The plains stretched out before them.
With a clear field of vision, the grassland submerged their shoes and seemed to extend boundlessly. In reality, it had limits, spanning roughly ten hectares, though this particular area was draped in massive, jagged spiderwebs.
“I didn’t know the Third Floor had a place like this,” Siloque remarked.
The Magic Ape lowered its palm slightly, allowing Inafa to stand upon it. She rested her hands on her hips, gazing out across the plains.
“It’s a location near the edge of the Third Floor. You don’t usually come this far out, do you, Inafa?”
“Keke, who in their right mind would come to such an open place? It’s perfect for an ambush, and the scenery is eyesore.”
She immediately thought of combat… though she had a point.
The plains were situated in a low-lying area, surrounded by hills and Great Trees. Standing on the high ground, an enemy could easily flank them as long as their long-range weapons had enough reach.
“We’re just here to grind monsters. The Forest isn’t far behind us, and the withered trees are large enough to serve as cover. Besides, with Inafa protecting us, we feel perfectly safe.”
Inafa flashed a sinister smile. “Keke, I only said I wouldn’t let you die in the wild. I never said you wouldn’t get hurt. If you end up paralyzed or accidentally die of heavy wounds, it’ll make it much easier for me to use ‘Heart-Capturing Blood’ to turn you into my Slaves.”
It sounded like Inafa didn’t intend to help them hunt monsters.
That was fine.
Just saving the travel time and ensuring their safety along the way was enough for Siloque to be grateful.
“That’s enough. Be gentle with my body. If Hill and I both die, save Hill first.”
“Hey, hey… you stupid human, I was joking. Don’t agree so seriously…” Inafa began to stammer, her voice trailing off.
“Brother.”
Hill’s grip on Siloque’s shoulder was firm and powerful.
“Brother. I, I knew it was a joke all along, keke.”
The younger sister gave a sunshine-bright smile, yet Siloque inexplicably felt a piercingly cold wind gust behind him.
“Alright, alright, don’t be in such a rush. Like we discussed, let me demonstrate first — “
At that moment, the siblings and the Vampire heard a sharp *crack*.
The pair paused. As experienced Dungeoneers, they didn’t need to think about what that sound was; they immediately sensed where that ominous fracturing noise originated.
A Monster was about to be born from the Dungeon.
“Keke… I’ve seen this fellow in books. Aside from being disgusting to look at, there’s nothing special about it.”
“Brother, it’s just been born. Can I go up and hit it?”
“No need. This is a perfect warm-up to get my blood flowing.”
The Vampire and the siblings reacted differently. Facing forward, the Dungeon walls cracked and shattered.
Siloque drew his Greatsword, performed a quick stretch, and then completely shifted his consciousness into combat mode before leaping forward in a burst of speed.
Aside from warming up, he wanted to test his current strength. He sprinted across the plain toward the two newly spawned monsters.
*Hoooeeee!*
The new monsters let out a screeching roar and charged.
Their builds were roughly the same size as Siloque. They stood on two short legs, their forelimbs tipped with sturdy claws. Their backs were armored, covered in several plates of carapace. Scaly skin extended up to their heads, which sported eight compound eyes, making them look as if they were wearing helmets.
The head was essentially a brown spider the size of a soccer ball, its eight legs covered in gray bristles that twitched rhythmically. It was a biologically repulsive sight.
While they possessed hard shells and could shoot silk to hinder an opponent’s movement, their bellies and chests were soft and vulnerable since they weren’t protected by the carapace. Siloque analyzed their traits.
Compared to the Earth-eating Ants, which were encased in hard shells, these creatures’ weaknesses were much easier to target… however, the hardness of the carapace itself far surpassed that of those giant ants. Their defensive capabilities were unmatched by any other monster from the First Floor to the Third Floor. In other words, they possessed the sturdiest defense encountered so far.
More than the shell, the silk fired by that spider-head was the real nuisance.
The silk would stick to the surrounding withered trees for dozens of seconds. If one stayed in a single spot to fight, the available space for evasion would rapidly dwindle.
However, he just had to ensure they didn’t get a chance to fire.
Their bodies trembling, the two monsters known as “Spider-head Armored Beasts” charged directly at Siloque in a straight line.
Siloque utilized his powerful leg strength to accelerate violently.
One Armored Beast curled its body into a ball, using a rolling motion to bash its way forward.
The shell on its back served as both a sturdy Shield and a Weapon. The high-speed rotation of the enemy’s body carried enough momentum to scatter an entire party of Explorers. Meeting it with brute force was impossible, and it wasn’t something he should be doing as a “Priest.”
The giant bullet closed the distance in the blink of an eye. At the critical moment, Siloque dodged the bash that would have surely been fatal.
He would strike the enemy behind it first.
Siloque pointed his toes toward the second Armored Beast, which hadn’t yet curled up and was tilting its head back to spit silk.
“Hoooeeee — ?!”
Seeing Siloque already in front of it, the Armored Beast raised its sharp claws and spat a white, adhesive web.
