Chapter 91

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*Crickets chirping*\n

*mranon enters*\n

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Replenishing Recovery Medicine

I put the matter of Intelligence Cards on hold for the time being and decide to dispose off equipment left by the thieves.\n

What do I do with their hands?

“How do I dispose off these hands?”\n

“Dump them in a labyrinth. They’ll be digested right away.”

Suggests Sherry.\n

Labyrinth huh?\n

Because labyrinth can digest dead bodies, it’s a perfect dumpster.

I wonder if it’s alright to feed it.\n

Actually, it’ll send monsters outside if it’s not fed.\n

If it’s fed in moderation, it’ll not turn ferocious.

“Okay then, let’s go and buy ingredients for breakfast after discarding these hands. Because strengthening pills have been used up, we need to stock up on those as well.”\n

“Raw material used in strengthening pill is dropped by Fly Trap, the monster native to 13th floor of Quratar’s labyrinth. I would rather recommend hunting in Quratar than buying it.”

Sherry informs me about the raw material used in strengthening pill.\n

Now I get why the prices strengthening pill and nourishment pill are identical. Nourishment pill’s raw material can be acquired from 12th floor while strengthening pill’s from 13th.

“And raw material used in strengthening medicine?”\n

“It’s dropped by Animal Trap, the boss of 13th floor.”

Oh, so it’s like that.\n

If I can get it myself, why should I buy it?

The small room, where we found the thieves, was next to the boss room.\n

That was the reason why they had set up ambush there.\n

We have almost cleared 12th floor of Haruba’s labyrinth.\n

Therefore, an excursion to 13th floor of Quratar’s labyrinth shouldn’t be a big deal.

We will have to fare without strengthening pills and strengthening medicine for the time being.\n

Recovery medicine is our only back up.\n

Because we have map of Quratar’s labyrinth, we can clear the floor in no time.\n

If it’s for a short while, we can take the risk of going on without MP recovery medicine.

MP recovery medicine is not required for boss battles.\n

Because I use Durandal against boss monsters.\n

Although we don’t have strengthening pills, we won’t face much trouble.\n

We can’t obtain strengthening medicine until we defeat the boss of 13th floor. The quicker we clear rest of the floor, the quicker we can take the boss out.

After dumping the hands on 12th floor of Haruba’s labyrinth, I buy the ingredients and then have breakfast.\n

Haruba’s labyrinth was quiet. There were no more thieves in ambush.\n

If you look carefully, however, you can find a minute blood stain.\n

But it’s dark here, so it won’t be noticed.

After breakfast, I sell the equipment, pick up the map and enter 12th floor of Quratar’s labyrinth.

“Sherry, put this Ring of Determination on.”\n

“Are you sure?”\n

“It would be a waste if I were to use it.”

Sherry equips the Ring of Determination.\n

Roxanne and I have Sacrificial Misanga.

Sacrificial Misanga is really a useful equipment.\n

Even though I have received countless attacks from monsters, it has yet to activate.\n

The attacks I received didn’t inflict critical damage, it seems.\n

On the contrary, if I receive critical damage and it fails to activate on the off chance, I don’t even want to imagine the consequences.

“Thank you very much. I thought that it would be worn out but it’s almost new.”

…I will pretend that I didn’t hear it.

“Roxanne, what’s the situation?”\n

“As you would expect from 12th floor. Even though it’s broad day, there are very few people.”

It doesn’t seem to be crowded like first three floors.\n

The higher the floor, the less the people.\n

If it’s 12th floor, we can afford to hunt in Quratar’s labyrinth even in the day.

“Then I’ll have to trouble you.”

After having confirmed that there are not many people around, I ask of Roxanne to search for monsters.\n

Except for labyrinths in the Harz duchy, people take special notice of magic.\n

Therefore, I avoid people as much as possible.

“Ahead is the boss room. I’m not sure if there are people inside or not. I caught smell but it has vanished. They have probably moved on.”\n

“Thank you. As expected of Roxanne. We were able to reach the boss room without encountering anyone.”\n

“Not at all. I must be the one thanking you.”

So even Roxanne can’t tell if there are people inside the waiting room?\n

There is another door separating the boss room from the waiting room. When the party inside the boss room is done, the party inside the waiting room proceeds to the boss room.\n

It is difficult to tell from outside whether the party is in the waiting room or the boss room.

There’s always some risk. You can’t completely avoid it.

I earnestly visit labyrinths of the Harz duchy.\n

Even if I didn’t, it’s not like the Duke and Gozer would blame me excessively.\n

Still, I can’t tell them that I visited Quratar’s labyrinth to collect raw materials. It’s not a valid excuse.

“Miria, can you go and see if there are people inside? If there aren’t, give us a signal. If there are, come back.”

