Volume 2 Chapter 7.4

Chapter 7.4

Editor: Weasalopes

The fact that it was infested with fungi wouldn’t bode well with neither bow nor longsword users since, no matter how much they hacked away at or focused fire the core, so long as the parasitic fungi remained intact their efforts at downing the creature would remain futile. This feat would be a lot easier for someone like Hiroshi, who brandished a heavy maul and had access to both fire and scorch short-hand enchants, or Tatsuya and Haruna, who not only had plenty of aspected abilities to pick and choose from but a nice selection of aoe abilities as well.

Be that the case, they weren’t in a position to cherry-pick their battles, it was do or die. If there was anything they could take solace in it’s the fact that their combined damage output heavily outweighed that of Hiroshi’s, whose dps was so meager that there was a very real possibility of it not outdamaging the enemies natural hp regen. Or at least that’s how Makoto went about convincing herself that things could’ve been worse.

「Mio, did we bring gas masks or anything of the sort?」

「Yeah but I don’t think we’ll be needing them」

「What makes you say that?」

「Our armor’s got a class six hazardous environment resistance enchant.」

Makoto, stupefied by Mio’s reply, pinched the bridge of her nose in an attempt to process what she had just heard. Hazardous environment resistance was only really vital when adventuring in areas that, by themselves, were perilous enough to the point that so much as setting foot in one could mean certain death, such as volcanoes, poisonous swamps and the like. Class six enchants of this type were strong enough to where one could easily traverse areas with a dense enough miasma concentration to transform any human into a monster. Needless to say it didn’t have any problems whatsoever taking on an environment that wasn’t quite as extreme.The protection it provides was purely external, if the user was to be force fed any poisonous substance it would have no effect but in this particular case it’d protect the two from any spores or slime mold from latching on and attempting to eat away at their minds. The reason Hiroshi even bothered to apply this enchantment in the first place was because of Tatsuya’s hay fever but that’s just between you and me.

「In that case we’ve just got to have a backup plan in case it manages to contaminate us internally.」

「We’ve got all-purpose potions for that.」

「They work against parasites?」

「They sure do.」

That little exchange lead Makoto to believe that there’d be no real harm in having a tussle with the thing, the problem was how they were going to fell it.

「It’d be nice if we could just set the whole thing ablaze but I don’t think that’s feasible with just a torch and some oil, or is it?」

「I wouldn’t count on it.」

「I had it the first time.」

「Only magically imbued flames would have any effect on it.」

This realization left Makoto stumped. Being the contrarian that she is, she purposefully avoided acquiring any fire aspected sword abilities like the plague, oh how the tides turn. To be completely fair it’s somewhat understandable considering that the process of acquiring said abilities was a hassle to say the least, meanwhile holy aspected abilities were much less such, not to mention very hard to negate at that.

「Do you have anything that’d fit the bill?」

「Yes but damage wise it’s abyssmal.」

「Gotcha. Worst case scenario, we’ll slow roast that thing ’till it’s down for the count.」

The door began slowly creaking open just as Mio had nodded in agreement. Their time was up.

「You ready?」

「As ready as I’ll ever be.」

The two careened through the half-open door just as Mio had finished her sentence. Makoto bludgeoned the monster with her long sword, prioritizing getting the first blow in over unsheathing her blade. The sheer force packed behind her Smash Horizon, an advanced ability known for its stupendous horizontal knockback distance, was enough to send the creature flying straight into the other side of the not-so small room.

「Buster shot!」

Just as it was about to get back up on its feet, it was greeted with yet another knockback that sent it on a collision course with a wall, with which it would get intimate with through having its limbs securely nailed to it thanks to some well-timed follow-through shots. Makoto cut off its hands and chopped them up into fine pieces. Just as Mio was about to set the things on fire, she had a premonition that made her promptly stop in her tracks and move out of the way. It proved to be correct as at the very same moment the remnants of what were once hands had merged back together only to launch themselves towards Mio’s original location, exploding upon reaching the destination.

