CH 203

Episode 203 – The Boss of the 7th Layer

It was the next day after our party returned from the Dungeon. We continued with the same revolving battle formation like yesterday, and we easily reached the 6th layer.

“Phew… Sleepy.” (Aruna)

“Aruna-san! This is the Boss fight, so please get a hold of yourself.” (Lewin)

“Stop yapping in my ear. I know,” Aruna replied in an annoyed tone, but she was still stifling a yawn as she said that, which made me quite worried. Yesterday after we left the Dungeon, we went to the usual cafe and discussed the boss fight at length, so I wasn’t too concerned about our coordination…

But apparently, after yesterday’s Dungeon attempt, Aruna still had to go to work at Araku Village so she didn’t sleep a wink, and she still said she wanted to come for today’s Dungeon attempt. Because of that, she’d been yawning nonstop since a while ago, which was one of today’s major causes for concern. Plus…

“Rosalie-san, are you able to move just fine?” (Lewin)

“Y-Yeah. I think I’m f-fine.” (Rosalie)

For some reason, Rosalie’s social anxiety resurfaced, and her overwhelming combat style was nowhere to be seen. In the fights up to the 6th layer so far, her fights had all been pretty shaky and unreliable. Yesterday was the same conditions as today, and yet yesterday her social anxiety disorder didn’t flare up, but today it did. I didn’t really understand the conditions that caused her social anxiety to worsen, but ultimately I couldn’t expect nearly as much from them as yesterday.

…If I knew the two of them were going to be in this state, I couldn’t help but think that it would have been better for us to have just challenged the Boss yesterday. Well, hindsight is 20/20 after all. I didn’t think my decision to return instead of charging in gung-ho to challenge the Boss was the right one, but either way I always had to continue to learn from my mistakes.

“Um, yesterday, we talked about having two people in the vanguard, so I think it should be Aruna-san and Rosalie-san holding down the vanguard. I’ll always be ready to support, so I’ll leave the attacking to you two.” (Lewin)

“Okay.” (Aruna)

“I u-understand.” (Rosalie)

Originally, it would have been best to put Aruna wielding her bow in the rear guard, but after taking into account their conditions, I decided that it was safer to have someone to support them well. I could synthesize plants to provide support, healing, and even attack, and I could make full use of the Recovery Potions and Poison Potions that I had been steadily making and saving, which would expand my range of capabilities even further.

I had been painstakingly working on my swordsmanship in the past year, so it was obvious that I had a strong desire to be on the vanguard… But I also understood that if I wanted to maximize my contribution to the party, I would have to learn to make full use of the support capabilities of [Plant Master].

My breathing felt a bit ragged from the mental strain that came from not being able to allow any mistakes to occur, but I eventually caught my breath, and we were able to make our way down to the 7th layer.

As we descended the stairs of the 6th layer into the 7th layer, a dazzlingly bright light filled the area, making me close my eyes involuntarily. The damp and gloomy cave system of the 6th layer had changed completely, as if we had arrived at an area outside of the Dungeon. Before us was a massive, sprawling, grass-covered plain.

I had seen this scenery many times in the projections, but actually seeing the place in person was a completely different experience. The contrast of suddenly going from a dark floor to a bright floor was dazzling, and the scenery of the entire layer panned out beautifully before me.

The size of the floor stretched to about the limits of where the eyes could see off in the distance, and right in the center of the plain was the Boss of the 7th layer, the “Two-Headed Minotaur”. It was popularly called the “Two-Mino”, and it was sitting down with its head lowered, wielding a massive cudgel in both hands.

“That guy sitting in the center is the Boss, huh? It seems to be the ‘Two-Headed Minotaur’, just as the information said”. (Lewin)

“You can tell just by looking, of course it’s going to be in line with the information.” (Aruna)

“I, uh… i-it’s been a long t-time, b-but was it always t-that big?” (Rosalie)

Aruna’s attitude didn’t even change now that she was face to face with the boss, while Rosalie began trembling excessively. It was apparently Aruna’s first time fighting it, while Rosalie had beaten it countless times, but looking purely at their reactions it felt like it should be the other way around for these two.

“Then let’s go kill it. I’ll leave the support to you.” (Aruna)

“Hey! The Two-Mino doesn’t have any blind spots, so please attack him together. Also, I’m sure you can tell from just looking at its body, but it has both speed and power, so be careful of any sudden attacks.” (Lewin)

“You told me yesterday. Rosalie, let’s go.” (Aruna)

“Y-Yesh! I-I’ll do my b-best!” (Rosalie)

After lazily replying to my words of warning, Aruna brought Rosalie along and rushed straight in. The rapid sound of their footsteps made a rustling sound as they dashed across the plain, and Aruna kicked up the grass as she sped past, leaving a wake of verdure fluttering and dancing in the air behind her. Two-Mino was still sitting right in the center of the floor, showing no signs of movement.

Once she reached a certain distance from the yet unguarded Two-Mino, Aruna readied her bow and, after aiming at one of the heads, fired her bow at will. The arrow tore through the air in a straight line, and at that very moment when it looked like it was about to pierce into the Two-Mino’s head… the Two-Mino gave an angry, deafening, high-pitched roar that shook the atmosphere.

The Two-Mino truly gave off an appearance that was befitting of a ‘Boss’, but there was no way it could block Aruna’s first shot from its originally defenseless state, and the arrow ripped through his flesh and pierced its abdomen.

“Hm. He stood up, so I missed my target.” (Aruna)

As if to give proof of that, the Two-Mino gripped one cudgel in each hand and lightly swung them around as if to warm itself up, totally ignoring the arrow sticking out of its body. The second head that was sticking out of its massive, hulking body was looking around in its own respective direction. Just as the information said… the Two-Mino truly possessed no blind spots.

In a situation where a frontal breakthrough was the only viable tactic to defeat the Two-Mino, I was extremely curious to see how these two would pull it off… But if I didn’t do my best to provide support, we could end up with deaths on our hands, so I couldn’t relax even if I was on the rear guard.

Carefully observing from my position, I saw the two of them exchanging sharp glares with their opponent as they slowly drew closer—

“[Power Arrow].” (Aruna)

With the activation of a Skill that I had never seen Aruna use before, our battle with the Two-Mino began in earnest.