That Unique Monster Who Just Got the 'Consciousness' Passive Skill

First off, the monsters. As of right now, we had encountered some, but we still hadn't sighted any real ones yet. Yellow slimes weren't to be threatening all that much. And the point was–as was the main motive behind this risky and unsafe outing–as long as we didn't encounter any real threat, we were right.

And by "right" I obviously mean that we weren't wrong in assuming the Party could handle what would come to us. Yup, the main reason for which the Party had decided to go out by this wide margin of the 'comfort' zone was that the monsters weren't so strong, now. Who were we not to go and face them right head-on when we knew that?

And I spoke explaining. I could tell it was weird at first, who expected the "little man" to go speaking intelligibly like this, hmm? But they nonetheless listened. With my words, the persisting hesitation within each member's heart lifted off a little.

Well, that was a first point. And with round, surprised eyes, the leader must've been waiting for me to go on to the next point. He nodded to himself, with this expectant smile adorning his lips.

Really, those explanations only were repetitions. All of which had been said so far really was (or should've been) obvious to anyone. But as they were, they needed it.

After an uncalled-for comment the damage dealer just made–"He's also got the brains, eh-heh-heh!"–I demanded silence from him. "Oh," he said, "that's funny."

There were other points. The direction we were taking. It was the right one, too. Briefly mentioning the position of the morning sun and the current state of the wavelengths of monster-like magical energy, this was nailed.

And the last point the leader always tackled when justifying everyone's decisions as the party leader was about the party itself. That I also got to explain to the either oh-so-dumb or oblivious people. I'm harsh. Maybe they were simply hesitant and nervous.

Reviewing the state of the group before addressing the state of each individual composing the party one by one–I got to educate and reassure them.

The leader usually said all that. But, really, all of this shouldn't be his responsibility alone. His shoulders must have been heavy enough with all the concerns the man already had.

If I could just speak my mind without restraint, I'd say, Leader, you are weak, and this is enough burden on your shoulders as it is: let me then help you–but I figured it wouldn't have been well welcomed by him.

People had their pride, even when said pride wasn't legitimate at all.

With round, attentive eyes, he listened to me, constantly nodding to himself in amusement. He hmmed a lot, satisfied with my explanations. And now that it was over, his eyes met with mine as his hand went and was placed onto my head.

I was still walking by his side. As he saw I was finished for good, he happily patted my head, with that same wide smile stuck across his lips. "Thank you," he said.

But his smile seemed to be elsewhere. Yeah, his lips were arched up, but he wouldn't lock his eyes with mine when he mused that 'thank you.' His smile didn't reach his eyes anyway. It wasn't like his usual refreshing smiles, no. This one was different.

The smile rather said "Thank you, but… No, it's nothing." Still, he said thank you.

"No need to."

But I still went and said that. There was no need to thank me. I only acted for myself.

And when that lonely patting, rugged hand parted with my disheveled hair, everyone behind my back seemed to be coming back to life again.

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Like they were dead all the while I spoke, for some reason. Hm. Or like the wind that goes and blows onto a weak fire, ostensibly putting it down for a second or two… before setting it back well alive and stronger the second after.

I'm pretty sure that's what happened. My words could be the wind. The monster-hunters could be the fire I blew on. Hopefully, they wouldn't die down.

"Thank you, my boy." "Appropriately put, Aoi."

Some spoke confidently.

"Mm… A-Aoi's right, everyone… I think."

While some others spoke hesitantly.

"Ha-ha-ha!"

"Damage dealer! Keep it down!"

"Ha-ha… ha!"

Well. And some others spoke like this.

"…You really are something, aren't you?" That was the leader.

"N-No need to." That was me being awkward as a response.

For how long had we been out by now?

The sun had escalated higher in the sky. Shining and glowing intently as it was, it'd soon be on top of our heads. A lot of time had run by.

And now, with the rays of sunlight showing us the right way growing dimer and dimer with each step, the forest intensified in green and height.

Soon, very soon, 'it' would happen. The main attraction's what I'm talking about.

But not right now.

Yeah, for the time being, the wild woodland still was taking things easy with the adventurers. It was kind enough. For now. And I watched out for when the turn would come.

Still, though. Not right now.

Because we might have heard that right—the bushes over there rustled, moving about—but hey, those were just a bunch of poison-bite spiders.

Nothing 'too' out of the ordinary.

And nothing they couldn't handle. Carefully.

There were three.

