Chapter 162

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Let’s be an Adventurer! ~Defeating Dungeons with a Skill Board~ 162

Let’s Fight With Our New Power!

“–!?”

It found me.

It found me!

–That monster found me!

The golem stopped moving after being startled.

At that moment…

*–Baaaang!!*

Its lifted fist was severed from its wrist.

＊　＊　＊　＊　＊　＊　＊　＊　＊

The sound of the violent tremors led Haruki to the golem.

He moved quickly, almost as if being guided by something.

Then…

–There it is!!

The shape of the golem was reflected on Haruki’s eyes.

He had arrived just in time.

The golem was a hair’s breadth away from hitting Karen.

But even then, he was still in time to do something about it.

Haruki quickly approached the monster.

As he sharpened his focus, a thin line lighted up around the golem’s wrist.

–It was the light of Weakness Exploit!

“Found you!”

“–!?”

Haruki traced that light, sliding his Magic Sword over it.

The golem’s arm and the Magic Sword came into contact with each other.

At that moment…

*–Baaaang!!*

Its defensive energy popped off, and the golem’s wrist was severed.

Haruki was able to cut off its hand more easily than he had imagined.

Naturally, he ended up not needing that much power since he had raised his Short Sword skill to the MAX.

Thanks to that skill, his attack power when using a short sword was increased to insane levels.

And there was another reason.

The golem’s wrist had already been cracked on the spot where Haruki attacked.

That crack was a weak spot that Haruki could clearly see with his own two eyes.

(That must have been one of Karen’s attacks.)

Karen’s attack made it so that Haruki had an easier time cutting through the golem’s arm.

The moment its wrist was cut off, the golem turned around and started to sway back and forth, almost as if it had seen a ghost.

“Umm…?”

Haruki was extremely confused by the golem’s reaction.

It was the same when it ran away from Haruki back in the cave.

It seemed that for some reason, the golem was frightened by Haruki.

Haruki wasn’t trying to start anything with that golem.

He was just trying to resume their battle from earlier.

There was nothing particularly frightening about that.

And yet, the golem actually seemed to be terrified of Haruki.

(…Oh well!)

Haruki discarded his questions about the golem’s actions, took a potion out of his backpack, and ran towards Van.

“Whoa, he’s pretty messed up…”

His muscles have been torn apart, some of his bones were exposed, and his arms and legs were all bent in unnatural ways.

The backside of his armor had been crushed, and fresh blood gushed from its cracks.

Haruki didn’t have the courage to take a look under his armor.

Van was in terrible shape.

And yet, he was still breathing.

However, it was a terribly faint breath. It was so weak that it could stop at any moment.

Hurriedly, Haruki took the bottle of High Potion he had received from Masatsugu and forced it down Van’s throat.

Was he thirsty, or was it a mere survival instinct?

Either way, Van faintly swallowed Haruki’s potion.

His face suddenly started to have cramps all over shortly after.

Immediately, his shallow wounds disappeared, and his body started moving all by itself, returning his bones and joints to their correct position.

Regardless of that, Van’s face remained pale.

Even though he had drunk Haruki’s High Potion, Van still didn’t have enough physical strength to recover completely.

Hurriedly, Haruki took out his Skill Board.

He had thought to use it to put some of Van’s points into his healing ability, but…

“–Oh?”

Haruki’s jaw dropped when he saw Van’s skill tree.

Banno Tatsuya (24)　Gender: Male

Skill Points: 33

Class: Great Sword King

Divine Protection: Strong One (???????)

－Vitality ＜－＞

├ Stamina 4

└ Natural Recovery 3

－Strength ＜－＞

└ Strength 6

－Energy ＜－＞

├ Energy Power 3

├ Energy Compatibility 1

└ Energy Manipulation 0

－Agility ＜－＞

├ Quickness 4

└ Dexterity 3

－Technique ＜－＞

├ Equipment Mastery

│├ Great Sword 5

│└ Heavy Armor Mastery 4

└ Tool Mastery 4

－Intuition ＜－＞

└ Detection 1

－Special

├ Divine Protection 1　NEW

└ Physical Enhancement – Pinch 0　NEW

A Divine Protection skill had manifested on Van’s skill tree.

After allocating some of his points into his Stamina and Natural Recovery, Haruki took a detailed look at the rest of Van’s tree.

Physical Enhancement – Pinch [Physical abilities increase when in a pinch: MAX 5]

To put it simply, this skill could bring about a ridiculous amount of strength during a critical situation, much like the insane power one gets when trying to rescue someone from a burning house.

It may be because of this power that Van had stayed but a single step away from death’s door, even though he looked like he had been run over by a tank.

This skill must have manifested itself thanks to his new Divine Protection.

(So, “Strong One”, huh…)

Haruki couldn’t resist the temptation to put as many points as possible into it.

Divine Protection 1 → MAX

Divine Protection: Strong One (???????) → Angel of Strength (Dunames)

“Ah, I see…”

The moment he saw the name of the deity that had bestowed Van her Divine Protection, Haruki understood why it had been her.

Dunames is an angel that rules over physical strength.

Dunames had given Van the strength of a guardian, mainly because Van sought power.

He was always lamenting his own powerlessness.

That doesn’t mean he wanted power to bring about destruction or murder.

He purely sought the power to protect others.

Dunames’ name stands for integrity and virtue.

It was because Van’s wish was noble that the virtuous Dunames had come to his aid.

Perhaps because of Haruki’s tampering with Van’s Stamina, Natural Recovery, and Divine Protection skills, color gradually started to return to Van’s pale face.

