Reincarnated as the Weakest Magical Beast

The Death Bear lay defeated, collapsed on the ground. Emilia stood before its corpse, her breath short and rapid, gasping as she tried to steady herself. It was clear she was a little tired.

After all, it had taken five full consecutive uses of her signature sword skill, Silvermoon Sword Art, to bring down a Blood-Moon-empowered Death Bear. The techniques were deadly, but executing them demanded a tremendous amount of energy.

Mimi rushed to Emilia's side, meowing anxiously, asking if she was all right.

Emilia nodded.

"There's no time to rest. Let's go," she said with urgency.

Mimi agreed. Emilia crouched, and Mimi leapt straight into her arms. The longer they lingered here, the more dangerous the situation would become.

The Blood Moon and Blood Rain had just begun. New monsters hadn't spawned in large numbers yet. But soon, the forest would be swarming with empowered undead. Emilia wouldn't be facing just one or two; if she got swarmed, it could be over in an instant.

"Oh, wait! I have an idea!" Emilia exclaimed.

She removed her cloak, folded it, and tied it across her body, creating a makeshift sling for Mimi.

Now, Mimi was secure.

"Oooh! Master is so smart!" Mimi exclaimed, meowing as she settled comfortably inside the sling.

Emilia adjusted it tightly.

"Yoosh! This way, you won't have to jump down every time I fight. I can keep you beside me the whole time!"

"Meow!" Mimi agreed.

If Emilia left Mimi alone while fighting and another enemy appeared, it would spell big trouble. This setup was perfect.

"Let's go!" Emilia said.

"Meow!"

And just like that, they ran, moving as quickly as possible through the forest, keeping to the river's edge.

***

Thirty minutes later…

The situation had grown worse and worse.

Duskwald was still nowhere in sight, and more monsters kept emerging from the misty forest.

At first, it had been manageable—single empowered Death Bears, single empowered Death Wolves, single empowered Death Stags. Emilia could handle them fairly easily with her Silvermoon Sword Arts. But soon, they came in pairs, then in threes, and now, Emilia was facing four at once! The onslaught was relentless.

HAAAAA!

Emilia swung another slash, finishing off a Death Bear, ending the 1v4 fight with another victory, but exhaustion was setting in.

Her breath was ragged, and her heart thumped wildly in her chest, threatening to explode. Fatigue was slowly taking its toll.

Earlier, a fraction-of-a-second delay had allowed a Death Bear to swipe her arm—luckily only leaving a shallow wound that bled a little. Both she and Mimi were still okay, but at this rate, exhaustion and overwhelming numbers could easily spell their doom.

"Tch… we need to find another solution, Mimi!" Emilia muttered, her voice strained through ragged gasps, her face drenched in sweat and blood.

Mimi meowed anxiously, ears flat.

Damn it…

What do I do? What do I do?

Only now was she starting to realize how useless Noctifelis really was.

Not only could she not contribute anything…

Just having her on Emilia added a few extra kilos, slowing her master's movements and limiting her agility. But Emilia couldn't leave Mimi behind either. If Mimi dies, Emilia dies too.

FUCK!

This sense of uselessness—she hated it! She despised it!

It felt like she was the ultimate baggage!

BOOM!

Another wave of beasts crashed into the scene.

This time, it was three Death Wolves!

They weren't as powerful as the Death Bears, being smaller, but their size was more than made up for by their insane speed!

The wolves glared at them, snarling and barking, saliva flying from their jaws, eyes blazing crimson.

"Damn it! They just keep coming!" Emilia growled, swinging her sword in a wide arc.

Wait…

Mimi suddenly remembered. Of course, she wasn't totally useless—she had her own weapon, didn't she?

"Master, I will help as much as I can!" she thought, determination igniting within her.

With a sharp cry, she called forth her familiar.

"COME, FLAMMME!"

Mimi's eyes glowed, and from her small body, Flamme emerged—the black flame flickering and writhing like a living shadow.

"Flamme!" Emilia shouted, seeing it. "Alright, let's fight together!"

"Meow!"

Well, Flamme wouldn't be able to do much damage on its own, since Mimi's stats were shit. But because Flamme was unaffected by her curse, at least it could deal noticeable damage, help chip away at the enemy's HP, or even serve as a distraction!

In situations like this, every little bit of help mattered.

The Death Wolf howled!

AWOOOOO!

Instantly, its body glowed with a fierce red aura.

It was using its skill, [Howl!]—and under its effect, the other two Death Wolves were boosted in both speed and damage.

The first wolf lunged forward, snapping its jaws.

Emilia dashed ahead, her blade gleaming in the crimson light.

Meanwhile, Mimi focused, controlling Flamme.

SLASHHHH! Emilia unleashed another Silvermoon sword technique, cutting into the lead wolf's flank.

