Ossan Saikyō Chapter 15 Part 4
The following day, we continued clearing the dungeon.
On underground floors 11 and 12, we encountered Steel Caterpillar, caterpillars with steel-hard skin.
It moved slowly, but when someone approached, it suddenly extended spear-like tentacles from its head, making it the sort of monster that could kill an inexperienced adventurer before they knew what hit them.
However, Freynil and Sphenia’s enhanced magic was so powerful that the battle was usually decided before the monsters could get close.
Underground floors 13 and 14 were home to Ant Legion, a swarm of giant ants, just as its name suggested. They were about the size of large dogs, but even normally, 30 or so would appear at once. With Rani’s【Jinx】, of course, nearly a 100 appeared in our case.
Normally, we would have been overwhelmed by their numbers, but our front line consisted of me, Rani, Mariane, and 2 Earth Spirit Sentinels summoned by Shizuna, so we had no trouble dealing with them.
(E/N: Please note, the Spirit-possessed golems are now Spirit Sentinels.)
The Sentinels in particular had grown to nearly 2 meters tall, and with the effects of【Might】and【Ironhide】, they were extremely strong. Watching them punch the giant ants one after another and smash them to pieces was reassuring.
“Picking up all the magic stones and materials is more of a pain than the fighting!”
That was Rani’s complaint.
On the 15th underground floor, we encountered Giant Centipede, which dropped shells that could be used as material for trumpets. In other words, it was a humongous centipede.
It was 7-8 meters long and slightly thicker than its Earth counterpart. The moment they saw it, Freynil and Shizuna screamed, but considering how disgusting it looked, I couldn’t blame them.
The troublesome parts were its hard exoskeleton and the powerful venom in its fangs. Apparently, even someone with【Poison Resistance】would suffer considerably if bitten.
However, even when more than 10 appeared, over half of them were eliminated by the magic attacks of Freynil, Sphenia, and Shizuna before they could get close.
Once the front line took down the remaining few, it was over. The firepower of our 3 mages was truly incredible.
The Boss was Brutal Scorpion, a giant scorpion.
Its body alone was about the size of a large automobile, and its pincers, tail, and even the stinger at the tip of its tail were appropriately enormous.
It had hard armor and moved quickly, while a single strike from its poisonous stinger could inflict a fatal wound even on a high-ranking adventurer. It was a proper Boss in every sense of the word.
“The fact that 2 such terrifying bosses appeared is quite amazing.〈Saul's Guidance〉really is blessed with good luck.”
Just as Shizuna said, 2 appeared. The fact that she could call this “good luck” showed that she had been completely influenced by us.
“I’ll take the one on the right. Concentrate your attacks on the left.”
After giving that instruction, nearly 50 fire spears rained down on the body of the Brutal Scorpion on the left. As it staggered, Rani cut off its tail, and Mariane kept it off balance while inflicting『Paralysis』.
Then the 2nd wave of magic struck, deciding the battle.
Of course, on my side, I smashed both the pincers and tail with counters before finishing it with a blow to the head.
“We can already handle C-Rank Bosses with ease, but when I look at Soushi-san, I still feel like we have a long way to go.”
Everyone agreed with Sphenia, who gave a wry smile. Freynil alone had an entranced look on her face.
The two treasure chests contained a ring with【Ironhide】『+1』and a cloak with【Arrow Ward】『+1』.
We gave the ring to Shizuna, since it could strengthen her Spirits. As for the cloak, Sphenia was currently the only one who wore a cloak, so it went to her. Apparently, the【Arrow Ward】skill reduced the power of ranged attacks.
Come to think of it, we had never had an argument over who should wear accessories like these before. I wondered why everyone had fought over the old ring last night, but perhaps it was because【Agility】『+1』was such a universally useful skill.
(E/N: Bruh, really……)
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Next, on underground floors 16 and 17, the white Moon Wolf appeared again.
Its movements using【Fliplash】were just as troublesome as ever, but its attack power itself was nothing special, so I used【Taunt】to deliberately make it bite me while the others killed it.
