Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
About ten days after renewing equipment…
「Mako, there is a giant centipede (uncertain) behind you.」
「Okay」
「Sensei, there’s a bone lizard (uncertain) approaching from the front.」
「Aight」
Hiroshi’s group finally got to delving into the dungeon. There was an easy explanation to why they were so late in doing this.
「……Yep, seems we were right in warming up.」
When they were accustomizing their equipment, Hiroshi hadn’t been able to stop himself.
「Is it really that different now mate？」
「Yeah, quite different」
Hiroshi asked Makoto while mercilessly pulverizing the bone lizard (which never had any real useful “materials” to gather), and Makoto replied while splitting the giant centipede in half with one strike as she replied seriously.
「Not only is the blade sharper than before, but the biggest changes are the leather and metal armors.」
「It was half plate before wyvern leather, mate.」
「When did this even take place？」
Hiroshi had brought up a topic that took place before Makoto met up with him and the others, and she questioned him with an exasperated look on her face. Though it was only a year since they had changed to wyvern leather, it had been even less time than when they had used the Farlane knight half plate. The team was already beginning to forget what the metal armor even felt like.
「But I seem to recall that we never acclimated the equipment with the wyvern leather, mate.」
「That time, our defense increased and our weight was light, so you might even say we managed to finish everything with Tatsuya’s oxide circle alone.」
「But it ain’t like Bro took on all of it by himself, right？」
「Aside from a few exceptions, pretty much anyone with that half plate armor hardly got hurt at all, so it was a super good idea to train them.」
「Ah, I gotchu」
Receiving an answer he could totally relate with, Hiroshi gave a broad nod. It was true that the number of monsters they defeated at the time were many in number, but there were only a few kinds of monsters they fought who were able to pierce through half plate armor and damage them, and on top of that, the wyvern laser armor (and especially Hiroshi’s which had max defense) were maybe evil tigers and hell hounds. But even for those two monsters, Tatsuya probably didn’t even need a class 7 potion with the armor he had on.
Needless to say, had this not been equipment created by Hiroshi, there would not have been nearly as much defense implemented.
「On another note, this hihiirokane katana is quite nice.」
「Ya like it？」
「Yes. Of course, orichalchum and adamantite aren’t bad at all. It’s just that this katana feels right.」
「At present, the worst performin’ one is that one, though」
「It’s true that this katana has the lowest performing edge among the three variants, but I feel more accustomed to it having used it the most. Also, whether it be a living thing or a nonliving thing, every time I slash something it feels like the sword is alive, as if it’s rejoicing over someone using it.」
At Makoto’s description, all the minors suddenly turned far in the other direction, clearly in an awkward situation. Clearly the training had gone well, but as a result, sadly enough, you couldn’t deny that this “katana” seemed to have acquired a strange new fetish.
「Ah, right, Makoto-san」
「Yeah？」
「I think I toldja that thing grows the more ya use it. Well, just know that depending on how ya use it, the growth can go in many different directions. Looking at the equilibrium between cooldown time, auto repairing, etc, I say ya just use yer extra skill when ya find the right timing.」
「Got it」
Listening to Hiroshi’s explanation, Makoto gave a nod. In many ways it was an appealing idea, that being the katana shifting into whatever its owner desired.
「On another note, it was quite unexpected to see not Haruna, but Hiroshi of all people with a breastplate.」
「I already told Haruna-san or Mio that if I put on a half plate of armor, the dungeon exploration would take a week or so longer.」
「Right, the whole penalty aspect」
「Yup. I did try ‘n move about with full plate when we were testin’ the armor out, and the weight was fine, but it’s supa hard ta move around, so while it’s fine with battle, I best not activate it much when just movin’ round. That’s how it felt.」
Makoto got what Hiroshi was saying. Hiroshi’s position made it guaranteed that he would take on the brunt of attacks, so while it was difficult to move around, he could make up for it with his skills to a certain extent. Outclass, for instance, didn’t take any penalties for attracting attention, and even if attacked from behind, Cover Dive was pretty good for following up in such instances. No one was depending on him for firepower, so if Hiroshi so much as got a smash attack on them it was plenty already, and with all of those elements together, you could say that even with very dull movement, the team would manage.
But they didn’t have all that many followup skills when exploring, plus acquiring and practicing all this was extremely troublesome. Even if they were to perfect this formation, with the current skills they had it was unfortunately not possible to move around that skillfully. So other than shut-in battle experts that specialized in clearing advanced class dungeons that were constantly at their throats if they didn’t constantly have full plate armor on (including tanks), there really weren’t that many people mastering those related skills.
Things appeared to be the same for this world’s adventurers. The only ones really doing this were knight wannabes. The majority of adventurers stuck with breast plate armor, even if it was metal, and the heaviest worn was half plate armor covering all the vital parts.
「Oh right, Makoto-san」
「Yes？」
「I did put a water movement enchantment on yer half plate just in case, but unlike mine or Haruna-san’s, it don’t float in water, so just remember that, kay」
「Ah～、I remember now, we did have a problem like that, huh. Wait, breastplates float？」
「It’s only limited to above-intermediate metal (excluding magic steel and adamantite) armor that’s been lightened to an extent.」
The greatest demerit to metal armor was its lack of buoyancy. Makoto recalled struggling with this several times in the game. Although not instantaneous (more like 5 seconds), she had managed to swap out armor when traversing across water to the leather sub armor. Regular swimming skills couldn’t cover for the flaws in metal armor, and casting only a few enchantments on water movement would just go to waste, so she really only had that choice.
However, unlike the game, this world forced you to actually swap out everything. Although certainly longer than 5 seconds, you could have a fairly easy time taking off breastplate armor, but with halfplate, it would be a lot more difficult, and it was incredibly difficult for one person to take off their fullplate armor by themselves. With that in mind, you therefore could not equip metal armor when going to places with a high chance of water spots, likely one of the reasons why regular adventurers evaded metal armor.
「When you think of it that way, I’m glad we had wyvern leather back in the underground ruins.」
「Yuuup. Especially that third floor with its gimmick using water for a lot of the attractions.」
「Yeah, that first pond attraction was nooot something you wanna try with metal armor.」
「Well, even before that, goin’ to the desert with regular metal armor is nothin’ but suicidal without me enchantin’ it.」
As soon as she brought up the ruins, Hiroshi gave Makoto a fierce rebuttal, and she just looked far into the distance. True, unless you had a high-performing heat-resistant enchantment…nay, even an enchantment like that probably would only last you an hour in the desert wearing metal armor. The rays from the sun were intense enough to bake you within an hour even if you came prepared. And if, heaven forbid, you were to come into direct skin contact with the desert sun, you would immediately sustain a burn, no question about it. It’s fairly easy to picture this if you think of a playground slide or metal handrail exposed to the rays of the sun.
「Sorta feels like we keep getting bit in the back for all our stereotypes surrounding the fantasy world……」
「And then ya got the clothing ‘n armor lookin’ mighty similar to the kind in fantasy books or games. Oddly makes sense.」
「No, I don’t really think it’s as simple as either of you are making it out to be……」
Makoto had a faraway look in her eyes as she realized how many times they had bumped into this wall of reality, or rather, physics. The struggle was truly real.
「Y’know, depending on how you look at it, maybe even bikini armor with all its skin exposure is actually logical over here too?」
「No, Mako, that’s even more impossible than fullplate.」
「And Makoto-san, you don’t seriously think any woman has the guts to skulk around town with that kind of outfit, right？」
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
Bikini armor was definitely stretching it a bit far for Mio as she immediately threw a quick retort Makoto’s way and Haruna threw in her own two-sense. But this was clearly a joke and Makoto didn’t take any real damage from hearing their comments.
「Oh yeah, I always wonder why those kinds of bikini armor are so high defense. Is it magic？」
「Hm～？ Thinking about it logically, it’s probably just as Tatsuya said about having some sort of special magic on it……」
「One vote for martial arts that make you stronger the more you strip」
Mio made an unnecessary remark at Haruna’s attempted answer to Tatsuya’s question.
「But I don’t think you’d need bikini armor if you get stronger the more you strip……」
「Maybe it’s a combination of shyness, common sense, and battle prowess？」
「So shyness is actually part of it, huh…Wait, does such a martial art exist?」
「In one of those dungeon crawlers where you get inside the wall via teleportation, being fully nude actually gives you the most defense if you’re one of those ninjas who lop off the heads of coin monsters or slimes with their bare hands.」
Bringing up a certain game where high level ninjas could in fact lop off the head of the final boss, Mio casually brought up her personal opinion. Mio in fact knew that there were card battle adventure games in which girls could fight while stripping and gained power from a combination of shyness, defense, and attack.
