Chapter 400 Enhanced Strength Is Scary



"A clean blow..."

"To see its weak point and even break it apart with one blow..."

"Too strong..."

"I think I want to retire..."

"Ermm... It's luck! It really is just luck!" I cried out, trying my best to comfort the party who was in a state of despair after watching me take out the monster in one punch.

But seriously, it really was just luck...

I had no idea that the monster had a specific weak point holding it together that if one were to shatter it, the entire monster would just fall apart.

The problem was that this weak point needed a significant amount of force to shatter and it's at a different place for each of these monsters, so you not only have to find it in the heat of battle but you may not even be able to break it when you find it.

But well... I don't think they believe me even if I were to tell them that...

Thankfully, Harper seemed to not mind it that much and already started mining the Monster Gold clusters that were dropped by the dead monster.

When I asked him, he simply gave me a wry smile, "I'm just a porter... I don't understand these kinds of things."

Ugh... That doesn't make me feel better at all...

Harper raised a few of the Monster Gold he mined, "But even I think it's quite impressive to beat a Gold Stoner with one blow. I've been with several different parties in the past and none of them could do what you did."

"It's really luck!!" I protested again.

Of course none of them believed me.

Haaaa... I wanna fluff Katsuki's tail now... I'll do that when I get home later.

Whatever... The good thing was that we managed to get a rather good harvest with thirty Monster Gold crystals from that Gold Stoner I beat, that's twice of what we got from the Gold Tortoise.

That means the risk pay is at around a Crea and a dozen Decreas.

Well... Considering how much money I have, this much isn't a lot but hey, it's still an honest day's work!

...

I wish I could say that out loud but not when the rest are moping around feeling dejected.

Why are you guys even acting like this?! I beat it with one punch because of luck, big deal! Get yourselves together! You guys are veterans aren't you?!

"Sigh... Harper? Could you do me a favour and watch over them for a bit?" I asked while pointing at the others.

He paused in the swinging of his pickaxe, "Err... Sure. Do you need to go somewhere?"

"Yeah... I'll just go and beat the other one while they're like this. At least get more rewards, you know?"

He blinked at me, "Eh? You mean... The other Gold Stoner that we ran away from?"

"Yes? Was there another one?"

"Ah... No... Sorry, I almost forgot that you killed this one by yourself. Err... I guess it would be rude of me to ask if you need backup?"

I waved my hand at him, "No, no, I'll be fine."

Hopefully by the time I get back, the rest of the party will have recovered enough to not be moping around like that anymore.

I don't get it... Why are they even so shocked about this? It's like I destroyed their common sense or something...

Moving down the side tunnel that we used to escape from the first Gold Stoner, I prepared my spells and my Light Sword in case this fight did not go as easily as the first one.

That was when I heard the faint sound of a roar and something hitting against metal up ahead.

Hmm? Is someone fighting against that Gold Stoner right now?

But... That can't be possible... The tunnel I'm walking through leads to a cavern where there was no other way out, so no one else could have met that Gold Stoner without us noticing.

Unless... Ah!

Another party was running away from the Gold Stoner I killed and led it to the three injured guys after we left! Then they came through these tunnels and found themselves backed into a corner and thus had no choice to fight this Gold Stoner!

Hmm... If they were running from the first one, I doubt they would be able to defeat this one easily either so they must be in a bad position right now.

Guess I better hurry up and go help them.

Not out of the goodness of my heart, mind you, but it's so that I can ask for some benefits like the rights to the Monster Gold drops afterwards~

I increased my pace and ran through the tunnel, fully expecting to hear sounds of combat and maybe even screams of despair or something.

But when I got closer, I realised that aside from that moment where I heard a roar, no other sound could be heard.

Was I already too late?

I jumped out into the cavern and... Eh? There's no one?

Well, it's not empty, the Gold Stoner is still there... Except it looks like it lost an arm? But... There's no one else around?

I looked around the place while hiding myself from the Gold Stoner.

The dead bodies from the previous party were still there, but there were fresh marks of a fight having happened around here quite recently.

I mean... That's clear to see since that Gold Stoner was now missing an arm which was not the case when we first came here...

What's more, it seemed like it was still looking around and searching for something too. If I had to guess, it was searching for whoever was fighting it before I came in.

Maybe they're still inside this cavern and are sneaking around to launch sneak attacks on the monster?

I used [Shadow Wall] to conceal myself, blending myself in with the darkness while watching the Gold Stoner.

...

...

Hmm...

Hmmmm....

Hello? Anyone there? I've been waiting here for a good ten minutes now, you know? But yet nothing has happened?

Look, the Gold Stoner even had its aggro resetted and is just wandering around the cavern. If you want to attack it now, the best chance to do it already presented itself five minutes ago.

So what are you waiting for?!

...

Unless... That person already died?

Err... Well... This is awkward... I guess I'll just go and kill it now then...

While the Gold Stoner's back was turned to me, I leapt out from the shadows and poured my mana into my Light Sword.

My Light Sword swung down towards the Gold Stoner, cutting into its shoulder and stopping just right above its chest.

Really? Now you want to show off your six hundred endurance stats... I was expecting the sword to cleave through its entire body too... Maybe I should have just punched it instead...

The Gold Stoner roared and tried to turn around to face me, so I quickly casted [Body Current] on myself and punched it in the head.

My fist punched a hole in it like the last time and the monster broke open like a pinata.

Oh... Was the weak point the head this time? I guess it was... I'm really lucky today huh?

Since there was no one around this time, I called up a few of my summons and got them to start mining with shadow pickaxes.

ραndαsΝοvεl ƈοm With all of them working together, all the Monster Gold was quickly gathered up by my summons before I carried them back to where the others were.

When I came out from the tunnels with the Monster Gold however, I found everyone facing another group of two Mahuns.

Both of them wore cloaks that heavily obscured their faces though the pommels of their swords could be seen sticking out at their waists.

Gathered in between them was the Monster Gold we had collected so far.

"Oh? I thought you said there weren't any others?" One of the cloaked guys asked.

Jack swivelled to look at me, his eyes obviously full of worry, "That... She's not with us. We don't know who she is, surely you're not going to extort a solo Dungeoneer right?"

Ah... I already know what's going on from a glance already but their exchange just confirms this.

But to think that two of them can cause everyone here to submit must mean these two are quite strong?

I was just about to use [Screened] to check their stats when the first cloaked man moved, his figure blurring towards me with his sword unsheathed and slashing towards my neck.

What the fuck, you're really going to kill some random futa that just came out from the tunnel and did nothing to you?

"Blame yourself for diving in this Dungeon solo," He sneered.

Well fuck you too.

I reached up my hand and grabbed his wrist.

Since he was strong enough to suppress a party larger than his, I can't pull any punches here and go all out from the start.

I still have the upper hand now since he's underestimating me so I better make good use of it!

First was a [Light Flash] that blinded everyone else before a follow up of [Body Current] and [Lightning Clad], I punched my other fist into his arm, expecting to simply blow him back towards his compatriot.

Except...

His entire arm exploded in a fountain of gore and the guy was sent exploding back towards his friend, the rest of his body slowly being burned away by the heat of the lightning.

He crashed into his friend and the loud crack of bones being shattered could be heard, right before those two continued flying towards the other end of the tunnel and disappearing into the darkness.

Errr... Weren't they supposed to be strong?