CH 164

I talk to Hikari and Mia while having breakfast. Hikari gladly agrees, and Mia says she understands, with her face turning red.

Sera doesn’t care, but Chris and Rurika are apparently picking something up by how Mia is acting, because their glares hurt. What? I didn’t do anything weird?

Hobgoblins appear on this floor. They’re a sub-species of goblin, and some people even go as far as to say they’re evolved goblins, but their actual ecology is a mystery.

Goblins are about as tall as a child, but hobgoblins are more like a human adult, and they have developed muscles.

When I block attacks with my sword, they ripple heavily through my arms. Well, as things stand, I can’t really tell the difference.

I look at Sera, and it’s not even close. But I see her stopping sometimes, probably to evaluate how she’s fighting. Despite that, she’s not having any trouble.

Then I turn to Hikari and Rurika, and rather than crossing swords with it, they’re evading attacks and looking for openings. When they get a chance, they get closer and slash.

It goes without saying that Hikari’s attacks are sharp, because she infuses her weapon with magic energy, but Rurika’s normal attacks with mithril are still very sharp, and easily break hobgoblin skin.

I guess if I had to point out a difference, I’d say that Hikari’s attacks are cutting deeper.

Ah, the hobgoblin just lost its arm. Even hard bone isn’t tough enough.

The idea of those weapons being used against people is honestly scary, but if there’s a war, would anyone attack with this kind of equipment? Of course, there’s no way you could send out an entire army fully equipped with mithril anyway.

I wonder what’s really worse, people fighting each other, or fighting monsters or demons. Well, I don’t really care about monsters, but what about demons?

When Ignis was standing in front of me, it just felt like I was facing a person. He was intelligent and felt emotions. I feel like without the horns and wings, he’d be indistinguishable from any human.

Although his strength… Was on another level.

I can’t forget that they tried to kill Mia, but if I hadn’t met her, I would probably not care. It would be just a stranger being killed by a demon.

I was afraid when I heard about the damage Ignis caused to all those knights and adventurers, but I didn’t think about getting revenge or striking back against ‘the enemy’. But if Rurika and Chris were there…

“Sora, are you letting your mind wander in the middle of battle?”

Says Chris, and that snaps me out of it.

She’s right. I got distracted.

Even just a second can be dangerous, not just for me, but for everyone here.

But the battle is soon over.

Apparently hobgoblin meat isn’t edible, so we take what we need to prove we took it down and the magic stone, and leave the corpse.

After taking some distance from it, the corpse vanishes like the dungeon is sucking it back into it.

This is a nice feature. On the surface we would have to dispose of it by burning it, for example. If we left it be it would accumulate miasma and turn into an undead.

Of course, there are natural purifying processes, so a few of them won’t be a problem, but it’s one of those things I was warned about when I became an adventurer.

“Are you all right, Mia? You look tired.”

There’s sweat on her forehead, probably from casting protection magic again and again.

It has a continuous effect, so she doesn’t have to keep chanting, but she says she ends up doing that because she can’t use it very well.

Chris also noticed, but she doesn’t want to say anything when Mia is trying so hard. I guess that’s just how Chris is.

She’s been controlling it so she at least doesn’t run out of MP, and in a way this is a nice way to practice making effective use of it, but she should keep enough MP so that she’s ready if anything unforeseen happens.

We have mana potions, but these are supposed to be expensive items. I learned while I was going around checking the prices that good quality potions like the ones I make are expensive, but even lower quality ones cost three to five silver coins.

The main reasons for their high prices are that it’s difficult to tell magic energy herbs apart, and mana potions are harder to make compared to regular potions.

My skill makes it so that doesn’t apply to me, but apparently there are few people that make them, and their success rate is often bad.

Or maybe they just say that to justify jacking up the prices.

“Let’s just stop using magic for now. At least until you’ve recovered half your MP.”

I say that, but it’s not like we can know exactly when that is.

I can see numerical values by checking my status, but Mia and the others can’t. That’s why all they can do is sort of feel that they’re running out of MP after casting a few spells. But Mia and Chris say that’s easier now that they can feel magic energy.

“But how effective is protection magic exactly?”

Asks Mia quietly while we walk.

Are you sure you want to ask that question, Mia? The only way to know is to actually receive an attack.

When that spell is cast, the person’s body is covered in light for a moment. But that effect doesn’t apply to equipment, only the person’s body, so it’s impossible to feel its effect by doing something like blocking an attack with a shield.

I’m guessing maybe the impact that person would feel from the attack would be softened.

Everyone’s looking at me. Are they telling me to volunteer to test that out?

I stare back at them, and they all look away. Too late for that

I need to be careful, because sometimes Mia says some crazy and startling things without even noticing. Although I don’t think she’s exactly wrong for wanting to know how effective that spell really is.