CH 47

Transfer to the 86th floor of the Southern Great Labyrinth. 

The space here is so vast that it’s hard to believe it’s underground.

An open area, with stretching grassland and above, seemingly a widespread sky.  

Down to the middle layer of the Great Labyrinth, the environments are like caves, but from the lower layers, there are various wide places like this.

The 86th to 88th floors are scenic grasslands. 

First-time explorers are happy to find such a comfortable environment, but of course, this is also not that much of an easy place to be.

We are all in the safe zone perfoming the final checks on our equipment. 

Looking at Will, I see no armour or shield.

I’d heard about this in the meeting so I’m not surprised, but in the end, I do still feel a little uncomfortable because of the stereotype that Defenders are equipped with armour and a shield. 

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇

“Will, do you not wear armour or a shield?”

I’d asked in the operations room to clarify my doubts after I’d heard about each person’s fighting style. 

“Yeah, I’m not one of those orthodox Defenders. That’s why they were going to make me convert to a Vanguard Attacker.”

The one Defender without armour or shield who comes to mind is after all that S Rank girl.

“Maybe you’re eventually aiming to be a evasion-type?”

“Hm? Nah, nah, no way I can dodge everything like that kid. Well, I’ll be properly grabbing their attention to make a situation where you can easily fight, so leave it to me!” 

Will confidently and boldly boasted.

The other members didn’t look like they were going to point out anything, so I guess it’ll be fine.

I only know Will’s ability as an Attacker.

As an Attacker, he’s got strength equivalent to A Rank and could have been their Ace, but I wonder how good he is at his main job as a Defender?

From what I’ve heard, I think Will’s style requires considerable dexterity. 

◇ ◇ ◇

After walking around for a bit while paying attention to our surroundings, from the right side, a lump of mana comes flying. 

Judging it to be an attack from a demonic beast, I was about to activate the [Reflective Barrier] that I had prepared. 

–But

“It’s mine!”

Will shouts and heads toward the direction of the attack.

In the next moment, he’s gripping a weapon in his right hand.

The weapon has two blades extending from both sides of a handle.

–It’s called a double-edged sword.

Extremely hard to handle, a weapon that very few people have mastered. 

In the joint subjugation, he had used two swords of different lengths for dual wielding.

Looks like as a Defender he uses a double-edged sword instead. 

“Grah!”

Will skillfully swings his double-edged sword, and when one blade touches the mass of mana, it disappears without a trace. 

(What a really an interesting idea. It’s difficult to achieve, but Will’s control of mana is suitable for it, and I think he also has quite some courage. If he fails, then that’s a direct hit…..)

“Lucre!”

Selma shouts for Lucre.

“Already found it! [Flash]!”

Lucre casts [Flash] and a red light bursts in the sky from about two hundred metres away. 

“[Magic Up].”

Selma buffs Lain to improve the power of her magic.

“Lucre, Selma, thank you! Then, to celebrate Orn joining us, I’ll do a big celebratory cannon shot! [Super Explosion]!”

A mass of flame is generated where the red light bursts and it plummets down.

When it hits the ground, the surrounding area is enveloped in an explosion with a thunderous roar.

You’re seriously using special grade fire-type magic from the opening……

I wasn’t able to keep up with the series of events that had occurred. 

Well, it’s not a situation where I had to unnecessarily force my way in though.

This current sequence of actions tells me that these people are highly skilled.

For Selma and Lain, they’re fast in constructing formulae.

Especially Lain.

Special grade magic is mighty, offensive magic has high power and wide attack range, but it requires an enormous amount of mental processing. 

In other words, it takes time to construct the formula.

And even if the power had been moderated, it still took only a few seconds to construct. 

A normal person would have taken almost twice as long to construct the formula compared to Lain.

Though I had been aware this, still, as expected of an explorer who’s reached the deep layers.

And then there was Lucre.

As I’d thought, there’s no doubt that her Talent is useful. 

Not plain at all.

Finally, Will.

I might have heard about his weapon’s features beforehand, I was still amazed when I saw it actually erase that mass of mana.

For Will to erase mana, he’s got to do something with the same tight timing as my [Impact].

Furthermore, my [Impact] is generally a magic that goes along with an attack.

Will, on the other hand, has to act against a mass of mana coming towards him.

If he gets the timing wrong, it’s not unlikely to lead to serious injury.

The fact that he looks able to do it so effortlessly is definitely because of serious effort. 

“How do I say, I know it’s a basic way of putting it, but that was amazing…..”

My honest impressions of what had just happened spilled out. 

“Fufu! This is the strength of the strongest party in our ‘Night Sky’s Silver Rabbit’”

Lucre says with a smug face while puffing out her chest.

Yeah, there’s not much. I won’t say what.

Lucre’s declaration loosened the atmosphere in the party a little.

“Now, let’s give the killing blow.”

With one sentence from Selma, everyone’s attention refocused.

Right, it hasn’t been defeated yet.

The one who had just attacked us was probably that guy. 

If so, it must have received some damage, but it shouldn’t have been enough to turn it into a magic stone.

While keeping a watchful eye on our surroundings, we head for the centre of the explosion.

The 86th to 88th floors do also have forests, but more than half of the land is dominated by grasslands with a good vista. 

Furthermore, with the exception of our current target, the Noxious Sheep, almost all of the demonic beasts have long-range attacks.

In other words, here, battles are mainly fought at long distance. 

That’s why it’s said that Vanguard Attackers can’t be that active in these grassland areas. 

Though there are several ways to get close, rather than that, it’s more efficient to fight predominantly with magic.