It had been a long time since one of my allies had received an upgrade. Erwen had become much stronger than the others after consuming Chaos Essence, so this was a very favorable turn for us.
Well, I guess I'll only know for sure when we finish checking how much stronger he is now.
I was about to approach and ask Ainar if he had noticed any changes when Amelia spoke.
«Yandel».
«...Um?»
I felt a chill run down my spine, and when I turned around, I saw Amelia looking at me with ice-cold eyes. «I want to talk about what just happened».
«Ah...»
The time had finally come. I half thought he was going to let it go completely since he hadn't said anything before, but it seemed like he hadn't had a chance to speak before he dropped the essence.
«Ah! About what happened!» I laughed happily and approached Amelia to congratulate her on her role in the fight. «Thanks to you and Missha we were able to kill that giant. If it hadn't been for the two of you, he would have healed again and the raid would have failed. Good job! Ainar! You should thank them too!»
«G-thank you!»
Even though Ainar and I offered our sincere thanks, Amelia's expression was still stony.
«I see... this is how you want to play this».
Okay, you've already caught on to me. This poses a small problem.
I got to work trying to find a way out of this while his cold eyes became even colder.
«Karlstein, why don't you say anything?»
In an attempt to corner me further, Amelia called for reinforcements. However, the shot backfired.
«...Eh?»
«You have to talk too. If you don't like something, you have to say so. Because if you don't, you will be the one who suffers in the end.»
«Hey? But I don't really care...?»
«...What?» amelia asked, surprised by his indifference. «What do you mean?
His tone suggested that he didn't really understand what Missha was saying. Missha must have noticed too, because she blinked at Amelia before looking at me and quietly admitting: «It's just that... I... In the end I felt like I was being helpful... So it didn't really bother me...».
Everyone could tell that she wasn't just making excuses for me. She was speaking genuinely from the heart.
«Karlstein, you...»
«...Hmm?»
«... No, it doesn't matter.»
Amelia seemed to have a lot of things to say, but she fell silent. Then he looked at me and let out a big sigh. «I'll retire for today. But I'm watching you, Yandel».
It seemed like he had lost momentum after hearing Missha's response.
Alright, so I guess that problem is already solved.
«Ainar, do you notice anything different?»
«Hey... I still don't know! I think I've gotten stronger».
I had the other members of the group patrol the perimeter and began to evaluate the new essence. I first started with his active skills.
«Then lie down on the ground».
As soon as I gave the order, Ainar curled up on his side without complaining. It was the same position the Hipramajent had been placed in during our battle.
«Alright, now try using your skill».
I didn't need to say much more than that.
[Ainar Fenelin has released Curl Up.]
Ainar had absorbed quite a few essences at that moment, so he was able to activate his newly acquired ability without any problems.
Fwoong!
A translucent yellow barrier covered his body.
[For three minutes, all your resistances increase by 20x.]
[For three minutes, your Natural Regeneration increases by 20x.]
[Until the end of combat, all of her stats increase significantly relative to the amount of damage she takes while coiled].
After doing a lot of testing with Coiling, I came to the conclusion that the skill itself was identical to what you get from an Ogre. I was wondering if I had anything different.
The Stamina and Regeneration statistics associated with the essence also seem quite similar.
It also seemed like she didn't receive a stat boost when a human attacked her while she was in Curl Up mode. That part probably only applied to monsters, like in the game.
«Excuse me... Could we be of help?»
Just as I was about to evaluate their individual statistics, the trio of wizards from the Adventurer Group who had been working together the longest approached us.
«Um... When we entered the maze, we brought an essence test kit with us... so even if it's not as accurate as testing in a proper lab, it should be quite useful».
«Oh, well. If you offer it to me, I'll take it.»
That would definitely be more accurate than letting him hit me to test his strength, so I let the trio do it.
Some time later, with the added caveat that it was impossible to know the exact numbers and that there might be some special statistics that the kit didn't collect, they announced that the overall statistics profile was back.
