Chapter 54: Quratar Labyrinth-2

"There are quite a few people on this floor" Roxanne commented, sniffing the air.

"It's alright, I am using a sword right now, so we can just follow the route without avoiding other people" I said while adjusting my BP.

After Sherry checked the map, we started exploring the third floor, following her directions. Soon, we encountered two demons.

[Spi Spider Level 3]

[Spi Spider Level 3]

They were fucking Spiders! These demons were larger than an average dog, with menacing red eyes and disgusting black fur. They had six insect-like legs. I would have squealed aloud in terror, if this was me from five days ago. Though for Australians it would be just another day.

One Spider stood on the ground while the other clung to the Labyrinth Wall. They started running towards us as soon as we came near them. Leaving the ground one to them both, I sprinted towards the other one.

Anticipating its jump due to my 'Initial Movement Sense' skill, I performed a horizontal slash, cutting it in half while it was in air. Then I quickly backtracked towards the other Spider and bisected it as well. Good, this kind of abomination should be purged.

[String]

A single white string was left behind by each Spider. I stored the drops and we moved on.

Roxanne alerted us whenever there was a party ahead, allowing us to take alternate routes. As a result, it took us a bit longer to reach the Boss room.

We hardly encountered any Kobolds on this floor, but still it wasn't all that difficult especially when Naive Olives were involved.

I adjusted my BP in preparation for the Boss fight. Even though I didn't keep Alchemist as an active job, I would still temporarily equip it to use Plating skill on all of us before switching back. Mostly I am worried about Sherry as she is very low leveled. Still this Labyrinth is as easy as it could get.

As there was no other party in the waiting room, we entered straight into the Boss room.

As we entered the Boss room, a large amount of smoke was released on the other side of the room. As the smoke starts vanishing, the new Boss appears in front of us.

[Spice Spider]

Before us stood a massive spider, as large as a double bed. Its Abdomen was white, unlike the black color of Spi Spiders. With its menacing red eyes, it cried out and charged at us.

Roxanne goes forward and confronts it head-on. Meanwhile Sherry and I position ourselves on its sides. Before I can reach the Spider's side, the Spider and Roxanne start their battle.

From the corner of my eyes, I could see the Spider attack Roxanne simultaneously with its right and its left leg, Roxanne jumps back mid sprint and avoids the attack. Roxanne had a happy face right now, she truly loves fighting.

Moving swiftly to it's side, I attack its huge white abdomen with the Warrior Skill 'Rush'. This skill momentarily increases the attack speed of my Weapon. Sherry also jabbed the Spider's abdomen with her Spear.

The Spider ignores our attacks and swipes its legs at Roxanne. She expertly dodges both its legs by a hair's breadth and attacks its lower mouth with a slash.

Although I had the option to use the skill 'Overwhelming', I decided to employ 'Rush' again and attacked its abdomen once more.

It didn't die. Even after taking 2 of my attacks from Curtana, it didn't get cut in half. The Bosses are getting stronger.

The Spider still ignored my attacks and lunges forward at Roxanne trying to bite her with its mouth. Roxanne uses the shield to deflect its mouth and slashes the Spider's eyes with her Rapier.

Before the Spider could cry out, I slash out again with 'Rush', bisecting its abdomen in half. The Boss dissolves in smoke.

So it took three skill strikes to kill a Floor 3 Boss. The future fights will be getting harder from now on.

[Pepper]

I could see tiny peppercorns scattered after killing the Boss. The Spice Spider dropped a Spice, how shocking!

Even in this medieval age, Pepper is affordable because it can be obtained as a drop from low floored bosses. We store them in our Backpack and proceed to the next floor.

I adjust my BP while Sherry takes out the book for the new floor map.

"There are fewer people here than on the third floor, so I think we will be fine," Roxanne said to me.

She makes it sound as if we are criminals hiding from people, but all I told her was to ignore other people so we don't waste time.

"Master from this fourth floor, the maximum demons we may encounter would increase from 2 to 3" Sherry reminded me.

Yes, from the 4th floor, there can be a maximum of 3 demons, and from the 8th floor, there can be a maximum of 4 demons, and so on.

"Roxanne, try to find a group of 3 demons. We will each engage with a single demon and see how that configuration works" I instructed both of them.

