Chapter 58

While Second was engaged in a fierce battle with the Dark Wolf, Sylvia and Echo had come to the B-class dungeon, "Rimptfort," as instructed.

Indeed, it was training.

"Let me go first. Echo, watch from behind."

"Roger!"

Saying this with confidence, Sylvia stepped into the dungeon.

Six "Stone Turtles" greeted the bow-wielding Sylvia. The Rimptfort dungeon was known for monsters often appearing in groups, and they tended to have high HP and VIT.

"..."

Using the *Flying Bishop Archery* technique, Sylvia took down two of them, but then she suddenly realized something. The "processing" was unexpectedly difficult.

Currently, Sylvia's [Archery] skills, except for the Dragon Horse and Dragon King, were all at the ninth rank, meaning they had considerable firepower. Enough to slay a Stone Turtle with high VIT in one hit.

Thus, Sylvia had been arrogant. She thought that with this firepower, there would be no enemies in Rimptfort.

However, she was about to learn firsthand what it meant to have all the targets that were usually handled by the "tank" now coming at her.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow!?"

Four Stone Turtles launched a coordinated attack on Sylvia. She tried to use the *Gold General Archery* technique to fend off the four, but her judgment was too slow, and she couldn't react in time. Despite being pummeled, Sylvia's HP didn't decrease much. However, the situation was enough to put her into a state of "panic."

"Damn it!"

With no strategy in mind, she started using the *Flying Bishop Archery* technique to take down the enemies one by one. She managed to take down two, but the remaining two approached again. This time, they were closer, and she didn't have time to prepare the *Gold General Archery* technique, so she couldn't avoid the Stone Turtles' attacks. Reluctantly, she took the hits and then used the *Flying Bishop Archery* technique to take down the remaining two. It was a battle style that couldn't be called that of an archer; it was more like that of an armored knight.

"Ugh... What a terrible experience."

After finally ending the battle, she turned to Echo, who was making a "pu pu pu" face, covering her mouth. Sylvia's head was about to explode with anger, but she couldn't get mad. She had just realized the importance of Echo.

"...We need to come up with a strategy."

She finally realized what should have been obvious. She had truly embodied the saying, "Seeing is believing."

A wave of regret washed over Sylvia. She realized that until now, she had been following Second's orders without thinking. She had been focused on taking down enemies that appeared in front of her from a safe distance, acting like a fixed artillery.

She had been safe because of Second's precise orders. However, she couldn't guarantee that Second's orders would always be perfect, especially in A-class dungeons where a moment's lapse in attention could be fatal. This training was undoubtedly a message from Second: "Learn to ensure your minimum safety on your own."

Just realizing this was enough to make the training worthwhile. The rest was just a matter of improving her skills. Sylvia muttered, "I've been too dependent," and continued the training, moving deeper into the dungeon.

After a few more battles with the Stone Turtles, it was Echo's turn. They took turns training against the groups of Stone Turtles and returned at sunset.

As expected, Echo's solo battles took a considerable amount of time, just as Second had predicted. However, she was still much more stable than Sylvia. After all, the [Shield Technique] was designed for one-versus-many battles, so it was only natural.

"I feel like I lost..."

"But I couldn't take them down at all..."

Echo, too, realized the importance of the rear guard after fighting alone.

Defending against the monsters' attacks with the [Shield Technique], looking for openings, and attacking bit by bit was a tedious and seemingly endless task. The frustration and boredom of not knowing how long it would continue often led to mistakes. The increased solo combat time also made her feel much more fatigued than usual.

"...But"

It was tiring, but there was a lot to learn.

Sylvia and Echo had realized something important.

The front line and the rear guard were two sides of the same coin; neither could function without the other. Moreover, no one could handle both roles alone. In other words, even Second needed the front line and the rear guard.

Being needed by Second... This realization made the tired faces of the two bloom. The goal they had finally seen after struggling alone was the sweetest candy for them.

"Alright, let's do our best!"

"Let's do our best!"

The more they trained, the more they gained. After the first day of training, their motivation was even higher than Second had expected.

About two months had passed since Second left for Eislois.

The three of them gathered at the eastern mansion and held their regular meeting as usual.

This weekly meeting was essentially a reporting session where they shared the information they had gathered over the week and discussed the team's future direction. Additionally, to avoid cluttering Second's inbox with individual messages, they compiled the essential information from the meeting into a weekly report and sent it via the team's private communication channel. Needless to say, this was Yuki's idea.

"I don't think it's necessary."

"Me neither."

"Well, I don't think it's necessary either, but we do need the manpower."

"Alright. Let's get a male slave then."

"I think a male slave would be good."

"...I don't like men either."

"I don't like them either, but it's better than having more enemies."

"Better, I guess."

"Yes, I suppose so."

The meeting was unusually heated. The topic was "adding more staff." It seemed the three of them didn't want to bring any more women close to Second.

However, Yuki seemed to have some other reason, and she spoke with a face that looked like she had bitten into a hundred bitter bugs.

"However, we have only about a month and a half left until the completion of the five mansions, excluding the central and southern Second Castle (provisional name). I would like to improve the training of my all-purpose maid squad as much as possible and expand its scale."

"Why is that?"

"Currently, the all-purpose maid squad consists of 10 members. In other words, you can think of them as 10 slightly inferior versions of me."

