CH 174

We stay the night after going down to the nineteenth floor, and continue.

I feel like the eighteenth floor was sparsely populated with monsters, but a tigerwolf attack while we slept would be terrible, so we decided to sleep after going down to the next floor this time.

Blue and his party were here too, but apparently they’re not going to fight the boss. They’re going to hunt here, and then register the floor and leave.

He said they aren’t confident or ready to face the boss room.

No one argued with him, probably because his fellow party members know he’s right.

The nineteenth floor has orcs. Rurika and Chris tell me they fought them a few times while doing escorting quests in the beast kingdom.

“But you’ve never accepted quests to hunt them?”

They’d probably be too much trouble for just the two of them.

We move forward in the usual formation while feeling nervous, but we have an easier time with them than with the tigerwolves.

It doesn’t take us long to take them down. Chris and Mia are also actively using magic to get a feel for what it’s like.

“Orcs aren’t that much trouble.”

Says Hikari.

She manages to infuse her weapon with magic energy while the orcs close the distance between them, so she cuts them with her full attack power behind her. This is because she is all too familiar with how much time it takes for an orc to get to her.

At first I wonder if she couldn’t do that with tigerwolves too, but that’d be hard.

“The pressure is all different.”

She continues.

Rurika still isn’t doing as well as she hopes. When the battle starts, her magic energy dissipates and her swords cut normally.

Still, mithril is very sharp. Even if a single cut isn’t fatal, the damage keeps accumulating, and she can go for vital areas when she has an opening.

Chris doesn’t have trouble firing her magic either. Mia is startled by their appearance at first, but gradually gets used to it and starts firing Holy Arrows. I get the feeling they’re getting stronger too.

“It’s nice that they’re easy to fight.”

Hikari looks satisfied as we take a break to have lunch.

It looks like she’s able to use her new throwing knives well too.

“What do you think, Mia?”

“They look scary, but they’re easier to fight than tigerwolves. I feel like it’s easier to read their movements too.”

Mia is also feeling like she can fight better here than on the previous floor.

“Just don’t get careless.”

“Yes. We never know what’s out there.”

It doesn’t sound like they’ll get carried away or anything.

After having lunch, we come across a group of five orcs, but we manage to scatter them with a preemptive magic attack. Then everyone takes them out individually, and as their numbers go down, they’re all defeated without much issue.

We change formation along the way, and I fight too.

I don’t get experience when I defeat monsters, but I still get actual combat experience.

“Chris and Mia are going to play a big part in the next boss battle.”

Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m going to sit back and watch.

The next boss is a kobold king, and it’s accompanied by kobold fighters, kobold archers, kobold guards, and kobold generals.

The biggest problem is the two kobold generals that are guaranteed to appear every time. I’ve heard the movements of the kobold army change with the commands of the generals. They get better at coordinating attacks, and some people say they’re led like a group of knights.

And we can’t forget the kobold guards. Their attack power is almost nonexistent, but they specialize in defense and can block all sorts of attacks with their shields. They protect the back row that lacks in defense, and prolong battles.

Should we focus on taking them down quickly? Or should we try to separate them?

“How long can they block attacks? And how many others are with them?”

“Should we try an area attack at the start?”

Suggests Chris, and I nod.

“Yes… Apparently the shields the guards hold are magic shields, so it’d be nice to check what their effects are.”

“Magic shields? You didn’t read about those?”

“They can’t be brought back to the surface, so stuff like their abilities is a mystery. The reference book I read just said they defend against magic.”

“Master, I want more knives.”

“And I want my spare axe. If I have to, I’ll throw it and keep the guards back.”

“All right. Do you need anything too, Rurika?”

“Hum… I’m still not confident about infusing things with magic energy, so normal throwing knives, please.”

This was supposed to be a short break, but we start talking and lose track of time.

We’ll talk more about this when we actually get to the twentieth floor. For now, let’s keep moving.

It takes another day to find the staircase, and we don’t see anyone in the safe area. Still, we can’t not be careful.

Who knows when something might fly at us?

Dungeons can be annoying, in the fact that we have to watch out for more than just monsters.

Should we go back to the city to rest, and come back later?

I ask everyone, but maybe the incident on the tenth floor is still fresh in their minds, and we decide to rest here and then challenge the boss.

Name – (Sora Fujimiya ) / Job – (Scout) / Race – Otherworlder / No Level

HP – 780/780 / MP – 780/780 / SP – 640/780 (+100)

Strength…770 (+0) / Stamina…770 (+0) / Agility…770 (+100)

Magic power…770 (+0) / Dexterity…770 (+0) / Luck…770 (+100)

Skill – (Walking Lv77) – Effect – (User won’t get tired no matter how much they walk) – (Get one experience point with each step)

Experience points – 69802/77000

Skill points – 25

Skills learned

(Appraisal LvMAX) / (People Appraisal Lv9) / (Appraisal Obstruction Lv7) / (Parallel Thinking Lv9)

(Sword Master Lv9) / (Physical Strengthening LvMAX) / (Presence Detection LvMAX) / (Magic Energy Detection Lv8) / (Natural Recovery Boost Lv9) / ( Status Ailment Resistance Lv5) / (Pain Reduction Lv4) / (Presence Concealment Lv9) / (Night Vision Lv6) / (Throw – Shooting Lv6) / ( Intimidate Lv4)

(Magic Energy Control LvMAX) / (Basic Daily Life Magic LvMAX) / (Fire Magic Lv8) / (Water Magic Lv7) / (Wind Magic Lv7) / (Earth Magic Lv7) / (Light Magic Lv6) / (Dark Magic Lv5) / (Spatial Magic LvMAX) / (Holy Magic Lv6) (Alchemy LvMAX) / ( Effect Attachment Lv7) / (Creation Lv5)

(Cooking LvMAX)

Does the Walking skill have a cap too?

I’m still accumulating skill points, because I haven’t been learning new skills.

Oh, Spatial Magic is maxed out. It doesn’t look like I’ve learned anything new because of it though.

Other skills have maxed out too, so maybe I’ll get some useful skills, or better, higher ranking skills because of it.

Let’s see… Yes.

Transfer Skill! I immediately press it.

My brain stops for a moment when I see the description.

Effect. Allows the user to move things freely within their line of sight. Effect expands with each level up.

Attention, it still cannot move living beings.

I thought it’d let me escape the dungeon quickly, but it looks like it can’t do that just yet.

I use Appraisal on it to see if I can learn more, and it says I can’t move myself until I reach level eight.

“Is something the matter?”

Asks Mia, sounding worried because it looks like I froze.

“I learned a new skill, but its effect isn’t what I was expecting…”

“What did you learn?”

“Let me try it.”

I take some ore out of the Item Box and activate the skill with it in my right hand. And then, it appears on my left hand.

I check the MP on my stats screen and do it again. Then I move the ore a little further, and it falls on the ground.

“Moving things… So it’s a teleportation skill.”

She looks surprised, looking at the ore on the ground with her mouth wide open. Isn’t that supposed to be a bit improper for a girl?

“W-what was that!?”

“It’s just like you saw, and I said. I don’t think it really has any use for now.”

My MP went down by a hundred each time I used it.

“It looks useful at first, but that’s all it can do.”

Mia is impressed, but all I can do for now is try to raise its proficiency. That might be hard to do in the dungeon, because it uses so much MP.