Chapter 24: Skill Selection, Part 2
We delved deeper and deeper into the dungeon, searching for the next Skill Mage.
Perhaps they’re highly cautious monsters, as we couldn’t find many.
“Ah! There’s one…!”
We found another one right away!
It’s at a good distance, so I want to finish it off with the new skill I acquired.
“Air Slash—!”
I unleashed the skill!
—Zshaaa!
With that sound, a shockwave shot out from my sword, racing across the ground!
“Kyui…?!”
However, the Skill Mage deftly dodged it.
“Damn it… It’s not that easy to hit, huh!”
As if to say it was its turn next, the Skill Mage unleashed a spell.
The previous one used fireballs, but this one’s using lightning magic.
—Bzzzzzzzt!
A tremendous sound erupted as lightning crackled forth.
“Loin! Leave it to me!”
“Claris!”
She leaped in front of me and skillfully blocked the lightning.
As expected of a Shield-bearer, she specializes in protecting her allies.
“Loin, I’ll draw its attention! Hit it with Air Slash in the meantime!”
“…! Alright, got it…!”
Claris moved a short distance away from me and raised her shield high!
Then, she unleashed a skill only Shield-bearers can use!
“Provocation (Appeal)—!”
Instantly, the Skill Mage’s gaze was drawn to Claris.
It was as if I wasn’t even there.
As if it had completely forgotten about me, the Skill Mage started raging at Claris.
“Kyui! Kyui! Kyuiiii!”
And then, as if it had lost its mind, it repeatedly fired lightning bolts at Claris.
—Bzzzt! Bzzzt! Bzzzzzzzzzt!
“Loin! Now!”
“Alright! Got it! Air Slash—!”
I unleashed the shockwave once more!
This time, it flew straight and true, striking the Skill Mage!
It was so engrossed in attacking Claris with magic that it hadn’t noticed me!
“Kyui?!”
By the time it noticed, it was too late.
With no time to dodge, Air Slash split it in two—!
—ZSHAAAAAAA!
“We did it!”
“Yeah! Claris, that was great teamwork!”
We ran up to each other and high-fived.
Now then, of course, a Skill Book should have dropped this time too.
I’m looking forward to Claris’s reaction.
“Loin, I’m going to win this bet next time!”
“Alright… Do as you please! If I lose, I’ll do anything you want!”
“Eh…! No way! Anything…?!”
“Ah, nothing lewd, okay?”
“…Hey, who said anything like that!”
Claris denied it, her face turning a little red.
I felt like I’d seen a glimpse of her true self, and I couldn’t help but think she was cute.
“Well now… It’s the long-awaited drop item.”
“Again…? There’s no way it’d drop twice in a row so easily… Wha- Eeeeeeeeeeeh?!”
“Heh heh, looks like I win again.”
“W-Wait, wh-what’s going on…?!”
“Well, you see…”
I took the opportunity to explain my ability.
Well, seeing Claris’s surprised face and her cute side was enough, so I guess we can call the bet off.
“Hey… That’s not fair!!”
“Haha… Sorry, sorry. We can forget about the bet.”
“But… even so, that’s an amazing ability…”
“Well, yeah… Thanks to it, I haven’t had too many troubles.”
And so, I checked the contents of the Skill Book.
It was stained with blood, so I wiped the text with my sleeve and read it.
“Let’s see…”
【Shield Beam Scroll】
Rarity ★★★★★★★
Drop Rate ???
Description: Allows learning of Shield Beam.
Single use only.
“Oh, looks like it’s a shield skill.”
“Eh, really…?!”
“Here, try using it.”
“A-Are you really sure…? Y-You’re not going to charge me for it later or…”
“Nope, nope…”
I handed the 【Shield Beam Scroll】 to Claris.
Unfortunately, I like my current weapon, and I have no intention of using a shield.
My Attack power is already low as it is; there’s no way I’d go out of my way to carry a shield.
“Hiyah!”
When Claris used the scroll, it immediately turned to ash and vanished, just like before.
The fact that they disappear after a single use suggests that skills are quite valuable.
No wonder everyone pays a fortune to buy them…
“Well then, I’ll try… using it, okay?”
“Sure.”
Claris immediately readied her shield, faced a rock, and shouted!
“Shield Beam—!”
—Shuuuuuuu.
—Kyuinn kyuinn kyuuueeen.
—ZDOOOOM!
—DOGOON!
Amazingly, after a few seconds, something like a beam of light shot out from her shield and was unleashed towards the rock.
And it smashed the rock to smithereens…
“Whoa, whoa… Isn’t this pretty strong…?”
In terms of power alone, it’s destructive enough that you wouldn’t think it came from a Shield-bearer.
With this, she could put out considerable firepower even on her own.
“What do you think… It has a pretty big opening…”
True, there’s a lag of a few seconds before the beam fires.
Besides, there probably aren’t many situations where a Shield-bearer would fight at long range.
Furthermore, it’s not like the enemy will just stand still and wait for you.
“But, if you choose the right moment to use it, it could be a powerful trump card.”
“Yeah, you’re right. Think of it like a special move.”
After that, we continued to hunt Skill Mages relentlessly.
We were getting pretty tired, so we left the volcano in the evening.
“Hah… That was quite an adventure, wasn’t it…”
“Well, yeah. It was hot, and we couldn’t find many enemies…”
“”But…””
Yes, in just one day, we’d obtained a considerable haul.
A grand total of fifteen Skill Books—.
With this many, we won’t have any trouble for a while.
“Well then, shall we head back to the hotel and open them right away?”
“Yeah, let’s do that.”
After that last Skill Book, we decided to focus solely on collecting them and not look at their contents.
Hunting Skill Mages was already a piece of cake by then.
Rather than checking them, we concentrated on gathering as many as possible.
Thanks to that, we collected fifteen Skill Books.
Opening these at the hotel is the last bit of fun for today.
We had booked a hotel in a town near Death Ruler Volcano.
We figured collecting Skill Books would take several days.
Well, fortunately, it was a pretty good haul.
But, depending on the skills inside, we might consider diving back in a few more times.
Upon arriving at the hotel, the first thing Claris exclaimed was—
“…Hey, why did you only book one roooooooom?!”
“Ah—sorry… I was originally planning to travel completely alone…”
This has become quite a predicament…
This area happens to overlap with a tourist spot, so there are no hotels available on short notice.
“W-Well… it’s fine, I guess!”
“Huh…?”
“I… don’t dislike you, Loin… or anything…”
“Huh…?”
This is… going to get pretty complicated, isn’t it…?
First off, I have a fairly close relationship with Salina-san.
But well, neither of us has said anything about actually dating.
What… should I do in this situation…?
Of course, I respect Salina-san and I’m grateful to her.
I also think she’s cute, and there’s no doubt I actually like her.
But… I also get along well with Claris, and it’s also true that I think she’s cute too.
“I-I’m just… going to the restroom…”
I needed some time alone to think.
Loin… Loin Canberras…
What… are you supposed to doooooo?!?!?!?!?!