CH 161

"Jigagagaga!!" (Monster voice)

"Hurray! We have a rare boss to grab!"

It's boss round 2!!

The effect splendidly piled up this time when I used [Rare Monster Summoning Flute (Boss only)].

The monster this time was a doll wearing an exorcist costume, with long white hair extending till it's waist, a kabuki face¹, riding a segway with a fan on it's each hand.

The rare boss of <Tsukumo² Bamboo Forest Dungeon>, the <Shaman Marionette>.

Well, the probability of summoning it is 70%, after all.

I swear for a moment I felt as if <Giant Bamboo Doll> had turned into a rare boss and beckoned me, saying "Let's have a rematch", but it must've been my imagination. Yeah, it should be so.

"Move as we have discussed earlier! And pay attention to the stray bullets lest you get hit by them, their magic power is extremely high! Especially you, Hannah, evade even if you have to roll down!"

"I know!"

Due to the effect of <Magical Spell - Switch>, Hannah's RES status has changed back to its default value. I fear even a light strike would be enough to shave off her HP to a dangerous level. I have reinforced her defense as much as I can, but if I'm being honest, it's barely enough to prevent the worst case scenario.

"Jijijiji一一一"

"<Aura Point>!"

Sierra made a move first, pulling the <Shaman Marionette> aggro who began to move towards her.

<Aura Point> is the enhanced version of <Defense Stance>. A skill to firmly pull the enemy's aggro towards herself during the combat.

The <Shaman Marionette> turns toward Sierra, opens her fan and waves it towards her.

"Ji, jijiga一"

As soon as it waved the fan, three magic balls fired from the tip. It was a light attribute magic, the <Triple Light Ball>. A mid-grade low rank magic.

"Don't avoid it!"

Earlier in our strategy meeting, we had decided to first check what kind of damage a mid rank boss can rack on Sierra without using any of her skill.

She's completely devoid of any buff support right now as I didn't ask for Lana to cast <Everlasting Demon's Blessing>.

Considering it's just the beginning, requirements were ripe.

The magic <Triple Light Ball> clashes against Sierra's <Kite Shield> in multi-hit.

"...... I see. It's certainly impactful."

Sierra might have muttered it only to herself but I was able to hear it just as well. It seems the attack strength holds quite the punch, enough to push back Sierra slightly. Though her HP didn't seem to be affected at all.

Oh-ho, as expected of our Bastion Sierra.

"Should we act now, Sierra?"

"Ah, yes. I've made you wait, Your Highness Lana."

"Let's go then! <Lion's Blessing> and <Everlasting Demon's Blessing>!"

"Let's go! Let's chase after him. Support is up to you, Hannah. Ester, let's go!"

"Ok! I'll do my best!"

"Leave it to me!"

"Jigaaa!"

Ester and I dashed off in the opposite directions.

The strategy was simple一 literally corner the boss to the wall. The <Shaman Marionette>'s movement speed is high due to her riding on a segway and it's also hard to approach her because of the setting "the more you try to approach, the more the boss will distance itself".

However, there's also a tactic to reverse its pattern and drive the marionette to the wall by purposely distancing yourself until you get her to the desired position.

It's a recommended strategy, since it's not tough to drive her into one place as long as two people cooperate. The only problem was you'll be more exposed to its attack, so it's necessary to tank on his attacks.

"Jigaaa!"

"Evade! There's no need to face it head on, Sierra!"

"I know---- <Shield Protection>!"

As we tried to corner her, the <Shaman Marionette> fired AoE light balls, a ranged type attack magic, <32 Consecutive Light Balls>.

We focused on avoiding while following stray bullets dealt by Sierra. Rana's RES value is devilishly high so I don't need to worry about her, but Hannah needed to be kept an eye on.

<Shield Protection> is a defense skill focused on swift interruption. Sierra, being agile at aiming, quickly interrupted the oncoming attacks and protected her.

The <Shaman Marionette> who was seemingly disgusted by our continuous advances while avoiding the attacks, retreated back even more and once again swung down its fan.

"Jijijijigagagagaga---!!"

The magic this time was a full area burst magic, <Light Wave>. It was an inescapable wide AoE attack without any gaps, so the only thing we can do is try to endure this wave if attacked.

"Ester, quick! Take the defense stance! Avoid being knocked down at any cost! <Defense>!"

"Got it!"

"Sierra, support!"

"<Induction Cover>."

Induction cover is a range guided defense.

It belongs to the <Protection> skill on the upper tree of <Shield Protection>. It's an outstanding skill which pulls all the attacks towards the caster and defends allies from attacks. As for the price, the damage the caster receives will be multiplied but some of it will be cut, since it's a defensive skill.

<Light Wave> attack was rapidly gathered towards Sierra, to the point that it didn't even reach the rear guard. Reliable Sierra, as always. An optimum skill was chosen!

Though Ester and I still received slight damage, being out of the range of Sierra's <Induction Cover> as we're chasing down the marionette, the damages were reduced plenty thanks to her outstanding defensive power, and we weren't affected that much.

"I'm going to heal now, <Healing Prayer>! <Heaven's Mercy>!"

"I'm backing you up! <Flare Lance>!"

Lana's <Heaven's Mercy> is a mid-grade continuous AoE healing magic. It should be able to heal the damage we received in ten seconds or so.

Hannah's <Flare Lance> leaped towards the <Shaman Marionette>, who stopped its attacks temporarily to avoid it.

"Can you move, Ester?"

"Yes, I'm all right."

"Okay, let's go!"

Ester continues to move forward without backing down despite the massive damage she took earlier. Tagging will change if we back down now. It would be impossible to get support at our position and we would have to start from zero again, even though we are finally driving the boss into the corner.

