Vol. 7 - Ch. 351 - Trial run of Karua's new equipment and Rare Monster appeared!

"Haaa! <Sweep>! <Swallow Return>!""Gah!?"

"Hn, this is your end. <Twin Cat's Swipe>!"

"Ga!? Garrr......"

Following the counterattack from Rika's defense skill which knocked-back the monster, stunning it, Karua chained downward slash with her dual dagger, depleting monster's HP to 0 as it vanished into light particles.

"Great work, Karua. How do you feel?"

"Hn. That's really amazing. It is as if they are a part of my body."

"That's good then."

I asked Karua how the new equipment felt, to which she replied with an unusually cheerful expression, rare for her to do.

We are currently at one of the Int-low, <Fallen Tree Forest Dungeon>, for the test-run of Karua's equipment.

When it comes to trying equipment, what could be a better place than a dungeon? And so, we came straight here from the Marie-senpai store after having the armor set adjusted.

Though, on our way, we once again met with the attendant duo and slightly pale-faced Lana and received such a suggestion from Shizu.

"I might have scolded Lana-sama a bit too harshly. So, if Zephyr-sama is planning to head to the dungeon, can you bring Lana-sama along with you?"

She said so and left Lana in our care, and now there are five of us in the dungeon.

Did something happen? Maybe it would be better for me to not probe too much.

Also, where did Celestine go?

Speaking of, I somehow managed to avoid being branded guilty by Sierra back at the <Emblem Seat Sticker> guild. It was daunting to coax her and get her to stop at just stern glare. Phew, that was so close.

"<So-Nya>! Hn, next prey, there." (T/N - I am assuming it’s sonar something skill. Just ‘nar’ replaced with ‘nya’, since Karua is a cat beastkin.)

"Ah, slow down Karua. Let's go together."

Karua was using monster search skill <So-nya> to look for monsters and it seems like she has found one as she quickly ran towards that direction with upbeat steps. She is really excited to have new equipment.

Even Lana, who was having a pale face until a while ago, has completely regained her complexion after entering into the dungeon. She was probably worried that Karua would rush ahead, so she signaled her to wait and decided to go along together.

She is surprisingly a caring person. Well, it should be fine to leave Karua to Lana.

"I will play as a tank next. Rika, can you be the attacker?"

"Understood. The timing of the monster's attack in this dungeon is quite slow. Nevertheless, be careful about their whip attacks, they can be tricky to handle."

"Alright."

Behind me, Sierra asked Rika to switch the role.

With two competent tanks, either of them could do the job, but while Sierra is a main tank, Rika can also handle a fair amount of attacking. Hence, if Rika plays as tanks, Sierra might end up having nothing to do.

Efficiency-wise, it would be better if Sierra took the role of tank and Rika acted as an attacker or sub-tank.

However, it seemed that Sierra's luck was just bad today as she would most likely be not having her turn for the next monster as well.

"Hnn, Zephyr. It has a golden color."

"What!?"

I was first puzzled at Karua who suddenly took a U-turn and returned back to where we were as she said that.

Golden color; the lucky color signifying a rare monster.

I love the color gold!

"Everyone, stay quiet. So Karua, where is it?"

"Hn, there."

I swiftly instructed everyone to not make a sound as I asked Karua the location of the monster in a hushed voice.

Gold color in the middle of the field could only mean a rare monster. Seems like it is our lucky day.

However any noise could alert and cause the monster to escape so we need to act as stealthily as possible.

Other members also know this fact very well.

Fufufu, just you wait, I will make sure you don't have nowhere to escape. S~ᴇaʀᴄh the Nʘvᴇl(F)ire.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

"Lana, are you still here?"

"Karua, Zephyr, I am here."

We approached Lana who was crouching in the grass to hide herself.

It seems like both her and Karua spotted the rare monster at the same time, so Lana stayed there to keep an eye while sending Karua to where we were to inform us.

I turned my gaze to where Lana pointed out, and there it was, a monster with its whole body shining in the golden light.

