Chapter 7
Chapter 7
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: Stat Brute (1)
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I desperately tried to explain it was all a misunderstanding and somehow managed to move past it, but both Hanna and Rina looked quite wary.
If Elsia were a dating sim, I'm pretty sure a notification would've popped up saying, "Starting with negative affinity."
Anyway, thanks to that, the atmosphere was completely frigid.
I wasn't expecting a sweet, lovey-dovey mood, but I had hoped for something a little more friendly...
“Ahem, seeing as you called her sister earlier, do you two know each other?”
Their first names were similar, but their last names were different, so they couldn't be sisters.
I wasn't particularly curious, but I asked a question to break the awkward silence.
“Hanna and I were in the same unit before.”
“Same unit?”
“We had a connection from way back, so we're pretty close in the Sanctuary too.”
“What's the Sanctuary?”
“It's the space where we wait before being summoned as companions.”
Oh! So there's something like that.
Wait, if that's the system...
“Then do you happen to know Bio? He's about my height, black hair, kind of shabby clothes, and carries an old sword.”
“Did you just say Sir Bio??”
“How do you know Sir Bio?”
They both looked startled.
“He's my companion too.”
“That's shocking. To think someone like Sir Bio was summoned by a shameless person like you.”
Shameless? What are you talking about?
Anyone who didn't know better would think I'd done something terrible.
“Sir Bio is one of the top three highest-ranking individuals in the Sanctuary.”
“He's more approachable than the others and has a great personality, so he's very popular.”
That eccentric guy who threw me onto the 50th floor right at the start and confiscated my legendary weapon for 'lack of progress' is popular...?
“It's a wonder that guy is popular.”
“Even Hanna here likes Sir Bio—ack!”
*Thwack—*
Hanna smacked Rina on the back with the force of a Gold Lycanthrope's attack.
“What was that for? That hurt.”
Unlike her words, her expression didn't look hurt at all.
They both look delicate on the outside, but I guess heroic companions are heroic companions for a reason.
“Rina! I told you to keep that a secret.”
“What's the big deal? It's just us here.”
I... I'm here too?
Being treated like I'm invisible even here is a bit sad...
“Ahem, I heard it's incredibly difficult to summon Sir Bio, but you seem different.”
Seeing Hanna hastily change the subject with a flushed face, it seemed Rina wasn't just teasing her.
Lucky bastard.
“Excuse me?”
“Ah, I was just really lucky to be able to summon Bio.”
“Um, but Hyeon-ung, if you can summon Sir Bio, why did you summon us?”
I gave Hanna a brief explanation of the situation.
“Oh! So it's a system where the summoner gets stronger by summoning strong companions.”
“Still, don't you think confiscating your weapon was a bit much?”
Oh, surprisingly, Rina was taking my side.
“Sir Bio probably did it for your development, Hyeon-ung. You should try to understand.”
Hanna is unconditionally on Bio's side.
“Hey, mister. Then shouldn't you be summoning other companions instead of us?”
“Huh?”
“We're not on Sir Bio's level, but we're still pretty high-ranked in the Sanctuary.”
True, when I checked my status window earlier, my stats did go up by 20 each.
Of course, not all my stats went up like with Bio.
Only Strength, Stamina, Magic, and Luck went up by 20, excluding Agility.
Since there are two of them, it seems Hero-grade companions raise two types of stats by 20 each.
It's a good effect, but having already experienced a +100 to all stats, it doesn't seem that amazing.
But I'd feel anxious without even this.
“This is my first time in the labyrinth. I don't have any other companions.”
“Now that you mention it, that makes sense. The others said summoners usually stick together. Don't you have any friends, mister?”
...Should I just unsummon Rina?
I seriously considered it, but she was a healer, an essential position, and I figured leaving Hanna alone would just make her more wary, so I held back.
I explained that I summoned Hanna because I wanted to learn the sword and Rina because she's a healer. We came to an agreement that they would only step in when I was in danger.
By the way, it's strange that I haven't seen a single monster.
I want to run into a monster to check my current level of strength.
“Hanna, can you scout the area by any chance?”
“As long as it's not too far, yes. But there are no monsters around here.”
At this rate, I feel like I should just move on to the next floor.
I considered sending one of them back and summoning a companion with a pathfinding trait, but then I took a compass out of my inventory.
I learned this during the basic training.
In floors 1 to 10 of the labyrinth, the portal to the next floor always spawns on the north side.
I checked the direction, and thankfully, we were already heading north.
I walked and walked, talking with the two chattering women.
Still, since we now had a common topic—Bio—it wasn't as awkward as before.
After about ten more minutes of walking?
Hanna suddenly stopped.
“There's a monster about 500 meters to the northwest.”
I looked in the direction Hanna was pointing, but I couldn't see anything.
“Do you know what kind...”
“I can't tell the type. I'm not a mage. And it looks like it's already fighting something...”
“Ah, really? Then let's just keep going our way.”
I was taught that jumping into a fight that's already in progress is bad manners.
It could be a dangerous situation, but if not, I might get attacked for no reason, so it's best not to give them the chance.
We started walking north again, but after just a few minutes, Hanna stopped once more and placed her hand on the hilt of her sword.
This time, I didn't need to ask.
I could feel the ground vibrating, and I could see a group kicking up dust in the distance, heading our way.
“I'll handle this myself for now.”
I lowered my voice, trying to sound cool, and stepped forward.
To be honest, I wasn't that unconfident.
Bio was gone and my legendary weapon was confiscated, but I had other perks, and with heroic companions, my stats were incomparable to others at my level.
