Chapter 377 - Counter

During the whole night, Ryan only killed a few dozen wasps. A number much lower than he had expected… maybe they weren't nocturnal creatures, but even so, Ryan didn't drop his guard. To make good use of his time, Ryan trained the resistances that he will probably need against the bosses. When morning came, Ryan had leveled up his Curse Resistance, Spiritual Resistance, and Fatigue Resistance quite a bit, but those who saw him cutting himself with a knife didn't count that as training… it only made Ryan look like a madman. Only Natasha got used to that sight.

"Do you think we will succeed in clearing the dungeon in six days?" Natasha asked.

"Not if we rely on your crazy friend," Ryan replied. "I have a plan to increase our hunting speed, but I prefer to wait for a few more days to see if she won't do anything to help."

"If I were you, I wouldn't count on her," Natasha shrugged.

In fact, Ryan was counting on Irina, counting that she wouldn't be stupid enough to stay seven days in a region without gaining anything. She wanted the loot since she obviously got lucky and obtained that sword, but Ryan wouldn't let her gain a single drop. If she doesn't understand that, then Ryan and Natasha will have to clear the dungeon by themselves because that will confirm that Irina was a lost cause. Much to Ryan's and Natasha's surprise, that morning, Irina showed up with her sword in hand and with her defensive gear already equipped.

"This is going to take forever if I let you two do all the work," Irina said. "It can't be helped, so I am going to fight today and confirm if you two are slacking off or not."

"... How do you plan to fight when you are a melee fighter and the monsters that use those pollens do decrease status, mana, and stamina?" Natasha asked.

"I already have some resistance against it," Irina replied." Usually, that wouldn't be enough to fight for long periods of time, but I saw you two using a spell that nullifies negative effects. So, I decided to speed up things."

Natasha looked at Ryan, but he just shrugged. Irina was fast so that she wouldn't breathe much of the pollen. Adding that to her resistances, she will be able to fight for quite a while before having the need to fall back.

"Ah, that's right…" Irina suddenly stopped and then turned around. "You should try hard because if I die, everyone will know that you two are the main culprits. I made sure to inform everyone back in my camp what I was going to do, after all."

That was a whole new level that someone could reach to motivate others to work hard. While Irina was annoying and a bitch, only that wasn't enough for Ryan to wish for her death.

Irina dashed forward without alerting anyone. Ryan began to levitate in order to offer her some support, but that had been unnecessary. Irina found several groups of wasps, and she fired some Fireballs at them. Ryan only understood what she was planning when she began to run back while luring hundreds of wasps.

Ryan made his bolts rain over the creatures, and eventually, Natasha joined him. When the bolts slowed down the monsters, Irina stopped, and then she swung her sword. Surprisingly, a blade of fire coming from her sword decimated dozens of the wasps… in the blink of an eye. They killed hundreds of wasps.

"I guess she can really do it when she puts her mind into it." Ryan said.

Now that Ryan thought about it, Irina also had the silent killer class so that she would be even more deadly at night. It was a pity since she probably will spend the night with her bodyguards. Fortunately, apparently, she tried to cover for that by working hard during the day. Thanks to that, they killed around twenty thousand wasps. Irina obtained many items, so when the sun began to set, she was in a good mood… even though Ryan managed to get the best ones and half of the total number.

"What is it?" Natasha frowned when Ryan offered a handshake.

"Just accept it," Ryan said.

In the end, after doing some calculations, Ryan paid Natasha for her hard work as well. Even though she was satisfied with the fact alone that that day they advanced five kilometers. Even without words, she understood that Ryan was doing something to prevent Irina from getting all the loot.

"Things proceeded well today," Natasha said. "Maybe clearing the dungeon in the next five days is actually achievable."

"I don't think so… while we extinguished the pollen from several areas, the yellow sky in the horizon isn't getting smaller," Ryan said. "Knowing your friend, she might actually cause problems for us if we fail in clearing this dungeon, even though it is madness to do in seven days. However, she had good instincts, even without seeing my status she probably knows that this task can be completed if I go all out."

"So, two crossbows style again?" Natasha asked.

"No, I was thinking of doing something more… effective against those monsters," Ryan said and then summoned a golem. "This guy is an inorganic creature, while the wasps will be able to decrease its mana and stamina, I don't think they will succeed at decreasing the other attributes, and with this… the golems become a fearsome army."

Ryan obtained a lot of iron ores that day, so he could create battle machines freely and put them in his golems. Since that didn't seem like something a proper archer would do, Natasha couldn't help but frown, but she realized that his plan might actually help them quite a lot. Ryan wouldn't get many coins in that job aside from the ones that he might get by selling items. Still, he didn't hesitate in summoning thousands of them throughout the whole night. After all, he also obtained a lot of monsters' soul essence that day, and his stock of mana potions was high.