Chapter 0355 The Adventures of Rooms 10 and 11 – Part 1
Translator: Jay_Forestieri
Editor: Tseirp
What were the six members of ‘Room 10’ and ‘Room 11’ doing while Ryo was off to the Republic of Mafalda?
After finishing the task Hugh had asked of them, they were taking on the West Dungeon of the Holy Capital.
Taking a look at the composition of the six.
Room 10 has two swordsmen and a priest.
Room 11 has one swordsman, one dual swordsman, and a priest.
Four vanguards and two rearguards.
At first glance, the balance doesn’t seem all that bad.
But… in fact, they have neither a magician nor a scout.
That is not a well-balanced party for dungeon exploration.
Which would have been quite tricky, ordinarily.
Yeah, ordinarily.
‘Room 11’ aside, ‘Room 10’ was far from ordinary.
Maybe because they’ve been acquainted with a ‘very unordinary’ water-attribute magician for three years now…
Or maybe they had that kind of predisposition to begin with…
Having commenced the dungeon dive which they resumed from the 80th floor, they finally arrived at the 100th floor.
In the West Dungeon, there are certain floors called the ‘Boss Floor’ on every 50th floor, like the 50th, 100th, and 150th floors and so on.
On the boss floor, only the boss, a powerful monster, and his subordinates appear.
However, what appears as a boss seems to be random, so there is no point in taking countermeasures in advance…
In short… a party that’s not prepared to deal with whatever pops out, will not be able to advance to the next floor.
And the boss that appeared this time was…
“A wyvern…?”
Niels’ muttering said it all.
Wyverns… are the nightmares of the sky.
Wyverns aren’t exactly monsters that can’t be hunted by adventurers…
However, there are minimum requirements for hunting wyverns.
Gather at least 20 C-rank adventurers or higher.
Gather as many magicians as possible. Preferably fire-attribute magicians with high attack power.
Attack with magic without interruption until the wyverns’ ‘wind protection membrane’ is down.
Then, drive them to the ground and finish them off.
Considering all that, Room 10 and 11 were severely lacking.
Sure, they’re all C-rank adventurers or above, but… they’re only six.
And most importantly… they did not have a single magician.
“We can retreat on the 100th floor… right?”
Niels asked Etho beside him in a low voice.
“Yeah. We can withdraw at any time against the 100th-floor boss monster. Without any drawback.”
Etho nodded as he answered.
A stark difference from the 50th floor.
The 50th floor, so to speak, asks the question, ‘Are you really willing to go on and conquer the dungeon’?
If you are not, bow out now.
So retreat isn’t an option.
You either advance or die trying.
But the 100th floor is different.
It’s more like a boss floor prepared to test your aptitude.
Even though it was meant to test their skills, Niels and Etho both understood that the situation was hopeless.
Although they could retreat at any time, the possibility of dying was, of course, ever-present.
Looking around, both Harold and Gowan were shaking their heads slightly.
As he thought of calling for a retreat… he realized that one of them was actually feeling excited…
“Uh… Amon looks awfully excited.”
“Maybe he’s picked some of Ryo’s bad habits?”
Etho pointed out, and Niels agreed with a small sigh.
Even though he wasn’t present, the water-attribute magician was forced to take the blame… poor fellow.
“Um…Zeke too seems like he’s raring to go…”
At Harold’s report, both Niels and Etho turned toward Zeke.
And sure enough, he was smirking a little…
“Zeke is an excellent priest, but… he is essentially a vanguard so to speak.”
Priest Etho muttered, shaking his head slightly again.
“But… seriously, taking on a wyvern with just six people is hopeless, isn’t it?”
“I heard that Niels’ party and others once hunted a wyvern with nine people.”
Harold asked at Niels’ words.
“Yeah… that’s certainly true, but… That was only possible because we had someone with tremendous strength, like Gorky of ‘Six Petals’, and on top of that, the wyvern was not too high up…”
“But then again, the ceilings aren’t remarkably high here either.”
As Niels explained, Etho replied, looking up at the ceiling of the dungeon.
The ceiling was a little over ten meters high.
It was probably preferable to typical wyverns that are impossible to subjugate without ranged magicians because they unleash Air Slashes from a height of several dozen meters.
