Chapter 45
The day after Ruli and Alma acquired new magic .
We went to the labyrinth again .
"Let's try going to the next floor today . "
The preparation for barrier magic will start tomorrow if chantless magic lessons by the teachers have gone well .
We need a lot of small magic stones for that .
I'd also like to raise my magic output and quantity . Beating monsters is the best way for that .
"The second floor at last . . . "
"Nope . We're gonna get to the 10th floor today . It's just going to be a day trip though . "
"10!?"
"True, the second floor might not be enough with our strength now . . . . ?"
"Let alone 10, Mathi-kun will probably alright on even the last floor . . . . floor 20, but will Alma and I be alright too? "
"I think we can do it! And Ruli, you have those sword and armor with you!"
We made an armor from the leftover mithril during yesterday's practice .
To be frank, I don't think it's needed if we're just going to floor 10, but since it's not too heavy, Ruli has it with her today .
By the way, the armor's been augmented with 【Lightening】, and 【Toughening】, I made the magic circles but it was Ruli who augmented it .
"Well that's true . . . . But I'm afraid I'd be a drag . . . . "
"It's just floor 10, you're nothing of that sort . Even Alma can probably go alone as long as she doesn't step into a Monster House . "
Fundamentally, the strength of monsters that appear until floor 25 are mostly the same in most dungeons .
After floor 25, monsters with traits peculiar to a dungeon start to appear, and from floor 30 on, their traits become obviously specific .
And Alma's strength already surpasses floor 10 monsters .
"Magic bows are amazing . . . . "
"Well, Ruli, you can also fight on floor 10 just fine . Even though Glory Crest isn't suited for combat, that doesn't mean it's useless in a fight . "
It's normal for bearers of First Crest in my past life to be able to clear a dungeon up until floor 30 .
Rather, it's stranger if they can't clear floor 30 as long as they train properly .
It's still too hard for Ruli though, since she's only been training properly for a month .
"Well, we'll be counting on Ruli not as a firepower but as a magic augmenter . Use this . "
I take out a log small enough to carry from Storage magic .
The weight is around 3kg .
" . . . . What is this?"
"That's just a log . Alma will probably run out of arrows halfway through . Ruli should create arrows and hand them over to Alma to prevent that . The way to do it is a bit different than with metal . . . . You can probably manage with your intuition . Since you've got the basic nailed down . "
"No way, asking me to make arrows all of a sudden . . . . huh?!"
The dubious Ruli tried to stream her mana into the log, gradually shaving it off .
And after about 10 seconds, one part of the log turned into an arrow without feathers attached .
"I did it!"
"Processing magic has many uses . By the way, you can do more than making it one by one . "
I took out another log and shaved it, turning it into 30 arrows in a few seconds .
"I, I don't think I can do that . . . . "
Ruli tried to do it, but it doesn't seem to be going well .
Well, processing multiple things at once needs experience after all .
"No need to rush, you should do it little by little starting from one arrow . I've got a lot of logs in my Storage magic, just tell me if you need more . "
"I understand!"
"That means, first we aim at floor 2 . "
We reached the stairway toward the next floor while we were talking .
By the way, according to the principal, this school has successfully cleared 20 floors of this dungeon, and it seems they were able to get down that deep through stairways .
Well, that was a long time ago and the present time graduates can't even clear floor 12 now .
" . . . . Huh? It doesn't really feel that different?"
After engaging in a few battles on floor 2, Alma uttered that .
"There's more monsters, but it's still basically the same . . . . Ah, there's a different type of monster over there . "
"Uwaah, gross . . . "
"But it's weak right?"
" . . . . You're right . "
An arrow Alma shot pierced through three slug monsters altogether, killing them .
They're just small fry weaker than even hermit crabs as they don't have a shell .
Snail monsters came out on floor 4, and bivalve ones appeared starting from floor 6, but all of them were small fry and became victims of Alma's arrows .
The atmosphere changed on floor 8 .
" . . . . Is that, a dog over there?"
"Yeah . It's Killer Dog . The real thing starts here . "
The new monsters that appeared among the bivalve monsters on floor 8 were of dog-type, Killer Dogs .
Unlike hermit crab and snail monsters, dog-type monsters are relatively fast and offensive .
They're not high ranked monsters at all, but they're unlike any other monsters we've encountered so far .
"For now, try to beat them . I'm sure Alma can manage a few of them . "
"Let me try!"
The Killer Dog dodged the arrow Alma shot .
"GAAAA!"
The Killer Dog came running toward us while growling .
"Waa, it dodged!"
"You've still got time to shoot two arrows! Calm down and attach a guide on them!"
I wanted to help her a bit, but fighting alone is an experience too .
If they always fight in a safe environment, they might misunderstand that combat is a safe thing to do .
There were times when such a thing was practiced at Magic Academies in my past life, and as it turned out, the graduates were mostly useless in real combat .
--That said, I plan to intervene if they really get in danger .
"Guide . . . Ei!"
However, it appears that's unnecessary .
The second arrow Alma shot was almost dodged by the Killer Dog but it homed in deep into the dog's legs, stopping it on track .
"It's not over yet! Finish it well!"
"Got it!"
The third arrow pierced the Killer Dog's head, killing it .
"Yay!"
Subjugation complete .
She missed once, but I'm sure she could finish another with just an arrow soon at this rate .
"Alright, next let's go to that room . "
"Room? . . . Don't tell me . . . "
"Yea . It's a Monster House . "
"Noo! We're gonna die if we step into a Monster House on this floor!"