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Chapter 220 Part 1

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Translation: Charlotte
Editor: Weasalopes

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I went down the path that opened at the back of the shrine, and found that it led to a staircase.
It was heading towards the bottom of the crater.
It wasn’t like the mountain we were on was about to erupt or anything, but I was still feeling very tense.
The air did not smell of sulfur.

It felt like it was at a distance away, but I could see the shadows of players at the bottom of the crater.
It definitely felt like I was at a Relay Portal
But… That was strange…
It was a Relay Portal, but I could see one more shrine past it. Was it another event after the 12 Zodiac Shrines?
I wanted to check it out, but it seemed like there was another Heroic Spirit guarding the entrance to the Area Portal.

~o~

《The sun runs over my head.》

《The moon also runs over my head.》

《But I am not subordinate to the gods who control the movement of the stars! 》

《O Guardian of Ophiuchus! Come! 》

~o~

Ophiuchus Guard – Rasalhague　Lv.4
Heroic Spirit　Enemy Target　Active
Battle Position: Ground　Light Attribute　Water Resistance　Poison Resistance

Cursed Viper　Lv.1
Demon　Enemy Target　Active
Battle Position: Ground　Dark Attribute　Poison

Wow.
I recognized the names of the accompanying monsters.
The two snakes were on both sides of the Ophiuchus Guard.
And speaking of the Ophiuchus Guard…
Its main weapon was… a whip?

~o~

Matching its range was impossible.
For the time being, I guess I could let my Summon Monsters take care of the snake monsters in the way.
I left one of them to Shishiku.
I left the other one to Volff.
I let Helix and Couturier support Volff and Shishiku.
Heather was in charge of lighting up the path we were all on, both with light spells, and with spells that caused her body itself to be bathed in light.
The snakes in front of us were faced with a hail of lightning.

What about the Ophiuchus Guard?
It didn’t move from its initial position at all.
Wait, it was using its whip to whip one of the Cursed Vipers that had fallen into a paralysis status condition!
But… That was strange…
Unexpectedly, the Cursed Viper recovered from its paralysis status condition.
The Cursed Viper’s HP bar recovered back to full too.
Oh, now you’ve done it…
I didn’t know this guy had such a troublesome ability!

~o~

「True Practiced Spirit!」

Without holding back, I decided to go all out with my Weapon Artes too.
Of course, my prey would be the Ophiuchus Guard itself.
I chose and started casting another spell.
The range of the whip was definitely troublesome.
It would probably be best to use attack spells to damage it.

~o~

What about the next whip attack?
I couldn’t see the whip itself, just the Ophiuchus Guard’s arm movements.
But it was an attack that I knew was definitely going to come, so I had no choice but to endure it.
A pain ran down from my shoulder.
But my spell-casting process was not interrupted.

The Ophiuchus Guard pulled its arm back for another whip attack.
But I still couldn’t see the whip itself.
While it was pulling its arm back, I could see the tip of the whip, but a moment later, the tip would disappear for a moment, followed immediately by a pain running from my shoulder all the way down my back.
What did I get from taking that attack?
I managed to close the range.

At some point, I managed to push a knife into the Ophiuchus Guard’s left hand.
I let go of the handle, and the knife remained stuck in its hand.
While dodging its fist, I grabbed its arm and locked the elbow joint.
I lifted up the Ophiuchus Guard, and kicked out its knees from under it.
Having lost its balance, the Ophiuchus Guard fell to the ground.
I wanted to go one step further and break its arm, but I couldn’t get to that point.
Well, that was fine.
But I still had that pain from the whip fresh in my mind.

~o~

For the time being, I settled for breaking both of its wrists and ankles.
Its HP bar still had 30% left.
Not bad at all…
I looked behind me to see that the two Cursed Vipers had already been taken care of.
There was some damage to my Summon Monsters, but there was no poison status condition.
Again, not bad at all.
I finally ended the battle by snapping the Ophiuchus Guard’s neck.
A whip, huh…
It was certainly a nasty weapon.
I could get a weapon skill for a whip, but I somehow didn’t feel very attracted to the weapon.
It wasn’t really a weapon suited to fighting in the front.

