Shujinkou Janai! - CH 75

(……Seriously, this is hopeless.)

Looking at my Status again, I heavily sighed.

In B&B, you get almost no EXP even if you kill an enemy of a lower level than you.

And my…… Rex’s Initial Level is 50.

In other words, with a Status that is inferior to that of Radd’s group at Lv 30, if I don’t defeat opponents of Lv 50 or higher, I won’t be able to earn much EXP.

In fact, the only opponents of the same level or higher that I have defeated in the past 3 months are the Lv 60 Doom Demon that I first defeated and the Lv 70 <Sword Saint Nirva> that I fought in the Arena.

I naturally didn’t gain any EXP from the fight with Nirva, so the only EXP I got were those from the Doom Demon.

And although the Doom Demon was a higher level than me, due to the game’s specifications, even though there was a minus in EXP gain for defeating a lower-level monster, there was no such thing as a bonus increase in EXP gain for defeating a higher-level monster.

That Doom Demon should be considered a Boss-level monster, but I couldn’t even earn enough EXP to get to Lv 51 from it.

……However, even if I can’t expect to get stronger by leveling up, there’s still one more way to increase my abilities.

That would be the “Ability Improvement Training”.

You can raise your stats without relying on level-ups by doing training corresponding to that stat, such as practice swings for STR and meditation for MGC.

“”

It’s still fresh in my memory how Radd and the others once increased their ability values by an average of 30 points in a month through this training.

However, there’s a pitfall in this path.

“The higher the affinity of the ability to raise” and “the lower the current value of the ability you want to raise”, the higher the effect of this training will be.

In fact, Radd, with his STR of 54, by doing nothing but swinging his sword for a long time, increased his STR by 22, while Resilia, with her STR of 126, who had trained the same way as him, could only increase her STR by 4.

In that case, I think it goes without saying what the result will be for me, who doesn’t even have a higher STR aptitude than Resilia, and whose current STR is 200.

That’s why, to begin with, I gave up on improving my own abilities through training, and only occasionally went out with Radd and the others.

(Even so, I’ve only done some swinging while teaching others the Manual Arts, but I managed to get it up by 1 huh……)

Only gaining 1 after 3 months isn’t much to talk about.

At least, it didn’t change my conclusion that it was too costly and impractical to raise my ability values through this method.

(Seriously, this is just too much even for a Hard Mode, Rex.)

Knowing that there was no point to it, I complained to the sour-faced Rex in the mirror.

[Old man, the heck are you doing, looking that long at that mirror? Let’s move on already.]

Thereupon, Radd, who seemed to be in a good mood, called out to me from behind, and I had no choice but to stop escaping from reality.

Putting on my STR-increasing rings again, I turned to Radd.

[I know. That aside, be prudent. Remember, the enemies here have higher stats than you.]

[Bring it on! No matter what the enemy is, I’ll buy enough time so that Mana can use her magic!]

I almost sighed when he gave a response that showed he doesn’t seem to understand the situation, but I guess Radd has leveled up enough not to say he would defeat the enemy himself.

After leaving behind the mirror, we continued forward.

The cool, underground air around this place, whether I like it or not, makes me tense up.

[……I suppose this would be the next room huh.]

After a short walk down the stone corridor, we came upon a battered door.

Fortunately, the dilapidated and crumbling door was slightly ajar before we even did anything about it.

It helps that we don’t have to be on the lookout for locks or traps.

After nodding my head at Nuku’s words, we stepped into the room.

“”

The space was deserted, with inorganic stone walls.

There was no furniture or decorations other than a rotting piece of wood propped up against the wall, and a wooden coffin sitting quietly in the center of the room.

(This room……)

Looking at this room, I started tracing the hazy memories in my brain and reflexively stopped……

[……What, it’s just a dead end huh.]

With a lackadaisical voice, Radd slipped past me and stepped past me and carelessly stepped into the room.

(—–No!)

A faint memory in the corner of my mind rings an alarm in my mind!

[Radd!!!]

At that moment, the coffin bursts open from the inside, and a torrent of darkness overflows from within.

“Something” black scattered with such force that it collided with the ceiling.

Whatever that is looked like a single clump of something, but upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a group.

The identity of “those things” that split and spread out on either side of the ceiling, staring at us with their red eyes……

[—————<Black Blood Bats>! They’re bloodsucking bats!!!]

With a shout, I pulled back Radd’s body and stepped forward to his previous position.

These bats, in exchange for their low ability values, are monsters that are numerous, erratic in their movements, and difficult to catch.

As I didn’t have much of a hard time fighting them in-game, I didn’t recall them right away.

(Not good! They’re a bad match against the party!)

If you have battles where you have inferior ability values, these quick and numerous opponents are more dangerous.

If you fight them with the right abilities, you can easily handle them if you’re able to ignore their bombarding attacks and enough firepower to oonga-boonga burn everything, but with how Radd and his party currently is, even the attacks from these mobs can be fatal.

Besides, unlike the ones they have been fighting, these guys aren’t Undead.