But Mio knew no one would understand her if she discussed products from back before they were born where you just booted up the PC with ROM and BASIC, the supply medium consisting of a floppy disk, OS being DOS, etc. Therefore she had brought up games with partial settings like that which had been recently released as new releases or remakes.
「Nah, you do realize that ninja is already being misunderstood, right？」
「But in some comic releases, it was normal for their faces to be covered and everything else naked」
「Eh? I’m pretty sure that wasn’t how it goes……」
Tatsuya attempted to reason why these ninjas were in fact misunderstood, all with a sour face. But misunderstandings like these that had already spread around were not going to go away so easily. Especially not interesting memes like this.
「At any rate, if we’re going to have anyone wear that specification of armor……」
Mio brought the topic slightly back, and all eyes fell on Haruna.
「Eh？ Why am I supposed to wear that？」
「It’ll only be a sad sight if someone like me or Mako were to wear a bikini.」
「No, I mean before any of that, why is there a need to wear armor like that……？」
「Fanservice？」
「What fans……」
She had no obligation to wear armor like that for fanservice to males, and in Hiroshi’s case it would only have the opposite effect. Having understood that, Haruna would much rather die than wear armor that did nothing but embarrass her.
「So Sensei, with that being said」
「I have no reason nor do I see any meaning in makin’ it. Not gonna happen」
「Cheapskate……」
Hiroshi immediately shot down Mio’s inquiry. Besides, if he could actually make something as outrageous as bikini armor, then he should also be able to make Haruna or Mio’s underwear. He could technically make the basic shape and then have it auto-adjust to size, but Hiroshi had no inclination of going to all that trouble just to be met with cold gazes from the other girls. He was no masochist.
「Then Haru, if you had to choose between wearing bikini armor or one of those transforming/magical girl outfits, which would you go for？」
「All I can see in either route is a future filled with disaster, but I’d say the transforming heroine one sounds slightly better……」
「I see」
Mio seemed to be content after hearing that, and Haruna got the strange feeling she had been a bit too quick to answer there.
「Ah, Mako. Unidentified snake coming from the front.」
「Alright」
Finishing this rather bizarre conversation, the group entered into exploration mode. Whatwith the floor being close to the service, the group still had plenty of ease.
「Our footsteps sound quite a bit different now, mate.」
「We might need to be more careful now」
Passing the first poison gas region and using a variety of tools to travel on foot through the area after the tunnel (which did a 180 from the tunnel’s smoother surface, now with bad footing), Hiroshi and Mio called out to everyone letting them know to be careful. Hearing the details, Haruna lightly kicked the ground to check the touch of it.
「……Yep, something’s definitely off」
「It might just suddenly collapse, so we gotta really watch ourselves, mate」
Hiroshi mentioned this type of trap from past experience to warn the group, who all nodded and proceeded with caution. Mio, who had been tapping the ground ten feet ahead, suddenly had a rare expression of doubt on her face as she turned back.
「Sensei」
「Find somethin’ weird？」
「I got a real bad feeling」
「Lemme see？」
Hiroshi took the pole from Mio and lightly tapped the ground. He might not be as sensitive to traps as Mio, but he was far more knowledgeable regarding architectural structure, geological features, etc. In a suspicious case such as this, it was best to leave things to Hiroshi, the expert.
「……Hey y’all, there’s a super ginormous cavern.」
「A pitfall？」
「Nope. Feels more like a hole that was created after underground water dried up, or maybe after some worm-like creature passed through it. It’s thick enough to not collapse if we walk on it, I think, but there’s somethin’ kinda dicey about it.」
Lightly tapping the area ten feet ahead of them, Hiroshi gave Mio his conclusion. After poking around some more here and there, Hiroshi stuck a stake deep in the ground at their feet and secured it with rope.
On a sidenote, this rope was even more firm than your typical strong wires, made by twisting all the abundant amount of spirit thread that remained in storage. The length went well over a hundred meters. You’d be hard-pressed to find rope or wire in the game that had specs as magnificent as this monstrosity.
Wrapping several coils of rope around his waist, Hiroshi began carefully prodding the area for inspection as soon as the sound changed. And his conclusion…
「It’s too dangerous to pick fights in this area, so how bout we break it in ‘n head right on down?」
…was this.
「Is that even safe？」
「I dunno till we try, but it’ll definitely be better than dealin’ with somethin’ appearing up here.」
「And how do we go about breaking it？」
「All I know is that we can rupture the center with a king-size pom, but then the other areas might burst too, so eh.」
Everyone nodded with stiff faces. Apparently Hiroshi actually had enough restraint to not use the king size pom in this situation.
「So what now？」
「I’ll try ‘n give it a light dig to where it don’t go overboard. I think it’ll b fine, but I’d like y’all to wait up ahead from where ya hear different sounds with yer feet, from where I have the rope. Also, ya best keep it wrapped around ya just in case.」
「Alright」
Moving to where Hiroshi instructed, Makoto stood by on the ready. Haruna and Tatsuya moved a bit ahead of her, readying themselves to cast any assist magic if need be. Mio was in charge of perimeter security.
「Alright, let’s-a-go!」
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
Seeing everyone evacuate, Hiroshi carefully decided on a position that didn’t appear to have a cavity in it. Standing right next to the cavity area to where he could swing the pickaxe down, Hiroshi gave a loud shout and made a precise crack in the ground. The next moment, a wide fissure opened up in the ground ahead of where he had blasted the shot, and within seconds it all came crumbling down. The aftermath’s effects stretched all the way to where Hiroshi had been standing, stopping only before hitting the cracked ground with the stake secured with rope.
And now that his footing was compromised, he was bound to fall down too…
「Oh, ya actually learned Falling Control too huh」
「I figured it would be helpful to learn it. Glad I can help.」
Thanks to Haruna instantly activating falling regulation magic, Hiroshi was able to avoid getting trapped in the rubble, instead descending slowly on top of it.
There was always debate as to whether you activate the magic as soon as you see the people falling or not, but in the case of Fairy Tale Chronicles, this spell was nonverbal and had instant activation with no cooldown, so the moment you saw them falling and didn’t panic while activating the spell, you’d totally make it in time as long as the fall wasn’t too short. But if the target fell at a height you couldn’t intervene in, they at least wouldn’t suffer fatal injuries as long as they landed properly.
「And, well, turned out just as expected eh?」
「But if the fissures are this bad, we’ll have a tough time going forward」
Looking at the destruction of the passage and the space below it, Makoto couldn’t stop the cold sweat from running down her shoulders. Hiroshi was 30 meters above where he fell. Sure, he had inhuman specs, but even Hiroshi could very well die from a height like that. He could still realistically survive, but buried under rubble? Not much of a chance there.
That was probably why Makoto was so scared. Without their team here, there was a high chance of everyone getting caught up in the cave in and slaughtered. This dungeon had its own flavor of bloodlust, different from Ortem’s.
「I’ll go ahead down then.」
「Aight. Take care mate」
「Mm」
Haruna saw grumbling as pointless so she got straight to reconvening with Hiroshi. Using a light Falling Control spell with rope around her waist as a precaution, Haruna descended safely. Then Tatsuya and Makoto followed, and Mio jumped down, projectiles in hand.
「Aight, how do things look here」
Looking around this floor big enough to house a neighborhood, Hiroshi asked everyone a slightly difficult question. This was no limestone cave, but there were remnants of water here and there.
「Think we’ll get back up ok？」
「Hm…can anyone fly？」
「Sure, but I can’t fight midair」
「Same here」
Hiroshi asked after hearing Haruna’s question, looking up at the crumbled tunnel. Tatsuya and Haruna responded with less than satisfactory answers. In other words, there was the possibility, but it was a little uncertain.
Thankfully, as the way up not only had the rope from earlier securely attached, but also a slope (though a little steep), it was clear they could climb back up. However, climbing up the opposite side with a completely perpendicular wall was looking a bit grim, especially considering the dangers of flying monsters or wall cave-ins.
Even if Haruna or Tatsuya took the risk and reached the other side of the passage, Hiroshi and the others would take too much time getting up. It wasn’t a great option.
「Found a monster. An unidentified nocturnal bird.」
「Aura Bird！」
「Wind Cutter！」
The monster appeared right after their discussion of possible danger. Yeah, Haruna and Tatsuya did make short work of the bird immediately, but now it was very clear that the wall was not an option.
