At that point in time, I used my new card without hesitation. I fired one arrow that exploded when it hit one of the fireballs. In the next moment, a burst of wind made the fireballs around, change directions a bit and pass above us.
Rebecca and Clarice’s attacks soon flew toward the monsters and hit them, but they stopped a bit since they didn’t expect that this would happen. Moreover, my arrow wasn’t destroyed… it was because I didn’t use an ordinary arrow enhanced by the power of flames. I used one enchanted by wind and reinforced by a wind-enchanting scroll. The scroll was destroyed during impact, but at least it was activated just as planned.
Before the monsters had the chance to attack again, we bombarded them with arrows… It looked like their coordination only worked at the start of a fight. After that, they needed some extra time to coordinate again.
You received 30 Experience points.
You received 30 Experience points.
You received 30 Experience points.
The first fight ended without any damage suffered by our party… Jalal and Gao barely had the chance to attack in a fight. They only finished two half-dead fire crows. Once that was over, Clarice approached and asked.
“What the hell was that?”
“A little trick that I came up with by accident. I figured out that I could use that without destroying my arrows with the Flame’s enchantment.”
While I was on guard duty and making some scrolls, I dropped one of my scrolls in one of those holes that emitted a lot of steam before. Thanks to that, I confirmed that aside from the will of the user, a scroll could be activated by accident like that with impacts. I still had to do some research about it, but I could use it that way.
“The next time, I will be quicker and make the fireballs explode close to them. Even if they are resistant to fire, the explosion should stop them.”
The scrolls take some time to make and they are valuable too, so I was essentially using money to make the fights easier for us. Still, that was a decent investment to make things easier for us.
Using Rapid Shots two times by myself and then Clarice would do the same would make things easier. I also could use frost-enchanted arrows. However, I didn’t want to waste those arrows yet… they would get weaker after every use. Using this method, we could make the fights just hard enough for everyone to contribute and for the monsters to lose their best weapon, a combined attack.
After I recovered my arrow, I began to draw another magic circle while the others took out the fire crow feathers. It seemed that they were a bit bothered by my tactic, since it wasn’t something I talked about with them. The original plan was to attack freely and then see what would happen and then adjust for the next plan.
“If you guys want to say something, I don’t mind hearing. I just used the best option.”
“It isn’t about that… it is just a bit troubling the fact that you have those cards and can’t reveal it to us. It is understandable, though. So, we can’t complain.”
I shrugged after hearing that… Jalal’s words didn’t have any hidden meaning behind them, but they still were a bit hard to accept. It made it sound like I was the only one hiding things now since Clarice revealed who she was. I knew what the others were and that they could do as well, so I was the only one left with secrets.
“Let’s see how your battle plan will work and then we will check with the usual battle plan. After that, we will make our decision together.”
“Very well.”
My way of thinking was abnormal, I could tell. Dungeon diving wasn’t something that was done solo, it was done with a group of people who worked together to make things as efficient as possible. Coming up with solutions to deal with all problems at the cost of teamwork wasn’t the right thing for the group, it was only the right thing for me. It made me realize that unless I was willing to compromise in one way or the other, my only option was to accept taking things slowly as a part and follow the usual way or taking things slowly as a solo adventurer and do every single thing by myself.
In the end, my strategy proved better… We disposed of the fire crows without any issues. As for when we tried the usual way, the fire crows had the chance to attack again. Six of them had been disposed of already when that happened, so nothing seriously had happened… we lost a good deal of ten seconds, though. Ten seconds wasn’t much with battles every ten minutes, but it would slowly build up against our energy reserves and supplies too.
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After that, we talked about the experience shared during the fights. I got two times more than the others during the first fight, but in the second, things were a lot more even.
“If we want to get stronger at the same rate and together, we will have to follow the second strategy. Sorry, Clive. Unless that happens, we will keep falling behind you two. Besides, you can save money and time without using those scrolls.”
I stopped to think for a moment and nodded… slowing down to let others catch up. I was really too nice when it came to considering the future of kids like them. Still, it was fine. I could always hunt by myself later.
We began to advance using that strategy and everyone was satisfied since they were getting experience equally. Aside from some minor delays and wounds, everything was fine. It looked like those three had invested in the ointment for burns since they had a small bottle each to use.
