Itai no wa Iya nanode Bōgyo-Ryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu Chapter 42

Defense Specialization and Escape Strategy

「「【Super Acceleration】!」」

Sally’s and Kasumi’s bodies accelerated rapidly and approached the door, dragging Maple along with them. Three snails appeared from each side, and two snails could be seen diagonally in front of them.

Those two snails wouldn’t allow the three to head for the door, and mucus was scattered around to obstruct their path.

「Damn… to the left!」

「Yeah!」

Sally and Kasumi quickly changed directions towards the ground that wasn’t problematic.

Maple was being dragged and couldn’t do such a thing, so she escaped the trouble by dealing with the mucus that seemed to be sticking to her body with 【Eating Inedibles】.

The speed of the snails was higher than Maple’s, but it was nowhere near as high as Sally’s and Kasumi’s.

As long as they were able to avoid the mucus, it was easy to reach the door.

「Good! Kasumi!」

「Yeah! Leave it to me!」

Kasumi quickly took the key out of her inventory and tried to insert it into the keyhole.

At that moment.

「Woah!」

With a splashing sound, something grew out of the snail.

The thing probably best described as a tentacle snatched the key from her hand.

The tentacle stuck the key on the snail’s head and retracted into its body.

「W-we have to get it back!」

「【Leap】 can’t reach it…!」

With just Sally alone, that height would have been possible, but with Maple and Kasumi in tow, it was not.

「We can’t just stay here! They’re coming at us!」

The snails were approaching bit by bit. If they stopped, the mucus would get them. Besides, there was no guarantee that that tentacle wouldn’t extend out again.

「Kasumi! What about 【Lonely Moon】!?」

「I can’t do that if the circumstances aren’t favorable! I’d be defeated while I’m stiff!」

In the meantime, the ground was getting covered with more and more mucus.

There wasn’t much time left.

「…Sally! Let’s go straight for the tunnel!」

It was Maple who raised her voice. When Sally looked at Maple, there was a certain confidence in her eyes.

「…Got it, let’s try to do this!」

She dashed together with Kasumi.

To get back to the tunnel, they had to get through the snails.

The snails already surrounded the three.

「I’ll take care of this! 【Sixth of the Tachi: Flame】!」

The flaming sword blade swung down and flames tore open a gap between the snails.

There was no damage, but she realized in the process that the intimidation would work for just a moment. It was just a moment, but it was more than enough time in this situation.

After the three ran through, the snails followed them.

「As I thought! Their movements are so simple!」

It was just as Maple said.

The snails were generally following the route the three took.

The two could understand what Maple wanted to do after this without her having to say it.

「【Leap】!」

「【Third of the Tachi: Lonely Moon】!」

「【Hydra】!」

Each of the skills of the three did its part.

Maple made the snail flinch, while they reached the snail’s shell thanks to Kasumi and Sally.

Maple’s skill helped Kasumi get through the stiffness period.

「If we’re here, mucus won’t be a problem, either! …And also…」

Sally looked ahead and saw the snails approaching with the same movements.

One of them had the key on its head.

As they ran in a straight line, the door and the snails that were chasing them were almost on the same straight.

Fortunately, the snail with the key seemed to have come late, and its body was at a slight angle.

「Now we can just take the key without being obstructed by the shell!」

「【Leap】!」

The shell was higher than the head, so they were able to jump down and just snatch the key.

「Good!」

「Hurry!」

However, the ground they landed on was in too bad of a state for them not to lose time.

They were finally able to reach the door but gave enough time for the mucus to be spread and for the snail’s tentacles to reach out.

Even so.

「【Cover】!」

Maple’s great shield blocked those.

With Maple on the defense, not even one attack could get through to the back.

「I won’t allow you to hit twice!」

「Alright! It’s open!」

Sally opened the door, and they rolled into the room.

Immediately after they entered this room, the door vanished and disappeared, so there was no longer any possibility of being attacked by the snails from earlier.

And at the same time, the chains that held the three together crumbled to pieces and disappeared.

That meant that they had cleared this dungeon.

「Whew… we survived…」

「Yeah… I’m tired…」

「Looks like I won’t want to see any more snails for a while…」

There were four treasure chests and one magic circle in this room.

「Treasure chests… let’s open them.」

「Yeah! Let’s do it.」

The three opened one treasure chest each.

「Mine was a spear, hey!」

「I’ve got a great shield, I suppose.」

「In mine was a staff.」

The three each held what was inside in their hands to show to each other. The only thing that would be useful to any of the three would be the great shield.

「Maple, you should have this. It’s useless for me either way…」

Kasumi said and handed Maple the great shield.

「Are you sure?」

「Yeah, I don’t mind.」

Although it wouldn’t be a good enough substitute, Maple handed her the spear she was holding and Sally handed her the staff.

「Hmm… this is good equipment.」

Kasumi looked at the abilities of the equipment and muttered.

The abilities were good enough for any player who could equip it to want it.

「There’s still one more treasure chest left, too.」

Sally headed to the one remaining treasure chest.

The two followed and peeked at the treasure chest Sally was opening from behind.

「Hmmm… just three scrolls, I guess.」

She checked for medals and took the scrolls out of the treasure chest.

「They’re all similar scrolls. They let you learn the skill 【Encouragement】.」

Sally handed the scrolls to the two.

They put them away into their inventories and were done with this room.

「Well then, let’s get out of here, shall we?」

「Yeah… this cave was tough… I’m tired.」

The three got on the magic circle and left the cave.

The only reason they were able to get out of this cave safely was because they each were able to make use of their individualities.

If they hadn’t been able to make up for their shortcomings, the outcome would have been different.

The three returned to the desert from before.

「Phew… it’s the night sky…」

「It’s not like we’ve been there that long, though.」

「Yeah, but I feel happy for some reason.」

The night sky, which could not be seen in the cave, felt liberating.

「Oh yeah… we were planning to fight Kasumi… I don’t feel like fighting anymore.」

Sally didn’t have the heart to bring them into a fight again after they had worked together so well.

Neither, of course, had Maple.

「I don’t feel like fighting either… well, I didn’t feel like it in the first place.」

「That’s right! Then let’s add each other as friends!」

「Yep, no problem.」

The three all finished adding each other as friends, then lay down and looked up at the sky.

Maybe it was from exhaustion, maybe it was from relief, but they wanted to stay that way for a while.

「Kasumi… what are you going to do after this?」

「Well… for now, I’ll part ways with you two. I’ve added you as friends, and we can meet again after the event.」

「You can come with us if you want, though…」

「Yup, it’s all good, all good!」

「Aha… I’m flattered, but not this time. Two gold medals in one place is sure to give us more fighting.」

What Kasumi said was true.

The other players knew that Kasumi and Maple had a gold medal.

Naturally, there were many who would target them for the medals.

Even more so if there were two people with them.

「I see… it’s a shame, but it can’t be helped.」

「Yeah… so! I think I’ll be going now.」

Kasumi stood up and brushed the sand off.

「Best of luck!」

「Same to you two.」

Kasumi waved them off one last time and left the two.

Thus ended the strange joint struggle.