「Seriously, what now y’all？」
「How about we look for areas with thick miasma？」
「Ye」
Hearing Tatsuya’s proposal, the group decided on their next route based on the level of miasma. It was quite the wide cavern, but with plenty of side holes.
「……I found somethin’ intrestin’ earlier so is it cool if we go back real quick？」
Hiroshi said suddenly as they peered into the path with the thick miasma.
「Sure, but why？」
「Nothin’ important, I just kinda feel it’d be good to adjust the area with the rope so that we can climb up more like a ladder.」
「Alright. How long？」
「Well, somewhere around 30 minutes」
Everyone heard Hiroshi’s proclamation and decided they may as well tag along. They didn’t end up using the emergency staircase that Hiroshi went to the pain of making, but it was a great decision on their part to retrieve the rope, because…
「Sensei, I hear the sound of water」
「I got a bad feeling. It’s gonna suck walkin around, but how bout we move with the rope tied round us」
「Kay」
Because those sounds of water they heard up ahead would lead to great catastrophe without rope.
「Sensei, there’s an underground lake and river.」
「Usually there’s a pattern here……」
「Flash flood？」
「Prolly. An there aint nowhere nearby we can run」
Mio had a strained look on her face, and when Hiroshi made a similar expression on his face and looked closely, he recognized that the water pouring into the lake was slowly increasing, their feet beginning to get a bit wet.
「Everyone got the rope around ya！？」
「We’re fine！」
「Then hold on tight y’all！Armor, Full Open！Remove Lightweight！Heavy Weight！！」
Instead of stone weights, Hiroshi took out his pole axe and heavy maul, activating his fullplate and releasing his lightweight state, maxing out his weight to the fullest before the flash flood ferociously flung itself at the friends.
Stretching out the spikes from his boots to the limit and piercing them into the ground firmly, Hiroshi countered the advances of the water. He already had an underwater enchantment, so breathing was no issue, but Hiroshi still had to use Around Guard to prevent the flowing gravel from hitting his friends while supporting their four bodies as they were carried completely into the flow, which was quite laborious.
In addition to all the skills, equipment enchantments, and weight increase, we were looking at a hundred tons of weight. Hiroshi already was 171 cm tall with that amount of weight on him, so the density was something to be reckoned with. While the flash flood was indeed powerful, it didn’t seem to be capable of pushing all that weight into the flow, and Hiroshi ended up enduring a ten second long raging stream.
「Is everyone ok？」
「At the moment yeah……」
「Thought we were goners, but I guess we’re fine……」
「This time around, I seriously doubt that armor or metal has anything to do with it……」
「Without Sensei We’re Destroyed, Version……」
Confirming that everyone was (physically) safe, Hiroshi took a breath and returned the armor to breastplate. Impressed that the ground didn’t break underneath all that weight, Hiroshi checked the surroundings.
「Seems there’s more bloodlust to come for us here……」
「Even if we survived the flash flood, it’ll only mean the emergence of amphibious monsters……」
Grumbling at the gigantic (3 meters when crouching) crocodile right in front of them, Hiroshi and Tatsuya went straight into battle stances. The other members took off their own portions of the rope and immediately did the same.
「Now then, we gotta make an alligator handbag」
「Or fried alligator」
「Uhh, if this were Australia then it’d be whole roast, right？」
「Could you guys just try stepping away from materials and ingredients for once……」
And like that, the group had their usual interactions as they continued their pacing. Makoto ended up making short work with the giant croc with all her extra skill practice and Wind Slash: Earth, disassembling it in the process.
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
Afterward, the group advanced through the dungeon going every which way before starting to think of setting up camp when Hiroshi at last found a place where a boss might be.
「Judgin’ from the thickness of the miasma, I say there’s a boss riiight over there.」
「There’s definitely something over there.」
They turned at the end of the naturally decorated hallway until they came to a clearing 200 meters away. Due to the dim and miasma-thick environment, they needed to get closer, but there was clearly something abnormal waiting up ahead.
「Now it’s time to scout……」
「No, in this case we should all go together」
「It isn’t like we can surprise attack them, so it would be a mistake to split up. I don’t think anything will come out of that area, so let’s take a breather and get ready before going in.」
Halting Hiroshi, who was about to check on the boss, Tatsuya and Makoto insisted they all go together. From all the ill-spirited traps they had dealt with, traveling alone could lead to yet another “accident”. It was too uncertain.
「Kay, then after we eat. Wanna munch on a frankfurt or somethin’？」
「Yeah, that’s a good idea. What do you think, Makoto-san？」
「Yeah, we should eat a bit of that.」
Hiroshi roasted some frankfurts on skewers until they were at a nice color, giving them to everyone. Makoto asked some questions as she took hers and nibbled on it.
「First, how do you feel about the miasma here and the boss？」
「The miasma’s above an evil ent, while the boss seems like it’s not quite a tower golem.」
「The boss appears to be alone. A bit bigger than average, but not quite the size of a tower golem.」
「Not sure how I feel about it, yeah」
Makoto had a rather difficult expression on her face when she heard Hiroshi and Mio’s answers. The evil ent, Hiroshi had defeated solo, so it was quite difficult to get a reading on its strength, but Makoto knew for a fact that its firepower was enough to one hit ko them.
It probably was weaker than a tower golem, but it was difficult to determine how weak. Besides, there was a specific weaknes rather than an overall weakness, such as inferior in attack but equal or greater in defense. Take Hiroshi’s group for instance: plenty of trump cards but slightly struggling with firepower. Maybe this boss would end up being actually tougher than a tower golem.
「Well, we can’t exactly use gigantic poms right here, can we……」
「Nah, just imagine what would happen if we tried that in this fragile cavern……」
「And for the same reason, Titanic Roar is out of the question. Welp, we still dunno what the conditions are, but yeah」
「For my Dragon Drop it depends on how I use it」
「My Elemental Dance is a little weird, I’m not sure if I should think of it as an attack」
Everyone groaned as they listed their strong attacks. Although first they needed to see their opponent, things still felt unsteady.
「Oh yeah, Tatsuya-san, didn’t you get Armageddon as a present from Igreos？」
「Sure I can use it, but not in a place like this.」
「You can’t narrow the range？」
「Not currently, no. Maybe if I practice more and get a hang of its control」
Hearing Tatsuya’s fairly logical answer, Haruna sighed. Of course things weren’t going to be so convenient. Plus practice had to be done in a safe place because of the sheer range.
「What about Haruna’s music or Tatsuya’s Oxide Circle？」
「I don’t think it had that much of an effect on the evil ifrit at the tower」
「Dungeon monsters and dungeon bosses generally have oxygen loss resistance and oxygen poisoning resistance, so I don’t think it’d affect this boss more than maybe a poor-performing binding spell.」
「Sorta feels like we’re cornered here……」
Makoto anticipated this, but she couldn’t help but grimace at how blunt everyone was about it. She yanked the remaining frankfurt off the skewer and chewed it before getting a drink and contemplating all of this.
「So in conclusion, we gotta look at the boss first, yeah？」
「Well yeah, but……」
「If it makes ya feel better, we do got status items in storage, mate」
「Such as？」
「Full Power Potion, Class 5. Raises yer base stats by 20 fer a good hour.」
Tatsuya and Makoto widened their eyes at “20”. While it was true that lower levelled players would only “feel better” with these boosters, in Fairy Tale Chronicles, where numbers increasing brought up the value by one point, things like Hiroshi’s resistance, Haruna’s nimbleness, or Makoto’s muscle would bring about a crazy amount of change.
「Why didn’t you bring those out before？」
「Class 5, we got the ingredients for after Forre, but before that I couldn’t make nothin’ but Class 7 by myself. Plus there’s a small chance of potion poisoning, so the risk is too big.」
「I see. Yeah, it’s gotta be around Class 5 or so or else it’ll be difficult……」
「Right? So whatcha wanna do？」
「I say we drink. Any other ideas？」
「We can also cut damage by thirty percent, boost attack power for ten seconds, etc. Maybe not all the extra skills at once, but there’s a long cooldown time of one minute, so ya gotta use it wisely.」
The expendables that the team had given a blind eye to all this time were actually quite varied. Hiroshi had only just now brought this up because the effects were too indistinct with the materials he gathered and he didn’t feel like using most of them.
