An orange magic circle appeared beneath Grasby, who was in the second row.
Seri's spear couldn't reach him due to the distance.
Grasby shot needles.
Roxanne blocked them with her steel shield.
At almost the same time, Bitch Butterfly and Hatbat launched attacks on Roxanne.
Roxanne stepped back with her left foot, dodged Bitch Butterfly's charge, and avoided Hatbat's rush by shaking her head.
I chanted the fifth Breeze Storm from the back.
The monsters were violently shaken by the gust of wind.
Bitch Butterfly, having regained her stance, attacked Roxanne again.
Roxanne blocked with her shield and dodged the charging Hatbat by twisting her body.
She struck back with a rapier as she dodged.
I cast the sixth spell.
An orange magic circle floated beneath the Bitch Butterfly in front of Seri.
Seri thrust with her spear.
Milia blocked the attack of the bee in front of her with her shield and then slashed with her scimitar.
Roxanne slightly moved to the side to avoid Bitch Butterfly's attack.
She easily dodged the subsequent attack from Hatbat as I chanted the seventh Breeze Storm.
Bitch Butterfly, two Grasbies, and Hatbat all fell together.
"Hmm. The sixteenth floor is indeed tough."
It's good that we can now enter the Kooltar labyrinth with the duke's approval, but the battles on the sixteenth floor are tough.
Well, mainly Roxanne is the one dodging the monsters' attacks.
Just watching is tough enough.
We rushed through the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth floors, so it's inevitable.
Without Roxanne standing in the center and dodging all the attacks, the front line would have collapsed.
"No. This is still not that tough."
Not tough, huh.
As always, she's a terrifying girl.
The only saving grace on the sixteenth floor of Kooltar is that many of the monsters are weak to wind magic.
Being able to choose monsters weak to wind magic is only possible because of Roxanne.
"I don't think I'm taking repeated attacks, so I believe I can fight sufficiently. If we enter the labyrinth, this level of combat is still quite easy."
When Seri says it, it seems to be true.
In this world, it seems they don't take large safety margins.
With Roxanne attracting multiple monsters in the center, the battles for Seri and Milia at the ends might not be that difficult.
"It's fine. I'm here, big sister."
Milia seems to have a correct understanding.
"Right. Thanks to Roxanne."
"No. It's because Master uses magic to defeat them."
"Then, for the next battle, I'll use my sword, so please focus on the smaller groups."
While fighting on the sixteenth floor, the explorer also reached level 39.
With the increased bonus points, I obtained the ability to omit incantations.
Being able to take both the Force Job and incantation omission is a significant improvement.
I recovered my MP and continued fighting the monsters.
We fought several groups of four Bitch Butterflies and one Grasby.
This combination is the most challenging on the sixteenth floor of Kooltar.
Well, the toughest enemy is when a carnivorous plant weak to fire magic is mixed in with the monsters weak to wind magic.
But with Roxanne, we can avoid that, so we'll leave it for now.
In fact, we haven't fought any yet.
The reason four Bitch Butterflies are troublesome is that Seri's spear might not interrupt their incantations in time.
Bitch Butterfly's skill attacks seem to have a paralyzing effect.
If Roxanne gets paralyzed and can't move, there's a risk of a total collapse.
With two or fewer Bitch Butterflies, there's no problem.
Three is mostly okay.
With four or more, it's likely that the attacks won't be interrupted in time.
Grasby is troublesome because of its ranged attacks.
When there are four or more monsters, some might move to the second row.
If there are five, one will definitely move to the second row.
The Grasby that moves to the back and shoots poisonous needles is particularly troublesome.
Therefore, a group of four Bitch Butterflies and one Grasby is the most frightening.
Should we buy more anti-paralysis pills?
Since we haven't used them yet, it might be fine.
In the end, we finished hunting that day without using any anti-paralysis pills.
The next morning, we entered the sixteenth floor of Kooltar early.
"Here they come."
After warning us, Roxanne blocked Grasby's poisonous needles with her shield.
Her stability is excellent.
She dodged Bitch Butterfly's charge and thrust her rapier into another Grasby.
She dodged Bitch Butterfly like a butterfly and stabbed the bee like a bee.
She is terrifyingly strong.
Seri dodged Bitch Butterfly's attack.
Milia blocked Grasby's attack with her shield.
The Grasby in the second row launched a skill attack again.
Roxanne easily blocked it with her shield.
She also dodged the subsequent Bitch Butterfly's attack with a slight movement.
The Grasby on the side attacked Milia this time.
Milia blocked it.
However, she couldn't dodge the attack from the Grasby in front and took the hit.
She didn't seem to have taken the poison.
I continued casting magic attacks with peace of mind.
When not using Durandal, I let Milia wear the anti-poison hard leather hat.
Seri's role is to stop Bitch Butterfly with her spear.
She has to face Bitch Butterfly.
While casting wind magic, I treated Milia.
The level where you can be killed by two or three monster attacks is already gone.
Treatment can be done slowly between attack spells.
I slaughtered the monsters with wind magic.
"It's fine."