"Leave it to me" Roxanne replied confidently

We explore ahead following Sherry's route and Roxanne's nose. Soon, we encounter a group of 3 demons.

[Cheep Sheep Level 4]

They were sheeps with white fur and curved horns. Despite their normal Sheep size, their ferocious expressions gave them a demonic appearance.

"Baaaaa"

With a cry, all the three sheeps charged straight at us with their curved horns. It was good that all of them weren't coming at us in a straight line, or else it would have been nearly impossible to dodge them in this narrow passage.

I telepathically communicated the plan with them and rushed towards the foremost Sheep. I sidestepped its charge and slashed its body. Surprisingly, it didn't go down in a single swing of my Curtana.

Roxanne advanced forward with Sherry just behind her. Two Cheep Sheeps were coming straight at them one after the other.

Roxanne uses her shield and deflects the front Sheep's body to the side while slashing its body. The second Sheep crashed into the deflected one. Sherry and Roxanne use this chance to attack both of them.

Although I was momentarily stunned by my opponent not falling in a single blow, I managed to react to the back kick of the Sheep and dodged to the side. I slash at the sheep again and this time I was able to cut through its body in half and make it disappear in smoke.

I proceeded to join Roxanne and Sherry in the fight ahead, where Roxanne was managing both the sheeps easily on her own while Sherry attacked from the side. Together, we defeat them shortly.

I knew this would happen, where there would be a floor where my one-strike streak would end. I think it's time to start using Magic, as a multi-hit attack is necessary from this point on.

[Sheep's Wool]

Small rolls of Sheep's Wool were dropped by the demons. I picked one up, but it didn't feel as soft as the Rabbit's fur. We stored all of them inside our Backpack.

"Well, that didn't go so badly" I remarked

"Roxanne-san alone was able to distract 2 demons easily, so I didn't have a hard time" Sherry promptly clarified.

"They only charge straight ahead blindly, so it's easy to avoid them. You can do it too, Sherry" Roxanne replied with a smile.

Seeing Sherry's wry smile, I changed the topic. "I will be using Magic from now on, so let's be careful and not let anyone see us" I said while bringing out my Steel cane, "And the last configuration worked, so we will continue with the same setup, Roxanne and Sherry will take two demons, and I will handle one"

"Okay, Master" Roxanne replied with a confident smile.

Seeing Sherry nod as well, we continued our exploration. Soon, we come across another group of demons.

[Cheep Sheep Level 4]

[Naive Olive Level 4]

[Kobold Level 4]

Lower floor demons can appear on the Upper Floors, although their population is considerably less compared to the demons specific to that floor. So, even though Kobolds were found on Floor 1, and Naive Olives on Floor 2, they can also be found on this 4th Floor.

As soon as I saw the demons from afar. I unleashed a 'Firestorm'. All three demons started burning ablaze in the magical fire. Despite being on fire, they continued to move towards us.

We took a few steps back as I casted a second 'Firestorm' as soon as the first spell's duration ended. The Kobold and Naive Olive burned and dissolved into smoke, but the third demon still charged towards us.

A flaming Sheep trying to ram into you, the scene looked demonic as hell. It reached us, but I sidestepped it easily. Roxanne and Sherry both attacked the flaming Sheep.

The spell's duration ended and I pointed my Cane at it.

'Fireball'

The Fireball instantly blasted the Sheep, resulting in its demise.

The Level 4 Cheep Sheep took 3 spells, it must be because of my Wizard Job leveling up as well as my new Steel Cane. The Level 4 Naive Olive is a plant type demon, so by Pokemon logic it should be weak to Fire spells, and so it was taken down in 2 Spells.

Lastly I am surprised that Level 4 Kobold was able to survive the first blow. All jokes aside, Kobolds are weak to every magic spell so it only took 2 spells to eliminate it.

We pick up the drops and move on. During our exploration, we hardly came across groups of 3 monsters. As I defeated a Single Cheep Sheep, I noticed a new drop.

[Sheep's Meat]

Roxanne told me that just like Rabbit's Meat, this one is a Rare drop.

"Master it's Sunrise right now" Roxanne informed me as I stored the meat in our Backpack.

"How far are we from the Boss, Sherry?" I asked.

