Volume 8 Chapter 4 PaRT 7
「Here, desu!」
Miria brings the two Whole Fish over to me while literally beaming with happiness. I receive the fish and put them in my Item Box.
「Alright. With this, we have our two Whole Fish just like we planned. Let’s move on to the Boss Room now then, shall we?」
「Understood.」
Roxanne says as she walks ahead of me.
Ah! I know the location of the Boss Room. I know it… but for some reason I can’t recall it properly.
No, no, no, it’s not that I have forgotten such a crucial piece of information. My memory is perfect, after all. It’s just that as we were wandering around the inside of the caverns and tunnels of the Labyrinth in search of Mabreams, I have completely lost track of where we were and which way we took in order to get here. It’s not a memory issue, just a matter of getting disoriented due to all the corridors looking the exact same no matter where we went.
Because we have already reached the outside the Boss Room once, I can use 「Dungeon Walker] to jump to the small Waiting Room outside the Boss Room, but…
「Sherry, do you remember the direction we need to take to go back to the Boss Room?」
「No, I don’t.」
Even Sherry says that she doesn’t remember the way that we needed to take. It’s not I whose memory is weak.
「Ah, I feel like I have seen this intersection before. No, it’s probably different. Oh well, I can’t tell whether it’s the same one or a different one at all.」
「A while ago, I noticed the smell of a person disappearing from the other side of the door. I think they must have been someone who has entered the Boss Room.」
I see. So Roxanne could smell that someone who was ahead and entered the Boss Room before us. As expected of her superior sense of smell…. But in this case I have to say that this is something akin to a foul play! How can she even smell someone from the other side of the Boss Room door?! I could have never done something so amazing!
Anyway, at the end of the junction we found ourselves at a crossroads.
「After passing the crossroads, comes there will be another junction. From there, you take left and keep walking. Shortly after, you will reach the Boss Room.」
「That’s right. If you turn right, there’s a group of Mabreams. What would you like to do, master? Should we go and engage them?」
「Yeah, let’s take them out if they’re close by.」
While we were on our way, we took some monsters out as well to get their Drop Items along with the EXP for defeating them. Hopefully we might get lucky and they’ll drop yet another Whole Fish for us to enjoy for dinner. Then I could say that this little detour was entirely worth it.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t what ended up happening, because none of the enemies ended up dropping a single Whole Fish, which was admittedly quite a bummer for me, but I should have guess that an outcome like that should have been expected since I have already unequipped the Cook Job.
「Sherry, what is the Floor Boss version of a Mabream called?」
「The Floor Boss version of Mabream is called Black Diamond Tuna. Because it possesses a powerful charge attack in the arsenal of its attacks, we have to be very careful while we’re going to be engaging it up close. It can also use Water Magic, so we need to be ready to interrupt its magic circles at a moment’s notice.」
When we returned to the junction, I asked Sherry for the info on the Floor Boss of this floor and she promptly briefed us. 「If we turn right, the place is brimming with the groups of Bitch Butterflies and Grass Bees. What would you like to do?」
「Let’s try taking them on as well.」
Both of them are weak against Wind Magic, so fighting them should be both easy and efficient. After taking out one group of them, we proceed to the Boss Room. While in the Waiting Room, I pull out Durandal and prepare myself for the upcoming battle.
There’s no one in the Waiting Room right now, but the door to the Boss Room didn’t open immediately when we entered it and remained closed, which means that the person who entered the Boss Room before us should still be inside.
「The Party that entered earlier is still fighting the Floor Boss, it seems.」
「Yeah, and they’re taking their sweet time with it.」
「Umm, usually, it’s perfectly normal for the Floor Boss battles to be lasting for a long time. It’s just that master is abnormally strong, as a result of which we’re always getting them done in a breeze.」
「Is that so?」
「Yes, that is so.」
When I look at Sherry, she nods, so it really seems to be the case. Thereafter, we took two more groups of the enemies around the Waiting Room out to kill some time.
When we came back after a while, the door to the Boss Room were really opened, so we proceeded to enter inside to finally face the Floor Boss. Since it was not already waiting for us, I guess that has to mean that the other Party managed to successfully defeat it and move on head, even though the battle took them quite a lot of time.
The door closes behind us and smoke gathers at two points of the room, and after a short delay, two monsters are finally making their appearance.
Since the points where the smoke gathered at were high in the air, it was clear that the accompanying monster would be a Bitch Butterfly.
The boss, Black Diamond Tuna, is swimming in the air, too. It doesn’t have feet like Mabreams had. It’s truly a fish, in every sense of the word. A fish that swims in the sky instead of water, but a fish nonetheless.
「I’ll clean up the small fry first, as usual.」
「To serve my lord, to not just defend them with my body, but to worship them — Defense!」
Roxanne recites the incantation of 「Defense」 Skill and activates it. Right after that, Sherry and Miria confront the Floor Boss alongside her, too. I approach the Bitch Butterfly and smash Durandal into it. The butterfly collapses quickly under the barrage of my 「Rushes」. Once it was done for, I join the attack on the Floor Boss alongside the girls.
As for the Black Diamond Tuna itself, it’s a slightly more than one-meter-long fish, which should be expected since it has tina in its name. That being said, I cannot definitely say if its is more of a bluefin tuna or southern bluefin tuna that is present in my old world. It is also colored black from its head to its tail and possesses the scales that seem to be pretty tough to break through. As expected of something whose name itself sound quite strong and imposing.
Roxanne dodges the initial charge from the Black Diamond Tuna and proceeds to attack it with her weapon. Sherry warned us that it is going to be fast, but I never expected that it is actually going to be that fast.
It then advances to stab into her. To be honest, I have no confidence in being able to evade that kind of attack. It’s a relief that Roxanne has her godly dodging abilities that can essentially allow her to play with that kind of enemy however she wants.
I approach it from around the side and smash Durandal into it. The tuna swings its tail fin and attacks Miria who was standing behind it. So it even has such a trick up its sleeve, huh?
Miria crouches half a foot down and dodges the attack. Finding the opening when the tuna was trying to attack Miria, Sherry thrusts her spear into its side. I take a hack at it with Durandal whenever I can, too.
Even if the Black Diamond Tuna can attack in the front and back of it, it has nothing to take care of its sides or any ways of protecting them from incoming attacks of a focused Party like ours.