With Katsuki helping us find the best route to run to avoid any monsters, we were able to lose them in the maze until we found the stairs that led to the next floor.
Edir was giving me a concerned look, "Umm… Mistress? Wh… Why were they after you?"
"Mmm… Long story short, some noble tried to mess with us, he got his ass kicked, so now he's sending someone else to kick our ass I guess?" I explained.
"E… Eh? Umm… Mistress doesn't sound worried about it?"
"Well, that's because they won't be able to beat us in an actual fight so we would be fine."
She shook her head, "No, I meant the fact that the noble is targeting you… Wouldn't he be able to ruin your family and your life with his authority?"
I giggled, "Ahaha~ I'm pretty sure he can't~ Let's just say that my family outranks him but he just doesn't know it~"
"I… I see…"
She went silent after that as we descended the stairs towards the next floor which was unsurprisingly a boss room.
I turned to face her, "Alright! I'm releasing you from your servitude, Edir! You can use the Dungeon teleportation to go back to the surface!"
Her eyes widened at my words, "Wha… What? Wait… You're… You're releasing me? Right now?"
"Yep~ You did well so I don't mind releasing you right now. Plus, I'd think you wouldn't want to stay here since we have that noble after us."
Edir looked back at the stairs before looking back at me, "Is… Is Mistress unsatisfied with my performance?"
Eh? What is this girl talking about? Is she asking about her performance as my temporary slave? Or was she referring to her sexual performance?
Either way, I felt her performance in both of these areas were fine so I went ahead to tell her that.
"Err… I have no complaints about your performance? It's just that I felt a little bad for making you stay with us against your will."
She poked her fingers together, "I… I don't mind… I like being here…"
Really? Ah… I bet the thing she liked was the sex…
Actually, it was basically just her servicing me all the time, we never actually had sex at all and yet she's happy with that?
I don't even know if you're the weird one or this is just something normal in this World…
I turned to Katsuki and Odeta for help.
Katsuki understood my intentions immediately, "I have no opinions on her presence, Mistress. She neither hinders nor aids me in my ability to serve you."
Umm… Good to know that she does not find the fact that she has to feed me because I was unable to feed myself thanks to Edir annoying?
Odeta also shrugged, "I don't mind either sister Aster~ I think she's fun! And we could use an archer too! Maybe we can keep her around until we finish the Dungeon?"
Edir quickly spoke up, "Yes! I'll be helpful to you, Mistress! Please let me stay!"
"Is it normal for someone to insist on staying as a slave?" I asked no one in particular.
Katsuki actually answered me, "Normally no, Mistress. But sometimes the slave in question might be trying to run away from something outside the Dungeon. Thus, having an owner might be beneficial to them as they would at least be guaranteed some form of safety as well as means of survival. Sometimes their problem might also be transferred to the owner which allows them to escape freely."
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
I'm guessing what Katsuki meant was probably something like debtors or something similar that the slave might be in trouble with so those people might direct their dissatisfaction at the master instead.
I turned to Edir and raised an eyebrow, silently asking if that was the case with her.
"N… No! I'm not staying because of something like that! I'm staying… Because… Because…"
"Because you really like sucking me?" I guessed.
"Umm… Yes," She affirmed, surprisingly me slightly since I never even thought she would answer honestly like that.
Well, I guess that's a good thing in a way…
I guess I will also need to admit that it felt good to do it with her as well… And I don't actually want this to stop yet…
"Alright… To the end of the Dungeon then."
"Thank you very much!!"
Why is she thanking me? This definitely looks weird no matter how you see it.
Well, who cares? Boss room up ahead and I wouldn't mind having a more proficient ranger than myself helping in the fight.
We stepped into the boss room with Odeta leading the way this time.
Standing at the centre of the large hall was a giant Rat twice the size of Odeta wielding a single edged cleaver that it had stabbed into the ground.
[Name: Dungeon Rat Commander
Stats:
220 Strength
90 Dexterity
180 Endurance
150 Magic
Skills:
Leadership (Tier 2), Martial Skill-(Sword Proficiency (Tier 2), Greatsword Proficiency (Tier 2), Unarmed Proficiency (Tier 2))
Magic Skills:
Kalomancy (Tier 2)]
Hmm… It wasn't that big of a jump compared to the last boss so we can still deal with this relatively safely.
As soon as I thought of that, several circles of light appeared on the ground around the boss monster. Within those circles of light, Dungeon Rat Knights stepped out from the light to gather in front of the Rat Commander.
Great… There's like at least ten of those Knights… So much for the small jump in difficulty…
Odeta punched her fists together, "Wahaha! That's what I'm talking about!! Leave the front to me, sister Aster!!"
Surprisingly, she chanted the spell to cast [Body Current] on herself before leaping forward at the group of Rat Knights.
A single punch from her was enough to obliterate one of the Rat Knights and create a shockwave that sent the other Rat Knights flying off towards the edges of the room, giving us a clear shot at the Rat Commander.
Katsuki threw her poisoned needles, Edir shot her arrows while I bathed the Rat Commander in a wreath of flames.
The Rat Commander let out a roar of pain before it slammed its cleaver on the ground, shaking the ground and also throwing up a dust cloud that hid the bottom half of its body from view.
Odeta leapt back from the boss just in time to avoid a tail swipe from it, the tail missing her face by mere inches.
The Rat Knights that Odeta sent flying away got back up on their feet and started running back to the boss monster, forming a shield wall to block us from reaching the boss.
Odeta leapt forward again with her right arm infused with [Body Current] once more, punching the centre of the shield wall formation.
The formation shook but Rat Knights held their ground and managed to stop themselves from being sent flying.
The Rat Commander raised up its cleaver and brought it down on top of Odeta who did not look like she had time to avoid the blow.
Thinking fast, I went ahead to use one of the types of magic that I have been neglecting on training recently.
A ball of earth formed quickly in front of me as I cast the spell [Earth Ball], making sure to pack the earth tightly together before I shot the spell towards the Rat Commander's face.
The earth bullet impacted the boss monster's face, causing it to flinch back and miss its attack on Odeta allowing her to step back to create distance between them..
I then followed up with a [Static Bolt] while it was still reeling in from the attack, paralysing it with my Electromancy spell which gave Odeta time to re-engage with the Rat Knights.
Hmm… Now that I think about it… If [Static Bolt] paralyses the affected target for a while… Would multiple instances of the spell stack the effects?
I started by firing a few instances of the spell on the Rat Commander, the electrical balls shooting out of my palms one after the other.
The Rat Commander was unable to avoid any of them and judging by how it remained paralysed even after a long while… The effects stack!
Oh hell yeah~ Let's do this!!
I started spamming the spells on the boss, firing the paralyse spells one after the other and making sure it wasn't even able to move an inch the entire time while Odeta and the others cleaned up the Rat Knights.
Ahahaha~ This is so easy! I can't believe I never thought of this before! I kept thinking that there was a cooldown on these status effects or even a stack limit on these things but I forgot this was real life and not some video game where you need to be worried about game balance~
I've found my new exploit! Just spam status effects on monsters! This is going to be so fun~
Just look! All the Rat Knights were already defeated and everyone else could concentrate on the boss monster now! Yet the Boss monster isn't even able to move an inch despite everyone else wailing their weapons on it!
This is the best discovery I've found today!