ch141-ch160 · 141-ch141

Chapter 141: Aiming for Floor 40

"That one doesn't count!? That's a loss by foul, Kasumi-san!"

I'd felled fifty, and just as I was squaring off with the fifty-first, a naginata came flying in and shattered the Forest Ogre's magic stone.

We're supposed to be killing Forest Ogres to collect their magic stones—crushing them is against the spirit of things...

"Hmph. Even with the foul disallowed, that is a tie. No—with the Ogre King's share, I should have won."

Ogre King and Forest Ogres together: 101.

Excluding the last one, I had fifty—so Kasumi-san had felled fifty as well.

Being a sore loser is one thing, but going THIS far...

"Crushing a magic stone is a point deduction. That makes it my win."

"Mmm-mmm-mmm. Then let us call it a tie and go once more. This time, please take the Ogre King, Haruki-san."

Seriously? You can't just rotate the Ogre King in like first player and second player...

"We've got a schedule, so no. Let's collect the magic stones and head to Floor 31. That makes it one win, three losses for me. You've got plenty of match left to start winning again, Kasumi-san—right?"

"Mmm-mmm-mmm-mmm. Very well, then."

Somehow, that appears to be my first win.

Collect the magic stones, and on to Floor 31.

"That was a magnificent throw, though."

Punching through a Forest Ogre's hard hide to shatter the magic stone—quite the feat.

"I leveled up just now, and with the point I learned 【Aiming】. I surprised myself with how well it carried onto a thrown spear. And reaching all the way to the magic stone means my weapon enhancement carried over properly too."

"Ufufu," she says—wait, you AIMED for the magic stone!?

(And learning a skill mid-combat, no less... talk about dexterous.)

She leveled up, so she should be Level 33 now.

Her status should look something like this:

Name: Watanabe Kasumi

Job: 【Spear King】【Naginata User】【Long Spearman】

Lv: 33

HP: 2046

MP: 660

Strength: 155

Endurance: 132

Agility: 108

Magic: 66

I don't know her full skill list, but she should at least have 【Slash】【Deflection】【Counter】...

Then 【Weapon Enhancement・Spear・High】【Weapon Enhancement・Spear】【Weapon Enhancement・Naginata】【Spear Mastery】—that's about all I know of.

The reason she'd never learned 【Aiming】 is that she has 【Spear Mastery】.

【Spear Mastery】 is, as the name suggests, a skill for handling any spear freely, no matter how long.

If you can send a spear exactly where you intend, there's no need for 【Aiming】—so spear jobs generally learn one or the other.

"Hm? Your skill points were at 0, though?"

【Aiming】 should cost two points.

"Yes. Both 【Spear King】 and 【Long Spearman】 can learn it, so it cost me half—one point. 【Spear King】 can learn nearly every spear attack skill. I was worried because 【Homing】 wasn't among them, but 【Aiming】 carried onto the thrown spear, so I'm relieved. Next I'll save up two points and try taking 【Javelin】."

When two different jobs can learn the same skill, its cost is halved.

One of the perks of taking jobs in the same weapon family.

【Homing】 is originally a bow-family skill, so 【Spear King】 presumably doesn't get it.

Jobs like 【Javelineer】 and 【Axe Thrower】 learn it as exceptions.

【Charge・Spear】 probably can't be learned either, I'd guess.

【Javelin】 should be the skill that raises thrown-spear power and throwing distance.

That one's the 【Javelineer】's signature skill too, but apparently 【Spear King】 can learn it as well.

Incidentally, attack skills learned at lower-rank jobs generally perform better—or rather, handle better.

High-rank attack skills, on the other hand, hit hard but drink MP, and plenty of them behave oddly.

【Iron Cutter】 is a fine example.

A skill that makes only iron and metal cut nicely; meat, cloth, and wooden things get absolutely nothing out of it.

Since attack power climbs with the user's proficiency, word has it that in the end, the basics learned at low-rank jobs become the strongest...

Magic-type skills turn MP spent straight into power, so the higher-rank versions get you bigger effects.

Buff-type enhancement skills stack, so learning every one you can is best... Different rules for everything, really.

Widen your enhancement skills across different-weapon jobs, or slash your skill-point costs within one family—plenty of people agonize over that choice...

"【Javelin】... so this is skill-picking with Floor 40 in view..."

The Floor 40 boss area calls for anti-air in every dungeon.

The boss is a flying monster.

Some dungeons do have flightless-bird bosses, but none of those are open to the public in Japan.

We're talking dangerous chickens called cockatrices, or giant-penguin underwater zones.

Right now, only 47 dungeons are open to civilians—each with a prefecture bearing administrative responsibility.

The dungeons where the SDF took heavy casualties? No prefecture would have them.

"Yes. From here on, I intend to practice thrown spears. Fufufu. I was the one doing the stopping all this time—'challenging Floor 40 is sheer madness'—and now look at me. With you beside me, Haruki-san, I feel as if I could do anything."

Now THIS is a good vibe, no? A dungeon date?

"Just a little—truly just a little—I think I understand now how the people who challenged Floor 40 felt..."

And just as the mood was getting good, it turned all somber...

︙

︙

"Haruki-san, that rock over there appears to be a golem."

"Eh? It really is—a slightly different color from its surroundings. 【Presence Detection】 truly doesn't react to it one bit."

We've transferred to Floor 31.

The aim on this floor is to hunt golems, but 【Presence Detection】 refuses to react to the golem right in front of us.

The word is, golems use a skill called 【Mimicry】.

Right now it's crouched down, hiding against the ground—but apparently the moment it stands, 【Presence Detection】 picks it up.

Get close and it rises at your feet; walk past and it jumps you from behind...

"And what about 【Scouting】?"

"Oh, right—【Scouting】. ........."

Same height, yet the legs are completely different lengths...

A shame about the full-body armor... wait, no, that's not what matters here.

"You can make out the shapes of the arms and legs. There are faint gaps between it and the ground, too. There's one more over there. Do be careful."

Golems are humanoid; they stand up and walk on two legs.

About two meters tall—closer to an orc's build than a human's, I'd say.

"I see—so the circulating intel on the skills is accurate. Still, we can't run 【Scouting】 constantly, so the better play is advancing while avoiding suspicious rocks and bulges in the ground, then..."

The ones visible now are probably Sand Golems.

The weakest of the lot.

Sand, Mud, Stone, in ascending order—and through Stone Golem, hard to spot but beatable the normal way.

Metal golems, on the other hand: aluminum, copper, iron, red... red's lead, isn't it?

Those are bad news.

Being metal, even under 【Mimicry】 something looks off about them, so they're apparently spotted fast—but metal means insanely hard, and heavy.

(In my case, it'll probably take 【Charge・Spear】 to crack them?)

Deeper still, silver, gold, and platinum ones show up—rarely, but they do.

A money tree!

No—a money-growing dungeon!

Word is the ones called Rock Golems sometimes have raw gemstones inside.

On the HQ dungeon's 30s floors, the top adventurers are—or so they say—living and dying by the golem gacha...