They mostly talked about Tanaka on the way to challenging the boss of the thirtieth floor.
“I can’t believe he made it to the thirtieth floor alone. What a monster.”
“I told you to stop talking about him like that. We’re going to be in the same party. Isn’t that reassuring?”
“That’s true, Naito. He really is strong like a monster, but everyone has his limits. I’m sure he wants to join a party because he learned that the hard way.”
“Yes. You can’t rest at night if you’re alone. If monsters attack when you’re sleeping, you’re done. Tanaka made the right choice.”
“It’s not a problem if you’re not going too far, but coming here alone means there’s a good chance he’s a dungeon junkie. Won’t he get us dragged into it?”
Hajime was worried in the end.
Hearing about a dungeon junkie brought up images of having to follow him to the depths, making him wonder if they would not go too far.
“I think it’s okay. I think Tanaka just wants to enjoy exploring with people.”
Chisato disagreed with her brother.
Tanaka was a dungeon junkie, but he valued his partners’ safety above that.
No matter how far they went, he would put them first. In a way, that made him more reliable.
“Well, we’ll know once we start exploring together. You saw his stats, right Chisato?”
How were they, he asked casually.
They saw her touching him, so they knew she appraised him.
And so, she answered honestly.
“They were bugged, so I couldn’t see very well.”
“Bugged… Ahh, we have guests, get ready. Two wood golems and five… Six, seven killer bees!”
Hajime’s Enemy Search skill told him there were monsters approaching.
Using this skill as a scout made him aware of monsters quickly, minimizing the party’s effort.
Hajime drew his twin swords, and readied himself for the monsters.
Killer bees attacked quickly, as the sound of their wings echoed. But Hajime already laid a trap with his String Control skill, bisecting bees that charged towards them.
His weapons of choice were the twin swords, but his fighting style led him to set up traps.
Two killer bees fell to the traps, a great result for traps set up on the fly.
He pulled away with his twin swords ready, and a lance of Fire Magic flew towards a wood golem.
“Fire Lance.”
The lance flew fast, but the wood golem raised its arm to block it. The fire spread on impact, swallowing the monster’s whole body, but it would not be that easy.
The wood golem cut off its arm and the burning surfaces, and began to regenerate as they hit the ground.
“I’m not done, Fire Lance!”
But another lance hit the wood golem, burning it again.
The wood golem tried to cut away parts of itself again, but cutting too much revealed its core, which was cut with a wind blade.
“Wind Cutter.”
The golem’s burning body fell after losing its core, unable to retain its shape.
“Great job Ruri!”
A wood golem going down before the enemies could get close was big.
Takeshi made use of his power to swing his tower shield, bringing down a killer bee. It tried to fly again, but his big axe made sure it would never fly again.
He swung the shield like a blunt weapon, but he then held it in preparation for the approach of the other wood golem.
It would have been faster for Ruri to use her magic again to take it down, but she wanted to avoid doing so to conserve magic energy.
Mages were the biggest source of firepower in most parties, and they were about to face a boss. They wanted to limit use of magic energy in a single fight.
Takeshi focused on the wood golem, leaving the remaining killer bees to the others.
Wood golems’ fists were frighteningly heavy, and their bodies tough. A normal attack could do nothing but scratch the surface. Only a pro seeker could cut down arms and carve their bodies like Tanaka did.
But Takeshi’s Great Strength powered swing of his battleaxe got through to the middle of the wood golem’s arm, severing it on the second swing.
It punched with the other arm, but he used Iron Wall to block it with his shield. A dull sound echoed, but it remained firm.
Another swing carved its body, but he had to defend against the regenerated arm.
This would continue until the others finished off the killer bee.
There was no need to overextend himself, or gamble.
He just had to trust his partners and hold on. That would do.
“Let’s finish this quickly while my bro keeps it busy.”
Wood golems were definitely stronger than killer bees.
Killer bees attacked in groups, and wood golems had tough bodies they could regenerate. The latter was clearly tougher to beat.
But killer bees required a lot of caution.
They had high mobility and nasty poison. One sting could mean a trip to the afterlife.
Naito faced one such killer bee with his longsword.
His See Through skill showed him its weak points, and his Trunk Support meant his slashes were sharp and hit where they hurt the most.
Naito did not have the power to take down a killer bee in one swing, but his polished sword skills meant he could exhaust it and do so in the minimum moves possible.
In the end, the killer bee shot its stinger out of desperation, but even that was deflected, and its defeat came shortly after.
◇ ◇ ◇
“You’ve gotten better, Naito. I’m proud to have taught you.”
One killer bee went down, and he was going to face another one. And so, out of the three drawn, one was sent towards it by Wind Magic.
Toufu enveloped his sword with wind, and cleared the distance quickly to take down two together.
His wind enveloped sword was incredibly sharp, finishing them off without any resistance.
Toufu had the Swordsmanship and Wind Magic skills, meaning he had both the ability to make the best decisions as a leader and high combat abilities.
He was not as fast as Tanaka, but could beat all the monsters present alone.
That was why he was idolized by the others, and had their absolute trust.
“Hajime, Chisato, are you okay?”
Chisato activated the blade on her magic gun, and fought against a killer bee. Hajime supported her, and was ready to help if needed.
The blade failed to reach the very mobile killer bee, but Hajime was ready for its counter attacks with his twin swords.
Hajime raised his hand to signal they were fine, and Toufu went to support Takeshi.
“Fuh! Aah!”
She swung the magic gun continuously, but hit nothing but air. The killer bee dodged by flying up over her head, and coming down fast stinger first.
“Hou.”
Hajime repelled it with his twin swords, sending the killer bee back.
This was training for Chisato. It would normally not happen at a time like this, but Chisato wished for it, and Hajime took responsibility.
She wished for this because she saw Tanaka the previous day. When she saw his strength, her imagination turned to conviction.
And she felt anxiety over being left behind. She panicked.
Perhaps talking to maintain a connection and bringing up friends had something to do with it.
She had an idea about why she panicked. It was easy to pretend otherwise, but she could not.
It would have been better if she could at least fulfill her dream of becoming a childcare worker first, but perhaps it was fate.
She noticed her attraction the previous day, and started thinking she could be a seeker for a bit longer. It was fun. Her dream began to waver.
The killer bee soared again.
This time, she followed it like a hawk, reading its trajectory, and cut it with her magic gun.
“…I did it.”
By the time she took it down, Naito and Toufu had joined Takeshi, and took down the wood golem.
“Good job.”
“Yes, I think I can still go.”
“Don’t push yourself, we’ll reach the boss room soon.”
“Yes.”
She holstered the magic gun, and pulled the cart.
Chisato was in charge of it. The weight could barely be felt, and she could easily pull it one-handed.
That was a feature of the cart, but they had not been picking in that exploration.
They decided to finish the thirtieth floor, so they did not spend time on herbs.
All they carried were materials from monsters and fruit from trents.
They eventually reached an open area with a door standing unnaturally, surrounded by rocks.
And two men stood in front of it.
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