Milia raised her hand to stop, indicating she was fully recovered.
I prompted Roxanne to scout.
The next group was two Bitch Butterflies and a Grasby.
Seri was hit by a butterfly once but managed to defeat them.
After treating Milia, I brought out Durandal.
We defeated two groups of monsters and recovered our MP.
I didn't use the strength pills because it felt wasteful.
The next group was two Bitch Butterflies, a Grasby, and a Hatbat.
The Hatbat flew over Roxanne's head.
She managed to block it with her staff and was unharmed.
I finished them off with the final Breeze Storm.
For the rear guard, the Hatbat flying over the front guard's head is a major issue.
The next group was four Bitch Butterflies and a Grasby.
Without the Hatbat, I felt more at ease.
Grasby launched a ranged attack midway, but Roxanne blocked it perfectly.
Her defense is like an iron wall.
The front line won't collapse due to Grasby's ranged attacks.
Bitch Butterflies approached.
Four of them lined up horizontally.
Roxanne easily dodged the charge of the first butterfly that rushed in.
She blocked the next Bitch Butterfly's charge with her shield.
The other Bitch Butterflies tried to launch skill attacks, but Seri stopped them.
If this continues, we should be fine.
Just as I was breathing a sigh of relief, orange magic circles appeared almost simultaneously beneath the four Bitch Butterflies.
Seri thrust her spear, but she couldn't attack all four at once.
I couldn't cast wind magic in quick succession.
Seri managed to cancel three of the skill attacks but the remaining Bitch Butterfly's skill activated.
A powdery smoke rose from the butterfly's wings.
The Bitch Butterfly that activated the skill was the farthest from Seri and directly in front of Milia.
The smoke enveloped Milia.
Milia's movements stopped.
Her body was stiff.
I observed while casting the next wind magic, but she only trembled slightly and couldn't move.
This must be paralysis.
"Should I give her a pill?"
"Let's focus on eliminating them first."
Prompted by Seri, I cast Breeze Storm.
Bitch Butterfly attacked Milia.
Milia, unable to move, couldn't dodge the attack.
After treating her, I added more wind magic and slaughtered the monsters.
The monsters were defeated.
"How long does paralysis last?"
I looked at Milia.
She seemed unable to move.
I should probably take an anti-paralysis pill from the item box.
"It's not fixed, but it doesn't take long. It often clears during combat. If it takes too long, we can use a pill or move to a safe room."
"There don't seem to be any monsters nearby."
Seri and Roxanne informed me.
Should I feed her the pill by mouth?
Or should I wait and see?
No, I don't really want to feed her by mouth.
She can't move, so I can't expect a passionate kiss.
Moreover, forcing my tongue into her mouth while she can't move might be a dangerous hobby.
Pulling Milia into a strong embrace, forcing her lips open, and invading her mouth with my tongue while she can't move.
She wouldn't be able to resist.
This is...
I should try it once.
Yeah, yeah.
Just as I was thinking that, Milia moved.
She blinked and moved her eyes.
"Ah, are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Sorry."
"There's no need to apologize."
While I was thinking, she recovered from the paralysis.
Feeding her by mouth will have to wait until next time.
A bit disappointing.
Milia doesn't seem to have any aftereffects.
She fully recovered as soon as the paralysis wore off.
She continued hunting normally until the end of the day.
She didn't get paralyzed again.
"Fish. Quickly."
After finishing hunting, Milia rushed to the fish shop.
Today is the day to make fish dishes with a new pot.
"What kind of fish will you use?"
"White fish."
After examining all the fish in the store, Milia announced.
It seems there weren't any good fish.
"Is there anything else you need?"
"Slime starch is needed."
After buying two white fish, I asked, and Roxanne translated for me.
I bought two, but it's only a 30% reference.
Milia will probably use two.
Slime starch is a drop item from Gummy Slimes.
We obtained it from the guild and returned home.
Milia put water, wine, fish sauce, and a little olive oil in a frying pan.
She added the prepared white fish and simmered it.
It's a pretty standard simmered dish.
"What about the slime starch?"
"This."
Milia grated the slime starch with a mill.
She dissolved it in water and added a small amount to the frying pan at the end.
It's some kind of seasoning.
Probably a hidden flavor.
No, that's not it.
I realized when I served it.
It's a sauce.
Slime starch is actually cornstarch.
I presented one whole white fish to Milia and cut the other into three pieces.
Even a third is quite a lot.
If there's any left, Milia will take care of it.
I tried the sauce-covered simmered fish Milia made.
"Pretty good."
Not a bad simmered dish.
Quite tasty.
Maybe because of the fish sauce, it has a bit of a wild flavor.
If I thin it with sugar and vinegar, it might be even better.
In other words, it's a sweet and sour sauce.
"I ate it."
Milia seems satisfied.
She didn't eat a lot, so there was no need to steal from Roxanne or Seri.
We should be fine without fish for a while.
The next morning, I tried making a sweet and sour sauce.
I simmered water with sugar, vinegar, and fish sauce and thickened it with slime starch.
I poured the sweet and sour sauce over the stir-fried vegetables I made.