Chapter 191: The mysterious 3 and to the 4th Floor (1/2)
“Now then, I would like to go exploring today…but…are the people outside acquaintances of yours, Kuro?” (Jeanne)
The next day after going to the 1st Floor with Worigami-san.
We had breakfast, and just when we were about to head to the dungeon, Jeanne reached the front door and immediately turned around.
When I peeked outside, there was a group of 3 in front of our house.
It is not like they are doing anything. They are just concentrating on the front door. How creepy.
“What’s that…? I don’t know them either. What about you, Rifreya?” (Hikaru)
“I also don’t know these people. Wonder what this is about?” (Rifreya)
1 man 2 women. The hair color of the man is brown, and the 2 women are brunette. Or more like, one of the girls looks Indonesian. Facial features you don’t see around here.
The remaining two look European? They have really defined features and don’t look asian.
“Aren’t they Chosen? What do you think, Jeanne?” (Hikaru)
“No doubt about it. The equipment of Chosen is different from that of natives to begin with, and they give that vibe that they are not used to this. Of course, there’s also exceptions like you, Kuro.” (Jeanne)
“Why am I an exception?” (Hikaru)
“You were accustomed to this place to a strange degree, you know?” (Jeanne)
Was I…? Well, I did use the black market from the very beginning, so it might look that way. Speaking of which, is the old man there doing well?
“They must have business with me. What will you do, Kuro?” (Jeanne)
“What to do, you say… What do you want to do, Jeanne?” (Hikaru)
“Of course, I don’t want to get involved with them. Despite appearances, I am not good at dealing with people.” (Jeanne)
“I did know.” (Hikaru)
I don’t want to get involved with them either.
I can now speak to natives I am not acquainted with to some degree, but Chosen…moreover the 2nd group, that’s a no. That side knows all about us while we don’t know anything about them, moreover, they even came all the way to our house like this. That’s plain scary and creepy -nauseating, even.
“Let’s have Reya drive them off.” (Jeanne)
“W-Wait, Jeanne-san? I won’t do something like that, okay? If I were to harm people who haven’t done anything, I would get arrested. Especially when I am an explorer; the sin is heavier.” (Rifreya)
“They are Chosen, so they can’t stand up strongly against natives…I think. They might scatter if you just warn them a bit, Reya.” (Jeanne)
“You are not even sure! You always say that they might have strong weapons on them.” (Rifreya)
Looks like our helpline Rifreya doesn’t want to do it.
Their objective is unknown and it is creepy after all…
We talk about countermeasures for Chosen every now and then.
Within all of it, we talked about weapons…to be more specific, guns. We would talk often about how we should watch out the most against guns.
If those 3 were to begin spraying their guns all of a sudden, we really wouldn’t know what to do. This isn’t a place where the laws of Earth reach. In this world with no guns, guns are invincible. There’s no doubt they wouldn’t be caught because there isn’t enough evidence.
“Let’s go out through the backdoor. It is great that the messages are frozen.” (Hikaru)
There’s a backdoor in this house.
It is connected to a narrow alley, so it would be difficult to catch us there as new Chosen. Also, I don’t think the new Chosen know about us having a backdoor. It is hidden by the shadow of a tree, and even us as the owners found it just recently.
We got out of the house smoothly, went to the guild, hired Grapefull, and entered the dungeon.
Worigami-san was fighting Skeletons on the 1st Floor.
He is still not fighting armed ones yet and stacking up exp from the barehanded Skeletons. It is safe and steady. Seeing that state of his, he should be okay even if left alone.
We passed the 2nd Floor just like that, and headed to the 3rd Floor.
We have gotten quite used to the 3rd Floor.
Rifreya originally operated mainly in the 3rd Floor for more than half a year, and with my experience exploring alone, I myself don’t feel like I would lose to the monsters here.
We breeze this floor while humming…is exaggerating a bit, but everyone here is probably thinking we should go to the next floor.
We won’t be going down to the 4th Floor until we defeat the 3rd Floor.
We continued hunting in the 3rd Floor following that policy of Jeanne, but it should be about time we move on to the next step…
It is not because I was thinking that, but by the time noon passed, that monster finally showed up.
“Nyanyanyanya. I can hear it, I can hear it-nya. Garden Panther! It is coming from the right-nyan!” (Full)
“Finally showed up! I was tired of waiting.” (Jeanne)
Jeanne’s eyes were burning and she spun her arm around.
The Garden Panther is a monster that emits white mist from its white big body, and its appearance is just as its name, a feline wild beast, and it is far bigger than a panther from Earth.
There’s a lot of humanoid creatures in the dungeon, and they use weapons and their movements are based on humans, so they have the weak point of being decently easy to adapt to.
But the Garden Panther is a literal wild beast. Just that fact alone makes it stronger in foundation to humans.
Moreover, this guy can sense the location of its target within Darkness Fog.
I somehow managed to win the last time we fought one, but it is by no means an opponent we can lower our guards against. A monster that is a realm above the other monsters in the 3rd Floor; that’s a Garden Panther.
“[Dark Sense]! It is coming from there! Jeanne, please endure the first attack!” (Hikaru)
“Leave it to me.” (Jeanne)
The first attack of the Garden Panther that jumps out from inside the mist is potent. If it gets you by surprise, you can die instantly just like that explorer of before.
From inside the mist at the place I pointed at, it didn’t take long for the Garden Panther to jump out from there just as I said.
The Garden Panther, that showed up as if it had assimilated with the mist, is so well camouflaged that it is hard to deal with even when you know it is coming.
If I didn’t have Dark Sense, it might have been difficult to properly deal with it.
The Garden Panther jumped onto Jeanne who was completely armored and had her big shield ready.
I stay on standby at the back readying Shadow Bind.
The trigger to Spirit Abilities is to clearly voice out the name of the ability, but using an ability with a strengthened will of ‘using it’ makes the activation speed and strength different from just voicing it out without any thought.
*Pang!*
A sound as if a car had crashed resonated, but Jeanne wasn’t sent flying, and she took the attack of the Garden Panther with her shield.
“[Shadow Bind]!” (Hikaru)
Bind is more of a trap you set rather than a targeted ability, so it can’t be used against enemies who are moving fast or are flying in the sky.
A Garden Panther is an opponent that would be hard to hit with a bind.
But if it is at the time when the frontline stops its movement…
“Gaaw!”
Being bound by the dark tentacles, the Garden Panther tries to break free from them.
It is a giant feline that has a body as if it is wholly made of muscles. The effective time of the bind will literally be just a few seconds. But those few seconds are plenty enough.
“Hah!”
“Toh!”
Rifreya’s vertical slash, and the stab of Jeanne who was at the front.
Both attacks damage the body of the opponent heavily and deeply, and with just a single exchange, the Garden Panther changed into a big Spirit Stone.
“That was easy. It is true that that was stronger than the other 3rd Floor monsters though.” (Jeanne)
“No, that was easy because Full found it immediately. If it breaks your formation in the beginning, I think we would have had a harder fight here.” (Hikaru)
“Hm, that’s true.” (Jeanne)
In fights with monsters…no, probably in any fight, a fight in an advantageous position is extremely important. A surprise attack is a really effective battle tactic. My Spirit Abilities are specialized in surprise attacks, so I have begun rethinking that maybe Dark Spirit Abilities enter the pretty strong category when it comes to supporting physical combat.
It is obvious that there’s merit and demerits for the respective elements, but it is by no means that darkness is bad.
“Thanks, Full. If not for you, we might have been hit with a preemptive strike. You saved us.” (Hikaru)