Beyond M-Eclipse: Easy Mode LIVE

———Lerim———

“Okay. How did we even get here so fast?” Evari said while scratching her head. “This is one of those monster habitats, right? I thought the closest one is quite far from here.”

“It is, it’s actually a bit closer to the other guild branch, so we might run into some unfamiliar faces today.” I said while looking around to see if there are any monsters nearby. Some ought to notice our arrival.

“...So why are we even here? I thought this kind of place isn’t all that valuable?” She said with her arms crossed.

“Yeah. Compared to a dungeon, it doesn’t give any rewards. At least we don’t have to go down many sets of stairs in order to find something good.” I said before drawing my sword. “You did say you want to improve your fighting abilities a bit, right? I’d say this is a pretty good place to train if you aren’t afraid of making a monster stampede.”

“A what?” She asked in confusion.

“You know, aggroing a bunch of monsters at once which just led to more monsters joining the fray? It’s surprisingly easy to cause if you aren’t careful.” It’s a slippery slope, but thankfully I am strong enough to get rid of them all in a short timespan. If such a stampede were to get out it’d be a massive disaster.

“Well that’s terrifying…” She said while rubbing the back of her head.

“It shouldn’t happen if you aren’t toying with your food or being too weak for the place.” I said while looking in a specific direction.

*Leap* *Slash* *Thud*

I cut down the monster that tried to ambush us. A pretty simple wolf-like creature.

“W-When did that thing get here?” Evari said, looking quite spooked out.

“For a bit. Monsters have a pretty good sense of where humans are, so some of them are honing in on our location as we speak. Compared to dungeon monsters, these things are a lot more aggressive.” That’s the main thing to keep in mind. Those monsters in the dungeons are much more passive in comparison, some even let you just walk past them as long as you know what you’re doing. “You need to be very aware of your surroundings. Having keen senses, ability to sense energy, all that.”

“We only just landed here and it already felt like a lot happened.” She said while looking around, probably getting a bit paranoid after what I said. “I know I asked for this, and you even took your time to bring me here, but…”

“Just stick around. It’s not as if I’m going to let anything get close to you.” I said while looking at the sea of trees around us. It’s hard to see where the monsters are with so much greenery blocking our view. “I thought you wanted to get some action that doesn’t involve a dungeon.”

“I did say that…” She said, looking like she is contemplating something. “Alright, guess we should look around, since we’re already here.”

“Great. Follow my lead then, this place is way too cramped and fighting monsters in here is a bit of a pain. There should be an opening not too far from here.” I said while leading the way. The other monsters are still quite far from us, trying to pinpoint our exact location.

“With how fast we managed to get here with that light carpet of yours, do you come here often?” She asked while we kept moving.

“Not really. Like I said, there aren’t any rewards that appear out of thin air when you kill monsters or whatever. It’s more practical to go to a dungeon if you want something worth your time… Unfortunately, I still have to come here from time to time.” It’s kind of a mess. These locations are causing a lot of mayhem in other places.

“What? Why?” She asked while we kept moving. We need to put that conversation on pause for a bit, since they found us.

**Leap** *Slash* *Crash* *Smash*

Two monsters were quickly dispatched by me before Evari could even raise her spear.

“Yeesh. It’d be nice to get some hits in.” She remarked for a bit of levity. “Did you have to cut down the trees too?”

“They were in the way anyway, and these things grew back quickly, so it’s not like I’ll end up causing deforestation.” I said before moving on. With the big sword I’m using there’s no way I won’t end up cutting down some trees while fending off monsters. “I care more about living than a tree or two.”

“So that was all just by accident?” She said, sounding a bit baffled. I don’t see what’s exactly weird about what I said?

“Of course it was. Why would I be doing it for show?” Hitting those by mistake does cost me my sword’s durability, no way I’m just doing it to look cool. I mostly work solo anyway, so I never really care about looking cool or whatever. I think my looks alone already clear that benchmark. I don’t need to do anything else deliberately to look extra good. “Anyway, there’s a clearing up ahead. Hopefully a hill or mountain to climb up and get a better look at the place.”

“Can’t you just… fly?” She asked for whatever reason.

“That’s unnecessary and a waste of energy. Just so you know, I’m only doing this as charity. Not to mention, this is meant for your improvement as well. You didn’t even get to fight a single monster and you’re trying to slack off now?” I said as we finally got out of the dense forest. Right here is a more open field and we can see the rest of the landscape a little bit better, but it’d be better if we could find a high ground.

“I… You are a lot more talkative than usual.” She said, probably a bit annoyed at how verbose I have been. “Heck, I think you have been more talkative than you have been in years, it feels like.”

