| Author: Starving Wind | Original Source: Joara | Word Count: 2815 characters |
| Translator: Anonymouss | English Source: Re:Library | Word Count: 1768 words |
| Editor(s): Silva | ||
Not only is the entrance of the dungeon being restricted by the guards, but the neutral guilds were also all afraid of the pressure exerted by Camelot guilds, which was why there weren’t any users walking around inside of the dungeon.
You could see it as us using our power to stop others from trying to clear the dungeon, but attempting a raid dungeon is actually a very dangerous act. In this current situation where no one knows just how high the difficulty of the dungeon is, to attempt it yourself without knowing anything was close to a suicidal act. Therefore it was kind of obvious that only the biggest guilds would be the ones that would attempt those kinds of dungeons first. It’s because of the number of resources that it takes in order to even attempt the dungeon for the first time, which everyone would easily think is way too exaggerated1.
Not only is the price of consumables high, but the penalty you could receive from dying in Blue Sky is also high as well, which was one of the reasons why there aren’t that many users that are brave enough to go adventuring into unknown places without any prior knowledge or information.
All the people that gathered at the entrance of the dungeon were simply onlookers trying to see the dungeon being cleared for the first time rather than any serious party trying to clear it.
“Should we take off our Robe of Concealment now?”
“Alright.”
“Let’s do that then.”
Everyone agreed to my suggestion since it was quite uncomfortable to move and act around while wearing the robe. Not only does it feel like you’re wearing a raincoat in the middle of summer, but you also have various penalties such as a reduction of movement speed.
“Actually, we haven’t even shared introductions yet.”
I turned towards the two new healers who had joined us thanks to Katalina’s recommendation and my eyes shined brightly as I spoke. Not only were both of them female users, but they were extreme beauties as well.
Among healers, and especially the high-level ones, there weren’t that many that were such beauties. But if they were to come all the way here through Katalina’s recommendations, then it was obvious that they would be high level, and that they should be bishop tier healers at the very least. Based on that fact, finding someone like them isn’t very easy.
“Hoho, it seems so. It’s nice to meet you, I’m Sermian and she’s Ashley.”
“Nice to meet you, I’m Ashley.”
“Glad to have you on board. I’m Artoria.”
“And as you know, I’m Merlin.”
“I’m Stella. I hope we get along.”
Everyone greeted each other and shared introductions. Once I heard their voices, for some reason I felt that they were slightly familiar to me. Honestly, it was amazing to me because even though there’s very few people that actually met me or became acquaintances, they were still familiar to me nevertheless.
Could it be a deja vu phenomenon? Yeah, probably that. It’s easiest to just arrive at that conclusion in the end.
“Miss Artoria? We’ve met previously, have we not?”
“Excuse me?”
But that conclusion crumbled to pieces as soon as the healer called Sermian spoke those words. I was confused since I didn’t have any memory of her and I didn’t know how to respond to the question. And on top of all that, I can feel Katalina’s glare stabbing at me behind my back.
“You’ve saved me back at Exter city.”
“Hmm..”
If it’s Exter city, then it must have been back during the battle against Ianus. The battle that lit the flame for the unification war. There was no way that I would have forgotten it.
“I mean, of course, you wouldn’t remember. Ashley and I participated in the battle as mercenaries as well. You also participated as a mercenary if I recall correctly. As the outer wall was captured by the enemies and we were all retreating back to the inner castle, you saved us when we were separated from the retreating forces and had to fend for ourselves.”
“Ahh!”
Only then I was able to understand the reason why the voice felt familiar to me. There was no healer amongst the ones I saved that had held up the Holy Defence spell as long as her, so her voice had left quite the deep impression on me.
And on top of that, her first words towards me were…
“To think that the one riding on the back of the horse to save my life was a princess instead of a prince… sigh…”
I reenacted the exact situation that had happened back then to her.
“Ugh… it seems you remembered exactly what I said.”
“Heheh…”
Sermian blushed hearing my imitation of her voice back then and lowered her head to hide her face. And Ashley, her friend, giggled as she looked at Sermian’s reaction.
“Of course, you left a strong impression on me as well.”
