Translation: DarkHeartedAlchemist
Editor: Weasalopes
Once again, I will lead the charge against Higher Mezu.
This time I"ll try using Tonfas against him.
As I thought, fighting against them with my bare hands alone is getting increasingly harder.
Because it"s harder and harder for me to apply joint locks to them.
I think that if the difficulty of fighting them will go up every time their level increases, they will soon reach Deva King"s level.
Checking my MP bar I confirmed that I could still afford to use a fair number of spells.
And I"ll definitely need both the attack and support ones.
It"s so nice that once again we have so many walls in here.
Using the wall slam mechanic to my advantage, Higher Mezu did not prove to be much of a challenge.
I would have struggled more against him if we were fighting at a larger terrain like the hall from before, but thankfully that is not the case here.
On the other hand, Higher Gozu proved to be quite a handful to my Summoned Monsters.
They were unloading themselves onto him and yet he was persistently staying alive.
Their hits did land on him, but they did very little in terms of decreasing his HP.
Tigris received a fair bit of damage himself even though he was wearing Rig.
I think it"s high time for me to step in to help them.
It took some time even with my a.s.sist, but eventually we managed to bring the Higher Gozu down together.
《Summoned Monster『Tigris』Level Up！》
《Please allocate 1 Bonus Point to increase the value of the statistic of your choosing.》
Tigris has leveled up again.
He"s growing up exponentially fast.
It must be due to fighting with Gozu and Mezu so much.
If that is not it then I don"t know how else I should explain it.
AGI went up as a result of the Level Up, so I think adding that 1 point to DEX will be the best choice here.
Tigris Tiger Lv4 → Lv5 (↑ 1)
DEX 10 ( ↑1)
AGI 18 (↑ 1)
INT 10
STR 20
VIT 20
SPI 10
Skills:
Bite Detect Threat Night Eye Presence Concealment
The damage that Tigris sustained cannot be recovered with just a single potion, but it"s still better than no healing at all.
Senki also continues to recover.
But the damage they received was quite big this time.
I have no choice but to use another potion to bring everyone back to full health.
Maybe I should change my strategy from now to avoid any further casualties?
No, there"s no need to do that.
I can stop whenever I want.
Let"s try one more encounter.
They were in the center of another s.p.a.cious hall.
Another Higher Gozu and Higher Mezu.
But their appearance was drastically different from the ones we encountered previously.
This time they are wearing armor and better weapons.
Looks like the incoming fight will be drastically different from the previous ones.
General Gozu Lv1
Youkai, Target Subjugation Active
Battle Position: Ground Light Attribute Earth Attribute
General Mezu Lv 1
Youkai, Target Subjugation Active
Combat Position: Ground Dark Attribute Fire Attribute
What is this?
Should I try and fight them?
Or should I just turn around and high tail the h.e.l.l out of here?
My MP bar is only at 50%.
If they were the same as the last one we encountered then I could have easily thought another 3 or so pairs of them, but with those guys? I"m not so sure.
Worrying about such things is so not like me.
Let"s just fight them and see what happens!
This time my 【Dismantle】 skill was set to ON.
Before we engage them, we have to make our preparations carefully, so a break is in order.
It would be best to prepare in the same way I did when we were about to fight Deva King.
That means strengthening with spell and applying resistances to all Attributes as well as giving everyone some Power Water.
It proved effective even for someone like Rig.
Okay, I think that about covers everything we could do to prepare ourselves for what was incoming.
I prepare the next spells I"m going to cast as well as myStaff of Torture.
I want to keep my distance from them just to be on the safe side.
All right, are we ready to have this party started?
The moment our enemies turned their back on us, Volff and Jean launched their sneak attack.
That way I think we can earn some extra damage.
Jean attacked General Gozu with a belt made out of shadow, making a small marker appear next to his usual green health marker above his head.
Volff went for General Mezu, maneuvering between his legs, biting him around the ankles.
They have finally taken notice of us.
Tigris approached them next with Rig riding on top of his back.
Senki was closely behind him, preparing to attack.
