Chapter 82

"What could this be?"

Nana poked the treasure chest with her Shadow Stitch, thumping it repeatedly. She must be using her detection skill, but if this is a trap monster, there's a chance it could bypass her detection.

Completely forgetting such a possibility, Nana's enthusiastic poking of the box made her look much younger than usual.

"It might be a monster, so be careful."

(Or rather, isn't she in too good a mood?)

While I gave her a warning, I couldn't help but whisper in surprise. Nana showing this much curiosity was something I hadn't seen since she was really young. When I first met her, she didn't even have the basic emotion of curiosity.

"Alright... huh?"

Deciding it was safe, Nana finally reached for the chest. When she lifted it slightly, the chest opened on its own, making her tilt her head in confusion.

Watching her from behind, I felt a sense of inevitability that left me speechless.

"Whoa!"

The chest slammed shut with a loud *clank*. Surprised by the sudden attack from the trap monster, the Jewelry Box, Nana let out a loud cry.

Normally, I would be worried, but seeing her reflexively punch it away made me feel silly for worrying.

Before it could even attack, the Jewelry Box was already in a near-death state.

It was almost pitiful how it didn't get a chance to do anything.

To be honest, the Jewelry Box isn't a particularly strong trap monster. It's relatively easy to defeat once it reveals its true form.

This monster steals items and escapes, causing trouble by transferring to a random location within the same floor of the dungeon.

It often leads to player disputes...

"Hey, Rin, I got a lot of stardust fragments!"

"A lot?"

"Look, look."

"Let's see... Oh, really, a lot."

While I was feeling sympathetic, the result screen of the Jewelry Box, which Nana had smashed to dust, showed over 50 stardust fragments.

Considering that most monsters drop between 4 to 8 fragments, this was indeed a large number for a single monster.

Additionally, it dropped "Corundum," a material item that can be processed to randomly turn into gems like rubies or sapphires.

While not as rare as diamonds, which the Jewelry Box occasionally drops, it's still a valuable item because it always turns into jewelry.

"Pretty good haul."

"Should we look for more?"

"No, finding one is lucky enough. Since they're randomly placed, let's prioritize speed and move on."

"Okay."

Nana cheerfully agreed and started walking through the dungeon with light steps. She seemed to have a map in her head up to the next intersection, and her steps were confident.

Though she didn't hesitate in her direction, her swaying left and right made her look like she was floating in a fever dream.

Just as we were about to reach the stairs, Nana saw a bear-shaped monster, the Metal Bear, pop up and blinked.

"Why is there a bear in the ground?"

"Why do you think?"

According to Nana's current perception, this dungeon is underground.

Maybe because we've been going down continuously, but this dungeon isn't actually made of earth.

"Are you a mole, then?"

"No, what are you talking about, Nana?"

*Grass*

*LOL*

*It's a mole*

*↑It's saying mole*

*LOL*

The current Nana is completely unpredictable.

Ducking the Metal Bear's arm, she countered with a punch to the face, followed by an uppercut to the chin, and finally a sweeping kick to the torso, all in a relaxed and casual manner.

"Stay underground, will you?"

With that, Nana smashed the Metal Bear's head into the dungeon floor, crushing it, and continued walking while humming a tune.

*Gross*

*Too merciless*

*Can't even see the movements*

Her technique is far from refined, and she doesn't have any particular skills.

She just enjoys hitting things with all her might.

She's not enjoying the fight; she's excited because I gave her permission to use her full strength without any restrictions.

"Hehehe, hmm, hehehehe."

*Amazing*

*So cool*

*Can she do gymnastics?*

*Using a metal rod like a baton, LOL*

*So talented*

Maybe because she was bored, Nana started doing baton twirls with her Shadow Stitch, which has a strength requirement of over 200.

Ignoring the excited comments, I wondered how to handle such a cheerful Nana.

☆

Stardust Labyrinth, Floor 10.

We entered a spacious floor that looked like a boss room and stopped in front of the boss standing in the center.

At first glance, it was a knight in full armor, but it was about three meters tall, a very large knight.