The items he made in the past were only at the level where they could activate once every few minutes, for five seconds at a time with five percent increase in strength, so they really wouldn’t have much of an effect on the enemies they defeated so far. The same could be said for explosion damage cuts, only at 3 or 5%, the effects rather slim for anyone other than Hiroshi against near one-hit ko moves. Honestly, those types of items weren’t even reassuring, let alone insurance.
「For things like constant effect, I feel 5% has plenty o’value……」
「Sure, if you think of time lag with using item after item, we’d want at least 2% for attack increase. In fact, I remember not using any of those kinds of items from the market.」
「Yeah I’ll bet. Plus with the same effects it’s 5%, 3%, same buffs same cooldown, so ya can’t even use ‘em in a row.」
Hearing some more useless information, Makoto found herself sympathizing with Hiroshi’s reasoning. Even if you handed her something like that, she’d probably just find it too bothersome and not use it.
「But the damage cut is fairly reassuring, so I think we can try usin’ that.」
「Agreed」
Nodding at Hiroshi, the group used the yellow orbs he gave them. When he saw this, Hiroshi then took out the last precious item.
「This is my ace in the hole. It’s an item that can take all the cooldown from an item or skill ya use ‘n make it lagless for thirty seconds. And when ya use it it makes all the remaining cooldown time lagless, so you can activate a buncha other stuff before usin it. I was only able to make three with the ingredients I got, but you go ahead ‘n take one, Makoto-san」
「……I see you’re back at making sturdy products. Which materials do you need？」
「A garbarenjia adam’s apple and tower golem parts. There are substitutions fer the tower golem one, but I still ain’t found ‘em, so I can’t make the orbs all that soon.」
「……Alright. If I see that we need more Gale Slash then I’ll use it without hesitation.」
「Please do. Also, I’m sure I ain’t gotta repeat this, but it can’t negate potion poisoning. Just remember that.」
「Yeah yeah, I know.」
Accepting this rather valuable item, Makoto carefully put it into a position where she could take it out at a moment’s notice. It wouldn’t go so well with her stamina and whatnot, but Makoto was still grateful to be able to use her coup de gras as much as she wanted.
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
「That’s about all the prep I can do. You good？」
「Yep. Let’s go then」
Nodding at Hiroshi, Makoto motioned to go after prepping her three katanas for takeout. When he heard that, Hiroshi stood at the front to prevent sneak attacks. Haruna began partial chanting so that she could activate healing magic if anything happened, while Tatsuya stocked a defense barrier using a new staff with newly added functions.
Fully prepared, the moment they peered into the boss room, the elder members had slight looks of despair on their faces, and the student age members’ faces looked surprised.
「Behemoth? Are you kidding me……」
「Yep, it’s Behemoth all right……」
「We got ourselves a behemoth！！」
「All right, it’s a behemoth！！」
「Behemoth……！！」
Indeed. The opponent enshrined in the boss room waiting eagerly for the arrival of the intruders was a famous big boss, possibly on the level of a dragon in notoriety, the king of the beasts that went by the name Behemoth. In the case of Fairy Tale Chronicles, its design was half bull and half bear, with other animals like dogs, cats, and boars mixed in for good balance. It was quite the sight to behold.
Its overall height was half a tower golem’s, but still a ridiculously gigantic stature to the point where that didn’t even matter, and it possessed enough battle prowess to overwhelm Class 3 adventurers. Normally this would be a desperate situation, but…
「Behemoth katsudon, teriyaki, kabayaki, so many options mate」
「Sensei, I say we start with roast behemoth」
「Or behemoth stew and behemoth strogonoff. Those sound good too.」
Normally this would be a fearsome foe to behold, but the only thing on the minds of Hiroshi and the teenagers was food, and nothing but food.
「So, Hiro……」
「Wazzup？」
「Are we seriously going to eat it……」
「Mah boi, this feast is what all true warriors strive for！！」
Hiroshi proclaimed boldly at he stared intensely at Behemoth, tightly gripping the poleaxe. The only thing in his eyes was appetite.
「Plus maybe not you Bro, but Makoto-san, ya knocked down a behemoth no problem before right？」
「I mean, I won’t say I haven’t, but……」
「It’s just a lil big, but it’s a chump compared to them tower golems, mate」
「It’s weird comparing the two, but behemoths are NOT chumps okay！？」
Cold sweat running down her shoulders, Makoto interjected desperately in response to Hiroshi’s food-obsessed rambling. She was not about to go into a suicidal battle just because Hiroshi assumed it was an easy win.
「It’s alright, just look at the pressure and miasma in the area. We can totes deal with it mate！」
「That’s not reassuring at all！」
「It ain’t like I’m gonna change nothin’ I’m doing, ‘n then we got Class 1 potions ‘n materials to use against that dude. If ya got time to grumble, ya got time to beat ‘im up mate！」
「Ugh, fine! I get it, okay! Not like I even have a choice in the matter！」
「Then let’s-a-go! Come to papa, ya big hunk o’ food！！」
With a battle cry, Hiroshi activated Outclass at the outset of battle as per usual, exerting pressure. The intimidation emanating from Hiroshi this time around was strong enough to pummel Behemoth into outright fear, something a normal human could never even come close to accomplishing. The beast apparently understood it was literally (and culinarily) about to be eaten, and that its opponent did in fact have the means to carry it out.
「Behemoth is scared, guys……」
「Ah, who frickin’ cares！！ We might as well just take him down and eat our fill！！」
Makoto, who had already interjected so many times to where she could no longer interject, snapped at Tatsuya (who had a look of mute amazement on his face) before running to join the fray. In the end, the behemoth, frightened from the very start instead of using its special move, was forced into an upright position by Hiroshi before having its neck sliced off by three consecutive hits from Makoto’s desperate but magnificent extra skill, having ultimately no chance to even show off and existing only to be eaten by everyone (and was very tasty).
「Behemoth was defeated in the Crest Cave dungeon……」
「Seriously？」
「Yes.」
「I do admit that the dungeon was still under growth and the behemoth lacked its original strength, but is this not a little quick？ 」
「Still, we cannot change what has transpired. Thankfully, the dungeon itself has now become fully established. We only happened to have a few strong ones go all the way in by coincidence this time around, but next time will not be so easy.」
Approximately one month after Crest Cave turned into a dungeon. The dark lords had apparently not anticipated the existence of adventurers who would clear it this early on. In the first place, even thieves would have trouble with the amount of natural-looking cave traps, and to go all the way to the end should still take you a year or so, even if you came prepared.
But then there were the traps, most of which you couldn’t get through even with the proper information. In fact, because there was so little in terms of proper information, they had predicted an increase in casualties, so perhaps it was not all that bad to have the first adventurers clear it more quickly than anticipated.
「Seeing as a lot of holy energy will be taken up with the regeneration of Behemoth, the amount of holy energy to divert to the dungeon at present will decrease by a substantial amount, but if word comes out about the dungeon and reckless people come to take on the challenge, we can undoubtedly replenish what was lost rather quickly.」
「Right. As long as the dungeon grows, it will be impossible to excavate ore in Crest Cave. And with that, we shall be able to shake the framework of Forre.」
「The only concern I have is how many times these adventurers have succeeded in defeating Behemoth. Such a feat should not be possible.」
「Indeed. Even if it is not at full strength, it is impossible to defeat it with such ease.」
But as the lords of darkness continued this comparatively optimistic conversation, the adventurers in question were…
「It ain’t like no one else is showin up, so how bout we wait for respawn and beat it two more times？」
「Umm…you do realize we can’t stay here for that long, right?」
「I think average respawn time fer bosses was 8 hours, so I think if we camp around at the previous clearing for a night the behemoth’ll be there again」
「Wait, two more times? That means we’ll run out of those orbs. We can’t make any more, right？」
「Nah. Got me some gallstones from Behemoth, so if ya hunt down some garbarensias again I can make em. The tower golem pieces were only substituted after all.」
If the dark lords knew that such a conversation were unfolding, they would have most certainly immediately rethought the whole process. But now…
「……Not only did they ignore the return gate, they waited for Behemoth to respawn before immediately taking it down again. Remind me again of who the monsters are here……」
「……Who would normally think to battle a boss again and again anyway……」
「……And to top it off, these aren’t even just veteran adventurers like we thought, they’re those “visitors”……」
「……We definitely should have gotten rid of them right when they came to Forre……」
Unable to comprehend the actions of these video game shut ins, a total of three behemoths were now defeated after two days at a high pace, and the dark lords were faced with no alternative but to weaken the dungeon in its entirety.