But in the next moment, the whole area was filled with strange chanting?
Sutra?
That sounds like the words of a Buddhist Sutra to me!
Could this be… an enemy spell?!
The one chanting it was General Mezu.
When he finally stopped, a storm of fire erupted all around him.
Fire Storm? That is most likely the case.
I don"t have anything to confirm my suspicions, but it sure looks like a Fire Storm to me.
We received damage from it, but Resist Fire proved quite helpful in mitigating it.
「Defense Fall!」
I cast a spell on General Gozu and approach General Mezu.
Now that I know they can use magic as wel,l I won"t allow myself to be surprised by it anymore!
I think so to myself as I swing my Staff at him, hitting his armor.
「GUGEGEGEGE!!!!」
Senki attacks General Gozu while he"s apparently blinded by Jean"s earlier attack.
Tigris also joins the attack while Volff and Jean continue to pick away at the both of them.
Using Defense Fall was the right thing to do; the damage done to General Gozu is ramping up rather nicely.
So how about doing the same to the other guy now?
「Defense Fall!」
I cast that spell on General Mezu as well to lower his defenses.
However, it would seem that it won"t be as easy with him.
There is no marker above his head.
He just howled at me furiously.
Ugh, fighting him without debuffs is going to suck, but I have to try anyway!
「Spell Vibrate!」
I cast my spell just as he prepares to chant another sutra and swing my Staff at him to make him stop.
He does so and chases after me.
Using my Staff as support I launched a kick towards General Mezu"s throat.
It won"t do much damage to him, but maybe it will at least prevent him from chanting any more sutras.
Planting my feet firmly in the ground I then jumped up and performed another strike to his throat.
That"s right, this might just work.
When fighting against an armor-wearing enemy, you should always focus your attacks on the parts that are not covered by it.
And since he is clearly taller than ordinary Mezu I"ll have to utilize that attack as much as possible.
「Gravity Bullet!」
I fired a short distance spell at him.
It is not supposed to do damage.
It is to shift the gravity around the target and make them fall more easily.
When General Mezu falls onto the floor I run up to his head and squeeze it with my legs.
I have already removed Staff of Torture from my hands.
Now I have the Snow Leopard"s Bagh Nakh equipped.
Where do you think I"ll scratch him? The throat? Oh how well you know my fighting habits.
Of course I"m going to target the throat.
Combine the squeezing motion with stabbing him in the throat.
That"s all it takes to win this battle.
But he was not going to go down without a fight.
Even with his throat ripped open, he still tried to chant another sutra.
You b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Shut up! SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
「SPELL VIBRATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!」
I ended up getting carried away and using Weapon Skill again.
My precious MP is decreasing fast.
Nevertheless I tightened my grip on General Mezu"s head and dug my Bagh Nakh deeper into his throat.
How about this you f*cker?! Not so tough now, are you?
General Mezu"s HP is decreasing at a satisfying, steady pace.
This time he"s done for for sure!
He continues to thrash around and even broke my grip on his head several times, only for me to just grab it again and resume choking him.
He"s tough, I"ll give him that.
But finally he stopped moving and disappeared in a bright flash of light.
That battle was really painful.
To heal the total damage done to me I had to waste two Recovery Potions.
《 【Staff】 skill Level Up！》
《 【Evasion】 skill Level Up！》
《 【Grapple】 skill Level Up！》
《 【Throw】 skill Level Up！》
Wow, quite a lot of skills leveled up, huh?
My Monsters were roughly in the same state that I was.
That is to say, they"ve taken so much damage that I needed to heal them up with a recovery spell.
The only one who suffered almost no damage was Rig. I think he only got hit by that first Fire Storm attack.
After I finished patching everyone up, my MP has dropped down to 20%.
This hurts me on a physical level.
Maybe I should really stop fighting with those guys?
It"s obviously not good for my MP.
By the way… wait are the drops from this fight?
【Material】 Prison Guard"s Black Rope Quality C+ Rarity 5 Weight 3
A rope used to tie up the dead in h.e.l.l.
