arc1 · 013-ch13

Episode 13: Clay Pot Turtle

"Alright, let's finish this up quick."

"Leave it to me. Instant kill."

In the distance, two Kettle Raccoons and one Clay Pot Turtle were visible. For their final opponents today, they chose to fight multiple enemies including a Clay Pot Turtle.

Kettle Raccoon: Level 3

Kettle Raccoon: Level 2

Clay Pot Turtle: Level 6

With two people exploring together, the monsters' attacks were divided, making it much easier to fight. As a result, the monsters they could fight had increased from just Kettle Raccoons to Clay Pot Turtles as well.

Kettle Raccoons are round raccoons with their torso parts shaped like teapots. About the size of a Shiba Inu, perhaps. Like Drunken Sheep, their main attack is charging, but they also have fangs and use biting attacks. However, since they're not that fast, you can defeat them more easily than Drunken Sheep if you handle them calmly.

They had avoided fighting Kettle Raccoons because they occasionally transform into Clay Pot Turtles, but now that they've reached a level where they can fight Clay Pot Turtles, they can finally fight Kettle Raccoons.

Clay Pot Turtles are turtles with clay pots as shells. They're larger than Kettle Raccoons, with shell heights reaching up to Suzuka's waist—large turtles. Perhaps about twice the size of a giant tortoise.

Being turtles, their movements are slow, but they use water magic. They create water orbs and launch them, and the power is comparable to Drunken Sheep charges—nothing to scoff at. They can't rapid-fire to create a barrage with water magic, but they always keep 2-3 water orbs floating around them and attack with considerable frequency. Even if you manage to dodge the water orbs and approach, they'll swing their long necks for reckless attacks, or bite you if you flinch—truly troublesome opponents.

The strategy Suzuka and the others came up with for such opponents was extremely simple: Yasu draws the Clay Pot Turtle's aggro, and while that's happening, Suzuka defeats the Kettle Raccoons.

Suzuka's level went up by one to 4. Yasu went up to level 3. Since both of them had high stat increases of 9 or 10, they judged that they could defeat even the Clay Pot Turtle, which was a higher level than them, without problems.

It seemed like Suzuka, with his higher level, would be better at drawing the Clay Pot Turtle's aggro, but Clay Pot Turtles only use water magic from a distance, and if you focus on dodging, that water magic isn't an unavoidable attack. Rather, they judged that spending time on Kettle Raccoons would put them at a disadvantage, hence this strategy.

When the two approached a certain distance, it wasn't the Kettle Raccoons that moved first—it was the Clay Pot Turtle. It lifted its long neck and glared at them, small water droplets gathering around it to form water orbs.

"Let's go!!"

The two started running, closing the distance to the monsters. The Kettle Raccoons also reacted to the two and started running. Confirming this, Yasu slightly slowed his speed and deployed to the side. This way, the Kettle Raccoons' aggro went to the突出的 Suzuka, but the Clay Pot Turtle, wary of the deployed Yasu, shot the water orbs it created toward Yasu.

Confirming at the edge of his vision that Yasu had handled it well, Suzuka focused on the approaching Kettle Raccoons and tightly gripped his metal bat.

"ORA!!!"

With a sudden stop, a full swing. The first Kettle Raccoon flew to the side and vanished as smoke.

From the completely defenseless side after the full swing, the other Kettle Raccoon jumped in. But for Suzuka, that could no longer be called an opening. Since acquiring the Swordsmanship skill, his bat handling had improved dramatically. He could easily swing in the opposite direction using the momentum of the swing.

With a CLANG sound of metal against metal, the Kettle Raccoon was smashed into the ground and rolled away. However, perhaps due to attacking from an unfamiliar posture, not enough power got behind it, and it didn't turn to smoke.

Suzuka also grasped from the feedback that he hadn't defeated it, so he immediately readjusted his posture to go for the finishing blow. Though the Kettle Raccoon didn't turn to smoke, it looked critically injured and was flailing its limbs trying to stand up somehow. Chanting "Namu" in his heart, he struck it with his bat while running past, turning it to smoke.

