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Volume 10 Chapter 1 Part 4

I am not running away from the Boss fight. This is a strategy.

You have to divide and conquer, separating the stronger foe from the weaker one so that it can be properly disposed off.

This time, the enemy that appeared alongside the Boss was Mabream. Since Vesta will take care of it from the front, I took it upon myself to sneakily slash at it with Durandal from the back.

This isn’t cowardly at all. This is a part of my strategy.

The reliable vanguard keeps the enemies occupied in the front, and the rearguard takes care of them from the back. It’s a natural thing to do during the heat of battle.

Vesta is the main shield of our Party. When she’s with us, she’s going to focus all of the monster’s attacks on herself, allowing us to concentrate on attacking without worrying. The only thing that I have to worry about now is the movements of the Mabream’s tail fins, since they sometimes attack with them as well.

Such a cowardly tactic, so very fitting of a monster.

While I was hitting the Mabream with a 「Rush」, I heard a sound behind me.

「Did it, desu!」
While I was wondering what happened, the Black Diamond Tuna fell onto the floor, petrified. It seems that Miria managed to trigger petrification before I could join the Boss battle properly. Now I won’t have to fight it myself.

This is not cowardly of me. This is an element of my strategy.

Now that it has been petrified, we can neutralize it with a single blow, and that’s always preferable with strong Floor Bosses.

「We’re going in then.」

「No, it’s okay.」

Since the Floor boss has been successfully neutralized, Roxanne and the others wanted to rush in, but I stopped them.

It doesn’t take all that long to dispose of the normal enemies that are not Floor Bosses. With my next attack, I managed to knock Mabream down. Once it was taken care of, I moved towards the Black Diamond Tuna.

「Whole Fish, desu.」

Mabream seems to have left the Whole Fish behind when it died. I wanted Miria to wait with the gathering of the Drop Items.
「Has it come from there?」

Oh well, I just have to do my best to end it quickly here.

I stood directly above the Black Diamond Tuna and pressed Durandal against it from there. When it is petrified and cannot move, it really looks like nothing more but an oversized tuna, and it honestly makes me feel a little uneasy.

I raised my sword in the air and then brought it down on the Black Diamond Tuna in a piston-like motion. I keep on thrusting into the tuna like a piston. Up and down. Repeatedly. Intensely. Violently. My passion keeps surging up. How about that, huh? How about that?!

The tuna is just lying there like a dead fish, not answering. The piston is doing all the talking.

Whoops! When I brought Durandal down just now, I heard a sound of it hitting the stone floor. Did I finally managed to beat it?

Now that the battle is over, I don’t really feel anything. No thoughts, no desires, no sense of self. All of my ulterior motives are gone as well.

Black Diamond Tuna disappears in a cloud of smoke, leaving its Drop Items behind.

「Fatty Tuna, desu.」

Miria jumped around the Drop Items and brought both the Fatty tuna and the Whole Fish back to me in a flash. She was just as fast about it as the last time, probably because she wanted to make sure she’s not going to miss any of those. I promptly received them from her and placed them in my Item Box.

So now that we got our hands on a second Fatty Tuna, does that mean that it’s the end of the Black Diamond Tuna grind?

I looked at Miria to see what her reaction would be, and she looked happy enough after getting that Fatty Tuna, so maybe it’s going to be a good idea to leave the Labyrinth now that she’s in high spirits?

「Alright. With this, tomorrow’s dinner should be complete…」

「Did it, desu!」

Huh?

When I was about to finish my sentence, Miria cried out happily. Did what I say not go through to her? When I was thinking about it, Miria began to move in a trot.

「What’s wrong, Miria?」

「Magic Crystal, desu.」

It would seem that we also obtained another Magic Crystal. Or rather, Miria found it for us again, since she’s the only one who can do it.

Getting the fish is important for her, but finding the Magic Crystals is a close second.

The twenty-second floor of the West Forest’s Labyrinth I Zabir is not a popular one to visit, so it’s natural that not many people would come here and pick the Magic Crystals up.

Could it be that we can get our hands on a lot of them by repeating the Floor Boss battle here? Cause it would be great if that was the case. If Miria didn’t spot it now, then we would’ve missed it and the next Party to come here would’ve claimed it.

「Great job, Miria. Also, are we still okay with the time?」

「Let’s see… I think the sun should be rising just about now.」

「Then let’s leave the Labyrinth here and go to the Labyrinth of Quratar after breakfast.」

「Understood.」

After I asked Roxanne what time it was, I decided to end the exploration of this Labyrinth for the time being. We then left the West Forest’s Labyrinth and arrived in the Adventurer’s Guild in Quratar. We bought some ingredients, headed back home to have breakfast, and after that we set out to the twenty-second floor of Quratar’s Labyrinth with its map in hand.

「Well, Roxanne? Are there any people around?」

「There are, but luckily there’s not that many of them. I think we should have no problems with hunting here.」

「Well, the most problematic thing on this floor is definitely going to be the Boss Room.」

The Floor Boss on the twenty-second floor of Quratar’s Labyrinth is Oyster Shell. One of its Drop Items is Volley, which Vesta needs to be eating every few days, so I am sure that we’re going to be coming here many times in the near future.

The real issue is going to be how long are we going to have to wait for our turn before entering the Boss Room. If there are going to be a lot of people challenging the Boss before us, then it might actually be better to ask Sherry to find us a different place where we could go.

But if we could go there easily, then we would have a Floor Boss battle in Quratar’s Labyrinth for Vesta and the Floor Boss battle in the West Forest’s Labyrinth near Zabir for Miria, and both of them would be on the twenty-second floors of those Labyrinths.

In terms of the EXP gained from killing them, the monsters from the higher floors are more worth it than the ones from the lower floors, so its going to be fine. It might be good to tell Sherry to start looking for a Labyrinth where Clam Shells are the main enemy on the twenty-second floor.

I proceeded to go towards the Boss Room under Roxanne’s guidance. We arrive at the Waiting Room, and luckily for us there was no one there. While I was gripping Durandal in my hands the door to the Boss Room opened immediately, so it doesn’t look like there was anyone engaging the Boss in combat at the current moment.

We go inside the Boss Room, while I wonder if thi is going to be enough.

No.

Come to think about it, there’s no need for us to be coming here during the day to get Volley. It might be better to come here early in the day when there’s little people around. By doing that, we won’t ever need to worry about there being too many people in front of the Boss Room.

From my own experience, I already know that even on the twenty-first floor of the Labyrinths there tends to be not that many people there in the early morning. That is also why I think that the twenty-second floors are not going to be too crowded as well. That’s why there’s absolutely no reason for us to fear.

I was apparently worrying about it for nothing. Or rather, no one commented on it when I said that we might be having difficulties with getting access to the Boss Room, so maybe there was a bit of miscommunication here? If so, then it makes me feel depressed.