arc3 · 163-ch163

Chapter 163: Kachofūgetsu ③

"SS-san, sorry — support, please!"

Hananoi-san's voice cut sharp — a rarity for her. I'd been planning the same thing, so I was ready. While filming properly with Asahi, I flew Hayate up over the Shadow Wolves' heads. Keeping clear of the firing lines of their ranged attacks, while moving so as to keep the Shadow Wolves in check.

"That's a big help!"

After his short word of thanks, Kazamaki-san began his incantation. Shadow Wolves are seriously fast. Tsukimori-san's arrows or Toba-san's throws could easily miss. Knowing that, Kazamaki-san wanted to lead with magic and shave down that speed first, even a little.

"Tornado Cutter!"

With a longer incantation than usual, mana-laden magic lunged at the Shadow Wolves. A huge tornado swallowed them up, and the wind blades raging inside shredded them apart.

"Now's our chance!"

"Firing."

Toba-san's knives and Tsukimori-san's arrows plunged into the wounded Shadow Wolves.

"Gaaahh!"

Their attacks each found their mark, but the last remaining Shadow Wolf charged Kazamaki-san. He readied a short sword to fight back — but if I've taken the support job, he has no need to.

Bushu-bushu-bushu

The soundless magic bullets fired from overhead turned the Shadow Wolf into a honeycomb.

"What — that's amazing!?"

"Seriously!?"

"It dropped in one shot!?"

"So strong!?"

Their fourfold astonishment was a pleasant thing. Lately it's been nothing but solo level-grinding, so the party atmosphere feels nostalgic.

After the three Shadow Wolves were down, the Scale Wolves were exterminated with a coordinated barrage from range.

"Ah, I leveled up."

"Me too!"

"Me as well!"

"Same here!"

Apparently everyone's level went up by one in that battle.

(That should make things a little easier from here on.)

And true to my prediction, they made it all the way to the boss room without me lending a hand.

"Now then, let's take a short break. Arashi — drink your Magic Potion."

Saying that, Hananoi-san took out a Magic Potion of her own and pulled the cork. She drained it elegantly, then tucked the bottle back into her bag. I suppose once a party reaches C-rank, it can afford to carry Magic Potions.

I've picked up a few at auction myself, but since we're on the subject, maybe I should look for a way to source them on my own.

Now then, break over — and it seems the floor thirty boss challenge is finally at hand. The opponent: a single B-minus-rank Fear Wolf. By their calculations, if they play it right, they can handle it with ranged attacks alone.

The four of them were now carefully drawing up a plan to that end. The opening ranged attacks would deal as much damage as possible, and if it got close, Toba-san — the fastest of the group — would take it on.

Normally that would be a heavy load for Toba-san, but if the opening attacks inflicted enough damage, they'd have a real chance. All that's left is for me to go confirm there's no Dungeon Error, and we're good.

"Right — I'll just go check, then."

"You really can check it beforehand, can't you..."

"That's just cheating, man..."

Oops — seems the Hananoi-san and Toba-san couple was looking at me in exasperated disbelief. Well, I'll take it as a compliment.

Sending Hayate in for a look, I found a single Fear Wolf sprawled out in the grassland. I dismissed Hayate once and resummoned it.

"Just one Fear Wolf in there. Shall we?"

"Yes, we're ready. Everyone, all set?"

"Yep!"

"Yes!"

"Leave it to us!"

Leader Hananoi-san gave her instructions quietly, and her four companions answered. I like it — moments like these are where you feel the strength of an explorer party's bonds. Alright, I'm going to get a solid shot of them taking down this boss.

Toba-san opened the door, and they filed in one by one. Unlike the parties before them, no charging in with a roar. They want to strike first with ranged attacks, so they're moving carefully to avoid provoking the boss.

It's interesting how even this shows the difference between parties.

Just as they'd hoped, the Fear Wolf was still lounging in the middle of the grassland. The composure of a stronger being, or just how it's built? These little quirks of dungeons are beyond me.

Toba-san arranged the formation with hand signs. He took the position closest to the boss, with Tsukimori-san and Kazamaki-san at the diagonal rear left and right. Directly behind Toba-san was Hananoi-san's spot.

"Buffs first, then."

Hananoi-san drew flower after flower from her bag. Attack up, durability up — and then she took out a flower different from any before. That was, if I remember right...

"Here we go. Lavender. Its meaning is 'silence.'"

With Hananoi-san's chant, the familiar lavender turned to light and streamed into the Fear Wolf.

The Fear Wolf noticed the magic had touched it and rose to its feet. And then it tried to let loose its panic-inducing roar —

— and nothing came out. The Fear Wolf flailed in confusion. That's the power of Hananoi-san's Flower Diviner. Against a higher-ranked foe it might not have taken, but this time it worked. While the Fear Wolf stood frozen, knives, arrows, and wind magic descended on it. A plan with zero waste.

I captured everyone's moment in the spotlight without missing a thing, and more importantly, the Fear Wolf had taken substantial damage exactly as planned. If it's like this, Toba-san can more than handle it.

Toba-san readied his short sword as the Fear Wolf closed in. Tsukimori-san and Kazamaki-san fell back, ready to strike the instant an opening appeared.

"Hah! Hoh! There!"

Against the hampered Fear Wolf, Toba-san was holding up just fine. So raised levels and stats really do work against monsters.

"Mitaka — now!"

"Got it!"

At Kazamaki-san's signal, Toba-san leapt sideways. In that instant, Kazamaki-san's Wind Edge and Tsukimori-san's arrow were loosed. Magnificent coordination. As expected of C-rank explorers.

Arrow and magic both sank into the Fear Wolf.

"Gyaaaoh!"

The Wind Edge and the arrow dealt the Fear Wolf a fatal wound. Apparently this battle was theirs. So that's how it works — a party of pure ranged attackers becomes a devastating force the moment they land a concentrated strike.

"Great work out there. That was a superb plan."

"Thank you. Having you with us, SS-sama, let us fight with peace of mind."

Faced with that splendid battle, honest words of praise came out of me. This taught me a lot about how to use ranged attacks. The EXP gain was nearly nothing, but it was an educational shoot.

After collecting the drop items, we used the Transfer Stone to return to floor one.

"Well then — I'll see your luggage delivered. And I'll send the video within three days."

"Thank you so much for everything. We'll be waiting eagerly for the video."

"Thank you very much!"

Having parted with the four, I figured, why not — I resummoned Shiden, who'd never gotten its moment, and headed back to floor thirty with Hayate to do some leveling. I was close to hitting level 29, so I thought I'd just grab it.

(Couldn't do a thing earlier, after all. Time to let you cut loose a little.)

Starting with the first Fear Wolf I ran into, after about an hour of killing monsters, my level hit 29.