"It's over!!"

"That was fast! Then we'll press the attack!!"

As declared, they were able to defeat the Kettle Raccoons without spending much time. Thanks to that, Yasu didn't take any hits from the Clay Pot Turtle's attacks, only having to dodge two water orbs.

With Suzuka joining in, the aim of the water magic was divided. The two closed the distance without letting their guard down.

Once their mutual distance was less than 10m, the water magic's speed couldn't be taken lightly either. However, at this distance, if you can dodge once, it's close enough to close the gap in one breath.

Just as the floating water orbs started moving, Suzuka also moved forward. The water orbs pressing close before his eyes. However, by leaning his posture forward, Suzuka performed the action of closing in at the same time as dodging.

Once he got past the water orbs making a dull BOOM sound, the Clay Pot Turtle was within Suzuka's attack range.

"Take this!!"

He swung the metal bat aiming for the Clay Pot Turtle's long neck, but the neck moved nimbly and dodged the attack. As if returning the favor, it launched a reckless attack swinging its neck around, but Suzuka deflected it with his bat.

"This thing is damn hard!!"

Yas was pounding on the clay pot shell with CLANG CLANG sounds, but it wasn't cracking or even chipping. Even with level 3, Yas's attack power should have stat that can connect, but the Clay Pot Turtle's shell must be just that hard.

"Don't panic, Yas! Forget the shell! The legs! The legs! I'll draw attention to its face, so you attack the legs!"

"Got it!!"

Using the metal bat, he skillfully parried the neck that attacked whipping like a whip. Occasionally it would do biting attacks aiming to steal the metal bat, but he avoided them by hitting the side of the neck instead of fighting head-on.

Several rounds of attack and defense. The Clay Pot Turtle's attacks were heavy, and Suzuka's hands were numb after just taking a few hits. Even though his level was inferior, his stats should be evenly matched, but with Swordsmanship (1), his technique was probably still insufficient.

Perhaps Suzuka's thought of "Hurry up!" got through, as the Clay Pot Turtle wobbled and its posture tilted.

"Nice! Crushed one leg!!"

As Yas reported, Suzuka raised his bat.

He wouldn't miss the opening the Clay Pot Turtle showed. His target was the neck. It looked muscular and hard, but that didn't matter. He just needed to put enough power into it to penetrate the Clay Pot Turtle's defense.

Gripping the bat strongly, strongly, he swung the bat down toward the Clay Pot Turtle's neck with all his might.

DON.

With the dull impact sound, a certain feedback returned to Suzuka's hand. He broke it. Definitely. Defeated it.

"Phew."

He thought he had some leeway stat-wise, but it was tough. Suzuka was carelessly reflecting on the battle without any defenses, but he was blown away by something that flew in from the side.

"Whoa!?"

Turning around wondering what happened, Yas seemed to have tackled him from the side. The momentum was strong, so both of them rolled away as they were blown flying. Immediately after, a sound like a bucket being overturned was heard, SPLASH.

Hurriedly getting up from his posture rolling like tangled threads, the place where Suzuka had been until just now was dented and dripping with water. Sliding his gaze as was to look at the Clay Pot Turtle, it lifted its neck bent in a "く" shape and glared at Suzuka, but that neck slowly lowered as well and changed form into smoke.

"That was dangerous, Suzuka. It wasn't dead yet."

"Close call. Sorry, sorry. Saved me. Thanks."

"That's called zanshin. Zanshin. Don't let your guard down."

Yas stood up patting dust off himself. He thought he had given the Clay Pot Turtle a fatal wound, but it seems it was a fatal wound but not instant death. The thing had tried to attack Suzuka with water magic at the very end. It was on a direct hit course to the top of his head, so it would have been dangerous if he had taken it while defenseless.

"Still, the dungeon's blessing is amazing. I didn't think I'd be able to tackle with that kind of power."

