Volume 9 Chapter 2 PaRT 3
It seems that we still have some room to spare, and even though I wa still reserved about going to the eighteenth floor, Sherry does not object to the idea at all, so it should really be alright.
And so, we warped from the tenth floor all the way to the sixteenth floor.
「Roxanne, do you know the location of the Floor Boss room on the sixteenth floor?」
「Yes. If I am not mistaken, it’s this way.」
「Then, let’s head to the Boss Room. Guide us to it. We’re also going to be facing the monsters along the way.」
I ask of Roxanne to guide us. There is no identifiable difference inside the cave for me to be able to memorize the way back to the Boss Room even if we’ve already been here, but apparently Roxanne can lead us there just fine, most probably thanks to her superior sense of smell.
「Along the way, there is a group of Clam Shells to the left. There are several of them. On the right, there is just a single Clam Shell and a group of Bitch Butterflies.」
「The right way should be fine, then.」
「Understood.」
I see. Clam Shells and Bitch Butterflies both have a different set of weaknesses, which would make it pretty difficult to defeat both of them fast enough to keep Vesta out of harm’s way.
Is that what Roxanne is suggesting here? That if you’re going to be allowing the enemies to hit you on purpose, it’s better to do it against a single type of monster?
However, although I intend to receive just one attack, if I receive successive attacks, we will be in a pinch, and it’s going to be troublesome to kill them one by one by using single target magic attacks.
It is also not a good idea to let the battle drag on, since we are on the sixteenth floor now, where enemies are going to be stronger than the ones on the twelfth floor were.
We advance under Roxanne’s guidance until we eventually come across a group of one Clam Shell and two Bitch Butterflies.
I cast 「Breeze Storm」on them. If I focus on attacking Bitch Butterflies, whose weakness is Wind Magic, with Wind Magic Spells, only the lone Clam Shell will remain, and that’s going to be a perfect opponent for Vesta.
As expected of Roxanne, she really knows what’s going through my mind.
「Can’t I just go forward ahead of time?」
「No, wait until I take out the Bitch Butterflies first. Then you’ll be free to go.」
「Understood.」
I hold Vesta back, and cast more Wind Magic Spells. I think It is great that she’s so motivated, but being overly enthusiastic might prove to be her undoing, so it’s important for me to keep that enthusiasm of hers tempered.
Roxanne, Sherry and Miria confront the monsters along with me. When the Bitch Butterflies all collapse, everyone surrounds the remaining Clam Shell. I switch to 「Sand Ball」 and attack it.
Vesta exchanges places with Roxanne, and challenges the Clam Shell head on, provoking the monster by hitting its shell with her Steel Sword.
The shell of the Clam Shell moves slightly, but that attack was sadly not enough to force the monster to come out of its shell out into the open.
「Be prepared to receive either a shot of water attack or its bite!」
I shout to Vesta, wishing there was a way for me to know beforehand which of the two attacks it is going to be.
When the Clam Shell opens its shell, it either spits water or bites. Both of them are more troublesome than normal body blow, so It’s probably not a good idea to receive them on purpose.
「Here comes the bite!」
Can Roxanne really see through it and differentiate between the two?! Because I really cannot tell the two apart because of its initial movement.
The Clam Shell opens its shell wide. Just as Roxanne said, it tries to bite Vesta while simultaneously jumping near her, but Vesta repels it with her shield.
Woah. She literally just sent it flying! The flying shell approaches her to attack again. It is trying to return the favor by slamming her with a body blow. Vesta puts the shield down and receives the attack on purpose.
I thought that this attack was going to hit her for sure, but I have to say that so far, I am pretty satisfied with what I am seeing.
I attack it with another 「Sand Ball」and finish it off. Next, I apply 「Plating」 on Vesta again, and then cast「Heal」just to make sure that everything is going to be alright with her.
「Even though we moved up two floors, it was still alright to get hit by the enemies. Ah, this much recovery is sufficient. Thank you, master.」
I stop casting 「Heal」 on Vesta upon her request. Just once was good enough for her, huh? Good, I guess that means that her injuries were really not as serious as I thought they were. But just to be on the safe side:
「Are you sure that you don’t need more?」
The effect of 「Damage Reduction」Skill is considerably strong, without the shade of a doubt.
Vesta is big and strong, has enough power behind her strikes to send monsters flying and takes reduced damage from them thanks to the Skill of her Dragon Knight Job. She is a wonderful addition to our vanguard. At the rate that the things are going, it really might turn out that even the monsters on the eighteenth floor won’t be a problem for Vesta.
We resume heading towards the Boss Room. On the way there, we encountered three Clam Shells and one Bitch Butterfly. It is the group that Roxanne mentioned first.
I ambush them with 「Sand Storm」 while Roxanne heads out to take the vanguard’s position again. Since the Clam Shells can use their water spit attack against us from the distance, it’s better to whittle them down as much as I can without engaging them at close range.
「Wouldn’t it be better if I headed to the front as well?」
「Ah, I guess. Sherry, change places with Vesta.」
「Yes, master!」
「Okay!」
「I will do my best!」
Sherry and Vesta swap positions with each other.
It would have been better if she just kept on observing us as we fight all the way until the eighteenth floor, but since she herself proposed it, I guess it would be alright.
Being motivated really is great, as long as you won’t allow it to go over your head of course.
Since Sherry uses a spear, she can attack even from the back.
「Since you are going to the front, take this.」
「Okay. Thank you very much.」
Sherry covers Vesta’s head with Hardened Leather Helmet, which she was wearing herself up until now. Vesta lowers her head and receives it gratefully.
It is indeed better for them to exchange the gear that they’re wearing it if they are to swap their positions.
Starting from the left, the current lineup of the vanguard consists of Roxanne, Vesta and Miria from left to right.
We are ready and waiting for the monsters to arrive. Staying in front of me like that, all three of them are looking pretty spectacular.
You can really see how powerful my vanguard is, especially with someone as big and reliable as Vesta.
At some point in the future, I think it might be worth a try to place Vesta in the center of the vanguard to see how she’d perform there. Right now, Roxanne is staying half a step in front of the other two, because she needs to focus the monster’s attention on herself as she evades their attacks.
It is not certain whether they recognize her as the main vanguard or not though, but since she’s the one who’s in the most frontal position, I guess that would be a logical conclusion, right?
「Here it comes.」
Roxanne’s voice resounds, giving us a warning once more. I wonder if it’s going to be a water spit attack or the bite attack from the Clam Shell.