Chapter 41 Routine 2

*Screeech* *Croak* *Screeech* *Gruuuh* *Screeech* *Croak* *Screeech* *Gruuuh*

Several groans from the dying monster were heard as Maria thinned out the monster as they approached. And after several seconds, the rapidly approaching monster finally grouped up together in a group of 30.

Clarice: "It's my time to shine!"

She finally got the chance to strike, so that did. She used her skill [Lightning rush] to immediately confront the two frontmost monsters.

Clarice: "Hyaah!"

*Croak* *Croak*

With a single slice from her sword using her [Blade waltz], the sword passed through the monster's body like a butter, bisecting them horizontally. Right after, she preemptively blocked any incoming attack from the other monster using her shield.

*thuck* *block* *block* *block*

Several tongue-like attacks were successfully blocked, but after she lowered her shield, another monster pounced in her direction. Thankfully, an invincible wall blocked its approach.

Clarice: "Thanks Maria, I owe you one!" She said loudly.

Maria: "FOCUS UP!" She replied.

With that, she held on until her weapon passive finally stacked up for some time before unleashing her ultimate combo. Meanwhile, Maria was on the back, being protected by an [Earth puppet] from any attacks. This, however, was a full-proof protection since she still had to kill the approaching monsters herself. One rabid bandicota successfully bypassed the [Earth puppet] just to be obliterated by an [Wind punch] that Maria channeled preemptively.

Nicholas: "Shouldn't Maria just go fight in the front if her skill is already that powerful?"

He couldn't help but comment when he saw that attack from her [Wind Punch] can already obliterate the bandicota out of existence. Nicholas was just supporting both of them in front of Maria; he was personally manipulating the [Earth puppet] and throwing stone daggers at some unsuspecting monsters.

After a few minutes of battle, Clarice finally stacked up her parry count and began to use her domain skill [Rose Garden of Death]. A field of fiery meadow with a red-colored grass and flower began blooming within her field of range. The atmosphere heated up and turned reddish, but it didn't subtract from the beautiful environment that emerged from a single skill. This skill was way bigger and magnificent when she used it a year before; it was a testament to Clarice's training and honing herself. Maria, who felt the heat, realized that Clarice had begun her offensive and decided to fully support her by handling monsters in her blind spots and covering her sometimes with a [Wind barrier] or [Ice wall] if absolutely necessary.

Clarice began her slaughter with her increased stats for her weapon passive; she began to overpower the monsters. The monsters numbers began to dwindle, until the ones still hiding in the pool of water began to appear. But even then, the monster just kept getting killed in an instant with Clarice's inhumanly fast speed and fiery imbued attacks.

The battle was a bit one-sided after Clarice began her assault in earnest, ending the confrontation a few minutes just after she used her domain skill and the support from Nicholas and Maria. The battlefield was riddled with monster corpses, so Nicholas and his team began to collect the useful materials in the monsters. After that, they again began their march to reach the end of the marsh and kill the boss at the end.

The view of the marsh was surreal, like the other dungeon that Nicholas explored; it felt like a different world if they didn't know that it was just a small area locked in space. They collected some dungeon materials, such as herbs and plants, along their journey aside from killing monsters that they encountered.

Their journey to the end of the marsh was pretty smooth; well, that was expected since Nicholas already studied the intel about this dungeon multiple times. Actually, many awakeners and adventurers had explored this dungeon without prior knowledge and succumbed to the cruel nature of this dungeon.

Maria: "I can already see the clearing where the boss is... Thank goddess..."

Nicholas: "Well, this is it."

The path they took only took a few hours in distance, if not counting the enemy encounters. They arrived at the end of the path; what lay ahead was an open space surrounded by dead trees and the boss itself.

The boss was sleeping in a crouched position. Its face had a snout and a pair of tusks like a boar. Its skin is colored with maroon and cream stripes, and its body is partially covered of hair with thick, needle-like consistency, which is colored purple. Those needle-like hairs are definitely toxic and will poison anything that comes into contact with them.

Clarice: "Do you need any help?"

Maria: "No, I can handle this. I think."

Maria actually requested both Nicholas and Clarice to just observe the battle since she wanted to test her martial arts skills. She has been practicing and improving her martial art even before she started learning magic skills. She had used it in combat and sparring sessions multiple times, but she still felt lacking since she often used it in defensive and barely used it in actual offensive combat. She felt that she lacked the tension and experience that a real-life battle gives with pure close combat.

Nicholas: "Good luck; I know you can do it."

After saying that, both Nicholas and Clarice went to a rocky part of the clearing where they could use the large boulders as a seat. Nicholas then used his [Earth manipulation] again to harden the muddy ground to make a more stable base for them before taking a seat.

---

She prepared herself by doing a bit of light stretching and some breathing exercises to calm her raging nerve.

Maria: *breath in* *breath out* *breath in* *breath out* A small fog came of her breath.

