Episode 43.14

Lecan went on to gather a lot of Nichia grass. And as he worked on processing it while occasionally showing himself up at Goncourt Mansion to see Norma, he only got back at Rakash by the 24th of month two.

Dungeon Rakash's dormant period was ten days. Eda and Julius both challenged Dungeon Rakash after Lecan's departure, and by the time he got back to Rakash, the two had reached floor 34.

The three of them explored together on the 25th. But Lecan stayed in the back as a support this time around. Eda and Julius were nicely in sync. They easily got through many battles and defeated the dungeon boss, putting the dungeon dormant once again.

The three headed for Dungeon Rotor.

Dungeon Rotor is located right in the middle of the route between the capital and Palcimo, an 80 floor medium sized dungeon. The types of spawned magic beasts change every few floors. Structurally wise, it's similar to Dungeon Golbul. The majority of magic beasts don't group together, but every individual is powerful.

The battles are 3-on-1. They had been working together for quite some time, and Julius didn't have any bad habit, thus their formation quickly solidified. He's not as adaptable as Arios, and he tends to waver during critical junctures, however, considering his age, he's quite a potent force already. And it's clear he's been growing stronger with every battle.

Eda's growth was startling. By making use of her plentiful mana, she would unleash barrages of five magic arrows from <Bow of Yelvitz>, capable of even defeating gigantic foes.

Lecan went to try Grace Swords such as <Demon Ape Cutter>, <Demon Wolf Cutter>, <Magic Vacuum Cutter>, he got from Tsubolt in this dungeon. Grace Swords that specialize in dealing with specific magic beasts demonstrated astonishing offensive power against those beasts. It even got other effects like inhibiting the target's evasion and raising the user's accuracy.

<Magic Vacuum Cutter> possesses an effect that shave away parts of target's body while ignoring their defense, it's especially effective against sturdy enemies. It's got the downside of being incapable of dealing grave damage in one hit, but it's still a highly useful sword depending on usage.

Julius would likely exhibit terrifying destructive power had Lecan lent him such Grace Swords on specific floors. However, Lecan refrained from doing so. Letting Julius to rely on Grace Gear might distort his growth. That's concerning.

But then, Julius began struggling as they reached floor 50. The enemies on floor 50 are Odd Wood type beasts. He appeared to find it hard dealing with trees. They could have easily got through this floor if only Lecan employed either <Flame Spears>, <Withering Sword> or <Odd Wood Cutter>, but he chose not to use any of them.

"Julius! Behind you!"

Eda shot with her magic bow as she warned Julius. Julius who had launched an offensive at a Smallarm Tree (Balbaruan) could not properly dodge the root attack coming from the ground behind him despite having noticed it, and got himself coiled up in the root.

Eda immediately rained a barrage at the main body, killing the magic beast, stopping its root attack.

The sharp tip of the root had pierced through the gaps on Julius's armor. He would be languishing in pain from the venom right about now had he not got <Ring of Colshak> equipped.

"Julius. Come over here for a bit."

"Yes."

"You're capable of sensing magic beasts' attacks."

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"Yes."

"You were trying to figure out the angle of that root attack earlier."

"Yes."

"I kept telling you, magic beasts aren't humans. Humans are limited by the joints in their limbs, but roots don't have such limitations. You gotta dodge those by sight. Your father fights like he's got a third eye on his back, but that's not something you can mimic right away. You must train your eyes for now."

"Yes."

"Keep on that and you will eventually see through that magic beast's attack pattern. It's nothing like fighting humans. Keep trying to analyze them as you fight and you're dead meat sooner or later."

"Yes."

He seemed disheartened. But there's no helping that.

Afterward, they fought a few more battles, but Julius was still faltering.

Lecan who couldn't put up with it anymore lent Julius the <Odd Wood Cutter>.

Once he got the sword in his hand, Julius's moves improved significantly. Even Lecan who did the lending was surprised to see how much the boy improved just by having a sword that cut up every enemies in his path.

As he kept doing that, Julius completely acclimated himself with the way to fight Smallarm Trees. That was when Lecan took back the <Odd Wood Cutter> and gave Julius's original <Gale Sword> back, and he actually fought better with it than with the <Odd Wood Cutter>.

(I see now.)

(Trying out Grace Swords may be one way to overcome a wall.)

As enemies on later half of floor 60s were magic wolf type, Lecan fully used this chance as a rehearsal for Palcimo and let Julius dealt with all of them. But anyway, even Lecan alone could have razed through floors this easy by himself. Shows how much stronger Lecan has become.

He used <Talisman of Darkness Demon> and <Ring of Undying King> every single day. These mighty Grace Gear have fallen on his lap, he gotta make sure to know their quirks inside out. Also, making use of both these Grace Gear to completely dominate strong foes was quite exhilarating in itself.

Then one day, something odd happened. When he tried to use <Ring of Undying King> while <Talisman of Darkness Demon> was still active, both of their effects were suddenly gone. He tried again the following day. Then he shifted around the order of usage the day after. And sure enough, once he activated the second Grace, both the Graces' effects ended up getting canceled out. Looks like he cannot activate both of them at the same time.

(Is this something peculiar to only <Talisman of Darkness Demon> and <Ring of Undying King>.)

(Or does this occur with all <Genesiac Grace Gear>.)

(Gotta ask Shira once I'm back at Vouka.)

(At any rate, I need to keep in mind that even <Genesiac Grace Gear> can suddenly lose their effects without warning.)