Vol. 4 - Ch. 222 - First battle at Intermediate lower grade dungeon! A tough opponent!

“So, this is the dinosaur’s hill dungeon!...... It’s more simpler than i thought”“Yeah. I imagined something like a dense jungle”

The first one to react as she looked over the surroundings was Hannah. Following her was Lana who shares the same thought.

The reason for their disappointment was the undulating green hills, contrary to the jungle-like image that the <Jurassic Park> when you hear the name gives off.

But it's much easier to deal with dinosaur type opponents in open areas though...

After seeing that they have been accustomed to the scenery of this dungeon to a certain point, I called out to gather everyone's attention.

“If everyone is ready, shall we get going? “

“But, that’s where I would have liked you to step up and explain the difference between beginner and intermediate dungeons though, Zephyr”

“You always explain whenever we move to a new stage, so aren’t you going to explain this time too?” So ask the Sierra. Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ N0vᴇlFire(.)nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

I slightly flinched back when Sierra asked me that and also because of what happened earlier.

“A-Ah, yeah. I will explain as we move. The main difference is each layer of the intermediate dungeon is almost twice as compared to the layers of beginner dungeons. Let’s explore around as I speak, this would be more efficient”

“I see. Then please”

Sierra nodded when I proposed to talk while we moved as others were accustomed to the dungeon.

I wonder what this strange feeling bubbling inside me, I am slightly happy to see them listening to me.

First, I gave a concise lecture about the difference between Intermediate and beginner dungeons.

"Nevertheless the biggest difference is monsters use active skills a lot"

"Huh? Can monsters use skills?"

"Yeah. You have seen monsters that use skills and magic in the beginner dungeons, haven't you? It's same, just they will use them more frequently"

I explained in detail in the form of answering Hannah's question.

I don't need to say much about the skills or magic as they have first-hand experience of how unusually powerful they are. The number of monsters using intermediate skill or magic will continue to increase more and more from this point onwards.

This is the biggest reason why compatibility differs from dungeon to dungeon.

"This is why I have used the Jurassic Park dungeon as our starting point for beginning our journey to intermediate, as the miniature size dinosaur's monster that appears here can not use magic and skills too are rarely used. There's almost no traps either given the grassy plain, in other words, you will not feel any different from beginner dungeons either so it makes it possible to challenge it"

"I see. But Zezelthon-san said the monsters here are stronger?"

"That's right. The statuses of monsters here are world's apart from the monsters in other Int-low dungeons. You can say it's dungeon specialising in status. Instead, there are almost no traps and monsters rarely using skills or magic. The Dinosaur's hill dungeon is a status demanding dungeon if you want to clear it"

I explained the main gist of this dungeon while answering Sierra's query.

Monsters in Dinosaur's hill dungeon rely on their brute strength which Sierra happened to have good comparability in fighting them.

We all are a group where almost everyone has a top tiers job and are at Lv50, so there's no problem regarding the status. So you can say this is a dungeon easier to capture for current members.

Another thing is there are lots of alchemy materials to harvest for in this dungeon so I have high hopes for this point as well.

The <Gentle Shovel> that has awfully helped us until now can still be used as its skill, <Harvest>, has been raised to Lv6 with the help of <3rd order reinforcement jewel> dropped from <Cowboy Cactus>.

Originally, It was impossible to use <Gentle Shovel> outside of a beginner dungeon with its <Harvest> skill at Lv3 only but the <Gentle Harvest Series> is just that much easier to use.

Since we have to raise skill Lv, we should first raise the skill level of <Gentle harvest series> was the decision we reached unanimously after discussing it in the guild. With the skill now at Lv6, it can now be used till intermediate high grade dungeons.

"Ahh! There's a monster! Get ready for battle, everyone! <Divine Barrier>!"

Oh, we spotted a monster right away. The one who spotted it was Lana.

It's still a mystery to this day how she can spot them even earlier than me who has the Intuition skill. Not to say we're still quite far from the monster.

Anyway, Lana buffed everyone's defense with her skill given ether high status of monsters.

"They're quite fast, aren't they? It's already coming, <Guard stance>!"

The monster that appeared was like a raptor with a slim body and walking on two feets, <Torutoru>.

What's more it's a group of three. We were still quite far away when Lana spotted them; however, by the time we readied ourselves for battle, they were already too close.

"I will restrain them, <Fireball> <Flare Lance>!"

"Kreeeech"

Hannah's equipment for today is <Mana light wand>. As for <Ability Gem>, it's <Flare rod • Magic ability gem>.

She quickly made use of her magic to curb the advances of two Torutoru who were heading straight towards us and only let a single Torutoru get in our range.

"Kreech"

"!"

The single Torutoru leaped at Sierra and bashed its body against a large kite shield. Though it hardly gave any trouble to Sierra.

"Indeed, the monster is quite strong. But not an obstacle if they are strong only to this extent"

As expected of Sierra. Her words reassured us.

Well they are monsters with high status but only belong to the upper layer. They can hardly be her opponent.

It was a cakewalk for her to fend off the Torutoru who leaped at her again and knocked it down.

"<Precise thrust!>"

"Kree!?"

"Hmm, their body are slightly tough'

Ester's piercing attack bestowed the monster with a high damage but she then muttered in disappointment seeing Torutoru withstanding her the same attack which would have been enough to butcher small fry monsters.

"Remember to mix in normal attacks too, Ester. It wouldn't take long before your MP to be used up if you continue to use your skills only since monster's ability to endure is high"

"Understood!"

The combo of my and Ester's normal attack easily slaughtered the single Torutoru in no time, turned towards the Sierra who was restraining the other two Torutoru and dealt with them.

Thus ended the first battle in our win without breaking a sweat.