Shujinkou Janai! - CH 34

[———–Acid incoming!]

At Mana’s urgent cry, I forcefully moved my body, which was about to unleash my technique, to the side.

The mass of strong acid flew past my side, I secretly felt chills down to my guts.

(If I had just used my Art normally, I would never have been able to avoid it.)

This is one of the advantages of Manual Arts.

As the famous saying goes, “Arts can turn a genius into an ordinary person”, Automatic Execution of Arts can’t be interrupted in the middle of a move.

However, Manual Arts allow geniuses to use their Arts while remaining geniuses.

No, I guess it’s more than that, because a genius like Rex can do such a god-like technique as “using Arts while evading”.

(The more I learn about this, the more I think how extraordinary this technique is!)

Though I say that, my best moves still got thwarted.

[Kuh. ……Blaze Slash!!!]

I had no choice but to activate my Fire-attribute Art.

Although I really want to unleash only Earth-attribute attacks, which is the opponent’s weak point, I can’t ignore the cooldown time of Ats, even if they’re manually executed.

As I don’t have any Earth-attribute attacks other than <Ground Shatter>, I have no choice but to use skills of other attributes.

(After we conquer this dungeon, I will definitely learn more skills!)

Through actual battle, I was able to clearly understand why it was said “the number of Arts one is capable of could be the strength of a warrior” which I had only vaguely imagined its meaning before.

Now, I felt that I could work even harder than before to learn Arts.

[Magic incoming! I’m about to shoot!!!]

Following the voice behind me, I jumped back from in front of the Slime.

At the same time, Nuku, who was behind me, readied his rod and shouted.

[———–Please don’t break, <Flare Cannon>!!!]

The magical heat ray that was unleashed was as bright as the sun.

The strike, one of the most powerful magic I’ve ever seen, melts the Blue Slime’s body.

The secret lies not in a magic Nuku has mastered through his training…… but in the rod, <Red Flare Rod>, he’s holding in his hand.

This equipment, which Rex obtained as a result of a Quest, can be “used” by consuming the user’s inherent magic power, “MP”, to unleash the super powerful Fire-attribute Magic, <Flare Cannon>.

However, the equipment restriction is so high that Nuku, with his high MGC, must wear Enchanted rings that increase STR and MGC to use it, and its price is an astonishing 50 million wen.

Also, it has the characteristic of “having a 1% chance of breaking every time you use it”.

I hate to say it, but the look on Nuku’s face when he was informed of this fact was a sight to behold.

However, even if it’s a reverse lottery of 50 million wen per use every time, the power of that item is unparalleled.

Although it wasn’t a good match in terms of attribute affinity, it did more damage to the Slime than the super-effective <Earth Shatter>.

After the attack, which cost Nuku MP and stress, an arrow flew in from a far distance.

The arrow that easily broke through the Slime’s outer body and pierced its main body was, of course, nothing out of the ordinary.

———–That arrow was an “attribute arrow” that Rex himself had personally refined.

It seems like it was basic for Alchemy to make arrows imbued with an attribute of magic power.

However, its performance is determined by the value of the Alchemist’s “MGC”.

The attribute arrows that Rex made by wearing “9 Enchanted equipment” were imbued with such tremendous magic power that even Prana gasped.

Prana accepted the bundle of arrows as if embracing it, saying “she will use them with care”.

And now, Prana is shooting the arrows with the power of “wind” one after another, without being frugal at all.

I was wondering what she meant by saying “she will use them with care”, but I guess “using it only when necessary” is her way of “treating them with care”.

As proof of this, every arrow shot from her hand pierced the Slime’s body, without missing a single shot.

And as for the last member of our party……

[———–Acid incoming! Watch out!]

Mana is asked to work mainly as an observer to check the Slime’s movements and detect Acid attacks.

The Slimes only have two main types of attacks.

Either they will exhale smoke from their entire body, which induces state ailments to those who inhale it, or they will shake their body and then send Acid flying about.

The smoke can be nullified as long as we have the Barrier Ring, while the Acid isn’t difficult to avoid if you watch for signs, as its preliminary movements are easy to recognize.

However, it’s possible to miss the signs if you are preoccupied with your attacks, so Mana, who has the fewest opportunities to attack, has taken on this role.

[———–Holy Bullet!]

“”

Though I say that, it’s not that she doesn’t participate in the attack at all, as from time to time, magic flies from behind her as if to help out along with the arrows of wind.

That is the only offensive magic Mana has, <Holy Bullet>.

It’s a mere beginner-level magic with no tricks or loopholes, but Light-attribute attacks are nevertheless strong.

Although only a few people are suited for it, it has a slight over the four attributes of fire, water, earth and wind, and is strong against the Dark-attribute, making it a truly versatile attribute.

It’s the exact opposite of the Dark-attribute, which is weak against all four attributes and only thinks about standing against the Light-attribute magic.

Or so, that’s what Rex said.

We always stay ahead of the curve with proactive measures, and we are always predominant in the battle against the <Big Blue Slime>, who was supposed to have the superior ability but could do almost nothing to us.

