ch381-ch400 · 390-ch390

Chapter 390: Dance Forever and You're Invincible?

"?!"

The silver crocodile—the Armor Crocodile—carries stat corrections on top, making its hide harder than it looks.

But the jumonji spear's head slides in clean, and the side blades bite in deep.

I felt the magic stone shatter—no, get SLICED through—so it fell in a single strike.

This is not a story about me having mastered the 'Mountain Kata.'

It's 'Weapon Enhancement.'

Aikawa's 'Dance' layers two different kinds of 'Weapon Enhancement,' and that's what sharpened the spear.

On the way here, the Armor Crocodiles I faced barely let an unenhanced spear through—so this is quite something.

People's eyes go straight to the nice part of dance skills—dance along and get enhancement buffs at zero MP cost—but this 'Weapon Enhancement' is actually rare in its own right.

Jobs that can 'Weapon Enhance' OTHERS are few.

About the only common one is 【Enchanter】, the enhancement-specialized upper job; I've barely heard of any others.

Soushi's 【Talismaneer】 can't 'Weapon Enhance,' and 【Enchanter】 conversely can't use stat buffs.

A 【Prima Dancer】, who can do both, might actually sit above those two jobs as a buffer, no?

Even the lower-rank 【Dancer】 can do the same, just at lower effect.

Soushi, for his part, is slicing Armor Crocodiles into rings with his own knife enhancement.

Hmm—so one strike even without crushing the stone.

No, no—to be clear, this dungeon's magic stones can't be cashed in even if you carry them home, so this is NOT a case of Soushi outperforming me or anything?

"Okay! Next, where? Ah—wait, one more 'Dance' first! Here we go—【Dance・Let's】!"

One each for me and Soushi, two for Aikawa—and then it's dance time.

Dance again and the 'Dance' buff durations reset, so there's no need to re-cast from scratch.

She only used the 【Dance・Let's】 aimed at us—none of that long recitation.

Taken to the extreme: keep dancing and her own buff durations keep refreshing, so as long as she keeps dancing, the buffs never drop.

Dance the evasion dance forever and you're invincible?

Too bad!

【Avoidance】, like other evasion skills, cuts out once it evades—so during the evasion itself, and during the dance until it triggers—meaning from the moment avoidance fires until one box step's worth of dancing—she is NOT invincible.

"Stay put—I'll go lure one. That one's on you."

I can tell blue crocs are lying in wait just inside the river.

No other croc reactions yet, so I edge toward the river and bait the blues into bursting out.

This is scout-class work, after all.

Once I'm a certain way in, two of them rocket out of the river like missiles.

Three-meter-class crocs hurtling at you jaws agape—genuinely spectacular.

I dodge the first and shoot down the other.

Time flows at its usual speed, but my movements are on par with super mode, so it's comfortable.

The blue Armor Crocodile I knocked from the air was already at death's door—I finish it.

Being the swimmer type, its defense is probably a step below the silver ones'?

I glance back—Aikawa has just dropped the other one.

"Haruki, the boss?"

"Not yet. But it'll come soon, I think."

【Presence Detection】 shows nothing so far.

But I know it's coming.

That's the gimmick.

The Chiba branch's Orc General was the same.

Fell the six vanguard Orc Knights, or climb the hill, and it descends.

The Floor 50 Lich is the same, right?

Beat the copy skeletons and it comes down from above.

Maybe it's a kind of mercy for adventurers with no anti-air options.

By the same logic, as mercy for adventurers with no means of underwater combat, the system should be: fell the six Armor Crocodiles and the great boss, Armor Gustave, appears.

Thinking along those lines—maybe the Floor 40 Manticore has descent conditions of its own.

Don't tell me it's "clear every last one of the 100+ respawning golems"?

It attacked us unconditionally while we were climbing the cliff, so maybe THAT'S the condition?

"If it's not here, 'Dance' time! Hurry over here!"

Do dance skills have a range or something?

Well, if she says come, I'll come.

Sure, becoming a 【Prima Dancer】 doubled the buff durations to two minutes—but factoring in the dancing-along time, having to dance together again for re-casting once past the one-minute mark is rough.

Soushi's 'fujutsu,' being classified as magic, can be cast at range and even through enemies—very handy.

Five-minute durations are nice and long, too.

Each has its strengths and weaknesses—maybe neither is simply better......

No, wait—what does "classified as magic" even mean?

What separates magic from ordinary skills?

Whether potency is determined by referencing the Magic stat, maybe?

Isn't 'fujutsu' fixed-effect?

There are physical attack skills that stack a portion of Magic on top, too—so are those magic?

No idea......

"Ah—here it comes. One big one, then lagging behind, four about the same size as before."

Dance finished, and while I was mulling all that over, red reactions come heading our way.

"The boss is MINE! The rest is on you!"

Aikawa does love charging to the front.

On the way here, she took down most of the kills too.

Well, in our party monsters basically get fought over, so unless you eagerly advertise "mine!" you never get a turn—that's a good thing.

Up to Floor 30, it was the reverse—Soushi at the front, Aikawa behind.

Becoming a 【Talismaneer】 with its modest stats at Floor 30, Soushi stopped pushing forward much.

Back then and now, what he does is backing Aikawa up—so in substance, nothing's changed......

"It's speeding up—it's about to burst out!"

It's a boss, sure, but this is Floor 20—no real danger, I figure.

We could leave this to Aikawa and...... whoa, it's HUGE!

"Eep!"

The golden giant croc bursts out in a spray of water.

Aikawa, up front, startles at the sheer bulk and leaps back with a yelp.

The moment it lands, a quake-like shudder rolls through the ground.

So THIS is Armor Gustave.

Just like the intel said—double an Armor Crocodile, a solid six meters.

Its surface hide is gold—or rather, a faintly yellow-tinged metallic color.

Jaws agape in threat display—absolutely staggering.

The open mouth rears higher than we are tall.

Big enough to swallow a person whole.

Oh, and the remaining four are coming up onto land, too.

Purple—magic type.

The 'Water Magic'-using kind.

"Watch out for the magic."

Gustave should cast as well, so I give the warning and head that way.

Soushi and I lock eyes; I nod.

He'll stay on backup for Aikawa's side, then.

This side's mine.

Well, Aikawa can punch out a Manticore, so she'll be fine—this is just in case.

'Gyuru-gyura-gyuru.'

The purple crocs chant in unison.

They've come onto land, but they haven't left the river.

Because these guys cast 'Water Magic' drawn from the river itself.

Almost no destructive force—the magic just uses the water's mass and weight to break your footing.

Trip you, then CHOMP—that's their game.

All four at once is a bridge too far, but I'll dive in and drop one before the chant finishes......

(Ah...... that thrust just now......)

It came out feeling really, really good.

But the result is terrible.

The jumonji spear, its edge enhanced past all reason by 'Weapon Enhancement,' cleaves the purple croc clean in two.

It had raised its blade-like snout as a shield, so, sideways......

The purple croc's snout splits into four, and the spear bursts out of its torso midway—sliced through without a whisper of resistance.

No—that just now......

With the violence of raw stats piled on top, I honestly can't tell whether the 'Mountain Kata' even succeeded......