LET’S CONTINUE EXPLORING ⑤

“You couldn’t move your body?”
“Yeah. I couldn’t move after I looked at the blackwolf’s eyes.”
After recovering Reno, we had temporarily retreated to the safe-area.
She seemed to be so scared that by the time I arrived, she was already sweating profusely and wasn’t in a state where she could continue exploring.
She had considerably calmed down after a while, and returned to the same Reno as always.
In fact, she was so calm that it was almost disappointing.
Then when I talked to Reno, she told me she became unable to move her body, after she spotted the blackwolf.
“Could it be, beast-sorcery?”
“Beast-sorcery?”
“I’ve heard that snake monsters in a nearby country can use sorcery to stop their opponent’s movement. Isn’t that similar to what the blackwolf did?”
“I see.”
Humans can use magic.
Magic is quite systematized and made in a way so that anyone can use it.
Of course, since it’s designed for humans, neither animals nor monsters could use it.
However, monsters are capable of using sorcery which predates magic.
The blackwolf must’ve used that.
Truthfully, I knew it had the fire-attribute which is why I was only worried about fire magic.
I haven’t told Reno and the others, but the armor which I’ve given them has fire protection.
However, it had other tricks up its sleeves.
That’s quite troublesome.
“If it was something like [Coercion] from magic, then she must’ve entered a state of [Alarm].”

There were spells like [Coercion] in magic, which could be used to stop the enemy’s movement.
It’s a spell that disturbs the enemy’s flow of magic power and makes them unable to move.
It’s symptoms are similar to what happen when you enter a panic state, which must be why it’s called [Alarm].
considering Reno’s symptoms from earlier, that must be it.
If it existed in magic, it’s unsurprising that it would also exist in sorcery.
Since magic was created using sorcery as basis, in the first place.
However, I was yet to meet a monster that could use sorcery.
Even the magic tools possessed by anti-demon aristocrats didn’t have anything that could prevent such status ailments, so I thought they didn’t exist.
No; magic that weakened the enemy in the first place, didn’t work on an enemy that was stronger than you in the first place.
Sorcery should be the same.
Anti-demon aristocrats usually fought alone, so they preferred to fight monsters that were a level lower than their own.
That’s why, they must’ve encountered some but never realized it.
“Although, if that’s the case, exploration gets much more complicated.”
The fact that Reno’s movement had been stopped means that it is highly likely that Aria and the others, who are of a similar level, will also become unable to move.
In that case, they won’t be able to fight together as a party.
The plan was to fight blackwolves on the premise of fighting as a party, but it might have been too early to challenge those.
Should we go back to the previous area?
That won’t make for much training though.
When an anti-demon aristocrat was training alone, he would be recommended to enter a new area and stay still until he was able to defeat all the monsters there.
However, that would completely stall our exploration.
Or, should I search for the enemies?
I wonder if it’s safest for me to search for enemies, just so they don’t encounter a blackwolf~.
I’m curious about Reno’s search ability though.
I feel like if you raised your magic by putting it in practice, the part of your status that isn’t displayed goes up too.
In that sense, Reno’s scout abilities should already be higher than mine.
I wouldn’t lose if I strengthened myself with magic, but Reno has already surpassed me in places where I couldn’t do so.
I believe she was that talented to begin with.
If I started searching for enemies instead, then that part of her will not grow.
But with this method, we can also search for materials while training.
I’m caught between a rock and a hard place.
I’m sure there will be opportunities to improve her search ability in the future though.
“Sorry. I misjudged this place. Let’s explore in the last area we were in. I’ll search for enemies this time.”
“Eh!? I can do it though! I’ll just run if it comes near! I even found it before it found me!”
It’s true that blackwolves won’t use their spell if they aren’t aware of Reno.
Even now, only after Reno located one and started running, did it discover her and use its sorcery.
I’m sure there would have been no problem, had she made it safely to where we were before she was found out.
“…No. The risk is too high in case you fail. It’s better if you stopped.”

Reno could have died after being found out by that blackwolf.
I won’t always be there to save her either.
If there’s even a 1-in-10,000 chance of her dying, then I wanted to avoid it.
“…Fine.”
Reno replies sulkily.
I could feel her voice oozing with frustration.
I’m sure she must be thinking that her mistake caused trouble to everyone.
“It’s not your fault Reno.”
I gently pat her head.
All I could do was comfort her right now.
“…Hey, Lain. Isn’t it possible to make an item that could block that spell?”
While I was talking to Reno, Kili comes up with that out of nowhere.