Volume 9 Chapter 3 PaRT 1
Equipment: Powerful Steel Spear Chainmail Hardened Leather Helmet Hardened Leather Gloves Hardened Leather Boots Sacrificial Misanga
The last night was hot.
I was clinging to Vesta when I woke up this morning. Her cold body felt good. The members of the Dragonkin tribe seem to be cooling their own bodies by releasing the heat on hot nights.
After spring comes summer, naturally.
Under the dim light, I get up.
Miria brings my shirt in a hurry. Vesta also required her help putting on her equipment, and once they were done with it, she expresses her gratitude towards her.
「Miria, thank you.」
「Okay, desu.」
After I put on my equipment, I express my gratitude, too. After having confirmed that everyone was geared up, I cast 「Warp」. Vesta is apparently fine as well, even though it’s morning, so we move to the Labyrinth.
It’s not particularly hot inside of the Labyrinth. Temperature here seems to be maintained at a consistent level, somehow, which is nice.
It must be colder outside of Haruba’s Labyrinth because it is situated in the north.
「Vesta seems to be able to fight properly, so for now, during the exploration, let her stand in the center of the front. There is no need to be worried about the number or the type of monsters either.」
「Understood.」
I issue instructions to Roxanne.
Because Vesta now has better equipment, there’s no further need for using 「Plating」on her anymore, and we might be able to explore the Labyrinth for a while longer. I also decide to remove Alchemist in order to level up Bounty Hunter after setting it as my Fifth Job.
If I use only Fourth job, I could get both 「1/20th of Required Experience」 and 「Increase Gained Experience 20x」, but it can’t be helped right now.
Monk is a Job that I can’t do without, after all.
Explorer, Hero, and Wizard are indispensable Jobs for me as well too, so I can’t remove any of these four. For the time being, if I need Cook or Warrior, I will select it as a Fifth job.
Instead of adding a Fifth job this time, however, I decide to change the activity pattern in the Labyrinth.
Since all the party members are here, there’s no need to take it slow, is there? We can focus more on the exploration now. Well, it’s not that we haven’t do exploration properly before, but we haven’t been aiming for the upper floors in particular. I wonder if it’s finally time to take a step forward together with my current Party?
My jobs hardly level up after going past Lv.40, and both Sherry’s and Miria’s Jobs are leveling up slowly after hitting Lv.30s. It is probably because we are not challenging the floors that are appropriate for our levels.
The difference between Sherry and the others and myself is understandable, because I possess the benefit granted to me by the 「1/10th Required Experience」Bonus Skill, If I’m not wrong.
As someone with Jobs ranging between Lv.30s and Lv.40s, I am pretty sure we are supposed to challenge higher floors. If we move up the floors, the experience we gain will increase, and so should our levels.
I was well aware of it but I put our safety first. However, it is about time to advance more aggressively.
During the Floor Boss battles, we usually surround them, while I finish the small fries off from the back. When I step forward and use Durandal, I can use 「HP Absorption」 Skill. Naturally, Roxanne and Miria hardly receive attacks as well. Even Vesta, who has the Jobs with the lowest levels among all of us deals very decent damage to the enemies, which might be a bit abnormal, but I’m not going to complain about that.
It is perhaps more logical for us to challenge higher floors.
Even so, that doesn’t mean I have to jump to a higher floor right away. I will continue to move up one floor at a time like I have been doing up until now. That being said I will have to speed up our pace of exploration a bit.
We advance mechanically along the wall of the Labyrinth. Roxanne is still guiding us, but I don’t care about the monsters for now. We can change the direction according to the monsters ahead, but there is no need for us to stop.
The encounters with the groups of monsters have decreased, and we are encountering lone monsters more and more often. One, or maybe two of them at best? Or sometimes, a group of two Fly Traps and one Clam Shell.
I am deeply moved by how Roxanne has managed to avoid them thus far.
I cast「Firestorm」 on a group of two Ely Traps and one Clam Shell, and prepare for the encounter. The Clam Shell is resistant to Fire Magic, but the Fly Traps are weak against fire. Since there is more of the latter, it is probably better to use it.
The vanguard and the monsters clash with one another. Roxanne with her estoc and Miria with her Rapier both slash away at them. Vesta cuts them using her dual-wielded swords.
Vesta receives the counter attack of the Fly Trap using the steel sword in her right, and using the iron sword in her left hand, she smashes the monster down. When the monster attacks her from the left, she blocks it using the Iron Sword in her left hand, and using the Steel Sword in her right, she smashes it on the ground with a swing from the top.
Is this the dual sword style? It is terrifying. What would I do if I were against an opponent like her? With Dual wielding, dodging and blocking would be hard, because even if you block or dodge the attack from one direction, you’re going to have the attack from the other one coming right at you the moment you’d think that you’re safe. That, and because Vesta is tall as a mountain, there’s also an intimidation factor to consider.
There will be no problem if she can fend off monsters’ attacks in this fashion, but she might have some difficulties with parrying the monster’s attacks.
After I finish off the Fly Traps using Fire Magic, we surround the remaining Clam Shell. Vesta takes it down using both her swords at the same time. She’s especially scary when she attacks from the side.
The spectacle looks like someone beating a drum. The Clamshell desperately hurls its body at her in response. It tries to attack Vesta from the side, but Vesta receives that attack with her sword. Or rather than receiving the attack, it was more like she was offsetting the attack with a slash of her own.
Had it attacked Roxanne instead, she would have dodged it lightly.
You can’t tell if it is a Clam Shell anymore. I shoot a 「Sand Ball」at it, and the Clam Shell finally collapses. My attack settled the battle immediately.
「It was a long battle, but it didn’t look like anyone had a hard time. I guess it will be fine if we advance to higher floors as we are.」
「Yes. As we are, there should not be any problem.」
Roxanne says. Rather, if there were an enemy strong even for Roxanne, everyone except her would get wiped out.
「Vesta doesn’t seem to have any problems as well.」
「Yes, I am fine.」
「It was an impressive attack back there.」
「Thank you very much.」
Because I have changed her equipment, I am not using 「Plating」on her anymore. I should perhaps let an attack hit Vesta on purpose, but I don’t want to make it a habit. Receiving an attack is not a pleasant experience, so it is better not to force her to do it, especially since I made her do it only yesterday.
Judging from yesterday, I feel that she would be fine even if she received several attacks directly though.
At the very least, there is no chance for her to die from a single blow, and with the way she fights, she will end up receiving attacks anyway.
Even though I was of that idea, we reached the Boss Room of the eighteenth floor of Haruba’s Labyrinth without Vesta having received a single attack. Is it thanks to the change in our pattern of exploration? I should be happy about the fact that she didn’t receive any attack.
I bring Durandal out, and enter the Boss Room. We knock down the Kettle Mermaid and the Animal Trap without any difficulties to speak of.
During the Floor Boss battles, I could give Durandal to Vesta and fall back while using magic in order to become like a battery, but it might not be the formation with the most offensive power to it.