Hellmode ~A Hardcore Gamer Becomes Peerless in Another World with Retro Game Settings~

Chapter 77: Summon Squad

“Well, it’s been another fun hunt.”

Today is a hunting day; it’s after 4:00 p.m., so we’re about to hunt for the last magical beast for meat and head back.

In front of me, there is the corpse of an Armored Ant. It was an Armored Ant whose head had been chewed off by D-rank Bear.

During my last hunt, I found out how strong D-rank summons are. Since I found out that I could hunt Armored Ants stably, I decided to increase the number of Armored Ants in my hunting quota, which had previously been exclusively Orcs.

When I searched the area with the help of Eagle and [Eagle’s Eyes] via <Sharing>, I found that there were a lot more Armored Ants than Orcs in the area. I wonder if it is because ants are more fertile than pigs.

I feel like <Sharing> is a pretty good skill to have, because it gives me direct information about the search.

Now that I’ve gotten permission from the Butler, let’s take it home.

I turn over the armor of Armored Ant with their heads crushed. I use the Mithril sword to quickly separate the torso from the armor. I also retrieve its magic stone from the chest.

Basically, for the past two years or so, I have prioritized hunting and have not brought home any materials. That’s because even if I brought back the materials, it would take me two or three hours just to go to the store and buy or sell them. It was quite a distance from the mansion to the store. I wanted more experience than money.

However, now that my <Summon> is level 5, I am able to defeat the Armored Ants more consistently.

I came up with the idea of using the armor of the Armored Ants as a basket when I hunt the magical beasts for meat and return. So I have started to aim for the head to avoid breaking the armor of Armored Ants.

Apparently this armor sells for one Gold coin, which is a very good price per piece. I figured I’d take one with me on my way back from hunting.

So I talked to the Butler. He asked me if I would be willing to sell the Armored Ants’ armor to the armor shop since I bring it back with me every time I hunt. I could ask the Baron family to buy it, but there was no reason for the Baron to buy it.

The Butler told me it was no problem. I made one more request. I asked if I could ask one of the servants to go to the armor shop to sell the armor, on the condition that he/she would get one armor for every ten armor she carried. The Butler agreed, saying that he/she would probably be happy to do it.

(Okay, disassembling is complete. Let’s get started.)

My hunt doesn’t end here.

I have 30 D-rank Fish in my Holder, and about 1600 [Intelligence]. Since I can use <Sharing> on one summon per 200 [Intelligence], I can use <Sharing> with eight summons simultaneously.

Also, I finished verifying some things about D-rank summons that I hadn’t been able to verify back then.

D-rank Bird Hollow’s special skill [Night Vision], was a searching skill that worked at night, as expected. However, it doesn’t tell you what lies beyond the obstacle.

The effect duration of D-rank Fish’s special skill [Splash] was 24 hours.

I’ve made some progress in verifying D-rank summons, so today I’m going to experiment to see if I can continue hunting while giving instructions via <Sharing> to them.

(I’d make two squads if I could, but that would mean four summons per squad. I can’t do that. I will have to make one squad with eight summons.)

I decided the following composition for my squad.

The first important thing to do when hunting with only summons is to not get hit. If one dies, I won’t be around to summon another one. This will reduce the squad’s strength. Therefore, debuffs and buffs from D-rank Insect and D-rank Fish are essential.

I will use E-rank Eagle during the day and D-rank Hollow during night to search for enemies.

Naturally, it is D-rank Bear’s job to defeat the magical beasts. It is also the job of Bears to protect Spyder and Harami.

I believe that the lineup is more than enough to hunt C-rank magical beasts.

(Well, take care of the rest. Don’t attack the other adventurers.)

And the most important thing for this Summon Squad is not how many magical beasts they can kill, but that they don’t attack other adventurers. I’m sure they’ll follow the instructions I give them, but I also need to make sure that they don’t fight back if the adventurers attack them.