It"s literally black as the night itself.
Whoever is tied with it is said to be burned by the very flames of h.e.l.l.
Yup, what an edgy flavor text.
Let"s not dwell on it too deeply.
The time is around 10:00 AM
Let"s take a break at the Relay Portal.
Well, here I am. In front of the Relay Portal.
There was no sign of parties trying to take Deva King on.
Instead, there were some who were struggling against the Guardian Dogs.
A total of 10 people.
There were also many Galleries.
Some people were surprised to see my Senki, but I paid them no mind.
Two of them approached me. They were Adele and Irina.
「Yahoo!」
「h.e.l.lo, Keith-san.」
「h.e.l.lo to you two. Are you spectating the battle?」
「More like we"re waiting for our turn.」
Adele then proceeded into her usual schtick where she hugged the living daylights out of Tigris.
Irina however, has her gaze focused entirely on me.
「I saw it in the messages. You did 2 matches this morning, right?」
「How do you know that? Are you psychic or something?」
「Nah, just heard about it from Mio-chan. Ahhh, I wanted to see it live so much!」
「I had an appointment so that would be impossible.」
That Adele. Weren"t you just watching the fight?
「Keith-san, is it just me or do you seem to be quite exhausted?」
「I was having a bit of a hard time indeed. I came here to have a little break.」
Those 10 people were still fighting, but the situation on the frontlines was changing rapidly.
One of them got knocked into the wall and has fallen down.
The battle then continued to get even more chaotic.
Two of the warriors struggle to maintain the stable frontline, contrary to their highly mobile enemies.
The rearguard was also under attack.
I"m just saying, but they are about to have a jolly bad time.
「You going to help them or what?」
「Why should I? Fighting enemies like that requires adaptability and understanding of their behaviors, and here I see none of that.」
「So it looks like this will be the second group to be completely annihilated.」
The number of players decreased rapidly.
The last two players, samurais, held their ground valiantly, but to no avail.
In the end, all of them had been ripped a new one.
「Isn"t it your turn to give it a go?」
But looking at their MP bars I understood that they are probably going to pa.s.s.
Both of them had around 30% of their MP remaining.
Or are they going to do it either way?
「You know that twice the number of people tried to take the Deva King on and had their a.s.ses handed to them, right?」
「Of course if you"re aiming for the Cla.s.s Change you can go right ahead, but it looks like that is still not enough.」
「Hou….」
In the meantime another group has entered the hall.
A total of six Adventurers, all of them Lv12 or above.
They buffed each other with their spells and proceeded to touch the golden statue.
Two blades, one made from wind and the other made from water emerged from the ground.
The battle was starting.
This is going to be worth of spectating.
As I watched the battle I continued to chat with Irina.
I have to say, looking at how others were fighting was kinda fun in its own way.
This is going to be a good learning opportunity, especially since I"ve never had the opportunity to see how other parties were fighting from up close.
It"s good that the division of roles in that group was kept simple.
Everyone has their a.s.signed roles, spells and skills they will focus on using.
I especially want to see how their Wall spells are going to look like.
Plus, I get to see the spell that I"ve yet to acquire in action.
I especially liked the Pitfall one.
Apparently it"s a Lv10 Earth Magic spell.
It would be great if Deva King got caught in such a trap.
When that match finished, it was well past 11:00 AM.
I really should be preparing lunch right now.
Everyone, including the Gallery were entering the Relay Portal all at once.
Only a certain party seemed to be heading to the hot spring room.
I heard that story in a chat sometime ago, but it was apparently made by a certain stonemason who was a bathhouse enthusiast and wanted to see if he"d be able to build it just for the h.e.l.l of it.
A bath, huh?
Will I be able to resist the temptation?
I mean, of course I am interested.
I wonder if it"ll have a hot springs in it?
After going to the Relay Portal I called Rig back and summon Bunraku.
It will take care of cooking together with Adele and Irina.
To kill some time I decided to dig some Ancient stones.
After digging out the first one I saw that it was a Tsavorite.
