With my stats boosted, the battle began.
By now, you probably already know what I was planning. That’s right: the Sword Aura and Mighty Blade combo.
"Uooooooooh!!! Just die already, damn it!!!!!"
I activated Sword Aura and Mighty Blade, consuming 40 HP per swing to unleash massive Flying Blades at the goblin horde.
One, two, three times.
The massive blades of energy tore through the army, sweeping up dozens of goblins in their wake. Their momentum unchecked, the blades roared with a violent impact as they carved deep gashes into the walls of the Monster Room.
It was only natural.
My Strength might have been lower than usual, but it was still at 90. Most importantly, my damage multiplier was 96x. Level 16-or-so goblins—including the Knights—didn't stand a chance.
The slashes, released at a total cost of 120 HP, annihilated the densely packed goblins in an instant.
However, I couldn't take down every last one of them. Four goblins that had been outside the slashes' trajectory managed to survive.
My current max HP was 195. Unlike when I was grinding the Floor 7 Monster Room, I actually had enough health left to fire off one more massive Flying Blade.
However, the four survivors were split into two groups at separate locations. They weren't positioned in a way that I could take them all out with a single strike. More importantly, if I missed, I’d be in immediate trouble. I had no choice but to take them out individually.
A Knight, a Berserker, a Mage, and an Assassin closed in on me.
I’d made sure to kill the Commander with the first strike to neutralize it. That meant their stats weren't being boosted by Leadership anymore... but the Berserker had activated Fighting Spirit.
—The real battle starts now.
Wiping out the bulk of the horde at once was according to plan. A small number surviving was also according to plan. But from here on, I had to defeat the remaining goblins without relying on the overwhelming firepower of Mighty Blade.
Was it possible with my current stats?
Whether or not I could actually grind a Monster Room while keeping the Seeker skill active all depended on this.
"Ooooooooooooooooooh!!!!!"
I switched Sword Aura to Magic Sword and charged into the approaching goblins with a roar.
And then—
"Whaaaaaaaaat...!!?"
"Are you for real!? Are you for real!?"
"He actually won...!!?"
"Wait, how the hell did he win!?"
"What's going on...!!? Why can he win!? How!? How is he winning!?"
The battle ended, and the VOICEROID voices ringing out from the drone took on a frantic, excited tone.
—Actually, it was a breeze.
To begin with, even without using Mighty Blade, my direct attacks with Magic Sword had a 9.6x damage multiplier. With a Strength stat of 90, I could one-shot any goblin on this floor. The same applied to the high Physical Defense Knights since Magic Sword dealt magic attribute damage.
The real concern had been whether I could keep up with their speed, but with my Agility over 100—about 40 points higher than the Floor 6 goblins—evading them was easy. Furthermore, I also had Danger Sense, so it might have been fine even if my Agility was a bit lower.
To optimize things next time, I might not need to use the Bracelet of Fleet-footedness. Also, since I didn't take any hits, I could probably do without Energy Protection as well.
Honestly, the battle was far more comfortable than I’d expected... though it probably would have been tough without the Goblin Genocider title.
Even with fixed-value enhancement support magic, my stats would have remained low if I’d only had Fighting Spirit to rely on. This would be quite a difficult feat for others to imitate.
"No way, no way, no way!!? You mean he wiped out a Floor 6 Monster Room horde while using Seeker!?"
"That Sword Aura and Mighty Blade combo is as broken as ever!! What the hell is that power!? Is he really nerfed!?"
"And when he took down the survivors in close combat, he was actually strong!? I could tell he was slower than usual, but he was still incredibly fast!?"
"Sure, I get that with Mighty Blade he might have a chance. But what's with him one-shotting them even when he wasn't using it!!?"
"Are you really using Seeker!? Weren't you just fighting normally!? Please tell me that's the case!!"
"No matter how much Hinata-chan's support magic and magic equipment buffed him, there's no way he could boost his initial stats that much with just Fighting Spirit!!"
"Leveling Junkie Bro, you definitely have enhancement-type skills other than Fighting Spirit!! And you must have damage-boosting skills besides Goblin Killer too, right!? Otherwise, this just doesn't make sense!!"
"Wait, actually, isn't this the deepest floor ever recorded for a battle using Seeker!?"
"More importantly, the fact that he can win in the Floor 6 Monster Room while using Seeker... depending on your skills, this could totally flip the evaluation of that skill, couldn't it!?"
"I thought Mighty Blade would be mandatory, but Leveling Junkie Bro is taking them out even without it."
"As always, the hurdle for adding Healing Magic and Support Magic users to a party is high, but if you assume a five-person party, there might be a chance for other Explorers to put up a decent fight... maybe!?"
"Since experience points decrease in a five-person party, we'll have to re-examine if Seeker is worth using in the end... but this could be a ray of hope for the Seeker skill...!!"
"Verification team!! Get in here!!"
The comments section was more excited than ever before.
Letting them wash over me, I reflected on the battle. In that one fight, I’d consumed 131 HP and 22 MP.
The HP loss could be restored with a single High Heal from Hinata-san, so that wasn't an issue. However, the MP might be a bit of a problem. Currently, my max MP was only 57. That meant the maximum MP I'd recover naturally in an hour was about 28.
If I consumed 22 MP every rotation, my grinding efficiency would plummet. I had brought Mana Potions just in case... but once the potions ran out, I couldn't restock them on this floor.
As I thought, I might not need the Bracelet of Fleet-footedness; the Bracelet of Technique alone might be enough. If I could still do rotations with that, I should be able to significantly reduce my MP consumption.
The other thing to consider was the burden on Hinata-san.
The MP Hinata-san had consumed in this battle was already 20—10 for Bless and 10 for Energy Protection. On top of that, she would need to use 10 MP for High Heal to restore my HP. That meant 30 MP per battle. Considering the number of rotations we planned to do, that consumption was too high.
Energy Protection definitely had to go.
Even then, the consumption per battle would be 20 MP. Currently, Hinata-san’s max MP was just under 200, and she recovered less than 100 per hour naturally. It looked like I’d need her to start using Mana Potions.
Having finished my analysis and picked up the Magic Stones, I looked over at her.
"Well then, Hinata-san, shall we leave the room and head back in?"
"Ah, yeah..."
"Wait, don't act like it's normal to keep grinding!!"
"He's acting like it's totally natural to do rotations while using Seeker lol."
"That's weird. Seeker is supposed to be a total trap skill where once you activate it, you can't fight monsters properly anymore... right?"
"Seriously, what is wrong with this guy lol."