"Watch out! [Piercing Shot]!"
Suzuna yelled out and shot an arrow towards the Black Leopard that was about to attack Cyrus from behind. He was currently focused on fighting the Golem in front of him so he hadn't noticed it.
"Always keep an eye on your surroundings!" She scolded him.
"I was! But I knew you and Rim were supporting me so I ignored it." He replied with an excuse while swinging his sword and attacking the Golem.
Currently, I was "preoccupied" with holding back around ten monsters that were around us. I could deal with them easily but I wanted to show that I was struggling a bit.
Suzuna's arrows didn't have much effect on the Golems so she focused on attacking the sneaky Black Leopards and covered for Cyrus. The only way to defeat the Golems was to destroy their core which is hidden somewhere inside their body. They could endlessly regenerate so dragging on the fight would be a bad idea and could lead to us being surrounded by a bunch of monsters. Just like right now.
"Hurry up Cyrus! I'll run out of MP at the pace you're going!" I said to induce some stress onto the boy. I believe that constantly fighting in precarious or life-or-death situations can drastically speed up and boost your improvement.
"[Slash]!" Cyrus used his skill and cleaved through the Golem's chest. Luckily, he had hit the core which caused the Golem to crumble apart and start to evaporate. It left behind a core smaller than the one Cyrus just destroyed and a magic crystal. Those green orbs also dropped and some of them got absorbed by Cyrus while a few were slowly floating towards me and Suzuna. I've noticed that for some reason, nobody else can seem to see those orbs.
"Whew."
"Don't relax yet. I'm letting another one go." I said and retracted my mud that was restraining a Golem.
"Can't I at least have a break?!" Cyrus screamed in protest as the Golem ran over to him.
Suzuna and I were standing on top of some branches and watched over him. We have been doing this training for him while progressing through the dungeon for over two hours now. Cyrus had leveled up twice in this time.
It's easy to level up in the beginning just like in games, but it becomes more difficult the higher you go. In order to maintain a good level up speed, people should be fighting monsters around their level or higher. I learned from my classmates that the first job, usually Commoner, needs to reach level 10 for the job up. After that is level 50, then level 70, then level 90, until finally level 99 for a total of five job ups.
Usually the average person on this world only jobs up once. Adventurers generally job up twice, but the high ranking ones can reach up to the fourth job up. It is extremely rare, maybe even impossible, for someone to reach level 99. Even if they did, the job up requirements would be impossible for them to complete. They would either die or reach the end of their lifespan before completing it. Thus, the supposed max level 100 is believed to be just a myth. Not even the heroes from the past have been said to reach it.
"Cyrus, your buff ran out. I'll cover you so you can cast it again." Suzuna said. What a supportive mom. Reminds me of my Dad…
###
After a while, we finally reached the boss room. We were able to collect our bounty and quest materials. Cyrus had also leveled up once. Sadly, his sword broke during the constant fighting so I had to lend Blood Bane to him.
A few minutes earlier, Suzuna had said that the boss monster had spawned so we arrived just on time. Unfortunately, I could sense that there was already a party fighting the boss.
"Looks like another party is already here. Sorry Rim. If I hadn't gotten injured…" Suzuna apologized.
When Cyrus' sword broke, she had jumped in to save him which resulted in her getting hurt. We had to rest for a few minutes so that I could heal her.
"It's not a big deal. The other party was probably waiting for a while in order to fight the boss so it wouldn't have mattered. Why don't we watch the fight? Maybe Cyrus can learn a thing or two." I suggested.
We entered the giant tree trunk which was where the boss was located. Inside, an Adventurer party of six were fighting against a giant gorilla shaped golem.
---
Name: Gorilla Golem Lv. 20
Race: Nonliving Lifeform
Class: Tank
---
The six Adventurers consisted of a tank, a spearman, a Scout, a Healer, and two Mages. I've haven't met the others before but the two mages were someone I knew. It was those brothers from that time I tried to register at the guild.
"[Water Ball]!"
"Aim for the chest not the head! That's where the core is!"
"Shut up! There's a chance for it to be in the head!"
"[Wind Cutter]."
The Water Mage, Alfonso, was arguing with their tank. Both of them were actually wrong. With my [Sensing], I can accurately tell where the core is and in this case it was located at the boss' groin.
The boss had changed targets and went after the Wind Mage, Eduardo, whose attack created a big scar on the boss' face.
"[Taunt]! See it wasn't in the head!"
The tank used a skill to get the boss' agro back on him.
"Will you two stop fighting each other and focus on the boss?! [Sonic Thrust]!"
The Spearman attacked the right leg of the boss and destroyed it. This caused the Gorilla Golem to fall onto its knee.
"Attack now while it's regenerating its leg!"
"[Aqua Jet]!"
"[Wind Cutter]."
"[Shield Bash]!"
"[Backstab]."
"[Triple Jab]."
