Chapter-08 · EP-121
Episode 121: Iori Was Strong Today, Too
Since Iori also wanted to fight, we looked for the next monster as we walked. Heading toward the rustling sounds, we found a Giant Spider slowly crawling down a tree trunk.
"A Giant Spider…"
In my experience, Giant Spiders were tougher than Caterpillars. Their eight legs moved in complex ways, and you had to be careful of their web-spitting and poison. And above all, its terrifying appearance was probably the most frightening on this floor.
But when I looked back at Iori, she had her hand on her katana, looking raring to go.
"Iori, Giant Spiders are stronger than Caterpillars. Fight carefully. If the web it spits from its mouth tangles you, it'll restrict your movement, and if it bites you in that state, the poison will spread. If the poison spreads, your body will go numb and it'll be hard to move. If you get bitten, I'll jump in to help right away…"
"Just avoid the webs, then."
"Ah, yeah. If you get tangled, you should cut it off with fire or a sharp blade."
"Cut it off, huh. That's easy enough."
Iori looked confident. Was it okay to leave this to her?
But this was Iori's first time fighting a monster on the fourth floor.
Yuno and Maika had attacked from a distance, so I wasn't worried about being able to help if something went wrong, but Iori would be fighting in close combat with her katana. If something happened to her, she could get hurt.
"Professor, please watch Yuno and Maika."
"Understood."
"Iori, let's go together."
"Yeah."
The two of us walked toward the Giant Spider.
Noticing us approaching, the Giant Spider immediately spat web from its mouth at Iori.
But Iori cut the web to pieces at an imperceptible speed.
The Giant Spider, having spat its web, allowed Iori to close in before it could comprehend what was happening.
And before it could make its next move, Iori's katana flashed. The Giant Spider's head was sliced in two, and it vanished into particles of light.
Iori moved so fast that I could do no more than follow her with my eyes.
Even though it was a fourth-floor monster, in Iori's hands, it was defeated in a single blow.
"Thanks to your advice, Shirou, I defeated it easily."
"No, no, no, no… That was so easy my advice didn't even matter, right?"
From behind, I could hear Yuno and Maika applauding.
When we returned to the three, Professor Kushinada was looking at Iori with surprise.
"Takigawa-san, your Explorer Level is only 3, isn't it?"
"Yes."
Iori answered calmly.
"Unbelievable. Normally, it's recommended to reach Explorer Level 4 on the third floor before challenging this, yet you handled it with ease at Explorer Level 3…"
"That's right! Iori is strong!"
For some reason, Yuno answered with a smug look.
"So are the rest of you. I didn't feel any sense of crisis in that battle either. Normally, you'd need to be Explorer Level 4 and attack many times as a party to finally defeat one."
Professor Kushinada seemed amazed at the strength of Yuno's party.
Indeed, from my perspective too, these three were amazing. The party balance was good, and their attack power was high.
In the end, dungeon exploration is all about avoiding taking damage and having high attack power.
That allows you to fight on deeper floors and level up faster.
Iori was already a master of swordsmanship, and using a real katana with high attack power gave her overwhelmingly high attack power for her level.
Maika's modified water ball also increased her magical attack power, and with her naturally large mana pool, she could use magic freely.
Yuno's archery didn't have as much attack power, but she was originally the healer. Even though the party had hardly been injured so far, Yuno could use Healing Magic about 20 times a day.
Probably, this was the strongest first-year party in the academy.
As long as they were careful about poison, these three should be able to handle the fourth floor easily from now on.
After that, we continued fighting various monsters on the fourth floor to practice Yuno's archery.
Whether insect-type monsters lacked a sense of pain or not, they would keep coming toward us even with arrows stuck in them, but before they could get close, Maika's Compressed Water Ball would explode, and even if they did manage to get close, Iori would cut them down.
Since I was also in the party, defeating about 40 monsters would probably raise the three to Explorer Level 4. Even if not today, if they continued fighting like this, they would level up soon.
As I was thinking that, Iori muttered.
"It might be time to challenge the floor boss."
Wasn't that a little early? I instinctively looked at Professor Kushinada, our chaperone.
She looked at me and muttered.
"I think it would be okay…"
I also replied.
"I suppose so…"
As we advanced deeper into the fourth floor, we came to a space surrounded by especially large trees.
In the center, unlike other rooms, a "door" woven from giant vines stood in the way.
"…This is the floor boss room."
Iori lightly gripped her katana and started to step forward, but stopped.
"The door is closed. There are sounds of fighting inside."
Professor Kushinada observed quietly.
It was a common occurrence at the Shinjuku Dungeon. We had passed many parties even before reaching here.
Unlike the Okutama Dungeon I had challenged, many parties were exploring.
"Well, let's wait until they're done."
Right after that –
BANG!
The vine door burst open, and a trio of explorers came tumbling out.
"Ah, aaaah…!"
"Hayato, can you walk?"
"My leg… poison, it's poison…!"
One of them had a leg swollen purple, another's shoulder was bleeding, apparently bitten. The third was desperately fleeing, half-dragging his companions.
They had failed to defeat the fourth-floor boss.