Vol. 1 - Ch. 16 - Rare Monster [Part 1]

Similar to the previous day, Ash was ascending the Blue Tower with Clara.In order to obtain an Attribute Enhancement Stone they’d decided on a hunting ground and simply killed monsters.

With this idea in mind, they remained on the 8th Floor for a while, but given that there were no signs of the stone dropping, they decided to go up to the 9th Floor.

"They really don’t want to drop…"

Ash muttered as he pulled out the stiletto from a Sahuagin’s head. Clara, who had been following behind him, let out a disgusted "Ew…" and took an exaggerated step away from the crumpled Sahuagin.

"This is how it usually is." Clara explained.

"But I got one on my first day here."

"I’m sure you just got lucky."

As they proceeded through the narrow passageway, fending off the monsters, they saw a room in the back.

While hiding behind the wall at the entrance, they sneaked a peek inside to check.

The room was much wider than anything up to this point.

However, the noteworthy thing wasn’t the room’s size, but rather its flooring.

Here and there were square regions that had been cut out and were filled with water.

Although there was a straight path to the gate in the back of the room, the other footholds were irregularly cut and seemed to be very difficult to fight on.

"Whoa. One wrong step and we’re done for…" Clara exclaimed.

"You should've brought your swimsuit." Ash joked.

"I’m not falling so it’s fine!"

From the looks of it, there were five Sahuagin waiting for them.

They were opponents Ash had beaten many times before.

As long as he fought normally they wouldn’t pose a threat.

"I’m going. Come in once I finish cleaning them up." Ash said.

"Be careful."

"Of course!"

Ash pulled out his two daggers, held them in a reverse grip in each hand, and rushed forward.

The Sahuagin waiting for him were spread out with three in the front and one on either side. The two on the left and right were the first to notice Ash, and they thrust their spears out from both sides. Ash dived under the spears feet first and slid past them.

As he did, the three monsters in front were waiting for him with their spears outstretched. He quickly slammed the soles of his feet into the floor and leapt without killing his momentum. Twisting his body, he circled behind the Sahuagin and slaughtered two of them as soon as he landed. The remaining one immediately turned around, rearing its spear, but Ash eliminated it after getting down to the floor to evade the attack.

Now only the two on the sides remained. As Ash prepared to intercept them, he heard a bubbling sound coming from somewhere. He followed the source of the sound and found bubbles appearing from the water near his left foot.

Just as he managed to figure out what this all meant, a Sahuagin came flying out of the water.

(It must have been hiding there the whole time.)

The enemy was pointing its spear at Ash, but Ash had no intention of receiving an attack that had falling momentum behind it.

He threw himself to the side and avoided the spear without any difficulty. After the falling Sahuagin’s attack missed completely, it ended up joining the two from earlier. It stood by their side, forming a line.

Suddenly, another bubbling sound appeared, however, this time it was from behind.

(There were more?!)

As Ash exclaimed inwardly, two more Sahuagin appeared from the water on either side.

"Just how many are there?!"

He was in a pincer attack, with monsters from his left, right and back.

In addition, the three Sahuagin from earlier attacked from the front, ready to lay down their lives.

It would be hard for Ash to make a clean escape.

(In this case…)

He raised his swordbreaker vertically and wedged it between the trident coming straight at him. After which he pushed forward.

As he moved forward, he stabbed the Sahuagin on the right with the stiletto in his right hand. However, in return, the Sahuagin on the left clawed at his left arm.

"Argh!"

The wound was quite deep.

In no time at all, the sensation in his left arm faded, and Ash let go of the swordbreaker.

The spear, finally free from its lock, struck straight at him.

Ash ducked to evade the attack and stabbed the Sahuagin in the front to death.

With his left arm hanging slack, he immediately turned around and confronted the remaining four.

"Ash!"

"Don’t come!"

Ash responded to Clara's voice, which came from behind him, from the entrance side.

Immediately after, his left arm was enveloped in white light.

The burning heat eased, and the pain receded.