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
About ten days after renewing equipment…
「Mako, there is a giant centipede (uncertain) behind you.」
「Okay」
「Sensei, there’s a bone lizard (uncertain) approaching from the front.」
「Aight」
Hiroshi’s group finally got to delving into the dungeon. There was an easy explanation to why they were so late in doing this.
「……Yep, seems we were right in warming up.」
When they were accustomizing their equipment, Hiroshi hadn’t been able to stop himself.
「Is it really that different now mate？」
「Yeah, quite different」
Hiroshi asked Makoto while mercilessly pulverizing the bone lizard (which never had any real useful “materials” to gather), and Makoto replied while splitting the giant centipede in half with one strike as she replied seriously.
「Not only is the blade sharper than before, but the biggest changes are the leather and metal armors.」
「It was half plate before wyvern leather, mate.」
「When did this even take place？」
Hiroshi had brought up a topic that took place before Makoto met up with him and the others, and she questioned him with an exasperated look on her face. Though it was only a year since they had changed to wyvern leather, it had been even less time than when they had used the Farlane knight half plate. The team was already beginning to forget what the metal armor even felt like.
「But I seem to recall that we never acclimated the equipment with the wyvern leather, mate.」
「That time, our defense increased and our weight was light, so you might even say we managed to finish everything with Tatsuya’s oxide circle alone.」
「But it ain’t like Bro took on all of it by himself, right？」
「Aside from a few exceptions, pretty much anyone with that half plate armor hardly got hurt at all, so it was a super good idea to train them.」
「Ah, I gotchu」
Receiving an answer he could totally relate with, Hiroshi gave a broad nod. It was true that the number of monsters they defeated at the time were many in number, but there were only a few kinds of monsters they fought who were able to pierce through half plate armor and damage them, and on top of that, the wyvern laser armor (and especially Hiroshi’s which had max defense) were maybe evil tigers and hell hounds. But even for those two monsters, Tatsuya probably didn’t even need a class 7 potion with the armor he had on.
Needless to say, had this not been equipment created by Hiroshi, there would not have been nearly as much defense implemented.
「On another note, this hihiirokane katana is quite nice.」
「Ya like it？」
「Yes. Of course, orichalchum and adamantite aren’t bad at all. It’s just that this katana feels right.」
「At present, the worst performin’ one is that one, though」
「It’s true that this katana has the lowest performing edge among the three variants, but I feel more accustomed to it having used it the most. Also, whether it be a living thing or a nonliving thing, every time I slash something it feels like the sword is alive, as if it’s rejoicing over someone using it.」
At Makoto’s description, all the minors suddenly turned far in the other direction, clearly in an awkward situation. Clearly the training had gone well, but as a result, sadly enough, you couldn’t deny that this “katana” seemed to have acquired a strange new fetish.
「Ah, right, Makoto-san」
「Yeah？」
「I think I toldja that thing grows the more ya use it. Well, just know that depending on how ya use it, the growth can go in many different directions. Looking at the equilibrium between cooldown time, auto repairing, etc, I say ya just use yer extra skill when ya find the right timing.」
「Got it」
Listening to Hiroshi’s explanation, Makoto gave a nod. In many ways it was an appealing idea, that being the katana shifting into whatever its owner desired.
「On another note, it was quite unexpected to see not Haruna, but Hiroshi of all people with a breastplate.」
「I already told Haruna-san or Mio that if I put on a half plate of armor, the dungeon exploration would take a week or so longer.」
「Right, the whole penalty aspect」
「Yup. I did try ‘n move about with full plate when we were testin’ the armor out, and the weight was fine, but it’s supa hard ta move around, so while it’s fine with battle, I best not activate it much when just movin’ round. That’s how it felt.」
Makoto got what Hiroshi was saying. Hiroshi’s position made it guaranteed that he would take on the brunt of attacks, so while it was difficult to move around, he could make up for it with his skills to a certain extent. Outclass, for instance, didn’t take any penalties for attracting attention, and even if attacked from behind, Cover Dive was pretty good for following up in such instances. No one was depending on him for firepower, so if Hiroshi so much as got a smash attack on them it was plenty already, and with all of those elements together, you could say that even with very dull movement, the team would manage.
But they didn’t have all that many followup skills when exploring, plus acquiring and practicing all this was extremely troublesome. Even if they were to perfect this formation, with the current skills they had it was unfortunately not possible to move around that skillfully. So other than shut-in battle experts that specialized in clearing advanced class dungeons that were constantly at their throats if they didn’t constantly have full plate armor on (including tanks), there really weren’t that many people mastering those related skills.
Things appeared to be the same for this world’s adventurers. The only ones really doing this were knight wannabes. The majority of adventurers stuck with breast plate armor, even if it was metal, and the heaviest worn was half plate armor covering all the vital parts.
「Oh right, Makoto-san」
「Yes？」
「I did put a water movement enchantment on yer half plate just in case, but unlike mine or Haruna-san’s, it don’t float in water, so just remember that, kay」
「Ah～、I remember now, we did have a problem like that, huh. Wait, breastplates float？」
「It’s only limited to above-intermediate metal (excluding magic steel and adamantite) armor that’s been lightened to an extent.」
The greatest demerit to metal armor was its lack of buoyancy. Makoto recalled struggling with this several times in the game. Although not instantaneous (more like 5 seconds), she had managed to swap out armor when traversing across water to the leather sub armor. Regular swimming skills couldn’t cover for the flaws in metal armor, and casting only a few enchantments on water movement would just go to waste, so she really only had that choice.
However, unlike the game, this world forced you to actually swap out everything. Although certainly longer than 5 seconds, you could have a fairly easy time taking off breastplate armor, but with halfplate, it would be a lot more difficult, and it was incredibly difficult for one person to take off their fullplate armor by themselves. With that in mind, you therefore could not equip metal armor when going to places with a high chance of water spots, likely one of the reasons why regular adventurers evaded metal armor.
「When you think of it that way, I’m glad we had wyvern leather back in the underground ruins.」
「Yuuup. Especially that third floor with its gimmick using water for a lot of the attractions.」
「Yeah, that first pond attraction was nooot something you wanna try with metal armor.」
「Well, even before that, goin’ to the desert with regular metal armor is nothin’ but suicidal without me enchantin’ it.」
As soon as she brought up the ruins, Hiroshi gave Makoto a fierce rebuttal, and she just looked far into the distance. True, unless you had a high-performing heat-resistant enchantment…nay, even an enchantment like that probably would only last you an hour in the desert wearing metal armor. The rays from the sun were intense enough to bake you within an hour even if you came prepared. And if, heaven forbid, you were to come into direct skin contact with the desert sun, you would immediately sustain a burn, no question about it. It’s fairly easy to picture this if you think of a playground slide or metal handrail exposed to the rays of the sun.
「Sorta feels like we keep getting bit in the back for all our stereotypes surrounding the fantasy world……」
「And then ya got the clothing ‘n armor lookin’ mighty similar to the kind in fantasy books or games. Oddly makes sense.」
「No, I don’t really think it’s as simple as either of you are making it out to be……」
Makoto had a faraway look in her eyes as she realized how many times they had bumped into this wall of reality, or rather, physics. The struggle was truly real.
「Y’know, depending on how you look at it, maybe even bikini armor with all its skin exposure is actually logical over here too?」
「No, Mako, that’s even more impossible than fullplate.」
「And Makoto-san, you don’t seriously think any woman has the guts to skulk around town with that kind of outfit, right？」
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
Bikini armor was definitely stretching it a bit far for Mio as she immediately threw a quick retort Makoto’s way and Haruna threw in her own two-sense. But this was clearly a joke and Makoto didn’t take any real damage from hearing their comments.
「Oh yeah, I always wonder why those kinds of bikini armor are so high defense. Is it magic？」
「Hm～？ Thinking about it logically, it’s probably just as Tatsuya said about having some sort of special magic on it……」
「One vote for martial arts that make you stronger the more you strip」
Mio made an unnecessary remark at Haruna’s attempted answer to Tatsuya’s question.
「But I don’t think you’d need bikini armor if you get stronger the more you strip……」
「Maybe it’s a combination of shyness, common sense, and battle prowess？」
「So shyness is actually part of it, huh…Wait, does such a martial art exist?」
「In one of those dungeon crawlers where you get inside the wall via teleportation, being fully nude actually gives you the most defense if you’re one of those ninjas who lop off the heads of coin monsters or slimes with their bare hands.」
Bringing up a certain game where high level ninjas could in fact lop off the head of the final boss, Mio casually brought up her personal opinion. Mio in fact knew that there were card battle adventure games in which girls could fight while stripping and gained power from a combination of shyness, defense, and attack.
