Chapter 33: Meadow
Capital city’s dungeon. Wide meadow spread on the 11th floor. The scenery completely changed once we came down that long stairs. At first we though that it’s a trap that warp us outside, but it seems to be different.
According to Diabell’s explanation, the capital city’s dungeon had a wide area depending on the level, and there are even floors that looks like another world inside too. This 11th floors seems seems to be of the latter kind. Although you can still see the rocky ceilings, its considerably high. I even saw some birds flying.
Some unknown gra.s.s seems to have grown to waist level. Since Shallie would get buried and disappear like this, I carried her piggyback-style. Seems like it’s her first time on piggyback, as she’s going “kya kya” behind me. Although we’ve advanced for a while we haven’t seen other adventurers at all. On the other hand, enemy reactions appeared instead. Somewhere around 10?
Lets prepare to intercept before they arrived. I build a base about 2 meters in height using the earth magic that I’ve just learned, and put Shallie on top of it.
“Don’t move from here okay?”
“Work hard, okay?”
I reply to her by waving my hand, and get down below to join the others. The base with Shallie on top is at our back, Claire and Diabell will use the long range attack, Lelena will focus or healing in the middle, Amyl will stick close to me as the rear guard, and I will step forward as the attacker.
The group of enemies finally arrived once we finished the preparations. They’re big monkeys with dark brown fur and white mane in the middle of the head.
Great Mane Monkey：Level 23
I cast explosion magic the moment they entered the range, sending light sphere flying. Although the enemies scatters themselves from the center of the explosion, those big monkeys still charged without care. Claire’s bow shot from the back. Although it pierces and sticks to several enemies, they only flinched a little with barely any effect.
Diabell summons the spirit of the wind to create small tornado, cutting the enemies. They didn’t even try to stop in the middle of the bloodshed. They’re like those Berserkers that didn’t care about taking damages. With this momentum they will likely be able to push through.
The enemy draws near both Amyl and me, it spreads its arm to crush us while jumping. But a huge wall suddenly appeared in front of them, causing those big monkeys to crashed into the wall one after another, stopping their movements. I raised the strength of the earth wall to its limit, so they won’t get away unhurt. At the same time, Amyl retreats to the back with me. This is for the next strategy.
The big monkeys that doesn’t crashed on the wall appeared. It just trample on top of their companions that fall down, staring at us with their bloodshot eyes.
“Goaaaa’!”
Although the number of those big monkeys had been decreased by half, their charge continues once again after that roar. But my next plan is already on the move. The big monkeys that advanced, all fall into a deep hole one by one. I had already prepared the pitfall about 2 meters deep when their charge had momentarily stopped.
The big monkeys had their movements obstructed by each other, thus we use the opportunity to launch our attacks on them. Fire ball from me, the arrows from Claire, Diabell summoning spirit of fire to burn them, Lelena attacking with a slingshot, and for Amy that doesn’t have any ranged weapon, he just picked up the nearby stones and threw it at them. As for what happens next…
Shallie had become very excited as we gather the big monkey’s monster cores and put them near her.
“Onii-chan and everyone is awesome~! It was an extremely scary monsters, and yet you guys finished them off in no time!”
She’s praising us while waving her tail. When I said that Shallie’s cheering also helped us, her tail was waving so fast like it was going to tear off.
“Is this how you fight? You’re thinking about various methods unlike other adventurers.”
Although fighting directly from the front is not that bad, I want to avoid taking damage as much as possible. I don’t care if it’s cowardice, life comes first.
“I have no intention of criticizing you. This way of fighting just suits me best.”
Diabell shows her daring smile. That’s good. There’s won’t be unpleasant thing like having trouble to accept my way of fight. After defeating those big monkeys, all of us level up.
Est：Level 28
HP 455/455
MP 362/362
Strength 234
Speed 238
Dexterity 239
Defense 224
Wisdom 251
Luck 132
Skills possessed:
『Experience Value Up：Level 2』
『Swordsmanship：Level 3』
『Dexterity Up：Level 1』
『Mapping：Level 1』
『Wisdom Up：Level 2』
『Fire Magic：Level 2』
『No Chant：Level 1』
『Speed Up：Level 1』
『Stealth：Level 1』
『Strength Up：Level 1』
『Defense Up：Level 1』|
『Shield：Level 2』
『Ice Magic：Level 1』
『Healing Magic：Level 1』
『HP Regeneration：Level 1』
『MP Regeneration：Level 1』
『Earth Magic：Level 1』
『A new skill can be acquired. Please choose from the list below:』
『Luck Up』
『Ice Magic：Level 2』
『Dexterity Up：Level 2』
『Strength Up：Level 2』
『Speed Up：Level 2』
『No Chant：Level 2』
Claire：Level 27
HP 389/389
MP 120/120
Strength 142
Speed 255
Dexterity 249
Defense 123
Wisdom 110
Luck 199
Skills Possessed:
『Archery：Level 3』
『Evasion：Level 2』
『Swordsmanship：Level 2』
『Spread Shot：Level 1』
Amyl went up from Level 26 to 27. Lelena went up from 25 to 26 respectively. Diabell significantly rises from 19 to 23. The person in question seems to have been surprised that she suddenly went up 4 levels at once.
“This…how can this happen? Although they’re certainly strong enemies, they’re not something that would give so much experience value that makes me raise 4 levels at once.”
“You’re surprised as expected. We’re also like that at first. Its thanks to Est’s special skill.”
Amyl explained to the puzzled Diabell, about me having the Experience Value Up skill. Thanks to this skill, we managed to get from bronze to silver rank in less than a month.
“I’ve never heard about such skill before. You might be someone special.”
Diabell looks at me with glowing eyes different from normal. Somehow, even her speech pattern had changed. Claire was looking at us with displeased look. This is different okay, I don’t want any misunderstandings to happen. There’s only a little bit of guilty feelings in me.
“Say, Shallie also raised her level too.”
I’ve totally forgotten about Shallie’s level until Lelena mention it. When i look at Shallie again, she had rapidly went up from Level 1 to Level 12. How great. That’s only from the fight just now? Shallie had become speechless without knowing what to say. Let’s see both of their status.
Diabell：Level 23
HP 250/250
MP 318/318
Strength 85
Speed 189
Dexterity 197
Defense 98
Wisdom 264
Luck 177
Skills Possessed:
『Summon Spirit of the Flame：Level 2』
『Summon Spirit of the Wind：Level 2』
『Summon Spirit of the Earth：Level 2』
『Swordsmanship：Level 2』
Shallie：Level 12
HP 120/120
MP 19/19
Strength 51
Speed 89
Dexterity 78
Defense 43
Wisdom 18
Luck 97
Skills Possessed:
『Scent Cla.s.sification：Level 1』
Just like she said, Diabell was able to use three types of spirit magic. It seems like she been using the sword regularly when she was still a soldier. Since she looks more like the wizard type based on her status, let’s not send her to the front as much as possible.
Shallie had become a child with tremendous strength. She might even win against a newbie adventurer? As expected of the beastman, her speed and dexterity are high. It looks almost similar to Claire’s. The one I’m concerned about is the 『Scent Cla.s.sification：Level 1』 skill. Since she’s a dog beastman, they have some specialty in smelling something? Lets ask the person in question when I had the chance.
About the skill this time, I decided to go with 『Strength Up：Level 2』. I want to avoid being pushed with strength when fighting with the enemies.