Volume 4 Chapter 7.4

Volume 4 Chapter 7.4

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.