Just as the distance closed to point-blank range, Siloque performed a massive leap to the side, evading the claws and the web.
Right in front of the monster’s eyes and nose, Siloque carved a trajectory that was almost a perfect right angle.
Siloque took the opportunity to enter the opponent’s blind spot — specifically, its diagonal rear.
He allowed the reactionary force of his emergency brake to build up in his knees, then launched his entire body into the enemy’s embrace, swinging his Greatsword upward with both hands.
The sweeping slash tore through the Armored Beast’s soft left flank all the way to the spider-head, cutting it open as easily as peeling a Banana.
‘This works. I can cut through.’
It wasn’t that the enemy was slow. It was that the opponent couldn’t react to the movements before its eyes. Whether it was the attack, the speed, or the reaction time, he was different from before.
This was the result of the Upgrade. This was the power of his Stats.
Seeing his attack carve through the enemy’s body, Siloque tightened his grip on the hilt.
“Hoooeee-yak-yak!!”
The remaining Armored Beast curled into a ball again and charged Siloque.
Maintaining his crouching posture, Siloque spun his body, pressing his right arm into the grass and digging his fingers into the soil.
[Alchemy]
As the ground rose to form an upward-slanting mud slide, the Armored Beast sped up the ramp and was launched into the air in a parabolic arc.
Siloque constructed another raised step, kicked off it with all his might, and swung the sword in his hand —
” — Eeee??”
Perhaps because the hang time was too long, or perhaps because it had rolled for so long without hitting anything, the spinning Armored Beast began to unfurl its curled body mid-air.
Its red compound eyes caught sight of the human with long black hair in the sky. Silk began to brew in its cylindrical mouthparts, surrounded by venomous fangs —
The blade slashed horizontally from the left, cutting across the Armored Beast’s rounded belly. The moment the sword left the body, Siloque reversed his wrist and unleashed a slash from right to left.
Its vulnerable belly now bore two extremely deep wounds. Spraying green ichor, the Armored Beast was sent flying backward in an exaggerated fashion, landing flat on its back.
Siloque landed a beat later and flicked the blood off his blade.
Seeing that the two mangled bodies were still twitching, Siloque delivered four more strikes to be certain. Once he was sure they weren’t moving, he wiped the blood from his Greatsword once more.
He chose to fight these chimeras for several reasons. Beyond the decent Experience Points they provided as Third Floor monsters and the fact that they required precise strikes to bypass their armor — which was great for Dungeoneering his weapon control — there was one more factor.
They had a chance to drop “Armored Beast Breast Meat.”
The flavor was said to be a mix of chicken and globefish. Siloque planned to try using it as an Ingredient for tonight’s dinner.
“So fast… the stupid human isn’t just good at cooking and having a cute face.”
Inafa murmured to herself.
Behind her, the Blood-Armored Demon Ape grabbed a “Poisonous Bush Spider” that was trying to sneak up on them — a creature as big as Inafa herself — and crushed it. Inafa simply stood amidst the spider’s green blood. The puddle of ichor seemed to enter a drain, automatically flowing into the soles of her shoes as she absorbed it into her Magic. Her eyes had inadvertently witnessed Siloque’s series of actions.
Whether it was the movements, the first wave of the offensive, or the precise calculation of weaknesses and damage, it was all frighteningly fast.
She began to understand why Hill admired him so much.
“Inafa, don’t daze off. Did you notice?”
“Eh? Notice? Notice what?”
Hill’s voice came from behind her. She had currently planted her Tower Shield in front of her, focusing intently on the surrounding thickets.
Siloque had also retreated to Inafa’s side. He held his Greatsword horizontally in front of him, also facing the Forest.
“We’re pausing the hunt for Experience Points. Inafa, your fans are here.”
Inafa tilted her head cutely. “… Fans?”
*Rustle, rustle, rustle.*
the sound of leaves rubbing together emerged in unison. Behind the Great Trees, within the bushes, and from beneath sections of the turf that flipped open, several humanoid beings appeared simultaneously.
Some were men with fox heads and large tails, while others were women with triangular ears and large tails. They wore vine armor and carried spears tipped with sharpened stone. Looking closely, there were also archers in the tree canopy above, drawing their bows and aiming.
Fox-kin.
Inafa furrowed her thin, golden eyebrows.
She had only encountered them once. When they broke into her Castle 100 years ago, they smelled so bad that it left a deep impression. She hadn’t even bothered to fight them, simply blasting them out.
Now, this group of Fox-kin had the two humans and the Vampire surrounded. Counting them, there were fifteen people in total. They didn’t smell nearly as bad as they did back then.
Either their hostility was masking the scent, or they had just crawled out of a stinking swamp before entering her Castle a century ago. Alternatively, perhaps in the span of 100 years, their brains had finally evolved enough to care about hygiene.
Inafa scanned the fully armed Fox-kin and crossed her arms lazily.
“So, you’re the ones the stupid human and Hill were talking about. I thought it was just some small animals watching us, so I didn’t pay much attention. Keke.”
—
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