Nevertheless, the six of them had no means of attack that could reach a height of ten meters…
“Our Light Javelin and this, that’s all about it…”
Etho said and raised the rapid-fire crossbow installed on his left arm.
The range of the rapid-fire crossbow is up to 15 meters.
Sure, it can reach it, but will be completely helpless before the wyvern’s ‘wind protection membrane’.
But in fact, they have a trump card.
“I think we should use that. I was told that the actual battle report needs to be submitted to the royal castle as well…”
“That’s right. If it’s a wyvern, I’m sure His Majesty Abel will be pleased.”
Niels said, and Etho replied with a smile.
Before long, they were leaning toward subjugating the wyvern.
In the end, they are all adventurers…
Hearing the conversation between Niels and Etho, Harold and Gowan tilted their heads.
“It’s a top-secret commission undertaken by B-rank parties in the royal capital.”
Seeing the two tilting their heads, Amon added with a laugh.
“It was apparently proposed by His Majesty, who is a former adventurer, since we might encounter more powerful monsters than the knights.”
“As expected of His Majesty Abel!”
Etho explained further, and Niels nodded broadly.
Even now, the adventurer that Niels respects the most is Abel.
“First, we have to get the wyvern’s attention. Gowan, you will protect Etho.”
“Got it!”
Niels assigned roles, and Gowan, the dual swordsman, nodded vigorously.
“Amon and I will take the lead from both sides. Harold and Zeke will follow suit.”
“Got it!”
Niels said, Amon nodded, and Harold and Zeke replied.
“Etho, I’ll leave the timing to you.”
“Copy that.”
At Niels’ words, Etho nodded, holding up the rapid-fire crossbow on his left arm.
“If it turns out to be too much for us, we’ll retreat. No need to overdo it.”
“Got it!”
Everyone nodded at Niels’ final confirmation.
Thus began the six-man attack on the wyvern.
Immediately after they began.
Niels charged toward the wyvern from the right and Amon from the left.
The Wyvern, still on the ground, finally locked onto its enemy.
“Gwah-Oohh!”
The roar would have confused any low-rank adventurer.
But this lot were B and C-rankers.
Harold had yet to reach adulthood, but it was no mean feat for him to have risen to C-rank at his age.
He had undergone a decent number of battles with monsters and was well-trained.
A wyvern’s roar was nothing to him.
The wyvern must have realized that the four approaching footsteps weren’t about to stop.
It flapped its left and right wings widely.
Unleashing an invisible magic, Air Slash.
Normally, the air slash released by a wyvern is an order of magnitude more powerful than that released by a human wind-attribute magician.
However, the air slash of a wyvern on the ground is not as powerful…
At best, it is several times more powerful than what a person can unleash…
Which is still quite threatening, but an Air Slash all the same.
In other words, if you can spot it and time it right…
Slash.
You can slash with a sword.
Niels and Amon each slashed the Air Slash that was coming at them with their swords and made them disappear.
They carried on and approached the wyvern and attacked it from both sides of its head almost simultaneously… but the wyvern floated up a little and attacked with its left and right arms.
Clang.
The two caught the wyvern’s arms, the tips of its wings with their swords, and through the gap between them, Harold and Zeke struck a second blow to the wyvern’s eyes.
But they were a moment too late.
The wyvern shook its head widely, blew them away, and at once flapped its wings and began to rise.
And just in time.
Five arrows were shot in rapid succession from Etho’s left arm, which was already set to go, without moving at all from his initial position.
There was some kind of fire near the tips of the arrows…
And the moment the trajectory of the arrows locked onto the wyvern’s ascending path.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
Explosions sounded.
Yup, the sounds of ‘explosion’.
It was processed by mixing the ‘black powder’ produced in the eastern part of the Kingdom and could be called gunpowder.
That was the party’s trump card.
The greatest effect of an ‘explosion’ is not so much its destructive power as its sound.
The effect of the sound of an explosion on wild animals, in particular, is astonishingly profound.
This is well known in the history of Earth.
In fact, what Etho fired didn’t have much destructive power.
It would be bad if his arm were to be blown off by accident after all.
