arc2 · 093-ch93

Chapter 93: Soloing an E-Rank Monster!

Now then, having soloed a goblin, I got a bit carried away and started looking for my next prey, but...

(Can't find any!)

Right—taking one down only takes about thirty minutes, but finding one takes even longer. Goblins generally don't act alone; most of them move in groups of two or more.

And even when a stray goblin occasionally shows up, it sometimes gets snatched up by another party. For low-rank parties, stray goblins must be easy pickings.

Thinking about it that way, maybe I should head to a deeper floor. The monsters will be stronger, but there should be fewer rivals. Plus, stronger monsters are more likely to act solo.

With that in mind, I decided to head down to the fifth floor.

▽▽▽

Ignoring the goblin groups that appeared, I made a beeline for the stairs and reached the fifth floor in about an hour. From here, E-rank monsters like Goblin Archers and Thieves start appearing. But since goblins tend to show up in groups, I decided to look for different prey.

Its name: Orc. A monster with a pig's face and a fat human body. Better built than goblins and more powerful, earning it an E-rank classification. However, inversely proportional to its power, its movements are slow—so it should be a good matchup for my fast drones. On top of that, this thing apparently prefers to act solo and is often seen walking around by itself.

I fled at full speed from the goblin groups and searched around for the scarce orcs. Fortunately, there didn't seem to be many parties hunting here, so even if I found one, it probably wouldn't get sniped by someone else.

Just as I was thinking that, I finally spotted an orc. To check its movements first, I sent Hayate after it.

"Snort! Grunt!"

Noticing Hayate charging straight at it, the orc came running with heavy, thudding footsteps while snorting through its pig snout. It held a large club in its hand. As expected of a power type—its attack power looked high.

Whooom!

The moment Hayate entered its range, the orc swung its club down. That attack was sharper than I expected, and Hayate barely dodged by the slimmest of margins. However, Hayate—which should have avoided the club—lost its balance. It seemed the wind pressure from the club passing by had gotten it.

I hurried to recover my posture and tried to create some distance, but—

BOOM!

The club that had been swung down struck the ground and bounced back, hitting Hayate directly. No—it didn't just hit the ground. The orc deliberately slammed it into the ground to redirect the attack.

Caught off guard by an unexpectedly tactical attack, Hayate was effortlessly destroyed. No helping it—I immediately resummoned Hayate. I lost 20 MP, but I'm Level 11 with 1100 MP. Hehehe, I can still summon it over fifty more times.

That said, I might need to use Flashlight too, so it's best not to get destroyed if I can help it. Next time, I'll be more careful.

The orc seemed pleased about having defeated Hayate, but when the drone it thought it destroyed appeared again, it froze in surprise.

(Capture Net! Then Asahi charge!)

I fired Asahi's new equipment, the Capture Net, at the immobilized orc from behind. Right on target—the orc got tangled in the net from the head down, its feet got caught, and it toppled over on the spot.

Asahi, wrapped in Wind Blade Wall, plunged right in. Since it was tangled in the net, I didn't have to worry about counterattacks right now. I had to rack up solid damage during this window.

Shubababababa!

First, I targeted its hands that were trying to peel off the net. Green blood splattered, and the orc's hands were torn to shreds. But Asahi's Wind Blade Wall shredded the net too, and an arm came thrusting out from the gap.

(I need to hurry up and attack)

With that judgment, I aimed for its legs and attacked, then slashed the back of the orc's neck as it struggled to stand up and tear off the net.

"BUOOOOOH!"

Bleeding from its arms, legs, and the back of its neck, the orc let out a roar of rage. Seemed like I made good use of the single-shot Capture Net.

Even covered in blood, the orc stood back up. It didn't even bother picking up its weapon—just wildly swung its arms around, chasing Hayate right in front of it instead of Asahi, which had pulled back to a distance.

Gargargal!

This time, I attacked its remaining good leg with Asahi. Unable to hold out any longer, the orc, covered in wounds, collapsed. I brought Hayate directly above it and dropped stones I'd stored from inside the dungeon using Storage.

Numerous large stones scored direct hits on its head, and the orc finally stopped moving.

【You defeated the orc】

【You have leveled up】

Ohh! As expected of an E-rank monster! It took a while, but soloing it gives a ton of EXP! But man, to solo an E-rank, I ended up using the Capture Net. And since it got shredded to pieces, that thing's unusable now.

Alright, next let's try Flashlight. If it doesn't work out, I still have Sticky Bomb left. I collected the magic stone and the drop item, orc meat, then went back to searching for another solo orc.

But once again, I just couldn't find one. I was making full use of the telephoto camera, but orcs themselves were scarce to begin with. There were plenty of goblins, but I didn't have the guts to take on multiple at once.

After about an hour of searching while keeping myself hidden, I finally managed to find one orc. It was wandering around the middle of a wide passage, so I lured it with Hayate to a corner where it wouldn't be spotted by anyone else.

"BUOOOOOH!"

Making sounds like a pig—or maybe a wild boar—the orc chased after Hayate with heavy, thudding footsteps. Thanks to its own loud voice, it hadn't noticed the sound of Asahi hovering above.

Right as the orc reached the corner, I spun Hayate around and used Flashlight.

"BUO!?"

Since it had been focused on Hayate, the Flashlight hit its eyes dead-on. The orc reflexively covered its face. Right into that opening, Asahi dove down wrapped in Wind Blade Wall and slashed its Achilles tendon.

Splurt!

One Achilles tendon severed, the orc dropped to one knee. It swung its club around without even looking back, but Asahi had already pulled away—no way that was hitting.

(Sticky Bomb here!)

This time, I fired the Sticky Bomb at the orc kneeling on the ground. It hit right on target, and the orc couldn't stand back up right away. Asahi swooped in once more.

Gargargal!

Circling around the orc immobilized by the sticky fluid, Asahi carved up its entire body. However, the attack power itself was low, so I wanted to deal as much damage as possible during this window.

The one-sided attack continued for a short while, but the orc violently thrashed with all its might, and the sticky fluid gradually peeled off.

Whooom!

First, its hands broke free, and it tried to shoo away Asahi flying around it, clearly annoyed. Naturally, an attack like that wasn't going to land, but it did force me to create some distance.

So I tried the rock-drop attack again, but the relatively large stones had shattered from the earlier attack, so it wasn't very effective. Before long, the feet stuck to the ground peeled free, and the orc finally stood back up.

(Looks like this'll be a war of attrition from here)

Just as I predicted, even covered in wounds, the orc refused to go down easily. By the time it finally fell, well over an hour had passed since the battle started.

(I can beat them, but this might be a bit inefficient...)

Having used up both the Capture Net and Sticky Bomb, I decided to call it a day for EXP grinding, dismissed Hayate, and sent Asahi home.