I slipped through the barrage of attacks unleashed by the orcs, weaving through the curtain of projectiles unscathed until I had the front line of the enemy swarm within my sword’s reach.
The one before me was a muscular, bare-handed beast—an Orc Monk.
“Bugoh!!”
The monk cloaked both of its fists in the aura of Fist Aura and thrust a punch toward me with a sharp, disciplined motion.
While its reach was inferior to the other orcs, its movements were swift, reminiscent of a martial artist who had spent years training his craft.
However, Master Danger Sense predicted the monk’s thrust as a matter of course.
I took another step forward while turning my body profile-to-target.
The monk’s fist whistled through empty air. However, the advantage of unarmed combat lies in rapid-fire combinations. A chill once again ran through my entire body, and several trajectories of red light pierced through my frame.
The warning of a follow-up. It was fast!
And yet—
“I’m faster!!”
I had already stepped in and prepared my sword swing at the same time I evaded.
Before the monk could pull back its fist and launch a thrust with its other hand, my blade had already swept through its torso, tracing a line from its right flank to its left shoulder.
This was a direct strike imbued with Sword Aura and Blue Sky Beyond the Clouds. The damage multiplier was sixteenfold. Even if the orcs’ stats were higher than mine, the difference wasn't enough to matter.
Through the sheer violence of that damage multiplier, my strike should have easily rent the monk’s body—
(It’s hard?!)
My eyes widened at the sensation transmitted through the hilt to my hands.
The monk wasn't wearing anything that looked like armor. Despite that, its body—or rather, to be precise, the HP Barrier deployed across its skin—felt strangely solid.
I had fought monks on the way to this Monster Room, so I knew why. it was because of the monk’s skills. Even so, I had thought I could cut through it without resistance as long as I used Blue Sky Beyond the Clouds.
According to the Modern Dungeon Strategy Wiki, the skills an Orc Monk possesses are as follows:
Max-level Increased Damage with Fist Attacks, Fighting Spirit, and Fist Aura. Additionally, at Level 38, they possess Level 2 Inner Qi Technique and Outer Qi Technique.
Among these, Outer Qi Technique has the effect of strengthening the HP Barrier. The description says: “Consume an amount of MP equal to the Skill Level to activate the skill; for ten seconds after activation, reduce damage by a percentage equal to the Skill Level.”
In other words, a Level 2 Outer Qi Technique meant it would cut incoming damage by twenty percent.
As a defense-oriented skill, it was tremendously effective.
And yet—
(My attack is overkill anyway!)
My slash tore through the monk’s body as if it were nothing. The strike, its reach extended by the Sword Aura clinging to the blade, bisected the orc’s thick flesh along with its heart.
Even if it had been a fifty-percent cut, I’m confident the result would have been the same.
Regardless, the bisected monk perished. If it had lived, there was a possibility it could have been healed, but that wasn't a concern if I killed it in one hit.
Then there’s the monk’s Inner Qi Technique. Its effect is: “Consume 5 MP to restore 30 to 50 HP depending on the Skill Level.” However, this is a self-recovery skill that cannot be used on others.
By the way, the acquisition conditions for Qi Technique skills are clear: they are unlocked once you maximize the Skill Levels for Fighting Spirit and Fist Aura. Furthermore, once Inner Qi Technique reaches its maximum level, it unlocks the high-tier skill Healing Qi Technique, which allows the user to heal people other than themselves.
For an explorer who doesn't possess Healing Magic, Qi Technique skills are an excellent way to secure a reliable means of recovery. However, in reality, almost no one acquires them.
To put it simply, combined with Increased Damage with Fist Attacks, you have to spend fifteen Skill Points just to unlock them. On top of that, the Fist Aura skill is definitively “weak.”
Well, it makes sense. You aren't using a weapon.
Attacks using weapons are far more powerful, have longer reach, and are obviously stronger.
That’s why almost nobody takes Qi Technique skills, which require wasting ten points on useless skills like Increased Damage with Fist Attacks and Fist Aura.
…Well, that’s exactly why I find it mysterious that Headshot Yakuza somehow managed to acquire the Fist Aura skill, though.
—But I digress.
In any case.
The battle was ongoing.
I cut through the monk and pushed further ahead, slipping past its side.
I dove headlong into the swarm of orcs.
When I did, the light indicating the shockwaves of Impact Aura that the knights had been about to unleash vanished from within the red glow targeting me.
They had aborted the attack, seeing that it would catch other orcs in the blast.
Despite being under the influence of Maximum Aggro, it seemed that Level 38 monsters possessed enough reason to worry about friendly fire. The shamans were using magic instead of melee attacks as well; perhaps because the enemies had high Spirit stats, they structured their combat with a degree of rationality.
That said, the fact that the knights were somewhat rational wasn't a bad thing for me. The absence of Impact Aura shockwaves meant I could evade the enemy's attacks that much more easily.
The knights and monks lunged forward to surround me, while the rangers and gunners behind them prepared long-range attacks with bows and guns.
To my surprise, the trajectories of the rangers' arrows shown by Master Danger Sense traced a path that curved sharply after soaring upward, aiming to drop down on me from above. It was an attack from a blind spot—directly overhead—using circus-like trick shots.
