Only I Know That This World Will Eventually Perish

After the goblins……

　Akira reviewed the notepad in which he had written himself. This left only one monster that had yet to be analyzed. Only the Minotaur was left.

　Was it a demonstration of the Luck that he possessed, or did the Minotaur appear in small numbers? Akira arrived at the office without seeing a single minotaur, which was his biggest fear during this search.

(I don’t see any monsters…… around. Okay, now’s the time.)

　Akira entered the company through the back door and locked it, then stacked more desks he had collected from all over the company like a barricade, and finally let out a sigh.

(Now they can’t come in anytime soon, can they?)

　In fact, the back door to Akira’s company was a push door from the outside. So, the pile of desks that prevented the door from opening from the inside of the company seemed to be a barricade, holding the door from opening at the same time, therefore it was safe as long as the entire door was not blown off from the outside.

“Alright then.”

　Muttering, Akira headed to a pile of food and beverages, picked up a soda from among them, and quenched his thirst.

“～～～～Ahhー…… Delicious.”

　He could feel the bubbles popping down his throat and the stimulation of the drink waking him up.

　Wiping sweat and dirt from his body with the antiperspirant sheets he had bought earlier, the mentholated sheets blew away any remaining drowsiness.

　Akira then stretched out wide, feeling refreshed, and pulled out a work chair from beside him and sat down. He then picked up his notes on the monsters that he had identified using his Analysis skill and turned his thoughts toward leveling up after the quest.

(The wild boar pig-like monster has a lot of Stamina, Strength, Speed, Endurance, everything across the board is high. This guy is excluded from being a leveling opponent. ……It looks like wolf-type monsters have different individual values depending on the color of their fur. These guys are also excluded because their Strength and Endurance are better than what I have now. So that leaves…………)

“After the goblins, the next monster that I might be able to level up with is either the carnivorous plant named Man-eating Plant or the big bee called Killer Bee.”

　There were differences in the levels indicated by the Analysis, but in terms of status alone, both monsters were about the same.

　Akira thought of each of the monsters.

　Man-eating Plants were monsters that looked exactly like the Nepenthes, an insectivorous plant. They were large enough to fit an adult male completely and were easily recognizable because their ivy grew and tangled around block walls and abandoned cars most of the time.

　It was not able to move by itself, but waited for its prey― human beings― to approach with the ivy stretched lazily on the ground, and as soon as it got within range of its attack, the ivy would immediately entangle the human body and take it away into a cylindrical body like a jar, probably with dissolved fluid inside. I had seen it take people away several times during my search.

　On the other hand, the attack of the Killer Bee monster was quite simple: just like existing bees, it would sting a person with its stingers on its rear end, injecting venom and causing death.

　Apparently, there was a nest of Killer Bees somewhere, and during his search, he witnessed a person who was attacked by a poisonous needle being carried away by Killer Bee.

　Unlike goblins, which were simple melee attackers, they both were more dangerous to deal with.

　Akira compared the goblin’s status with those two animals many times before deciding who to level with next.

(Alright. After I finish my quest, the next opponent I’m going to take on is the Man-eating Plant.)

　Although they were high-level, they were slower than Killer Bees, and moreover, they could not do anything unless you were in the range of their attack. If he thought it was too tight, he could just run away from the place, and he would not be pursued.

　Yes, it was the consequent conclusion.

(I’ll take the stone axe I got from the goblin again, but the knife……Well, I don’t know if I can use it, but I’ll take it just in case. The only other thing I can think of that might be useful is――――A gas burner for ignition……Or rather, will it even be effective?　Well, fine, I’ll take this one, too, just in case.)

　Thinking about taking on Man-eating Plant as well as the goblins, Akira selected the supplies he had bought up that he could use and replaced the contents of his backpack.

　Then, after a quick meal to fill his stomach, he decided to spend an hour or so resting his body and mouthing as many words as he could think of that were common in the game to see if any new screens would pop up.

“……Mail. ……Profession. ……Job. ……Respond. ……Whisper.”

　He also blurted out everything else he could think of, from basic words like gacha, store, save and load, to the words logout and title.

　The only word that drew a response, however, was the word 『quest,』 which had been known to exist for some time, and the screen that appeared with a light sound showed only the sentence, 『The Class E quest: Goblins is currently in progress.』

(Well, I guess it can’t be that easy.)

　Muttering this in his mind, Akira let out a sigh.

　Then, he stretched out to regain his composure.

“Alright. Let’s get going.”

　Akira, bracing himself, went out again into the city full of monsters.