Chapter 63
Still the Overwatch
Position
A beautiful former idol is tumbling around on the roof. Judging from the
roof tiles being continuously destroyed and blown away, it looks like she's
dodging invisible attacks, but I'm impressed she can dodge them without
tumbling right off the roof.
Wait, this is no time to be impressed. Madoka might be in quite a
pinch. I thought she had a bit of leeway, but maybe I should go help her right
away.
Mowing down the swarm of small-fry Skeleton-kuns, I closed in on Madoka
with the momentum of a leaping bound. Bathed in the spotlight from Madoka's
skill, the large, creepy skeleton turned its entire body toward me.
I know an invisible attack is coming, you know. As I dodged by taking a
large sidestep, the boss Skeleton-kun continuously blasted strong sounds
toward me.
Even with Tsubaki's 『Curse Reversal』 working, the reverberation of the
sound was too unpleasant and gross. Because of it, a slight wave of nausea
welled up. This is a tough monster for a protracted battle, both mentally and
physically. I want to defeat it as quickly as possible.
For the time being, the attacks are completely concentrated on me, so
I've successfully stopped its pursuit of Madoka. Seems she's out of her
pinch. Should I just charge in and take it down at once, or observe the
situation a little longer? If she can still go, Madoka probably wants to
fight it, right.
While dodging around the boss skeleton and wondering what to do, Tsubaki's
talismans rushed the boss one after another and burst into flames. It's quite a
powerful sight, but...
「It's not
working.」
Tsubaki herself had said the talismans wouldn't work. Indeed,
looking closely, the talismans burst into flames before they even hit the boss
skeleton. It's like they're being repelled.
Even so, Tsubaki continued to send talismans flying relentlessly.
Even though she said replenishing them was tough, she apparently has no
intention of holding back. This is probably cover fire for me, and to buy time
for Madoka to recover. Probably.
Just then, the star performer makes her entrance. Looks like she still
has the will to fight after all. While moving across the tiled roof, she kept
its figure in her sights. Then, the beautiful girl in the magic academy look
dropped to one knee and fired her shotgun in rapid succession. The heavy, oddly
satisfying sound echoed five times in a row, and the shots brilliantly struck
the large skeleton's head. Not bad at all.
「Huh, out of
ammo?」
The boss Skeleton-kun still hasn't turned into light, so if she's
not firing anymore, it seems she's out of magic power. However, the boss
skeleton is visibly damaged. The hood it was wearing, like a monk's, was blown
off, and countless cracks of red light were running across its black bones. But
it wasn't enough to defeat it.
If Madoka has no means to follow up, I suppose I should deliver
the finishing blow here.
「Eh,
seriously?」
Just as I started running to deliver the final strike, I stopped. The
beautiful girl, holding the shotgun in both hands, was dashing toward the
immobilized boss skeleton. The boss skeleton desperately plucked a string to
attack the approaching Madoka, but there was no need to worry.
Having been subjected to that attack relentlessly, Madoka read
the timing perfectly and dodged by leaping upward. And with a terribly calm
face—neither a look of anger nor a smile of victory—she slammed her raised
shotgun down on the skeleton.
The boss Skeleton-kun's head shattered, and immediately after,
particles of light burst forth. Even the small-fry Skeleton-kuns, which
seemed to have been summoned by the boss, all turned into particles of light
together, coloring a wide area of the Edo townscape with light. It was a sight
you don't see often.
Still, that was a good attack. Tsubaki, who had apparently been
worried, was already rushing over to the beautiful girl who was taking a deep
breath of relief. I should go too.
「Madoka-onee, are you hurt?」
「Not bad, Madoka!」
Since she's sitting down and looking like she's in pain, it seems she
took quite a bit of damage. Considering that, her final attack showed quite a
lot of guts.
「...We
managed somehow.」
Madoka seems to be using recovery magic on herself, but she
had mentioned it can only heal light injuries. Looks like she can't heal
perfectly. I should give her that.
「I've got a
potion. Down the hatch.」
「I... have
one too, so I'm fine... Phew, that was pretty close.」
Chugging down the potion she took out from her pouch, it seems she
recovered immediately. Works like a charm, doesn't it.