I drew my sword and waited, but soon, it became clear it wasn't a monster... but horses and people.
Two people were riding on a gray horse, and two on a brown one.
“What is it?”
“Run if you want to live!”
The man on the gray horse who shouted the warning sped past without giving me time to ask anything.
Why run all of a sudden?
Come to think of it, they looked kind of familiar.
*Neigh— Thud—*
I wondered what was happening, but the brown horse suddenly collapsed, and the two people riding it were thrown off.
The horse vanished the moment I approached; it seems it was unsummoned due to the shock of the fall.
When I got closer to the fallen people, I saw they both had youthful faces, and even considering the fall, they looked to be in terrible shape.
The man's clothes were almost completely torn, and he was bleeding from several places.
The girl's clothes were fine, but her skin was deathly pale, and she was unconscious.
I put my hand to her nose; it seemed she was still breathing...
“Are you okay?”
“Ugh...”
Looking closely, these people also seemed familiar... Ah! I remember.
They were the members of the temporary party that had invited me to join them before entering the labyrinth.
The person on the gray horse who passed by earlier must have been their leader, Hyeon-cheol or something.
Anyway, they looked to be in such bad shape that I was about to call Rina over to heal them, but Hanna was already beside me.
“Hyeon-ung, I think you should look ahead rather than at the injured.”
I turned my head and saw two massive green monsters approaching us.
Both of them looked to be about 3 to 4 meters tall, carrying huge clubs that must have been a meter long, and their entire bodies were flashing with a blue light.
“A... a floor boss?”
During the basic training, I'd heard that each floor of the labyrinth has a boss.
They drop at least Magic-grade items and give a lot of experience, but they're much stronger than normal monsters, so we were told to be careful.
I heard it was only worth trying when you had at least four parties where more than half the members had reached the floor's level cap.
Their characteristic feature is that blue flashing light, just like the ones in front of me...
But no one ever said two would appear.
“Floor boss? No, those look like Green Trolls.”
Hanna gave me a pathetic look. It seems summoned companions don't know about things like floor bosses.
So those are trolls.
They told us about monster types during the training, but they didn't show us any pictures.
In the first place, they only told us about monsters on the 7th floor and below, so pictures wouldn't have been much use anyway.
“There are two of them.”
I tried to act cool earlier, but two floor bosses was a bit much...
“Would you like some advice?”
“Please.”
“Green Trolls have excellent regeneration, so you must be careful.”
What amazing information.
Isn't it common knowledge that trolls have good regeneration?
And she calls this advice...
“What are you doing?”
“You call that advice? Is there anything else?”
“Green Trolls are one of the monsters that a knight's squires must hunt to be knighted.”
*Sigh*. I kind of felt this while we were talking on the way here, but it seems Hanna's brain is as simple as her face.
“Aren't you going? If a fight breaks out here, these two will get caught up in it.”
She wasn't offering to help, even now.
I did say I'd handle it myself, but since there were two, couldn't she at least offer to take one?
I gripped my sword and charged forward.
*Thwack— Thwack—*
As soon as I got close, they swung their clubs down, but it was surprisingly easy to dodge.
They were quite fast for their size, but compared to the speed of the Gold Lycanthrope I fought on the 50th floor, it was child's play.
Of course, I can't move with the same speed as back then, but my eyes don't seem to have been downgraded much.
My combat experience also remains intact, so predicting their trajectories and dodging made me think this was more manageable than I expected.
*Thwack— Thwack—*
Their weapon-swinging pattern seemed a bit simple, too.
Even if they were floor bosses, they didn't seem to escape the limitations of low-floor monsters.
Well, Hanna did say they were monsters hunted by squires, not knights.
They didn't even have that killing intent the Gold Lycanthrope radiated at first.
I didn't feel scared looking at them.
In fact, just as I was thinking Hanna hitting Rina earlier seemed far more threatening, I spotted an opening.
One of them was repositioning because it didn't have a good angle to attack—this was the perfect chance.
I slashed my sword at the arm of the other one as it was retracting its club.
*Clang—*
Dammit!
The feeling and the sound were both off.
The sword broke in two.
I was only thinking about my stats and failed to consider the sword's sharpness or durability. This was the natural result.
When I used Kalisina's Fang, I never had to worry about it not cutting or breaking... Whoa!
*Thud—*
If I hadn't rolled away quickly, I would have been flattened like a pancake.
*Thwack— Thwack—*
“My weapon broke! A little help here!”
I shouted while dodging the barrage of clubs, but there was no sign of movement from behind me. It seems my voice was drowned out by the noise.
I never had to worry about durability when using Kalisina's Fang. I resent Bio for this.
When you think about it, that legendary weapon was mine, so it was part of my strength...
*Thwack— Thwack— Thwack— Thwack—*
This isn't the time to be thinking about Bio, who isn't even here.
They don't seem like berserkers, but maybe they're getting excited because I keep dodging so well. The speed of their clubs feels like it's increasing.
It's not like I'm out of options, but I can't just keep dodging forever.
I wonder if this will work, but now is the time for action, not thought.
*Thwack— Thwack—*
I dodged the clubs raining down again.
Unlike before, I didn't back away; I dove inward.
As expected, the club was too big for it to get a good stance. The troll in front threw its club and swung a fist, but I dodged that too and leaped.
My jumping power was better than I thought, which surprised me a little, but that's a good thing.
No sword?
Then I'll beat it with my fists!
I slammed an uppercut into the creature's jaw.
*Pow— Thud—*
A solid impact, and it went down.
[You have defeated the 8th Floor Boss, Green Troll Bart.]
Huh?
A... a one-hit KO?