Chapter 54

Let’s be an Adventurer! ~Defeating Dungeons with a Skill Board~ 54

Let’s get back on our feet!

Haruki fell to his knees as he finished killing the few remaining Beroberos.

His throat hurt.

His breath felt hot.

It was rather unpleasant.

He even coughed up a bit of blood.

He moistened his sore throat with a canteen he had brought with him.

Then he used the rest of it to water Rhea’s planter.

There were no signs of any living monsters around anymore.

Yoshi, who had been there up until that point, didn’t seem to be there anymore either.

He had surely gone to help Kagemitsu after making sure the Monster Parade had been completely eliminated.

How would he feel after having defeated so many like this?

Haruki was extremely pleased.

Still, he took a deep breath.

He took the medicine that Kagemitsu had given him.

His wounds healed up in an instant.

Not only that, his detection range was drastically increased.

He was able to know Kagemitsu and the other’s current situation from where he stood.

“… This is bad.”

He had a rough idea of how things looked for Kagemitsu and the others over there.

However, that battle didn’t seem to be going so well.

Kagemitsu was being pushed around by the boss.

There were some members who had been unable to make a move either.

At that very moment, Haruki realized that the large number of slimy eels they had set up earlier was starting to be absorbed into the dungeon.

Three hours had passed since they started this battle.

It wouldn’t normally take anyone more than three hours to defeat a single monster.

Haruki took another deep breath.

Then he began to run towards Kagemitsu and the others as fast as he could.

When he arrived, he found Kagemitsu covered in blood and standing alone in front of the Lizardman.

He had been wounded all over his body by the boss’ fierce attacks.

He must have had no time to spare to heal himself with medicine.

Van had retreated after having taken a strong attack as well.

He might be off somewhere waiting until he’s recovered, staring at the battle from afar while holding down his wounds.

Yoshi was there as well, and he and Becky were attacking the boss from a distance with their arrows.

However, the boss would block their attacks with its spear, its hard scales, and its tail.

Doraneko also attacked it from behind, but the boss’ tail got in the way, so her attack doesn’t go as deep as planned.

A group of adventurers who had explored the 24th floor could not lay a finger on this boss.

That didn’t mean that Kagemitsu and the others were weak.

The boss was simply that strong.

The boss had single-handedly overwhelmed Aerial completely.

This is the true strength of a monster from the 30th floor.

It seems that Masatsugu, a hero who had defeated the 30th floor, was easily able to defeat this boss.

Just how in the world did he manage to do that?

Haruki had absolutely no idea how they were going to defeat this guy.

Just as he was caught in his thoughts, the Lizardman’s attack pierced into Kagemitsu’s shoulder.

“–Ugh!”

Kagemitsu staggered, leaving himself wide open.

The boss’s eyes went bright with killing intent.

At that very moment, the scene where Shikama and the others were brutally eaten by monsters was brought back to Haruki’s mind.

It brought a freezing chill down his spine.

“–!!”

He could no longer stand there and watch.

Haruki immediately took out the skill board and began to swipe.

Date Mitsuru (24)　Gender: Male

Skill Points: 34

Class: Great Sword User

Divine Protection: North Wind <???>

－Vitality

Stamina 6

Natural Recovery 5

－Strength

Strength 8

－Agility

Instantaneous Power 6

Dexterity 5

－Technology

Equipment Mastery

Great Sword 5

Heavy Armor 4

－Intuition

Intuition 5

Detection 2

－Special

Presence 3

Divine Protection 1

Presence!?

“Damn! What kind of God Skill is that!?”

Haruki shook his head and hurriedly tapped on his skills.

Date Mitsuru (24)　Gender: Male

Skill Points: 34 → 24

Class: Great Sword User

Divine Protection: North Wind <???>

－Vitality

Stamina 6 → 10

Natural Recovery 5 → 10

－Strength

Strength 8

－Agility

Instantaneous Power 6

Dexterity 5

－Technology

Equipment Mastery

Great Sword 5

Heavy Armor 4 → 5

－Intuition

Intuition 5

Detection 2

－Special

Presence 3

Divine Protection 1

Haruki recalled the moment when Shikama and the others died in front of him.

