CH 141

From that floor to the tenth is where adventurers have trouble.

Up until the seventh floor, we mostly find lone monsters, and at most we’ll find a group of five. That changes here.

Wolves appear on the eighth floor, including variant species, but what we really need to watch out for is the way they move in packs. They work in packs of at least five, but I’ve read that most attack in packs of over ten wolves.

Sometimes they even attack continuously in waves, not letting adventurers rest.

“You’ve gotten good at using magic energy, Hikari. From now on, make sure you pay attention when you use it continuously. If you keep making magic energy flow without stopping, you’re going to run out eventually.”

“Yes. I’ll be careful.”

“Mia, try to watch Hikari and Sera, and support them with Holy Arrow. But don’t just focus on them, and watch out for any enemies coming near you. Make sure you watch the whole battlefield.”

“I’ll do my best.”

You don’t have to be so tense about it. I know I’m acting all high and mighty giving instructions, but I’m basically just an amateur.

“And Sera… You understand the flow of magic energy now, right?”

“Master, even if I do, I can’t use it. Just making it flow to my weapons leaves me out of breath.”

That’s right, Sera doesn’t have a lot of magic energy. Maybe the same goes for all beast people. I doubt there’s going to be an explosive increase or anything like that even if she trains.

“It’s true, with the amount of magic energy you have now, it’s probably hard to infuse weapons with it. But what about making it flow inside your own body, not your weapons?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well… Can you put the glasses on and look at me? Here it goes.”

I make magic energy circulate around my body like blood.

Then I hold my sword in this condition and start swinging it. It feels like I’m swinging it faster than normal.

“Master, you’re faster.”

Hikari confirms it. I figured that was the case, because my body feels lighter.

“Magic energy isn’t just for weapons, you can strengthen your body and increase your physical abilities too. This uses less magic energy than if you made it flow to your weapon, so it might be a good idea for you to learn this method.”

“So I can increase my physical strength even more?”

“I think that’s a good way to see it. But of course, using it nonstop is going to deplete your magic energy, and you should get a grasp of how much it actually improves your physical abilities.

If you don’t know how much of a difference there is, the time it takes for you to get near monsters might change and throw you off. It’s probably going to leave you confused at first.”

“You’re right, I can’t use it until I understand that. And I need to know what’s my limit for continuous use too.

But still, I’m glad to know it’s useful for me too. Honestly, I was jealous.”

Being jealous of their growth was probably making her flustered. And she’s probably happy to know that she can still get stronger.

I’m sure she knows better than anyone else that you need to be strong to protect others.

The next morning, we go down to the eighth floor.

It doesn’t take too long for us to start hearing wolf howls all over the place. And it’s clearly not just one wolf.

This is a bad move inside a dungeon, because they’re just telling people where they are, but monsters probably don’t think about that sort of thing.

Then again, maybe they’re actually trying to make us aware of their presence and put pressure on us.

I don’t know, but just the fact that I’m even thinking about this is probably what someone or something intends anyway.

The noises are getting closer. Mia is walking in front of me, and her face from the side looks tense. I’m sure she’s nervous.

Sera stops and looks around, and we hear footsteps.

Do they know we’re here? We hear their footsteps and growls, and they come rushing in from the other side of the passage.

Sera takes a step back and swings her axes at an incoming wolf. The way she swings an ax in each hand is almost like they’re two different creatures.

It always feels strange to me. When I try to use two blades, my left hand becomes sluggish when I attack with my right hand, and I can’t attack with it very well. I can’t help but be impressed by how Sera uses both hands.

Even Parallel Thinking won’t let me use two weapons well… Does that mean I need a different skill?

We repel the wolves’ first attack thanks to Sera’s efforts, and their next attack is coordinated, without needlessly rushing forward.

But we stay cool and take them down one at a time, slowly reducing their numbers.

Seven are down, leaving eight. That means there were fifteen in total.

The wolves don’t stop fighting, even after half of them are gone. In fact, their growls are louder, and they try even harder to intimidate us.

And then, my Presence Detection picks up another pack behind us. They’re concealing their footsteps and trying to breathe quietly while they get near.

“Hikari cover Mia.”

I turn around and grab my sword.

I only feel wolves, so I can afford to be a bit flashy.

I picture magic. Flames covering the passage and burning everything.

“Fire Storm!”

The flames crawl through the ground, cover the air, and fill the passage as they advance.

They don’t stop even after engulfing all the charging wolves, and they’re finally extinguished after violently hitting a wall and exploding. Once the smoke clears, there isn’t a single wolf left. It’s like they were never even there.

I knew I could do it, but this is dangerous. I need to be careful when using area of effect attacks.

It looks like the others lost their will to fight, because their movements become duller, and Sera takes them down one after the other.

◇ ◇ ◇

I’m sitting with my knees to the ground right now, with Hikari standing in front of me with her arms crossed.

“Master, do you have something to say?”

“I’m sorry. I got carried away.”

I fired powerful magic without really thinking about it, and burned everything. The monsters trying to attack us from the back were all defeated, but the materials were all turned to ash.

And that leads us to an upset Hikari.

“I’m sure he just wanted to let loose for once. Forgive him.”

Thanks for the mature response, Sera.

“But be careful. What if it hit us?”

She’s right.

“But judging by the way they were coordinated, those wolves were probably growling to call their friends. It’s starting to look like his floor is going to be less straightforward than we thought.”

Turns out that did have a meaning. We can’t take their coordination lightly.

We focus even more as we look for the staircase. In the end, it takes us the whole day and seven more wolf packs to reach it.

A hundred and thirty wolves are now spending part of their eternal slumber in my Item Box.

But it looks like I still have plenty of room in the expanded Item Box