It had a bulb-like body with two legs, and twin leaf buds on its head that fluttered around.

Its size was about as big as my knee, it was quite a small-size plant type monster.

If I have to summarize my feeling, it has a kind of adorableness, like a mascot monster, that instinctively made me want to not 'defeat it'.

<Fallen Tree Forest Dungeon> is a dungeon dominated by plant type monsters, and the name of that monster is <Gopips>.

It is one of the mascot characters of <Dungeon Activity>, multitudes of the player even spammed the game developers with their inquiries of couldn't they have given it a more cuter name. (Just kidding, there is another official mascot character).

On this note, a certain painting featuring <Sachineko-sama> and <Gopips> together secretly holds the fifth place in the <Unofficial Cherished Art Ranking> as voted by players.

Now, we are going to defeat that rare monster!

"Say, isn't that cute?"

I was about to take action but the gaze Lana was giving me.

'Because it's cute...... because it's cute, what do you want to say?' so I spoke.

"I, It's cute... so w-what?"

My voice slurred between. I think it was already great I managed to say it well.

"I wonder if we can take it home?"

"............"

She said it, she want to take it back home.

I pondered for a moment, and quickly dropped the idea. Eden doesn't have any members with <Monster Tamer> category jobs. So it's impossible to take it back with us.

"Give up."

"Zephyr?"

"I am saying give up."

What to do. Lana's gaze is extremely serious.

Don't give up yet, me. I need to persuade her calmly somehow.

Just as I was wrecking my brain, someone come to rescue,

It was <Eden> ever reliable sub guild-master Sierra!

"Your Highness Lana. Actually, I have more fascinating information at my hand. Please look at it."

"What is it?"

Sierra seems to be checking the quest section on the notice board in her <Smartphone>.

She opens up one of the quests and shows it to Lana.

"Lately, there have been quests asking for the drop from a rare monster right in front of you for big rewards. Quest rewards is 20,000 QP. There is also an additional reward it seems which is the plushie of that rare monster."

"What are we waiting for, let's hunt it down!"

Lana immediately took a backflip from her previous words.

Wait, isn't that the same large-scale quest Philis-sensei had spoken about in the classroom!? I am surprised it hasn't been over yet.

And the additional reward includes an unnecessarily cute <Gopipps> plushie. Crap, it even says 'limited stock'.

I quickly take a look at Lana, and sure enough, her eyes were shining and I swear I could even see the word 'hunt' literally in them. She looked ready to fire her spells at any moment.

Hold on your horses, Lana.

"Calm down, Lana. It's okay to hunt, it's fine. But spells are ineffective against rare monsters."

I did explain it before, but it seems like she needs to be explained again huh.

Rare monsters generally have lower HP, but this is compensated by their <Magic Immunity>.

It's impossible for her to take down rare monsters irrespective of how much display of magic she put up.

I guess she must have remembered about the previous incident, as her expression changes to that of urgency.

"Isn’t it awful then, Zephyr? we don't have Hannah!"

Lana shouted in a stifled voice.

I can understand her feeling, we don't have Hannah with us today. I also don't have much confidence in snipping it with an attack item either.

Last time, it was Hannah who took down the rare monster <Golden Topple> in one shot.

This means attack items are out of equation this time. Furthermore, despite how it looks, <Gossip> is faster than Karua. Once we miss it, it's almost impossible to encounter it once again.

But that's not a problem. We still have a reliable member this time.

"Relax, Lana. Karua, can you do it?"

"Easily. Just leave it to me."

Karua says with confidence.

Normally, it would have been harder for Karua to keep the rare monster from escaping, however her job is <Star Cat>, super specializing in speed. It's not just about having high AGI. Its skill possessed incomparable might to not put a shame on the name of a high-ranking job.

"Then, I am off. Unique skill <Number One - Sonic Star> activate!"

Instantly, Karua's outline blurred and before I could figure out anything, her figure had disappeared from the spot.

"Kyun!?"

Following that, I heard the death cry of the rare monster.

There was basically nothing that could contend against Karua's unique skill.