Chapter 23

“Why the heck would I!? Did my words go through one end and out the other? N. O. No Parties!”

“Never mind that,.go with us for the meantime. If you do as I say then I’ll let you off the hook.”

“Huh……..”

And with that out of the way, Tet was added to our party and we headed out of the safe area towards the 32nd Layer..

Looking at us, Tet in his curiosity spoke up.

“……..Why aren’t we headed to the lower levels?”

“Well, for now, I’d like for us to take out a few monsters on this layer. If I’m not mistaken, there were some here that inflicts debuffs here.”

“Ahh, Did you want to check out “Mummy Graverobber for yourself?” No harm in it I guess.”

I do want to look at it, but it isn’t quite what Tet is imagining it to be.

“Sir Alvin look over there!”

I take heed of Kokoru’s alert and also look towards the monster that appeared from our front .

“Is that a Frost Chimera?”

It has two heads, a lion’s and a goat’s. Feathers sprout from its back, and the tail is the head of a snake with a body dyed in sky blue showing off its affinity to water and ice.

A Frost Chimera is a powerful monster and appears in the Abyssal Layers once in a while.

It’s been a long time since I last saw it. I didn’t expect to find one here.

–I should relay a modicum of info to the others.

“It breathes out a Freezing Ice Breath! It can reach the back line so watch out-”

As I was saying so, it’s lion head had promptly taken its stance. I ready my sword as I click my tongue. I moved too slow.

Although in terms of levels, it wouldn’t be a problem even if it was taken head on, and soon after–

As I was pondering things over, a blade glitters at the edge of my field of view.

A throwing blade shot out and flew straight to the snake tail that was swing behind the lion head.

Then and there, the Frost Chimera staggered grealy.

The lion head grunts with a tremble, staggered out of readying its attack.

–It’s a huge opportunity to strike.

“Miss Mage cast your lightning magic!”

Tet hollers an order, and Melina’s response was quick.

The Frost Chimaera was on the cusp of taking another stance–

But Melina’s chant finished right on cue. A Lightning bolt razes through in between the Lion and Goat heads.

With that. Its stance is cancelled with another intense knockback.

All of its three heads contort in pain.

“Gosh, can’t you just die already?”

Tet sprinted forward as he said so.

It might be thanks in part his high AGI, as the distance between him and the Frost Chimaera instantly closed.

“But with this it can finally—!”

With a medium-sized knife reverse gripped in hand, Tet swung down his arms at lightning speed.

It might have been crafted with some sort of special material as it left an orange afterimage as it arced downwards.

And finally— The Frost Chimaera’s HP drops to zero and its body disperses into thin air.

Tet takes a breath in the midst of the scattered drop items.

“Wewh. Sorry ‘bout that~ I went and took the kill.”

“That’s impressive.”

I blurted out my honest thoughts.

“So a Frost Chimaera’s weakness is its snake tail. I didn’t know that at all.”

“It seems like it huh.”

“Huh….? You didn’t know?”

“Yeah. I haven’t seen a chimaera before let alone a frost one. I don’t know how to explain this but… Isn’t it something like you’d just know or something?”

Hearing that, the three of us exchanged looks and then —-

“I don’t get it at all”

“What do you mean?”

“No one should have any trouble in figuring out the weak point just by looking at it.”

“Eh-?”

Tet scratched his head, troubled on how to explain.

“I’m not sure myself. I rarely miss the weakness these days.”

“What do you look for when you make that kind of judgement? A monster’s weakness is different for each type.”

.”Hnnnn~. I guess you can figure it out by putting yourself in the mindset of the one who made them.”

“The guy who made it?”

“Yep, that’s right.”

Tet pauses for a second then continues.

“You guys haven’t heard of it? This world is a simulation. If you go by that logic, then chances are— There’s a person who created it don’t you think so?”

“…………”

“In dungeons, there is no such thing as a monster that can’t be beaten and no weapons that are overpowered. When all is said and done, the place is pretty balanced. It wouldn’t be too farfetch’d to think that the weak point would be in a well-thought out spot.”

“Well-thought out………”

“And another thing. If someone told you that the weakness is the mole on the left foot, you won’t think “Oh, I would’ve figured it out sooner or later”. Something that unreasonable can’t be found in a dungeon. With that, I could make a loose prediction. It’s a skill I’ve acquired through fighting countless times alone but I’d have bet on the fact that you three would have come to the same conclusion.”

I nod in assent as I replied to Tet who explained as best as he could.

“Not at all.”

“Hm?”

“I have heard of the “Boxed Garden” Hypothesis, but say that it was correct, I don’t agree that each dungeon or monster was designed according to someone’s will.”

“Is that true….”

“I would have to abstain from putting a comment….. It’s on account of my faith as a priest.”

I then talk to Kokoru, who had a sullen face about her as she held her opinion.

“Putting that aside for now…. How is it Kokoru?”

“Ah-”

Suddenly remembering, Kokoru opened up the status window.

Then with eyes wide open-

“Th-there isn’t any! It’s as expected.”

“Nice one.”

“Looks like our prediction was right….”

I slightly shake in excitement.

Is this what I think it is? No way….

“Hm? What’s the matter with you all? If you want to see the effects of Mummy Graverobber then it’s best that we go find a different monster.”

The three of our gazes meet and nod–

“Yeah, we should.”

“I want to check what would happen if it’s a normal debuff.”

“I-I’m curious about it too.”

Tet casts us quite a doubtful face.

“You guys are a bunch of weirdos…..”