Mana’s Light Magic, which is the main firepower of the current party, can’t be used as a trump card against them!

[Old man!? This won’t do! Fighting against this number is just……]

Holding back the flustered Radd who was about to step forward, I consciously exclaimed confidently.

[Don’t underestimate me too much. This is a good opportunity. I’m going to show you guys the “grown” me’s power!]

※　※　※

A swarm of bats flitting about the room.

I don’t have time to count them, but there must be a dozen or so in that cluster.

If all of them came rushing at us at once, we would be in danger.

[Let’s start with this guy!]

With a shout, I threw <Goblin Slaughters> as a greeting.

Two of the daggers hit the bats but……

[……Haha. Of course, this would happen.)

The bats that received the projectile attacks were momentarily disoriented, but they soon continued as if nothing had happened.

(Does this mean that the strength of the enemy has already caught up with the advantage I gained through game knowledge?)

The <Goblin Slaughter> is a powerful piece of equipment obtained at the casino.

It has a mysterious special effect that makes it “strong against Goblins, but weak against non-Goblins”, but that can be circumvented by using them as projectiles with the Skill: <Throw> without equipping it.

In other words, against enemies in this level, even the <Goblin Slaughters> which I worked hard to acquire aren’t very strong weapons.

(……However, that doesn’t mean this would be the end.)

Taking out another <Goblin Slaughter> in my left hand, I held it out towards the bats with the <Metallic King’s Sword> in my right hand.

(Haahhh…… Geez. I wasn’t planning on fighting this time.)

Sweat dripped down my body from the tension I’m feeling.

With my dagger in my left hand held at the side, I swayed and swayed, following a rhythm in my mind.

(……The important thing here is the timing.)

What’s troublesome about bats is that they’re small targets and their movements are erratic.

It originally would be easier to kill them with ranged magic or sniping, but we don’t have enough firepower to wipe them out that way, and we can’t take that option now that we’ve been squeezed into this small room.

————-They’re coming!

As if it had grown impatient, a bat came towards us.

“”

I swung my sword to intercept it.

……However!

The little black imp moved away from the trajectory of my sword, moving in a way that you could call “slippery”.

This is the bat’s greatest strength.

Because of their movements, Arts that are linear and can’t change the trajectory of the attack midway can’t catch these guys.

[Aaaahhhh!]

A voice filled with despair rang out from behind.

However, it’s still too early for that.

I stopped the slash it was about to send to me.

And then, taking a step forward……

[Naive!]

Thrusting towards the fleeing bat, I caught it in my attack.

The bat, pierced by the Metallic King’s Sword, struggles to escape once……

[……That’s the first one.]

It immediately became particles of light and returns to the air.

The second bat, taking advantage of the opportunity, rushed in a roundabout trajectory, but it was cut down by my sword.

[What’s up? Is that it?]

The taunts I threw may not be quite effective, but as if a dam had been burst, the bats surged forward.

Even so, I didn’t mind.

The current me isn’t just a gamer who can’t swing a sword without relying on Arts.

I have the swordsmanship of “Rex” lying dormant inside me.

[Four, five, six……]

When the bats falling to the ground exceeded half of the enemy’s group, I accelerated my sword further.

Left and right, up and down.

“”

Sometimes anticipating the bats’ erratic movements, sometimes chasing after them, sometimes overpowering it with the difference in our reach.

[…..Amazing.]

By the time I heard such a murmur from behind me, there were only two bats left, fitting about aimlessly in the center of the room.

(Long-term battle wouldn’t be good. In that case, I’ll settle this here!)

Catching the beat with the dagger in my left hand, when the two bats’ bodies were lined up in a straight line, I immediately stepped forward.

[Hmph!]

I closed the distance of about 2 meters in an instant.

And then……

[This ends it!]

With the momentum of my approach, I cut down the last two remaining bats with the sword in my right hand.

(……I’ve somehow dealt with them huh.)

Watching the two bats disappear, just as I was about to let out a sigh of relief……

[Rex-san!]

Mana screamed.

At that moment, I turned around only my head, only to see a monster blowing away the wood that had been propped up by the side, swinging its claws my way.

—————-An ambush!

I regretted how the bad premonition I had the moment I entered the room slipped out of my mind, but it was already too late.

Approaching my way was a Werewolf with overwhelming speed, <Moon Werewolf>.

Its deadly claws were at my throat in a single breath, and there was no time to evade it.

As an attempt to resist, I desperately pulled back my arm, waiting for the inevitable collision to occur.

—————–<Body Flicker>!

The next moment, I had now “leaped” behind the Werewolf.

The Skill acquired from the Sword Saint Class, <Body Flicker>.

Borrowing the power of this extremely unreasonable skill that allows me to “instantly teleport behind the attacking opponent the moment their attack hits me”, I swung my sword at its unprotected back.

[……Sorry.]

As the monster lost sight of me, not having any reason why it would avoid an attack coming from behind……

[—————-<Myriad>.]

As the poor monster was hit by my strike, in a single breath, the upper and lower halves of its body were separated, drawing its last breath.