Volume 10 Chapter 2 PaRT 4
Vesta and Miria are standing in front of the Monotaurus, and Miria is standing in front of the Cyclops.
The weakness of the Cyclops, a monster native to the twenty eighth floor of the Labyrinth of Quratar is not Water Magic, but Wind Magic instead. Miria is going to be the most appropriate enemy for it, but it would be great if I could use 「Water Storm」against it as well, but oh well, there’s nothing I can do about it. This is just another case of the worst-case scenario in which monster that is weak against Water Magic has been paired up with a monster that is resistant to Water Magic.
The twenty-ninth floor of Quratar’s Labyrinth is not a bad floor by any means, but the battles here are not easy either. Overall, I would say that this floor is moderate in terms of difficulty.
「Did it, desu!」
And, exactly as I expected, the movement of the Cyclops stopped soon after Miria begun fighting it. If the number of enemies is not too large, then we can always go with that strategy. It is exactly thanks to petrification that even if the time of the battles is extended, the battles themselves don’t feel like they’re getting too difficult. It can be said that it is exactly for that reason we will continue to advance to the higher floors.
And then, the Monotaurus in the middle took a step forward.
To tell you the truth about what just happened, it was only for a step or two, but it moved forward at blinding speed. It was something that you wouldn’t expect from its rugged body, which looked ill-suited for such rapid movement. However, it moved so fast just now that it could easily be called instantaneous movement…. Or maybe the black and white patches on its body actually create an optical illusion that makes it look like its moving faster? Or cause the Monotaurus’s enemy to become dizzy from looking at it?
Hypnosis, super speed… is this enemy using that kind of nonsense? Or could it be that its hiding a much more terrifying attack up its sleeve?
Roxanne takes a half step back with a light step and dodges the cowman’s attack by the skin of her teeth. So she still managed to dodge such a fast attack, huh?
Monotaurus stretches his arm out further, but Roxanne knocks it down with a Rapier, engaging it in exchanges that happen in the blink of an eye. Even if it is a fast monster, I’m sure it didn’t know what was done to it, which makes it even more terrifying.
It is always scary when you’re being attacked without catching as much as a glimpse of what is happening to you.
After using my magic several times, the Monotaurus has finally been defeated. 「Was that a ramming attack? That was amazing.」
It was impressive, but still not on the level of actually making physical contact. Being black and white ultimately amounted to nothing.
「Yes, definitely. It might be dangerous if you take your eyes off of it for even a minute.」
It definitely would be dangerous for me. Roxanne exchanged glances with Sherry. They were looking at each other with pitiful eyes as they turned towards me.
Sherry is using a spear as a weapon, so she can always keep her distance from the enemies no matter the circumstances. Because of that, she must be feeling sorry for me, who sometimes needs to go up close and personal with the monsters whenever I come to the front lines with my sword.
「Take a good look, desu.」
I don’t think an attack like that is something that can be dealt with by just looking closely at it.
「I’m sure it won’t be such a big deal because that is just a ramming attack. I think we are going to be okay.」
Even Vesta says something terrifying. Well, she is actually bigger then the Monotaurus, so when it comes to her, the impact of its ramming attack might not actually be all that big. Even if we were to happen upon a female Monotaurus, it would probably be the same size as Vesta, so I don’t know how an encounter like that would go.
I haven’t said any of those things out loud and kept them to myself, but even so, I can still sense that Sherry is giving me her usual cold stare. Sherry, don’t look at me in such a way. Look at the disappearing monsters instead.
Once the Monotaurus turned into smoke and disappeared, the only thing left after it was a piece of red meat. When I used 「Identify」on it, it turned out to be Boneless Ribs, the very same ones that I got from the butcher’s shop that one time. So Boneless Ribs are not the Drop Item of regular cows, but of the cowmen instead?
And if it’s like that, then can the meat of the cowmen be considered proper beef? Or maybe I should just stop thinking about such useless things and just treat it as a regular Drop Item?
When it comes to monsters, specific enemies have a chance to drop ingredients such as Goat Meat, Pork Belly or White Meat. I don’t mind my meat coming from a monster, but whenever it comes from a humanoid I cannot help it but to get somewhat disturbed. At least if it’s a Drop Item, there’s going to be not a drop of blood to it, so we can still eat it deliciously.
「So Minos don’t leave the Boneless Ribs upon death, but Monotauruses do?」
「Yes, desu.」 After I killed the remaining petrified cyclops with magic, I received the Boneless Ribs from Miria and placed them in my Item Box.
「Monotaurus sometimes leaves Triangular Boneless Ribs instead of regular Boneless Ribs, but it is an extremely rare occurrence. Some people even claim that Triangular Boneless Ribs don’t exist at all because they have never seen them.」
Sherry tells me. In other words, Triangular Boneless Ribs are a rare ingredient.
Triangular Boneless Ribs, huh? If I remember correctly, they are supposed to be made from the upper ribs, right?
「Tomorrow, we are going to be hunting Monotauruses.」
「And then we are going to repeat the battle against the twenty-ninth floor’s Boss battle!」
Roxanne proclaimed happily.
Repeat? Wasn’t it already agreed that we were going to go fight the battle with the Floor Boss of the twenty-ninth floor tomorrow?
Huh?
Come to think of it, I didn’t say anything like that, because I must have been avoiding that subject unconsciously… no, is it because I have already accepted that we’re moving up the floor at such a quick pace without thinking too much about it? And is that also the reason why Sherry’s comments have become more and more sloppy as the days went by?
It seems that she was also influenced by Roxanne in that matter.
「Y-Yeah, I guess? I mean, we had no difficulties fighting against the Floor Boss of the twenty-eighth floor, so…」
「Of course.」
「I can’t say that I had a particularly difficult time.」
「Yes, desu!」
「I think we are going to be fine.」
Yes, we are definitely getting used to it.
The next day, we are going to challenge the Floor Boss of the twenty-ninth floor. Or rather, since the Monotauruses are the main enemy of this floor, then the Boss battle is not going to be too different, right?
That is what I have initially thought, but it is very likely that at least one of the two small fries that is going to appear alongside the Floor Boss is going to be a Monotaurus as well.
To put it bluntly, Roxanne has been guiding us only to the places with five Monotauruses for a while now, so Roxanne can’t do it. In that case, fighting three of them instead of five would be a welcomed change of pace, even if one of them was a Floor Boss variant.
「The Floor Boss variant of the Monotaurus is called Boss Taurus. Just like with the other Floor Bosses, it is best to assume that it is basically just a stronger version of the regular monster. It is resistant to Fire Magic and weak against Water Magic, just like the other Monotauruses.」