But Mio knew no one would understand her if she discussed products from back before they were born where you just booted up the PC with ROM and BASIC, the supply medium consisting of a floppy disk, OS being DOS, etc. Therefore she had brought up games with partial settings like that which had been recently released as new releases or remakes.
「Nah, you do realize that ninja is already being misunderstood, right？」
「But in some comic releases, it was normal for their faces to be covered and everything else naked」
「Eh? I’m pretty sure that wasn’t how it goes……」
Tatsuya attempted to reason why these ninjas were in fact misunderstood, all with a sour face. But misunderstandings like these that had already spread around were not going to go away so easily. Especially not interesting memes like this.
「At any rate, if we’re going to have anyone wear that specification of armor……」
Mio brought the topic slightly back, and all eyes fell on Haruna.
「Eh？ Why am I supposed to wear that？」
「It’ll only be a sad sight if someone like me or Mako were to wear a bikini.」
「No, I mean before any of that, why is there a need to wear armor like that……？」
「Fanservice？」
「What fans……」
She had no obligation to wear armor like that for fanservice to males, and in Hiroshi’s case it would only have the opposite effect. Having understood that, Haruna would much rather die than wear armor that did nothing but embarrass her.
「So Sensei, with that being said」
「I have no reason nor do I see any meaning in makin’ it. Not gonna happen」
「Cheapskate……」
Hiroshi immediately shot down Mio’s inquiry. Besides, if he could actually make something as outrageous as bikini armor, then he should also be able to make Haruna or Mio’s underwear. He could technically make the basic shape and then have it auto-adjust to size, but Hiroshi had no inclination of going to all that trouble just to be met with cold gazes from the other girls. He was no masochist.
「Then Haru, if you had to choose between wearing bikini armor or one of those transforming/magical girl outfits, which would you go for？」
「All I can see in either route is a future filled with disaster, but I’d say the transforming heroine one sounds slightly better……」
「I see」
Mio seemed to be content after hearing that, and Haruna got the strange feeling she had been a bit too quick to answer there.
「Ah, Mako. Unidentified snake coming from the front.」
「Alright」
Finishing this rather bizarre conversation, the group entered into exploration mode. Whatwith the floor being close to the service, the group still had plenty of ease.
「Our footsteps sound quite a bit different now, mate.」
「We might need to be more careful now」
Passing the first poison gas region and using a variety of tools to travel on foot through the area after the tunnel (which did a 180 from the tunnel’s smoother surface, now with bad footing), Hiroshi and Mio called out to everyone letting them know to be careful. Hearing the details, Haruna lightly kicked the ground to check the touch of it.
「……Yep, something’s definitely off」
「It might just suddenly collapse, so we gotta really watch ourselves, mate」
Hiroshi mentioned this type of trap from past experience to warn the group, who all nodded and proceeded with caution. Mio, who had been tapping the ground ten feet ahead, suddenly had a rare expression of doubt on her face as she turned back.
「Sensei」
「Find somethin’ weird？」
「I got a real bad feeling」
「Lemme see？」
Hiroshi took the pole from Mio and lightly tapped the ground. He might not be as sensitive to traps as Mio, but he was far more knowledgeable regarding architectural structure, geological features, etc. In a suspicious case such as this, it was best to leave things to Hiroshi, the expert.
「……Hey y’all, there’s a super ginormous cavern.」
「A pitfall？」
「Nope. Feels more like a hole that was created after underground water dried up, or maybe after some worm-like creature passed through it. It’s thick enough to not collapse if we walk on it, I think, but there’s somethin’ kinda dicey about it.」
Lightly tapping the area ten feet ahead of them, Hiroshi gave Mio his conclusion. After poking around some more here and there, Hiroshi stuck a stake deep in the ground at their feet and secured it with rope.
On a sidenote, this rope was even more firm than your typical strong wires, made by twisting all the abundant amount of spirit thread that remained in storage. The length went well over a hundred meters. You’d be hard-pressed to find rope or wire in the game that had specs as magnificent as this monstrosity.
Wrapping several coils of rope around his waist, Hiroshi began carefully prodding the area for inspection as soon as the sound changed. And his conclusion…
「It’s too dangerous to pick fights in this area, so how bout we break it in ‘n head right on down?」
…was this.
「Is that even safe？」
「I dunno till we try, but it’ll definitely be better than dealin’ with somethin’ appearing up here.」
「And how do we go about breaking it？」
「All I know is that we can rupture the center with a king-size pom, but then the other areas might burst too, so eh.」
Everyone nodded with stiff faces. Apparently Hiroshi actually had enough restraint to not use the king size pom in this situation.
「So what now？」
「I’ll try ‘n give it a light dig to where it don’t go overboard. I think it’ll b fine, but I’d like y’all to wait up ahead from where ya hear different sounds with yer feet, from where I have the rope. Also, ya best keep it wrapped around ya just in case.」
「Alright」
Moving to where Hiroshi instructed, Makoto stood by on the ready. Haruna and Tatsuya moved a bit ahead of her, readying themselves to cast any assist magic if need be. Mio was in charge of perimeter security.
「Alright, let’s-a-go!」
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
Seeing everyone evacuate, Hiroshi carefully decided on a position that didn’t appear to have a cavity in it. Standing right next to the cavity area to where he could swing the pickaxe down, Hiroshi gave a loud shout and made a precise crack in the ground. The next moment, a wide fissure opened up in the ground ahead of where he had blasted the shot, and within seconds it all came crumbling down. The aftermath’s effects stretched all the way to where Hiroshi had been standing, stopping only before hitting the cracked ground with the stake secured with rope.
And now that his footing was compromised, he was bound to fall down too…
「Oh, ya actually learned Falling Control too huh」
「I figured it would be helpful to learn it. Glad I can help.」
Thanks to Haruna instantly activating falling regulation magic, Hiroshi was able to avoid getting trapped in the rubble, instead descending slowly on top of it.
There was always debate as to whether you activate the magic as soon as you see the people falling or not, but in the case of Fairy Tale Chronicles, this spell was nonverbal and had instant activation with no cooldown, so the moment you saw them falling and didn’t panic while activating the spell, you’d totally make it in time as long as the fall wasn’t too short. But if the target fell at a height you couldn’t intervene in, they at least wouldn’t suffer fatal injuries as long as they landed properly.
「And, well, turned out just as expected eh?」
「But if the fissures are this bad, we’ll have a tough time going forward」
Looking at the destruction of the passage and the space below it, Makoto couldn’t stop the cold sweat from running down her shoulders. Hiroshi was 30 meters above where he fell. Sure, he had inhuman specs, but even Hiroshi could very well die from a height like that. He could still realistically survive, but buried under rubble? Not much of a chance there.
That was probably why Makoto was so scared. Without their team here, there was a high chance of everyone getting caught up in the cave in and slaughtered. This dungeon had its own flavor of bloodlust, different from Ortem’s.
「I’ll go ahead down then.」
「Aight. Take care mate」
「Mm」
Haruna saw grumbling as pointless so she got straight to reconvening with Hiroshi. Using a light Falling Control spell with rope around her waist as a precaution, Haruna descended safely. Then Tatsuya and Makoto followed, and Mio jumped down, projectiles in hand.
「Aight, how do things look here」
Looking around this floor big enough to house a neighborhood, Hiroshi asked everyone a slightly difficult question. This was no limestone cave, but there were remnants of water here and there.
「Think we’ll get back up ok？」
「Hm…can anyone fly？」
「Sure, but I can’t fight midair」
「Same here」
Hiroshi asked after hearing Haruna’s question, looking up at the crumbled tunnel. Tatsuya and Haruna responded with less than satisfactory answers. In other words, there was the possibility, but it was a little uncertain.
Thankfully, as the way up not only had the rope from earlier securely attached, but also a slope (though a little steep), it was clear they could climb back up. However, climbing up the opposite side with a completely perpendicular wall was looking a bit grim, especially considering the dangers of flying monsters or wall cave-ins.
Even if Haruna or Tatsuya took the risk and reached the other side of the passage, Hiroshi and the others would take too much time getting up. It wasn’t a great option.
「Found a monster. An unidentified nocturnal bird.」
「Aura Bird！」
「Wind Cutter！」
The monster appeared right after their discussion of possible danger. Yeah, Haruna and Tatsuya did make short work of the bird immediately, but now it was very clear that the wall was not an option.
