7 : First Battle – 2

“It was there as expected”
I immediately head towards the pile of debris after leaving the safety area.
Then, through CNP’s mechanics, I was able to pick up the various objects stacked up on the heap of rubble.

“This one looks pretty good”
A moderately long piece of rebar with a lump of concrete stuck to the end of it. I picked up the mace-like object and aimed the『Appraisal Loupe』at it.


△△△△△
Rebar with Attached Concrete
Level : 1
Durability : 100/100
Interference : 100
Corrosion : 100/100
Abnormalities : 1

An object in which rebar has been affixed with a mass of concrete.
▽▽▽▽▽


“Now then, time for revenge.”
There wasn’t anything particularly off about the appraisal result.
I swung twice, thrice just to see, but there were no problems besides the recoil causing my body to oddly turn a bit.
As we all know, the reason the recoil was making me rotate my body in weird directions was of course, because of my levitation.
Not being able to stand firmly was truly a bothersome concern.

“Suu-…. Hah-….”
By the way, in CNP there was no inventory like you would often see in fantasy.
Perhaps there was a curse that allowed you to use one…… But currently. there was nothing I could do about it.

“Alright.”
I imagined how the fight would go in my head.
Then, after adequately visualizing it, I wielded the concrete-attached rebar in one hand and went to the office where earlier, I was crunched to death by the rat.

“……”
“JyuuJyua”
I entered the office where the rat who bit me to death was now gnawing on a chair.
The rat sensed my presence and just like before, turned towards me with eyes that recognized me as prey.

“Appraise”
I quickly appraised before the rat started to move.


△△△△△
Poisonous Bite Rat – Level 5
HP : 1522/1522
▽▽▽▽▽

“Wasn’t that much higher than my own level!?”
I heard that in the game, player skills and items were much more important so its not much of a problem if the enemy level was higher.
It’s not a problem, but I’m sure this wasn’t an opponent a player that just started the game was supposed to fight.
That said, poisonous bite meant it had poison as well? I hate it-!?


“Jyuaaaa!”
“-Tto!”
As my excitement started to become a little strange, the rat’s pounce came at me and I followed with a big leap.
Then, thanks to the work of my levitation and the 6 insect wings that moved with compose, my body was propelled almost 2 meters off of the ground, arriving at a height in which the Poisonous Bite Rat would never be able to reach.

“Jyuaa!?”
At that point, the Poisonous Bite Rat could not break its acceleration. Having said that, I was also not able to launch an attack. The rat then aimed to bite me while I was dropping down, making a sudden stop and turning upwards to where I was.

“Hmph!”
“JyuGO-!?”
There, the mass of concrete was swung down.
With that alone, an outlandish cry leaks from the Poisonous Bite Rat’s mouth. The impact causes it to collapse there on the spot.

“Yo-tto.”
However, the Poisonous Bite Rat wasn’t dead, it didn’t even faint.
It just flinched from the pain.
Therefore, I descend towards the ground and mount the back of the Poisonous Bite Rat. I tighten my thighs around to secure myself on top of it.

“Ready-….. Go!”
“Jyu…… GIGA-!?”
And finally, I mercilessly slam the concrete bulk onto the back of the Poisonous Bite Rat’s head.

“Hmph! Sei! My bitterness. From before! Was it even possible, to leave without clearing it!?”
“JyuGO-!? JyuGA-!? GyuGE-!?”
Not just once, twice, or thrice, but repeatedly until the Poisonous Bite Rat’s life comes to a conclusion.
The blunt feeling conveyed through the concrete mass stuck on the rebar wasn’t going to end until the sensation changed from living to lifeless.
The Poisonous Bite Rat thrashed around and I increase my pace, continually beating down on it. I wasn’t going to permit even one counterattack.
I single-mindedly kept on attacking.

“Phew, I somehow managed didn’t I.”
“……”
Before long, the Poisonous Bite Rat succumbs to death. Its movements came to a complete halt.
Yep, revenge successful.