Is it a jackpot? I"d like to think so.
The food was, as always, delicious.
It was a Hamburger Steak.
Just the smell was enough to make my mouth water.
Looking at it with my 【Identify】 I saw it was made with Strange Salt (Holy), a material that was good for MP recovery.
Before all the preparations were done and we could eat I managed to dig up 2 tsavorites. When I get back to the village I"ll have Margrid-san process it for me.
Maybe I"ll also go somewhere where I could see a different landscape.
It"s decided then. After I do some more hunting I will go back to the Wind Spirit Village.
At the place where we were supposed to go our separate ways a little surprise was waiting for me.
『See ya!』
『Do you think we could perform Toguro"s Cla.s.s Change soon?』
It"s a Whisper.
But it was not an ordinary Whisper.
There was no Union or Party applications involved.
It"s a Telepathy spell.
Apparently both of them managed to acquire s.p.a.ce-time magic.
I went through the Relay portal after I finished saying my goodbyes to them.
Protagonist Keith
Race Human Male Racial Lv15
Job Grand Summoner Lv1
Bonus Points Remaining 24
Skills
Staff Lv13 (↑1) Punch Lv10 Kick Lv10 Joint Lock Lv10 Throw Lv10 (↑1) Evade Lv10 (↑1) Block Lv10 Summon Magic Lv15 s.p.a.cetime Magic Lv8 Light Magic LvLv9 Wind Magic Lv9 Earth Magic Lv9 Water Magic Lv9 Fire Magic Lv9 Dark Magic Lv9 Ice Magic Lv7 Lightning Magic Lv7 Tree Magic Lv7 Dust Magic Lv7 Lava Magic Lv7 Steam Magic Lv7 Alchemy Lv6 Pharmacy Lv5 Gla.s.smaking Lv3 Woodworking Lv6 Synergy Lv11 Appraise Lv11 Identify Lv11 Discern Lv3 Cold Resistance Lv5 Grab Lv9 Horsemanship Lv9 Precise Manipulation Lv11 Jump Lv5 Heat Resistant Lv6 Climb 5 Dual Wield Lv9 Disa.s.sembly Lv7 Physical Reinforcement Lv7 Mental Reinforcement Lv8 Speedcasting Lv9 Magic Effect Expansion Lv6 Magic Range Expansion Lv6
Equipment Staff of Torture ×2 Tonfas of Torture ×2 Capture Rod of Torture ×1 Enraged Pickaxe ×2 Silver Necklace+ ×1 Snow Leopard"s Bagh Nakh ×1 Plains Lion"s Bagh Nakh ×1 Battle Bull"s Leather Armor+ Bracelet of Torture ×1 Rampaging Horse Belt+ Backpack ×1 Item Box ×2
Items:
Survival Knife, Woodworking Tools
t.i.tles:
Old Summoner"s Pupil
Guardian of the Forest
Man of the Middle Path
Spell Archive
Hand to Hand Combat Instructor
Summoned Monsters:
Volff Grey Wolf Lv3→Lv4 (↑1)
DEX 12
AGI 30
INT 13 (↑ 1)
STR 16
VIT 21
SPI 13 (↑ 1)
Skills: Bite Riding Intimidation Heavenly Hearing Detect Danger Tracking Night Eye Presence Concealment
Zangetsu White Horse Lv2
Helix Fighting Falcon Lv2
Obsidian Mystic Eye Lv2
Jean Black Bat Lv2
Jericho Mud Golem Lv1
Goki Rakshasa Lv1
Senki Lesser Ogre Lv1
Rig Yellow Pudding Lv1
Bunraku Wood Puppet Lv5
Mumyo Skeleton Lv6
Ninetails Red Fox Lv6
Heather Fairy Lv5
Tigris Tiger Lv4 → Lv5 (↑ 1)
DEX 10 ( ↑1)
AGI 18 (↑ 1)
INT 10
STR 20
VIT 20
SPI 10
Skills:
Bite Detect Threat Night Eye Presence Concealment
Creep Viper Lv3