Strength (high), natural regeneration (high), physical endurance (high), mana resistance (medium), bone strength (medium), lung capacity (medium), vision (low), patience (low), mana sensitivity (low) and...
«It also has a weakened status».
A weakened statistic.
«A weakened state? Which? Tell me», I demanded.
With a look at Ainar, the magician said hesitantly: «It's Aggression».
It was a statistic that I did not expect.
«Aggression...»
Now that she thought about it, Ainar was strangely calm. Normally, she would have complained that these tests were boring and would have run out to find some monsters so she could test her new essence in combat herself.
«Just... how much lower is it now?»
I asked for specific figures, but the magician replied that it was impossible to find out with the equipment they had on hand. So I opted for a more rudimentary method instead.
«Ainar! I'm getting bored. Do you want to spar?»
A barbarian never turned down a sparring partner, no matter the situation. Sparring was like playing for us. All you had to do was head to an inn that served barbarians, and you could see a bunch of us fighting from dawn to dusk in the field next door.
So what was happening?
»Spar...? Hmm...» Ainar, the most barbaric barbarian I had ever met did not immediately accept my offer and instead hummed thoughtfully. «...Let's do it later! Later! Shouldn't we finish the tests first?»
...Did he refuse?
I wondered why that giant kept running away...
How much aggressiveness had he lost?
***
Yesterday's adventurer was different from today's adventurer. That saying used to refer to the way an adventurer's personality could change from one moment to the next, and in that respect it was also quite accurate. To get through this maze full of monsters, it was necessary to consume essences, and those essences too often affected the personality of the adventurers who took them.
An example: Ainar.
«Fight? Well, I'll do it if I have to... but do we have to go around looking for fights? I like how calm and peaceful things are right now...»
The barbarian warrior who a few minutes ago considered defeating monsters and proving herself to be her greatest joy in life had become this.
«Battle cry.»
«...Hmm?»
«Shout our battle cry. Right now.»
«Behel... ahh...?»
«Damn.»
I couldn't even laugh. This was serious. Although he was not completely out of combat, Ainar's greatest strength was that recklessness of his.
«Yandel... will it be okay?»
«...It's scary to see Miss Fenelin like this».
My other allies came forward to express their own concerns after hearing that lifeless war cry. It was worrying to see our hand-to-hand warrior, who was always the first to throw herself into the jaws of danger, suddenly lose her fighting spirit. However, there wasn't much we could do about it right now. Also, since the next scent I planned to give him would have a lot of Aggression, that should help.
But it will continue like this until then.
I couldn't help but wonder, not for the first time, how much aggressiveness I had lost. Since she was already aggressive by nature, removing a few dozen stitches shouldn't have left her so docile.
Which means he must have lost at least a hundred points.
If that was the case, it was even more worrying. It was a relief that a non-combat stat like Aggression had taken the hit instead of something like Strength, but it was still a critical hit.
...And I would have ended up like this if I had absorbed it.
In fact, if I had been the one to consume it, the Orc Hero's essence - and his +40 Aggression - would probably have been completely nullified, so the change would have been even more noticeable.
«What about his passive ability? Is there a way to find out?».
I decided to leave the topic of Aggression aside for the moment and investigate his passive.
«As for passive skills, we find it difficult to identify them with what we have at hand right now. However, we can know what type they are».
«Do it».
When I gave them permission, the magicians took out all kinds of testing tools and approached Ainar. About thirty minutes later, they returned with their results.
«It seems that his passive ability is a support type. That's what the readings seem to suggest».
«Isn't it the survival or defense type?»
«It's possible, but the data is a little noisy».
The results completely challenged my expectations. Considering he didn't die even after receiving a hole in his head, I had been sure it would be some kind of survival or defense. Final Stamina, Phoenix Heart, Near Death Experience... I was convinced it would be something similar, but it turned out it wasn't at all.
