Itai no wa Iya nanode Bōgyo-Ryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu Chapter 24

Defense Specialization and Eliminating the Boss

「I found a boss-room-looking room!」

In front of them was a door unlike any other on the road.

They opened a wooden door about five meters tall and went inside.

The inside was wide and dimly lit.

The room’s height was nearly 10 meters, and from looking around, its width was about the same.

And finally, the length was only about twice that, and at the far end of it was a huge throne.

There sat a giant goblin with an ugly face.

Because it was sitting, it was hard to tell exactly how big it was, but it was about the same size as the door mentioned earlier. It was nearly three times the size of a normal goblin.

The goblin noticed the two and roared.

The two of them puckered their faces at how terribly loud it was.

「Let’s take it down quickly! It’s too loud!」

「Ditto. Let’s do it!」

Risa nodded.

Kaede switched her great shield to Replica of the Dark Night for the final battle.

The distance to the goblin was about 20 meters.

Risa tried to close that distance as fast as she could.

However, the goblin would not let her.

A huge saber was leaning against the throne to its side, and it took it in its hand while standing up, and swung it wildly while moving forward.

A deadly blade approached, its presence terrifyingly imposing.

「【Cover Move】! 【Cover】!」

Whether or not Risa would have been able to dodge this, no one can say. Why? Because Kaede was not afraid to block that saber, which was twice her height, with her great shield, erasing it. The enemy’s main weapon, with its overwhelming destructive power, was removed as soon as the battle began.

The saber turned into light and disappeared.

「Nice! Alright…!」

Risa moved even closer to the boss, and what Kaede did then was unexpected for her and maybe even for the goblin.

「【Cover Move】!」

Kaede rapidly accelerated, catching up to Risa as she continued to run. No attack from the goblin was coming.

Risa approached the boss in surprise.

「【Cover Move】!」

Kaede forcibly caught up to Risa. Now they were both right in front of the goblin.

The goblin swung down its arm, bulging with muscles, with a roaring sound.

But that attack did not hit Risa.

She wouldn’t get hit by the goblin’s simple attacks with that signature evasion ability of hers. Risa, just like that, jumped up high and aimed at the goblin’s stomach.

Just when Risa’s dagger was close enough to reach the goblin’s body.

「【Cover Move】!」

Risa wryly laughed at how she used Cover Move, totally out of whack with its name.

Kaede got closer to the goblin, with her great shield coming within reach of it.

Risa delivered a strike and escaped from the spot.

Kaede twisted her body and swung her great shield.

「How is this!? This power!」

A damage effect the width of the great shield spread out flashily on the goblin’s stomach, and its HP gauge was reduced by about 30 percent.

That seemed to have enraged the goblin, and it slammed its fist into Kaede, causing her to fall to the ground.

「He-he-he… two times the damage? Two times zero is zero!」

The double damage drawback of 【Cover Move】 became non-existent before Kaede’s extraordinary defense power. However, that didn’t seem to be the case with her armor, which cracked and shattered with a sharp noise.

「Ue!?」

Kaede was surprised, but the broken armor shone faintly and instantly returned to its original form.

「Ah! I see, 【Destruction Growth】!」

It meant the broken equipment grew sturdier and stronger.

Risa called out to Kaede.

「Can you do it one more time!?」

「Of course!」

Kaede stood up and watched Risa’s movements.

And then, the moment the goblin’s fist came striking at Risa.

「【Cover Move】! 【Cover】!」

She stood between its fist and Risa and held up her great shield.

The arm was devoured by the great shield from its end, scattering into red light. It was swung down with full force to hit the quickly-moving Risa, and its momentum meant it wouldn’t just stop immediately.

The HP gauge decreased dramatically yet again.

There was only 40% left.

Kaede unsheathed New Moon.

「I’ve got to be a bit more active, right! 【Super Acceleration】!」

Risa’s body blurred and accelerated.

Risa went around behind the goblin at high speed.