(She must have used Heal. I’m thankful, but…)

"Get back right now! There are probably more!"

"What?"

One new Sahuagin popped up from the water square right next to Clara.

Before the falling water could settle the Sahuagin thrust its spear at Clara.

Her body moved on its own, and Clara somehow wedged her staff between the trident’s tips.

However, she couldn’t hold against the momentum and fell backwards.

"Ahhh!"

"Hold on for a bit!" Ash exclaimed.

He turned his back towards the four enemies and ran.

Even now, Clara was steadily being pushed down.

At this rate, the Sahuagin would pierce her throat before Ash could get there.

With his free left hand Ash swung his whip and flicked the Sahuagin which was pushing down on Clara.

Clara got up in a hurry and began to pound the now fallen Sahuagin repeatedly with her staff. It might have seemed overkill, however, it ended up paying out as the Sahuagin eventually disappeared.

Clara had somehow escaped for the time being.

Ash turned around and headed for the remaining Sahuagin.

As long as no surprise attacks came his way, he could easily deal with the four enemies.

Using his whip he broke their balance and then finished them off with the stiletto one by one.

After eventually taking care of all of them, Ash picked up his fallen swordbreaker and headed towards Clara.

Her breathing was quite rough, indicating that she was likely frightened.

"It’s fine now. They're all taken care of."

"S-Sorry… I shouldn't have come out."

"It's thanks to it that I managed to get off with only minimal injuries. Thanks." Ash tried to cheer her up, but Clara's expression remained dark.

"I’m really hopeless."

"Clara?" S~ᴇaʀᴄh the n0vᴇl(ꜰ)ire.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

"Ash, you're really amazing. You can clear a whole flock of monsters by yourself, and you even got to the 10th Floor all alone. But no matter how great you are, if I'm with you, I’ll only end up dragging you down…"

"Don't say any more. There’ll be no going back for you if you do."

Although Clara stopped talking, her emotions didn't seem to disappear.

Her lips were trembling, indicating that she wanted to get it all out.

"Are you worried because they told you that besides your Heal you're useless?"

"How do you know that?"

"I heard about it last night from a friend at the pub."

"So you heard…" Clara's face became tense, and she looked down.

"I didn't mean to poke my nose… I'm sorry."

"It's fine. Actually, I was going to tell you about it, Ash. But then I got scared and couldn't get it out."

Ash had already felt that was the case.

That's why he'd gone out of his way to get the information in such a roundabout way.

Clara squeezed her staff.

"I’ve always been a bit of a klutz. If I try to do more than one thing at a time my head gets all mixed up."

"It’s rare to find someone who doesn’t." Ash chuckled.

"But I think that Healers should be able to do it. What would happen if I can’t Heal when I need to… It’ll be the same as the time when someone on my team got seriously hurt because of me…"

(She’s probably talking about when she challenged the Red Tower’s 10th Floor with Darrion’s team. I heard they’d failed, but I didn’t hear anything about someone getting seriously injured. Though, you can cure almost anything with Magic, so as long as they didn’t die it’s fine. The problem right now is Clara.)

Ash was certain that the fear of failure had etched itself into her.

"It’s their fault for not taking care of the monsters that were headed for you, isn’t it?" Ash asked.

"They had their hands full with the monsters in front of them. Besides, it’s the Healer that holds the team’s lives in their hands. I can't be the one making excuses."

Ash understood her point of view, but she was taking on too much.

"If it were me I’d definitely go to help. However, there are times when that help might not come in time. In such cases you should put your well-being before healing. Like I already told you, you’re not alone, so don’t get too worked up, okay?"

"Okay." Clara nodded slowly and finally relaxed.

Ash was relieved, but at the same time, something was nagging at the back of his mind. However, he could not find the cause immediately and could only put it aside for the time being.

"Now then, let’s switch gears and continue forward."

As he said that and prepared to walk away, Ash noticed something strange in one of the water squares in the room’s corner. It was an underwater passageway that seemed to lead out of the room.