Chapter 717: The Turtle's Den
Chapter 717: The Turtle's Den
The creature’s attitude almost seemed to mock our previous attack.
No, that was just my impression. I had no way of knowing for sure.
It’s not like I could read a turtle’s facial expressions.
I may have gotten good at reading poker faces thanks to Vanessa, but that thing was on another level.
“…So you want a real fight.”
Regardless, the turtle’s demeanor was more than enough to ignite a cold fury in our dear Hero.
She’d never met an enemy that her attacks couldn’t damage, and she had her pride as the party’s main damage dealer.
“If you’re that eager to die, I’ll grant your wish.”
Sara muttered this with a chilling expression that was, I admit, a little scary. She drew her bowstring once more.
Her face was cold, but her eyes blazed with fire, making her all the more terrifying.
It’s something I’m always thinking, but it hit me again just then: I should never, ever do anything to make Sara truly angry.
In any case, a piercing blue mana began to gather on the bow of a now-provoked Sara.
Just how much mana was she gathering? The mass of energy on her bow soon grew beyond the size of an arrow, approaching the size of a spear.
Maybe it was just my imagination, but even the turtle seemed to flinch at the sight of the mana sphere notched on Sara’s bow.
‘Wait. Just because I provoked you a little, you’re going to go that far? Seriously?’
If the turtle could talk, that’s probably what it would have said.
But you see, our Hero does, in fact, go that far. You picked a fight with the wrong person.
Just as I clasped my hands and offered a silent prayer for the turtle, a massive mana sphere shot forth from Sara’s arrow.
Contrary to the immense power it contained, the sphere flew without a sound, instantly washing our vision in pure white before vanishing.
The light was so blinding that I closed my eyes. When I opened them again, the turtle was gone, leaving no trace behind.
“Hmph. It was nothing.”
Having erased the turtle from existence, Sara muttered triumphantly, as if to say, “How was that?”
Moments like these really drive home the fact that she’s the youngest among us.
“…No, Hero-nim. I know, but still. You can’t just obliterate it so completely that not even the magic stone is left.”
Even as I thought this, I found myself speaking formally without even realizing it.
“…Why are you suddenly using formal speech?”
“Oh. Uh, no reason. Just because. Yeah. Sorry.”
So when Sara occasionally hits me with a mana-infused hand, she’s actually holding back a lot.
I’ll say it again: I must never make her genuinely angry.
“Anyway, forget the magic stone. Are you okay on mana after using that much?”
“I’m fine. I took my time to properly refine the mana before I shot. I fired it as efficiently as possible, so I’m still good.”
She was right. Despite it being the most powerful attack I’d ever seen from her, Sara didn’t look particularly tired.
Refining mana for efficiency… where did she even learn to do that?
Come to think of it, she’d been infusing her arrows with mana since she was at an incredibly low level.
Like me, most people who aren’t mages can only infuse their weapons with mana after their first class change.
Is this also the power of a Hero? The more I see it, the more I realize what a broken job it is.
Well, from what I heard from that tra… a… ash…? Anyway, from what that other Hero told me, the Hero job is blessed by the War God.
I guess being overpowered in combat is just part of the package.
“But this is the first time we’ve encountered a monster in a passage. Have we just been lucky until now, or is this a common occurrence?” Leia wondered aloud, placing a hand on her cheek and tilting her head slightly.
“No, I don’t think so, but… Diana, what do you think?”
“Hmm. Hmmm…”
While vaguely disagreeing with Leia, I wasn’t certain, so I passed the question to Diana, who had the most dungeon experience among us.
But for some reason, Diana had a hand on her chin, staring intently at the spot where the turtle had been, lost in deep thought.
“Diana?”
“Hm? Oh? Ah, no. To my knowledge, monsters have never appeared in the passages between floors. It would be reasonable to assume we are already on the 4.5th Floor.”
Only after I called her name a second time did Diana finally look up and give her answer.
“I see. I did think the passage was unnecessarily long. I wonder when we actually entered the 4.5th Floor.”
“Still, if this is the 4.5th Floor, that means we won’t have to go back into the water,” Matilda said, smiling as she approached me, seemingly delighted by the mere fact that she wouldn’t have to return to an aquatic life.
I reflexively took a step back.
“…What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. It’s just… you’re not in your pink mode right now, are you?”
“…Even I get my feelings hurt by that kind of reaction.”
“S-Sorry. We’re in a dungeon, so I thought it’d be best to be careful.”
“Fufu. Then as punishment, you have to let me link arms with you until we meet the next monster…”
“You are in pink mode, aren’t you?!”
“I-I’m kidding.”
Liar. I could see the hearts in your eyes.
This is what happens the moment she thinks it’s even a little bit safe.
However, the fact that Matilda, who could control herself when truly necessary, was acting this way could also be taken as a sign that this 4.5th Floor was relatively safe.
The 4.5th Floor… I guess I’ll call it the Turtle’s Den from now on.
If this Turtle’s Den continued to be indistinguishable from a passage, it meant that unlike other floors, we wouldn’t have to be on guard in all directions. We would only need to pay attention to monsters in front of us.
