Sure, okay? Compared to the successful melee classes of the world, my fighting might look plain to the eye. Lightning doesn’t crackle, and things don’t explode. But, you see, if you ask me, all of that is waste. Superfluous. Not beautiful. You don’t need explosions; if you cut the appropriate part at the appropriate time in the appropriate way, the enemy goes down. Just like this!
My sword, swung with great momentum, made a clean hit on the Skeleton’s head, blowing its skull away in flashy fashion. Damn it, I put in unnecessary power. Clear your mind, clear your mind……
And so, despite suffering a minor emotional wound in an unexpected place, our Labyrinth exploration continued without any particular trouble.
We repelled our encounter with a Skeleton—the umpteenth one today—without difficulty. Though, considering our actual ability versus the Labyrinth’s danger level, I suppose saying it’s”natural”is, well, natural.
“[Scorch and Strike: Fire Bullet]!“
The final Ghoul burns to ash under Linfa’s spirit arts.
“Alright, shall we call it a day?”
“……That would be best. I was just getting sick and tired of the boredom.”
Spitting out the words, Linfa immediately turns on her heel.
I sigh quietly at the unchanging attitude, but truth be told, I don’t harbor that much ill will toward Linfa. In fact, I actually viewed him favorably.
It stems from Linfa’s combat style. Despite the harsh words and attitude, his way of fighting is extremely solid and honest. There is very little waste.
Up to this point, he has defeated enemies without using more spells than necessary to match their strength. Certain other people I knew had the momentum to destroy everything in their field of vision with maximum firepower at all times…… In that regard, Linfa is exactly the kind of caster I prefer.
Unlike me, he seems to have a considerable amount of mana, so his potential for growth is outstanding.
Chasing after Linfa’s back as he tried to leave his vanguard behind, I began to solidify my policy for the future.
“Oh, you’re here. Good morning.”
“……Good morning.”
It has already been three days since I formed a party with Linfa to dive into the Labyrinth daily. Today, as always, I met up with Linfa at the guild to prepare for our dive.
“Alright, let’s get to it. The Labyrinth we’re diving into today is……”
“Wait. I’m choosing today!”
“What’s up all of a sudden?”
“Ever since I teamed up with you, it’s been nothing but low-level dungeons for the past few days. I’ve reached the limit of my patience! We formed a party, but it’s not like you are the leader. I should have the right to choose too!”
“Well, that is true, but…… Just for the record, where do you intend to go?”
“[The Magic Crystal Cave].”
“[The Magic Crystal Cave] …… That’s Danger Level C, isn’t it? Hmm…… but Linfa, aren’t you still Rank D?”
“I can handle Danger Level C! Or is there a regulation that says Rank D cannot dive into Danger Level C dungeons?”
“No, but……”
The regulations state you can challenge up to one rank above your own.
I thought about it.
In terms of Guild-defined Labyrinth danger, ‘C’ is right in the middle tier. Adventurers who can dive there aren’t called veterans, but it’s a rank where you are treated as a full-fledged pro. Naturally, it comes with commensurate danger.
Linfa’s personal rank is D, but looking at the sharpness of his arts yesterday, he could certainly pass for C. As for me, I’m Rank B, even if I’m rusty, so there shouldn’t be a problem. ……Shouldn’t. Since I lost almost all opportunities to fight in my previous party and turned into ‘Labyrinth Strolling Man,’ exactly how much I can do right now is an unknown variable.
I feel like I did reasonably well in Danger Level B back when I was participating in combat, but that’s a memory from distant days now. I just hope I haven’t gotten dull.
Choosing low-rank dungeons on the first day was partly to verify that, and I had been raising the danger level incrementally since then. I wanted to avoid a situation where we dove into a blindly high-danger Labyrinth and I failed to protect Linfa as the vanguard.
However, it seems Linfa found that irritating.
“If you intend to keep diving into those kinds of dungeons, there is no meaning in continuing this party!”
“Hey, hey……”
What exactly is he so rushed about? My confusion was winning out over my exasperation at Linfa’s stubbornness.
I feel like I’ve come to understand Linfa’s temperament somewhat over these three days. Since we formed the party rather forcibly to begin with, it’s not hard to imagine that if he says he’ll quit, he really will quit.
Frankly speaking, even if that happened, it’s not like it would inconvenience me much, but thinking about Linfa’s future, it would leave a bad aftertaste.
“Sigh…… Fine. Let’s go to [The Magic Crystal Cave].”
In the end, realizing there was no room for persuasion, I folded, and our trip to the Crystal Cave was decided.