If only he hadn’t hesitated to allocate skills points for them back then, they would probably still be alive.

He didn’t want to restrain himself from doing something that could save a life anymore.

He didn’t want to make the same mistake ever again.

That’s why this time he tampered with Kagemitsu’s skills without hesitation.

Though this time, he was right in the middle of combat.

If his physical abilities improved all of a sudden, his body could have an adverse reaction and collapse.

That’s why Haruki altered only the stats that could give Kagemitsu the best survival rate without risking such a bad reaction that much.

“–Huwaaah!”

Kagemitsu let out a battle cry and suddenly moved his vulnerable body, perhaps due to Haruki’s tampering.

The tip of the boss’ spear missed Kagemitsu, who moved away in the nick of time.

The boss continued to attack, but Kagemitsu avoided every single one of its thrusts.

There was no sense of danger coming from his nimble movements.

Would he be able to hold the boss at bay like that for a little longer?

Next, Haruki opened up his own tree.

Karaboshi Haruki (27)　Gender: Male

Skill Points: 5

Class: Hidden Sword Master

Divine Protection: Cloth One <???>

－Vitality

Stamina 3

Natural Recovery 2

－Strength

Strength 3

－Agility

Instantaneous Power 3

Dexterity 3

－Technology

Equipment Mastery

One-handed Sword 3

Throwing 2

Light Armor Mastery 3

Kicking 1

Stealth 2 → 3

Imitating 2

－Intuition

Detection 2

－Special

Growth Acceleration MAX

Time 1

Divine Protection 1

“Gaaaah!”

His stealth had improved!

“Why!?”

Haruki dropped his shoulders.

But this wasn’t the time to feel depressed about it.

There was no time to feel sad with all these incidents happening.

The battlefield was already harsh enough as it was.

Still shedding bitter tears, Haruki frantically cheered himself up.

However, even after using up ten of Kagemitsu’s skill points, it still seemed pointless against that boss.

Haruki could not imagine there would be much of a difference with his own five points.

Still…

“Could it be…?”

He noticed something strange about Kagemitsu’s skill tree.

Why was it that even after having raised several of his skills, his Divine Protection was still at 1?

Masatsugu had it maxed out.

And he had maxed out Rhea’s as well.

After manifesting the Divine Protection, Haruki could feel a great difference in his own physical abilities.

And Rhea’s throwing ability had become something truly dreadful.

Could it be that this Divine Protection was far more effective than he had imagined?

What kind of effect did each God give?

There had to be different effects depending on which God you got.

A single point could mean the difference between life and death.

There was no room for failure.

And yet there was Rhea’s case.

There was no waste in giving it a try.

Haruki allocates one of his Skill Points to his own Divine Protection.

Skill Points: 5 → 4

Divine Protection: Cloth One <???> → Transparent One <???>

Divine Protection: 2

“Gyaaah!”

Transparent!

It turned into “Transparent”!

This was bad, really bad!

This wouldn’t do.

Should he stop allocating points now?

… No, at this point it would be better to just carry on.

There was a chance the skill would change yet again if he kept on allocating points.

“Damn it!”

There was no time to be worried about it.

Kagemitsu was holding down the boss with all of his might.

But it was just a matter of time.

Doraneko tried to attack one more time, but was blown away by the boss’ tail and had to step away from the battlefront.

Kagemitsu seemed anxious.

He was probably thinking about retreating.

However, someone had to step up and take care of this.

Unless they risked life and limb to defeat this boss, there would be no getting away from this situation.

“Just turn into whatever you want, I don’t care anymore!”

Haruki readied himself and tapped into his skill tree with all his strength.

Skill Points: 4 → 3

Divine Protection: 2 → MAX

“… Huh!?”

The name of the God appeared.

Haruki put away his skill board…

… And took off his mask.