"Whoa, that's scary."

"That's not very polite, Echo."

"Sorry!"

"Hmm... Indeed, it's scary, but also very reliable."

"Right? If we add more personnel under them, the master's castle will be solid. However, they don't have enough subordinates."

"Having commanders without subordinates is pointless, isn't it?"

"Yes. Once we add more personnel, we can leave everything from training to management to them. However, the training they can provide is limited to maid training. Therefore, it's better to add more female slaves."

"I see. Then, let's make all the maid squad members female slaves. But all other slaves will be male slaves. That's a compromise, I think."

"Yes, that sounds good. I'll arrange it."

"...Finally, the weight is off my shoulders. How about you take over for me now?"

"Oh, don't be jealous. This is an important job entrusted to me by the master. I won't be swayed by such flattery."

"I'm not jealous, just interested. But you shouldn't show that prickly side to Second. He'll definitely be put off."

"Don't worry. I only show it to idiots like Sylvia."

"That's an honor. But you're really trying hard to hide it, aren't you?"

"What's wrong with that?"

"Being nice on the outside doesn't mean much, does it?"

"Didn't you break the once-a-week agreement and send some very cute messages? Oh, and your poem comparing each other to flowers was quite amusing."

"You're the one who's noisy at night. Why don't you be quieter? Oh, Master, come back soon~"

"...You musclehead."

"...You tsundere."

"Still scary..."

And so the days passed.

***

"Phew!"

It was about three months after we started.

Finally, "that pattern" appeared.

As I was preparing the *Dragon King Sword Technique* to match my Dark Transformation, Anko's shadow suddenly disappeared.

She was in the *Phantom* state. If I attacked during this state, my attack would be completely nullified, and I would be hit by a certain attack while vulnerable. All of Anko's attacks were fatal to me. Therefore, I absolutely couldn't attack during the *Phantom* state.

The *Phantom* state lasts exactly 3 seconds. I canceled the *Dragon King Sword Technique* and put some distance between us.

Anko immediately used Dark Summoning after her Dark Transformation. It was a powerful weapon summon. Without the stun from the *Dragon King Sword Technique*, there was no way to stop the summoning.

Now, all I could do was pray. Please, not the *Black Flame Spear*!

"..."

First checkpoint cleared. The summoned weapon was the *Shadow Staff*. From now on, Anko would enter "Staff Mode" until she was downed.

The problem was how to down her. Two critical hits from the *Flying Bishop Archery* technique to the legs, or one critical and two normal hits, or four normal hits if there were no criticals, would down her.

—And here it came. Dark Magic.

A wicked black mist that would force my HP to 1 if I touched it. It was a wide-area attack. The wiki said, "Whether you can avoid it or not is a matter of luck," but that was just a bunch of talk from people who were good at talking. In Mefion, you shouldn't believe the wiki. It's a complete joke.

"—What are you doing!?"

I could hear the surprised voice of Angolmois, who was possessed. I saw the black mist of Dark Magic in front of me and used the *Flying Bishop Archery* technique to attack Anko's legs. Critical hit! Nice turn of events.

"—You can't avoid it!"

Yes, it would definitely hit. I should have been avoiding it with all my might instead of using the *Flying Bishop Archery* technique. From the outside, it probably looked like a common mistake made by beginners.

But please, hear me out. It was a shift in thinking. It was a mistake to try to avoid such a wide-area attack in the first place.

"Transform!"

This cleared the second checkpoint. The 8-second invincibility during the transformation would protect me.

The downside was losing the safety net and the difficulty of the next move. But I had to play my trump card. The timing was definitely right.

I'm sure many people have had the same idea of using transformation to avoid Dark Magic. So why isn't it in the wiki? Simple. Those people don't visit the wiki. If they had the time to tell others, "It's better to avoid Dark Magic with a transformation," they would be trying to tame more Dark Wolves to increase their success rate.

Online games. Once you reach a certain level, it becomes a hellish battlefield where thousands of people swarm and fight each other, drenched in their own blood. Information warfare is a given, and everyone is desperately trying to outdo each other. Every visible character is a hated rival. There are plenty of places to run, but if you run, it's over. Everything you've done so far will be for nothing. Therefore, folding is never an option. I was all in, and even more so. It's a never-ending, lonely battle. But I loved it. It suited me. I poured everything into it. The joy of reigning supreme in a dungeon where everyone else had given up was incomparable...

...While thinking about all sorts of unnecessary things, I spent 6 seconds and then fired the *Flying Bishop Archery* technique at Anko's legs as she approached, swinging the Shadow Staff. No critical hit. I needed one more hit to down her.

But there was no need to worry. Knowing that I could definitely down her with one more hit, it didn't matter if I took the Dark Magic.

So, I stood firm and fired the *Flying Bishop Archery* technique at Anko's legs as she was about to cast Dark Magic. The timing overlapped, and I took the hit. In exchange for my HP being reduced to 1, I downed Anko.

Normally, the Shadow Staff would attack me here. But since I had downed her, I could recover safely and slowly. This cleared the third checkpoint. I had made it through.

Now, Anko got up and charged as usual after her Dark Transformation. I was already back in my usual position.

And so, the "routine" days began again. How long will it take...?

Thank you for reading.