"It's very near, we are almost there," Sherry replied after contemplating for a moment.

She must have really memorized the map of this floor in that short amount of time.

"Okay then let's defeat the Boss and return home for breakfast" I announced to both of them.

We continue down the path and arrive in front of the Boss room. This one also didn't have any other party in the waiting room. I started to adjust my BP.

"Master, this Boss is probably the Beep Sheep, and it has a very nasty Sleep Skill" Sherry informed me with concern.

"Don't worry, my sword has an Incantation Interruption Skill, so just leave it to me" I reassured Sherry while showing her Curtana. That is one of the main reasons why I am not relying on Magic in this fight.

The skill would probably have no effect on me due to the skill I got in Monk Level up reward, 'Tranquil State'. It should activate as soon as the skill is used on me and neutralize it, don't know if there will be a delay during all of this.

But the Boss could use that Sleep skill on any of us three, so if it's used on Sherry or Roxanne then they would immediately fall asleep and then they could be harmed by the Boss. That's why I would still need to Interrupt the Skill before it's cast.

We enter the Boss room and the Boss materializes in front of us in a puff of smoke.

[Beep Sheep Level 4]

The Boss was enormous, it towered over us like an Adult does over children. The last Boss was big but it wasn't this tall, this Beep Sheep didn't just have the previous Boss's' size but was also almost double my height.

Apart from its size, its appearance closely resembled that of a Cheep Sheep. It also had another pair of Straight horns on its head and the color of all its four horns were yellow in contrast with the normal Cheep Sheep's brown horn. It looked like a Demonic creature from Hell.

"Baaaaa!"

With a familiar cry, the Boss rushed towards us intent on skewering us with its horns. Roxanne confronts it head-on, while Sherry and I circle to its sides. Roxanne attacks the sheep's face while dodging its horn strike.

I use 'Rush' and attack the middle part of the Sheep's body. It felt as if I was attacking cotton, which by seeing all the wool covering the Sheep might just be true.

The Beep Sheep plunges at Roxanne in an attempt to crush her underneath its hooves, but she agilely performs a backflip evading the attack. I followed up with another 'Rush', slashing at the Boss but it ignored my strike.

Suddenly, the Sheep emitted a peculiar sound.

"Bliiiiiiiiiii!"

An orange spell formation starts forming near its feet. I was ready for this very moment from the start, so with another 'Rush', I slash my Curtana at the Sheep's body, and the spell formation dissipates.

Despite this being my third skill strike with Curtana, the Boss didn't die.

I noticed the Sheep bending its rear leg, and my 'Initial Movement Sense' skill warned me that it was about to launch a kick. Such a powerful kick could easily pierce through a normal human's body, so I jumped back to evade it.

However, the kick never came, and the orange spell formation reappeared under the Sheep's feet. I was tricked! It was a feint, all the Boss wanted to do was to use the skill, so it baited me with a kick.

I need to improve my ability to identify feints, or else it would be a big weakness of mine due to the 'Initial Movement Sense' skill. Nevertheless, I needed to concentrate on this current predicament.

I had jumped a bit far from the Boss and I don't know if I would be able to reach within the range by using 'Overwhelming' before the Boss uses its spell. So, I resorted to my Plan B.

'Location Swap'

I swiftly swapped my position with Sherry, who was on the other side of the Boss. Now within reach, I use 'Rush' and strike the Boss, interrupting the spell again.

"Baaaaa!!"

Enraged, the Sheep ignores Roxanne and changes its position, pointing its horn towards me. It launches a rear kick at Roxanne but she easily avoids it by leaning back and even manages to slash at the leg as it's stretched out.

Roxanne's movements are akin to a dance, her center of gravity is always close to the ground, so she can dodge the attacks by swaying, while remaining close to the target for a counterattack.

The Boss charges straight at me, disregarding Sherry's attack from the side. I swiftly dodge to the side and use 'Rush' slashing my Sword at its stomach.

Because it missed me, the Boss stops its dash and spins around preparing another ramming attack. Instead of waiting, I closed the distance between us, and was already near its face when it spun towards me.

Using 'Rush', I strike the Sheep's neck, this time I don't feel any softness or resistance and my Curtana tears up its vulnerable neck cleanly.

Finally the Boss was defeated and it dissolved in smoke.