A Frontline Soldier Awakened as a Gamer In The War!

Chapter 118:

Kwaaaaak!

About a minute into his walk, the ferocious scream of a monster pierced through the dense foliage, reaching Kaiyan’s ears.

The sensation was slightly different from the monsters of the Eunasia continent – equally savage, but subtly distinct.

‘Could it be another alligator monster?’

So far, that was the only type of monster he had encountered since arriving here.

Half expecting, half tense with anticipation for growth, Kaiyan pushed through the underbrush. Soon, alligator monsters burst through the trees, charging towards him.

“As I thought. But isn’t it strange to see large monsters moving in groups like this, Rieka?”

[It seems so! The alligator monsters might have a group mentality!]

Group mentality, one of the key reasons humans could possess half of the Eunasia continent.

While some monsters had this trait, those were mostly weak, small-sized creatures. Even medium-sized ones rarely moved in groups larger than ten. But here, over a hundred large alligator monsters were swarming together – an anomaly compared to the Eunasia continent.

“I might gain experience points, but this feels off. Especially since they attacked the moment I arrived here.”

The fact that the lower-tier Spirits couldn’t defeat even one alligator monster suggested that these creatures hadn’t invaded this place before. Or the Spirits had some way to protect themselves.

“But why would they attack en masse just as I arrived?”

“Ha… Rieka, we can’t communicate with monsters, right?”

[I don’t know why, either! Maybe they don’t have a language?]

“Could be. Well, let’s get started then.”

Thud-thud!

Kaiyan clenched his fists, feeling a pleasant vibration and his muscles tensing up with power. His entire body surged with strength.

“I’ll avoid using Blaze Armor since we’re in the forest. Aura activation, thought acceleration, physical enhancement… Ah!”

As he activated his skills to maximize his combat readiness, he suddenly remembered something he had forgotten to check.

“Right, I haven’t checked the reward for reaching 1000 strength yet.”

[Oh! You should check the title and skills! I forgot about them too!]

Overlooking such important rewards and titles made him think he really needed to improve his intelligence. As he sighed, looking at the approaching alligator monsters, he made a decision.

“Haah… When I level up, I’m definitely raising my intelligence.”

[Good idea! It might even allow you to learn magic later!]

“Kwaaaaak!”

The leading monster, with its jaws as its primary weapon, opened its mouth wide as it charged towards Kaiyan.

Inside the jaws, dozens of sharp teeth glinted menacingly – enough to finish off even a decent knight. But only a decent knight.

“Kwaaaak!”

“Hup! Haap!”

Ducking low to evade the attack, Kaiyan exhaled and swiftly punched towards the monster’s lower jaw.

Crack!

“Kwaak!”

The satisfying sound of breaking bones and the monster’s agonized cry.

Seizing the moment, Kaiyan lunged forward, extending his hand. It was time to use his favorite skill, Penetrating Stab, which he usually performed with a sword.

“Penetrating Stab!”

Whoosh!

He had always used it with a sword and it was a skill acquired from swordplay. Yet, to his surprise, it worked even without a weapon.

“Wow… that’s insane.”

“Krrr…”

The monster, apparently having its heart pierced, dropped its tongue and bowed its head, succumbing to the fatal blow.

Although the power was less than when using a sword, it was far more effective than just swinging a fist. As Kaiyan withdrew his hand from the chest of the fallen creature, it collapsed to the ground, and another monster, startled by its comrade’s demise, charged forward with a fierce roar.

“Kuaaak!”

Its attack was similar to the previous one, a snout strike.

From Kaiyan’s perspective, these creatures were easier to handle than medium-sized monsters. All he had to do was watch out for their snouts.

Kwaak!

He stepped back with one foot and ducked, avoiding the creature’s snapping jaws that aimed where his face had been moments ago. In the monster’s defenseless state, he lunged forward, targeting the space between its jaw and neck.

“Penetrating Stab!”

Whoosh!

“Kuek…!”

The tough skin of the alligator monster, which had seemed so durable to his punches, easily yielded to the skill attack. He was bringing down one creature with each strike.

Leaving the impaled monster behind, Kaiyan faced the onslaught of the approaching creatures.

“Let’s make good use of this opportunity to practice my skills!”

Despite their threatening size, the monsters didn’t seem to know how to fight effectively. They were numerous but not particularly menacing. In Eunasia, such creatures would have been easy prey for other large monsters.

As he thought of this, Kaiyan let loose, wildly swinging and stabbing his hands, practically massacring the alligator monsters.

Phwahak!

“Kaaaak!”

“Huup!”

After killing what felt like a significant number, the area was drenched in dark green blood. The number of alligator monsters had considerably decreased, with less than fifty now visible.

“Krrr…”

“Hu… Refreshing.”

He shook the blood off his hands and pushed back his disheveled hair, looking at the remaining monsters. They seemed hesitant to attack recklessly after witnessing the slaughter of their kin. They kept their distance, roaring menacingly but not advancing.