~o~

《The sun runs over my head.》

《The moon also runs over my head.》

《But I am not subordinate to the gods who control the movement of the stars! 》

《Nevertheless, I shall offer this place to those who challenge the gods.》

Hmm.
Was that it?
All the Heroic Spirits were definitely strong.
But the fights did tend to feel a bit unsatisfactory.
Some of the fights even bordered on annoying.
Would they get even more difficult the next time around?

《【Evade】Level Up! 》
《【Block】Level Up! 》
《【Wind Magic】Level Up! 》
《Summon Monster『Volff』Level Up! 》
《Please add 1 point to a desired stat.》

It made sense, Volff had been accompanying me for a very long time.
A level-up would be expected.

The stat that went up with the level-up was VIT.
I put another point into STR.

Volff　Grey Wolf Lv7→Lv8（↑1）
DEX　13
AGI　31
INT　13
INT　19（↑1）
VIT　24（↑1）
SPI　13

Skills:
Bite　Dash　Roar　Divine Sense　Pursue　Night Vision　Conceal

Volff finally reached Level 8…
But the next info screen was not an info screen I was expecting.

《Summon Monster『Couturier』Level Up! 》
《Please add 1 point to a desired stat.》

I suppose that meant that it wasn’t time for Volff’s Class Change yet, huh?
I suppose that would have to wait a bit.
From watching the Gozu and Mezu turn into Higher Gozu and Higher Mezu, and then into Gozu Generals and Mezu Generals, I found something…
I was watching their levels before their Class Changes and managed to get a guess of when a second Class Change would occur.
Was the next Class Change going to be at Level 12?
It was still a long way ahead, and I couldn’t tell for sure either.

In any case… The stat that went up with Couturier’s level-up was DEX.
I put the other point into STR.

Couturier　Giant Bee Lv5→Lv6（↑1）
DEX　18（↑1）
AGI　29
INT　12
STR　7（↑1）
VIT　8
SPI　8

Skills:
Sting　Bite　Flight　Evade　Ambush　Poison

Great. The numbers were starting to line up…
I guess I could go and focus on another stat after putting another point into STR.
Well then.
There was still much more of the crater to explore.
Looking at it as a player, it was clearly a Relay Portal.

~o~O~o~

The time was 11:30 am.
I recalled Couturier and summoned Bunraku to prepare some food. It was a good time to have lunch.
I wasn’t sure what to do in the meantime, so I read over Guren’s report once again.
It was full of spoilers.

~o~O~o~

But well, the 12 Zodiac Shrines went roughly as expected.
There were a few points I was concerned about though.
It seemed like the levels of the Heroic Spirits and the monsters tended to be a bit random…

At any time, it was possible to challenge any of the 12 Zodiac Shrines… Wait, apparently there was a 13th Zodiac Shrine afterwards too? Was that the shrine near the Area Portal?
Well, in any case, it apparently wouldn’t be possible to challenge the same Heroic Spirit twice.
I would have to fight all the other Heroic Spirits in order.
That was a shame…

I also found that declining to fight the Heroic Spirit in the 13th Zodiac Shrine was possible, and that doing so would teleport me back to the 1st Zodiac Shrine.
I guess I could decline the fight on purpose, and maybe try going for another round of the 12 Zodiac Shrines?
Wait, no, there was something else at the bottom of the crater that caught my attention.
It looked like the entrance to a cave.
It was to the west of the crater.
It was probably connected to the neighboring S2 Map.

I looked at Guren’s report again, and found that it certainly was a tunnel leading into the Lava Fort.
Just how much did Guren know about this area…?
Oh well, it would probably be best to stop reading there. I didn’t want to spoil myself any more than I had to.

~o~O~o~

After finishing the meal Bunraku made for me, I decided to log out for a bit.
If I had to give a reason as to why, I would say…
I had a feeling that it would be a very convenient place to have a base for grinding Experience Points.
I could easily go to S2E1…
And I could also easily go to S2.
And most of all, it was right below a convenient place to farm some monsters.
It would be a very nice place to have as my Return Home target.

~o~O~o~

I logged out and logged in immediately afterwards.
It was high noon.
Well then, what else was there for me to do?
I could try going around the 12 Zodiac Shrines one more time…
But going through the cave and heading towards the Area Portal of the S2 map would be good too.
What to do…

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