Holding a large sword in front of him and placing both hands on it, the knight waited in a classic pose. As we approached, red light appeared through the gaps in his helmet.

"My name is Mirage, a knight who serves Lady Siren."

"Wow, it talked."

"Siren?"

Nana was surprised that the armor spoke, and I couldn't help but ask about the unfamiliar name.

Ignoring our voices, the knight named Mirage creaked and raised his sword.

"Let's see how you fare!"

"Wait, so suddenly!?"

"Raa!"

Nana met the knight's sword, which attacked almost immediately after his introduction, with a raised voice.

Since I'm not much help in these power struggles, I kept my distance.

The two were evenly matched, and their dark-colored metal rod and dull-colored greatsword clashed, sending sparks flying.

"Hmm, you stopped my sword."

"Sure did."

"Then how about this?"

The knight pulled back his sword, which glowed. This was likely a sign of an Arts activation.

Nana seemed to realize this and stood relaxed, ready for anything.

His taut arms and bent knees tensed, and after a few seconds, the knight lunged forward.

"Storm Slash!"

The blade cut the ground, and the sword flash rose.

With a deep, low sound, the knight's full-force upward slash attacked Nana, but she moved her body to avoid it, looking unimpressed.

At first glance, it seemed like the knight's full-force attack missed.

However, the blade, which had risen to a sufficient height, stopped and then came down with a terrifying sound as the knight stepped forward.

The sword flash was sharp and heavy, cutting the air and making a loud noise.

Indeed, "Storm Slash" was a fitting name.

Nana was indeed in the midst of a storm of slashes, like being exposed to a violent wind.

The knight was continuously unleashing full-force attacks. However, stopping the momentum of such powerful attacks isn't easy.

Being able to unleash such powerful slashes in rapid succession is quite remarkable.

However, ...

"Yawn..."

If it weren't for Nana, that would be the case.

Nana yawned, looking thoroughly unimpressed, and dodged the knight's slashes with ease.

Upward slashes, downward slashes, horizontal sweeps, and helmet splits. The continuous high-power attacks were indeed impressive.

But to Nana, they were just a series of single attacks.

By focusing on dodging, she could avoid them without even grazing.

"Is it not hitting?"

"???"

"It's all being dodged."

"Wasn't she yawning just now?"

"That's a bad match-up..."

The knight in armor is likely a simple heavy warrior type of boss. While it might have some area attacks, this type of monster tends to have basic, straightforward attacks.

It's relatively well-matched against tank-like players who can take hits or low-durability magic users, but it's a terrible match-up against players like Nana, who can read and exploit openings.

Well, if the sword speed were faster, it might hit, but the current cheerful Nana would likely dodge it easily.

Why is Nana so cheerful? It's probably a combination of several factors, but she's likely in top form right now.

Nana usually doesn't show much emotion, but the more she feels, the better her performance and focus.

The best performance I've seen in the past two weeks was during the fight with the Red Wolf Aria.

At that time, Nana was openly emotional and thoroughly enjoying the extreme battle.

"Hey, is it over already?"

"Guah!"

After dodging the Storm Slash, Nana slipped past Mirage's legs and, taking advantage of the Arts cooldown, hit the back of his knees with a "Four-Strike Smash."

I don't think she targeted that spot because it was less armored.

When she moved behind Mirage, he was simply too large, making it hard to target vital points, so she aimed for the legs.

Monsters have durability for each part in addition to HP. Cutting tails or breaking wings is common in hack-and-slash games.

Mirage's visualized HP had two bars. The first bar was reduced by about 20% with the Four-Strike Smash, so his HP isn't particularly high.

"Hmm, I was quite confident in that technique."

"Interesting?"

"But it seems difficult to defeat you with that. Well, can you read the next attack?"

It's hard to tell if this Mirage monster has AI or is just programmed to speak.

Since there's no real reason to give a repeatable monster AI for conversation, it's probably a scripted NPC monster.

If it appears every time we clear the floor, that would be convenient. Nana could handle it alone at this rate.

"Let's prepare while Nana is working hard."