「Seriously, what now y’all？」
「How about we look for areas with thick miasma？」
「Ye」
Hearing Tatsuya’s proposal, the group decided on their next route based on the level of miasma. It was quite the wide cavern, but with plenty of side holes.
「……I found somethin’ intrestin’ earlier so is it cool if we go back real quick？」
Hiroshi said suddenly as they peered into the path with the thick miasma.
「Sure, but why？」
「Nothin’ important, I just kinda feel it’d be good to adjust the area with the rope so that we can climb up more like a ladder.」
「Alright. How long？」
「Well, somewhere around 30 minutes」
Everyone heard Hiroshi’s proclamation and decided they may as well tag along. They didn’t end up using the emergency staircase that Hiroshi went to the pain of making, but it was a great decision on their part to retrieve the rope, because…
「Sensei, I hear the sound of water」
「I got a bad feeling. It’s gonna suck walkin around, but how bout we move with the rope tied round us」
「Kay」
Because those sounds of water they heard up ahead would lead to great catastrophe without rope.
「Sensei, there’s an underground lake and river.」
「Usually there’s a pattern here……」
「Flash flood？」
「Prolly. An there aint nowhere nearby we can run」
Mio had a strained look on her face, and when Hiroshi made a similar expression on his face and looked closely, he recognized that the water pouring into the lake was slowly increasing, their feet beginning to get a bit wet.
「Everyone got the rope around ya！？」
「We’re fine！」
「Then hold on tight y’all！Armor, Full Open！Remove Lightweight！Heavy Weight！！」
Instead of stone weights, Hiroshi took out his pole axe and heavy maul, activating his fullplate and releasing his lightweight state, maxing out his weight to the fullest before the flash flood ferociously flung itself at the friends.
Stretching out the spikes from his boots to the limit and piercing them into the ground firmly, Hiroshi countered the advances of the water. He already had an underwater enchantment, so breathing was no issue, but Hiroshi still had to use Around Guard to prevent the flowing gravel from hitting his friends while supporting their four bodies as they were carried completely into the flow, which was quite laborious.
In addition to all the skills, equipment enchantments, and weight increase, we were looking at a hundred tons of weight. Hiroshi already was 171 cm tall with that amount of weight on him, so the density was something to be reckoned with. While the flash flood was indeed powerful, it didn’t seem to be capable of pushing all that weight into the flow, and Hiroshi ended up enduring a ten second long raging stream.
「Is everyone ok？」
「At the moment yeah……」
「Thought we were goners, but I guess we’re fine……」
「This time around, I seriously doubt that armor or metal has anything to do with it……」
「Without Sensei We’re Destroyed, Version……」
Confirming that everyone was (physically) safe, Hiroshi took a breath and returned the armor to breastplate. Impressed that the ground didn’t break underneath all that weight, Hiroshi checked the surroundings.
「Seems there’s more bloodlust to come for us here……」
「Even if we survived the flash flood, it’ll only mean the emergence of amphibious monsters……」
Grumbling at the gigantic (3 meters when crouching) crocodile right in front of them, Hiroshi and Tatsuya went straight into battle stances. The other members took off their own portions of the rope and immediately did the same.
「Now then, we gotta make an alligator handbag」
「Or fried alligator」
「Uhh, if this were Australia then it’d be whole roast, right？」
「Could you guys just try stepping away from materials and ingredients for once……」
And like that, the group had their usual interactions as they continued their pacing. Makoto ended up making short work with the giant croc with all her extra skill practice and Wind Slash: Earth, disassembling it in the process.
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
Afterward, the group advanced through the dungeon going every which way before starting to think of setting up camp when Hiroshi at last found a place where a boss might be.
「Judgin’ from the thickness of the miasma, I say there’s a boss riiight over there.」
「There’s definitely something over there.」
They turned at the end of the naturally decorated hallway until they came to a clearing 200 meters away. Due to the dim and miasma-thick environment, they needed to get closer, but there was clearly something abnormal waiting up ahead.
「Now it’s time to scout……」
「No, in this case we should all go together」
「It isn’t like we can surprise attack them, so it would be a mistake to split up. I don’t think anything will come out of that area, so let’s take a breather and get ready before going in.」
Halting Hiroshi, who was about to check on the boss, Tatsuya and Makoto insisted they all go together. From all the ill-spirited traps they had dealt with, traveling alone could lead to yet another “accident”. It was too uncertain.
「Kay, then after we eat. Wanna munch on a frankfurt or somethin’？」
「Yeah, that’s a good idea. What do you think, Makoto-san？」
「Yeah, we should eat a bit of that.」
Hiroshi roasted some frankfurts on skewers until they were at a nice color, giving them to everyone. Makoto asked some questions as she took hers and nibbled on it.
「First, how do you feel about the miasma here and the boss？」
「The miasma’s above an evil ent, while the boss seems like it’s not quite a tower golem.」
「The boss appears to be alone. A bit bigger than average, but not quite the size of a tower golem.」
「Not sure how I feel about it, yeah」
Makoto had a rather difficult expression on her face when she heard Hiroshi and Mio’s answers. The evil ent, Hiroshi had defeated solo, so it was quite difficult to get a reading on its strength, but Makoto knew for a fact that its firepower was enough to one hit ko them.
It probably was weaker than a tower golem, but it was difficult to determine how weak. Besides, there was a specific weaknes rather than an overall weakness, such as inferior in attack but equal or greater in defense. Take Hiroshi’s group for instance: plenty of trump cards but slightly struggling with firepower. Maybe this boss would end up being actually tougher than a tower golem.
「Well, we can’t exactly use gigantic poms right here, can we……」
「Nah, just imagine what would happen if we tried that in this fragile cavern……」
「And for the same reason, Titanic Roar is out of the question. Welp, we still dunno what the conditions are, but yeah」
「For my Dragon Drop it depends on how I use it」
「My Elemental Dance is a little weird, I’m not sure if I should think of it as an attack」
Everyone groaned as they listed their strong attacks. Although first they needed to see their opponent, things still felt unsteady.
「Oh yeah, Tatsuya-san, didn’t you get Armageddon as a present from Igreos？」
「Sure I can use it, but not in a place like this.」
「You can’t narrow the range？」
「Not currently, no. Maybe if I practice more and get a hang of its control」
Hearing Tatsuya’s fairly logical answer, Haruna sighed. Of course things weren’t going to be so convenient. Plus practice had to be done in a safe place because of the sheer range.
「What about Haruna’s music or Tatsuya’s Oxide Circle？」
「I don’t think it had that much of an effect on the evil ifrit at the tower」
「Dungeon monsters and dungeon bosses generally have oxygen loss resistance and oxygen poisoning resistance, so I don’t think it’d affect this boss more than maybe a poor-performing binding spell.」
「Sorta feels like we’re cornered here……」
Makoto anticipated this, but she couldn’t help but grimace at how blunt everyone was about it. She yanked the remaining frankfurt off the skewer and chewed it before getting a drink and contemplating all of this.
「So in conclusion, we gotta look at the boss first, yeah？」
「Well yeah, but……」
「If it makes ya feel better, we do got status items in storage, mate」
「Such as？」
「Full Power Potion, Class 5. Raises yer base stats by 20 fer a good hour.」
Tatsuya and Makoto widened their eyes at “20”. While it was true that lower levelled players would only “feel better” with these boosters, in Fairy Tale Chronicles, where numbers increasing brought up the value by one point, things like Hiroshi’s resistance, Haruna’s nimbleness, or Makoto’s muscle would bring about a crazy amount of change.
「Why didn’t you bring those out before？」
「Class 5, we got the ingredients for after Forre, but before that I couldn’t make nothin’ but Class 7 by myself. Plus there’s a small chance of potion poisoning, so the risk is too big.」
「I see. Yeah, it’s gotta be around Class 5 or so or else it’ll be difficult……」
「Right? So whatcha wanna do？」
「I say we drink. Any other ideas？」
「We can also cut damage by thirty percent, boost attack power for ten seconds, etc. Maybe not all the extra skills at once, but there’s a long cooldown time of one minute, so ya gotta use it wisely.」
The expendables that the team had given a blind eye to all this time were actually quite varied. Hiroshi had only just now brought this up because the effects were too indistinct with the materials he gathered and he didn’t feel like using most of them.
