ch1-ch20 · 019-ch19

Chapter 19: Mock Battle

Soushi got mad at me for forgetting to ask the dark-skinned gyaru's name.

I was talking about her so much that the other gyaru in our class started giving me weird looks.

So there I was, after school.

"What's this?"

A. These are hobgoblin magic stones.

Second time in one day.

After all that hunting, I had eighty magic stones total—goblin and hobgoblin combined.

"That'll be 28,400 yen. ...Are you actually going to school?"

Watanabe-san's giving me the most dead-eyed look.

"Of course. I just came straight here after class today."

"...School isn't a place for sleeping, you know."

She seems to suspect I've been staying in the dungeon all night.

Time to change the subject.

"By the way, Watanabe-san, can you beat a Minotaur solo?"

"...Very well. Wait just a moment."

With that, Watanabe-san headed into the back.

I wondered what she was doing, and when she returned, she was holding... a mop.

"Step back and take a stance."

The Association building is spacious.

Probably designed that way to make it easier to haul cargo up from the surface.

There's the Dungeon Gate in the back, and nearly ten meters of open space stretches from there to the counter near the surface entrance.

I did as she said and took a stance. Watanabe-san raised the mop as well.

Ah yeah, this is definitely a fight.

The female staff member at the other counter was watching us with a look of amusement.

"Come at me."

I know Watanabe-san's strong. She's an Adventurer's Association employee. At minimum, she's Single-Rank. Her level's probably high too. She's way above me.

The mop head has a cover on it, but I still held my spear reversed, offering the stone-tipped end.

The mop isn't longer than my spear. I'll use my reach advantage.

I stepped in with a horizontal sweep.

Attacking the back side where she couldn't dodge while in a half-turned stance.

Clack—blocked effortlessly.

Before I knew it, Watanabe-san had swapped positions with the mop and reversed her grip, catching my sweep with the mop held vertically.

And by the time I realized what was happening, the mop handle was pressed against my neck.

"Continue."

I tried attacking and thrusting several more times, but the result was the same.

Everything was blocked, and she'd stop just short each time.

"I have a good grasp of your level now. Alright, strike down from above."

Since she'd said it herself, I figured she'd definitely block it and swung my spear down toward her head.

The moment I thought she'd dodged by stepping back with a whoosh, the mop came down from above and stopped at my neck again.

"Let the Minotaur attack first. Lure it into swinging, then strike the opening. Even at your current level, you should be able to win that way."

"I see."

Same as that video with the five girls fighting the Minotaur.

Act as bait, dodge the attack, and strike the opening.

Just doing it solo.

"However, do not go at night. And rest before entering the boss floor. There are bow-wielding hobgoblins on Floor 9. Even when resting with your back to a tree, stay alert to your surroundings. ...Make sure to raise your level properly before going to Floor 9. Specifically, level 9 or higher. With that much, even if an arrow hits you, it shouldn't be fatal."

With that, Watanabe-san returned to her counter.

"I'm heading out."

When I called out to her retreating figure, she turned around.

"No going at night!"

The other female staff member had been grinning the entire time.

⁂

I was already level 9, actually.

So with that said, let's head to Floor 9.

"[Gate]."

From my usual spot behind a tree on Floor 2, I used the Right Gate to reach Floor 8.

The Gate to Floor 9 was visible from there.

"Announcing my Floor 9 strategy."

Between watching all those dungeon videos yesterday, I ended up sounding like a streamer.

No camera's rolling.

Not that I even have one.

My phone's in an Association rental locker too.

"From here on out, I'll move carefully while hiding behind trees, identify monster types when I spot them, and decide the order to take them down."

Since I'm here anyway, let's go full streamer mode.

"To be specific about priority: bow-wielding hobgoblins are top priority, and spear-wielding hobgoblins go last. Anything else, I'll target whichever side looks easier to hit."

From this floor on, monsters move in groups of five.

If the bow-wielding hobgoblin's in the middle, things might get chaotic, but I'll ambush it first and run away skillfully.

"What if there are two or more bow-wielders? Tough question. ...Crap, what do I do?"

Ambush from cover and immediately hide again.

Position enemies in my line of fire and use them as walls.

Trust in my level 9 endurance.

Around there, I guess.

The bow and arrows that hobgoblins carry are wooden with no arrowheads.

The arrows apparently look like sharpened wooden branches.

As long as they don't hit my eyes, I should be fine.

My ambush strategy worked well, and after taking down several groups of monsters, I found the Gate to Floor 10.

"It's still bright out. Since it's not night yet, I'm safe, right?"

June 3rd, 5 PM.

The sun's nowhere near setting.

Brightness-wise, it's still basically afternoon.

Time to test using [Gate] on the boss floor, which was my original goal.