Aug 11, 2019secondtranslation

Once again, we are entering the Crimson Volcano . If possible, I plan to increase my level by one before the resp.a.w.n day .

  [Selene, how does the gauntlet fit?] (Yuuya)

  [Hmm . . It fits quite well . It feels as if it was seasoned quite well . I wouldn’t have been able to use such item as a princess in the castle . Yuuyojisama, thank you very much . ] (Selene)

(Note: By *seasoned* I meant that the gauntlet was comfortable, as if you have been wearing it for years . If anyone knows a better term then please let me know since I think this is just a slang term used in my area . )

Equipped on Selene’s left hand was a gauntlet which had a beautiful golden-white s.h.i.+ne similar to orichalc.u.m and a red jewel embedded into it . It was the gauntlet made by the blacksmith using the orichalc.u.m and magic jewel provided by us . In addition to increasing her physical and magical defense, it also provided a boost to her spells increasing the potency of her healing abilities . There was no better gear that we could obtain besides those made with materials from a treasure chest in a dungeon .

  [I look forward to your performance now that you’ve powered up with the gauntlet . ] (Yuuya)

  [You can rely on me . Not only has my Recovery Heal has been strengthened as well, I’ll be able to use it more often as well . ] (Selene)

  [Looks like it’ll happen much earlier than expected . Luna looks like she has found our first enemy . ] (Yuuya)

Recently, I’ve become much better at reading Luna’s thoughts just by observing the movements of her fox ears .

  [The enemy is coming closer! It’s big, fast and strong too! This reaction, is it a giant?] (Luna)

Large enough to be called a giant, fast and strong too .

It is the monster that can be considered the strongest in the dungeon excluding the boss . It is uncertain whether we’ll be able to defeat the monster in our current situation .

  [Everyone, stay alert . The next monster isn’t an ordinary monster . Fight it as if it’s the boss itself!] (Yuuya)

Fundamentally speaking, each dungeon is only restricted to one boss monster . However, it is possible to sp.a.w.n a monster with strength similar to the boss albeit weaker from time to time . They didn’t sp.a.w.n on a weekly basis like ordinary monsters, however they often sp.a.w.ned in a large open area if they did appear . Due to the nature of its sp.a.w.ning, it was impossible to predict when we would encounter it and thus, the chances of encountering one and dying was high . Thus, such monsters were immediately deemed a threat and quests would be issued immediately for their extermination .

The earth shook as Phil and Til nocked an arrow .

  [Yuuya, it’s approaching around the corner!] (Luna)

Following Luna’s warning, a giant figure emerged from the corner ahead . It was a gigantic stone doll as tall as three metres . It was also incredibly large as it’s upper body was bulging out, making its body shape unbalanced, similar to the Rock Golem I fought back in Rumberg . However, the difference between them was the nature of their materials . This golem was made of liquefied stone, in other words magma . The surface of its body was boiling as the surrounding air became distorted due to the heat . Furthermore, its face was shaped just like a dragon . Its name was Magma Doll Golem . Although we had incredibly bad luck encountering this foe, it could also be a blessing .

  [Everyone, for the worst case scenario, prepare your Return stones . Prepare for battle!] (Yuuya)

On my command, the girls each began to move .

  [KYUUUU]

At the start of the battle, Erik supported our party by increasing our elemental resistances and physical defense . Then, ice began to form around Phil and Til’s arrows as Phil casted her Magical Enchantment: Water (Ice) and fired them towards the golem . However, the arrows immediately melted when it pierces the monster as it continues to move towards us .

  [Oneechan . That thing isn’t stopping you know! In the first place, can our arrows even work against him?] (Til)

 [Just stay quiet and continue firing! We’re definitely dealing some damage to it . Just focus on releasing one arrow at a time to damage him as much as possible!] (Phil)

Sweat began to form on Phil’s forehead as I was much more experienced than her . We both knew how dangerous of a monster this foe possessed as Til’s lightning magic Thunder pierced through the monster with little effect . The lightning attribute had little effect to a Golem made of stone . The Magmarock golem’s feet stopped as it began winding up its attack .