She began to remove her mage robe, revealing the toned athletic body underneath the baggy robe she often wears.

Maria: "It is a bit colder than I expected; I should get warmed up first before the battle."

After getting warmed up, Maria began to walk to the boss, who was just ahead and had already woken up from her presence.

*ROOOAR* The huge boar roared, which slightly tingled on Maria's ear.

Maria: "This is it."

She dashed head-on to the boss with swift and grounded strides; the boss did the same with its large hoof and its huge pointed tusk directed at her, trying to impale her with it.

10 meter... 5 meters... 1 meter...

In a fraction of a second, both of them are already almost in contact. The boss swiped its head to add force to its almost unstoppable attack, but Maria immediately changed her direction while simultaneously using [wind siphon] on her left to increase her speed of turn. She successfully dodged the charge from the boss with just a nick of time, letting her have an opportunity to immediately counter with a [Wind punch] to tendon on its front leg.

*Quuuuueeee* The boss cried in pain to a direct attack to its weak point. But it quickly recovered and decided counter with a head swipe to Maria's current direction.

Maria, who anticipated the boss's counter, preemptively used the [Ice Wall] to block the attack. However, the sturdiness of the ice wall was just not enough, so the boss easily broke it without much effort with its powerful headbutt.

Maria: "Tsk"

She verbally voiced her irritation since she did not expect that the boss could still produce such a powerful attack without charging for a while. Maria had jumped back several centimeters to dodge the hard swipe from the boss and quickly proceeded to circle around the boss, taking advantage of its already injured leg.

*Boom* *Baaam* *Baaam* *Boom* *Baaam* *Baaam* 

The boar was fast with head-on attacks and its swipe, but it was definitely slow in turning and gaining momentum. So, she decided to exploit its weakness and began to target its hind legs.

*Boom* *Baaam* *Squueeeel*

She landed another successful hit, which made the boss cry in pain. Since it was a successful tactic, Maria decided to continue this approach by dodging the boars tail swipe or headbutt and countering when necessary. The two traded blows for a couple of minutes, Maria hitting the boar on opportune moments and dodging or blocking with ice wall if necessary.

Maria: *Huff huff*

Time passed by, and Maria's stamina began to tire out since she was constantly moving around so the boss couldn't hit her with a devastating attack. Her attacks did connect, but it took a few minutes to find a change to hit a critical spot and deal a lot of damage to the tough boar hide.

She realized that if this kind of battle continued, she would definitely tire out first before her opponent. She definitely needed to change her strategy, or she will definitely lose all of her stamina before she can defeat the boss. She backed off for a moment and began to think of a way to deal devastating damage to this boss, who had a tough exterior all over its body except with its weak points.

*ROOAR*

But the boss didn't let her take a bit of rest; the boss roared in anger, and its needle-like hairs started enlarging, bristling up and turning purple while shaking slightly. When Maria saw this, she already knew the attack that the boss would make and hurriedly used the wind barrier and ice wall together so she wouldn't become a barbeque with that kind of attack.

*Swish* *Swish* *Swish* *Swish* *Swish* *Swish* *Swish* *Swish* *Swish* 

A hail of needles was being bombarded in Maria's direction; the needles were fast and almost impossible to avoid due to their number. In addition, it has toxic tips, which will definitely poison someone who makes contact with it.

*Swish* *Swish* *Swish* *Swish* *Swish* *Swish* *Swish* *Swish* *Swish* *Swish* *Swish* *Swish* *Swish* *Swish* *Swish* *Swish* *Swish*

Maria: "Damn... In hindsight, backing off wasn't really a great strategy at all."

Then a voice from far away was heard by Maria.

Clarice: "Want some help? It looks like you're in big trouble." She smirked at Maria's distressing situation.

Maria: "No need! I can handle it on my own... Tsk!"

*Swish* *Swish* *Swish* *Swish* *Swish* *Swish* *Swish* *Swish* *Swish*

The boss's fur coming at Maria's wall looks like a rain of needles. Normally the boss wouldn't have been able to use this attack since the trio wouldn't have let it by the numerous slashes done by Clarice and Nicholas that the boss would accumulate, not letting it contract its skin to launch the projectiles.

She messed up and realized it too late. She should have used some [ice pike] to pierce the boars skin to prevent it from using it. But instead she was so focused on using martial arts to kill the boss. But now she has no option in this combat and could only retaliate by using her [ice pike] to combat the barrage of needles coming from the boss.

*Boom* *boom* *Boom* *boom* *Boom* *boom* *Boom* *ROOAR*

The boss was hit by multiple of Maria's [Ice Pike] since it didn't have anything to take cover for. It was furious, so it decided to charge directly to the ice wall that Maria was hiding, breaking it instantly with its powerful tusk. Maria, however, was long gone from the wall and already on its blind spot channeling her skill [Tornado].

Maria collapsed after that; it was her final attempt to defeat the boss. She learned her lesson, that