Chapter 169

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We slowly made our way on the snow-covered road along the river toward the northeast. We took numerous breaks and made a camp but as I thought, the level of comfort was entirely different now that we had a stove inside the wagon.

Just when I thought with how things were going on, our current living quality wasn’t that different from sleeping in an inn with a fireplace in it, an incident occurred. 

Yurina-san was sitting next to me in the driver seat. She was holding Ash in her arms while being wrapped up in a red grizzly quilt when suddenly Ash let out a small bark,”Woof” and acted as if he was trying to get Yurina-san’s attention. 

“What’s wrong, Ash?”

Then, Yurina-san put her head on my shoulder. At first I thought Yurina-san was only acting spoiled but then, I noticed there was something unusual with her condition.

“Yurina-san?”

She was breathing hard and her face was a little red. Grabbing her head with both of my hands, I put our forehead together. 

“This is bad, you have a fever.”

I immediately steered the wagon to the side and upon seeing an empty spot with trees providing shade from the sun, I parked the wagon there. 

After parking the wagon at a suitable place, I tucked Yurina-san in and nursed her there. 

In the meantime, I checked the surroundings to make sure there was no danger around us. Then, while I was inspecting the vacant space with Ash, Ash suddenly growled. There was something there. 

Raising my guard, I gripped the hilt of my hellfire sword. 

KISHAAA!!

On top of the tree, there was a spiderweb and something like a giant, purple spider around 2 meters big baring its fang as it jumped on me. 

DOSH! BOM!!

I backed away to avoid the giant spider’s attack and as soon as I drew my sword out, I thrusted my sword at the spider, skewering the giant spider’s body. Immediately, the giant spider’s body burst into flames. Unable to shoot out its venom because of the fire engulfing its body, the spider started shaking its whole body, making a motion as if it was about to do something. 

Maybe the spider is going to use its venom? Or maybe something else?

At any rate, it’s best if I made some distance from it first.

I then used the ‘Shield Bash’ attack with my shield. Basically killing two birds with one stone because I was able to prevent the spider’s venom attack and hitting it at the same time. 

BAMM!!

The spider tipped over. 

As a finishing blow, I unleashed a fireball with my hellfire sword, a middle-distance attack, at the spider. 

『Individual Name: Keigo Okuda is now level 20. 

HP:45→46

MP:40→42

Vitality:40→41
Strength:47→48

Intelligence:88→89
Dexterity:51→52

Speed:47→48

Acquired Sword Piercing level 1. 

Acquired Shield Bash level 4.』

The usual mechanical voice could be heard together with a terminal screen popping out. I then used appraisal on the dead spider. 

【Purple Tarantula:A high-level monster with deadly venom. Once caught in its thread, it’s almost impossible to escape from it. It attacks by shooting out thorns contained in its whole body. 】

“How dangerous. So that motion from before was its preparing stance for the thorn attack…”

I was curious if that spider’s thorn attack was stronger than the giant urchin’s thorn attack or not but I wouldn’t go out of my way just to test it out. 

If the monster was that strong then maybe the threads and the venom gland could be used for something. I should collect the material from the spider after things with Yurina-san settle down. I also needed to check the newly acquired skill with appraisal. 

【Sword Piercing: A thrust attack imbued with fighting spirit in the sword.】

I see.

This was yet another new type of technique. It seemed with this I could implement various patterns to my swordsmanship without relying on bash type technique only. 

After patrolling the vacant lot for a while, it seemed there was no other enemy around. I called out to the blue wolves and the wolves immediately appeared from the bushes. I then decided to entrust the surveillance of the area to them.

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T/N: Waiting patiently for beastmaster skill… Or tamer skill… Or wolf whisperer skill..