“Maybe I should try out a new skill.”

[Are you going to use the skill from the achievement reward? Isn’t it risky to check new skills now?]

“No, not that one. I still have two skills left from that encounter – Steady Step and a Random Skill.”

[Ah, that’s a good idea! But has it been 24 hours yet? The cooldown is 24 hours, right?]

“Let’s try and see.”

Even though the item-tied skill was unpredictable, Kaiyan felt the need to test Stout Stride and the Random Skill. Especially the Random Skill, which he hadn’t properly used due to the circumstances.

“Random Skill, activate!”

Ding! [Ice Spear (D): Summons a single ice spear upon activation, which can be thrown up to 10 meters] [One-time use]

The skill was activated successfully. That meant it had been over 24 hours since he arrived from Eunasia.

[It’s a second-circle magic. Not bad, but it’s not particularly helpful for someone of your caliber, Kaiyan.]

“I’ve experienced an ice spear before; it wasn’t particularly strong.”

Kaiyan recalled the battle at Markain, where a mage had thrown an ice spear at him. He had been using an enhanced Blaze Armor at the time, rendering the attack ineffective.

“How do I use it? Ice Spear, right.”

Extending his hand and uttering “Ice Spear,” a small, about one-meter-long ice spear materialized in front of him. Interestingly, it floated in mid-air, a true testament to magic’s nature.

As Kaiyan pondered how to use the summoned ice spear.

“Kuaaak?”

“Krrr!”

Startled by the sudden appearance of the ice spear, the alligator monsters hesitated and began to retreat. Confused, Kaiyan looked at Rieka, holding the ice spear.

“Uh, how do I launch this? It’s going to exceed 10 meters at this rate!”

[Just use your will to throw it! Think about it flying!]

“Use my will? Fly, fly…”

[…You can just think it in your mind.]

Receiving a look of mild exasperation from Rieka, Kaiyan focused his thoughts, and the ice spear in his hand began to move, albeit slowly, toward its target.

From his perspective, it was so slow it was almost yawn-inducing.

“Kuaaak?”

Boom!

The confused monster swatted at the spear with its arm, easily shattering it.

The ice spear’s damage to the monster was minimal, at best chilling its arm.

“…I guess using magic was an experience in itself. It won’t be much help in the upcoming fight.”

[Oh!! Kaiyan! This is amazing! The random skill is a jackpot!]

As Kaiyan felt disappointed with the ice spear’s power, Rieka suddenly exclaimed with excitement. Just as he was about to ask why.

“What’s that… Eek!”

Vroom!

Emboldened by the ineffectiveness of the ice spear, the alligator monsters regained their confidence and surged forward again.

“…A provocation tool, it seems.”

[Kaiyan! It’s a jackpot, I tell you!]

“Yeah, I think it’s good for provocation too…”

[No, not that! You used magic but didn’t consume any mana! You used a skill, not a scroll!]josei

“What?”

Realizing Rieka’s point, Kaiyan noted that indeed no mana was consumed when he used the Ice Spear.

Skills usually require mana or aura to activate, except for physical action skills like Penetrating Stab. But magic is a different story.

“Kuaaak!”

“…Let’s deal with them first!”

Kaiyan stretched out his hand towards the charging alligator monsters, pondering why no mana was used.

He knew he could use magic because of the skill ‘The Essence of Mana’ he acquired from buying advanced Aura methods. But that was supposed to allow the use of aura instead of mana, not to enable skill use without any energy consumption.

Whoosh!

‘Could it be… Random skills are activated like scrolls, without needing any energy?’

As he came to this realization, he understood why Rieka was excited.

What if he drew a high-tier or even an S-tier magic skill from Random Skill? Normally, even with aura, he wouldn’t be able to use high-tier magic due to the immense mana requirement.

‘But if random skills don’t require energy…!’

“Kuaaak!”

“Let’s finish this quickly! Haap!”

Phwahak!

Dodging and slashing through the monsters like a sword, Kaiyan’s strikes caused the creatures’ skins to split, spraying blood.

“Huu… Only about 20 left, Rieka. So, I could use high-circle magic even if I don’t have enough mana?”

[Based on the Ice Spear, yes! If it really didn’t consume energy, then not only high-circle but even higher-tier skills would be possible!]

Not just high-circle magic but beyond.

“…I should probably go and thank him properly. Who is he, really?”

It was just a spin of the roulette wheel in a near-death moment, and yet such fortune befell him.

Reflecting on it, the situation was strange. The entity knew about the player system and even intervened to grant him skills and items.

‘Impossible. But then… could it be…?’

A hypothesis flashed through his mind.

If the one who gifted him these treasures was a deity, then perhaps all of this was possible.

I'm currently Translating the following novels: Pick Me Up! | A Frontline Soldier Awakened as a Gamer In The War! | The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player. If you want to support me and read more chapters please subscribe to my Patreon!