So what is it?
Since we didn't know, I did a test I could do right there.
«Ainar, this is going to sting you a little.»
«I don't like being hurt...»
«That's because you're not right in the head now».
«Oh yeah?»
I made a shallow cut on his finger but didn't get anything out of it. After that, I also got him to spar with me, but that didn't tell me anything either.
«...We will finish the sparring here.»
«Oh yeah?»
I decided to investigate more about his passivity later, when we didn't have a busy schedule. We had already spent quite a bit of our time trying to figure it out now.
«Alright, let's go.»
With that, our expedition resumed.
***
We could only stay on this island for about three days, so we explored it as completely and efficiently as possible.
Our first priority was to complete our map of the island. In the process, naturally, we encounter all kinds of monsters, including Hipramajent. I was pretty sure we'd run into them eight other times at that point.
We skipped three of those matches because they moved in pairs and, on two occasions, we ended up accidentally letting them escape, so they also ended in failure. In the end, we had achieved three raids. However, we couldn't even get mana stones for any of them because the distortion spells had failed every time.
Distortion not only has to work - it sometimes doesn't work - but you also have to wait for the odds to be on your side and for the essence to fall...
I hadn't thought about it before, but now I was realizing how lucky we had been to get an essence on our first try. For monsters that left corpses, the probability of getting an essence seemed astronomically low.
I suppose that Beginner's Luck favors us when it comes to getting essences, which helps. But if we can't get a Distortion successfully, it won't activate in the first place.
In any case, after fighting a few more Hipramajents, I learned a little more about them.
The boss's book said that they are estimated to be rank two...
But from my point of view, they weren't rank two at all. Furthermore, the size of his mana stone was only as large as that of the strongest rank three monsters.
Still, I guess Curl Up made us need to deal a lot more damage to him...
But their attack was quite low compared to their defenses. We also had to take that into account when determining his rank.
So... Yes we also take into account that it usually lives in groups, I suppose it has a range of 2.7.
Hmm, that sounded right. He didn't have any rank 2 abilities, so it would be strange to classify him as a rank 2 per se.
For a moment, I felt like I was beginning to doubt the credibility of the information that appeared in the boss's books, but I came to the conclusion that this monster was probably a special case. Still, if I hadn't specified in the book that I had only heard of the monster through a second-hand account...
«Finally... finally we left that island».
I was in the middle of gathering my thoughts, watching the island recede into the distance, when Wyatt Hektz approached me.
«You seem pretty relieved», I observed. «Even though we haven't found a way out of here yet».
«Still... this is much better than being trapped in that cave. So I had no idea what was going to happen to me».
I wanted to point out that that hadn't really changed, but I decided to keep my mouth shut. There were varying degrees of horror, and he was technically better off now than-.
At that moment, a huge gust of wind coming from the island hit the side of our boat and we all stumbled.
What happened?
Just as he was about to call Erwen at the top to ask her what was going on, Wyatt Hektz pointed towards the sea. «There...!»
There? Where?
When I turned to look in the direction I was pointing, I froze. No, it wasn't just me: all the adventurers on the deck had remained motionless.
There, right in the center of the island we had left behind, something rose to its full imposing height and stared at us.
Then he let out a creepy roar.
Uraaaaaah!
Luckily, we were far enough away from him that it didn't look like he was coming for us. I was just roaring.
«Wh-what is that...?»
«It seems your dead friend wasn't hallucinating», I said quietly to a stunned Wyatt Hektz.
Indeed, it was a huge giant more than forty meters high. Not even the Ground Lords were that big. He couldn't even imagine what kind of strategy would be used to take down one of them.
Fwoosh!
We increase speed and flee from both the monster and its island. However, something lingered in the back of my mind.
Why can't I get the idea out of my head that if we want to get out of this place, we're going to have to kill that guy?
And if that were the case, how would we kill a giant?