Itai no wa Iya nanode Bōgyo-Ryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu Chapter 17
Defense Specialization and Clearing the Underground Lake
532 Name: Unnamed Great Shield User
Has everyone made it to the second layer yet? I got there no problem.
533 Name: Unnamed Spear User
Yeah
I’ve just won and got into the second layer.
534 Name: Unnamed Great Sword User
I won safely too.
535 Name: Unnamed Magic User
Me too
I won
I did it
536 Name: Unnamed Bow User
Believe it or not, I’ve reached the second level too.
537 Name: Unnamed Spear User
Oh yeah? Guess we’re pretty strong, then.
538 Name: Unnamed Great Sword User
I thought Maple-chan would get to the second layer right off the bat, so I’ve been leveling up to keep up…
I’m a top-tier player now!
539 Name: Unnamed Bow User
That’s me too
539 Name: Unnamed Great Shield User
About Maple-chan, actually.
Looks like she’s yet to get to the second layer.
Actually, it says she’s a party member on my friends list.
540 Name: Unnamed Bow User
I think I saw her.
541 Name: Unnamed Magic User
Tell us a bit more.
542 Name: Unnamed Bow User
I don’t know the name, but I think she’s an IRL friend of hers since she was in her starting equipment and they seemed to be getting along well.
TL note: they don’t actually mention gender here throughout the convo. It sounds wrong if I try to avoid it as well (English is a different language, after all), so what’s here is what’s here.
543 Name: Unnamed Great Sword User
What’s her weapon?
544 Name: Unnamed Bow User
Short swords, I think.
545 Name: Unnamed Magic User
That’s unexpected.
I was expecting a wizard or an archer.
546 Name: Unnamed Spear User
Me too.
547 Name: Unnamed Great Shield User
Eh, I don’t think that’s a good formation if those two wanna fight together.
But… she’s Maple-chan’s friend.
Is she really just a normal beginner?
She could be a Maple-chan-type beginner.
548 Name: Unnamed Magic User
That’s certainly possible.
548 Name: Unnamed Bow User
Maple-chan:「Minmaxed builds are strong!」
Friend:「Really!? Then I’ll do that!」
Like that.
549 Name: Unnamed Great Sword User
A party with two Maple-chans, huh?
What do you even do with that?
550 Name: Unnamed Spear User
Hey, you guys, relax.
She’s a short sword user.
550 Name: Unnamed Magic User
Oh, right.
For some reason, I imagined a great shield.
551 Name: Unnamed Great Shield User
If it’s short swords, then she probably specializes in AGI, right?
552 Name: Unnamed Bow User
But that doesn’t sound too strong.
553 Name: Unnamed Great Sword User
With no defenses she’d probably die in one hit.
Plus, no firepower.
554 Name: Unnamed Spear User
Well, maybe she’ll show herself soon.
When’s the next event again?
555 Name: Unnamed Great Shield User
About a month from now; they’re going to accelerate the time in-game relative to real time.
The event is two hours long and you can’t join or leave midway through because of the time acceleration.
Apparently, the devs shortened the interval between events due to the success of the last one.
556 Name: Unnamed Magic User
Woo-hoo, competent devs.
557 Name: Unnamed Spear User
She’ll probably train herself up in a month.
Her playstyle will show.
We’ll be able to judge from there.
558 Name: Unnamed Great Sword User
Ah! Next event, come faster!
Can’t wait to see what the girl’s got!
Not having any clues that they were talked about.
Kaede and Risa were busy doing nothing but fishing and swimming in the underground lake today. However, besides that, Kaede would act mysteriously sometimes: she would go outside, lie down, and use 【Provocation】 to get attacked by monsters.
She decided she’d get to the damage-reduction skills after she got her shield made, so now she was looking for new, unknown skills.
By the way, it has already been two weeks since Risa started playing.
It wasn’t like the two of them would always log in at the same time.
Risa also secured time to play on her own and acquired a wide range of easy-to-get skills other than 【Swimming I】 and 【Diving I】.
Both of them have been steadily preparing for the event while also immersing themselves in exploring the underground lake that looked like it could have a dungeon.
「Gasp…! Huff… Huff… how long have I been under?」
Risa came up to the surface and asked Kaede about the time.
