Chapter 38 Dungeon! 2

After Nicholas shouted his instruction, several glass-like structures rose from the ground, locking in almost 70% of the monsters they lured.

Clarice: "Let's go!"

She hyped herself up then rushed to the frontline, where the paralyzed monsters are located. Nicholas also followed suit, but he first used earth puppet skill to summon two puppets to protect Maria.

Nicholas: "Take care."

Maria: *nods* "Uh-huh."

As Nicholas arrived at Clarice's position and used [Nature's domain], this skill buffed both of them, giving them increased regeneration and speed within the area.

*puchi* *puchi* *puchi* *puchi* *puchi* *puchi* *puchi* *puchi* *puchi* *puchi*

They both quickly dispatched the batch of monsters that are paralyzed and helpless.

Maria: "Look out!" She yelled as she used her wind arrows to cover for them and distract the monsters that are coming for them.

*swish* *swish* *swish* *swish* *swish*

Nicholas: "Clarice, continue killing the paralyzed monster; I'll deal with the rest."

Clarice: "Uh-huh." She nodded to Nicholas's order.

Nicholas, on the other hand, dashed through the direction of the remaining monster that didn't get caught in their trap. He arrived at his first target, which is a snake-like creature.

[Clogger phyton Lv. 22]

[Power Level – 10,323]

This type of monster is quite agile, so Nicholas attacked it head-on, letting it attack him first so it cannot dodge when he counters the monster's direct attack. The snake pounced on him, trying to bite his leg; he, however, dodged it quickly by jumping upwards to a nearby wall. The snake doubled down on its attack and pounced again at the wall. *Puchi* *Puchi*

Nicholas took advantage of it being cornered to the wall and used his [Dagger throw] to deal a lethal blow while its escape options are limited and predictable. This attack resulted in the snake being plastered to the wall by his stone daggers he created using [Earth manipulation]. Next up, he rushed to his next target, which is a furry bear-like beast.

Meanwhile, Maria on the back was casting [Wind siphon] and [Wind cutter] on monsters inside the frozen prison, eliminating them one by one. She also helped Nicholas by casting several wind arrows sometimes to deter monsters from recklessly ganging up on him.

Three did their duties diligently, clearing the horde in just ten minutes. Clarice finished first and went to help Maria cleaning up the monsters trapped by her skill. Nicholas finished quickly right after dispatching the monster coming after him using his [bullet seed] skill. Their coordination was quite textbook and precise, ending their battle with the monster horde without any injuries, only minor scratches from Clarice.

Clarice: "Where to next, my liege?"

Maria: "Master, I suggest going for more enemies this time since we didn't even break a sweat in this encounter."

Nicholas: "Let's just collect the valuable parts in these dead monsters first; we will be repeating this tactic for the rest of the day. So don't worry about targeting larger or smaller groups; I think we should be able to clear this north-western part with our current pace."

So that's what they did for the rest of the day while still advancing to the castle located on the west bank of the dungeon. It took almost two hours for them to clear the hordes on the way to the castle, and they spent another hour clearing nearby monsters since they still had some remaining times before the end of the day.

Clarice: "Phew... That should be the last of it." She wiped the sweat from her forehead after a tiring battle with monsters.

Maria: "Yes, but we still have some free time. Should we go back to kill some monster, Master?"

Nicholas: "That should be enough for today; I still have something to do after. Let's kill the boss and have an early dinner."

Clarice: "YAY!! I want something cold to drink after leaving!"

Maria: "Roger Master"

The three of them proceeded to go to the castle gates to end the quest; they also could go back to the entrance of the portal to forfeit the dungeon quest and go home. But its too troublesome since the entrance of the dungeon was quite far away and the rewards for completing this dungeon are quite decent.

After a few minutes. They arrive at the gates of the castle, and it was blocked by the boss and its subordinates.

[Feral Beargle Lv.30]

[Power level – 21,300]

[Wild Bear Lv.21]

[Power level – 15,000]

The boss, which is the beargle, has a furry exterior and paw like a bear, walks bipedal, and has two deformed wings on its back. It can use wind elemental skill using its paws and can jump really high and glide around using its deformed wings on its back. It is considered dangerous to confront the boss head-on, but it was the recommended tactic since it would be far more dangerous to let it jump in the air and glide since it can use long-range attacks.

Nicholas: "Same plan as always."

Clarice: "Okay, let's get rid of the wings first."

Nicholas: "Maria will be doing it this time. Let's start; I'm already hungry. How about we go back to that tavern later?"

Clarice: "Mouu, fine. But you have to treat me my liege."