After having thrown a few quick glances all around the place, the leader was the one who took action first. I smiled expectingly.

He already was walking by the front–but he still stepped up taking up the pace. The one who followed behind him was the timid tank, with somehow loud, yet calm steps.

And with quick little darts, the damage dealer tagged along fast. He secretly got next to the leader at the front, still being a tiny step behind him.

Together, forming the frontline, they exchanged other quick glances, before they paced up again.

That's when their footsteps were to be heard by the wolf-sized poisonous spiders. Both the leader and the damage dealer started to run. Their swords at the ready, they confidently dived through the three spiders.

The tank followed from behind. He didn't pace up, nor did he follow them closely. That was usual for him to do that. His role as a tank would certainly be of effect afterward.

Turning to me, the priestess, and the sorceress, he groaned a little awkwardly before mumbling a few words to himself all the more awkwardly.

That was a funny fella. I gave him a thumbs-up. He didn't see it though. Right away, he turned back and kept his eyes on the front.

Coming in contact with the two adventurers, the three poison-bite spiders first recoiled vulnerably … before they didn't miss to send their usual super tiny net-like cobweb forth!

Wondering whether or not I could do that, someday, too, with my own cobweb skill, I appreciated the effort these two spiders put in.

Only two of them did that, though. Not so good, mm-hm. They formed some sort of triangle, the spiders. Each of them stationed at one tip of their improvised triangular formation.

The two spiders being the most forward on that formation–they were the ones who sent that net to both the party leader and the damage dealer. The bigger spider, that rested behind these two, didn't do much of anything aside from recoiling, too.

And going right back at them, they both focused on one spider only. Calling it a carnage, it surprised me how they so swiftly did away with it. I'd imagined more struggling going about, but no.

That other front spider? It thrust its big hairy fangs at the damage dealer, but he evaded again. "<Moonwalk>!" And he quickly was out of range.

The leader grinned, and having no such skill as 'Moonwalk,' he was fortunate enough that the second poison-bite spider hadn't targeted him first. But what about the third bigger spider, eh? It missed the opening, so it wouldn't certainly miss the rest, would it?

Thanks to the sorceress next to me, we'll call it a 'miss,' too. Some shadow elemental flew across the five meters that separated us, and 'disturbed' that last spider. It was enough. The sorceress was good enough.

And there the tank went on with his usual routine. With much might and strength, he made the earth tremble. His sword was flung onto the ground when his chubby-muscular shoulders were shown bare. That was the right image to it.

Mumbling out the name of his skill, the spiders had taken the bait. And wishing farewell to their initial opponents, they both dragged themselves up to the big man.

When their articulated, hairy, and numerous limbs jerked about… there they rushed to their new prey.

The leader and damage dealer swept past him–right away, they turned on their heels and went on attacking again, making sure to keep an appropriate distance between them and the monsters.

The three of them attacked together.

And the priestess summoned magic shields. And the sorceress summoned her dark magic. Together, they supported from the sidelines.

Soon, the fight was wrapped up well. It didn't take long for the Party to get back on track. The priestess healed what was needing healing. I and the damage dealer handled the looting of those valuable corpses.

And time passed on quickly.

Next wild magical creatures we met with were a bunch of saber-wolves. Their furs were still gray, and their growling still piercing.

The formation the Party took on to deal with them was different than usual. Surprisingly enough, the leader had sent the tank right to the front right before the confrontation began.

It was unusual, but it kinda made sense, now that I think about it. I mean, this way of spreading out his troops was the right way, wasn't it? Sending the tank right to the core of the battle straight up before the swords began their dancing.

Still not the main attraction–but the wolves growled and attacked!

There were five of them. Now, that was a big deal. … Or maybe not. Yeah, let's say that fight's only 'slightly' difficult for them. After all, five saber-wolves had already been fought in the past. And that funny party being what it is, of course it's become way stronger since such a fight last went down.

So they fought proudly and strongly!

Engaging in the first direct hostilities, the tank didn't do so much as his usual provocation ritual beforehand. No, he didn't. What was the use of that? After all, he was alone at the front, those saber-wolves didn't think twice as that huge chunk of human meat exposed itself to them.

They'd attack him. That was a done deal. Every wolf agreed with that. The quick consensus couldn't be greater.

With the support of everyone, everyone won. I clapped my hands theatrically. And to the slightly huffing people, I made some comments about how well they'd done, today too. This was the first real fight they'd taken upon themselves, today.