Of course, that also meant it was a terrain where escape was impossible if a battle broke out. But the monsters here were turtles that wouldn’t even think of attacking unless we approached them.
So far, the sub-layers had always featured only one type of monster. This floor would probably only have turtles like the one we just saw.
If that was the case, there was no need to run, and there was practically no risk of being attacked.
When I thought about it like that, wasn’t this an anticlimactically easy floor?
Then again, maybe it just felt easy because our Hero’s attack power was off the charts for a place like this.
Other adventurers would probably have a very hard time piercing that turtle’s defense.
For typical adventurers, following the Ice Cave where the monsters’ attack power was tricky, now came the Turtle’s Den, where the monsters’ defense was the problem.
“In any case, if it stays like this, it’s a blessing for us. Shall we keep going?”
Since Sara had erased the turtle without leaving even a magic stone, there was nothing to collect, and we continued on our way.
After walking a short distance, we came to a fork in the path.
One path went straight ahead, the other turned to the right.
“I guess it’s not that easy after all. It seems to be a maze-like terrain. Well, even so, for me…”
Just as I said that, the path straight ahead was suddenly blocked by mossy stone.
A turtle hadn’t popped out. The path had simply, purely, become a wall.
Just in case, I checked the map, and sure enough, the path ahead was now gone.
Who could blame me for instinctively shooting Sara a dubious look?
“What?”
“Nothing.”
You’re scary, that’s what.
When we sent Alicia’s party back yesterday, couldn’t she have just made a path with a single arrow instead of having Diana use magic?
Well, Diana did have other intentions, so she deliberately used an unnecessarily powerful spell, but still.
In any case, after that brief incident, it turned out I wasn’t wrong about this Turtle’s Den being a winding, branching maze.
After walking a little further, we came to a real fork in the road.
We chose one path and proceeded, only to find it blocked.
Of course, just like before, it was a turtle blocking the way.
This turtle’s shell was ridiculously similar to the cave walls; you couldn’t even tell the difference if you didn’t look closely.
“My turn again.”
“Go easy on it this time. Easy. At least leave the magic stone.”
“I know, I know. I just put a little extra into it last time because I couldn’t gauge its defense.”
As Sara and I had this utterly tension-free conversation, Diana suddenly shook her head and stepped between us.
“No. Leave this one to me.”
“Huh? You, Diana?”
Of course, Diana could defeat the turtle without any trouble.
In fact, if she wanted to, she could probably do it more efficiently than Sara.
Sara might be our party’s main damage dealer, but that was only because Diana didn’t participate in attacks during normal combat.
No matter how broken the Hero job was, a still-growing Sara couldn’t possibly be stronger than the world’s greatest Archmage, who was complete in every aspect except for her level.
So I had no doubt that Diana could defeat the turtle, but I couldn’t help but wonder.
Diana, who preferred to conserve her mana unless it was a crisis, was suddenly stepping up. Why?
Surely she wasn’t jealous of Sara’s performance and wanted a moment in the spotlight for herself.
She might act childish and cute in front of me, but at her core, she was a mature and intelligent Archmage.
She wouldn’t compete over something like that like a real child.
“Hmm. There is something I wish to test.”
“Ah, is it related to what you were thinking about so hard earlier?”
Hearing her words, I remembered how she had been lost in thought before.
“Mm. Indeed.”
Seemingly pleased that I had been observing her so closely, Diana gave a slight smile and a nod before turning back to the turtle with a serious expression.
“Silvia. Could you stand ready at the front in case of an emergency?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
What’s more, for some reason, Diana positioned Silvia at the very front of the party.
Silvia, for her part, gripped her shield tightly and stood firm before us.
Considering we had just seen the turtle do nothing at all, one might have found this a bit strange.
But having been indebted to Diana in her youth, Silvia’s trust in her was incredibly deep.
With our formation set for battle, Diana created several glowing orbs of mana in the air without any incantation.
I’d seen it before. Yes, it was the same magic she used to save us from the wolfdogs back then.
Had she already leveled up enough to use this magic again?
As I was getting a little lost in nostalgia, the mana orbs shot toward the turtle.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Perhaps taking into account the power of Sara’s attacks against the first turtle, each of the magic orbs struck the turtle’s body with a heavier impact than Sara’s normal attacks.
The turtle, surprisingly agile for its appearance, blocked every attack with its shell, but it still seemed to stagger slightly from the impact.
Then again, that also meant it hadn’t fallen even after taking all those hits.
“Hmm.”
But Diana, as if she had expected this, calmly created more mana orbs around her.
This time, there were far more than before—so many I couldn’t even count them.
And instead of firing them all at once, Diana began to launch them one by one, in sequence.
It was as if she were testing just how many hits the turtle could withstand.
For several seconds, a sound like a machine gun firing echoed through the cave as the mana orbs slammed into the turtle’s body one after another.
It had already been hit by dozens of orbs, and just as I thought the creature must be nearing its limit, something about it changed.
The turtle, which had been placid until now, began to glare at us with eyes that had gone wild with rage.