Nicholas: "Finee."

So, with their usual game plan, they approach the boss. Nicholas rushed directly to the boss and used the [Rain curtain] to obstruct its field of vision so that Maria could have an easier time hitting its wings.

Maria: "[Wind cutter]"

She cast several wind cutters in different angles to try and hit the boss if it made a mistake. But the boss didn't; it was able to dodge easily due to its agile nature. Maria already considered this, so at the right time she used [Wind siphon] on one of the wind cutters to change its direction, which successfully hit one of the bears wings and cut it all the way through.

Maria: "Tsk… I mistimed the wind siphon, unlucky."

Most of the time, Maria can most certainly hit both of the wings at the same time. This must be one of her unlucky days, she thought. Nevertheless, it was fine because cutting one of its wings is already good enough to incapacitate its flying ability. After hitting its wings, Maria also joined in the fight at the front.

Nicholas: "Good job," he said when he arrived when one of the boss wings was already on the ground. Normally, he would have to distract it first to successfully remove its wings.

Nicholas: *That's decent progress* he thought in his head.

*boom* *boom* *boom* *boom* *boom* *boom*

Nicholas and the bear traded blows with each other while Maria also got in the action. Nicholas was slashing through the boss's skin, wounding it little by little, and Maria often finds an opening using [Wind siphon] by redirecting the boss's attacks slightly from its path to create an opening.

*boom* *boom* *boom* *boom* *boom* *boom* *boom* *boom* *boom* *boom* *boom* *boom*

Meanwhile, Clarice was on mob duty. She was fighting the left, fighting the boss' subordinates, and can join after she finishes since Nicholas told her so. Its not the she minded; she also needs some time to ramp up her damage using her sword anyway.

Clarice: "Is that all you can do, teddy bears?" She began slashing the wild bears with grace and precision.

Nicholas and Maria were tag teaming the boss quite easily. Nicholas's attacks were straight forward and without dodging much since he can take the brunt of the bears attack with ease considering the difference in their power level. Maria, on the other hand, was focused on dodging while countering with her own skills when she got an opportunity. Sometimes she also used the [Wind barrier] when she could not dodge; the barrier itself was just enough to take one of the bears attacks before breaking.

The fight continued on a stalemate; in truth, Nicholas's full power can already one-shot the boss if he wants. But that was not the point; the main objective in this dungeon exploration was to gain experience and to train both Maria and Clarice so they could get stronger.

Maria's combo hit the boss's joint, which would hinder the boss's movement capability. Blow by blow, the boss slowed down slowly; she waited for the right opportunity to use a skill that the boss cannot dodge if it cannot move. When the time was right, she took the chance and began casting her skill [Ice Pike]. But before she could even cast her skill, a blue light passed through the bear to its back. Along with that light is a slight crackling noise, and then the bear head was decapitated from its body.

Maria: "Mou, what was that? Why did you steal my thunder, Clarice?" She pouted visibly irritated that Clarice stole her kill.

Clarice: "Ehe, I was just helping. We always kill this boss together." She scratched the back of her head, playing innocent of what she just did.

Maria: "Tsk. Well, I was so close to killing it without your help… If you didn't… Never mind… *sigh*" She wanted to say something but halted her words in time.

Clarice: "Come on, Maria, don't be too mad. How about I let you handle the boss alone with the young master next time?"

Clarice: "After I do it, of course. Teehee." She smiled slightly, trying to tease Maria.

Maria: "Youuuuu little..." Her face turning red in anger.

But Nicholas just came in time to break the two girls from fighting each other.

Nicholas: "Okay, okay, calm down. Stop bickering; we still have so much cleaning up to do."

Right after cleaning and looting, they finished their dungeon clear for today, which ended right before sunset. They visited the tavern they had lunched earlier and ate their dinner before separating.

…

At night

Nicholas was taking a bath. These past few months have passed by in a flash, and a lot of things happened. But, at the same time, it felt like nothing since there were no special events or big changes that happened these past few months in his life. He just kept reading about the history of the world and buying books relevant to the history. Sometimes pestering his father to pull some strings to get some books from the church station nearby. For sure, the church would have had much more wealth in knowledge about history than the Curtana's library. It was really quite taxing browsing through endless stories, books, and even poetry to learn about the history of this world without progress in his story quest.

Then today, an old, dilapidated book from the church arrived in his room. It was brought by one of the maids. He felt something about this book that would answer his question and would complete his story quest; there was a strange aura on it. He was excited by this, and he decided to read it later because he has a prior appointment after this.

It was about his new business proposal to her mother.