At the same time…

"Flamme, use Fire—FIRE BOLT!"

At her command, Flamme shot a small bolt of dark fire straight toward the nearest wolf.

FWOOM! A direct hit struck the wolf in the face.

[Fire Bolt dealt 56.2 damage!]

As soon as the cooldown ended, Mimi fired again:

"Flamme, FIRE BOLT!"

FWWOOM!

[Fire Bolt dealt 56.2 damage!]

***

And so, with the strategic help of Mimi and Flamme, the fight had become somewhat easier.

"Haaa… haaaa~~!"

Emilia panted heavily, standing before the corpses of the wolves, a triumphant grin spreading across her face. The stench of blood and scorched fur clung to both her and Mimi, smelling like the worst shit possible, but there was no time to worry about the smell.

"Good job, Mimi! Flamme!" Emilia praised, flashing Mimi a wide grin as she reached out to pet the little Noctifelis.

Mimi's ears twitched proudly, her tiny chest puffed up in pride at the small victory. Flamme hovered nearby, drifting toward Emilia, seemingly asking for some attention.

"Hihi, thank you, Flamme. You're amazing!" Emilia said, lightly touching the fire with her finger, smiling at the flickering divine flame.

But then, suddenly, Flamme darted away, heading straight for the corpses of the fallen Death Wolves.

"Huh? Flamme, what are you doing?" Mimi meowed, tilting her head in curiosity.

Flamme levitated above the corpses and began to spin rapidly.

Fwooosh!

[Ding! Flamme is absorbing the soul energy of defeated enemies!]

As Flamme spun, a small vortex formed, drawing in wisps of white smoke rising from the bodies.

[Flamme grows a little!]

[Flamme EXP +50!]

[Flamme EXP +50!]

[Flamme EXP +50!]

[Level up! Level 2 → 6!]

[Flamme is now Level 6!]

WOAHHHH!

Mimi's eyes widened in awe as she watched Flamme swell slightly with newfound power, the little flame now glowing a bit bigger than before!

Earlier, Mimi had wondered how she could level up Flamme. And it turned out—Flamme could grow stronger by absorbing the energy of fallen foes!

This is so cool!

Mimi immediately checked its stats.

However… nothing had changed. Flamme's Flame Power was still 47, and it still only had two skills: Fire Bolt Level 1 and Burning Enchantment Level 1.

Yeah…

Since Flamme's Flame Power scaled with Mimi's own stats, and Mimi hadn't leveled up yet, its power remained the same. Still, leveling up did increase Fire Bolt's damage significantly. Based on her calculations using the Fire Bolt formula, each bolt could now deal 169.2 pure damage—literally triple the damage at Level 2!

Now… about the other skill, Burning Enchantment…

It wasn't meant to deal direct damage, but functioned more like a buff.

[Burning Enchantment – Level 1]

Description: Flamme can enhance any attack of its master or ally with its divine fire power, adding bonus damage and converting the attack type to pure damage.

Cooldown: 5 seconds

Duration: Until turned off

Restriction: While Burning Enchantment is active, Flamme is silenced and cannot use active spells.

At first glance, it seemed like a really powerful skill. Converting attacks to pure damage and adding a bonus? Hell yeah!

However… after thinking it through, Mimi realized it wasn't that useful for her.

First of all, it only enhanced attacks. But Mimi could never attack directly anyway! If she tried to rush an enemy and claw at it or smack it, she'd be crushed before she could even meow!

And on top of that, Burning Enchantment would silence Fire Bolt, making Flamme's most useful skill unusable!

Mimi had secretly hoped that leveling up would grant Flamme a new skill or some other upgrade. Unfortunately… there was nothing.

She could only sigh, her ears drooping slightly in disappointment.

"Haaa…" Emilia sighed too, staring at the corpses of the wolves. "Even those wolves took me five full slashes to kill. This is not efficient at all!"

Yeah…

Mimi frowned in agreement.

It was because of the Blood Moon effect. Normally, a Lesser Death Wolf—with its base HP and defense—would have been easy for Emilia to take down in one or two strikes. But with the Blood Moon buff, both the enemy's HP, defense, and even HP regeneration had doubled! That meant it would take much more effort to kill them!

"Tch, if only I could have brought my old rapier here. It has higher stats and a 20% defense-piercing enchantment! Taking these guys down would have been so much easier!" Emilia muttered, frustration edging her voice.

Mimi sighed as well.

Due to the rules of the Rite of the Dragon Vein, Emilia had been forbidden from bringing her high-level items here.

But then—

Oh? Wait a minute!

A spark of realization flickered in Mimi's mind. An idea!

Defense… piercing… enchantment?

Holy shit! THAT'S IT!

Who needs a defense-piercing weapon…

… when we have the freaking DEF IGNORE?