The items he made in the past were only at the level where they could activate once every few minutes, for five seconds at a time with five percent increase in strength, so they really wouldn’t have much of an effect on the enemies they defeated so far. The same could be said for explosion damage cuts, only at 3 or 5%, the effects rather slim for anyone other than Hiroshi against near one-hit ko moves. Honestly, those types of items weren’t even reassuring, let alone insurance.
「For things like constant effect, I feel 5% has plenty o’value……」
「Sure, if you think of time lag with using item after item, we’d want at least 2% for attack increase. In fact, I remember not using any of those kinds of items from the market.」
「Yeah I’ll bet. Plus with the same effects it’s 5%, 3%, same buffs same cooldown, so ya can’t even use ‘em in a row.」
Hearing some more useless information, Makoto found herself sympathizing with Hiroshi’s reasoning. Even if you handed her something like that, she’d probably just find it too bothersome and not use it.
「But the damage cut is fairly reassuring, so I think we can try usin’ that.」
「Agreed」
Nodding at Hiroshi, the group used the yellow orbs he gave them. When he saw this, Hiroshi then took out the last precious item.
「This is my ace in the hole. It’s an item that can take all the cooldown from an item or skill ya use ‘n make it lagless for thirty seconds. And when ya use it it makes all the remaining cooldown time lagless, so you can activate a buncha other stuff before usin it. I was only able to make three with the ingredients I got, but you go ahead ‘n take one, Makoto-san」
「……I see you’re back at making sturdy products. Which materials do you need？」
「A garbarenjia adam’s apple and tower golem parts. There are substitutions fer the tower golem one, but I still ain’t found ‘em, so I can’t make the orbs all that soon.」
「……Alright. If I see that we need more Gale Slash then I’ll use it without hesitation.」
「Please do. Also, I’m sure I ain’t gotta repeat this, but it can’t negate potion poisoning. Just remember that.」
「Yeah yeah, I know.」
Accepting this rather valuable item, Makoto carefully put it into a position where she could take it out at a moment’s notice. It wouldn’t go so well with her stamina and whatnot, but Makoto was still grateful to be able to use her coup de gras as much as she wanted.
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
「That’s about all the prep I can do. You good？」
「Yep. Let’s go then」
Nodding at Hiroshi, Makoto motioned to go after prepping her three katanas for takeout. When he heard that, Hiroshi stood at the front to prevent sneak attacks. Haruna began partial chanting so that she could activate healing magic if anything happened, while Tatsuya stocked a defense barrier using a new staff with newly added functions.
Fully prepared, the moment they peered into the boss room, the elder members had slight looks of despair on their faces, and the student age members’ faces looked surprised.
「Behemoth? Are you kidding me……」
「Yep, it’s Behemoth all right……」
「We got ourselves a behemoth！！」
「All right, it’s a behemoth！！」
「Behemoth……！！」
Indeed. The opponent enshrined in the boss room waiting eagerly for the arrival of the intruders was a famous big boss, possibly on the level of a dragon in notoriety, the king of the beasts that went by the name Behemoth. In the case of Fairy Tale Chronicles, its design was half bull and half bear, with other animals like dogs, cats, and boars mixed in for good balance. It was quite the sight to behold.
Its overall height was half a tower golem’s, but still a ridiculously gigantic stature to the point where that didn’t even matter, and it possessed enough battle prowess to overwhelm Class 3 adventurers. Normally this would be a desperate situation, but…
「Behemoth katsudon, teriyaki, kabayaki, so many options mate」
「Sensei, I say we start with roast behemoth」
「Or behemoth stew and behemoth strogonoff. Those sound good too.」
Normally this would be a fearsome foe to behold, but the only thing on the minds of Hiroshi and the teenagers was food, and nothing but food.
「So, Hiro……」
「Wazzup？」
「Are we seriously going to eat it……」
「Mah boi, this feast is what all true warriors strive for！！」
Hiroshi proclaimed boldly at he stared intensely at Behemoth, tightly gripping the poleaxe. The only thing in his eyes was appetite.
「Plus maybe not you Bro, but Makoto-san, ya knocked down a behemoth no problem before right？」
「I mean, I won’t say I haven’t, but……」
「It’s just a lil big, but it’s a chump compared to them tower golems, mate」
「It’s weird comparing the two, but behemoths are NOT chumps okay！？」
Cold sweat running down her shoulders, Makoto interjected desperately in response to Hiroshi’s food-obsessed rambling. She was not about to go into a suicidal battle just because Hiroshi assumed it was an easy win.
「It’s alright, just look at the pressure and miasma in the area. We can totes deal with it mate！」
「That’s not reassuring at all！」
「It ain’t like I’m gonna change nothin’ I’m doing, ‘n then we got Class 1 potions ‘n materials to use against that dude. If ya got time to grumble, ya got time to beat ‘im up mate！」
「Ugh, fine! I get it, okay! Not like I even have a choice in the matter！」
「Then let’s-a-go! Come to papa, ya big hunk o’ food！！」
With a battle cry, Hiroshi activated Outclass at the outset of battle as per usual, exerting pressure. The intimidation emanating from Hiroshi this time around was strong enough to pummel Behemoth into outright fear, something a normal human could never even come close to accomplishing. The beast apparently understood it was literally (and culinarily) about to be eaten, and that its opponent did in fact have the means to carry it out.
「Behemoth is scared, guys……」
「Ah, who frickin’ cares！！ We might as well just take him down and eat our fill！！」
Makoto, who had already interjected so many times to where she could no longer interject, snapped at Tatsuya (who had a look of mute amazement on his face) before running to join the fray. In the end, the behemoth, frightened from the very start instead of using its special move, was forced into an upright position by Hiroshi before having its neck sliced off by three consecutive hits from Makoto’s desperate but magnificent extra skill, having ultimately no chance to even show off and existing only to be eaten by everyone (and was very tasty).
「Behemoth was defeated in the Crest Cave dungeon……」
「Seriously？」
「Yes.」
「I do admit that the dungeon was still under growth and the behemoth lacked its original strength, but is this not a little quick？ 」
「Still, we cannot change what has transpired. Thankfully, the dungeon itself has now become fully established. We only happened to have a few strong ones go all the way in by coincidence this time around, but next time will not be so easy.」
Approximately one month after Crest Cave turned into a dungeon. The dark lords had apparently not anticipated the existence of adventurers who would clear it this early on. In the first place, even thieves would have trouble with the amount of natural-looking cave traps, and to go all the way to the end should still take you a year or so, even if you came prepared.
But then there were the traps, most of which you couldn’t get through even with the proper information. In fact, because there was so little in terms of proper information, they had predicted an increase in casualties, so perhaps it was not all that bad to have the first adventurers clear it more quickly than anticipated.
「Seeing as a lot of holy energy will be taken up with the regeneration of Behemoth, the amount of holy energy to divert to the dungeon at present will decrease by a substantial amount, but if word comes out about the dungeon and reckless people come to take on the challenge, we can undoubtedly replenish what was lost rather quickly.」
「Right. As long as the dungeon grows, it will be impossible to excavate ore in Crest Cave. And with that, we shall be able to shake the framework of Forre.」
「The only concern I have is how many times these adventurers have succeeded in defeating Behemoth. Such a feat should not be possible.」
「Indeed. Even if it is not at full strength, it is impossible to defeat it with such ease.」
But as the lords of darkness continued this comparatively optimistic conversation, the adventurers in question were…
「It ain’t like no one else is showin up, so how bout we wait for respawn and beat it two more times？」
「Umm…you do realize we can’t stay here for that long, right?」
「I think average respawn time fer bosses was 8 hours, so I think if we camp around at the previous clearing for a night the behemoth’ll be there again」
「Wait, two more times? That means we’ll run out of those orbs. We can’t make any more, right？」
「Nah. Got me some gallstones from Behemoth, so if ya hunt down some garbarensias again I can make em. The tower golem pieces were only substituted after all.」
If the dark lords knew that such a conversation were unfolding, they would have most certainly immediately rethought the whole process. But now…
「……Not only did they ignore the return gate, they waited for Behemoth to respawn before immediately taking it down again. Remind me again of who the monsters are here……」
「……Who would normally think to battle a boss again and again anyway……」
「……And to top it off, these aren’t even just veteran adventurers like we thought, they’re those “visitors”……」
「……We definitely should have gotten rid of them right when they came to Forre……」
Unable to comprehend the actions of these video game shut ins, a total of three behemoths were now defeated after two days at a high pace, and the dark lords were faced with no alternative but to weaken the dungeon in its entirety.
