Chapter 20: “Dragon’s Cradle,” and to the Beastkin Village 06
The sixth floor underground was also a dungeon with wide passages made of marble-like material.
The first monsters to appear were the soul-shaped “Evil Spirits” and the translucent, aristocratic ghost “Count Phantom.” These were the same as those that appeared in the A-Rank Dungeon, but the difference was that they appeared at the same time.
Mariashiel said, “When I entered before, the two types never appeared at the same time,” so it seems that this is also a “Thor’s Guidance” special.
Since both are spirit-based, the vanguard group has little to do. The Evil Spirits use Status Effect Attacks, and the Count Phantoms use Area of Effect magic, but Freinir’s “Ascension” annihilates all the Undead Count Phantoms, and the Evil Spirits are momentarily incapacitated.
After that, the remaining rearguard group just finishes them off with magic, so even if 30 of them appear at once, it’s not a struggle, but rather just a chore.
“Frei’s True Holy Magic is too powerful. Spirit-based Undead are supposed to be very troublesome monsters normally,”
Dorozitte sighed.
In the end, from the 6th to the 9th floor underground, only the number of appearances increased, and there was no change in the types of monsters.
The drop items from spirit-based monsters are basically only Magic Stones, but occasionally the Count Phantoms dropped jewels. Since the number of appearances was so high, we were able to collect about 50 of those jewels, and that alone seems to be a fortune. By the way, I thought girls would be interested in jewels, but it’s strange that our members don’t show that much interest. Of course, what we picked up were raw stones, so they weren’t that pretty.
On the 10th floor underground, as expected, 10 “Elemental Guardians” that we had fought before appeared in a row. They were giant monsters wrapped in flame-like auras, and it was the first time I had seen all of them together: the red aura of the Fire element, the blue aura of the Water element, the green aura of the Wind element, and the yellow aura of the Earth element.
“They’re kind of pretty. I might want to decorate with them,”
Larni joked, and as if they heard her, the Elemental Guardians simultaneously unleashed their respective Elemental Magic.
However, all of those were forcibly diverted by my “Attraction” and scattered futilely in front of the “Immovable Fortress Wall.”
After that, they were finished off by the rearguard’s magic and the vanguard’s charge. The Elemental Guardians themselves should have been bosses of the D-Class Dungeon, but with the “Thor’s Guidance” members, they were almost defeated in one blow.
In the end, we arrived at the door before the boss in about 3 hours. The reason it was faster than the 1st to 5th floors was probably because the extermination of the spirit-based monsters was completed so quickly thanks to Freinir.
After a short break, we entered the boss room.
It was a space as wide as a soccer field, and the ceiling was probably 20 meters high.
What appeared from the black mist were three giant birds wrapped in seven-colored auras. They were Rare Bosses that we had encountered before, and it seems that the name we gave them, “Rainbow Phoenix,” became the official name.
“Three Rare Bosses, what a great treat!”
Shizuna shouted excitedly.
“Be careful of attacks from all directions. I’ll try ‘Attraction,’ but Frei, please use Absolute Barrier Magic just in case.”
“Yes, Soushi-sama.”
The Rainbow Phoenix’s weapon is a seven-colored beam of light, but when we fought it before, it showed an outrageous attack that scattered it in all directions. If there are three of them at the same time, I don’t know if even I can defend against it.
“Everyone attack with projectiles. Mariane and Sakurahime, stand by.”
Larni, Karma, and Mariashiel have the “Flying Blade” Skill, but Mariane and Sakurahime do not. Mariane can throw darts, but since the battle with the Rainbow Phoenix will basically be a long-distance battle, there’s no point in forcing her to use them.
At the same time as Freinir created a translucent barrier with “Absolute Barrier Magic,” the Rainbow Phoenixes soared into the sky.
“Kieeeeeeeh!”
Along with a bizarre scream, short, seven-colored beams of light were emitted radially from its large wings. When I looked at them with my enhanced Dynamic Vision, I could see that the beams of light were in the shape of bird feathers.