But if she hadn't had that weapon and armor she brought back from her
family home, Madoka would definitely have lost. It really shows the
importance of equipment. As an immediate task, Madoka needs to get a
weapon she can use effectively even when out of ammo, and become proficient
with it. Other than that, she needs to increase her base strength.
Also, I had the impression that Tsubaki was quite strong, but it
turns out she's too specialized in curse types, meaning depending on the
matchup, she might be completely ineffective. Looking ahead, we need to secure
other means of attack for her.
「Aoi-anehan's 『Ultra Hard Mode』, do things like that always appear?」
「Nah, nah, as
expected, they rarely appear. But if we can properly defeat that thing, I think
we'll be fine going forward.」
「Hey, Aoi,
could you have defeated that Irregular Monster easily?」
「Probably.
Because I'm pretty strong!」
Well, it'd be a one-shot kill. It was a bit hard to approach, but I
don't think it was impossible to break through.
Aside from that, what I realized from experiencing actual combat is that
everyone's skills really synergize well. The compatibility between Madoka's
spotlight and my close combat is especially outstanding, and Tsubaki's
skill support was also extremely effective.
「Ah, drop
items. Even though everyone worked so hard, this isn't very tasty~.」
First of all, perhaps because they were summoned through a special
method, the massive amount of small-fry Skeleton-kuns didn't drop a
single magic stone. Naturally, there were no other rewards either. I thought
the boss Skeleton-kun would be generous in their stead, but that wasn't
the case at all. So stingy~.
「Is that
magic stone a drop from the Irregular Monster?」
「Yeah, it is.
Because it's the exact same size as the ones from normal small-fry monsters on
the Fifth Floor. I think this every time, but it's really mocking me.」
The magic stone obtained as loot was just a single normal one,
appropriate for the Fifth Floor. I had expected this.
「How about
that biwa over there? That's the weapon the monster was using, right?」
I picked up the biwa that was lying there as a drop item. Let's
quickly check it with the Appraisal Monocle.
■ Biwa of the Vengeful Spirit: An instrument-type weapon that
increases Magic Power and Resistance, enabling sonic shockwaves and mental
attacks.
It has an interesting effect, but I wouldn't let go of Mr. Hammer to use
it.
「Looks like
it can do the same things that boss Skeleton-kun was doing.」
Naturally, since this is a solo Dungeon, it has the red Aoi
mark on it, indicating it's exclusively for me. I had explained this
beforehand, but Madoka tried holding it as a test. But as expected, even
when she strummed the strings, nothing happened, and its special effects
couldn't be activated.
「It's a
shame, but it can't be helped.」
「What about
levels? We've defeated a decent amount of monsters on this floor, so Madoka
might have leveled up.」
「Wait. Ah, it
went up... Eeh, I got a blessing.」
「M-Me too.」
You don't say. Which means... oh, I got a new one too.
「Hey, Aoi.
What effect does this blessing have?」
■ Blessing of the Zato Hoshi (Increases Musical Performance
Ability and Curse Resistance. Grants the ability to see in the dark. Proof of
being acknowledged by the Zato Hoshi.)
「Umm, it
seems to be proof of being acknowledged by the Zato Hoshi. As for the
blessing's performance, Musical Performance Ability? And it also increases
curse resistance. Plus, it grants the ability to see in the dark.」
「So that
Irregular Monster was the Zato Hoshi. Gaining a blessing is an amazing
thing.」
「It's rare;
it almost never happens.」
Heeh, is that so. I have several, but is it thanks to 『Ultra Hard
Mode』 after all?
「Still, your 『Star Thread
Spinning』 is
convenient, Aoi. If we could link it, I wanted to check my own skills
too.」
「There are
skills I don't completely understand either... I'd be happy if I could see
them.」
Yeah, yeah, it's super convenient. But you see.
「This skill
only lets me see my own details. If Madoka's skill link gets enhanced,
maybe you two will be able to use it too. Well then, after we rest a little
more, should we try going to the next floor?」
It's still before evening. With normal senses, one would probably turn
back since we're tired and it's a good stopping point, but we're different.
Because if we level up the normal way and end up getting some weird Sub-class,
we'll regret it.
Working hard to the point of being a little crazy in the head is just right! We're still gonna keep going.
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