Act 2-6 - A New Party

Chapter 6 : A New Party

「HAH!」

I swung 《Demon Eater Sword; Beelzera》, crossing blows with the Wight’s club.

Maybe because my level was higher than before, or because I simply started to get used to fighting by now, I could fight with much more leeway than before.

「TAKE THIS!」

I’m switching to one hand-style and pushed out the hand that didn’t hold my sword.

My fighting spirit has gathered in that hand.

It was Fedor’s battle arts, 《Transcendent Toughness》.

Since the skill was also separated by rank, it’s rank was as stated; 《Transcendent Toughness・High[B]》.

This battle art could increase the toughness of a certain part of its user body by focusing the user’s fighting spirit into that part.

Though my hardened hand caught the club… it still pushed back since I lost in the contest of raw strength.

「GUH!」

I increased my strength and pushed it back untill the Wight’s upper body bent back.

… Fedor could shift the trajectory of his opponent’s weapon with his fingertip and let it slip by but… the current me could hardly reproduce that move.

「SEI! YAAAH!」

Mani was swinging her 《Evil Spirit’s Battle Hammer; Gadras》 toward the Wight’s abdomen, destroying their posture.

The Wight’s already decaying body was crumbling down, and died as it is.

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「Fuuh, thanks god…」

Mani wiped her eyebrows.

「I should be able to solo a Wight with ease by using this battle hammer. I became 【Lv:14】 just now. Can you let me fight the next one myself? but of course, please help me if things turn for the worse, Dean.」

「Yeah… I guess it’s safe to leave you fight alone around that level.」

I nodded in agreement.

The amount of odo we got when killing a monster was divided in accordance to the number of people who participated in the battle.

On top of that, Odo has the tendency to draw toward the stronger one, that’s why someone of higher level has the tendency to draw more Odo.

Since our curent goal was raising Mani’s level, the best and efficient way to do so was staying close to her, not meddling with her fight until she was cornered.

After careful selection, the demon labyrinth we selected right now was the place where we hunted the Gold Maimai, 《Romburgh’s Underground Ruin》.

Our goal was to go down to the 3rd floor to hunt Kobolds(Wolf Demon), and acquire their treasure, Kopald(Wise Wolf Stone).

Despite its high price, mining Kopald from underground was really hard, it’ll take a long time if a half-baked miner was the one who mined it, so many adventurers gave up after they subjugated the Kobolds.

Since we have Mani who has a mining skill in our party, we might also make full use of her mining skill.

「Come to think of it… why did Kobolds have Kopald? or should I say, it’s the opposite? is Kopald appearing around Kobolds?」

「You have no idea? listen, you know that there’s mineralization process in the body of the kobold right?」

「Y-yeah, I know that.」

Kobold was a C-rank demon beast, my knowledge regarding it was only superficial knowledge since it has nothing to do with me during my porter era, and since I had no choice but to escape as soon as I saw one a long time ago.

It was a bipedal, blue wolf-like monster that stood one head taller than an ordinary human.

Their saliva would harden upon sticking on their opponent’s body, thus slowing down their opponent’s movement.

「Their saliva proved to be more effective toward inanimate objects like stone which lacked resistance due to the lack of odo. That’s why their bedding, the floor, or the wall that was exposed to their saliva for a long time will eventually undergoes qualitative change into an ore with magical properties.」

「So that was the origin. I never knew about it before. You really have an extensive knowledge in this matter, Mani.」

「Fufu, some adventurers occasionally visited my smithy with Kopald after all. But of course, I turned them down. I mean, being a high tier material doesn’t equate with easy to process material after all, one wrong move and it will become extremely brittle, my 《Flame Hammer; Kaguna》 wasn’t enough to manufacture it. That’s why I’ve no choice but to shave it until it formed a shape.」

Mani continued on with a delighted smile on her face.

「The craftsman of the army might be able to manufacture Kopald with ease but… it have nothing to do with a low rank blacksmith like me.」

「I see.」

If it was Mani’s grandfather, the legendary blacksmith Gawain, he might be able to handle Kopald easily with higher tier alchemy.

I wonder how high was his level to be able to pull such a feat?

Should be higher than 【Lv:40】.

「In regard to Kobold, they’re marking their own territory to prevent them from getting mixed up with the other group, to court their female, or baiting the adventurers or the other curious monsters…」

「Don’t say such lengthy explanations. It’ll impede your reaction toward an enemy’s attack.」

Edda who walked in silence for a while now had finally broken her silence.

「Oops… you’re right, maybe I’m getting too excited with a talk that is unrelated to the other party member. Thanks for the reminder.」

「…………」

Edda couldn’t talk back upon hearing Mani’s reply and continued walking in silence again.

「Could it be that she… hates me?」

Mani asked with a whisper.

「No… the one who came up with the idea to invite you is her after all. Maybe she actually took a liking toward you. I mean she didn’t complaint when I ask for her permission to allow you to raise your level first, and lend her share of money to buy the ingredients for your enchanted hammer.」

「I-Is that so?」

「Yeah, I’m more or less accustomed to the way she treats everyone. The reason she talked just now might be because she’s vexed for not being included in our conversation. She’s actually a really nice girl at heart, so please get along with her. I’m sure that she’ll be delighted if you strike up a conversation with her every once in awhile.」

Edda turned around to see us, feet trampling strongly on the ground beneath her.

「I cut into your conversation since I saw you guys have zero vigilance of your surroundings despite being inside the Demon Labyrinth! Dean, you’re talking too much!」

Both Mani and I leaped to the side almost at the same time.

「S-Sorry, you heard our conversation huh.」

Using fighting spirit would increase our physical abilities.

Though there’s battle arts that specialized in one area such as 《Transcendent Hearing》 or 《Transcendent toughness》, applying fighting spirit normally doesn’t mean that it has no effect on your abilities at all, it’s at least enhanced your abilities to above average, the increase may differ in each person, so it was for the best to getting used to it.

Especially for Edda’s case, I forgot that her enchanted sword increased her other abilities to a whole new level to the point that she could fight an opponent whose level was far higher than her in a short amount of time.

「I’m not angry, just reminding you to mind the danger around you.」

Edda spoke with a voice that was clearly filled with anger.

So you’re angry after all.

「You have some sort of battle art that allows you to sense your surroundings right? even though we’re about to reach the 3rd floor, you’re chatting so loudly without even raising a vigilance toward your surrounding.」

「I-I know alrea-no, my apologies for the carelessness.」

The three of us were walking in silence for a while after that.

I was about to strike a conversation with Mani to break this awkward silence but, I reconsidered that option seeing that we would leave Edda behind in our own world again, so I called out to Edda.

「Come to think of it, Edda.」

「What’s the matter? you think I’ll be happy just because you tried to strike up a conversation with me every once in a while?」

She… SHE WAS SULKING!!!

I thought that she was starting to open her heart to me but, this lass was a tough nut to crack.