Of course, Etho can use <Extra Heal>, which can even heal a missing limb.
The arrows focused more on the sound of the explosion than on their destructive power.
Moreover, they were in a dungeon.
The echo was tremendous.
Now, on ‘Phi’, the effect of ‘explosion sounds’ on wild creatures is crystal clear.
However, the opponent is no animal but a monster…
Sudden explosions.
Five in a row.
That confused even the wyvern.
Even horses running on the ground would become disoriented, shaking off their riders and, in some cases, lying on the ground or even going wild…
The wyvern, however, was in the air.
What happens if you get disoriented in the air?
First, you lose your bearings.
A condition called spatial disorientation.
If it were the sky, it might have been different.
But it’s a dungeon.
The ceiling was only about 10 meters up.
Just by flying a little in confusion, it hit the ceiling… and then hit the ground… and then hit the ceiling again…
Then finally crashed into the ground.
“Let’s go!”
With Niels’ command, Amon, Harold, and Zeke plunged toward the wyvern as it crashed to the ground.
If only the wyvern had fainted and they could bury their swords into its body while it was unconscious….
But that was wishful thinking.
Maybe because it crashed to the ground.
It realized that it was on the ground.
The wyvern had recovered from the confusion of the explosion.
Its eyes widened and it fired an Air Slash without a moment’s pause.
And this time, it did not take off.
It thought that if it flew up, the ‘explosion sound’ might beset it again.
At the very least, it probably thought that if it stayed on the ground, it wouldn’t get disoriented and get smacked around back and forth.
It’s learning ability was quite decent.
In fact, Etho had set up a new set of arrows in his rapid-fire crossbow, ready to fire as soon as they were ignited.
Still, the wyvern did not fly up.
Flying wyverns are certainly troublesome foes, but grounded wyverns aren’t easy opponents either.
However…
“If it stays on the ground, it can’t shoot out sonic blades.”
Niels muttered.
A wind-attribute ranged offensive magic, Sonic Blade, in which a single arrow splits into five.
Wyverns cannot release that Sonic Blade when they are on the ground.
Of course, they can release Air Slash, and the ‘wind protection membrane’ that protects their entire body is still in place, so unless their magic power is depleted or they get stunned, their body will remain impervious to sword stabs…
However, they still have a weakness.
Their eyes.
The ‘wind protection membrane’ does not extend to their eyes, so they can be defeated by thrusting the sword through their eyes to the brain.
On the ground, their eyes would be at the height of a sword’s reach…
As Niels pondered that, the wyvern flapped its wings once and subtly took off.
About two meters, give or take?
A height where if the wyvern itself stretched out its legs a little, it would reach the ground…
“You think that at that height, even if you get disoriented, you can just reach your feet to the ground and get by? Awfully smart for a monster, aren’t you?”
Nils said in a bitter voice.
In fact, the weapons of the four guys could not reach the wyvern’s head at all.
Its head was… more than four meters off the ground…
Niels glanced at Etho.
Etto nodded, understanding his intent with that alone.
He ignited and immediately fired five shots.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
The explosion sounded again.
But the wyvern was not distraught.
It seemed a little shaken, but not disoriented.
“Tsk.”
Niels clicked his tongue, and Amon’s voice resonated loudly.
“Zeke, lend me your staff!”
At these words, Zeke tossed over his staff.
“Niels, toss me up!”
“Toss you up?”
Amon ran toward Niels, holding the staff and shouting.
As if to gain momentum.
With that, even Niels understood what Amon was about to do.
“Come!”
Niels said, turning his back to the wyvern and facing the running Amon.
He then put both palms on top of each other in front of his body.
Amon placed the staff on top of Niels’ palms.
He then kicked the ground like a skillful acrobat and put all his weight on the staff, and without a pause, Niels lifted the staff.
Amon, standing with one leg on the staff, was lifted up.
Finally, Niels launched the staff up!
At the same time, Amon kicked the staff and jumped!
Reaching the highest point of over four meters!
At that moment, Amon saw it very clearly.
The look of surprise on the wyvern’s face.
“Combat Art: Perfect Pierce.”
The wyvern died with a look of surprise on its face.
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