Episode 16.9-10

"Uwaah. It's so big."

"Fumu. Eda, try to shoot at it with <Bow of Isya>."

"Okay."

"If it comes up enraged, I'll take care of it."

"Gotcha. OK, I'm shooting."

She manifested an arrow like usual, pulled the bowstring and released.

The arrow went straight to the spider's abdomen piercing it, and then the spider keeled over just like that.

"It's dead."

"It died."

"I cannot believe my eye. Defeating that thing in one shot."

"Ehehe."

"Eda-dono. How are you able to so accurately know where its heart was?"

"Uun. I think it's thanks to my training at a medical center. I just sent out my mana to probe the spider's body, then I felt like 'over here'."

"What? I never heard of such thing."

"Ah, I see. It's the same principle as that huh."

"Arios-dono. What do you mean by that."

"It's one of the secret arts of my sword school. I can't tell you more than that."

"Secret Arts? At your age?"

"My age Heles-san imagined is most likely very much off."

"Then, how old are you Arios-dono."

"That's a secret."

"<Move>."

"Eh?"

"Eh?"

"Huh?"

The spider's magic stone drifted off in the air before stopping in Lecan's palm.

It's a mid-sized magic stone. Should fetch a good price. Lecan plans to use it himself though.

"L-Lecan-dono. What did you just"

"<Move> magic."

"No no, that's not right. <Move> magic cannot be used on objects so far away like that."

"Really? File your complaint to my mentor."

"Who would be your magic mentor?"

"That's a secret."

"I can't file a complaint then."

"By the way, which parts of Octocular Great Spider sell."

<TLN: Previously Eighteyed Great Spider.>

"Those eye patterns especially. Its entire abdomen's membrane also sell for a good price. Its head and legs can be used to make armor. And of course its thread can be sold as well. The quality of lesser variant's thread is the same as the original. It fetches a nice price. However, getting your hand on it is an arduous task. Its venom sac commands a premium as well."

"Fumu. I'll see how it goes next. Eda, you stay put. Watch closely."

"I got it."

Lecan walked down a cavity next to this one.

An Octocular Great Spider inside came attacking when he got close to it.

It launched its assault while erratically moving its legs and mouth all over.

Lecan himself just kept effortlessly dodging the spider's assault without drawing his sword.

When the spider raised its leg up high, the height of the leg's tip easily exceeded three times Lecan's stature. A swung from that height would pulverize even rocks.

That said, for a battle-hardened adventurer like Lecan, this degree of attacks is nothing to fear of.

The spider's onslaught at Lecan was not unlike a dance performance.

Right as both the spider's left forelegs intensely struck each other, it swiftly twisted its body stretching out its mouth, with vibrating jaws, it made a headlong rush forward in an attempt to bite Lecan off. Or so it looked like, instead it twisted itself and tried to lock Lecan between its two right forelegs.

When even that attack got easily dodged, the spider raised its upper half with the support of its four hind legs before jumping forward to flatten Lecan.

When it found out that even that didn't work, it spun around 180 degree and shot thread out of its rear.

There's no lag time like with Spotted Spiders. Thread flew out the moment it reared its ugly butt. And the thread didn't fly straight, but spread out in all directions. Getting into the slightest contact with the thread would have Lecan stuck in the sticky web, yet he dodged it like he was slipping by.

This dance between the spider and Lecan continued on for a while.

Lecan eventually drew <Sword of Rusk> and cut off four of the spider's hind legs on both sides.

The spider totteringly turned around, aimed its rear at Lecan lifted its rear with four of its forelegs and shot out thread.

Lecan sheathed his sword and dodged the thread.

Eventually, quantity of shot thread decreased.

"<Flame Arrow>!"

A heat spell Lecan shot out of his forefinger twisted and changed its trajectory above the spider before landing on its heart located above its abdomen.

(It's true.)

(By sending forth your mana and using it as a probe.)

(You can clearly tell where the heart is.)

(But to think I would be taught by Eda.)

"<Move>."

After collecting the magic stone, Lecan waited for the thread to lose its stickiness before climbing up the slope.

"Are you by any chance, a magic swordsman?"

"I'm an adventurer."

"Master Lecan. Didn't your <Flame Arrow> twist back then?"

"Quit it with that master thing."

"I understand. Lecan-san."

"Arios-kun. Wasn't it 'Lecan-dono'?"

"Since that would make me overlap with Heles-san, I will have to refrain for the time being."

"What's up with that."

"Eda."

"Yes."

"How do you think that spider moved?"

"It's got several attack patterns. Either by attacking with its right two forelegs, or its two left forelegs or its mouth. And lastly, it shoots out thread from its butt."

"Hm. Then how would you go about defeating one?"

"I'll do it like Lecan did, I'll cut off its four hind legs, then I just gotta kill it once it's done shooting web."

"How do you defeat one if you fight together with Arios?"

"Think Imma lure the spider forward, then Arios-kun can cut its hind legs from behind."

"How do you finish it off."

