Chapter 70

VIT 26 is not for show.

Until now, the area attacks from enemies on the way have been magic, which, due to my profession, I can't match the holy mage with his tea-soaked rice, but I do have resistance. Physical attacks, excluding thrown and ranged attacks, deal reduced damage based on the distance from the enemy when I take the same area attack as the frontliners.

After meeting Ruya, we regrouped with everyone, handed over the requested medicine, and transferred to the 5th floor. We started aiming for the boss on the 10th floor...

The orcs on the 6th floor, while not as large as the enraged oaks, were still 1.3 to 1.4 times the size of a human and greeted us with clubs. When we advanced to the 7th floor, we began encountering melee orcs who started using area attacks, which dealt damage regardless of distance. The orcs would appear in groups of four to six, perform a charging motion, and then unleash the same physical area attack. While one orc's attack wasn't too painful, being hit by a group was brutal.

"Sorry, this really hurts. Can I use Kurokagayaki?"

To get used to the pain, there's a ban on using it except against bosses.

"No. Don't worry, I'm at 21."

"I'm at 30. As a martial artist, my HP doesn't increase much, but I've been putting points into it."

"13, it's tough!"

"Hey..."

"Huh?"

"Terrible!"

"Our party has low VIT, doesn't it?"

"We have high damage output, but without Homura's Kurokagayaki, we'd be wiped out by the big hits."

"We'll wait for the boss."

Kikuhime's VIT is 58, and she has almost evenly distributed her points between STR and VIT. However, being an elf and having gone through the thief class, her stats are lower compared to a typical warrior. Thanks to Kurokagayaki and everyone's area healing spirits, she can hold the front line.

Incidentally, Petros and Ochazuke are level 32, and the others are level 31. They surpassed us while we were doing silly things like hunting sea serpents and performing bull slaying.

"A level 30 male dwarf warrior, who put all his points into VIT, is at 100."

"Race, gender, and class, huh."

"Warriors have higher STR, though."

"It might get tough later, but it's fine to raise your character as you like when playing with friends."

"I have 58 in both VIT and STR."

"I'm at 63 AGI right now."

"Wow, that's fast."

"I've also put points into DEX, but I'm not specialized. It feels like the blessing of Val is giving me a boost over DEX."

"Can I ask what your lowest stat is, excluding LUK?"

"STR, VIT, and MID are all 13."

"Basically, everyone except Ochazuke is specialized in attack."

Knives and daggers rely more on DEX and DEX than STR.

Petros has been putting one point into DEX and one into AGI each time. Different races and genders have different initial stats, so it's said that it's easier to raise stats that match your race. Kikuhime, being an elf and female, has been raising her stats against her initial stats.

"Well, it might be tough in the later stages, but it's fine when playing with friends."

"Always!"

"Basically, we only play with this group."

"Reliable meme play."

People who don't choose their abilities based on race and gender. Except for Ochazuke. Me? I'm a stable human, very average.

"Ochazuke, good job on the healing!"

When I said that,

"Homura, please give me more potions."

He replied.

"Damn! Usually, it's Ochazuke or Shiroko's job."

"Give up."

Shiroko, who always focuses on production, is also a game friend but is currently playing a different game. —Zombie Dash or something. I wonder what kind of game it is. It's a VR game that came out a few days before 'Isekai.' A real-life experience game, but zombies are no good.

Well, I don't like it right now.

"Ah! I don't want to get splattered anymore!"

"Next time, I'll use a tower shield to cover my whole body!"

"The skill-using orcs are better!"

On the 8th floor, it was mostly melee orcs, but on the 9th floor, it went off the rails with zombies mixed in.

"Sure, the 8th floor was full of area attacks, but I didn't hear about this!"

While complaining loudly, we burned the zombies.

"The thrill of adventure is encountering something you're not prepared for!"

"Wait! Don't burn them! It smells bad!"

Thinking that burning zombies would purify them, the unexpected smell of burning flesh filled the air in the cave. Fortunately, the magical flames don't require oxygen, so we don't need to release canaries to check.

"Why are the orcs fine, but these smell so bad?"

"Is it the developers' way of annoying us?"

"It's fine, I won't get close."

Switching to Light Eagle seems to be dealing good damage.

"I won't get close either."

"Good thing I leveled up [Throwing]."

While saying that, Petros was hitting the orcs with knives wrapped in wind.

"Huh? Is there magic on them?"

"Yeah. My INT isn't high, so I'm focusing on buffs."