To mitigate the risk, I ask Miria to go.\n

Gozer has yet to meet Miria.

“Yes.”

When Roxanne translates it, Miria nods quickly and proceeds.\n

The door to the waiting room slides open. Miria peeks inside.\n

Miria turns around and signals.\n

No one seems to be inside.

Three of us rush inside.\n

Miria sticks her chest out proudly as if she has accomplished a mission.

“Thank you. Well done, Miria.”\n

“xxxxxxxxxx”\n

“As you would expect.”

That said, I don’t think it can really be considered a mission.

“Yes, desu.”

Is Miria happy because she was of use?\n

We enter the room.\n

There was no one in the waiting room.

“Sarracenia boss is called Nepenthes. It’s basically strengthened Sarracenia. There is a point to note however. On 12th floor, other monsters appear alongside the boss, so we have to be careful.”

Sherry shares the information on the boss of 12th floor.\n

Thus far, our boss battle strategy has been to leave the frontline to Roxanne and attack from the back. However, we can’t use that strategy this time around.\n

It is impossible for things to always remain the same.

When we enter the waiting room, the door to the boss room immediately slides open.\n

Four of us enter the room.\n

Smoke gathers. Monsters appear.\n

One Nepenthes and one Sarracenia.

“Roxanne, hold the Nepenthes from the front. Sherry, Miria, keep the boss occupied. I’ll wipe out the small fry first.”

I give instructions to the three and charge toward the Sarracenia.\n

I hit the Sarracenia with successive Rush attacks and silence it.

I join the boss battle immediately after.\n

Nepenthes is a pitcher plant but its pitcher is larger than Sarracenia.\n

Its overall size is bigger as well.

Unlike Sarracenia, the brown pitcher of Nepenthes looks creepy.\n

You can tell that it gets its food not from photosynthesis but from eating other creatures.\n

Actually, even Sarracenia doesn’t get its food from photosynthesis. Both are carnivorous plants and, on top of that, monsters in labyrinth.\n

(Insectivorous plants need nitrogenous compounds, which they obtain from insects, for amino acid. They produce starch normally through photosynthesis.)

We need to be attentive for it may swing its leaf and attack from behind us.\n

This is troublesome.\n

I should have asked Miria to use spear instead.\n

Her level is adequate now, so it would have been fine.

In the end, it turns out easy for we were four against lone Nepenthes.\n

We maintain our winning streak.\n

The Nepenthes collapses.\n

It turns into smoke and dissipates.

“xxxxxxxxxx”

Before I could see the item it dropped, Miria shouts excitedly.

“Fish savings, she says. There seems to be a magic crystal.”\n

“Magic crystal?”\n

“She says that there wasn’t any before the battle. It appeared just now.”

While Roxanne translates it, Miria picks the magic crystal up.\n

Great!\n

So she can identify it the moment it appears?

“As expected of Miria.”\n

“She says that It started glowing, so she immediately noticed it.”

Nope. Because it’s black, it doesn’t glow.

“It’s magic crystal. Repeat, magic crystal.”\n

“Magic crystal.”

I should have taught her the right word back then.\n

After teaching Miria one more Brahim word, I receive the magic crystal from her.\n

I receive the dropped item from Sherry.\n

It’s called summer solstice.

I remove Warrior and select Herbalist, and try to make medicine.\n

In my palms, summer solstice turns into three nourishment medicines.\n

Summer solstice is a medicinal herb after all.

“You really did it.”

Sherry is surprised for some reason.

“Isn’t that a given?”\n

“No. I have heard that summer solstice can’t be processed on the first attempt.”

Eh?\n

Wasn’t Sherry the one who told me that I can make strengthening medicine from the item dropped by the boss of 13th floor?\n

If strengthening medicine can be made from the item dropped by the boss of 13th floor, can’t nourishment medicine be made from the item dropped by the boss of 12th floor?

“C-Can’t be processed?”\n

“Yes, but I knew you could do it.”\n

“As expected of Master.”\n

“As expected, desu.”

I don’t feel like I did something worthy of praise.\n

My Herbalist job is Lv4 now.\n

It kept leveling up when I was making nourishment pills the other day.

A Herbalist Lv4 is not supposed to be able to defeat Nepenthes, it seems.\n

Even if a Herbalist Lv4 can make nourishment medicine, no herbalist was probably able to ascertain that.\n

There’s another possibility that it’s dependent on MP.\n

Because I have Wizard Lv37 supported by Hero and Monk, I have enough MP at my disposal.

“It’s no big deal.”

I stuff the nourishment medicines and the magic crystal in my Item Box and leave the boss room.