「A-amazing! Forty minutes!」
「Now that I have 【Swimming X】 and 【Diving X】… this is my current limit… if I can’t make it back in 20 minutes one way, I’ll drown, then…」
「How about I send you a message with the friend function after 20 minutes? I’m sure you’ll notice the notification sound in your head.」
「Nice idea, Maple! So… can I ask you to do that?」
「Leave it to me! Go ahead and dive in as much as you want!」
「I’m off!」
Risa dove into the water with incredible speed and entered the tunnel.
As expected, the cave extended deeper and deeper into the depths, and Risa swam there, as fast as a mermaid.
However, seeing the path split, Risa stopped moving. She expected there would be a straight path to the deepest part.
Risa thought this was going to be a pain, but she went right and left and mapped it out in her head.
After moving for some time, she heard a notice from Kaede ring out in her head.
Since no monsters appeared on the way, there were no accidents, and she was able to reach Kaede safely.
「Huff… Huff…」
「How did it go?」
「There were several branches… so I’ll stop after one more time today. Besides, I don’t know how deep it is.」
「Well, I’ll notify you again, I guess.」
Risa once again made her way to the bottom of the lake. Since she cleared the maze halfway last time, she reached up to that point in the fastest way possible.
Once again, one by one, she eliminated all possibilities and headed deeper and deeper.
And so, as soon as the notification from Kaede rang out again.
Risa found a large pure white door at the end of the passage.
She did a fist pump in celebration and turned back the way she came. Risa had to be in perfect condition to not miss out on Unique Series.
「The boss room! I found it… phew.」
She said so as soon as she came to the surface and gave Kaede a high five. All that was left was to try and win smoothly.
「I’ll take a quick break and rush into the boss room! I mean, I’ve already found it. Kaede, what will you do?」
「I think it’s about time I logged out for the day.」
「I see… sorry for making you go with me.」
「I don’t mind at all! Do your best and win.」
「Right!」
With that said, Kaede was enveloped in light, logged out and disappeared.
The silence heightened Risa’s concentration.
「What should I do with the status…」
Sally
Lv12
HP 32/32
MP 25/25〈＋10〉
【STR 10〈＋11〉】
【VIT 0】
【AGI 55〈＋5〉】
【DEX 25】
【INT 10】
Equipment
Head 【Blank】
Body 【Blank】
Right hand 【Beginner’s Short Sword】
Left Hand 【Blank】
Legs 【Blank】
Shoes 【Beginner’s Magic Shoes】
Accessories 【Blank】
【Blank】
【Blank】
Skills
【Status Debuff Attack II】 【Slash】 【Double Slash】 【Gale Slash】 【Muscle Strengthening (Low)】
【Consecutive Attack Strengthening (Low)】 【Double Attack】 【Power Attack】 【Switch Attack】 【Body Arts I】
【Short Sword Mastery II】
【Fire Magic I】 【Water Magic I】 【Wind Magic I】
【Earth Magic I】 【Dark Magic I】 【Light Magic I】
【Fire Ball】 【Water Ball】
【Wind Cutter】 【Sand Cutter】
【Dark Ball】 【Refresh】
【MP Strengthening (Low)】 【MP Cut (Low)】
【MP Recovery Speed Strengthening (Low)】 【Magic Mastery II】
【Fishing】【Swimming X】 【Diving X】 【Cooking I】
【Mining Speed Strengthening (Low)】 【Hiding Presence II】
【Sensing Presence II】 【Stealthy Feet I】 【Leap I】
【Poison Resistance (Low)】
「These 35 status points, I don’t want to put them in yet… I’ll win by evasion.」
Risa gathered this ridiculously large group of skills without sparing time for sleep.
Her MP consumption decreased by 7%.
Its recovery speed increased by 5%, and its maximum amount increased by 10.
As for her STR:
It increased by 5%.
When hitting several consecutive attacks, her maximum STR could be increased by up to 10%.
「Alright! Let’s go!」
Risa thought out her strategy and went back to the big pure white door.
The door opened slowly. Inside was a huge spherical room, half filled with water.
Having oxygen was a happy miscalculation for Risa. With this, there was no longer any need for her to force herself into a quick decisive battle.
「Gasp… Hurry up!… Come on!」
Risa’s eyes turned serious. As if in response to this, light converged on a single point and formed a shape, revealing a pure white giant fish.
The giant fish attacked with its huge body, rushing forward.