The buffs of magic users add magical effects to weapons, like the flames on Shing's fists. On the other hand, the buffs of holy mages mainly enhance abilities like STR and VIT. Shing, who started using buffs early, has a new class called 'Enchanter,' and with the condition of having the 'Enchanter' class and Fire Magic level 25, he got 'High Enchant.' I didn't learn anything at Fire Magic level 25, but at Lightning Magic level 25, I learned 'Lightning Arrow' and 'Lightning Cage,' with the conditions being [Wind Magic] and [Light Magic (Spell)] or [Dark Magic] at level 25.

Anyway, while enchanting is good, I'm not sure if I'll get 'High Enchant' since I focus on casting spells directly.

"Do buffs use a lot of MP? How much do you have?"

"1017, and my HP is 935."

Petros answered Ochazuke's question.

In the party, I have more HP, but as a spy with high AGI, Petros and Leo are designed to avoid attacks.

"Nice!"

"It's more fun than casting spells directly!"

"Hey, Leo, can you heal?"

"Yeah! I can. I forgot!"

When Ochazuke asked, Leo answered enthusiastically.

"Wait, didn't you get hit by the enraged oaks from a distance and ask me and Ochazuke to heal you?"

"I forgot! Until you just said it!!!! Hahaha."

"What was the point of learning it then?"

Well, it's business as usual.

While complaining about the zombies (mainly Kikuhime, Shing, and Leo), we found the stairs to the boss room.

The only notable thing besides enemies on the 9th floor was a copper mining point. There were treasure chests, but the contents were similar to those on the 5th floor, mainly recovery potions that can be bought at stores outside. If you're low on potions, it might be helpful.

The mining points, thanks to [Ruya's Eye], are somewhat visible, and the points glow faintly, so you won't miss them. While there are certain terrains where they are more likely to appear, you don't have to observe and try digging in likely spots while fighting and moving, which is convenient.

We're eating again on the stairs.

I bought trays at the general store, just for myself!

"What? You didn't get one for me?"

"Find one that suits your taste. I thought about buying one, but I felt sad carrying a tray for others."

Others complained, but please prepare your own.

Petros had already prepared one and quietly handed it over during this conversation. I don't know whether to call it impressive or what.

Today's menu is pizza fritta, bluep tail soup, dudu fried chicken, orange juice, and tea or coffee. I want to be able to make carbonated drinks soon.

Pizza fritta is just a small pizza folded in half and fried. The outside is crispy, followed by a chewy texture, with overflowing cheese. This time, it's simple with just cheese, tomato, and ham, but you can add boiled eggs or larger pieces of bacon for more volume. The tail soup is Western-style, with potatoes, carrots, and onions cooked until soft.

"Mmm, so good!"

"Quiet down."

Leo shouted with cheese stretching from his mouth to his hand. You're so skilled.

"Delicious. Just cheese would be fine."

Shing is focused on the fried chicken.

"By the way, how did you make the tail soup?"

"I just boiled the bluep tails with some random consomme."

"No, no, where did you get the tails?"

"Ah, after killing a lot of blueps and sheep, I started getting body parts, and then internal organs after continuing."

"The white person on the chat board is Homura!"

"White person... well, the outfit is white. If you want, I can give you organs... but I don't have any now, so I'll give you meat parts."

Remembering that I had given all the uncooked parts to Ekaterina.

"I don't want raw."

"Please give me cooked."

"Steak, steak!"

Shing joins in.

"Ah, can I make saltpeter from the organs?"

"Someone just casually brought up something dangerous."

It's obvious who said it. Ochazuke is being gloomy, but Petros' usual behavior is terrible and refreshing! The other three, who didn't connect saltpeter to gunpowder, are left behind. We spend the pre-boss break in the usual noisy manner.

*Announcement: The 10th floor boss 'Three Orcs' has been defeated by Enma and five others.*

"Oh!"

"Oh!"

"We've been beaten to it!"

"Too bad, we were a bit too relaxed."

"Well, can't be helped."

"Orcs again."

What I'm curious about is,

"Three... pigs...?"

"Hahaha! Meat again!"

"But, three of them based on the journey so far gives me a bad feeling."

"Wow, there really are three."

After finishing our meal, we're at the boss room.

"Better than zombies!!"

"Let's start with the red orc's shoulder for part destruction."

"Got it."

Inside, the room is similar to the enraged orc boss room, with a dark red, blue, and green orc in the center. They might be a bit smaller than the enraged orc, but there are three of them.

