combination of an elf and a bow is a classic in fantasy games. It perfectly captures the essence of the forest people.
As Sora nodded in appreciation, Kuro, having a question, turned to Aria and asked.
“Where are the arrows?”
“The arrows are stored in my item box. That way, I can carry a lot without worrying about weight limits.”
“Oh, I hadn’t thought of that. That’s a pretty clever idea.”
“Wow, that’s amazing.”
“Hehe, but it wasn’t my idea. It’s a technique that’s been used by the royal family for ages.”
Using the properties of the item box for such a technique shows that the NPCs in this game are quite unique.
…No, at least for me, I’m starting to see her as more than just an NPC, but as a living person.
Seeing her various expressions—joy, surprise, disappointment—it’s becoming clear that it would be disrespectful to categorize her merely as an NPC.
That’s what I thought.
“Sora, Kuro, I may be clumsy at times, but let me show you my skills by shooting this apple in a quick draw!”
With that, she took out a perfectly ordinary red apple from her item box, similar to the ones in our world.
“Huh?”
“Are you sure it’s safe? What if you miss and hit a monster outside our range?”
“Kuro, you may have your doubts, but I’ve been good with a bow since childhood.”
With full confidence, Aria placed the magic lamp on the ground and threw the apple high and far into the air.
She reached into her item box, notched an arrow, and fired without hesitation.
Fast!?
It was a rapid-fire shot that even I couldn’t replicate. The arrow sliced through the air and headed straight for the falling apple.
The arrow struck its target with a satisfying *thud*.
Sora and Kuro, who had been watching, applauded generously at her unexpected skill, considering she had been screaming in fear earlier.
“Wow, you barely aimed, and you hit it perfectly!”
“It was cool!”
“Hehe, I’ve always been good at this,” Aria replied proudly.
With that level of rapid-fire accuracy, she could likely handle most monster movements. As expected of the Wind Spirit Princess. She wasn’t just a clumsy girl after all, thought Sora.
But then…
“?!”
The ?Perception? skill picked up numerous monster signals. Their numbers kept increasing—20, 40, and more—heading straight towards them.
What’s going on…?
In the darkness, monsters heading directly for Sora and the others from over 10 meters away wasn’t normal.
Sora’s gaze fell on the apple with the arrow. The ?Insight? skill revealed shocking information.
—– —– —– —– —– —– —– —–
?Honey Apple?
Its juice is very sweet and attracts monsters with a sense of smell.
Warning: Meant for hunting, it draws in monsters within a 20-meter radius. Never use it nearby.
—– —– —– —– —– —– —– —–
“You careless girl!!!”
Sora’s angry shout echoed through the night forest.