I’ve told Eagle and Hollow to stay away from the other adventurers. The reason why I need to remind them is because I am going to sleep. Even while I am asleep, <Sharing> won’t stop.

I am still in the process of verifying this, but I predict the effect of <Sharing> will last for 30 days, because it is the same amount of time it takes a summon to despawn.

When I fall asleep while using <Sharing>, it reminds me of falling asleep while playing a game in my previous life. I can usually hear noises too.

While I am asleep, the squad would have to act on its own judgment. So I had to include a few precautions.

As I was returning to the city, I was using <Sharing> to direct all eight summons.

The instructions were not given one at a time, but simultaneously to all eight, while keeping an eye on them and understanding their physiques and specialties. This is a feat of 1600 [Intelligence].

Eagle will be searching for the enemies. Hollow will do the same after it gets a little darker.

(I need to find magical beasts first. The less, the better at first.)

Eagle was using [Eagle Eye] to look around. If the enemy is behind an obstacle then both me and Eagle can’t see them.

There are two Orcs three kilometers away.

(Oh, just right.)

Now, Eagle doesn’t bother to come back to the remaining seven summons; the seven summons go to the magical beast that Eagle has found.

<Sharing> has greatly increased the speed of information transfer. It became possible to share visuals and special skills, and there was no need to come back to me for every enemy location. Time loss has been greatly reduced.

Seven summons were heading for the two Orcs that Eagle found.

There were trees in this area, but the trees weren’t dense, so of course the Orcs found us, and since there were seven of us, they noticed us and got alert.

Against an oncoming Orc, Spyder fired [Spider Thread] to stop it from moving. This spider silk was quite sticky and slowed the Orc’s movement.

The Bears caught up to the slow-moving Orc, and four Bears used [Crunch] to take out the two Orcs without a second thought.

“You have killed 1 Orc. You have acquired 1500 experience points.”

“You have killed 1 Orc. You have acquired 1500 experience points.”

(They are slow, but I can live with that.)

I am much faster than my D-rank summons. Although I am a little dissatisfied with this movement speed, I will have to be patient and continue hunting.

(Also, I need to give the summons some experience.)

Summons accumulate experience. Even if they are defeated, newly summoned summons will inherit the past summons memories and experiences from before they were defeated.

My goal is also to have this Summon Squad learn how to hunt.

The next morning after I sent out the Summon Squad

After waking up, I immediately checked my Grimoire to check the increase in experience, and found that there was no increase in experience at all. It seems that they did defeat other magical beasts during the night, but while I was asleep, I did not receive any experience. I can’t obtain experience while being ‘offline’. Only the summons accumulated battle experience. I will have to further examine the conditions for obtaining experience.

Then a few days later.

I tried something else with <Sharing>.

Kurena Village

Allen returned to Kurena Village as Parrot, G-rank Bird.

A distance that takes five days on foot was travelled in a few hours by the Parrot.

“My name is Kurena, the Knight! Here I come!”

“Come!”

Kurena and Dogora, who had grown up after almost two years, were having a match. It was no longer a game of knights. It seems that Dogora’s father, a weapon shop owner, has made them an iron sword and an axe. The sound of the weapons clashing had become much more intense.

While they were fighting, Mash and Peromus were playing Knight as well. They were using wooden swords though.

It’s been a while since I’ve been back to Kurena Village, so I stopped at a nearby tree to take a look.

After checking everyone’s progress to some extent, I headed for my own house from the front yard of Kurena’s house.

Theresia was standing in the garden.

(Mother. Muras has grown up a lot, hasn’t he?)

Theresia didn’t notice the Parrot looking at her. Allen’s chest heated up, after seeing his mother after a long time. It hasn’t been two years yet, but it feels like it’s been ten years.

Clang

“What?”

Theresia turned around, noticing the sound.

The G-rank Parrot was no longer there.

A single Gold coin glittered in the garden.