「Well, no one said this was going to be easy.」

「If only it was kind enough to be a little more conventional with its unpredictability.」

Judging from the scale of the blast it wouldn’t have done all that much damage even if it had hit her directly but it was better to be safe than and not eat the brunt of an attack that carries the possibility of infecting its targets when it’s not disadvantageous to do so.

「Eh?」

Just as Mio had submerged herself deep in thought, reconsidering their game plan now that it was all to clear their initial one had fallen flat on its face, she happened to take notice of something completely out of left field, dragging her right back to reality.

「Mako, watch your feet!」

The time lag between the newly acquired piece of information being fully processed and then vocalized in the form of a warning call was no longer than a split second. Makoto didn’t take her sweet time mulling over the specifics as she sprung towards Mio’s general direction without a moment’s thought.

「Woah.」

「Yeesh.」

The attack was so underhanded that the two’s immediate reactions were limited to exclamations. However, there wasn’t any time to dwell on the matter as its rain of attacks had yet to die down.

「I don’t care even if it’ll do no damage just keep trying to scorch it, I’ll try to divert its attention as best as I can!」

「Alright!」

Mio, in accordance to Makoto’s suggestions, began putting pressure on the slime mold by casting everyday-use ignition magic. Although it was only as potent as any old match or lighter it’s flame was magically imbued and, as such, much more effective than the torch Makoto was taking pot shots at the creature with.

「Mako, it’s working!」

「Gotcha. Unless we can come up with any better alternatives we’re running with attrition warfare for now.」

If it works, it works, no point in discarding a perfectly viable strategy, when squeezing it to the limit will result in victory, even if it would take as long as for Hiroshi to down Doul in a one v one with a wooden practice sword, using only basic attacks. The one saving grace was that the fully burnt through areas would at least cease regenerating for good.

「Well, this isn’t looking good!」

Makoto shouted out upon realizing that the creature was cornering them noticeably faster than they were able to whittle it down. Although the burnt areas would cease regenerating, the remaining areas would keep continuously expanding. This meant that, although they had the resources to finish it off eventually, dealing with the creatures increasingly intense barrage of attacks would prove to be close to an impossible endeavor.

「Not much I can do about that.」

「All’s good. Actually, come to think of it, do we have any items that’ll get us get out of this mess!?」

「Can’t think of any on the spot, would you mind being more specific?」

「Like, say, a firestone!」

Makoto shouted out the novice level item’s name in an epiphany, while keeping the slime mold at bay with her sheathed sword in one hand and torch in the other. This took Mio aback as the item’s, which she had gotten to intimately acquaint herself with through the process of teaching the crafting ropes to all of the newcomers, very existence had completely slipped her mind,

「We’ve got more than enough!」

「Make it rain, girl! I’d do it myself but I’ve got my hands full right now!」

「Alright!」

She began combing through the non-warehoused consumable section of the bag, rounding up as many as she could find. She then flung them into the air, making sure none of their explosive radius intersects with Makoto, and set them off all at once.

「Attagirl!」

「It’s working!」

The effectiveness was plain to see – the slime mold that had, just moments ago, completely cornered them, were now bubbling in flames. This barrage of close to a hundred fire stones was enough to thin out eighty percent of the parasitic fungi but it wasn’t quite enough to completely lay waste to them.

「Do we got any left over!?」

「We’re out!」

「We were *this* close!」

While they did technically succeed in turning the tides the remaining twenty percent had already begun the reproduction process all over again and some of that percent was partially composed from slime mold that had cheated death by squirming their way up to the ceiling, leaving the two in a terrible strategic position.

(There has to be something we can use, there just has to!)

Since one of the least powerful items proved to be perfectly effective, there must be something else that can achieve a similar effect. What if we were to say, light up some magically imbued oil or alcohol, would that do the trick?

「Mako the slime mold it’s-」

「I know, I know.」

Just as a brilliant idea had dinged in her mind, the remaining congregation of parasitic fungi had begun piling on top of one another, forming a giant mushroom.

「Just because they’ve formed one big entity that doesn’t mean physical attacks are going to be any less ineffective!」

「Most likely.」

「Buy me some time, I’ve got an idea.」

「Will do!」

Mio, realizing that the end was in sight, responded with an excited quiver in her voice while nocking a bunch of magically ignited arrows.

