I Am the Weakest Cat, but If I Keep Evolving, Can I Become the Strongest? - Episode 37: Harsh World

Episode 37: Harsh World 

▽ Episode 37: Harsh World

I’m breathing from my shoulders. 

I’ve been made quite exhausted. I also used a lot of MP. 

So this is what it means to actively fight in the Rank V zone. 

I did use [Search] to scan the surroundings before starting the battle. 

Even so, if someone had been aiming for a third-party advantage, it would’ve been dangerous. 

I’m hiding inside an earthen mound created with [Earth Magic]. 

It’s a little suffocating. 

But hiding in grass like in other areas is scary. Here, even the plants will bare their fangs without hesitation. 

I want to recover a little more. 

That’s what I wish, but it seems I can’t. 

The flashy battle just now has drawn in enemies. 

I can feel a tremendous surge of magical power. And my instincts make me jump out of the earth. 

Immediately after. 

The mound I had been hiding in disappeared. An explosion-type spell had been fired into it. 

Looking above me, I see an owl gliding. 

It’s a species I call “Explosive Owl”. 

That thing casts massive, explosive-type spells from the air. 

Seriously a bothersome enemy. 

There were times when it stole kills from me by snatching the life of enemies I had almost killed. 

“Nyao ([Thunder Burst]).” 

I fire erratic-trajectory [Lightning Magic] into the air. 

The enemy puts up a flame-type barrier to block it. 

That thing has practically infinite MP. And in general, I can’t win a direct magic fight. 

[Lightning Magic], which has poor accuracy, won’t be enough to kill it—it’ll escape. 

And since it’s flying, all I can do is attack from a distance. 

Now, how should I kill it? 

As I was thinking that, the Explosive Owl died. 

It seems the tree it was flying near was actually a camouflaged Treant. 

The thickly growing leafy zone suddenly turned into a face and devoured the Explosive Owl. 

Nice, I meow in the Treant’s direction. 

The Treant doesn’t move. 

It only preys on monsters that happen to fly into just the right position. 

Also ones that climb trees to rest. 

This place is really something. 

▽ 

I decided to spend time under Mr. Treant’s protection. 

It preys on troublesome airborne enemies. 

I kill the small animal-type enemies that try to nibble on Mr. Treant. 

I’ve succeeded in establishing that kind of symbiotic relationship. 

If there’s one concern, it’s that Mr. Treant occasionally moves using feet disguised as thick tree roots. 

It sometimes crushes enemies and slowly devours them. 

It looks like I’m being seen as a potential target too. So if I let my guard down, I’ll be killed. 

So this is coexistence. 

Leveling up is going better than expected. 

In just these few days, I’ve reached level 33. 

It’s like a lie, considering it took me half a year to raise just a dozen levels. 

Although, I do think that half year was necessary. 

I don’t think there are many enemies left in this Rank V zone that are over level 30. 

The experience point efficiency is visibly worse. 

A level 30+ wild enemy is really hard unless you’re extremely cautious. 

There’s always the risk of being eaten by something. 

From what I’ve seen, the strongest in this area is probably the leader of the Armor Ogres. 

Let’s call that one the Armor Ogre King. 

Within Rank V, it’s categorized as an upper-tier species. It’s not Rank VI. 

It keeps a bunch of Armor Ogres around it. 

I can’t tell the males and females apart. 

I could never become an “Armor Ogre Appraiser”. 

So all I see is a giant buff demon keeping other buff ones around. 

But since they have children, those kinds of activities must be happening. 

I kind of don’t want to imagine that… 

“…Nyao.” 

The newly born child’s Rank is at best Rank IV. 

Maybe it’s a separate species like “Armor Ogre Kids” or something. 

Apparently, they also possess some kind of survival-growth type skill. And if left alone, they’ll evolve into Rank V Armor Ogres. 

I also have [Survival Growth・Slight]. 

But if I tried to level up using only that, in my case, it’d probably take several years. 

Anyway, I don’t really want to fight Armor Ogres. 

I can kill as many as I want, one by one. 

As for the Armor Ogre King, I estimate we’re about even. 

But if they come at me in numbers, I’ll lose. 

Even if I have a Unique Skill and gear, sheer numbers will overcome that strength gap. 

If I really have to fight… it’ll be when I can’t gain levels from other monsters anymore. 

▽ 

That “if I really have to fight” moment came all of a sudden. 

From what I observed, it seems like the Armor Ogre King is about to evolve. 

Its movements are clearly more active. 

It’s been actively finding and killing other monsters. 

And since it acts with its fellow Armor Ogres, the other monsters have no way to resist.-

What should I do? 

If the Armor Ogre King evolves, it might reach Rank VI. 

That, in itself, doesn’t really matter. 

According to what I saw on the map, a Rank VI zone does exist. There should be lots of monsters there. So now, having one more Rank VI doesn’t pose a problem. 

It’s just that the security of this area might fall apart. 

This region runs smoothly with that Armor Ogre King at the center of it all. 

If that thing moves to the Rank VI zone, it’ll be troublesome. 

But even if it stays in the Rank V zone, a different Rank VI might come to hunt lower Ranks. 

It’s a dilemma. 

I decided to poke at it a bit. 

I need to at least stall the Armor Ogre King’s actions, delay its evolution, and have it maintain order until I finish gathering enough experience points. 

That’s what I decided. 

“Nyau.” 

I greeted Mr. Treant. 

Mr. Treant also extended many tentacle-like vines and saw me off. 

Though maybe it was trying to eat me. 

Anyway, I headed toward the Armor Ogres.