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Volume 1 Chapter 15-4: Hunt and Explore

 

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After that Hotaru-san continued guiding us forward while securing an escape path from the center.

We ended up fighting some different monsters. Two 『Tower Torrents (2nd Floor) Rank: G』 which were plants that could move despite being planted into the Tower’s floor.

We fought 4 large slimes called 『Tower Middle Slime (5th Floor) Rank: H』 that were about as tall as a person’s waist. They were monsters that were resistant to physical attacks, but despite the trouble we managed to beat them by having Sistina crush them over and over with her hammer.

Now we were fighting a 『Tower Flame Fang (7th Floor) Rank: E』 with two 『Tower Fang (6th Floor) Rank: G』.

The Fang type monsters seemed to be similar to wolves except they were a size larger and had huge canine saberteeth that stuck out of their mouths.

The Flame Fang was the size of a lion and had red fur. However, it seemed more sharp and lithe like a panther.

「Hotaru-san can I leave those two to you?」
「Go ahead ja. Hold it down until I go.」

The two regular Fangs locked onto Hotaru-san so we decided to deal with the Flame Fang while she held them off.

Sistina and I moved together as I was slightly to her side. The Flame Fang was strangely distant from us so we didn’t move carelessly.

「Soujirou-sama I’m going!」

Sistina cried out as she charged towards the Flame Fang.

Seeing that, I began moving to flank the Flame Fang. We would consider the opponent as superior physically and use our numbers to deal with it.

We had used this type of strategy on every monster before this.

Sistina would block the enemy’s attacks as I moved to their back and side to look for weaknesses to attack and exploit. Up til now it was a strategy that had worked regardless of what Floor the enemy had been from.

I used the martial movement Hotaru-san had taught me to quickly and quietly get into position behind the beast. Alright!

「Eh?」

As I moved in to attack from the rear the Flame Fang suddenly ignored Sistina and turned to face me.

Grrrrrr!

「Soujirou-sama!」

Really!? It predicted our attack pattern and came after me instead of Sistina?

Because I was attacking from a blind spot I had gotten very close and I couldn’t dodge!

It acted like a bear and reared up on its back legs to swipe down at me with its front claws.

It intended to hold me down with its claws and bite into me!!

「Damn!」

I narrowly managed to block the left side with Sakura and my right side with my longsword, but the difference in physique made things difficult. If it wasn’t because my physique was stronger in this low gravity world I would have immediately been pushed down and torn to bits.

Despite having blocked the blow I couldn’t hold on for long. Plus this enemy wouldn’t wait for me to make a move.

Even without being able to make another attack with its claws the Flame Fang had other dangerous weapons. It was going bite down on me with its razor sharp fangs! Shit!

I couldn’t move because of the monster’s weight pressing down on both my arms.

「Master…Get away….」

I could hear Sistina’s angry and panicked voice from behind it. Even calling me ‘Master’ which she had never done outside of the inns we stayed at.

「GET AWAY FROM HIM!!!」

Oooooo!

My vision was no longer blocked by the Fang and my arms felt the weight on them disappear. Sistina must have caught up and bashed the Flame Fang with her battleaxe.

It was thanks to the Flame Fang making a mistake and thinking that it would be able to kill me instantly.

「Are you okay!? Any injuries?」
「You saved me. Thanks Sistina. I’m alright.」

I thanked Sistina as she ran over to me. We then lined up and faced the Flame Fang.

It looks like Sistina had judged that her axe blade wouldn’t get through the tough hide and had used the hammer side instead to damage it internally. The Flame Fang was whining while favoring its side.

「Looks like it worked. Let’s get it.」
「Yeah」

There was no need to wait for the enemy to recover. We readied our weapons and aimed to finish it off.

The Flame Fang noticed us immediately and growled in rage. I wonder if it was habitual but I heard it grinding its teeth and some sparks from its mouth and….

Sparks?

「L-look out! It’s going to breathe fire!」

Fire!? No! Sistina!

I didn’t consider who had called out or how trustworthy it was and instantly dropped my weapons to dive into Sistina and push us down to the floor.

At that moment I felt something hot pass over my back.

「ku!….Soujirou-sama!」

Sistina cried out as she crawled from underneath my immobile body.

「Sistina! We have to treat him later ja. Kill it!」
「O-okay! ….Soujirou-sama I’ll be back soon.」

Sistina said seriously and got up. As expected of Hotaru-san. She’d already taken care of the two Fangs.

I should….as I tried to get up I froze after feeling the pain scream from my back. Ahhh….damn. As expected of another world. Breath attacks are too dangerous.

「O-oi…are you okay? I can’t believe you were able to dodge that fast.」

A voice that sounded exactly like the one that cried out came closer to me and started moving me. It seems like they were moving me out of the dangerous battle area.

「There’s a Peace Ground right near here. If we get there you should be alright.」

Peace Ground? …ah I remember Sistina mentioning something like this. It was a safe space where monsters wouldn’t come in.

「Sorry about how tight this place is. I found it by chance and it turned out to be fairly small.」

The space they brought me into was around 4.5 tatami mats. It wasn’t necessarily small, but the issue was the number of people inside of it.

Honestly I was dizzy from the pain and my vision was foggy, but I saw around 10 explorers hiding in the back as far as possible with fear in their eyes.

I was left in the open space near the door.

「I’m sorry, but we’ve already used our healing medicine so we can’t treat you.」
「N-no problem. You saved me by calling out the breath.」

If this guy had hid inside here shaking like the rest then it was probable that one of us would have died to that Flame Fang.

Because one of them heard the battle and had the courage to go look, I was able to protect Sistina. I was more than grateful.

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