arc01 · 036-ep36
Episode 36: It's a Boss's Fate, After All
The party that had been fighting when I first arrived at this boss room won their bout soon after and moved on ahead.
I didn't catch much of the fight itself, but they seemed steady the whole way through, not so much as a scratch—veterans, clearly. My best guess is they hunt this boss every week as one of the ways a C-rank party earns its keep. The boss's magic stone sells high, and the treasure chest it leaves behind as a subjugation reward holds a weapon. Store-bought gear outclasses the weapon, so as far as I can tell, it usually just gets sold off. Even so, word has it those two alone are worth 200,000 yen, so coming to hunt it once a week might well be a given.
That once-a-week deal is basically a boss challenge right. Beat a boss once—solo or with a party—and the guild says you can't challenge the same boss again for at least a week. Otherwise people would show up to farm it on repeat and hog it for themselves. And then the arguments would start. It's a rule built to keep exactly that from happening.
The boss itself respawns ten minutes after it goes down.
Which is why the next party is in the room now, standing by.
◇
The next party's fight kicked off.
A four-man party, university students or fresh hires by the look of them.
Two vanguard, two rear guard—the balance looks solid.
One of the vanguard holds a huge shield up and pulls aggro with the 【Taunt】 skill.
A classic tank setup. Textbook, honestly.
The other vanguard circles in behind it and goes at it with a spear, keeping constant eye contact with the tank to stay coordinated.
Only, how do I put it—the attacks are slow, and they don't look like they're doing much damage. What you'd call low DPS.
Their footwork isn't bad, which makes it a shame. All that hesitating means no real power behind the strikes.
Making up for that, one of the rear guard supports them with magic.
Fire magic. No real firepower here either, but the damage on the Goblin Swordsman keeps piling up.
The tank eats damage here and there, and the last member throws potions his way to patch him up. Ah, the supporter. Got it.
How to put it… feels like something straight off a strategy guide on the net.
But, man. Is it their level, or are they just short on firepower across the board? They'll probably manage to bring it down, but the potion bill alone has to sting. Feels like a raw deal…
Getting made to sit through a boss fight that was basically a war of attrition, at that length, wore me out good. Not that it's their fault, mind you…
In the end, thirty minutes after the fight started, it finally wrapped up.
They were over the moon about it, so maybe they were a party aiming for C-rank promotion, same as me. Watching them high-five and laugh it up, I feel a little envious too, honestly. I've decided to go solo, but I wouldn't have minded a taste of how fun fighting as a party could be.
Anyhow—congrats, you guys.
◇
The next party is the one that guy I talked to belongs to.
Five members, most of them looking to be in their thirties. Three men, two women—and nearly all of them seem to be mages.
Rare, that.
The guy who talked to me appears to be the tank—same as the last party, he's up front drawing aggro.
The other four use the opening to slip into its blind side and, on a shouted "Here we go!", unleash their magic in one volley. The tank's holding it firmly in place, so every shot lands. A few seconds of continuous barrage, and the thing turned into motes of light.
Yeah, these guys have it down pat.
It's a method that only works because the boss is a single target, but it's extremely sound.
Still, I do wonder what they do on normal runs. What an interesting bunch.
◇
And now, my turn has come around.
The wait ran long, but no trouble came up, and I'm all set. All that's left is to take it down and head home.
Luckily, there's nobody in line behind me. The crowd just happened to pile up during my stretch, that's all. Bad timing's a thing, huh. Is it my LUK 4 at work? Nah, probably unrelated.
If anyone had been waiting, the plan was to pop a smoke bomb so nobody would see my 【Plunder】—but looks like I won't be needing it.
Oh, right. I'll take it down faster than that last party did. There's my motivation, just a little.
I snug 【Iron Demon】 onto my hands, roll my shoulders around, and bounce lightly in place.
I'd been standing still for over an hour, after all. Gotta loosen the body up.
Just as I'm finishing my warm-up, the Goblin Swordsman finally respawns.
A fate of showing up only to be struck down—part of me feels a touch sorry for the thing, but I'll have it take this as a boss's fate, too.
"Fuh!"
I charge in head-on at high speed, weaving in feints, swaying it left and right. Then I slip right along the Swordsman's flank and around to its back.
Pressing my palm against the Swordsman's back just as it scrambles to turn around————
(Plunder!)
『Successfully plundered the target's weapon』
Yes! First try! A sword materializes in my left hand.
And the instant the Swordsman, with no idea what just happened, whirls around—
—with a fist packed full to the brim with mana————
"Hah!"
THWACK!
The blow tore straight through its stomach, turning the thing to motes of light in one hit.
"Yes! Didn't even take thirty seconds! I wiiin!"
At this point my opponent wasn't so much the Goblin Swordsman as that party from before.
I'd been quietly working on this 【Hakkei】 during my leveling grind, but I never dreamed it had this much power in it.
Yeah, total overkill, just like I figured. Well, it ended without a hitch, so I'll call it good.
When the motes of light settle, what's left behind is a good-sized magic stone and a treasure chest.
Hmm. The thing wasn't even all that strong, yet its magic stone is this big just because it's a boss. Doesn't sit right with me. Well, it's money, so no complaints.
Now then, as for the treasure chest—
"Nwah?"
What came out wasn't a weapon.
Huh? Wasn't this chest supposed to be a guaranteed weapon?
"The heck is this?"
Going by the look of it, some sort of silvery liquid inside a flask.
Mercury? Why, though?
This is… a real pickle.
Some part of me says rare item… but frankly, I don't have the first clue.
Only, if I report it, the mere fact that a chest long treated as a sure thing spat out something different would raise a stink—and the moment anyone starts digging into why, my 【Plunder】 is absolutely getting exposed.
It didn't come out of the chest, but I do have a plundered weapon—so if I sell this sword, can I keep the flask hidden?
And even if that works, there's still the question of what to actually do with the flask.
Oh—maybe Aizawa would know something? Or better yet, maybe she'd just take it off my hands?
If it's some rare material, it'd double as a thank-you gift. Yeah, let's go with that.
Phew. That was a strange kind of tension I just put myself through, but whatever—this seals the C-rank promotion. Time to head back and report to Sakurai-san.
Mini expedition: complete success.