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[The Magic Crystal Cave], as the name implies, is a Labyrinth where the interior is covered in countless crystal-like formations. Large crystals, big enough to wrap your arms around, grow all over the place. At first glance, it’s a sight that raises your excitement thinking,”All-you-can-take crystals!”, but reality isn’t so kind. Strangely, the crystals of this cave turn to dust and vanish if you break them off and remove them from the Labyrinth.
Also, these crystals constantly emit a faint light. The myriad crystals reflect each other, illuminating the inside of the Labyrinth beautifully.
Inside this seemingly fantastical Labyrinth, we were currently surrounded by a massive swarm of crabs. These crabs, whose entire bodies were made of a crystal-like substance, stood as tall as my waist. If you got caught in those massive pincers, a human body would likely be snapped right in two.
As long as I keep my back to the wall and hold the line, the rearguard won’t take damage, so I had Linfa dedicate himself to support fire.
“They just keep coming one after another! [Freeze and Pierce]!”
Linfa’s spirit art fired off, striking a Crystal Crab. The crab was as hard as it looked; ice projectiles were ineffective against its body.
As for me, I took advantage of the opening created when the crabs were distracted by Linfa’s arts, aiming my sword at their leg joints and smashing it in. Since they are made of crystal, blades don’t pass through them easily. It’s not impossible to slice them in two with a clean cut, but doing that against this many numbers would drain my mana and leave me poor.
“Hmph!”
Therefore, I was going around concentrating on destroying their legs, which were relatively brittle and would rob them of their mobility. As long as they can’t move properly, it’s as good as defeating them; we can take our time finishing them off later. Energy conservation, energy conservation.
“Linfa, aim for the legs!”
“……Tch, [Freeze and Pierce]! [Freeze and Pierce]! [Freeze and Pierce]!!”
Spirit arts fired in rapid succession. Several of them succeeded in dulling the crabs’ movements.
Glancing sideways at Linfa, who was desperately continuing to use his arts, I silently continued to process the crowding crabs.
After thinning the numbers significantly and seeing only a few crabs left, I gauged that we had some breathing room and called out to Linfa.
“Linfa, got a second?”
“……? What is it? There are still crabs left.”
“Yeah, I’m leaving them alive on purpose.”
“What?”
“When you deploy your arts, you always spread them out around yourself, right? But against these guys, it’s more effective to deploy them in a line focused on a single point.”
“A single point……? L-Like this……?”
As he spoke, the [Freeze and Pierce] he activated lined up front-to-back.
“Against hard opponents, it’s standard practice to attack the same spot continuously. Plus, it’s easier to aim at the same specific part that way. Try shooting.”
“I see……”
The consecutively fired ice projectiles hit the crab’s leg with a pleasant ga-ga-ga-ga sound, completely destroying the limb. The idea itself is something that makes you say”well, obviously”once you hear it, but it’s surprisingly effective.
“I-I did it!”
“In one go, huh? You really are a quick learner.”
“Ehehe…… Ah, no…… Hmph, this much is a piece of cake!”
“Keep that rhythm going and take down the rest.”
“You don’t have to tell me!”
A smile spilled onto my face at Linfa’s rare look of happiness and his typically un-honest words.
Before long, we finished off all the crabs. Confirming there were no other monsters nearby, we decided to take a breather.
I sat down on a crab corpse and took out some rations. It looked like a dried, blue-violet octopus leg. At first glance, it’s incredibly ominous, but the more you chew, the more flavor comes out—it’s actually pretty good. I bought it out of curiosity and a desire to see something scary when I first saw it at a stall, but now it’s become a favorite item. By the way, I still don’t know exactly what this object is, and the stall owner won’t tell me.
As I stuffed my cheeks with the octopus leg (?), Linfa approached timidly.
“Ngh, whash wrhong?”(Hm, what’s wrong?)
“……Well, it’s just…”
Linfa paused, hesitating to speak. A subtle atmosphere enveloped the space as he remained silent for a while.
“……? Um…… You want some too?”
“Ew, I don’t want that…… What is that gross thing?”
Unable to bear the indescribable awkwardness, I held out the octopus leg (?), only to be flatly rejected. Gross…… well, it is gross, but still.
“That’s not it…… Um, you saved me back there! That’s all!”
After spitting that out rapidly as if squeezing the words out, Linfa hurriedly walked away to a spot a little distance off.
Chuckling slightly at Linfa’s attitude—so perfectly unable to be honest—I ate the rest of the gross octopus leg (?). It tastes good, though…….
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