CH 203

“…No good.”

Says Chris while wiping sweat off her forehead.

It looks like no spirits responded to her call.

From what I can see of the flow of magic energy, there’s some sort of gathering of magic energy, but it all disperses before it can come together as one.

I use Magic Energy Detection again, but there’s static, like electrical interference.

Then I use offensive magic just to try it, and it activates normally, it looks like it’s consuming more magic energy than usual, because it’s being depleted at a higher rate. And I get the feeling that it’s weaker.

“What about your transformation magic?”

“…It’s not working either.”

From what we’ve heard, there are less than twenty people, but she’s bound to be seen.

“It’s all right, I will just keep the hood on tightly.”

“Do you want my spare mask?”

Ah, she turned away.

“H-hum, leave that to me.”

Says Mia, before starting to braid Chris’ hair.

She starts combing Chris’ untied hair, and braids it in a way that it hides her ears.

“So you did that too, uh?”

“Just a little when I was in the church. I did it in secret with kids when we visited an orphanage.”

She says, looking both nostalgic and a little sad.

“Thank you Mia.”

“Don’t mention it. But I haven’t done this in a while, so try not to move too intensely.”

It looks fine, but if Mia herself says so, Chris should probably do as she says.

Chris is supposed to be supporting from the back, so we should avoid any situation where she would have to move around that much anyway.

“We’ll keep our formation as it is. That’s right. Hikari, can you check if you can infuse your weapon with magic energy?”

I ask, and Hikari tries it.

“…It’s hard. It’d take time.”

But it sounds like she can at least make magic energy flow, and she can use the throwing weapons.

Totto said the monster’s long-range breath attack is dangerous. Whoever that breath touches has their limbs turned to stone, and if it catches someone’s whole body, they become a stone statue.

That means we have to try to attack it without getting close.

I have Status Ailment Resistance, meaning I can probably block it. If I remember correctly, I got petrification resistance at level five, and at level six I got complete immunity.

I bring up the status panel, and see Status Ailment Resistance is at level seven. The proficiency is halfway to the next too.

I haven’t checked that in a while, but I haven’t been hit with anything that causes status ailments anyway. Why did it go up… Nevermind that, what are the level six and seven effects?

Level six gives me ‘petrification immunity’, and level seven ‘charm resistance’.

This gives me a big advantage. If magic is weakened, physical attacks are the way to go, and I’m sure it will be easier to take it down with direct attacks rather than long-distance ones.

If I had to watch out for its breath and throw things from a distance, it would probably just dodge it unless I caught it by surprise.

From what we heard, the monster that appeared when the trap was activated isn’t undead, and various other monsters appeared too.

At first they were weak ones, but stronger and stronger ones popped up from the back.

“I’ll stay in the front when it’s time to fight, so please back me up.”

“Are you going to be all right?”

Asks Sera.

“Yes, no problem. I have resistance to status ailments, and supposedly I can’t be petrified.”

I’ve borrowed Hikari’s knife to try cutting myself with it, and its paralyzing effect didn’t work.

I give Hikari a tap on the head, and we move forward.

I bring up Map and use both Presence Detection and Magic Energy Detection. Raising Natural Recovery Boost’s level means I can use multiple skills at the same time and my natural recovery still manages to catch up. Of course, only if I’m walking, and if I use more skills, my natural recovery is going to fall behind again.

I infuse Map with a lot of magic energy to expand it, and see a reaction.

But unfortunately, this color means it’s a monster. It would be one thing if we couldn’t advance, but should we avoid it and keep going? Or is it better to take it down here and not have to worry about it later?

Map is looking a bit complicated, like I’m solving a maze. It’s also a little hard to see, because there’s static from time to time.

But my detection skills aren’t affected. They use SP, so could it be that they’re not classified as magic?

“What is it master?”

Asks Hikari.

“It’s looking like we can’t avoid fighting up ahead.”

“Mu… Master, that’s incredible.”

There’s really no reason to compliment me, it’s just the skills. We advance a little more, and Hikari notices it too.

As we get closer to a passage two passages away from where we were, her body twitches. She looks over at me, and I nod.

Now the issue is, what kind of monster is on the other side?”

“There’s a monster on the other side, but I don’t know what it is, so be careful.”

I say, and everyone nods.

Up until now, we always knew what monsters we’d be fighting, and prepared accordingly. But that’s not going to work on this floor now. What’s going to come out from that mess of monsters… The answer is ahead.

I grab my sword, take a deep breath, and look at the other side of the passage like I’m taking a peek.

I see a big body with a deep green color. It’s tall, almost tall enough to bang its head on the dungeon’s ceiling.

I’ve seen this before. It’s a goblin king, loitering around on its own.