We attract a lot of attention from adventurers on our way to the dungeon.
I feel like their eyes are split into two categories. Fear and interest.
“Did those guys talk about us?”
Argo is talking about those ones that saw us fight in the dungeon.
“That should make us less likely to be approached by rabble.”
“Rabble is right.”
Says Guilford with a sigh.
I look out of the corner of my eye at some people looking at us with interest, and see faces I recognize.
I’m pretty sure it’s those people from Jetblack, that spoke to us on the waiting room in front of the door to the first boss room.
But they don’t come talk to us.
◇ ◇ ◇
“Sora, can you use it?”
“Yes.”
Asks Rurika as we go in. She’s purposefully not referring to it as Map.
There’s no one around, but she does that to maintain a habit of not saying stuff like that carelessly.
I bring out Map, and use Presence Detection and Magic Energy Detection.
There aren’t a lot of people here. Two parties of fifteen, and the rest is all monsters.
The magic energy reactions are split into two, red orcs and black orcs, but I can’t tell which is which.
“There are parties to the north and east, so there aren’t any monsters there… Should we go south? One party is headed west, so if we go there, we might end up scrambling for the monsters.”
There are a lot of monsters there, but I don’t want to end up fighting over them. And if it comes to that, we can use the shamal horn. Although there is a one in two chance it could pull a dud.
After fifteen minutes of walking, I see there are reactions of monsters after the next corner.
“Which ones are they?”
“…I think it’s black orcs.”
Whispers Argo while unsheathing his sword, and Mia answers.
“How can you tell?”
“Hn, I guess I feel the evil?”
Mia uses holy magic, so I think it’s her intuition at work.
And sure enough, we turn the corner, and see black orcs.
They see us, let out yells, and run towards us.
Me, Chris, Mia, and Hikari all use long distance attacks. I use light, Chris wind, Mia holy, and Hikari her Projectile Slash.
It looks like only my attack and Mia’s are effective. Chris’ and Hikari’s are blocked by the black orc’s darkness and disperse.
But still, three black orcs go down.
“Sera.”
“Leave it to me.”
They’ve gotten close, and within her range. She’s holding throwing axes with the light element with both hands, and throws them.
The axes fly sharply, and one hits a black orc, keeps flying after ripping through its body, and hits another black orc behind it.
It’s hit right on the head, and it silently falls back.
The other throwing axe cuts the head of another black orc.
That leaves one, and I fight it with Mia.
It approaches us and releases magic energy. It doesn’t look like it needs to chant either, it looks like its darkness magic activates automatically.
But it doesn’t look like it can fire one after the other, because no more magic energy comes after the first blast.
“Mia, don’t take it down just yet.”
I want to see how long it takes it to fire the second one.
There’s only one, so we have the leeway to check.
When we cross swords, I can feel it’s stronger than the average orc, but not quite as strong as a general.
Also, the magic energy it released never reached us. The durability of our magic items didn’t go down, meaning it couldn’t breach Mia’s holy defense.
Also, her holy magic’s effect is continuous.
Their magic power might vary between individuals, but I think it’s safe for the others to fight them up close.
I want to test how long the magic defense lasts, but I can’t keep everyone waiting.
Five minutes after its first magic energy blast, the black orc does it again, and I finish it with a light infused mithril sword.
I retrieve their bodies, and tell everyone what I learned from fighting them.
“I see. So it’s thanks to Sora and Mia that it was so easy. There’s no way they’re so weak normally. We can assume the people hunting them now are ready to deal with them.
“Yes. Argo, didn’t you say there were a lot of quests in the guild about buying red orc and black orc materials?”
“Yes, a lot.”
Argo and Guilford said that after going to the guild yesterday to gather information.
“For attacks, we’ll either have Sora infuse us with the light element, or rely on Mia’s holy magic. That would be a bigger burden on you, Mia, but would you be okay?”
“I’m not like Sora, but I do recover while walking, so it’s fine.”
Mia responds to Rurika’s worries with a smile, and the others smile too.
I don’t think we’ll be fighting groups of monsters one after the other, considering how far they’re spread.
We discuss what to do next time, and move out looking for the next group.
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Thanks for the treat.