“Hm?”
With the revenge turning out well, I was indulging in my emotions when something unusual happened to the dead Poisonous Bite Rat.

“What is this……”
The Poisonous Bite Rat’s corpse rapidly dries up.
Its slightly dirty pelt withers, disintegrating into dust starting from the tip of its fur.
When the fur disappeared, the skin remained. When the skin disappeared, the flesh remained. When the flesh disappeared, the blood, bones, organs, and other matter faded away. Finally, though there was no wind, the dust that was formerly the Poisonous Bite Rat scattered into the air.
It was a strange scene rather than a cruel one.

“Ah, a front tooth was left behind.”
After the Poisonous Bite Rat’s body faded away, what remained was one front tooth sizing around the length of my face.

“Hmm……”
For the time being, I pick up the Poisonous Bite Rat’s front tooth and stay vigilant of my surroundings.
I make sure there’s no danger nearby and contemplate for a bit.

“I don’t sense anything around.”
Just now, that fading out phenomenon was something which I thought seemed similar to how an item would normally drop in a game.
However, somehow I felt like there was a side to it that I couldn’t ignore.
That being, along with how odd the portrayal of the item drop was, It felt like the time it took was a bit excessive.
The part of me that loves games was whispering to me. There had to be something to it.

“Well, I lack the information though.”
Be that as it may, presently, it was impossible for me to figure out the truth to that “something.”

“For now, let’s appraise.”
I try appraising the Poisonous Bite Rat’s front tooth.


△△△△△
Poisonous Bite Rat’s Front Tooth

Level : 1
Durability : 100/100
Interference : 100
Corrosion : 100/100
Abnormalities : 5

Large front tooth of a Poisonous Bite Rat.
Use the surrounding curse to inject poison into a wound.
Inflicted Damage : Poison (1 x Curse Concentration)
▽▽▽▽▽

“Hee-, poison huh……”
Once again, I glance at the front tooth of the Poisonous Bite Rat.
To a degree, the thickness of the Poisonous Bite Rat’s front tooth was a perfect fit to wield in one hand. The tip of it was sharp, almost seeming like its been chiseled.
And when inflicting damage, it would produce a poison effect.

“It’s a natural poison knife isn’t it?”
It depends on the volume of poison from the effect and how sharp it really was, but overall it’s usability wasn’t bad in the slightest.
So now, in my right hand I held the rebar with attached concrete and in my left, the Poisonous Bite Rat’s front tooth.

“Since it ended up like this, the next thing I’d want is a bag or strap to carry my items. It would be nice if something I could use was in this office somewhere.”
I survey the office.
Occasionally, I notice an entity moving around like a Poisonous Bite Rat would.
If it was one, it seems like their sense of camaraderie was low considering that my fight wasn’t interrupted earlier. Was it just another game mechanic? Well, I’ll just confirm that little by little later.
Next is using the『Appraisal Loupe』
Because there could be things leading to obtaining an item carrier, I check over the desks, bookshelves, and other objects.

“……”
I took a moment to think over and verify if my plan was possible or not.

“Alright, let’s get going. My objective was pouches, two of them.”
I decided it was feasible and while staying alert in case of any more Poisonous Bite Rats, I began my search for the items necessary.


TN: This chapter had a lot of interjections or exclamations which I generally left alone. Examples being “Suu-…. Hah-….” or “Tto!” Standalone exclamations and the like are a bit difficult to translate into English since there’s nothing really similar. I could use “here we go!” or “whoa!” but it’s not really the same feeling. Chapter 6 had something similar which I did forcibly translated into “whoa” but as expected, it still felt a little wrong. Besides somewhat universal interjections such as “Hmm” or “Eh,” I usually prefer to just keep these in Japanese romaji so you can kind of imagine the sound yourself. Though on some occasions I inconsistently switch to English anyways. Let me know if it gets confusing and I’ll try to work something out.

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