CH 54

Chapter 54.

"First of all, Tenji...  Please, next time you will fight with a sword. Because with just a kick, all I'll know is that you have a monstrous strength which is crazy." Mizue said.

"It was really hard for me to say this, but..."

"What is it?"

"It is true that I have awakened to my calling as a [Swordsman], but it has only just been revealed. So, I honestly don't think I can use a sword like that. I think that the jujutsu, body art, and boxing that I have learned in my high school, that's more immediately useful in this situation."

"I see. Then you should mainly use body techniques like you are doing now, and maybe occasionally use a sword. If you've been watching me fight, you can do a little of it by imitation, can't you?"

"If only it were as simple as that."

"You will continue to fight with me on the front lines. And, Rikka, you will hold the spear a little behind me and Tenji."

Mizue finished his impressions of Tenji and quickly changed his attention to Rikka.

Rikka also stared back at Mizue with a serious face, trying to understand how she should behave.

"How far back is a little back?"

"Well, ideally, be close enough to take a step or two steps... You should be able to deter the monsters that are coming at us from our blind spot."

"Okay! So, in short, I should just focus on covering you both?"

"Thanks for understanding so fast. You guys really are awesome."

Mizue gave a compliment, which was out of his character.

Up until now, Mizue has been a thick-headed, pouting, commanding young man with pride about himself. But he had also thought that he was more talented than anyone there.

This was how people around Mizue saw him.

However, Tenji and Rikka rolled their eyes and looked at each other with a puzzled expression after Mizue complimented them.

"No, I'm sorry for being weird. I was just happy that compared to the people at my high school, Rikka, Kusatsu, and Tenji all have a higher standard. You guys are strong and smart." Mizue said.

''Mizue-kun, can you praise your sister more?" Rikka said.

As if enjoying Mizue's compliment, Rikka said, "Ora ora," and poked Mizue's cheek.

This was probably another way of easing the atmosphere in her style. She tended to joke around from time to time to make the atmosphere light.

"Don't do it. I only give in to people I respect."

"He said he wouldn't give in to..." Rikka teased Mizue.

The way Mizue said it smelled strangely chunibi, and Rikka couldn't help but laugh.

[TLN: Chuunibyou (Chunnibi), is an often-derisive Japanese slang term for the embarrassing behavior of 13-to-14-year-olds]

Perhaps unable to bear the embarrassing moment, Mizue turned around to say, "Let's go" and began to walk ahead.

Tenji and Rikka also hurriedly started to follow Mizue.

[---How much further down do we have to go?]

The three of them thought about that as they incessantly proceeded to the sub-dungeon.

Tenji was alerting himself to his surroundings. His eyes were on the 'Book of Enma' as he contemplated the changes he had noticed in the current battle.

Tenji was looking at the very back page of the 'Book of Enma'.

0.1 experience gained.　

These words had been added to the back page, which had been mostly blank.

He checked the other pages to be sure, but this seemed to be the only one that had some change.

[Is it look like an experience log? But still, I only got 0.1 for defeating that diving Mouse... That's a bit harsh on the world.]

Tenji was gaining an average of 24 experiences in a day without doing anything.

This was the experience that the two Goblins had gained from constantly defeating monsters in the Hell Realm. So, this new gain was the first experience that Tenji had actually gained on his own.　

Tenji inferred that 'one fifth-grade monster would give 0.1 experience value'. And from that math, the Goblins would be killing 240 monsters a day.

[Nah, I'm pretty sure there are monsters of the fourth grade or lower unleashed in the Hell Realm. If that's the case, then the Goblins are gaining experience from the fourth-grade monsters as well.]

Tenji still didn't know how much experience he could gain by defeating a fourth-grade monster.

So, all he could do was guess.

[I'm also up to 982/1000 experience. If I can earn 18 more, I'll finally get to level 1.]

[If I wanted to earn 18 experienced by defeating a diving Mouse. I would have to kill about 180 of them.]

As expected, that was not realistic, but considering the possibility of monsters that the three of them might face, he wanted to somehow raise his level to one along the way.

And that was when Tenji was concentrating his thoughts on the 'Book of Enma'.

Mizue stopped them with his hand.

He could faintly hear some footsteps.

The place was quite open all around, with old columns in a circle, spaced at equal distance. The landscape looked like the site of a temple, and it was dark all over, so it was impossible to see in the distance.

Mizue could not see what the sound was.

The ceiling was almost 20 meters high, making the place very reverberant with sound.

The three of them were standing somewhere in a large area.

The place even felt like a boss area.

"It's a little bit of a mess. I don't know which direction it's coming from."

"Yeah, if we're surrounded, we're doomed."

All the way here, there had been a lot of single paths with a certain width, but now that they were in this area, these wide-open spaces were appearing more and more often.

Tenji and the others immediately stood xback-to-back, keeping a close watch on all four sides of the gap, and got their weapons ready.

In this way, they are prepared to clash with the monsters so that they can counter them no matter where they come from.

The monsters may have already noticed their presence, and their footsteps ran briskly without any pretense of hesitation.

However, the sound of footsteps was so shrouded that the three of them had no idea about the number or location of the monsters.

Perhaps sensing the discomfort, Mizue also stopped hand-signing and immediately began giving verbal instructions.

'That's a bit odd. It might not be a diving Mouse."

And Mizue's intuition was right.

Just within the range of Mizue's altered vision, multiple monsters appeared.

'Tskkk! That's not a diving Mouse... That's a fourth grade Needle Mouse!"

Needle Mouse, a fourth-grade rat-shaped monster with dark blue eyes. Its entire body is covered in sharp Needle-like hairs, making it look very similar to a hedgehog. It can fire nearly a dozen of these Needles in a single attack with a high-speed making the opponents wounded. It has a range of about 10 meters.

However, it is also famous for its very weak defense, even ordinary people can just barely defeat it if they manage the Needle attack.

Mizue and Tenji stared at the Needle Mouse and began to think about how to defeat them.

Rikka pointed to the ground just below where they were standing and spoke.

"Hey, wait... Could be the camp under this is?"

Tenji and Mizue wondered by switching eyes from the monsters to the ground.

There was a formation of three familiar and strange figures on it.

"What? It's the same figure as that boss area! When did we enter the boss area! I don't remember opening the door even once!"

"Oh, really. When?"

The place was quite old, and until they approached it, they didn't even notice it because of dust and weed.

However, when he stood on it and observed it closely, he found that it was the exact same formation that had been carved into the floor of the boss room in the first and second boss areas.

Naturally, they were all scared and cold sweat dripped from them.

It was the worst thing for them.

"Oh, come on! This can't be true, right?"

"Hey! This is a bit of a problem like for how many are there?"

"This is quite a pickle."

Several groups of Needle Mouse had appeared around them.

They were anxious after seeing the number of monsters. They tried to think of how they could get through it.

However, for three people with no calling, to escape this number of Needle Mouse, it was an impossible task. The only way they could escape was if they could come up with a tactic that would make even the God of War praise them.

There were over a hundred of them. Hundreds of Needle Mouse with tons of sharp Needles, ready to wound the three.

"Damn it! Are we in the dead end?"

Mizue's contemplative voice was heard throughout the place.