Volume 2 - CH 45

“It would be absurd to expect us to fight the Dream Lord in this situation! The Knight Bone is 【Lv：70】! Fighting it would be too reckless! If we can’t meet up with others, then all we can do is run away….!”

After saying that, Celt’s expression twisted.

It seems he realized it too.

“….we can’t run away. Not only is the map frequently inaccurate, but even the marked route is unfit for us right now. If we keep to that easygoing route with a bunch of detours, then it will be able to catch up to us for sure. Also, a Wandering Lord is able to track the mana of humans and go after them. And since it’s getting closer, that means it has its eyes on us already.”

If this is also something that the culprit managed to set up, then they really prepared well.

“Guh! That damn Guild….if I live through this, then I will squeeze as much reward money out of them as I can!”

Celt was holding his head.

“There is another concerning point. Celt said that he heard fast footsteps coming closer, but the Knight Bone should not be that fast. It’s a giant skeleton with high attack power as its advantage.”

“Ah….? N-now that you mention it, the footsteps I heard seemed like it belonged to some kind of four legged monster. But then, just what….”

“The Knight Bone most likely underwent an Evolution. That means that even I don’t know what we could be up against.”

“Haah!?”

Celt let out a strange amalgam of a scream and a sound of surprise.

It’s the same that happened with the Death Armed.

The Dream Lord has undergone an Evolution.

The best course of action is to avoid Evolutions.

“I-If a Dream Lord that was already 【Lv：70】 to begin with underwent an Evolution, then it’s impossible for us to do something about it!”

….it should be around 【Lv：85】 at this point.

I just finally became 【Lv：66】.

Normally, it’s not an opponent we could take on.

However, I have [Relentless Vigor] and [Half-Dead Savage Dragon].

“Thankfully, thanks to Celt, we were informed of its existence beforehand. I will tell you two about everything Luce and I can do. I hope you can do the same and reveal your Status to us. After that, let me think up a strategy with that in mind to take down the Dream Lord with my guidance.”

I signal Luce with a glance.

Luce nodded back in confirmation.

“Wha-….! For an adventurer, their Status is their lifeline! If the details on everything you can and can’t do gets leaked, then you won’t be able to find a proper party anymore! They will just order you around as they please and you won’t be able to do anything about it! A party is just playing at getting along and not a true team! That’s common sense in La Colina…..!”

Hiding details about yourself like that was simply impossible when this was a game, but in this world the spread of information is very limited.

Any half-hearted information sharing could backfire instead by leading to misunderstandings.

And since the Death Penalty is death itself, it’s a pretty big taboo to attempt a fight where you might lose.

There is no sugarcoating it.

When the worst comes to worst, everyone’s first priority is for themselves to escape, even if they are the only ones that do.

“W-we can’t win against something like that! It’s on an entirely different level from a Patchwork! We won’t even be able to put a scratch on it by ourselves!”

“I have a Skill that can deal damage to it. If you manage to create an opening for me, then I will be able to take down the Dream Lord for sure.”

Heavy Knights can deal damage to opponents on a much higher level than themselves.

That’s the reason why it was called the strongest Class in Magic World.

“Also, Celt. You said it was to return a favor, but you covered for Luce at the risk of your life. I already thought of you as a true teammate; was I wrong in that?”

“….tsk, what a naive brat. But….I understand. I can put my faith in that naivety…. and that strength of yours. I will resolve myself and listen to your orders, Elma.”

Celt gave in finally.

“I will do the same of course, without throwing a stupid tantrum like Celt even!”

With Mabel’s consent also in the bag, everyone showed our Statuses to each other and shared our information.

We also talked about our fighting styles and in which situations we would be the most useful for a short while.

“Being able to increase your Attack to six times its original value by adjusting your HP with a Skill…. that’s simply absurd. This is the first time I’ve heard about a Skill composition like this.”

“I knew about the existence of a Luck focused Skill Tree, but this is the first I’ve heard of someone making use of it to this extent…. Although what I did hear about it was that if you put too many points into its Luck aspect, then your attack power will inevitably suffer, which will make it all but impossible to raise your levels.”

The two of them were apparently surprised by what Skills we had.

“So it’s a fairly well known pitfall….I also almost fell victim to it before.”

Luce stuck out her tongue.

“Then…..Elma, do you think we have a chance?”

“The outlook is bleak, but we can’t do anything else but face it with everything we have.”

I opened my Status.

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【Skill Trees】

［Remaining Skill points: 16］

〈Vow of the Heavy Armor〉[34/100]

〈Beginner Swordsmanship〉[5/50]

〈Smoldering Fang of Madness〉[15/70]

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After I managed to confirm the Statuses of Celt and Mabel, I was able to decide what Skill to get next.

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【Skill Trees】

［Remaining Skill points: 9］

〈Vow of the Heavy Armor〉[41/100]【＋7】

〈Beginner Swordsmanship〉[5/50]

【With [Vow of the Heavy Armor] reaching [41/100], you have gained the Normal Skill [Protect].】

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〈Protect〉【Normal Skill】

It deploys a barrier that stays on the target for a certain period of time that will decrease the damage dealt by the next attack by 30%.

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The exact time usually denoted by ‘certain period of time’ was generally three minutes when referring to how long a Skill effect persists, and this Skill was not an exception to that either.

Although it can be useful, it creates an opening when used and also takes up some MP, and since its effect can run out before you know it, it tends to create more problems than it solves if it’s used without serious thought.

However, its ability to cut down the damage of an attack made by a higher leveled enemy to the point where you can survive a hit is very important.

From that point of view, it has good synergy with [Smoldering Fang of Madness] too.

It can allow you to safely gather information on the target, or you can use it to fulfill the activation conditions for the [Half-Dead Savage Dragon].

“I would like to heal everyone up first, but with my remaining MP it would be tricky. I was thinking of using one heal each on Luce-san and Elma-san.”

“Nah, my HP is better like this. Please [Heal] Luce and….Celt for now.”

“M-me…..?”

Celt looked at me doubtfully.

During this fight Celt will need to be in the front quite a bit.