The Devil Does Not Need to Be Defeated

In the end, Shien chose not to turn his head and leave.

For the sake of not camping out in the wilds filled with demonic beasts, Shien chose to bare with the smell.

Or rather, since the scent here is so heavy, it would perfectly cover the Shien's own scent, thus preventing demonic beasts from tracking him down.

After entering the cave, Shien fixed his gaze on the responses he got from [Enemy Detection] so as to be able to instantly react to a situation where a demonic beast might find him.

Only, as he's watching…

"Growl~~~"

Not unexpectedly, Shien's belly started growing like mad, draining every once of Shien's strength.

"Come to think of it, I haven't eaten anything the whole day..."

Back when he was in the forest, Shien did end up coming across a small stream, so he managed to fully replenish himself in water, but besides the water, Shien hasn't managed to get anything in his stomach today.

"I'll die of hunger if it keeps going on like this..."

He has to find something to eat.

But, what edible stuff is there in this kind of place?

"Do I have to go out and hunt? Try to compete with demonic beasts in the middle of the night?"

At this though, Shien was in serious discomfort…

A second later, Shien turned his head in silence and looked to the side.

The corpse of the demonic hound was still lying there.

Shien stared at that demonic hound's corpse, and after who knows how much complicated mental turmoil, finally gave a huge sigh…

"This second life's start is seriously shitty!"

With that sentence, Shien drew the Holy Sword as if giving up, proceeded next to the demonic hound, and sliced off pieces of meat.

For the sake of filling his belly, now's not the time to be picky.

"The Holy Sword and prevent negative status after all, so there no need to fear poison."

Shien had basically given in.

Of course, he can't go eating it raw. There's no way he'll ever eat a demonic beast's meat raw.

For the sake of cooking the meat he got after so much trouble, Shien exited the cave, picked up some dry branches from the nearby woods, set them in a pile while skewering the demonic beast meat.

As for the fire, that's no trouble at all.

Before its death, the demonic hound released a ton of fire and ignited the surrounding grass. Those grass are still smoldering.

Thus, Shien used what he had, successfully made a fire, roasted the demonic hound's meat, and ate it.

"So unappetizing..."

Shien made a bitter face like he was chewing wax.

But, with no salt, no soy sauce, no spices of any kind, it seems like it'd be only natural for that kind of roasted meat to be unappetizing.

Plus, chewing was is still better than eating the dirt, so Shien still managed to fill up his belly in the end.

Finally, Shien put out the fire and buried the fire pit and the corpse of the demonic hound. Then he returned to the cave, found a relatively comfortable position, and lied down.

Maybe it's because it's that demonic hound's nest, but the temperature isn't actually low, but rather, it's a bit hot, so Shien would at least not freeze.

Thus, Shien set down the Holy Sword besides himself while watching the night sky outside the cave.

This seems to be a moonless night, but there are tons of starts dotting the night sky.

Watching the view of the night with those twinkling stars, Shien finally relaxed a little from the tightly wound state he was in all day.

"This world isn't completely bad."

At least, in his previous life, it shouldn't have been possible to see such a beautiful view of the night sky.

Even if Shien had completely forgotten his previous life, and all memories besides common knowledge have basically all vanished, Shien still remember that you can no longer see the stars very well in the big cities of his old life.

"And I seem to be just a normal person in my old life. I really don't know why the goddess summoned someone like me to be the Hero."

Is it because he had a cheat?

But aren't those cheats given to me by the goddess?

Shien doesn't get it.

"Speaking of, I don't even know what that goddess's name is."

Thinking back on that beautiful goddess that doesn't seem possible in reality, Shien couldn't help but descend into thought.

Afterwards, Shien fell asleep without realizing it.

……

The day after, Shien woke up and left the cave, continuing on his search for a way out of the forest.

For the sake of not losing his bearings, this time, Shien has fully realized the logic that some troubles are unavoidable. For the sake of no longer getting turned around while avoiding demonic beasts, he started taking the initiative towards the location of certain demonic beasts.

Thanks to that, Shien had encountered a bunch of demonic beasts.

He'd encountered demonic boars that can emit poisonous gasses.

He'd also encountered black serpents that ca transform the nearby ground into swamps.

He'd even encountered herds of demonic beasts and ended up experiencing what it's like to be surrounded and attacked from all sides.

Even though Shien had the Holy Sword in hand, with all these encounters, he still met with various dangerous circumstances.

However, along with those dangers, Shien also managed to gain various skills.

When he was faced with the corrosion from the poisonous gases released by the demonic boars, Shien learned [Abnormal Status Resistance].

When he was sinking into the swamp and was nearly drowned, Shien learned [Undying].

When he was surrounded by enemies, Shien's Holy sword got knocked out of his hand due to carelessness, but he ended up learning [Limit Evolution].

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[Abnormal Status Resistance]

Passive skill.

Increase resistance against abnormal statuses.

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[Undying]

Passive skill.

Increase recovery ability and the effects of other recovery type abilities.

Increase resistance against instant death type attacks and abilities.

When dying, can forcibly maintain life via the consumption of magic power.

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[Limit Evolution]

Active skill.

Effect acts directly upon life.

When active, all stats are increased. Effect is based upon skill level and magic consumption.

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Each of these skills are very useful.

Especially the skills [Undying] and [Limit Evolution]. One had let Shien forcibly keep himself alive even when he was completed drowned in a quagmire, letting him live even without breathing. It can be donsidered the ultimate life preservation skill. The other is the first active skill Shien has acquired. After activation, it basically gives Shien a superhuman-like body. Even a tree ten-some meters tall can be leaped to the top in a single jump. Truly amazing.

Accompanying the appearance of this skill is that it also allowed Shien to detect a kind of energy that he never has before.

That energy is magic power.

It seems to be a kind of power that can be used to use skills and magic.

By consuming this energy, Shien can use active skills like [Limit Evolution] and passive skills like [Undying] that have certain magic consumption requirements. A truly fantasy-like power.

And through the use of magic power, Shien also gained the two skills [Magecraft] and [Magic Recovery].

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[Magecraft]

Passive Skill.

Greatly increase magic power.

Greatly increase the effect of magic.

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[Magic Recovery]

Passive Skill.

Automatically recover consumed magic power.

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With the appearance of those two skills, Shien finally gained the feel that he really is no longer the same.

Only after he became able to feel and use magic power did Shien finally feel like he truly has come to a world or swords and sorcery.

This made Shien finally have something to look forward to.

"I wonder if I can use magic?"

Holding that kind of anticipation, Shien proceeded forward in a journey with surprises but no real danger, defeated many demonic beasts, completely got used to battle, and slowly became accustomed to the forest.