CH 228

Episode 228 – Battle After Battle

The Thrust Buffalo was defeated, but there were still the Blue Ogres and the Goblin Archers. When Rosalie saw the Thrust Buffalo suddenly fall over, she momentarily halted in surprise, but she quickly refocused and continued on towards the Blue Ogres.

The Blue Ogres’ bodies were a size larger than those of the regular Ogres, and they had also adapted to the canyon area. They would throw all kinds of attacks at you to make you fall off the cliffs. But unlike the Thrust Buffalo, their movements weren’t fast. Moreover, it wasn’t like their attacks couldn’t be defended against, so they were much easier to deal with.

Well, they still had brute strength and high combat ability, but Rosalie could defeat them without letting them get close. I was more concerned about the Goblin Archers on the upper layer.

In terms of pure archery skill, Aruna was probably the best by far, but their positional advantage was overwhelmingly superior. I couldn’t see them now since they had completely retracted their heads behind the rocks, but we managed to confirm that there were 4 of them earlier.

If there were more than 10 of them waiting up there and they all attacked from the top of the cliff, we would be riddled with arrows regardless of our skill level. I was thinking this while covering Rosalie and keeping an eye on the upper layer, when Aruna’s instructions came from behind.

“Lewin, don’t worry about the Goblin Archers. Focus on the ground battles.” (Aruna)

“…Okay. I’ll leave it to you, Aruna-san,” I responded, even though I honestly couldn’t dispel my worries. But if Aruna said as much, then I should probably believe in her. I completely cut off my awareness towards the upper layer, and although I was slightly late, I began to participate in the fight against the Blue Ogres.

After that, new monsters appeared one after another. We encountered all kinds of monsters like Blue Ogres, Blood Bats, Cliff Biters, and Goblin Warriors, but we somehow managed to overcome all of them. The continuous series of battles dragged on for over an hour, making it a close fight for us. However, we didn’t have to worry about attacks from above, and we would also get supporting fire from the rear, so Rosalie and I managed to make it through with only minor injuries.

“Haah, phew. W-We managed to make it through.” (Lewin)

“―Phew. Y-Yeah. Honestly, there were a few times where I totally thought we were done for. I was only able to survive because of Jade-san and Aruna-san’s support. Thank you so much.” (Rosalie)

I handed a Recovery Potion to Rosalie, who was down on one knee, catching her breath. Then, I went over to the site where the monsters had turned into ashes upon death and began to collect the drops. In total, we had defeated around 30 monsters.

Since there weren’t any trees or obstacles around, I thought that it would be easier on us since we had an open field of vision and therefore didn’t have to worry about anything suddenly charging at us. But in the end, it was because of this open field of vision that we ended up having to fight wave after wave of monsters. On top of that, the Blood Bats emitted sounds that drew in monsters within the area, and added onto the sounds of us fighting, it felt as if we had rounded up all of the monsters on the entire floor.

“I’ve finished collecting the drops. Let’s rendezvous with Aruna-san and then return to the upper layer.” (Lewin)

“Alright. We didn’t completely finish clearing the 17th layer, but I guess going any further than this would be tough.” (Rosalie)

“Yeah, we still need to save some stamina for our way back after all. It’s going to be troublesome to have to fight the Demon Arachnid again after this…” (Lewin)

“I agree. I don’t even want to think about fighting the Demon Arachnid right now.” (Rosalie)

Walking shoulder to shoulder under a depressed atmosphere, the two of us headed back to Aruna, who had been supporting us from the rear guard. Unlike me and Rosalie, who were exhausted, Aruna greeted us with one hand raised in her usual aloof manner.

“Good work out there.” (Aruna)

“Good work to you too, Aruna-san. Just like you had said earlier, not a single arrow came from above. As expected of you.” (Lewin)

Now that she said it, I wished I could have seen Aruna fighting, but when I had been surrounded by that many monsters, there was no time for that.

“You’re so amazing, Aruna-san! I’m always astonished by the power of your arrows, but it’s also surprising how few misfires you have! It’s strange that I’ve never even heard of your name before. (Rosalie)

“Well, this is my first time trying to clear the Dungeon. It’s only natural for you to not know, Rosalie.” (Aruna)

There were certainly a lot of unknown points about Aruna, so I was pretty curious. But she didn’t seem to want to talk about her past, so her identity and past continued to remain a mystery to me. Considering the fact that she was only looking for female adventurers at the start, there was probably a lot more to it… But rather than thinking about Aruna, I should be thinking about getting out of the Dungeon safely right now.

“So, Aruna-san. I’ve decided that it’ll be difficult to continue any further given our remaining time and stamina, so do you think it would be alright with you for us to start heading back now?” (Lewin)

“Mhm. No problem.” (Aruna)

“That’s good. Then let’s aim to return.” (Lewin)

The 16th layer had the same quiet stillness as when we were making our way down, making the onslaught of monsters on the 17th layer just now seem like a lie. According to Aruna, it appeared that the monsters were hiding behind the cliffs and rocks like before, so it wasn’t that there weren’t any.

“Ah! Isn’t that a Goblin Archer that Aruna-san defeated?” (Rosalie)

On our way back on the 16th layer, Rosalie pointed at the edge of the cliff, where a Goblin Archer laid unmoving. From what I could see, there was indeed an arrow sticking out from its forehead.

“Mhm. I failed to finish it off. It seems my arrow didn’t pierce through since it was wearing a leather cap,” Aruna said as she retrieved the arrow. She then shot it into the heart of the Goblin, who was still incapacitated.

The other Goblins had already turned to ash so I couldn’t check, but judging from this Goblin that was on the verge of death, she seemed to have shot the rest cleanly between the eyes even though she was shooting from low ground to high ground.

She was on my side, but just the mere thought of Aruna aiming at me made a shiver run up my spine. After seeing this scene, I firmly reminded myself that aside from Ahmed, Aruna was another person that I should never piss off.