Risa saw through its movements completely, evaded it by slightly twisting her body, and slashed the scales and flesh with her glowing red dagger when they passed each other.
「【Slash】!」
What dyed the blade beneath the red glow a poisonous purple was 【Status Debuff Attack II】.
It poisoned the body of the giant fish.
Although the damage was only slight, the giant fish’s HP bar was slowly but surely being whittled down.
The giant fish turned around and rushed at her again.
Risa treated it the same way and scraped the body of the opponent again.
「【Wind Cutter】!」
A few red damage effects shone in the water. Risa’s most powerful magic had enough power to damage the scales slightly.
The repeated charges were unable to hurt Risa.
And the giant fish’s HP bar was reduced to 80%.
Once this had happened, Risa focused and kept a close eye on the giant fish’s actions.
The rush, which would have seemed identical to the earlier attack to a normal player, looked completely different to Risa. It was obviously slower.
The giant fish stopped its charge midway and launched an area-of-effect attack with its tail fin.
However, even that didn’t reach Risa.
Risa had predicted the timing of the change in behavior pattern by looking at the decrease in the HP bar above the enemy’s head.
She accurately predicted the attack range from the size of the giant fish’s body and moved back a bit, letting its tail fin pass right before her eyes. She then slashed that tail fin with her skill.
「【Double Slash】!」
Risa’s consecutive attack damage boost had already reached its maximum value due to her not being hit by the opponent.
A little deeper than before, the red effect cut into the tail fin of the giant fish twice.
And at the same time. Its movements were slowed down by the paralyzing poison of 【Status Debuff Attack II】.
「【Power Attack】!」
The short sword pierced the body of the giant fish, which had slowed down its movements, very deep. Risa quickly pulled it out and distanced herself from it. The HP of the giant fish went down to 50%.
It was time for it to change its behavior pattern.
White magic circles appeared on the left and right sides of the giant fish’s body, and bubbles flooded out of them.
「【Water Ball】!」
When Risa hit the bubbles with her magic, they exploded with a powerful sound. Those bubbles were not to be touched.
Risa blasted the bubbles with water magic while running away from the giant fish to create an escape route.
Risa, moving around trying to escape, realized that the giant fish’s behavior pattern had become following the path Risa was taking.
In that case…
Running away from the giant fish, she flipped herself over and exploded the bubbles with water magic. Risa squeezed herself through the space that opened only for a moment.
「【Power Attack】!」
The red effect left a single red line on the back of the giant fish.
About 20% of the giant fish’s HP bar was blown off as it was sliced deeply from head to tail fin. Risa flipped herself over and sliced the tail fin a few more times with her blade.
The moment it turned around to follow Risa. The barrage of bubbles that couldn’t keep up with the speed of its body thinned out.
And Risa would not miss such an opportunity.
「【Wind Cutter】!」
The blades of wind that passed through the bubbles wounded the giant fish’s forehead. And finally, the HP bar of the giant fish turned red after dropping below 20%.
At the same time. The magic circles to the left and right of the giant fish’s body disappeared and the room was filled with water.
Magic circles that created exploding bubbles appeared on the walls above, below, and on the sides.
The giant fish opened its huge mouth with a loud pop. In it was a magical circle with a glow that was stronger than the magic circle of the bubbles.
Risa’s body moved reflexively because of the sensors she had developed playing games.
Soon after, a beam of bluish-white water was shot straight at the place where Risa had been until now at a tremendous speed.
Risa panicked. It would take a lot of luck to dodge that next time.
More bubbles were closing in.
Risa’s body movements dulled.
The panic stopped her thinking.
In times like these, it’s important to stay calm.
Risa said to herself. She calmed her panicked mind and concentrated.
It was as if time had stopped completely.
Bubbles, the laser, and even the giant fish’s movement.
All getting slower and slower.
She could see where it was dangerous and where it was safe, it was all in the palm of her hand.
The subtle movement of the enemy’s body, where it was looking.
Risa predicted where the laser would be next from these.
She predicted where the barrage of bubbles would go next, based on the current position of the bubbles, and created escape routes in advance. In light of her past experience, she proactively created paths that provided a high probability of survival.
This was already precognition.
Overwhelming player skill akin to cheating.
「【Wind Cutter】」
Each time the magic was calmly released, it cleanly slipped through the bubble curtain and gouged the giant fish.
And finally.
The HP bar of the giant fish became empty.