“I think that’s more so because I haven’t been hanging around people a lot in general.” Aside from when I do my work, I didn’t socialize that much outside of maybe that online friend group. “Also, let’s put my history aside for now. We got company.”

Multiple monsters showed up and surrounded us. In the much more open area it’s much easier for them to locate us.

“Let’s see how you do.” I said with both of us having our weapons raised and waiting for the monsters to make a move.

*Dash* *Slash* *Leap* *Stab*

These monsters are on the weaker side of things, so she was about to beat them no problem. I had to step in as well since they won’t just ignore the other target even if they are vastly stronger.

*Stab* *Slam* *Skewer*

Most of them did go after her since I am the stronger one. The moment they realized that they quickly honed in on Evari.

“Damn. That’s a bit too much at once.” She said despite dealing with them just fine.

“You should be glad that you’re not fighting on one of those giant monsters.” I said, wondering if she’ll complain about that as well.

“The what?” She asked, sounding a bit scared.

*Rumble*

“Ah, speak of the devil.” The weird giant stumpy creature with a very long trunk is here. We must be near a water source since these things like to hang around one.

“W-What the heck!?” She screamed out, almost completely losing her composure.

“Relax, it’s passive compared to most surface-level monsters. Just don’t get near it and we’ll be fine.” I calmly explained. “Let’s scale up that hill and talk a bit more. We were in the middle of a talking point before this, weren’t we?”

“R-Right.” She said before following me and quickly scaling up on a nearby hill.

When we got up to the top, we could see the landscape a bit better. Seeing more of those giant monsters, and some monsters running in the field. This habitat is mostly just trees and lots of greenery. There is a lot of elevation with all the hills and mountains at different heights.

“So what were we talking about before, exactly?” She asked while looking at the scenery. It definitely looks like those nature reserves or whatever they’re called. It’s actually quite a nice view, but I’ve been here a few times already so it doesn’t really feel special… Oh right, the talk.

“Now then, let’s continue where we left off.” I said before turning around to face her. “As I said, I was here a few times. You might ask, why do I come here if there aren’t any obvious rewards… You see…”

———Jeff———

“Another monster outbreak? You’d think they’d got that locked down by now.” I said while looking at the article. There aren’t any reported casualties yet, but I can’t imagine that being zero…

“Unfortunately, they simply don’t have all the manpower in the world for it.” Orrel said before continuing to eat his cheesesteak.

“You’d think most of the military being used to keep those areas contained, you’d think it wouldn’t happen more than once or twice.” Qyunda said while leaning back.

“Well they might not be that well-versed in magic, which would explain why they’re sucking so bad.” Gregori mockingly said. “Remember that broadcast that was quickly shut down? You’d think after that they would’ve reassessed and let people train in magic or something, but clearly, that’s not the case.”

“Wouldn’t that… incident show that they were trying to?” Nicks said. Which one is he talking about? “You know, a bunch of people got stranded at that one building not too far from the White House?”

“Ah. That.” I muttered, still wondering what that was all about. We all know who did it now, but that only left more questions than answers. Those guys didn’t really give us much testimony to work with.

“Admittedly, it was clear that they riled her up somehow, and there is no doubt in my mind that she sabotaged them even more afterward as extra retribution.” Gregori said, not showing any sympathy to those guys. “No one well-versed in magic is gonna want to work with them, or anyone else not already employed by them, for that matter. I think many know to steer clear from them as to not invoke her wrath.”

“...So is there anywhere where they do a good job managing these Fantarban places?” I asked, since it felt like there are way too many monster outbreaks for my liking? Our town isn’t near any of those so we don’t have to worry about it, but the others definitely have to.

“...How the heck should I know? We only ever got reports from the places that suck at their job.” Gregori replied with a shrug.

———Lerim———

“And so, I need to come here to cull the numbers of monsters every now and then. Those things spawned more and more each day, otherwise the nearby town would’ve been run over and possibly destroyed.” I said while she looked at me in disbelief. “Sometimes the other adventurers from the closest down do come to help, but it has mostly been me.”

“...That’s some heavy stuff. So much happened in less than two weeks.” She remarked. It does feel kinda weird to think that these places have only been around for so little time in the grand scheme of things.

“Yeah. It all makes so little sense, but let’s not dwell on this right now…” I said while looking in a certain direction.

*Leap* *Slash*

I jumped towards the bird monster flying down towards us and cutting it open, killing it instantly.

“Okay, let’s get back on track, unless you want me to yap on about a few more things.” I said once I landed back down next to her.

“...I’m good. Probably better for us to do that back at the town.” She said before taking a long sigh. That is for the best, a place filled with aggressive monsters is far from the best for making a long conversation.