“The monster native to 13th floor of Quratar’s labyrinth is Fly Trap. It’s similar to Sarracenia. It uses water magic attacks. Its normal attack has chance to inflict poison. It’s resistant to water magic. Its weakness is fire magic.”

Sherry shares the information. We encounter a Fly Trap.\n

Like Sherry said, it looks like Sarracenia. Even its size and shape is same.

But there’s one difference.\n

Its head is not pitcher.\n

It’s sliced open into two in order to trap an object inside.\n

Is it carnivorous like Sarracenia?

I fight while keeping an eye on its head.\n

I take it out in five spells.

“It didn’t attack with its head.”\n

“But we shouldn’t be careless for carelessness is lethal.”\n

“Higher level ones may attack with their head.”

According to Sherry, high level Fly Traps may attack using their head.\n

Like Roxanne said, however, carelessness is taboo.\n

I have already received digestive fluid of Sarracenia on top of my head.

I receive polygala root from Miria.\n

Because Herbalist job was still active, I immediately try to make medicine.\n

Three strengthening pills.\n

Same as nourishment pills.

“Since I can fight against Fly Traps without much trouble, search for group of monsters.”

I ask of Roxanne to search for multiple monsters.\n

Sarracenia and Fly Trap both are weak against fire magic.\n

Five spells don’t pose much of a challenge.\n

It would have been difficult, however, had I not upgraded my cane.

“Here it comes.”

Amidst fighting, Roxanne warns.\n

It’s ranged attack of Fly Trap.\n

Roxanne takes it on.

It needs not be mentioned that she dodged it.\n

A bullet of water fades in from where Roxanne was supposed to be standing.

“Ah, that was close.”

I somehow manage to evade.\n

I knew it. I’m not safe behind Roxanne.

“I’m sorry. I should have deflected it off my shield.”\n

“Deflect?”\n

“Yes. You can deflect most of the force behind the attack but you receive some damage.”

You should have taught me how to do it.

I position myself slightly in diagonal with Roxanne.\n

Roxanne, who’s in the center of the frontline, will receive most of the attacks.\n

Therefore, I should not stand in line with Roxanne and the monster.

Water magic is troublesome but we carry on hunting on 13th floor of Quratar’s labyrinth.\n

It takes about five strikes of Durandal to take out a Fly Trap Lv13.\n

It was four on 12th floor.\n

Oh well, it can’t be helped.

When I was fighting using Durandal, I borrowed the Ring of Determination from Sherry.\n

But there was no apparent effect.\n

“5x Increase in Attack Power” skill of Durandal doesn’t seem to stack with “Increase in Attack Power” skill of Ring of Determination.

I make a bulk of strengthening pills.\n

I pass a dozen of pills to Sherry.

“We have already acquired strengthening pills, should we go for strengthening medicine or not?”\n

“We should, I think.”\n

“It’s rational to keep it in reserve for contingencies.”

I obtain Roxanne’s and Sherry’s support to challenge the boss of 13th floor.\n

Because I have been exploring for quite some time, I have got a hang of it.

From 12th floor to 22nd, same monsters appear in every labyrinth, albeit in different order.\n

The monster that appears on 12th floor of Quratar’s labyrinth may appear on 22nd floor of some other labyrinth.\n

By the same token, the boss of 12th floor of Quratar’s labyrinth may be the boss of 22nd floor of that other labyrinth.\n

If I defeat the boss of 12th floor of Quratar’s labyrinth, I will have one less thing to worry about when I challenge the boss of 22nd floor of that other labyrinth.

I won’t say that it’ll be easy because strength increases with level.\n

Green Caterpillar Lv11, for instance.

That said, it’s still the same monster.\n

It can’t become unexpectedly strong.\n

You won’t have to be worried about surprise element.\n

It’s 23rd floor and onwards where difficulty level jumps up again.

As far as Quratar’s labyrinth is concerned, we have its map, so exploration itself is quick and smooth.\n

Unlike Vale’s and Haruba’s labyrinths, where we have to explore each and every corner of the floors.\n

However, regardless of which labyrinth it is, advancing to next floor is not smooth.

“Okay then, would you please take us there?”\n

“Certainly.”

Roxanne guides us to the boss room of 13th floor.\n

Miria takes a peek inside but finds no one, so we enter the room.\n

We take out both the boss of 13th floor, Animal Trap, and accompanying Sarracenia.

“Why was Sarracenia accompanying the boss?”\n

“Any monster that appears on a floor may appear with the boss of that floor.”

As per Sherry, Animal Trap is Fly Trap boss.\n

Sarracenia is troublesome to deal with but I took it out swiftly.\n

Once the boss was surrounded, Durandal did the rest.

Sherry brings dried orange peel over to me.\n

Is this the item dropped by Animal Trap?\n

I use my Herbalist skill and make three strengthening medicines.

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