Before heading into the dungeon, we started off by refreshing our equipment.
âThe area ahead from here is largely divided into two typesâ
âOne side is shown by the magic circle, and it continues deeper into the dungeon. The other route goes through the forest outside. The forest route has Skeleton soldiers, and also Goma who we think may possess equipment stolen from the Skeletons. If we go there first to gather materials, we should be able to take care of our equipment to a certain degreeâ
Souma-san and her group had apparently done some investigation after landing on this area. If they had finished preparing after their first scan of the area, theyâd have left already, and wouldnât have been involved in our crisis.
âSo the Armor Bear got here because itâs connected to the forest huhâ
âSoumaâs the only one of us who fought that bear, but Iâll bet we can take it down with our current powerâ
With a proper vanguard, and attack magic shooting from the rear, even an Armor Bear would down on its luck. Kenzaki-san isnât just being over-confident here. Fact is, that Armor Bear backed off right away.
âThen should we head off after a bit more rest? Futaba-san, you just woke up after allâ
âNo, Iâm perfectly fine. I can move anytimeâ
Replying like a veteran mercenary, Mei-chan was munching on a bunch of fairy walnuts, accumulating that nutrition in a wild fashion. How utterly manly. That demeanor fits the Berserker to the T.
âFutaba-san, you know, you donât have to force yourselfâ
âNo really, I am fine. Look, my arms are healed up tooâ
Wow, they really are. Mei-chan put out her arms to show us, and though her sleeves were still a mess, the actual arms underneath not only had no wounds, but was back to their original spotless, beautiful skin.
âSouma-san, you used your magic to heal me right? It worked wonders see, thank youâ
âUh, huh⌠But my Healing Light isnât all powerful alright. Please donât overestimate it. What Iâm wondering is, Futaba-san, youâre trememdously quick to heal arenât you?â
âYeah, maybe itâs that. I think I have a skill for that tooâ
Her talking so fluently with that Souma Sakura is kinda like, like theyâve been on equal footing since forever. When standing amongst these all-star pretty girls from class, Mei-chan who has attained beauty not losing to their own, she somehow seems stunning.
Feels like sheâs gone to a different planet. Honestly, right now you could say Iâve gotten myself in a harem-like situation with 6 total hotties surrounding me. But I canât be happy about this at all. My shoulders are simply too thin. The only guys who ought to stand amongst girls like them are Souma Yuuto, or Tendou Ryuichi. Any other boy would be like me, just gawking awkwardly, or get into a crazed high like a horndog.
âAh, thatâs right, Natsukawa-san, do you still have my knives?â\nâHHhe!?â
Natsukawa-san jolts so hard, I kinda feel bad for her. Faced with the kindly smiling Mei-chan, sheâs already in tears. Yup, this girl is absolutely terrified.
âIâd like to get it back, if I may? I lost most of my weapons in the fight beforeâ
âHYeass! I has it right here!â
Hii, replies Natsukawa-san in tears, while she clutters around her waist to retrieve a short-sword, and hands it over to Mei-chan. The shorter than average Natsukawa-san standing face to face with the tallest girl in class, Mei-chan, really paints an fierce picture. Their height difference is like that of an adult and child. Line them up, and their busts would show a similarly grand dissimilarity.
âThank youâ
Mei-chan who recieved the knife cheerfully, had surpassed any delinquent extorting someone out of their pocket change, and looked like a yakuzamafia member collecting all their belongings and property.
Well then, about this, now returned to its rightful owner, knifeâŚ
Â
<table>\nÂ
Now then. We got ourselves this Kill Carver with a very ominous name and description, but with that I now have an idea of just how powerful weapons can become from Takanashi-sanâs remodeling.
âHey lookie Kotarou-kun, this spear isnât rusty at all!â
Mei-chan was coming over with a spear in hand that looked to be in very good condition. I could use it, or give it to Rem, and this iron spear would work great.
Behind her, thereâs numerous iron helmets wearing Skeleton soldiers, all looking bisected, and piled in a mountain. All of this was Mei-chan and her Kill Carver.\nOnce unsheathed, you can see a shiny blade and, a slight red aura drifting from it. Itâs the same sinister aura let out by Mei-chan when she uses Reagent X. The thingâs unnatural ferocity is now out in plain sight, and its practicality was demonstrated right before my eyes.
Currently, she has Hirano-kunâs sword in her left, and Kill Carver in her right hand in a dual wield. She would usually use the long reach of the sword, but vying to get familiar with the sharp knife as well, she settled on a blade in both hands. The Berserker Mei-chanâs physical strength is off the charts already, so swinging around heavy iron swords is a cake-walk.
âI never though Futaba-san would get this strong⌠itâs like sheâs a whole new personâ
After gifting me the spear, she went back energetically to the front lines. Seeing that valiant back, Class Rep made a complicated face.
âYeah, a lot happened after all. And look, Mei-chanâs a Knight so this kind of power mustâve been in her all alongâ
âBut youâre the trigger to let that out that power, Momokawa-kun. Just what kind of magic did you use to change that perpetually scared girl into a heroic knight like thisâ
âAhaha, it wasnât me at all⌠Iâm thinking she just broke through the proverbial glass ceiling after fighting so desperately for a whileâ
I slide the subject with a dry laugh. What changed Mei-chan wasnât some amazing magic, but narcotic drugs that mess with your reasoning. It isnât a big secret, but itâs not something to be open about either.