  [Selene!] (Yuuya)

  [Leave it to me!] (Selene)

Selene jumped out infront of us as she held up her s.h.i.+eld, producing a blue wall . The next instant, the mouth of the Magmarock Golem opens as flames began to collide against Selene’s Fortress . In an instant, our entire view was covered in red by the dangerous attack . It was an attack capable of wiping out an entire front line without Fortress . After awhile, our vision returned . However, the Magmarock Golem was already infront of us . Despite having the power to wipe out our frontline, it was also capable of blinding us as it raised its fist and threw it against Selene’s Fortress . Selene grit her teeth as she tried to resist the blow .  

Luna threw an attack with her entire body in an effort to relieve Selene’s burden but to no avail as the golem’s vital point was buried deep within its chest . a.s.sa.s.sinate didn’t activate, causing her attack to be repelled easily .

  [This thing . . Is hard . Kyaa . ] Luna)

The golem kicked Luna, causing her to fly clumsily across the ground . Despite receiving a significant amount of damage, Luna caught her footing as she stood back up .

  [Phil, cast your enchantment on me . ] (Yuuya)

  [Okay!] (Phil)

Ice began to form on my blade as Selene’s Fortress was shattered by the golem’s second attack . In an attempt to stop the golem from pursuing Selene, I released a skill onto it’s leg .

  [Bas.h.!.+] (Yuuya)

Since it’s lower body was much smaller, it would be much easily to deprive it of it’s mobility by crus.h.i.+ng its thin feet rather than it’s bulky body . My sword managed to penetrate into its body, however the golem’s feet couldn’t be cut off . At that moment, an accident occurred .

  [Is there even such a thing?] (Yuuya)

Thanks to the properties of the golem, the magma solidified at where the blade struck, recovering not just its wound but encasing the blade of my sword together with it . The golem turns to face me as it throws its burning fist towards me . Immediately, I let go of my sword as I jump backwards and landed near Luna . The ground where I was standing cracked and shattered as the golem’s heavy fist landed, scattering magma in the area .

  [UGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA]

The Magmarock Doll Golem howls as flames begin to leak from its mouth . The flame attack from earlier came to my mind as Selene tried to activate her Fortress again but it didn’t activate as the skill had a long cooldown period after it’s cast . The situation was turning even more dire by the second .

  [Luna, get behind me . If it’s me then I may be able to handle it . ] (Yuuya)

  [I understand . ] (Luna)

Looking at our current situation, me and Luna weren’t in position to hide behind Selene as Luna responded to my command .  

The Magmarock Doll Golem finally released it’s breath attack as Selene raised her s.h.i.+eld to stop the breath from reaching our two archers . On the other hand, I shouldn’t die due to the increased magical resistance of a Magic Knight and my dragon leather armour, however I wouldn’t be let off lightly either as I would suffer incredible damage . Thus, I decided that it would had been better to protect Luna from the attack as she would most likely receive critical damage from the attack .  

As the flames began to cover my vision, I felt my body being enveloped with cold air as I heard Phil’s voice in the distance .

  [Icy Veil!] (Phil)

I became swallowed by the flame breath of the Magmarock Golem . Thanks to Phil’s ice enchantment, the damage was reduced although my skin continue to burn and my leather armour became burnt .

It feels extremely hot . . It was so stuffy that I thought that I was going to die as I forced myself to keep my arms up against my mouth to protect my organs from the heat as much as possible . I miscalculated as I don’t think that I would had survived without Phil’s enchantment .  

Without any room to breathe, a fist made up of magma appeared in front of me, easily pus.h.i.+ng through the flames which I was desperately trying to endure . As I reached out for my second sword, the black magical sword in my bag, I knew that I wouldn’t make it in time to deflect the attack as I swung the sword with all my strength, colliding head on with the fist and blowing away the power from the first . It was a ridiculous amount of power  as I was blown away regardless .

  [Thanks for the save Phil . ] (Yuuya)

  [Druids are people who live in harmony with nature . I’m able to raise the defense against all three elements . ] (Phil)

I understood that druids were capable of raising our elemental affinities, however they were also capable of raising our resistances to a specific element as well . Furthermore the application of Icy Veil seems to apply to the entire party as I glanced towards Selene who was enveloped in a similar veil . My evaluation of the cla.s.s immediately increased .

  [GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR]

The golem seemed to be frustrated as it failed to eliminate even a single opponent with it’s attacks .

