Chapter 197: Lamia Nest and Annihilation Battle (1/2)

“They are more dangerous than the info foretold. Even though the Lamias themselves are not weak at all, there’s droves of them.” (Hikaru)

“Water…packs…curse of the basilisk…ugh, my head…” (Jeanne)

“Jeanne-san, those are not Basilisks, you know? Basilisks are 5th Floor monsters.” (Rifreya)

“I know. I simply…got reminded of a past trauma.” (Jeanne)

The basilisks in that game really were annoying monsters…

By the way, the Basilisks in the 5th Floor are apparently like small dragons, or like, big lizards. I saw that on the wall drawings of the guild.

“Leaving aside the joking, what should we do? There’s as much as 8, and that’s just the ones we can see. There should be a whole lot more deeper in, so if we are going to retreat, now is the time.” (Jeanne)

I can tell you are a bit excited despite saying that, Jeanne.

The Lamia Nest is a place where there’s a whole lot of Lamias, and prides itself by being the most vast location in this 4th Floor, located at the cave in the center of the waterfall.

It is apparently not an actual nest, just a name for it. It is not like there’s eggs.

There’s puddles here and there, but it is more suitable for battle than cramped passages, and holds the name of the unluckiest hunting spot of the 4th Floor.

If this were a game, it would be the best hunting spot for leveling up, but this is reality.

The upper half of a Lamia (despite being covered in scales) is that of a woman, so it is a hard opponent to deal with mentally speaking, but I have been fighting countless humanoid monsters until now, so it is not to the point that I would hesitate.

It might be because, inside the dungeon where death means becoming a Spirit Stone, the death of monsters…no, the death of living beings doesn’t have a sense of reality to it.

“If there were other explorer parties, we could have seen how they cleared this. The recommendation of the guild is apparently to have ‘at the very least 2 frontliners that can defeat a Lamia in one hit’.” (Rifreya)

“So level up and hit them with plain force, huh. Leaving me aside, I think you two can defeat them in one hit. Each one of them is apparently weaker than a Mantis individually.” (Hikaru)

“I wonder about that. I am mostly concentrated on a defensive build, so even if I manage to defeat them in one hit, the fight in itself will be decently long, you know? Defeating them fast is your specialty, right, Kuro?” (Jeanne)

It is true that, if Darkness Fog is effective on them, I can defeat them in one hit.

The problem is that there’s a lot of them. The 2nd Floor is a floor where Goblins and Orcs come out in droves from anywhere, so if the Lamias were to come out in that same fashion, it would be difficult to deal with.

The Lamias are so strong you can’t even compare them to the 2nd Floor monsters.

We are watching the entrance, hidden in the shadow of a rock, but the Lamias have not noticed us yet. It doesn’t seem like they are that good at detecting presences, but according to the information we gathered beforehand, it has the tendency to ‘call for comrades’, so the battles normally won’t be ending until one side is wiped out.

In other words, it will turn into a death match.

We have come all the way here to do exactly that.

While we were looking for a moment to jump out, a Lamia came close.

It works just fine to gauge their strength.

“I will try pulling it. Just watch.” (Hikaru)

I make the Shadow Runner run as if crossing the entrance of the open space.

I said close…but it is 30 meters apart. The Lamia noticed this and let out a threatening snake ‘Shaaa’, slithering its lower half snake body towards us.

Fortunately, it seems like the other Lamias haven’t noticed.

“[Darkness Fog].” (Hikaru)

I cover the whole entrance with darkness and jump out.

When fighting a new monster, there’s the need to confirm whether the opponent can see inside the darkness. Darkness worked on Lizardmen, but what about the Lamias?

“Gichigichi gichigichi.”

Even inside the darkness, her slitted eyes were shining mysteriously.

She was making an unpleasant noise as if chattering her teeth. She seems to be wary of her surroundings.

(…Doesn’t look like she can see.) (Hikaru)

She is holding a three pronged spear while waving her upper body front, back, left and right.

Her long split tongue was flickering in and out, as if she were searching for her prey…

“Sha!”

The Lamia suddenly jumped using her lower snake half like a spring -towards me.

“Heat detection?! [Shadow Bind]!” (Hikaru)

I lept to the side, avoiding the attack, and used Shadow Bind in the landing spot of the Lamia.

I immediately unsheathe my weapon and stab her throat.

The Hellfire Steel sword cuts her Spirit Vein Center.

I pick up the Water Spirit Stone that fell on the floor, return to the shadow of the rock, and undo Darkness Fog.

“How was it? It seemed like you were having trouble there.” (Jeanne)

“Darkness Fog didn’t work. It seems like they aren’t seeing with their eyes, but detecting heat.” (Hikaru)

“Hooh, the natural enemy of Kuro. Interesting.” (Jeanne)

“It is not interesting… With just the fact that the fog doesn’t work, our leeway has lessened.” (Hikaru)

It doesn’t seem like it can see as clearly as the Garden Panther, but just the fact that my location is spotted is already quite the disadvantage. With Shadow Bind, it seems like I can at least defeat them one-on-one, but that’s also a risky strategy.

At the times when there’s the need to fight many monsters at once like now, I am a bit scared of fighting while relying on Shadow Bind.

“It doesn’t look like we can afford to be saying that. The noise of the battle just now was too loud.” (Jeanne)

Jeanne points with her chin.

When I looked, there were Lamias letting out noises to alert their surroundings while heading here.

“What will you do? We can still run away.” (Hikaru)

The pathway to get here was decently narrow.

On top of that, Sahagins and Crabs jump out from the basin, so it will take a decent amount of time to get out. There’s a decent degree of risk in running away too.

“We will fight. If something happens, use a Barrier Stone without hesitation. Just let your Dark Knight protect Full-chan, Kuro. Make sure to break a Barrier Stone when in trouble.” (Jeanne)

“So we are doing this, then?” (Rifreya)

Rifreya grabbed the handle of her sword tightly and did the last confirmation.

Saying that sight of Rifreya, Jeanne grinned.

“We came here to do that exactly! Everyone, put on your game face! It is an all-out battle! Hyahoo!!” (Jeanne)

“O-Oi!” (Hikaru)

Jeanne made a strange cry while jumping out by herself.

How incredibly reckless.

“Rifreya, watch Jeanne’s back! I will head there myself in a second too.” (Hikaru)

“Jeanne-san is an idiot, isn’t she?!” (Rifreya)

“She is indeed!” (Hikaru)

With Jeanne, who is taking position as if she were going to take on all of the Lamias by herself, at the corner of my vision, I summon the Dark Knight.

“Hide here, Grapefull. If it gets dangerous, break this stone immediately and you will be safe. I think the Dark Knight will be protecting you mostly, but this guy disappears once the time runs out, so keep that in mind.” (Hikaru)

“G-Got it-nyan. Hikaru-shan and the others, do your best too.” (Full)

“Well, if anything happens, we will also be using Barrier Stones to take refuge.” (Hikaru)

According to the information we got in the guild about the 4th Floor, the vicinity of the Lamia Nest’s entrance is a safe zone, so it should be okay.

It is apparently customary for high level parties that fight in the Lamia Nest to leave the porters here.

“Alright. Next is…[Create Undead].” (Hikaru)

I use a Chaotic Spirit Stone of a Lizardman and increase our allies further.

“You, defeat the ones that seem like they would slip past us.” (Hikaru)