By now, the Moon Wolves' fangs could not penetrate even a millimeter into my body.
On underground floors 18 and 19, we encountered Cockatrice, a giant chicken with a snake for a tail. It was a famous monster, but the ones in this world seemed to be the type with petrifying poison in their beaks.
Fortunately, they did not appear to be capable of petrifying someone simply by looking at them.
I realized that I did not have【Petrification Resistance】, but according to Mariane,
“【Petrification Resistance】is a skill obtained from C-Rank Dungeons and above.”
Apparently, the Cockatrice’s petrification was classified as poison, so【Poison Resistance】could at least provide some protection against it.
In any case, more than 10 appeared as a matter of course, but since they were physical-type monsters, there was no problem.
As for Shizuna’s Sentinels, poison had absolutely no effect on them, allowing them to fight poison-wielding monsters head-on. Poisonous monsters were generally not all that physically powerful, making them a good matchup for her Spirits.
At last, we reached the bottom floor, the 20th underground floor, where our opponent was Kobold Leader, which had been a Boss in an E-Rank dungeon.
It was a muscular humanoid monster with a dog’s head, and despite being called a “Leader”, more than 15 of them appeared. Each carried a different weapon, and the troublesome ones were those that used bows and arrows.
Still, I could neutralize them by drawing their attention with【Taunt】, after which it was business as usual. Watching Rani and Mariane overwhelm them with speed and repeatedly cut off their heads was quite a sight.
The Boss was Ogre Adept, a huge ogre wielding a greatsword. It was a monster that had appeared as a common enemy in the『Royal Keystone』, but for a C-Rank adventurer, it would probably be a formidable opponent even by itself.
“It has【Haste】,【Echo Edge】, and【Nimble】. Its physical enhancement skills are strong as well.”
I gave them a few words of advice, just in case. Incidentally,【Echo Edge】was a skill that allowed the user to send slashing attacks flying.
“It’s a normal Boss, so Soushi would probably kill it in one hit. Leave this one to us.”
Since Rani said that, I decided to leave it to the others.
The first wave of magic from the 3 rearguards was evaded with【Haste】, but Sphenia’s arrow and Mariane’s throwing sword struck it in the stomach afterward.
The Ogre Adept charged forward with【Haste】regardless, but the two Spirit Sentinels stood in its way. One was cleaved in 2, but Rani used the opening to slash at it and successfully cut off one of its arms.
The one-armed Ogre Adept swung its greatsword with sheer determination and exchanged blows with Rani, but another arrow and throwing sword pierced its side, activating『Stasis』.
The Mithril Longsword then sliced through its thick neck, deciding the battle.
This time, Freynil did not use『Halo』very much, but〈Saul's Guidance〉was already a B-Rank party, so there was never any real danger.
The new skills we acquired were【Petrification Resistance】for me, surprisingly,【Item Box】for Freynil,【Blade Tempo】for Rani,【Greater Water Magic】for Sphenia,【Steel Core】for Mariane, and【Ironclad】for Shizuna.
Most of them were skills whose effects we already understood, so there was nothing particularly new about them, but every one of them would certainly increase our overall strength.
Among them, Freynil acquiring【Item Box】was interesting.
At present, I was carrying almost all of the party's belongings by myself, but from the perspective of risk distribution, that was not necessarily a good thing.
From now on, I decided to have Freynil carry things like healing items and food, as long as the burden remained manageable.
However, Mariane warned me about that.
“It is extremely rare for a single party to have 2 people with【Item Box】. If people find out, it may attract resentment, so it would normally be better to keep it a secret.”
As a result, we decided that Freynil would not use her【Item Box】in front of other people.
Still, it felt like〈Saul's Guidance〉accumulated new secrets whenever we let our guard down.
Having multiple people with【Item Box】didn’t seem like such a big deal to me, but I needed to remain aware that the fact I felt that way was, in itself, rather abnormal.
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E/N:
Collecting dungeon drops with 100% probability, 😂. And the new skills are making a great foundation. Love it!
Stay tuned!
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