  [Yuuya . What should we do? Even with our abilities we can’t deal any significant damage . ] (Phil)

  [We repeat the process . Albeit slightly, it’s vitality must be reducing from each attack we land . It’ll be a battle of endurance . Selene, could you cast a spell on me please . ] (Yuuya)

  [Got it . Recovery Heal . ] (Selene)

With her spell, my dislocated joints and burn marks began to heal as I shouted to the girls .

  [Everyone, don’t lose hope! The battle is only over once your heart falters! Our attacks are definitely working! Let’s keep the momentum up!] (Yuuya)

This monster and other such monsters were similar in strength to the bosses in their respective dungeons . It feels disheartening to have a monster besides the boss to receive our attacks seemingly unaffected . However, the attacks aren’t ineffective since we were utilizing its weak point, the Water (Ice) element . Right now, the worst thing for us to do is to give up .

  [Got it! I’ll continue shooting until there isn’t any arrows left!] (Til)

  [Luna will also a.s.sa.s.sin without giving up!] (Luna)

Looking at their spirits, we’ll definitely be able to defeating it . Let’s keep the momentum up and continue pus.h.i.+ng forward .

It has been about thirty minutes since the battle first started . Although there weren’t any serious injuries, aside from Phil everyone has been sweating profusely due to the heat, causing our movement to become dull, causing an unusual number of mistakes . Thanks to Selene’s Recovery Heal, our front line hasn’t collapsed yet thus we were doing extremely well .

  [Yuuyniisan Oneechan . What should we do? I’ve already run out of arrows and my mana is running empty . It’s weird that he is still able to stand!] (Til)

  [Til, calm down at once . Just take some of my arrows . The enemy will be defeated soon . ] (Phil)

I heard Til’s complaint in the distance as the Magmarock Golem looked like a porcupine with the arrows jutting out of its body .

  [Just as Phil said . Til . Do you realise that the golem doesn’t have the strength to melt the arrows anymore?] (Yuuya)

  [Ah . That’s true!] (Til)

At the start of the battle, the monster was constantly releasing heat from the magma in its body to melt the arrows the moment it pierced its body . However, right now it’s body has been cooled down during the battle due to the Water (Ice) element . However, as if it was going to make its last stand, flames began to leak from the its mouth .

  [Selene, Phil!] (Yuuya)

  [It’s impossible . The cooldown is over but I don’t have any mana left to cast Fortress!] (Selene)

  [Me too . I can’t cast Icy Veil since my mana isn’t enough . ] (Phil)

It seemed like this was the final straw to break our back as Selene and Til had ran out of mana since they were serving as our healer and had a low level respectively . This also means that we had to end the battle before our current Magical Enchantment: Water (Ice) ended . This was an extremely tall order .

If that’s the case, then it’s time to abandon our defense . Now’s the time to risk it .

  [Luna, fall back behind Selene . Til and Phil too,] (Yuuya)

  [What about Yuuya?] (Luna)

  [I’m charging right in!] (Yuuya)

As I was rus.h.i.+ng towards the golem, it released it’s flame breathe towards us . I was never a fan of attacks with a large area of effect as my sword was ineffective against them . I clenched my fist and continued running forward as my body was burning from the immense flames . I increased my concentration as I forced my body to accelerate, going beyond my limits . Finally, I pa.s.sed through the flames without feeling the pain due to the adrenaline, unleas.h.i.+ng my maximum power from the white aura at once and increasing my status significantly for a moment .

I started a chant as I continued to run towards its feet at its blind spot . Using the momentum to swing my blade up at an angle just as my customised magic spell was activated .

  [G.o.d’s Strength!] (Yuuya)

It was a spell which increased my attack power tenfold . With my body strengthened by the white aura and my spell, I swung my blade towards the golem’s ankle, severing it from its leg as the golem falls towards the ground . However, this isn’t enough . As the golem falls towards the ground, I lower my hips as I pull my blade down jumping and swinging my blade towards the golem’s heart . As my blade was penetrating the golem’s chest, the effect of Magical Enchantment: Water (Ice) ended, causing the ice surrounding my blade to disappear as my blade managed to create a small opening . It wasn’t possible for me to push through and tear through its core . However, this meant that she could .