âHow about we go a bit more?â
âYes, sounds good. Letâsâ
Kenzaki-san calls out and Souma-san replies, and all of us keep moving along the stone passages.
Thereâs been quite a few combat situations like the one just now, and I somewhat got a grasp of their powers.
Their vanguard is Kenzaki-san the Dualwielder and Natsukawa-san the Thief. Rearguard is Saintess Souma-san and Ice Mage Class Rep. Finally thereâs the SageTakanashi-san, who needs guarding. Now adding to that, thereâs Mei-chan the Berserker, also in the vanguard, and me, the Shaman positioned in the rear. Weâve never had a party so well balanced. Yeah, I feel like with all of us, any group of mob monsters will be dispersed easily. Itâs like weâre in a well balanced dungeon crawler game.
âHey uh, Souma-san, between Souma-kun and Kenzaki-san, Hero and Dualwielder, how much of a difference in power did you see?â
âEh, between nii-san and Asuna? Let me think⌠Thereâs wasnât that big a difference in raw power. Just that, the Hero is somewhat, it feels like that class grants a special sort of powerâ
âLike when he beat the Cerberus?â
âYes, no matter what the crisis, he can make a breakthrough. Itâs that sort of seemingly bottomless strength.â
âSo without that, him and Kenzaki-san are basically equal?â
âThat may be true. Both of them have grown up with a lot training after all. Itâs almost similar to the power from a vocationâ
\nâI know from Mei-chan that she has Slash. But it looks like she can do two of those back to back. But whatâs more amazing is that Natsukawa-san can dodge with Foresight even while moving super fast with High Walk. I think she also has Repel, but maybe sheâs not too confident in its power. I didnât see her use it oftenâ
âI wonder, did you happen to watch martial arts matches often Momokawa-kun?â
âNope, not at allâ
I have literally no interest in that area. Iâm more if a big fan of anime, manga and games. Always looking forward to epic finishing moves or super-tier magics being used in fantasy battle stories and such. But say I did watch martial arts, Iâd have no idea what move was used or what technique was being carried out.
But no way am I spilling out all that jargon. I at least have the judgement to avoid my otaku fanboy-ing in public.
âI, see⌠Youâve been watching wellâ
âItâs life and death after allâ
Depending on how the vanguard fairs, us in the rear could get into deep shit before we know it. So obviously we need to understand each othersâ strengths and weaknesses. Though itâs not like a total noob like me can tell much from just looking.
âIâd like to talk a bit more about everyoneâs skills once we get back, that alright?â
âYes, of course. We need to do that or else we wonât coordinate well after allâ
And like that, we smoothly finished gathering materials. The groups of Skeletons or Goma werenât a match for our amazing trio in the frontlines, so us in the back didnât have much to do. Nevertheless, the shamefully weak nature of my curses have indeed come to light.
I canât just use Rotten Bog with party members who arenât used to it, and I havenât reconstructed Rem either. In the end, all I could manage was some harassing from Blackhair Bind. I canât help but be jealous of Souma-san and Class Rep shooting off light and ice attacks left and right.
But the most annoying part about being in the rearguard was that Takanashi-san. As if using me as a shield, was always standing right behind me. Well, that was the formation so I canât complain too much⌠but having someone right on your tail is pretty annoying.
Donât bring along non-combatants dammit, I want to complain, but even though the fairy square will hinder entry to monsters, it wonât do the same for beasts. In other words, horny bastards like that totem-pole trio could come in so we always have to be together, is what it is.
Takanashi-san has this super convenient self-defense skill, namely Sacred Tongue: âWord of Rejectionâ, so frankly speaking, her safety is guaranteed even more than mine. In live combat, I may as well count as the bigger piece of excess baggage.
She also has this Mana Analysis skill. Itâs like her remodeling ability with the fountain, but with this it doesnât even have to be a physical magic-imbued object, but also stuff like magic shot out by monsters. Depending on the type she can understand it, so sheâs not entirely useless in combats either. And it even feels like Mana Analysis can act as a higher form of my Intuition Pharmacy. If it has mana, she can handle magic and objects the same, so the skillâs multi-use capability isnât limited in the least.
But the least you can do is carry a spear or knife like, for self-defense, are my honest thoughts. Takanashi-san being so frail, she only carries cores in her bag. Though Iâm not in any position to tell her that. Iâm pretty much the same level of useless as her at this point.
Anyway, there were some annoying points, but our harvest was excellent. Plus I got to see first-hand how these girls fight. You could say it was a very fruitful practice session.
Incidentally, we were doing so well, that we made it to the exit into the forest outside. Since it was a good opportunity, we tried heading in a bit andâŚÂ hell yes! We found ourselves those some of those delicious snakes, three even. This is great Mei-chan, tonight shall be a feast.
Well, when those 5 pretty girls saw how Mei-chan was joyously hunting down snakes and brute forcing apart their skin, we got a real jump out of them butâŚÂ Fufun, once they know this taste, they too shall become avid Snake Hunters no doubt.