"It hurt like hell. The tackle's momentum was so strong I thought I was gonna die there too."

Since it was a surprise tackle, his semicircular canals were shaken and he was still tottering.

"Anyway, did your level go up? I hit level 4 just now!"

"I feel like my level went up too. Let me check."

When Suzuka willed his status, a transparent window was displayed.

Name: Suzuka Jozenji

Level: 5

Vitality: 43

Magic: 41

Attack: 47

Defense: 40

Agility: 48

Dexterity: 45

Intelligence: 42

Storage: 18

Ability: Swordsmanship (1)

"My level went up too. I'm 5. All my stats are over 40."

"You've grown a ton. I'm level 4 with an average of around 30. Even so, I'm pretty strong. Aren't you stronger than my brother now?"

It seems Yas's stat growth is also good, and his stats are higher than his brother who graduated from a training facility.

"Why do people go to training facilities anyway? Leveling up yourself makes your stats go up more and it doesn't cost money, so isn't it better?"

"That's so like you, metal bat guy."

Yas shook his head as if exasperated.

"First off, a lot of people hesitate at the act of defeating monsters. Since you were watching, I put up with it, but honestly, the Drunken Sheep I defeated this morning was pretty tough too. My legs were shaking lol"

"Really? I didn't know that."

He didn't know. Since Yas was setting digging traps and lightly defeating Drunken Sheep, he hadn't noticed. Come to think of it, he had said he wanted to avoid consecutive battles and watch Suzuka fight, so maybe he was actually taking breaks too.

Thinking back, Suzuka also had anxiety about whether he could attack monsters at first. But once the battle started, it wasn't something he could worry about, so he was able to attack. If they were harmless sheep in some nearby pasture, he probably would have hesitated to swing the bat down.

Even in this world with dungeons, if you live normally, you live far from the death of living creatures. Many people would hesitate to put a knife to a fish, let alone wring a chicken's neck. Such humans enter dungeons and go around killing living creatures.... Hmm, certainly the hurdle is high. Maybe entering the dungeon without thinking too deeply about it was the right move. If I had thought about various things, maybe I never would have gone for a lifetime.

"Besides, we could defeat Drunken Sheep solo too, but if you didn't have athletic ability, that would be impossible too, right?"

"True. But then, wouldn't it be fine if the training facility instructors held them down with shields?"

"If that's the case, it seems the stats you get are the same as when you defeat them with guns. They say excessive assistance affects stat growth. In that case, using guns from the start is easier and better, right?"

Since Yas was originally planning to go to a training facility, he was quite knowledgeable. In the past, there were training facilities that used swords to improve stat growth, but due to restrictions on assistance, many accidents occurred where people suffered serious injuries.

If you're going into dungeons to become an explorer like at Explorer High School, getting injured is fine as your own responsibility. But if someone who is paying money to enter dungeons to raise their stats suffers a serious injury, that's not socially acceptable.

If accidents like bungee jump cords breaking nationwide were happening, who would use bungee jumping? It's the same—the number of training facility users dropped sharply.

However, as a country, they wanted citizens to level up at training facilities. If levels go up, stats are strengthened, and the physical ability of citizens is raised from the bottom. That meant that in times of emergency, the number of people who could move would increase. Not only that, if levels go up, illnesses and injuries also decrease, reducing the burden of medical expenses.

People pay for this leveling up with all its good benefits out of their own pockets to attend training facilities. From the country's perspective, you can understand that training facilities are businesses they don't want to see decline.

So, the Explorer Association, which received consultation from the country, created guidelines for the current gun-based leveling method. For the purpose of safer and more certain leveling up.

Those who are fine with minimal stat increases go to training facilities, and those who desire better stats enter dungeons of their own volition—this became the common sense of recent times after the era passed.

"Sigh, I'm learning a lot."

"If you're aiming to be an explorer, you really should study. For now, check out Mr. Milimani."

While ignoring Yas's missionary activities, same as in the morning, Suzuka thought he would seriously research dungeons as well.