Meanwhile, the red lines of fire extending from the gunners’ muzzles threaded through the slight gaps between the knights and monks in front of them, accurately piercing my body. Moreover, that light was exceptionally intense.
In other words, it was a fast, high-power attack.
While being pierced by countless rays of light, I smirked as if to provoke the orcs.
“Hah! Fine then, bring it on!!”
Let’s play around with my evolved Master Danger Sense.
In the next instant, the orcs attacked all at once.
First came the gunfire, enhanced with a damage multiplier by the gunners' Snipe Shot skill.
Normal bullets aren't particularly effective against the HP Barriers of explorers or monsters, but Aura Bullets and Magic Bullets are different. These attacks have the effect of neutralizing HP Barriers with their own aura or magic power, dealing damage to the HP itself and weakening the barrier. Furthermore, a strike enhanced by a skill can sometimes pierce an HP Barrier with ease.
The same can be said for Aura Arrows fired using Bow Aura.
As such, for someone like me who lacks any decent defensive skills, taking a Snipe Shot from a gunner would likely result in massive damage. To make matters worse, an Aura Bullet fired from an aura gun is faster than an Aura Arrow; it’s not the kind of thing you can dodge after seeing it.
However, Master Danger Sense not only visualized the lines of fire but even told me the timing of the attacks.
Calculating the timing, I took one step toward the front right.
With just that, every single Aura Bullet passed by, vainly piercing the empty air.
Immediately after, countless Aura Arrows rained down from above. Although there were only three rangers, the number of arrows exceeded ten. Rapid-fired arrows of aura fell one after another.
I took another step, this time toward the front left.
The Aura Arrows failed to catch my body, instead slamming violently into the floor of the Monster Room, shattering and vanishing.
Next, the knights and monks lunged forward simultaneously. The knights, closing the distance to surround me, swung down their wicked morning stars, while the monks watched for an opening to unleash punches and kicks imbued with Fist Aura.
The spiked iron balls of the knights were also cloaked in an aura of Impact Aura.
While Impact Aura is troublesome because it can fire shockwaves, it’s also a nuisance when used normally. The "Impact" in Impact Aura literally means impact; a direct attack with this skill carries a powerful knockback effect.
However, it doesn't matter as long as I don't get hit, and if we clash weapons, I can win out through the difference in damage multipliers since Blue Sky Beyond the Clouds is currently active.
“Bugoh!!”
“Too slow!!”
Well, I’ll just dodge normally, though.
I avoided the attacks of the knights and monks with light steps, as if I were dancing. By the way, they weren't actually slow. It just felt that way to me. The time lag between knowing an attack was coming and the actual attack tracing the red light line allowed me to act with composure.
The iron balls and fists passed by at high speeds, mere millimeters from my skin, but thanks to Master Danger Sense, I had the absolute conviction that I wouldn't be hit, so I could consistently evade by a hair’s breadth.
Because of that, I had plenty of latitude to counterattack.
“Shi!!”
“Gah?!”
I unleashed counter-slashes simultaneously with my evasions. I bisected the monks’ torsos in a single blow or thrust my sword into their hearts. The Orc Knights seemed troublesome because they held shields, but because they had poured their points into offensive skills, they were lacking in defensive ones. To put it bluntly, they were “softer” than the Floor 10 Goblin Guarders.
That’s because these guys only have Level 4 Reduced Damage with Shield as a defensive skill. At this stage, that might as well be paper.
I poured about 3 HP into extending my aura blade and slammed it home the moment I evaded a morning star.
The knight managed to interpose its shield into the sword’s trajectory at the very last second—but,
“Bugoh?!”
The aura blade sliced through the knight, shield and all.
I felt a fair amount of resistance. Saying it was "as good as paper" was a bit of an exaggeration. My bad.
Still, it was a one-hit kill. A sixteenfold damage multiplier is nothing to scoff at.
In the blink of an eye, I finished off the three knights and two monks that had lunged at me.
Just then—
“————”
The shamans, having lost the front-liners they were supposed to buff, unleashed magic toward me all at once.
What they fired was an ominous purple light. It was launched in spheres the size of volleyballs, flying toward me.
It wasn't attack magic. I could tell what it was from the color of the light. It was a debuff.
—Curse of Frailty.
A curse that inflicts the Frailty status ailment on the target.
There was no point in dodging this. It would home in on the target indefinitely, and since its speed was decent, it would follow me everywhere. Well, if I dedicated myself solely to fleeing, I could probably avoid it, but it apparently takes about a minute for those spheres of light to disappear.
I didn't have that much time to waste.
I resigned myself to it and accepted the Curses of Frailty fired by the shamans.
By the way, even if the light sphere hits you, it doesn't mean the curse is guaranteed to take hold. If your Spirit stat is high, you have a chance to resist it, and Resistance Skills are easy to unlock. Well, nobody takes them, though.
Besides, in my case, even if it took hold, I could have Hinata-san dispel it, and more importantly—
“Bugo?!”
When the light spheres collided, the purple light enveloped my entire body—then shattered and vanished. That was the effect for a failed curse application.
The shamans' Curses of Frailty had no effect on me whatsoever.
Too bad for you, shamans.
The Curse of Frailty—is already applied by my own Asceticism.
Since this is the type of debuff that cannot be stacked, it has no meaning against an opponent who is already suffering from it.