Chapter 106: Adaptation 2
TL/Editor: Raei
Schedule: 5/Week Wed-Sun
Illustrations: Posted in discord.
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The difference in difficulty between the 20th and 21st floors wasn't small.
Unlike the lone Orc Hunters, Moss Wolves, and Helmeted Deer, cave spiders and vampire bats move in groups of at least five.
With goblins and kobolds boasting numbers ranging from a dozen to nearly thirty.
In the absence of sunlight, one must rely on torches, magic tools, and spells for light.
One had to fight multiple enemies at once, and the uneven terrain added to the fatigue as well.
"Sigh... With this many, even goblins become a real nuisance."
"I had to maintain my shield spell longer than I thought. Did we underestimate them?"
I can block or deflect the Moss Wolves and Helmeted Deer, and Kaiden can handle them if they slip past me.
However, when facing over thirty goblins, no matter how much I try to shield us, their sheer number is enough to surround us.
We're forced to use protective shields and barriers to block their blind charges and venomous stingers.
With divine energy enveloping my shield, I stand as a sturdy wall, blocking one side of the battlefield.The roots of this story extend from novell bìn origin.
Kaiden, on the other side, swings her sword vigorously, but the enemies still number over thirty.
But even with magic and arrows crisscrossing the air, and the thudding sound of hits against our shields echoing in the cave, the goblins, numerous as they were, couldnt harm our group.
We just feel more drained of our stamina and mana than usual.
"I'll gather the mana stones. Everyone else, take a moment to breathe."
"The uneven ground makes it difficult to swing. It's more tiring than I thought."
As I pick up the mana stones from the fallen goblins, Kaiden is the first to speak up.
The others follow suit, reflecting on the battle and their actions.
"When I turned off the light spell, aiming my magic became way harder. That's why I used up more mana than usual."
"Yeah. I didnt realize how much I relied on your light magic until I had to rely solely on that magical baton. It was much harder to hit weak points. I think some of my arrowheads got damaged because of that as well."
"If Roland hadn't bought that and we used a regular torch, it probably would have gone out during the fight, making things even darker."
Despite it being our first large-scale battle in one of the spacious areas of the cave, we identified our mistakes and areas of improvement quickly.
It was a testament to the quality of my companions and Han Se-ahs exceptional gaming skills.
Aside from the excessive drain on our stamina and magic, the group's overall performance in the battle was good, which lightened the group's mood.
-What the heck, all I heard was 'whoosh whoosh' and then it ended.
-Can't we adjust the camera's gamma setting?
-I asked for a dazzling performance, and they gave me one in total darkness!
-Mom, it's so dark in here that I can't breathe.
-Even creatures of the darkness would prefer a brighter place. Please turn on the light!
The only ones dissatisfied are the viewers who couldn't fully enjoy the battle due to the darkness.
Han Se-ah, struggling in this unfamiliar environment, set her camera controls to auto.
The viewers probably can't see due to this.
On top of that, because of the dim lighting, they couldnt even see the faces of our party members well.
They're just obsessed with women.
Experiencing the vampire bats, the most formidable of the four types of monsters we've encountered in the cave, sweat poured down everyone's foreheads.
"Damn, are these really bats? Their wings are strong enough to repel arrows, and their bodies are so tough that they just shrug off my spark spell. It seems like we need to rely on offensive magic to deal damage here."
-Han Se-ah, just play the role of a porter... With your inventory, mini-map, and light magic, you'd be the best at it.
-A hero (Roland), a saint (Irene), and a porter (Han Se-ah) make up the team.
-Time to ditch that magic missile you've been using since the first floor. You've already killed two bosses.
-That porter sure talks to herself a lot.
The primary reason for Han Se-ah's excessive mana consumption was the grade of her magic.
This is because Han Se-ah hadn't acquired any new spells from the Magic Tower.
No matter how powerful a magic spell might be, it's natural that using a basic offensive skill learned on the first floor won't be effective up to the 21st floor.
After all, she's not a novel's protagonist who can become a magic missile master capable of shooting thousands of them.
"It's getting late. Let's start heading back. Hanna, you said you remember the way, right?"
"Yeah."
With that, we made our way out of the tower.
Up to the 20th floor, we pushed through rather easily with star power.
However, upon reaching the 21st floor, problems began to emerge.
Firstly, there's the issue with Grace's accuracy in shooting.
Her accuracy was bound to decrease in the dimly lit caves.
Especially when the vampire bats fluttered their large wings and flew above the light source; it was straining on the eyes.
Her primary role was also as the party's scout rather than archery.
Kaiden's issue is that her swordsmanship seems more tailored to battling humans.
It appears she learned her skills from the Northern Knights.
These skills, however, are not easily adaptable against monsters that crawl or fly in caves.
As for Han Se-ah, the issue is her low attack power due to her basic skill set.
It's quite ambitious to try and climb the 20th floors with only skills learned during the tutorial.
However, this would likely be resolved after receiving the rewards for gate and learning some new spells.
As for Irene, well...
The priestess of the party is less a combatant and more of an insurance to heal injuries and prevent death.
If her protective barrier remains intact, it's already worth the contribution of one, if not three members.
"Haah, when I get skill points this time, I have to learn magic first. But how come Magic Missile, which can shatter the skull of a moss wolf, can't break a bat's wing? I guess a monster's level indicates its strength rather than its appearance or name."
-Did you know in another world, a pigeon in an alleyway is stronger than the ancient demon Balrog*?
-If you're still using your first skills, you might want to switch it up.
-Aren't you still saving the skill points you got as a reward for the 10th-floor boss?
-Diligent in illuminating the mini-map, but too lazy to learn spells?
-Please tell me the next spell isn't Magic Spear, right?
Lying in bed and watching Han Se-ah's stream, it seems she also felt the limitations of Magic Missile.
A spell that'll work on the 21st floor, huh?
Maybe it's time to post a nice little story to read.
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