"Oh!"

"Oh!"

"Is that it?"

"Rare to see."

"Been a while since a boss fight, huh?"

"Indeed. ...I'll need to focus."

Magic is much more flexible than you might think.

As long as you have the necessary factors, you can activate it with a song, words, sounds, or symbols.

Thus, if you have enough mana, you can activate multiple spells simultaneously, like I did earlier.

Conversely, you don't need to limit yourself to one method to draw the necessary factors for a spell.

You can combine multiple methods to construct and activate a spell.

I wrote symbols with my right hand, drew an array with my left, and whistled to create a powerful spell instantly.

This time, I prepared a high-damage single-target advanced spell, "Lightning Ballista," being careful not to hit Nana.

Normally, this spell requires a six-part incantation, but I activated it in less than five seconds.

It's much faster and more powerful than basic arrow spells and, as a lightning attribute advanced spell, it's not a ranged attack, so it consumes less MP and is very user-friendly.

I carefully aimed and made eye contact with Nana.

She nodded with a smile, dodging the knight's Arts, and I fired the Ballista to pierce the knight's torso.

"Guah!"

While not as fast as lightning, the Lightning Ballista still moved much faster than other attribute spells, piercing Mirage.

Mirage stiffened and screamed, but Nana wasn't about to miss this opportunity.

With a sound like metal crushing metal, she struck with her Shadow Stitch.

"Full of openings."

While dodging the residual lightning, Nana slipped into Mirage's guard and relentlessly attacked his legs, which were weakened by the powerful magic.

She focused on his feet and thighs, and her strikes to the back of his knees, which she had targeted earlier, were terrifyingly accurate critical hits.

"Ugh, you... ugh!"

By the time Mirage recovered from the Lightning Ballista and Nana's assault, I had already prepared three more shots.

The rare skill "Magic Retention" allows you to stock spells by continuously consuming mana for a set time, which I had been using.

It's one of the rare skills I received as a reward for participating in a named monster hunt and works well with my high-speed incantation.

The three arrows, aimed at the torso, head, and legs, pierced Mirage, causing significant damage and paralysis.

"Hehe, hehehe, free to hit."

While dodging the residual lightning, Nana repeatedly struck the same spot with "Continuous Smash."

The one-sided attack rapidly reduced the part's durability, and the knight finally knelt.

"Hehe."

Nana smiled, as if to say, "Finally," and, as the helmet naturally lowered when he knelt, she knocked it off.

Mirage's large body swayed, and Nana continued to target his neck and torso with her Shadow Stitch.

Once we understood his pattern, there was no stopping us.

We cornered Mirage in a near-perfect trap.

It took less than five minutes for my spells to pierce him and Nana's powerful smashes to break his neck.

"Remarkable..."

With his neck bent, Mirage gave his final praise and then collapsed and disappeared.

In the end, Nana's relentless attacks alone were enough to finish him off without my intervention.

"Hmm... weak?"

"Indeed."

I agreed with Nana's comment. Even considering the bad match-up, the knight was easily intimidated by magic and his armor quickly wore down, making him much weaker than the Armored Mountain Gorilla in terms of resistance.

Most importantly, his HP was far too low. Even for a repeatable boss, this was disappointing.

"Rin, something appeared."

Nana, who had moved to the corner of the room, was waving at the shimmering portal that appeared at the back of the boss room.

That must be the exit portal. How many stardust fragments did we collect?

"Let's think about it later."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Let's go back."

It took us a few hours to clear this floor, even with a slow pace. I'm not sure how much randomness there is, but I memorized the entire route this time.

"Let's establish a method to clear this in the next few days."

"Um... I'll leave it to you!"

*Completely giving up, LOL*

*So dumb*

*Completely a child*

*But they're both so cute*

*They're gone*

*Age talk is taboo for women*

*Girls are always 17. Got it?*

*That's painful...*

*Stop it*

"Hey..."

Nana, still in a good mood, casually entered the portal.

Watching the listeners' strange topics, I scratched my head and followed her.

He's the weakest among Siren's knights...