However……

(———–As expected, it’s still tough!!!)

Even after all these preparations, all these techniques, all these magics, we still can’t defeat this one single Slime.

I could feel sweat beads on my forehead from the heat.

The long battle is nerve-wracking, and I’m slowly losing my concentration.

“”

What is worse is the amount of MP we have remaining.

Because we’re using Arts that were originally far above our strength, the consumption of magic power is severe.

(This is the difference in basic strength huh)

It’s relatively easy to recover stamina with magic, but lost magic power can’t be easily replenished.

The amount of MP that can be recovered over time is minimal, and all the potions to restore MP aren’t for sale.

Although we do carry MP recovery potions just in case, they aren’t something we could just comfortably use.

Besides, while recovery potions are powerful, they have the limitation that “they lose their effectiveness if used consecutively over a short period of time”.

Tactics that rely on MP recovery potions aren’t viable in the first place.

(I have a feeling that we have used 30% of our resources.)

Out of the dozens of Slimes that have taken root in this dungeon, we have only fought one of them.

However, to defeat that one slime, I feel like we have used 30%.

But even so, we can’t stop here.

This Slime has the ability to self-regenerate, so a prolonged battle wouldn’t be good.

Besides, a prolonged battle may even catch the attention of another Slime.

That’s why I continue to unleash my Arts as hard as I can without worrying about my MP consumption.

(Almost there! We should be almost there!)

I see that the Big Blue Slime’s movements are even slower than it was at first, and its outer body is covered with injuries that can’t be hidden.

If we push through here……

[It’s Acid! Please dodge!]

I wonder if it was because I had such wicked thoughts in mind.

I was so flustered that I left at Mana’s words of warning……

[……Ah.]

—–and my feet getting caught with the difference in step, I tripped.

That was the worst timing for that to happen.

“”

Acid was spat out toward me, and I quickly shielded my face with my left hand.

[Guaaaahhh!]

The Acid that splashed on my left hand entered through the gap in my armor and burned my skin.

[Radd-kun!]

Mana screamed.

Frantically stifling down the pain, I stood up.

It was fortunate that one of the Enchanted rings I had equipped increased VIT, and it didn’t do as much damage as I thought it would.

However……

[Oh no! The barrier……]

The <Barrier Ring> that had protected me all this time had already lost its effect.

At the same time, a green mist is sprayed from the slime with great force.

[Ghaaak!]

There was no way for me to protect myself from the smoke billowing in all directions.

The poisonous smoke entering my lungs seemed to burn me from the inside out.

[I’ll heal you! Move back!]

However, even within the constant pain, I shook my head.

Once the barrier of the <Barrier Ring> is broken, it can no longer be reapplied during the battle.

That means, right now, what I should do is……

————attack!

I readied my sword in my tear-stained vision.

In the midst of the pain that stirred up my thoughts however, the movements that had become ingrained in me didn’t betray me.

[———–<Earth Shatter>!!!]

A satisfactory Art pierced into the Slime.

The blow severed the blue monster’s life, and the blue monster that had tormented us for so long finally ceased to live.

After witnessing this, I frantically jumped out of the range of the enemy’s poisonous mist and hurriedly removed the <Barrier Ring> from my finger before putting it back on.

Rex told us that once the barrier was destroyed, it wouldn’t reappear for 10 minutes, but that by removing it during non-combat, you could reapply it quickly.

When I felt the barrier reappear just as Rex said, I breathed a sigh of relief.

There, my friends, worried about me, came rushing to my side.

[Geez, that’s bad for our hearts!]

[You’re being too reckless!]

I bowed to the two of them and said “Sorry”, before continuing with a “but……”.

Turning around, the lifeless monster turned into particles of light, which were sucked in toward our left hand.

Just as I thought the light had settled on our bodies, my heart pulsed strongly with a thump.

There, I felt a familiar sensation in my body.

[———–I leveled up.]

Power welled up from the depths of my body, and at the same time, I felt that the poison that had been eating away at me disappeared completely, and on the contrary, I felt my stamina and MP, which I should have lost, fill up.

When level-up occurs, in its aftermath, vitality and MP are fully restored, and state ailments are also cured.

This phenomenon is called the “Level-up Recovery” and it was the main reason why Rex sent us to this dungeon “now”.

Levels apparently rise quickly in the beginning, but once you exceed Lv 10, the pace slows down as the EXP required increases.

However, while our level is low and it’s easy to make use of “Level-up Recovery”, we can continue to move forward without needing recovery supplies.

[Radd, are you okay? If you say it’s impossible, we can turn back……]

[No, let’s go.]

I shook my head at Nuku, who asked me with concern.

Rex had said it.

This is a battle we can have “because we are inexperienced”, and it’s the “shortest path” for us to grow.

We’re not the type of Adventurers that would let this ultimate chance pass us by.

We haven’t fought enough, and we haven’t leveled up enough.

I’m not satisfied with just fighting one monster, nor do I want to leave any monster we could fight behind.

“”

[———–All the EXP in this dungeon are ours!]