Volume 2 - CH 12

“JIJIJIJIJIJIJIJI!”

The Rock Centipede crawled between the boulders, heading in our way at a tremendous speed.

“Aah, that’s really gross after all….that many legs….ugh”

Luce muttered after staring at the legs of the Rock Centipede.

“As we discussed, I’ll be counting on you, Luce.”

“Y-yes!”

I readied my shield and crouched down in place.

Luce kicked off from the ground and jumped on top of my shield.

“[Shield Bash]!”

I launched Luce high up in the air with my shield.

Luce jumped over the head of the Rock Centipede coming straight for us and landed on its body.

Yes, that’s the biggest weakness of the Rock Centipede.

It doesn’t really have an easy way of attacking enemies on its back.

That pointlessly long length of its huge body is a serious disadvantage.

“Well then, I need to do my part by buying some time too.”

While I turned around and started running away from the Rock Centipede, I kept an eye out for Luce, keeping tabs on how she was doing.

While running, Luce jumped parallel to the ground and started rapidly spinning.

“[Stunt Barrage]!”

Her knife started quickly carving up the body of the Rock Centipede.

She managed to deliver a magnificent three hit barrage, causing liquid to spurt out of the body of the Rock Centipede.

“JII, JIJIJIJIJIJIII!”

The Rock Centipede let out a sound akin to a scream.

Normally, there is not a single Dream Lord that would simply take all three hits from [Stunt Barrage] without even being able to hit back.

However, due to its huge body, the Rock Centipede has no choice but to suffer all direct hits from an enemy on top of its back.

In addition to that, it cannot even fight back properly thanks to it not having a suitable way to attack there.

“One more time! [Stunt Barrage]!”

“JIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIIJJIIIH!”

Further liquid escaped the Rock Centipede’s body.

――――――――――――――――――――

Monster: Rock Centipede

Level: 60

HP: 69/156

MP: 71/71

――――――――――――――――――――

She hit it cleanly with all six blows.

The Rock Centipede’s HP was below half already.

It all went as planned so far.

“Good, Luce! Like we planned, get off of it for now!”

“Yes!”

Luce kicked off from the back of the Rock Centipede and landed on top of a nearby boulder to escape.

The footing was pretty unstable there, but for Luce, who had the [Acrobatic Steps], even the ceiling could be counted as stable footing suitable for even running on.

Without slowing down, she put a large distance between the Rock Centipede and herself by running on top of the boulders.

“JIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIIIH!”

The Rock Centipede suddenly slowed down, turned its body on its side, then started writhing in place for a while.

After a few seconds, the Rock Centipede got back up and sent a searching gaze at its surroundings.

“JIIIIIIIIIIIIIH!”

A magic circle appeared around its head.

Countless rock projectiles were launched, targeting Luce’s back.

It was the Rock Centipede’s Magic Skill, [Rock Blast].

It was fast, consisted of a lot of projectiles, and it packed quite a punch.

A terrifying attack Skill of the Rock Centipede.

….or that would be true, only if this wasn’t the deepest part of the Centipede Pit, which was riddled with obstacles.

After Luce escaped by running on the wall, she quickly retreated into the shadow of a boulder.

The Rock Centipede kept peppering the boulder which Luce hid behind with its [Rock Blast] for a time, but it stopped its attack in short order.

The Rock Centipede glared at the boulder hiding Luce, but soon after it turned its gaze away and started running towards me.

It wouldn’t be able to catch up to Luce, who is focusing on running away.

Seeing how light Luce was on her feet just now, the Rock Centipede must’ve realized this just now too.

Based on their stats, the Rock Centipede should be faster than Luce.

However, in this place filled with obstacles everywhere, Luce, with her ability to move however she wants by the help of [Acrobatic Steps], the huge body of the Rock Centipede would never be able to catch up.

The Rock Centipede is fatally unsuited for this type of terrain.

If people had to fight this monster somewhere not filled with this many boulders, then it would’ve been feared as one of the more terrifying Dream Lords.

Ah, maybe having the ability to deal with people getting on its back and spamming barrage type Skills should be the most important change first.

In the game, it was frequently encouraged by players by saying something like ‘please do your best a bit more as a Dream Lord, there is no challenge here’.

“JIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIJI!”

The Rock Centipede chased after me.

Unlike Luce I can’t run on vertical surfaces and my speed stat is quite low too.

As one would expect, I can’t shake it off by simply running away.

I would get caught and ground up by its giant maw.

Of course, that’s only if I just kept running without any plan.

This place had a lot of rocky obstacles.

I kept in mind the placement of every rock and chose a route that included as many long and narrow boulders as I could, so that the long body of the Rock Centipede would get entangled.

“JIH!?”

The movements of the Rock Centipede that was chasing me was notably disrupted.

Its body joints got caught on some rocks.

It once again sped up to pursue me, but its body was once again rattled on the way.

By using this method, even a Heavy Knight can comfortably shake off the Rock Centipede.

Although if you make a mistake in tripping up the monster on those boulders, then it would catch up to you real fast, so practice is important.

And during the time I kept running around the same place, Luce also managed to rendezvous back with me.

“I can jump anytime, Elma-san!”

“Good, then we’ll take it down here.”

Just like before, I used [Shield Bash] to launch Luce onto the back of the Rock Centipede.

Luce flew over the head of the Rock Centipede, landed on its body, then started swinging her knife while dashing around.

“[Stunt Barrage]! [Stunt Barrage]!”

Just like last time, she used her 3-hit barrage Skill two times in succession.

The Rock Centipede bled a poisonous looking liquid once again.

Its innumerable legs stopped moving, then it fell to the floor.

It still kept moving due to inertia, digging a groove in the ground, but after a few more minor twitches, it stopped moving altogether.

【You have gained 2379 experience points.】

【Your level has increased from 49 to 54.】

【You have gained 5 Skill points.】

We managed to safely defeat the Dream Lord, the Rock Centipede.

Everything went smoothly and according to plan.

It was a monster with an easy to understand weakness, and more importantly, we had a Skill that was able to take advantage of that weakness.

“Maybe it’s thanks to the method we used to defeat it, but….I think that the Mythril Golem was stronger in comparison.”

Luce expressed her sentiments with a wry smile.