「【Double Slash】! 【Wind Cutter】! 【Power Attack】! 【Double Slash】!」

It was hit with a series of high-speed attacks coupled with the effects of 【Super Acceleration】. Even after she’d done this much, its gauge only decreased by about fifteen percent, which highlighted just how abnormal Kaede’s great shield was.

As expected, with so many attacks dished out, the goblin had no choice but to turn its attention towards Risa.

When the goblin turned around, it attacked, enveloping its arms in a yellow effect, as if to overcome the red damage effect.

The attack didn’t hit Risa, but the ground it hit caved in.

「Its power has increased, but… it’s slow!」

Risa moved away from the goblin, and the goblin tried to chase after Risa with bloodshot eyes.

「Are you sure? Chasing after me? I’m sure… it’s scarier over there, you see?」

「【Hydra】!」

Kaede’s voice summoned a three-headed poison dragon.

The goblin that neglected the bigger threat by chasing after Risa ended up getting attacked by a poison dragon to its back.

It was hit with the highest level of poison damage in addition to the heavy damage from the poison dragon.

Even so, it was still somehow standing, perhaps because of its willpower as a goblin boss.

However, that didn’t last long, and it exploded, its huge body turning into shining light.

「Good work!」

「Good work… so? What was that weird move?」

「By “weird move” you mean 【Cover Move】? That was great, wasn’t it? And like I expected, I can use it to attack after I move!」

「The only one who can live using it like that and still deal telling blows is Maple, mhm…」

In fact, if a great shield user tried to imitate it, they would go down due to the double damage.

Moreover, Kaede was the only one who had this outstanding attack ability.

If it was firepower you wanted, a great shield was not what you needed.

「Sally was fast too! That thing at the end!」

「Well, it gives me a 50% AGI increase. I have to give it 30 minutes to use the next one, but… I guess that’s fine.」

「But I can only use 【Eating Inedibles】 seven more times… so I tried to use it as little as possible in this short battle, but…」

「Maple, you’ve got terrible fuel efficiency now, you see? May we’ll get you a good skill this time!」

「Yep, that’s right!」

After saying that, the two headed to the throne where the goblin was sitting.

There was a large treasure chest there, although it was not decorated.

「Should I open it?」

「O-okay! Open it!」

Risa opened the treasure chest.

Inside was a saber that looked just like the one the goblin had had.

And then, there were two sparkling silver medals.

「Yes! A medal!」

「Two, two of them, even!」

The two got obsessed with the medals, disregarding things like the saber. Neither of them could equip a saber in the first place, so it was only natural that they weren’t interested in it.

「If there are two medals per dungeon… then are there 150 dungeons…?」

「Maybe it changes with difficulty? Or perhaps there are stronger bosses out there! And then… some are just hidden and there’s no boss…」

「Ah, I see, so that’s a thing too.」

Risa stopped thinking about it and picked up the saber to see its stats.

【Saber of the Goblin King】

【STR +75】

【Damage Acceleration】

「Wow… that’s quite a musclebrain weapon…」

「What’s it like?」

「It’s too fragile to fight with for very long, but it has a STR+75.」

「We can’t equip it, can we?」

「Yep.」

「I guess the equipment is a letdown…」

「Do you want to go find the next dungeon? There’s a magic circle behind the throne, and I think we can get out if we get on it.」

「…Well, maybe we can get one more done by the end of the day? I think I have the skills for that!」

After they finished their discussion, they got on the magic circle.

They wanted to explore and use Kaede’s 【Eating Inedibles】 up as much as possible within the day.

Since it couldn’t be carried over to tomorrow, the number of places they could clear would decrease.

And when the light disappeared, they were in the grassland from earlier.

「I forgot… first of all, we have to get out of the grassland and start from there…」

「W-where do you think we should go?」

「Forward! Probably the best way. It can’t be grasslands all the way up to that high mountain you could see from the start.」

「That sounds about right!」

The two started walking towards the mountainous area.