The floor boss of the fifth level of the Painthal Abandoned Mine Labyrinth is a giant crab called the Steel Crab. It's as large as a small carriage.
As its name suggests, it has a steel carapace, making it a formidable opponent. Defeating it is said to require the use of magic.
For novice adventurers, it's a highly dangerous foe.
"Alright, I'll handle this one on my own first."
"Wait, are you sure, Yuke?"
Marina asked, her voice filled with concern, but I nodded in response.
"As a senior adventurer and the newcomer to this party, let me show off a little."
I pulled a piece of equipment for adventurer streaming from my bag and let it hover in the air.
This floating artifact, a magical recording tool, is called Mr. GoPro.
"You're streaming this?"
"No, it's for record-keeping. I always record floor boss battles to review later."
Rain looked curiously at the floating Mr. GoPro. She really loves magical artifacts.
"Why not stream it live?"
"Huh? I guess I could. But why?"
"It sounds fun!"
Well, honesty is the best policy.
"Alright, I'll register it as a party stream… Wait, speaking of which, what’s our party’s name?"
"To be honest, we don’t have one yet… We haven’t even officially registered as a party," Silk admitted quietly.
No need to feel bad about it. Plenty of parties are in the same boat.
"Then let's decide right now!"
"Do you have any ideas?"
Marina, the one who suggested it, looked a bit hesitant. Maybe she hadn't thought this through?
As I pondered, a soft voice spoke up.
"How about… ‘Clover’? Yuke would be our lucky fourth leaf!"
"Wow, Marina, that’s a wonderful idea," Silk said.
"Yeah, I like it," Rain added.
The name made my back itch a little, but since the three of them liked it, I decided to go along with it.
"Alright, once we’re back, let’s register the party name at the guild. And now... it’s set. The first-ever live stream for Clover will be my battle with the floor boss. Wait, is that okay?"
It felt a bit odd for the debut stream to feature me as the main focus. Wouldn’t it be better if all four of us were doing something together?
"It’s fine!"
Apparently, it was fine.
"Alright, then, let’s do this."
I layered all my self-enhancement spells and opened the door to the boss chamber.
In the center of the large, circular cavern, which resembled an arena, stood the Steel Crab. Upon noticing me, it clanged its pincers together in a threatening display.
During its intimidation routine, I quickly cast a series of spells.
"Paralyze, Slow, Venom, Collapse, Blindness..."
As the Steel Crab advanced, I rapidly cast debuff spells, making full use of Quick Cast.
"Wow…!"
Rain, watching from the doorway, let out a small gasp of admiration. It felt nice to be acknowledged by my juniors, especially since I’d rarely been appreciated before.
With Paralyze and Slow, I restricted its movements. Venom weakened it further. Even when it tried to attack, its vision was obstructed by Blindness, and its massive pincers only swiped at empty air.
The more it moved, the faster Venom spread through its body.
"…Gravity."
As the Steel Crab weakened further, I cast an additional debuff. Normally, Gravity increases the weight of its target to slow it down, but against the already weakened Steel Crab, it was the final blow.
Unable to bear the doubled weight, its steel-reinforced body gave out. With a metallic screech, the Steel Crab collapsed to the ground and stopped moving.
The sensation of the debuff spells lifting told me it was dead. Debuff spells don’t affect corpses, after all.
"Boss defeated. And… thanks for watching! Ending the stream."
I ended the likely unwatched live stream with a farewell and turned to the three watching behind me with a smile.
"How was that?"
"Amazing!"
Marina dashed forward and hugged me out of nowhere.
"Urgh."
A hug from Marina in her metal armor packed quite a punch. If she’s going to do this, I’d prefer she wasn’t wearing it.
"That was incredible, Yuke! I didn’t know you could fight like that!"
"I’m equally astonished. To think a floor boss could be taken down with debuff spells alone…"
"Magic, no chanting, used continuously…! I’ve never seen anything like it," Rain added.
Hearing their admiration made me feel relieved. Back in Thunder Pike, I was never given the chance to shine because they said my skills weren’t flashy enough for an audience.
"Not bad, huh?"
"Not bad?! It was amazing!" Marina said, still beaming.
Chuckling, I approached the Steel Crab’s massive corpse. It was quite large. Selling it should fetch a good price.
"Let’s leave the dismantling to the guild."
I stored the Steel Crab’s body in my Magic Bag and gestured for the others to follow me to the stairs.
"But… is it alright for you to do everything, Yuke?" Silk asked.
"Then next time, we’ll fight together. Not every battle will go this smoothly."
"Understood. If you say so, Yuke."
Silk had a serious demeanor, always thinking things through. However, her cautious nature sometimes held her back. With more confidence, she’d make an even better adventurer.
"Alright, before we head down the stairs, let’s take care of that."
I pointed to where the Steel Crab had been. A treasure chest had appeared without us noticing.