Volume 4 Chapter 28 Midterm Exam
The boss of the Fairy Forest turned out to be a Grand Fairy.
"Giggle giggle giggle..."
Floating lightly, it mocked us while darting around. It unleashed wind magic, attacking us in a roundabout way.
I shouted,
"Don't try and delay USSSS!"
I changed the gravity point of the Grand Fairy and slammed it forcefully into the ground. That's when Sandra appeared.
"Thunderbolt!"
Lightning struck. The Grand Fairy let out a final scream and dispersed into particles. Sandra, with an expressionless face, expressed her annoyance.
"Fairies are really annoying. The worst. They keep shooting infinite homing bullets, so we can't ignore them, yet they just keep running away like trash monsters."
"Sandra, let's take a break. We've spent 15 hours on these guys"
"...A total of 20 hours. Indeed, it's our limit. Come to think of it, we haven't eaten. I'm hungry..."
After passing through a mysterious area, we set up camp in front of a staircase leading underground. It was a simple camping kit purchased from Alex.
I'm so sleepy. Really sleepy. But if I don't eat, my body won't hold up. I tore into the smoked meat handed to me by Sandra.
"This food is surprisingly delicious..."
"Meat is the best."
The two of us voraciously devoured the meat. It was salty, but hunger took precedence. After finishing, I crushed black bread with my bloodied hands and ate it. It tasted like blood.
After that, wrapping ourselves in sleeping bags inside the small tent of the camping kit, Sandra said,
"Let's sleep."
"Alright, good night. I'll sleep too."
I laid my sleeping bag next to Sandra. Normally, there might have been some thoughts about being next to a girl, but right now, there was no time for such thoughts. I slept. I was tired. I slept...
I woke up and checked the time on my pocket watch. Wow, it seems like I slept for 8 hours. Good rest!
"..."
"Mmm... Good morning, Wade... Wait, where are we?"
"Sandra, let's run. We'll eat while running... We slept for 8 hours."
"...?"
Still groggy, Sandra didn't seem to understand the situation. I peered into her eyes.
"Where are we now?"
"The Party House... no, um, the 40th floor of the Karditsa Dungeon?"
"So, it's been 28 hours since we started."
"Almost a day."
"By the way, it took 5 hours to reach the 20th floor. From there to the 40th floor, it took 15 hours. And the difficulty will only increase from here."
"...This is bad, Wade."
"Do you understand the situation now? Let's get ready quickly and start running!"
"Understood."
We packed up the sleeping bags and small tent into our backpacks and continued our conquest.
The bosses of the lake and waterfall turned out to be Water Dragons.
"Thunderbolt, Thunderbolt, Thunderbolt."
With a resentful expression, Sandra continuously struck the lake with lightning. The powerful electric currents eventually reached the entire area, causing the monsters in the lake to float up and disintegrate one by one.
Finally, the Water Dragon emerged and disappeared into particles. Sandra raised her head and said,
"The second day is over..."
"This is bad."
I groaned, realizing it took us 15 hours to defeat them, just like in the Fairy Forest. We were exhausted and needed rest. In other words, we had completed two out of the three days.
"What should we do, Wade?"
"Well, we have no choice but to rest. The next Lava area shouldn't have monsters flying around like fairies, attacking with homing shots. The stairs won't be submerged in water every time either."
These two areas were really tough. If we didn't defeat the fairies, they would keep chasing us with beams from behind. Ignoring them would lead to saturation.
I could handle it with Siddhi, but Sandra couldn't. So, we had to deal with them one by one.
The lake and waterfall area were the same. The stairs down were always submerged in the lake, teeming with piranha-like monsters and Water Dragons that could easily swallow a human whole.
Even with Siddhi, being eaten was not an option, so I cleared the surrounding aquatic monsters from the surface. Then, we dived into the lake, passed through what seemed like a staircase hole, which turned out to be a waterfall leading to the next floor.
In short, even if we could win, it would take time.
"..."
This lake is just like the others. The lightning Sandra unleashed killed the boss dragon, but we can't enter the lake until the electricity is gone.
So, all we could do was sleep.
We set up the tent, wrapped ourselves in sleeping bags. We've already had our meal. So, let's sleep. I'm sleepy. All we can do is sleep.
"...Three days... This is really tough."
Sandra muttered beside me. I never thought it would be this hard even after running the shortest distance. I hope things will be different in the next lava area.
"We need a plan."
I pondered. There are 40 more floors to go. Saying it's the same as the first day sounds nice, but the scale and difficulty are incomparable.
I hadn't used Siddhi. It was just a hassle, and the enemies weren't unbeatable. But since there's a high chance we won't make it in time like this, it's better to use all available means.
I thought and then said,
"Sandra, tomorrow, let's ignore all enemies in the lava area. We've tried to ignore them as much as possible before but couldn't, but this time, let's ignore them. Even if I, who can withstand attacks with Siddhi, get hurt, it's fine."
"...Got it. We'll ignore the lava area then. Shall we take on the crystal soldiers?"
"Yeah, even with Siddhi, it's risky to ignore them."
After exchanging words, we fell asleep.
The next day, we woke up, fell down a waterfall from the stairs at the bottom of the lake, and reached the lava area.
Various monsters attacking with heated lava emerged. Lava slugs, lava frogs, lava dragons.
The boss was a lava giant.
"Let's move forward! We don't have to defeat them!"
We abandoned our backpacks and ran through. To say we abandoned them is not entirely accurate. In reality, we endured all attacks relying on Siddhi and ended up having our backpacks melted away. It was a last-ditch effort on the final day.
And I was crushed by the lava giant in one blow, but still managed to crawl and roll down the stairs. Fully recovered, I stood up, and two crystal soldiers stood as gatekeepers with a gate in the distance.
"...Elapsed time, 7 hours. Remaining time, 14 hours."
"We can do it. It's tight, but not impossible."
Sandra and I got ready. The crystal soldiers also noticed us and prepared to fight.
Stalemate. Time seemed to stand still as neither side moved. A warning bell rang in my mind that we didn't have time for this, but I ignored it. The crystal soldiers weren't pushovers.
Then, the stalemate broke.
Both us and the crystal soldiers started running at the exact same moment. We closed in on each other, reducing the distance to zero in an instant.
The crystal soldier's spear came straight for my chest with incredible speed. But I've been practicing with Mudi. He's torch adventurer, the strongest man.
I grabbed the spear and said,
"Object Weight Reduce."
I lifted the crystal soldier. Following the inertia, the crystal soldier flipped backward.
"Object Weight Increase."
I slammed the crystal soldier onto the ground with all my might. Feeling a strong impact on his back, the crystal soldier shattered.
"Spark."
Sandra also managed to dodge the crystal soldier's attack and deliver a fatal blow successfully. Faced with the explosion of intense lightning in front of her, the crystal soldier turned to dust.
"...Even without Siddhi, I seem to have gotten stronger."
"My basic combat ability has improved."
Sandra and I laughed together.
"We have 14 hours left."
"Let's keep running like this."
We started running again.
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