I activated “Attraction” with all my might, and received all the feathers of light with the “Immovable Fortress Wall.” As expected, receiving the attacks of three Rare Bosses at once caused a considerable impact. However, it was not possible to damage my “Immovable Fortress Wall,” which was strengthened by my “Iron Wall” and “Adamantine Wall” Skills.
“Magic, coming through!”
Sfenia and Geshura’s Lightning Magic tore through the sky, and Dorozitte’s Holy Light overflowed. Delayed, Shizuna’s magical spear flew, and Freinir’s “Holy Light,” which had increased to three by the “Multiple Magic” Skill, pierced the Rainbow Phoenix.
“Fall with this!”
Furthermore, when the crescent-shaped Shockwaves from Larni, Karma, and Mariashiel’s “Flying Blade” Skills were repeatedly slammed into the wings, two of the Rainbow Phoenixes fell to the ground and disappeared.
The remaining one raised its altitude even further after seeing that, spread its wings wide, and took a stance for an all-directional attack.
However, at that time, a figure suddenly appeared above the Rainbow Phoenix’s head.
It was Mariane, who had jumped up with “Jump,” “Space Kick,” and “Stealth.” Mariane stabbed the Rainbow Phoenix in the head with the short sword “Dragon Tail Cutter,” which had an element bestowed on it with Enchantment Magic. In an instant, the Rainbow Phoenix lost its power and fell to the ground. It seems that “Instant Death” of “Status Ailment Infliction: Zenith” was applied.
Mariane fell from 20 meters above, but her landing was undamaged due to her high stats and “Impact Absorption.”
“Amazing, Mariane. But ‘Status Ailments’ work on A-Rank Rare Bosses in one shot.”
“It seems that ‘Status Ailments’ are more likely to work if you stab a vital point with accumulated damage beforehand,”
Mariane answered expressionlessly as usual, but she also seemed somewhat happy.
“Fufu, Mariane has gained the power to defeat bosses in one blow.”
Dorozitte’s words were probably because she knew that Mariane had once given up on being an adventurer because of her lack of power. Mariane nodded a little shyly.
Well, since they were Rare Bosses, all the treasure chests that appeared were gold chests.
Larni, Shizuna, and Mariane opened them. What came out were equipment items called “Rainbow Feather,” “Great Spirit’s Raiment,” and “Fairy King’s Gauntlets,” respectively.
The “Rainbow Feather” was a hairpin in the shape of a rainbow-colored feather. It was an accessory with “All Elements +1,” which bestows all magical attributes to attacks, and Dorozitte was shining her eyes, saying, “I don’t think equipment with All-Element Bestowal has ever been found before.” I was a little worried about who to give it to, but currently the three people who can’t do elemental attacks are Karma, Sakurahime, and Mariashiel. Karma declined, saying, “That’s not my hobby,” so compared to Mariashiel, Sakurahime, whose weapon rank was one rank lower, was given it.
The “Great Spirit’s Raiment” was a faintly glowing transparent raiment. It had the bestowal effects of “Spirit Resonance +1” and “All-Element Magic Resistance +3,” and it was easily decided that Shizuna would wear it because of the former effect. With this, the number of “Spirits” that Shizuna can summon will increase to five, and the rearguard’s defense will become even stronger.
The “Fairy King’s Gauntlets” were gauntlets for swordsmen with “Honshin +3,” “Blade Extension +3,” and “Great Severance +1.” The appearance was quite delicate, and Larni and Karma didn’t seem to like the appearance, let alone the performance. So it automatically became Mariashiel’s.
“Is it okay for me, who has just joined the party, to receive such ‘Named’ equipment?”
“That doesn’t matter. If you’re worried, you just have to work for it.”
“Fufu, if that’s the case, I’ll gladly accept it. But it’s really amazing, and a little scary, that ‘Thor’s Guidance’ can get its hands on national treasure-class equipment so easily.”
Mariashiel laughed like a mischievous child and immediately put on the “Fairy King’s Gauntlets” to check their condition.
Larni was grinning as she watched her, probably because she wanted to say something after a long time. However, as for Mariashiel, her relationship with me was almost certain, so Larni didn’t have anything more to say.
After that, we moved to the safety zone and decided to end the first day of dungeon exploration there.