Volume 8 Chapter 4 PaRT 6
Because it pauses its attacks while constructing a magic circle beneath its body, this type of magic attack is welcome when I use Durandal because it is oh so easy to deal with. Since it naturally takes a long time to prepare, even I can cancel it with my own「Chant Interruption」. When the small fry has been dealt with, I join the attack on the Floor Boss.
Bottle Mermaid is a mermaid with sharp, pointed head that resembles a bottle, which is probably where its name came from. Unfortunately, Bottle Mermaid is a disappointing mermaid, too, just like Kettle Mermaid, because other than the size and the different shape of its head there was literally no differences between the two of them.
The four of us surround it and start beating down on it with our usual Floor Boss fighting strategy. With Roxanne in the front and Sherry behind her, and while holding two weapons with 「Chant Interruption」 Skill in them, there’s no chance for us to lose.
Still, we can’t allow ourselves to drop our guard down just yet. If we do that, then that’s going to be a swift and surefire way towards our downfall.
The Bottle Mermaid extends its left arm out and tries to hit Roxanne with a swiping attack, but Roxanne tilts her neck to the side and dodges it effortlessly.
The mermaid instantaneously swings its right arm in an attempt to hit her from the other side, but the story simply repeats itself: Roxanne pulls her shoulder away from the trajectory of the blow and dodges it.
Next, the Bottle Mermaid hurls its head onto the upper half of Roxanne’s body. Is this attack going to be a headbutt or a bite? I was thinking about it, but since Roxanne swayed the upper half of her body and dodged the attack without allowing it to follow all the way through with it, its intentions remain largely unknown.
Right now, Roxanne has successfully sealed all of the Bottle Mermaid’s attacks, focusing its attention entirely on herself.
In the meantime, I whittle it down using Durandal, striking it whenever I see an opening or an opportune moment, and before long the Floor Boss collapses and turns into a cloud of green smoke.
I’m grateful for the fact that the Floor Boss battles will continue to be like this up to the twenty second floor so that we won’t have to change our strategy or make any kinds of adjustments to it.
Well, if possible, I would like it to continue exploring even further, past the twenty second floor.
We set foot on the eighteenth floor of Haruba’s Labyrinth next.
「Sherry, what kind of monsters can we expect to encounter here on the eighteenth floor?」
「The monster native to the eighteenth floor of Haruba’s Labyrinth is a Fly Trap.」
「Err… Fly Traps are weak against Fire Magic, but Bitch Butterflies and Clam shells are resistant to Fire Magic, right?」
「That’s right.」
See, my memory is quite something.
The monsters that will appear on this floor the most are going to be weak against Fire Magic, but Bitch Butterflies and Clam Shells are going to be making an appearance as well, which means that we’re going to have to have to factor them into the possible combinations of the enemies that we’re going to be fighting in here.
I was hoping that we might have stumbled into another easy floor, but everything seems to be pointing to this floor being a bit difficult.
「Well then, Roxanne, this floor may be slightly more difficult than the others we have explored up until now, but still, I’ll leave the guidance duties up to you as usual.」
「Understood.」
The group of monsters that Roxanne guided us to comprises a Clam Shell, a Kettle Mermaid and a Fly Trap.
After taking out the Clam Shell and the Kettle Mermaid in seven uses of Earth Magic Spells, I finish off the Fly Trap with four 「Fireballs].
With the level of the floor having moved up, the monsters seem to have become stronger once more. Oh well, it can’t be helped.
「Okay, that group is done for. That battle went rather well, wouldn’t you say?」
「That’s right. With Master’s power, there won’t be any problems with fighting against the monsters of the Labyrinth, no matter which floor we might be on.」
「Yes, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s the vanguard who’ll have to endure the most once again. Should we move to the seventeenth floor of Quratar’s Labyrinth then?」
「Go, desu.」
Because the monster native to the seventeenth floor of Quratar’s Labyrinth is an aquatic monster, Mabream, Miria immediately gets her teeth into it.
We return home to grab the map of Quratar’s Labyrinth and then proceed to enter its depths.
We proceed through the labyrinth as per the map’s indication.
「According to the map, the Boss Room should be just up ahead.」
While looking at the map, Roxanne extends her arm to point out towards the room ahead of us.
The Boss Room? Already? I have to say, if that turns out to be true then even I’m surprised at how fast we managed to get here, even with the map’s help.
As far as the monsters on the seventeenth floor of Quratar’s Labyrinth are concerned, the main one is Mabream whose weakness is Earth Magic as well as well as others that are weak against Wind Magic, but we didn’t encounter that many of them since we didn’t stray from the main route all that much.
「Until we get two Whole Fishes, we will keep hunting in this area.」
「Okay, desu.」
「Then, I’ll guide us to a location with a lot of Mabreams. This way, please.」
We hunted Mabreams for a while, but we have yet to get our first Whole Fish of the day, but since Miria was looking forward to coming here, we cannot go home without it. For the sake of having another delicious meal, we continue to hunt in the vicinity of the Boss Room for a while longer.
「That reminds me, Roxanne is a Knight now, so we can make use of her 「Defense」 Skill during the Floor Boss battles.」
「「Defense」 Skill?」
「Yeah. Since you have access to that Skill, it would be a shame not to use it, right? Unfortunately, when we were back on the seventeenth floor of Haruba’s Labyrinth the door to then Boss Room opened up pretty much immediately, so I didn’t have a chance to teach you the incantation for that Skill properly.」
「But we don’t have any appropriate opponent to test it out around here.」
Regrettably, the battles with these small fries are not comparable to the encounters with the Floor Bosses. Well, it’s not like Roxanne desperately needs that Skill right away.
「Y-You’re right.」
「However, there’s no knowing what manner of potential threats we may come across while in the Labyrinth, so it’d definitely be better if I could use it to perform my vanguard duties even better. Can you please teach me the incantation for it, master?」
「Sure, I understand.」
「Please do then.」
While we were walking around in search of more Mabreams, I switched my Monk Job and selected Knight Job instead. I also unequipped 「Chant Omission」 Bonus Skill. Now when I call out the word 「Defense」, the Skill’s incantation should pop up in my head all on its own.
「To serve my lord, to not only defend them with my body, but to worship them — Defense.」
While teaching the Skill incantation to Roxanne, I cast 「Defense」 myself. I wonder if that means that my defense has increased. What immediately troubles me is that I can’t feel any noticeable difference.
「As expected of Master.」
「Your knowledge of the Brahim language is truly amazing.」
「As expected, desu.」
It’s because Brahim language is superfluous — is what I want to say to Sherry.
「Serve, my lord, worship?」
Roxanne seems to be having difficulties pronouncing some of the words from the incantation.
「Worship, yes.」
I leave Sherry alone and teach Roxanne the words patiently, since even in Japanese that word often gets more than a little confusing.