"I can't kill that magic beast if I have to fight alone and without my bow. But if I'm with Arios-kun, I just gotta jump up high and attack its heart. Or I could also lure it from behind and Arios-kun can attack its head."

"Alright. Go with that. Arios."

"Yes."

"Try killing one together with Eda. Get as many mats as you can."

"Understood."

<TLN: Catch the latest updates and edits at Sousetsuka.com >

"The battle itself was easy, but stripping those mats off it was so much work."

"That's just how it is."

"The <Box> Heles-san got us is running out of space, you know."

"Forgive me. I never imagined it would be used to store entire bodies."

"My <Box> still has a lot of room available."

"Arios-dono."

"Yes."

"That's quite a nice sword you have got there."

"That it is."

"Would you let me see it."

"I'm sorry. I refuse."

"I see. No well, I fully understand. To a swordsman, their sword is not something that can be easily entrusted to someone else."

"It's exactly as you said."

"So you've been taught of such philosophy too."

"Well, I suppose."

"Now then, time to earn some pocket money."

"Lecan. What do you mean earn?"

"Heles."

"What can I help?"

"According to the handbook, this floor's got one Octocular Great Spider, floor 12's got two, floor 13's got three, so there's only more of them?"

"That's right. From here to floor 15, the magic beasts themselves are exactly the same, only their numbers increase."

"There's quite a lot of adventurers on this floor, what about downstairs?"

"There's less of adventurers below. Engaging multiple of those spiders in a combat only raises the risk you carry. This floor is the most popular floor because you only need to fight one at a time."

"Hou. Does that mean there's a few people on floor 15?"

"It's virtually unpopulated."

"Alright. We're heading for floor 15. Forget about mats. Just grab the magic stones."

They started excessively hunting for Octocular Great Spiders on floor 15.

Eda with <Bow of Isya>, Lecan with <Flame Arrows> kept killing the magic beasts one after another.

Arios and Heles would alternately retrieve magic stones from magic beasts Eda defeated.

Lecan retrieved his magic stones by using <Move> from above.

Heles quickly threw the towel.

Climbing up a slope wearing armor is quite tasking. And Eda is killing magic beasts at fast pace.

"You're useless."

"Haa, haa. E-easy, f, for you to say, haa, haa."

"Lecan. Don't say that. Heles-san has her good points too, I'm telling you."

"Where."

"Hmm, lesse. She knows so much about magic beasts!"

Heles said this floor was virtually unpopulated, however, there was actually one other party hunting here. That party did their hunt by having an archer shoot out cursed arrows from above, then two spear-users would go down the cavity to finish the spiders off, and then two swordsmen would retrieve magic stones and carve out mats.

Ordinarily, you wouldn't know this since they were far apart. Lecan only found out thanks to his special ability.

That party seemed puzzled at how Lecan's group were doing things, but since they ran out of cursed arrows, they went back.

"Ah."

"What's wrong, Eda."

"Something popped up."

A treasure chest showed up. There's a dagger inside.

"<Appraisal>"

"What? You can even use <Appraisal>, Lecan-dono?"

"As expected of Master."

<Name: Dagger of Svers.>

<Type: Dagger.>

<Grace: Paralyze Buff.>

※ Foes wounded by this dagger may get paralyzed with a certain chance

"This thing's unusable. To the sell bin it goes."

"So so? What kind of dagger is it?"

"It has a set chance to paralyze the enemy it damages."

"Ooh. Must be <Dagger of Svers>. That ability works even on Octocular Great Spiders on floor 31 and below. You throw the dagger at them, then they'll get paralyzed if you're lucky."

"What's the success rate."

"I think it's one in five. You'd want to use more than one, ideally several daggers."

"Who needs such unreliable stuff. Sell this thing off."

By the end, they got three medium red potions, and two medium blue potions. And a lot of magic stones. They defeated giant variants twice to create a <Mark>.

"Alright. We're done with today's exploration. Heles."

"Umu."

"Sorry, but you go sell that dagger and mats. Take Eda with you."

"Got it."

"Eda."

"Yes."

"Split the money for all four of us."

"I got it. Should I buy a bow with the money?"

"No. Don't buy one yet. Keep using <Bow of Isya> as long as you can for now. Some nice bows could pop up if we're lucky."

"Got it."

It was already nighttime when they were out.

"Let's have a meal before going back to inn. Selling stuff will be for tomorrow. We're taking a full break tomorrow. The day after tomorrow, we're diving in first thing in the morning. I plan to explore for three to five days, make sure you're ready."

"Three to five days? No. Very well. I'd like to sell the mats ASAP. Do you mind if I do that now?"

"Are there any shop open at this hour?"

"There are some."

"Go on then. We're going on ahead to <Jade's Restaurant>."

"We'll be off, Lecan."

"Yea."

That day, Lecan didn't drink much, ate a bit and went back to sleep.

Heles had moved to their inn the day after she was let in the party. All while complaining about how cheap their inn was when they would eat at such a nice restaurant.