Itai no wa Iya nanode Bōgyo-Ryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu Chapter 19

Defense Specialization and Clearing the Layer

「Here we are!」

「All right, let’s get in there!」

In front of them was an entrance to the stone ruins.

If the information was correct, this should have been the dungeon that led to the second layer.

They walked down the road with Kaede in the lead. Her just walking with her Replica of the Dark Night at the ready gave them perfect protection.

They were walking just like that, when they encountered a monster.

What appeared in front of them was a somewhat large boar.

「【Wind Cutter】!」

Risa took the initiative and shot her magic. But that only shaved off about 20% of its HP bar.

「Mhmmm… my attack power has dropped quite a bit. So I’ll have to improve my Status Debuff Attack skill.」

As she was saying this, the boar regained its stance and rushed forward. It tried to hit Kaede with great force.

It was eaten up by the great shield.

「Hmm… can I leave the boars to you?」

「O-okay!」

Because the road was so narrow, charging was practically suicide for the boars.

The boars didn’t know about Maple’s great shield, and they jumped in on their own.

Little by little, going left and right on the forked roads, they advanced into the depths.

「Oh! Here comes another one!」

A bear appeared in front of them when they turned a corner.

Kaede held up her shield, wondering if the bear would jump in the same way. However…

When the bear swung out its big arm, a white effect in the shape of a claw came flying out.

It was eaten up by the great shield Kaede was holding and disappeared, but it was enough to startle her.

「O-oh my gosh!」

「To think it had a long range attack. And it’s blocking the way while keeping its distance.」

The bear was probably a higher-ranking monster than the boar because its behavioral patterns were very complex, unlike the boar.

「I’ll try something. Stand straight with your great shield at the ready.」

Kaede’s great shield fell to the ground.

It looked like that.

Both Kaede and the bear seemed to be seeing the same thing, and the bear saw an opportunity to charge in.

Kaede would have reached out to the ground, too, if not for her feeling that she was holding the great shield in her hands.

As soon as the bear reached the point where the shield had originally been held, its body disappeared.

And then the space where there should have been nothing was distorted and the great shield appeared. The great shield that had fallen to the ground also disappeared in the same way.

「The test of 【Mirage】 was a success, I guess?」

「【Mirage】, huh! I was surprised to see my great shield fall to the ground all of a sudden.」

「I used it as a test this time, but there’s a limit to how many times I can use it, so I’ll save it for the boss, and leave the fighting to you for now!」

「Alright! Leave it to me!」

Kaede and Risa continued to move deeper in again. The dungeon didn’t seem to be that deep, and having had about ten fights with monsters, they were able to reach the boss room.

They opened its large doors and went inside.

A large room with high ceilings continued into the depths, and a huge tree towered at the far end of it.

A little while after they entered the room, they heard the sound of the door closing behind them.

And then.

With creaking sounds, the large tree transformed into a giant deer.

The antlers of the transformed tree were covered with lush foliage and gleaming red apples.

The tree-made body shook once and stomped on the ground, glaring at the two.

「Here it comes!」

「O-okay!」

A green magic circle appeared at the deer’s feet and began to glow.

The battle began.

As the deer stomped on the ground, the magic circle glowed and huge vines appeared one after another, breaking through the ground and attacking Kaede and her friend.

「Hh! Oof…」

「Ha, ha—! You’re too slow!」

Kaede’s great shield took the vines head-on and ate them up. Risa used her signature evasion skills to effortlessly dodge the attacking vines as they whizzed past her.

Their main fire power was Kaede’s New Moon.

Kaede’s counter, a dragon made of poison…

Was unleashed.

It ate the vines, dissolving and blasting them away, and closed in on the deer.

But the poison dragon disappeared in front of the deer’s eyes, as it was blocked by a shining green barrier.

「Huh!?」

「Maybe it’s that magic circle! The attack didn’t get through!」

The deer once again stretched out its vines and attacked. That in itself was not a problem for the two, which was a relief.

The two endured like that for a while, but Risa thought they were not getting anywhere, so she suggested something.

「I’ll go around to observe for a bit, can you take care of the defense?」

「Got it!… 【Provocation】!」

The tips of the vines veered towards Kaede. Using that opportunity, Risa went around to test things out.

After making the barrier appear again and again with a series of magic attacks, Risa finally realized something.

「Antlers let attacks through! …Also, the barrier seems to be maintained by those apples!」

Risa pointed to the apples gleaming in the tree leaves. When the barrier was activated, the apples glowed redder.

「Then… let me handle it! I’ll blow them all away together!」

「Yup, please do!」

Maple thrust out New Moon. The poison dragon appeared again, this time unhindered by the barrier, ate up all the leaves and melted them.

「【Wind Cutter】!」

This time the attack went through to the deer without being blocked by the barrier. Red damage effects scattered.

「Good! It got through!」

「I’m going for the big move!」

The crystals on the great shield shattered, and a huge purple magic circle unfolded from New Moon. After a while, it grew brighter and became a three-headed poison dragon that attacked the deer.

The deer’s body melted and red effects flooded out continuously. It was definitely fatal damage.

However, the green magic circle at the deer’s feet shone brightly and healed its wounds. When its HP bar was recovered to 20%, the poison status debuff was cleared and the magic circle, having done its job, faded away.

「Can you hit it with that thing you just did again!?」

「I can, but it’ll take a while!」

The deer would not wait for them to finish their discussion. It changed its behavior pattern and attacked with wind blades and even thicker vines.

Furthermore.

「Ah!」

「Uwaaaaahhh!」

Suddenly, the ground under their feet rose up and they were attacked from underneath. Risa sensed it and dodged, but Kaede was sent flying up into the air.

Although there was no damage, when Kaede was slammed into the ground, she was hit with the 【Stun】 status debuff and remained down. Normally, she would have no hope of surviving, but seeing as her HP bar hadn’t decreased even after having been hit by a wind blade afterwards, she would be able to withstand the damage until she woke up.

However, it was certain Kaede wouldn’t be able to activate the skill again any time soon either.

「It can’t be helped… it’s a pain, but…」

Risa started to run, holding her daggers in both hands.

In contrast to her words, her face looked happy.

「Guess I’ll do it in myself, huh?」

She could see through the enemy’s attacks perfectly.

For Risa, when she was focused, this level of attack was nothing. She approached the feet of the deer steadily through the gaps and jumped up in front of it with 【Leap I】.

This place was the only peaceful safe zone on the battlefield with unending wind blades flying everywhere.

「I know this is a safe zone, okay?… 【Double Slash】!」

She spun her body around and struck four times with both daggers.

With two weapons, she could unleash twice as many attacks as with one. Although a single attack was less powerful than with one dagger, the number of attacks overpowered that.

Then, Risa ran straight up its face to its back.

「【Power Attack】!」

Two consecutive attacks that cut through its forehead and the nape of its neck.

In addition, the fire magic burned its back.

Blades of wind flew at Risa, who was flitting around on its back.

But those were easy to dodge.

「Hm? I thought this was a safe zone, huh?」

She was able to avoid them, threading the needle through the wind blades as they whooshed by. And just when the barrage of blows at the openings finally shaved off its HP bar…

「Mmm… th-that’s right! I have to fight…」

Kaede finally got up and looked at the deer.

Though, she could only watch the deer scatter in front of her as it turned to light.

「Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhh!?」

「I finished it while you were sleeping.」

Said Risa when she came back.

It wasn’t quite how Kaede wanted to clear a dungeon.

At any rate, the two of them had obtained the permission to advance to the second layer.