Volume 4 - CH 2.14

If the amount of chant delaying effects on attacks is going to be greater than the monster’s casting speed, then the casting of its Skill is really never going to be completed. So it can be treated as a kind of a saturation attack.

And even if the damage done by each chant delaying attack is small, this drawback could always be offset by the sheer number of attacks, even if quantity over quality might be seen by some people as a cheap tactic, I say that as long as it gets the job done, everything goes.

「Come to think of it, the Skill-using monsters that we have fought thus far really could not move when they were using Skills.」

The Green Caterpillar and the Beep Sheep shared that characteristic. Also, both of these monster types were trying to unleash their Skills at us only when they were sure that there was enough distance between us as to not allow us to attack them during the chanting process.

「Then that would really mean that 「Chant Delay」 is a much better option between these two Skills, right?」

Pondering everything she just heard, Roxanne arrived at such a conclusion. Thinking about it that way, that would really be the case. If the monsters really cannot perform any other action for as long as the chanting process is ongoing, and we know that they cannot because we have seen this more than our fair share of times already, then keeping it locked indefinitely in the chanting action would be the best possible choice for making the combat infinitely easier, which translates into making our fights that much safer. On the other hand, since 「Chant Interruption」breaks the process of the Skill’s activation completely, then it does not mean that the monster that got interrupted is necessarily going to go back to chanting the Skill’s incantation again. For all we know, when monsters will learn that we can interrupt their chants, they might as well opt for a normal attack instead of trying something that might as well end in failure for a second time.  When compared to this, 「Chant Delay」that is going to prevent the Skill-using monster from making any other attacks because it is going to be locked in a still-ongoing action of casting the Skill is truly a more practical, more desirable option. If we keep delaying  the monster’s chanting, it might be possible to render it completely unavailable of doing anything other than continuing the chanting, like attacking, dodging or even walking. Yeah, the more I think about it, the stronger that Skill seems to be!

「Of course, not everything is as perfect with it as it might seem at first glance. Usually, there is more than one monster that a Party has to fight, especially on the higher floors of the Labyrinths, and oftentimes, monsters can simply choose to stop their incantations on their own. Not to mention that the decision to have all of the members of your Party equip the weapons with 「Chant Delay」Skill embedded into them is a kind of a big one, as well as the one that might turn out to be more harmful rather than helpful in the long run, because having the entire Party specialize in one specific aspect of combat or Skill limits the Party’s options and eliminates of the greatest strengths that a Party can possibly have: diversity and versatility, and makes it more succeptible to random or unforeseen circumstances that no one had the means of predicting. All in all, using 「Chant Delay」is a good strategy to be used against the Floor Bosses on the lower floors of the Labyrinths, while on the higher floors, 「Chant Interruption」, which can force even a Floor Boss to stop chanting the Skill incantation and force it do start doing it all over again from the very beginning is extremely more valuable.

「I see. So while 「Chant Delay」can have its fair share of uses, 「Chant Interruption」is a lot more useful in the overall sense.」

Roxanne nodded her head, accepting that her initial assessment that put 「Chant Delay」above 「Chant Interruption」was too hastely made. Now that we have that difference sorted out for us, we can make some plans and adjustemnts to incorporate what we just learned into our overall set of strategies. Since Labyrinths can be quite big and expansive, I think it is safe to state that we are still in the lower floors area of it, meaning that it should be safe for us to experiment around with the 「Chant Delay」Skill Crystal if we ever mange to get our hands on one of them. It also helps that so far, Floor Boss encounters only have one Floor Boss in them, but I do not know if that trend is going to stay the same or change the higher into the Labyrinths we will go.

「How can we create 「Chant Interruption」 Skill Crystal?」

「It can be done by fusing a monster Skill Crystal together with a Kobold Skill Crystal. In master’s case, it would be a fusion of Slow Rabbit Skill Crystal and Kobold Skill Crystal that would result in the creation of 「Chant Interruption」Skill Crystal.」

「Oh, that is another thing that I wanted to ask you about. You mentioned the Kobold Skill Crystal before as well. Why is that? Does using this specific monster’s Skill Crystal helps improving the resulting Skill Crystal in some way? If so, then I had no idea that such a bland, weak monster can actually be so useful.」

「Yes, you are actually right in stating that, master. Just as you have guessed, Kobold Skill Crystals are a little bit more special when compared to the other Skill Crystals, in a sense that when they are fused with them, they have the unique ability to strengthen the resulting Skill Crystal’s effect, and in rarer cases they can even modify it to a certain extent.」

「So we cannot just fuse Slow Rabbit Skill Crystal with any other random Skill Crystal to get our hands on the 「Chant Interruption」chant interruption Skill Crystal?」

「Yes, that is right. In order to create that Skill Crystal, you need the Kobold Skill Crystal specifically.」

「And there are no exceptions?」

「No, I am afraid that there are no exceptions.」

「Well, in that case I guess it really was a stroke of luck that we managed to get our hands on that Slow Rabbit Skill Crystal this morning, right, Roxanne?」

「Oh yes, most definitely.」

We glanced at each other and exachanged nods and a thumbs up. I never would have expected that the Kobolds, monsters that are commonly referred to as the weakest ones among the bestiary of this world would have a surprisingly handy usage like that. I guess that makes sense of why some Adventurers go out of their way to hunt them despite their inability to provide any kind of decent Drop Items or EXP after being killed. I also thought of them as little more than and the equivalent of annoying insects, but apparently there was much more to them than meets the eye, as was the case with many of the things that I have encountered during my stay here thus far.

「The question now is: is it really worth it to keep killing Kobolds and grind them and hope that one of them is going to drop its Skill Crystal sooner or later?」

「About that, master. That is most certainly a valid concern, but also the one that you do not have to worry about all that much, because there is a simple remedy for that, because the auctions organized by the Quratar’s Merchants Guild are always a valid option to try.」

「Auctions organized by the Merchants Guild here in Quratar? What is usually auctioned there?」

「Skill Crystals and the equipment that comes together with Skills already imbued into it, among other things. But since you are living here, then I am sure that you already knew about it, so my words were more like a refresher rather than anything meaningful, right?」

「Yes, of course.」

Of course. . . . . .  that this is my first time hearing about something like that.

「. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Did you know about that, Roxanne?」

「Uhm. . .  not personally, but I am sure that I probably heard rumors about it somewhere before. . . . probably.」

In other words, Roxanne had no idea that something so convenient was being organized in this city.