We resumed our advances under Lana's healing, and after dealing with various attacks, we finally managed to corner him.

"Jijiga!?"

Caught off handed, the <Shaman Marionette> fell down after colliding into the wall.

Now's the opportunity!

"Magic group, commence long range attack immediately! <Lightning Burst>!"

"<Holy Light Sword>! <Light Blade>! <Light Pillar>! <Rise of the Sacred Tree>!"³

"<Fireball>! <Flare Lance>! <Ice Lance>! <Fireball>!"

"Jijigaga!?"

The incessant magic downpour finally managed to deal massive damage to the <Shaman Marionette>.

"Sierra, Ester!"

"Understood!"

"I will not let it escape. <Shield Protection>!"

Ester and I shut off its escape route, while Sierra uses a defense skill from quick interruption to move and pin the <Shaman Marionette> down from front. She was able to catch up quickly as the rear guard gradually advanced.

She broke out in a dash as soon as the <Shaman Marionette> fell down to the ground and we managed to surround her safely.

Now it's my turn to end this.

"Jijiji!?"

"<Induction Cover>!"

The marionette tried to invoke the full area burst spell <Light Wave> as a last resort, which was the standard pattern used by the <Shaman Marionette> when being surrounded.

I had informed Sierra beforehand to use <Induction Cover> as soon as the marionette was surrounded. Everything went as planned, and the full area burst spell was pulled through by Sierra, leaving the <Shaman Marionette> full of gaps.

"Now. <Braveheart>, <Brave Slash>!"

"<Triple strike>! <Quick lightning thrust>!"

"Jigaaa!?"

The second unique skill of [Brave]⁴; <Braveheart>. I have only used it once in the battle but the buff it provided was tremendous. There couldn't be any better chance than now to use it.

"Wah! Hang on, Sierra, I'm going to heal you <Mega Heal Blessing>!"

Sierra, who pulled the full burst spell, was almost shaved half of her HP. Lana, who was surprised to see that, immediately healed her by using high rank recovery magic.

I don't need to worry about them, it seems.

The development afterwards was just a one sided massacre. Without the mobility of a segway, the corner driven <Shaman Marionette> was forced into an intense battle where we surrounded it to not let it escape, held him down to that position, even if it meant taking some damage and thoroughly continued to give her damage.

The tactic was based on the <Shaman Marionette>'s inability to use close range attacks or attacks with knockback effects by which we could have forcefully made a break with.

When the effect of <Braveheart> ended, the <Shaman Marionette>'s HP dropped to critical level, and a familiar red effect emitted from the fans she was holding.

"Incoming <Unique> attack from above! Pay attention!"

What came to my mind was the in game, the [Puppeteer Style: Giant Bamboo Ax Beheader]. It was the scene of giant axes dropping down like a meteor I had seen multiple times on screen. Though it's quite hard to imagine from my current position.

"Everyone, move as planned!"

"Jigaaaa!!"

It was the final killer technique of the <Shaman Marionette>, and also its last resort.

With the addition of rage mode due to the boss HP reaching critical points, the power of this skill has risen even further. The front lines would collapse if any of us got hit by it and at worst, we could be wiped out by an all-out attack.

<Shaman Marionette> fans turned into eight giant axes which revolved around itself as the center and then poured down incessantly one after another.

However this attack has a weak point, which is its narrow attack range due to its straight arc shaped attack pattern. In other words, this can be avoided by taking a roundabout route. Hence,

"<Sonic sword>!"

"<Lance assault>"

"<Material shield>!"

Ester and I immediately opted for agile skills used as emergency maneuvers. The split and corner strategy was successful precisely because I knew about its attack method.

The <Shaman Marionette> has stepped forward a little to initiate attacks again.

I immediately dashed in an arc, avoiding the attacks. Fortunately, Ester didn't lag behind either.

While Sierra simply withstood the onslaught of the attacks by using another defensive skill, <Material Skill>, which offers unusually high magic resistance.

"Now, <Lightning Strike>!"

"Jigagagaga!?"

My follow up two hit attack, <Lightning Strike> splendidly scored a critical hit, which has a high chance to occur when the boss has just finished using a unique skill, putting it in a stunned state.

"Now or never. Commence all out attack!"

At my cue, everyone released their strongest <Skill> and <Magic>.

"Ji, gaga...... ga..."

Finally, the <Shaman Marionette>'s HP fell down to zero and soundlessly vanished with a huge effect.

As expected, a mid-class boss was incomparable to your ordinary joe.

T/N : Hi there everyone. I will be the translator of this series from now on. As you may have read previous chapters, this is a light-hearted series focusing on dungeon exploration. Beginning with the excitement of being able to play his favourite game in reality, the desire to overthrow the reign of a troll job (Berserk) and to show the world the true splendor of <Dungeon Activity>. Follow Zephyr in his journey and how he changes the world around him.

1.  Kabuki face - referring to the face of an actor who has worn kumadori-style makeup in the kabuki play. A type of makeup which usually emphasizes one's expression in drama. (Search kabuki play etc for the image).

2.  Tsukumo - usually refers to the object that has acquired spirit. If anyone is familiar with tsugumomo anime, it's the same type as Kiriha.

3.  Some skills' names will be different. It's quite difficult for me to search each skill name in the previous raw chapter and then compare them to prev tl chapters.

4.  Brave : In contrast to prev tl, I will be referring to mc's job as brave. One of the reasons is in upcoming chapters, there will be other jobs who have "hero" word added in them. Another reason is in ch 9 or 10, where Zephyr shows his job list, there were three types of hero synonym job which should be familiar with you all, "yuusha", "eiyuu", "Hero (in katakana which usually sounds like english). Zephyr had chosen "yuusha", so I'm going with brave to make it stand out from other jobs which have "hero" words.