The party rained their skills down onto the boss creating holes and deep wounds all over its body. Unfortunately, none of them hit where the core was. It's like they were avoiding that area or something. It soon started to regenerate and stood back up. With a big swing of its arm it smacked the tank away into the distance.
"ROOOOOOAAAAA!"
The boss roared which shook the ground and disoriented everyone in the room, including me. It took this chance to grab the scout that was on its back and flung her at the healer who had been running over to the tank that was knocked away. They collided and were knocked out. The scout's HP was getting dangerously low too.
"Shit! Everyone retreat and recover using potions! I'll distract it!" The spearman who seemed to be the leader of the party ordered.
The tank got up, picked up the two knocked out members, and started running towards the boss room entrance.
"F*ck!"
The mages were running over as well while drinking MP potions. Only when they got near did they finally notice us.
"Huh?! It's the fake Earth Magician! Don't you dare try to steal our kill!" Alfonso immediately started shouting at me.
"Shut up Alfonso! We couldn't even find where the core was. How the hell were we going to kill it?" The tank said. These two are obviously not on good terms.
*Bam*
Just then, the spearman, who had been soloing the boss, smashed into the wall near us and lost consciousness. With this, half of their party was out of commission.
"Roooo!"
The boss beat its chest and started charging towards us.
"Hey, since you guys can't handle it, I don't mind taking it off your hands." I said to the other party.
"N-" Alfonso was about to decline but the quiet Eduardo knocked him on the head and dragged him out of the room.
"We'll leave it to you then." The tank followed after while dragging along the three unconscious members. He's quite strong isn't he.
Anyway, since the other party gave me permission, this works out in my favor.
"Hey Rim. Can you really beat that boss?" Cyrus asked me with sparkling eyes.
"Of course. It wouldn't even take me three moves to beat it." I boasted confidently.
I walked forward and took off my robe throwing it onto the ground in front of me. I was like a pro wrestler who had just appeared and entered the ring. I held my Wooden Wand in my right hand ready to cast a spell. When the Gorilla Golem got close enough, I activated my trap card.
"Earth Pillar!"
With a flick of my wrist, a mud pillar rose from the ground. In actuality, it came from Shasha who was disguised as my robe on the ground. The pillar hit the boss right at the base between the legs and lifted it into the air. The impact close to the golem core made the boss stop operating for a while and its limbs lay limply on the side of its body.
"Earth Coffin!"
With another flick of my wrist, the mud pillar split apart and the boss fell to the ground. The split portions then started to expand and encapsulate the Gorilla Golem in a mud sphere.
"Burial!"
The dome started to shrink as I started to dissolve and assimilate the boss.
[Skill Regeneration acquired through Assimilation.]
[Regeneration]: As long as you have mana, your health will slowly regenerate.
And with that, I have completed the Pok*dex for this area.
"See that. Three moves. Easy peasy." I turned around and saw Cyrus with his eyes squinted, his hands grabbing onto his nether regions, and an expression of pain on his face.
"What's wrong?" I tilted my head in confusion.
I expected a wave of applause or praise after dealing with the boss so I was disappointed at the lack of fanfare.
Suzuna had a wry smile on her face and did a face palm.
###
Our journey back to the entrance was uneventful. Cyrus talked to Dodge, the spearman from the other party, for some tips on fighting. Eduardo surprisingly had also reached out to me to talk about my magic. Unlike his hot-headed brother, he was a pretty decent guy. It was unfortunate that his brother always dragged him into trouble.
Their party decided to stay and wait for the boss to respawn so I gave them some tips on how to discern where the core was. The men in their group looked at me and simultaneously grabbed their lower parts when I smiled at them. Cyrus had told them about how I beat the boss. Their scout, the only girl on their team who was now fully healed, gave me a thumbs up.
We exited the dungeon around at two in the afternoon. I went to turn in my bounties at the Craftsman Association and bade farewell to the two who had to turn in their quest. I dropped by Grandpa Max's place for some weapon maintenance.
Dawn invited me for a meal which I gladly accepted since I only ate some jerky for lunch. She took me to a restaurant called Benji's. The food was great, comparable to the food from back home. It was a bit pricey though but seeing the cute smile on Dawn's face made it worth it. Needless to say, I rejected her offer of splitting the bill and paid for everything.
CHAPTER END.
Name: Ruby Sen Lv. 15
Age: 17
Race: Half-Human?
Class: Half-Magical Creature
Job: - Lv. 15
HP: 15 [83%]
MP: 16 [99%]
STR: 14 (+5)
DEF: 13 (+25)
INT: 21
WILL: 17
SPD: 13
<
Assimilate
Mana Manipulation
Physical Resistance
Foresight
Shapeshift
Mana Absorption
Novice Magic Caster
Poison Resistance
Sleep Resistance
Novice Weapon Master
Regeneration
<
Dissolve
Sensing
Sculpting
Detonate
Appraisal Analysis
Cloning
Mana Designing
Mana Disturb
Heal
Boost
Stealth
Engraving
<
Tongue Enhancement