"Aaaaah☆％’）”＃＄!!"

"Hey! It hurts! Come on, 'Rulan'!"

"Uaaaaah!"

"Heal! Heal! Heal!"

Just as the red orc was about to fall, it dealt massive damage, followed almost immediately by a massive attack from the blue orc. Leo's shouts turned into incoherent sounds.

Petros calmly summoned a water spirit for area healing, while Ochazuke, panicking, called for healing but failed a few times due to poor visualization. Still, with Petros' water spirit 'Rulan' and Ochazuke's healing, we recovered more than half of our HP, but the blue orc's attack whittled it down again.

The pain was intense, and the smooth takedown of the red orc made this situation even more unexpected.

"Wait, the green one too! The green one too!!!"

"Is it a chain explosion?"

Looking at Shing's direction, the green orc was crouching and clearly charging up an attack.

"Aaaaah! It's coming! 'Rudi'!"

"...! [Sturdy Shield of Earth]!"

It was chaos.

After the blue orc's attack, our HP was down to one-sixth, or even one-seventh. Ochazuke and Petros' HP bars were barely visible. Thanks to Kikuhime's water spirit 'Rudi' and Ochazuke's healing, we recovered, but if the same amount of damage came again, it wouldn't be enough.

In a panic, I cast [Sturdy Shield of Earth].

The wind pressure passed by on both sides and above, and it seemed to have worked.

"This shield will let half the damage through next time, then two-thirds, then three-quarters. After that, due to the cooldown, it won't be usable in this battle!"

I shouted to convey this.

"Enough!"

"From the blue arm! It's charging again!"

"Ah!"

"Heal!"

We cast 'Light Eagle' at the blue orc. Petros and the others targeted the same arm, launching a full attack to cause part destruction and stop the orc's attack.

"Next is the green one!"

"Uaaaaah!"

Shing, who was close to the green orc, let out a scream that was both a cry of pain and a battle cry, attacking the green orc's arm. We followed suit. Kikuhime, who had been holding down the blue orc, had a momentary gap due to her leaving to attack the green orc, and we failed the part destruction, taking a full area attack. Thanks to [Sturdy Shield of Earth], we blocked half the damage, but Kikuhime, who had already taken damage from the blue orc, was in a bad state.

"Are they only using this attack?"

"The cooldown is over, I'll take the next one. [Kurokagayaki] 'Wings of Darkness'."

The effects of [Kurokagayaki]'s skills are area defense and single-target defense. Thanks to the high-level spirit, [Kurokagayaki]'s defense makes things much easier. Incidentally, the single-target defense skill, which was learned later, has a higher effect.

Spirits can learn up to four skills. They learn three skills upon leveling up, and the fourth is learned after the spirit's level exceeds 50 using a 'Spirit Stone.' Fortunately, when we obtained the water spirit [Rufa], we also got a 'Spirit Stone.' It will likely be used on [Kurokagayaki].

If Ochazuke can handle the healing and all attackers can focus on attacking, we can manage part destruction. However, if one of the attackers, like me, has to take a different action, it won't be enough.

Sometimes, even with Ochazuke's healing, Kikuhime's HP doesn't fully recover, so it's inevitable. This time, due to my use of [Kurokagayaki], the damage wasn't enough to cause part destruction, and as soon as I declared it, everyone stopped attacking and focused on healing.

I've seen our HP drop to critical levels many times.

*You have obtained 4 bundles of straw from the eldest orc.*

*You have obtained 3 pieces of wood from the second orc.*

*You have obtained 3 bricks from the youngest orc.*

*You have obtained a magic stone from the orc brothers.*

*You have obtained 10 pieces of ash.*

*You have obtained a +2 anti-poison necklace.*

"Phew..."

"Phew... phew..."

"I'm tired."

"That was tough."

"There's definitely an order to take them down, or they need to be taken down simultaneously."

"Yeah. After the red one fell, they only used the same action and were trying to kill us."

"The attack right after the red one fell would have wiped out any party without Homura's [Sturdy Shield of Earth]."

"I think we'd be wiped out even without a water spirit."

"What do we do with the straw? What about the wood and bricks?"

"Which one is the eldest?"

"I don't know."

We're a bit out of sync in our conversation due to fatigue.

[Sturdy Shield of Earth] has a 30-minute cooldown in real time, so it can only be used once in a battle.

By the way, is it because they're orcs that we got ash? I feel a bit of a niche touch in it not being oak.