That’s right, even though I had saved her life, she showed me an expression of disappointment rather than being thankful, so it was obvious that I would feel awkward even though I had saved her, which was another factor for the deep impression I had of her.
“I’m truly sorry about what I said back then. Not only was a savior that I had never expected to suddenly appear in front of us back then, but I also could have never expected that it would be a female user as well.”
“Ah, it’s fine.”
I could understand her reasoning as well. Honestly, for the average woman to defy the risks of death in order to attempt to save someone else’s life in that situation was something that’s hard to imagine. On top of that, how much more amazing would it have looked if it was actually a male user that saved her? I was a bit at fault for breaking her fantasy while shattering her expectations2.
“So that’s why Miss Sermian had asked me so desperately if she could meet Artoria.”
Katalina had been listening quietly for a while now but suddenly butted in the conversation.
“Ah, yes. I should have told you ahead, my apologies. If I were to tell you the truth, I felt that you would deny our request to help you all out since the two of you are so close to each other.”
Looks like Sermian was actually quite crafty in choosing what to say to others. Katalina would have definitely known what was happening and rejected her request to party up with me beforehand.
“Speaking of which, do you two have any relation with Katalina in terms of friendship?”
“Katalina…?”
“Oh! I mean Merlin.”
“Ahh, well it’s because we ended up meeting a long time ago.”
A relationship that has existed since long ago huh… I wanted to ask a bit more, but we’ve barely met twice now and the situation didn’t seem to be right for it either.
“Miss Sermian and Miss Ashley are users that don’t belong to any guild and are high-level healers. I’ve received their help when out in hunts often, and we’ve become close that way.”
It was Katalina who solved my curiosity instead. Thinking about the method in how Katalina hunts monsters in my memory, the image I had fitted with what she said.
“I see.”
“Fufu, I feel that we are connected in a way, so could you add us as your friends, Miss Artoria?”
“Me too!”
“Of course, I’d love to.”
A smile formed right away on my lips, knowing that two beautiful ladies were about to be added to my empty friend list. On top of that, they were healers so they would be extremely useful and valuable as a melee combat type of user.
“Thank you!”
“Wow, thank you~”
“Now, let’s stop fooling around and go hunting then!”
Feeling annoyed by this mood, Katalina spoke.
“That’s right, let’s hunt, hunt!”
Esther excitedly urged us to start the hunt too, knowing she was the one who’s going to hoard all the experience points she seemed more animated than usual.
“Could you make the party with you as the leader then, Esther? I think it would be best to do it that way to make sure all the experience points go only to you.”
“Okay!”
The right to change the party settings was only given to the leader, knowing that, I gave that role to Esther as that would be for the best.
After changing the settings a bit, Esther finished up all the preparation and announced the beginning of the hunt.
“Now, let’s all go!”
We finally step out of the safety area of the Raid Dungeon entrance. Esther and I took the front line in the lineup, with Katalina in the middle and Sermian and Ashley the healers located at the back.
“Let’s take some time for buffs first then.”
Sermian announced, and therefore we all stood by in order to receive our buffs.
[Heaven’s Light][Warcry]
The types of buffs as well as the quality of them were outstanding as expected of healers at Bishop tier.13 different types of buffs stacked on top of each other were bestowed upon me, Katalina and Esther. Looks like Sermian is specializing in buffs and shield-type spells so maybe Ashley is the main healer?
Anyhow, healers who have a variety of high-quality buffing spells are usually pushed aside in preference over healers that focus on having higher amounts of heals in their spells. Even so, it was difficult to say which of the two was better than the other. Just like comparing spears and shields in terms of usefulness, they both have great strengths that make it hard to clearly say which one is better.
From that point of view, the combination of the two of them was absolutely perfect for us and didn’t leave any room for disadvantages. Of course, I didn’t get to see just how well is their control and how much experience they have in monsters hunting, so it was a little early for me to judge them for now.
We had just finished receiving our buffs and were taking a single step forward when…
Clack…
With the disturbing noise of bones scraping against each other, monsters appeared. A humanoid-shaped walking skeleton came into view. However, the one difference between a human skeleton and this one was that there was a single long horn protruding on its skull, that fact plus seeing their heavy armor I could guess what they were.
“Spartoies!”3
