Volume 3 Chapter 9 (2/2)

[Selene, you do it. Luna, tell Selene the exact location of the monster. Remember to signal her a moment before they surface from the ground.] (Youya)

[I understand now.] (Selene)

[I’ll be sure to signal properly.] (Luna)

Luna and Selene nodded in response. The Desert Serpents’ aim was visible. By surfacing directly below us, they are minimising the amount of time spent in the air after surfacing. It was an excellent idea however it was unfortunate for them as we had Luna who possessed Presence Detection. Selene adjusted her stance and readied her shield.

[Fortress] (Selene)

A thin blue barrier emanated from her shield. It was her skill which temporarily increased her defensive stats several times. Activating that skill seemed out of place, however she had a clear objective in activating her skill. Luna’s fox ears continued to twitch seemingly quicker as her body continued to tremble.

[3… 2… 1.. Now!] (Luna)

Luna cried out, signalling Selene.

[Shield Bash!] (Selene)

Selene activated her class, the Crusader’s unique skill, Shield bash. A skill which converts the user’s defense power into attack power, allowing her to release a powerful attack. It was for this reason that she activated Fortress. Selene swung her shield, the shield of Renoir downward into the ground, just as she threw her arm down, a thick iron pile jumps out of her shield with a screech. Immediately afterwards, the ground was gouged out as if an explosion occurred, bits and pieces of a Desert Serpent flew through the air among the sand that was thrown about.

[As usual, that is some ridiculous power.] (Youya)

Selene was an amazing tank, but secretly she possessed an extremely high-firepower skill in her back pocket. Number of remaining Desert Serpents: Two.

Surprisingly, I had expected the remaining serpents to escape after witnessing this sight, however the two still had the intention to fight. The remaining two serpents jumped out towards us in two direct opposite directions, sandwiching us inbetween. The two of them had jumped from a distance away with their mouths wide open.

The two serpents jumped into the air from a distance away, managing to jump to an amazing altitude, buying themselves enough time to safely release a breath attack. Their breath attack would be fatal to us if they managed to attack us without preparing our defenses.

[It’s finally time for my turn to shine.] (Til)

[Such a huge target, I could hit it with my eyes closed.] (Phil)

Arrows coated in ice began flying towards the two serpents who were widely exposed in the air. Phil had activated her Magical Enchantment: Ice onto herself and Til, firing towards the back and front respectively. Unable to release their breath attacks, the two Desert Serpents were pierced by a barrage of arrows and merely died in the air.

[Eh? Onee-chan. How were you able to fire an arrow into each of its eyes at the same time at this distance!? And just how many arrows did you plan to fire before its body hit the ground? Somehow, you managed to fire three arrows while it was in the air. How were you even able to do that!!?] (Til)

[It’s the difference in experience.] (Phil)

Disregarding Til, it was amazing for Phil who had a lower level to be able to take down the Desert Serpent in such a short span of time. Phil was someone who had the bonus stats from her level reset and maximum status gain, a bow which had its performance increased tremendously over the years, powerful arrows produced from Arrow Generation with her attribute enchantment which increased the damage of her attacks significantly having the most effective attribute. However, these wasn’t enough for her to defeat the Desert Serpent. Rather, she had mercilessly fired multiple arrows into the weak points of the Desert Serpent, landing critical hits which raised her damage even further. She managed to fire two arrows into each eye, another arrow into its throat, causing the Serpent to suffer the brunt of its own breath attack, and continued to fire arrows into the monster’s body as it fell down in an irregular fashion due to the explosion of its breath attack. It is a seemingly inhuman skill.

[It’s frustrating!!! I won’t lose to anyone with a bow!] (Til)

Til who was usually a happy-go-lucky person seemed seriously irritated and disappointed as she had taken tremendous pride in her archery skills.

[Don’t worry about it Til. You have more talent than me and you’ve been practicing a lot as well. You will definitely surpass me someday.] (Phil)

[Uhn! I will definitely surpass you! So tell me about that triple shot!] (Til)

[It’s a skill that I’m using right now to compensate for my low status. Since about 80% of my attack power is coming from my bow and arrow, I don’t have that much bonuses to my physical strength. However if it’s your current physical strength, there isn’t any difference from firing a single arrow at a time. Even if you were to use it, it’ll merely be for show.] (Phil)

[Even so it is fine! It looks cool after all! I want to learn how to fire three arrows at once! No matter what I want to do it!] (Til)

[Alright. I’ll teach you.] (Phil)

[Yay! I love you oneechan!] (Til)

Til began hugging Phil displaying an affectionate sisterly love. With this, the battle against the Desert Serpents were over. We proceeded to collect the dropped items. Then, I became speechless. Among the dropped items, there was an Eel meat (Average). In this world the items which were dropped are rather appropriate for the species. For example, boars and orcs both dropped Pork (average). However I didn’t expect the serpents to drop Eel meat as well.

[Youya, tonight dinner is going to be a feast!] (Luna)

[We did it! Eel meat is delicious!] (Til)

The two girls were getting excited as they weren’t aware of my conflicted emotions.

[Phil, can I rely on you for tonight’s dinner?] (Youya)

[Sure, I’ll make Youya’s favourite dish.] (Phil)

After pondering on it, it seemed likely for this to happen. For now, let’s just enjoy the fact that we can enjoy delicious cooking for tonight.

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After the battle, we continued to travel deeper into the desert and it was almost time for the sun to set. After checking the amount of water we had in stock, we were still in the green as we were lucky enough to come across the oasis, allowing us to drink beyond the amount I had planned initially.

Our goal today was to reach of foot of *That* as I continued to check the magic compass to confirm our direction. Although it should be about time to see that…

[Over there, I see something weird over there. It looks shiny like a triangle.] (Til)

It looks like Til who had the best eyesight among the party was the first to spot *that*.

Thinking that we had finally arrived, I placed more strength into my legs as I sped up my pace and we continued towards it, until everyone was able to see it. It was a gigantic pyramidal structure shining with an intimidating golden colour. To put it in one word, it’s a pyramid.

[Yosh, we’ll stop here for today. That is the final destination of our adventure in this dungeon, the Golden Pyramid. We came for the treasure hiding within that structure, plus that building is an amazing place. In the deepest part of that structure, aside from our goal, there are also several amazing treasure boxes which will appear.] (Youya)

Within the golden pyramid, are hidden treasures. And among those hidden treasures, there is something we need to increase our party’s limit. When Luna and Til heard that we were done for today, the two of them began their strange food ritual seemingly far more energetic than before. I’ll leave them to it for now. Tomorrow, I’ll begin to explain the characteristics of the desert tomorrow. Despite how valuable the items available in the pyramid are, there is a reason why there wouldn’t be any competition for the treasures.

There are going to be many troublesome traps and troublesome monsters awaiting for us in the Golden Pyramid.