「Arrow volley!」

The barrage of arrows encircled the mushroom monstrosity in a circle of scorching flames that, while not all that damaging, effectively stunned the thing for a few good seconds due to its natural aversion to fire.

「The pure, untainted girleen inside of me is begging me to reconsider what I’m about to do.」

Those few precious seconds were not wasted as Makoto pulled out a consecrated bottle of dwarf slaughterer that was once to serve as a tribute to the gods.

「Alas poor yorick, I knew you well.」

Makoto, with bottle in hand, made sure to check if the torch in her other hand was still breathing, turned towards the mushroom monstrosity and stared it down with a glint in her eye.

「May your honorable sacrifice not be in vain!」

She pronounced with a renewed vigor in her voice right before filling her oral cavity with sake to its maximum capacity. The sake, which would ignite from merely being in close proximity to a fire source, sloshed around in her mouth, letting the taste spread to the farthest reaches. She dumped out whatever was left in the bottle and brought the torch to mouth level, all while ignoring the overwhelming temptation to gulp down the sake. Making sure to spray and not spit it out she unleashes the contents of her mouth in one fell swoop.

「Mako, I don’t mean to say this but isn’t that going a little… too far?」

Makoto’s vocal admission of guilt in having effectively shafted whatever dregs of ladylike dignity remained inside of her wasn’t enough to deter Mio from finding the whole act to be unsettling. The giant mushroom monstrosity was promptly enveloped in an impressive showing of flames, as would be expected from a sake that’s almost one hundred percent alcohol content.

As Mio stared on in a detached state of mind the creature would be quickly reduced to ash. Although her subconscious need to get sloshed almost reared its ugly head due to the fragrant smell that had impregnated the room, she succeeded in showing it right back down.

「Well, now that that’s over with, let’s scrape together whatever we can find and keep moving.」

「Sounds like a plan. What is this used for?」

「You’re better off asking sensei.」

If there was anyone who could, despite all the odds, find a use for any old piece of junk it was Hiroshi.

「How much are we planning to shoulder?」

「I think we could fit that entire thing in there.」

The two had gone back to their natural, relaxed states as though they hadn’t just barely scraped by back there by the skin of their teeth.

Meanwhile, Hiroshi and Artiem, who have yet to get caught up in any boss encounter.

「Oh boyo.」

「I’m feeling a bit queasy.」

「Welp, ’tis a boss room after all.」

The two voiced their immediate impressions coming upon a room with a miasma density as thick as the one exuded by Balador’s final form.

「This one’s going to be a lot stronger than that giant salamander we just downed, isn’t it?」

「I don’t see how it wouldn’t.」

An uncomfortable reality gradually set in as the two carried on with their conversation. The creature they had just namedropped was a boss in its own right who’s regenerative abilities essentially functioned as a mini dps check, one which Hiroshi cleared with flying colors through the use of his signature smash n’ smite combo that fractured its neck bones right before delivering a fatal blow to the head, splattering its brain into a million little pieces. All of this in the span of mere seconds. As a dps check it wasn’t too challenging since it had low hp and resist values which is what made the encounter play out the way that it did.

At first Hiroshi tried aiming for one of its limbs, which he cleanly hacked off. The creature didn’t even try to hide its regenerative ability as it grew back in an instant right in front of their eyes, which is what got him to resort to his highest damage single target ability combo. If he had still been using a hatchet and hadn’t acquired smite it had a very real possibility of cheesing the entire encounter by just whittling them down, slowly but surely, but alas.

「Instead a makin’ any hasty calls, how ’bout we wait for the rest of our party to catch up?」

「Sounds like a plan.」

「’Member that limb I hacked off earlier? How’d you feel about giving that a shot?」

「Just a bite.」

It was around three pm – the perfect time for a light snack. Having been in a constant state of motion for quite some time now, they were feeling a bit peckish, so they went ahead and feasted on what most wouldn’t even consider food, by any stretch of the imagination, without much qualms.