Taming The Villainesses novel Chapter 293

(EP-293.2) #2

293 – Fall #2

“I saw a monster earlier as well.”

I showed Stella the corpse of the hand-shaped creature I had killed with the axe earlier. Stella poked around the body with a stick, nodding slowly as she examined it.

“It doesn’t have eyes, a nose, or ears, but its sense of touch is highly developed. See here? The sensory organ that detects magic is bulging.”

Squelch.

“Ugh.”

I grimaced as Stella nonchalantly dug around the corpse. Her tolerance for such things was impressive, but this examination did give us some useful information.

“It’s a monster that can detect magic. It probably attacked you after sensing your magic. Did you use any earlier?”

I recalled using the bird taming magic. Although the spell had failed, it still consumed mana.

So, it had sensed that and attacked me. It seemed that I needed to be very careful about using magic in this forest.

“It’s an interesting ecosystem. This would make a good presentation at the academy, that is, if we manage to get out of here alive.”

Neither I nor Professor Balan could laugh at Stella’s self-deprecating joke. It was just like she said, it was uncertain if we’d survive and make it back at all.

“But the good news is that I’ve had plenty of experience with this kind of thing as an adventurer. As long as you follow my lead, at least we won’t die.”

Stella began to draw on the ground with a stick, sketching out information about the monsters she had encountered while scouting the forest.

There were a bunch of insect-like monsters that crawled on all fours and looked like praying mantises, and a bunch of beast-like monsters that looked like a cross between a crocodile and a wolf.

She also mentioned giving them names.

“The insect-type monsters are called Hell Mantis. The beast-type monsters are Hell Hounds.”

“Aren’t those names a bit too simple?”

When I asked, Stella shook her head.

“It’s better to keep things straightforward. That way, when you hear the name of a monster, it sticks in your mind right away. Makes it easier to deal with them.”

Now that I thought about it, she was right. Most monster names were pretty intuitive. They were named from the perspective of the people dealing with them.

“Anyway, now that you seem to be back on your feet, let’s move to a different hideout. I found a cave nearby that should be big enough for the three of us.”

Professor Balan and I followed Stella as she led the way. As we walked, she kept gathering herbs and berries that could be used for medicine.

Watching her work made me feel a little relieved that she ended up falling with us. Without her, my chances of survival would have been significantly lower.

Eventually, we reached the cave.

The entrance was so narrow that a person had to kneel to crawl in, but once inside, it opened up so much that even when fully stretched out, my head didn’t touch the ceiling. It was cozy enough.

Clatter.