Ancient Stone Beetle

Most of the time, Rhode feared suddenly making eye contact with strangers.

Because once their eyes met, looking away immediately seemed rude, but staring too long felt like a provocation.

In situations like that, Rhode never knew what to do.

Especially after they had looked at each other for a few seconds and the other person set down his drink and walked over.

Fortunately, Marcus was talkative. "Alzack, you're here. We were just talking about you."

"Talking about me?"

"Yeah. This is Rhode—you know him, right?"

Alzack nodded. "The guy who destroyed an entire forest?"

Marcus clapped his hands. "That's right!"

Rhode slapped the table. "That's wrong!"

The two of them looked at him in confusion, as though asking why he had reacted so strongly.

Rhode raised a hand. "Sorry. Reflex."

They looked even more confused. Did slapping a table over something so minor really need an explanation?

"..." Rhode had no idea what to say.

He took a deep breath, properly introduced himself to Alzack, then clarified the rumors about himself.

He was only a barely qualified mage who had studied magic for a few days. How could he possibly destroy an entire forest?

"The Master told me the forest ended up like that because the beasts went berserk. Rumors about Strange Birds, Giant Frogs, Evil Wolves, flying dragons, and things like that just sound..."

They sounded... rather like something he might actually have done.

Rhode fell into thought.

Something was off about this.

Rhode thought carefully. When he had first heard about the incident, he apparently had not yet known that he could summon jungle monsters.

And after learning that he could summon jungle monsters, he had never given the matter much thought.

Now that he connected the two...

Could it be that after he had been attacked by that bear, the life-or-death crisis caused his magic to go out of control and summon every jungle monster, big and small?

The more he thought about it, the guiltier he felt. If he had really done it, then... how much would he have to pay for destroying such a huge stretch of forest?

Rhode felt more and more guilty the longer he thought.

The other two had already moved on to another topic. Marcus complained that things had been boring lately and suggested holding some kind of event, so he, the guild's official host, could finally have a chance to shine.

"How about a shooting competition?" Alzack patted the pistol at his waist.

"Don't joke around. Who could beat you and Bisca in a shooting competition?"

Alzack suddenly panicked. "D-Don't talk nonsense! What does Bisca have to do with it? I..."

So the kid really did have something going on. Listening to Alzack's incoherent reply, Rhode got a small taste of the joy of gossip.

As the three chatted, Alzack became Rhode's next opponent.

Over the next few days, Rhode went through one practical combat session after another. Sometimes there was one match a day, sometimes two or three.

Some opponents were ones he found himself, while others were dragged over by Marcus—who had seized the Master's duties as host and referee for his own amusement.

Kana, who had returned from a job, also seized the Master's business of opening betting pools.

The guild's backyard was unusually lively for quite a while, and Rhode repaired walls with his opponents several times.

But as the fights became more frequent, the novelty gradually wore off, and fewer and fewer people came to watch.

Mainly because the outcome had become far too predictable.

Rhode's current record was nineteen battles and nineteen losses.

Today brought him another glorious addition to his losing streak. Rhode sat on a round stool, slumped over the counter, and waited listlessly for the noon shift.

Worm had spent a while mooching food and drink in the tavern, then ran back and hugged Rhode's calf, trying to comfort him.

Mira brought a small plate of broad beans to the counter and called Worm up for a snack.

Then, while smoothing the white fur on Worm's back, she said, "Didn't you almost beat Laxus today?"

"Laxus is too nice. He just couldn't bring himself to hit me, and I found it hard to throw a punch at him too."

Rhode had always been grateful to Laxus. Back then, Laxus's Painting Magic had helped him quickly understand his situation and eased much of his anxiety.

"But Painting Magic is way too unfair, isn't it? If he can draw anything, then Summoning Magic like mine just looks stupid..."

Today, Laxus had drawn Rift Scuttlers, then used crabs to attack crabs. At the same time, he still had enough focus left to draw Poros to play headbutting games with Worm.

The drawn river crabs were not very sturdy and fell apart after one or two collisions, but he could draw one after another without stopping!

Under the attack of a huge swarm of imitation river crabs, the two genuine river crabs happily retreated back into the river on Summoner's Rift, leaving Rhode staring blankly.

He felt like he might develop a fear of insufficient firepower.

Mira smiled. "The things created by Painting Magic have limits, and the caster has to divide his attention to control nearly every movement personally.

But creatures summoned through summoning magic can act on their own as long as you give them a clear target, right? That's your advantage.

To a certain extent, Laxus shares the same weakness as you. Attacking the caster directly is the most effective method.

And because he has to split his attention to control his 'paintings,' even if he is skilled in hand-to-hand combat, he cannot use his full strength.

So once you have stronger helpers, or improve your fighting skills a little more, you'll surpass Laxus before long."

Like many of his guildmates, Rhode had only seen himself lose, lose, and lose again these past few days.

But Mira had noticed Rhode's improvement. The clearest sign was that she had not needed to apply medicine to him for several days.

Even when sparring with Gray in fairly intense close combat, he no longer ended up as badly bruised and swollen as he had after facing Natsu.

Although it was possible that Gray had held back more than Natsu, Mira could tell that Rhode's blocks and attacks had become much smoother, and his magic power had likely increased quite a bit.

And he had become increasingly adept at the little trick of using magic power for defense.

Rhode felt comforted. He realized that although Mira said she could not fight, she understood far more than he did.

The way she spoke so eloquently was just like how he talked about professional players being bad at games...

Of course, Rhode was just an armchair critic, while Mira was Wang Yuyan.

"Ah, I already have an idea for my next summon. I'm just venting a little."

Anyone would get emotional after losing ten games in a row, let alone ten fights.

Fortunately, these past few days of friendly matches had not been for nothing, and neither had all the sweat he had poured out.

During today's spar with Laxus, when they had summoned river crabs, Rhode had sensed the black mist lifting from somewhere in Summoner's Rift, revealing a small mountain hollow.

The ground in that hollow was level, the rock walls smooth, and patches of moss grew in its corners, creating a cold, damp atmosphere.

And in the middle of that tiny hollow stood two "rocks," one large and one small.

Rhode, who knew the game well, naturally recognized them:

Ancient Stone Beetles, commonly known as Stone Monsters. Their appearance alone made it obvious that they were the tough type, and in fact, their attack power was also quite respectable among ordinary jungle monsters.

Moreover, when an Ancient Stone Beetle was shattered, it became smaller Stone Beetles. When those were shattered, they became even smaller Mini Stone Beetles.

But during today's match with Laxus, Rhode had not dared to try summoning them.

—He only knew their information from the game and did not know the exact situation here. He needed to ask the Master to check them over first.

What if they did not obey commands? It would be bad if they hurt his companions.

In this guild, where reckless behavior was so common, Rhode firmly reminded himself that he could not cause everyone any major trouble.