  [Luna! The core in its chest is its weak point! You should be able to defeat him now!] (Yuuya)

  [Uhn!] (Luna)

The deciding factor of the battle will be the golem’s core . Normally it would be covered in magma and stone, making it difficult to penetrate . Furthermore it was at a high height, making it difficult to reach the core in the first place . However, with my attacks earlier its height has been lowered and the stone coating has been gouged out by my attacks exposing its core . Now is the time as most of us has already been too heavily damaged in this battle and continuing the battle in this environment is far too hazardous .

Luna runs forward as her fox tail hung behind her . It was her signature attack, her high-speed rush as she ran directly towards the core of the golem, penetrating right through .

  [a.s.sa.s.sinate!] (Luna)

A high-pitch sound rang through the area indicating that Luna’s damage amplification has suceeded as the core was thoroughly crushed by her attack .

  [UGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA]

As the golem’s body turned into blue particles, the arrows and my blade which were embedded into its body fell to the ground as I collapsed onto the ground . The moment the battle ended and my concentration was loosened, I felt a gush of fatigue and pain from the burns all around my body as I temporarily lost all control of my body .

  [Yuuyojisan, are you okay?] (Selene)

  [*I’m okay* I can’t really say that right now . I’m tired and hurting so bad that I feel like I could pa.s.s out any second . ] (Yuuya)

  [I’ll immediately cast Recovery Heal . I just recovered enough mana to cast it once . ] (Selene)

  [Seems like the gauntlet has already demonstrated its value since we wouldn’t had survived if we had battled without your improved magic . ] (Yuuya)

  [Yeah . Because of this, I’m able to heal you just like this . ] (Selene)

Recovery magic is definitely a useful magic as the pain from my burns began to disappear . In order to cure burn wounds, at minimum an intermediate potion had to be used . Those potions would had taken all of the reward money we earned from turning in our Death Scorpions poison, however with Selene’s recovery magic our wallet has been saved .

  [Thank you very much . You’re a lifesaver . ] (Yuuya)

Although I had put out as much of the aura as I could, it was only for a moment and I would be able to move with a little bit of rest .

  [Yuuya, Luna is tired . I don’t wanna move anymore . ] (Luna)

  [Uhn . That monster was an actual monster . Yuuyniisan . I don’t ever want to fight that thing ever again . ] (Til)

  [I agree with that sentiment . Even though we planned to continue deeper into the dungeon, we’ll have to fall out from here . We’re far too tattered to continue our adventure . ] (Phil)

Aside from me and Phil, it seems that n.o.body has the energy to continue any further .

  [I understand your feelings . However it isn’t all that bad . This mid-boss is considered to be as strong as the dungeon’s boss . Now I have the confidence that we’ll be able to defeat the boss . Furthermore our levels even increased from that battle . ] (Yuuya)

Everyone was surprised as they heaved a sigh of relief after confirming that current levels .

  [Oh its true . Even though we hadn’t leveled up ever since defeating those insects in the pyramid . ] (Phil)

  [Not only did we become stronger, but we even got the experience points to show it . ] (Til)

  [I guess this means that we can rest easy stopping here . ] (Selene)

Once you are level 30, our levels will not rise that quickly if we were to avoid risking our lives hunting swarms of monsters or equally powerful monsters . This was the reason why it would normally take three to four years to raise your level to 40 . This was why I knew that our levels would raise after defeating the mid-boss .  

Not only that, this middle boss also drops a powerful unique item . After my wounds were healed and my breathing stablised, I immediately picked up my sword and the item dropped by the golem . It was a red jewel with several spots exposed and beating like a heart .

  [This is the Crimson Core . It’s an amazing item you know . Now then, shall we return to the hot springs?] (Yuuya)

  [Hurray!  Hot springs!] (Luna)

  [Uhn . Hot springs are the best when you are tired after all . I want a gla.s.s of cold juice when we enter the hot spring!] (Til)

The value of this item was comparable to hunting in the dungeon for 30 days, making it worth the trouble in the battle earlier . Let’s return for today as my stamina, mana and even my mental fort.i.tude has been completely drained . Plus if we were to go deeper into the dungeon we may even suffer irreparable damage before we return . It’ll be fine since we’ve already obtained sufficient experience and money for today .