Your life is no longer in danger.

Having realized that, Haruki ran towards Karen.

“She seems to be okay…”

There is nothing wrong with Karen’s body.

The worst she had was a bump on her head.

She seemed to have fainted due to the shock of receiving a powerful blow.

Haruki wondered if she would need a potion at all…

Just to be sure, Haruki placed Maat over Karen’s shoulder.

“You stay here and keep Karen safe.”

“Piyo…”

Maat, who was quite exhausted after healing all of Haruki’s wounds, saluted with his wings, albeit rather weakly.

Haruki turned over to look at the tired but accomplished Maat.

She in turn could see that he was already prepared for battle.

He took up both his short sword and Magic Sword while pouring energy into his mask.

The golem wasn’t moving a single inch.

If the golem had made even the slightest move, Haruki would have already intercepted it.

Of course, it wasn’t just Haruki.

Both Rhea and Esta were keeping a close watch on the golem.

If the golem had shown even the slightest murderous intent, Rhea would have fired a barrage of potato bullets at it, and Esta would have crushed the crystals on its body.

Was the golem standing still because it had noticed their fighting spirit?

Or was there any other motive for its idleness?

At any rate, Haruki was able to rescue both Van and Karen without being disturbed.

Now he could focus on his trial without having to worry about their safety.

(The trial to increase my presence– Here I go!!)

As Haruki started to approach the golem, it started to back away.

The golem had lost its initial vigor.

“…Is it a trap?”

The possibility of it all being a deadly trap for Haruki could not be denied.

However, Haruki still dared to press forward.

If he were to stay his hand, nothing would happen.

And where’s the adventure in that?

It was all so that he could increase his presence.

Haruki rushed towards the golem with all his strength.

“Take this!!”

Haruki slashed first with his short sword, then with his Magic Sword in quick succession.

The golem didn’t just stay still, though.

It parried, blocked, and counter-attacked.

Its left fist approached Haruki’s face.

However…

“I’ve already seen that.”

He had already seen the attack many times.

He had seen it and memorized it.

How it started, its trajectory, its power, its aftershock, its damage, and its faults.

Everything had been imprinted into Haruki’s head.

So all Haruki had to do was follow the best course of action against it.

Haruki avoided the fist with minimum effort.

He then counterattacked immediately.

He slashed with his short sword, matching the power of the golem’s attack.

*Skreeeee!!*

The golem’s arm made a high-pitched sound

“Tsk…”

The timing had been slightly off.

To match his own attack at the moment when the opponent’s attack is most powerful…

That was the secret of the way Masatsugu and Shigure attacked.

It was this move that Haruki used when he first made a scratch on the golem’s body back in the hidden room.

His skill with it increased because he had grasped its secrets.

Even so, it was still far from perfect.

“Kuhuh…”

More.

More!!

So Haruki challenged the golem once again.

To continue to perfect his own skills.

Which would in turn increase his own presence.

“Hahaha…”

Give me much more presence!!

“Haahahahaha!!”

Haruki kept on attacking the golem.

Slash, stab, kick, knock away.

Go around it, backstab, and counter.

Haruki’s attacks were mostly blocked by the golem’s stubborn arm.

However, about 10% of them steadily scraped the golem’s body.

*Ratatatat!!*

*Crunch crunch!!*

Rhea and Esta started attacking as well so as to not to lose to Haruki.

“Huh!?”

Surprisingly, some of Rhea’s attacks did a small amount of damage to the golem.

After straining his eyes, Haruki could see a lot of energy in the potato bullets.

*Shakeshakeshake*

Rhea looked like she was puffing her chest out as she threw her potatoes, almost as if saying “So? Amazing, right?”

Her attacks, which were now able to damage the golem, were indeed amazing.

Haruki used his free hand to gently caress Rhea’s leaves.

And Esta didn’t lag behind her.

Since his automatic defense system didn’t work due to the difference in weight, Esta abandoned the defense and quickly went behind the golem’s back, gnawing wherever it could.

Then, the crystals covering the surface of the golem started to break and fall.

Unlike Rare, Esta was not using power attacks.

Apparently, his gnawing could crush through the golem’s tough armor without needing to use energy.

Since Rhea and Esta were once cast aside by Haruki, perhaps they wanted to show him how useful they were?

The two of them were displaying their strength as if trying to let him know that he shouldn’t send them away until the very end, no matter how cornered he felt.

“Ha, haha!!”

Their disposition made Haruki laugh.

He couldn’t allow himself to lose to them.

Slash, stab, kick, knock away.

Block, evade, counter.

Haruki stepped on the gas.

Haruki, who had improved his skills and gotten the hang of the secrets behind Shigure and Masatsugu’s movements, kept on moving faster and faster.

He started dashing, aiming for the peak of his technique after having broken through the ceiling that he had been feeling so far.

–No.

He had just assumed that there was a ceiling.

From the beginning, there was nothing there.

Nothing but an empty “sky” spreading endlessly.

Knowing that, Haruki would fly to the ends of the earth.

He had already seen through almost all of the golem’s attacks.

He would never be hit by any of them.

He made his moves, matching the golem’s attacks.

And his own attacks were able to damage the golem’s hard armor with no effort at all.

His slashes would cut through the stone, and his kicks would make the golem flinch.

His stabs would pierce through the stone, and his throws would make the golem fall over.

“GUH… GUOOOOHH!!”

The golem roared in response to Haruki’s onslaught. Was it because it continued to be attacked without being able to do anything about it?

“–!?”

Haruki reacted to that roar.

He took a cautious step backwards.