Despite that, our group found the entrance to the next floor around noon. Thanks to Clarice, we barely wasted time with dead ends. That being said, all of us were pretty beaten.
“It is getting hard to breathe again… what can we do about this?”
No one could answer Rebecca’s question. Actually, I had prepared a solution, but I decided to test our willpower a bit longer. Besides, there is no point in offering solutions when they only might accept the ones that are convenient for them.
‘Maybe I am getting grumpy thanks to their decision.’
“What are you hiding, Clive?”
Rebecca looked at me while she was fawning herself with both of her hands. Her face was red thanks to the heat. I felt a bit bad for her, but I still thought that my way of thinking was rational.
“What are you talking about?”
“You don’t look as concerned as the rest of us. So, I imagined that you might have a solution for this. Or at least an idea.”
“I might have, but let’s strengthen our willpower for a while longer. I promise that I won’t let things go too far.”
Everyone looked at me wondering if that was a bit of revenge for before. I couldn’t deny that, but they could blame me when the first person fainted thanks to the heat. I kept monitoring their condition with Identification, so I knew when they would reach their limits.
‘Flames enchantment on defensive gear can help against this kind of environment, but I guess it is better to learn some specialized ones… I keep forgetting to increase my Spirit, so I can’t forget about learning those.’
Another was to keep leveling up Enchanting Touch, but the skill is taking its sweet time leveling up. The only moments I recalled leveling up were when I enchanted weapons with more than two slots.
Regardless, while I was thinking about that, I noticed that everyone had finished eating and rested for a while, but they still looked absolutely exhausted. I couldn’t help but sigh… in the end, I took out some helmets from my magic bag and told them to equip.
“What the hell… I feel so much better already.”
Everyone nodded after hearing Jalal. The helmets were of the visor types, so it felt off wearing them with no other piece of armor.
“It has the Spirit Enchantment. Since it is only the most simple one, it can only increase your Spirit by fifteen points since it is on the expert level.”
They had no idea how enchantments and their ranks worked, so I felt that my explanation had been a waste of time. Regardless, I didn’t care.
“They will cost fifteen Terra coins each.”
“... That is pretty expensive.”
Gao raised his eyebrows and didn’t hesitate to show his discontent. Still, he soon realized that I only had the obligation to make one for myself. I wasted time and money, looking for the helmets that could be enchanted and then enchanted them with that effect in which they never had seen before. They knew that I could ask for more. Their other option was to not use the helmets, but soon they recalled the feeling of total exhaustion.
“Let’s not complain when this is our lifeline here. The boss’ chamber will be even worse, so we have to prepare accordingly.”
Everyone paid soon after, since they had saved some money from the previous run. Even the drunkard Clarice still had some money left. Perhaps I shouldn’t say that since I only saw her drunk once.
“I feel alive again! How about some extra reward aside from the money, Clive?”
I raised my eyebrow and then glared at Clarice. Everyone else was showing a surprise look at her words, but she was acting like she didn’t say anything odd. I decided to dismiss her.
“Nah, I’m cool. You don’t have anything that I want.”
“Are you sure about that?”
Clarice grinned… she definitely was messing with me. She did that for a while, but soon took some Elven arrows from her magic bag.
“These can last for quite a while, and they have four slots of enchantments.”
When Clarice revealed the Elven arrows and casually mentioned that they had four slots for enchantments, it took me a second to fully grasp the weight of what she’d just said. My eyes widened in surprise as I felt the realization hit me. Four slots meant these arrows were of legendary rank. That kind of craftsmanship was leagues beyond what I had expected from someone like her. It was rare to come across items like these, especially for something as consumable as arrows. Well, she probably bought or received them.
I had dabbled in crafting bolts and arrows before, but I hadn’t invested heavily in making them. Whenever I attempted to make ammunition, the best I could manage on occasion were rare-grade pieces, impressive enough but nowhere near this caliber. Rare items were valuable, yes, but legendary ones? Those were in a league of their own, coveted for their superior quality, durability, and the incredible potential they unlocked with multiple enchantments. It wasn’t just the extra enchantment slots that made them valuable; legendary items often had a base strength far exceeding anything below them.
I wasn’t a very prideful person. I felt good about my accomplishments, but that was all… I also didn’t want to owe Clarice anything and, since her brother was someone troublesome, I truly didn’t need to have a connection with her.
“I appreciate it, but I will have to refuse.”