Death March — Fixed

“Tek here, when I’m engrossed in something, I often forget the time. Like when the big patches for WoW come out, I make sure that all my work is done, and take my vacation days.”

 

“Nana! Endure it for a while. Pochi, Tama, use Magic Edge! Let’s settle in in one go.”

 

“You Ivy! Are you a plant, or an animal? Be clear about it, so I complain!”

 

“Magic Edge”, “Go!”

 

With Nana’s provocation, the Thorn Foot crawls along using its vines towards Nana, and entangles her. She quickly cut the ivy with her Nature Magic Sharp Edge-strengthened Magic Sword, so it didn’t have any chance to properly twine around her.

 

Pochi and Tama cut the main ivy that’s connected to a giant thorn.

 

Arisa cut the bump-part of the Thorn Foot’s head with her Dimension Cutter, severing half of it. Lulu, who’s beside her, fires a high-caliber Magic Bullet from her Magic Gun, completely blowing away the already half-torn bump of the Thorn Foot’s head.

 

There, Mia demonstrates the effect of her Water Shredder spell, shredding the Monster’s rind, making use of the bodily fluids that are flowing to the surface from other wounds.

 

Lastly, Liza uses Spiral Spear Attack, with Magic-Edge on her spear, into the leg-like ivy of the Monster…finishing it off.

 

“Big victory?”, “Yes!”

 

I clean everyone up, as they raise cheers of victory, and heal them all using Aqua Heal. I leave it to Mia to heal injuries during battles, but I take care of healing injuries after the battle is over.

 

They were fighting against a level 40 Thorn Foot this time, but they could beat it fairly easily when they worked together. This place Area 1-4-9-17 is overflowing with Plant-type Monsters--since the name is long, I will just refer to it as Area -17.

 

In here, the plant roots that are hanging in every room, as well as winding down walls, emit some kind of bioluminescence. I cut one of the roots, because I was curious, and there were some kind of light fiber-like things in the cross-section.

 

Various enemies have attacked us, like the walking Ivy Monster before, a big Tree Monster that fires bowling-ball acorns from a part that looks like a cannon, a walking Corn Monster that rapid-fires its thumb-sized kernels like a machine-gun, or carnivorous plants that send out their slime-like mucus feelers to predate us.

 

Any one of them are between 30 - 40.

 

One interesting Monster is called a Walking Bamboo, and they look like normal bamboo. You can extract sugar by processing the fibers inside the Monster’s main body…so it’s closer to sugar cane, than bamboo. Furthermore, its leaves are the raw material for Potion Stabilizer.

 

The Ivy of this Walking Bamboo, and the Thorn Foot that we’ve just hunted, are now material for making Intermediate Potion.

 

I can see Goblinkin and herbivorous Monsters sometimes, but since low-leveled Monsters are just a hindrance, I exterminate them using Remote Arrows.

 

There is no one here, other than us and the Monsters. Partly Area -9 is infested with small Insect Monsters and Slime Monsters that especially use Poison, Disease and Paralysis attacks--as well as there being a lot of traps.

 

It seems that even for past Adventurers, hardly anyone has come to this area, there are only around 20% Sign Monuments compared to higher-number areas.

 

 

***

“Alrighttt! I did it! I just leveled up to 27!” Arisa shouts, raising a fist in victory.

 

“Nyahaha?”

“Did it!”

 

“Self-conceit is prohibited. This is the result of Master being here.” Liza looks at the over-excited Arisa and warns her.

 

“Affirmative. It us thanks to Master.”

 

“Of course I feel thankful. Other enemies don’t approach when we’re in the middle of hunting one, and convenient enemies come here right after we have a break--it’s a program that will even scare an efficiency freak.”

 

Well, I’m not sure if that is a compliment or insult.

 

We walked slightly further in since the enemies were too weak in Area 1-4, where the massive Ant swarm was, because it wasn’t really training for the girls. Thanks to the suitable strong enemies in Area -17, the leveling up, and training, have become efficient.

 

I was concerned with how little Stamina Arisa had, even with her level, but she told me that it was only because she raised her Stats with being a Mage in mind. During her Stat adjustments after every level up in here, she had raised her other Stats to standard for her level. I feel a little envious that she can so easily allocate her Stat Points.

 

Since this place has a night and day cycle, and the ground looks like bare soil, it doesn’t seem to be underground. Moreover, there are water sources, and the air stays clear even when Lulu cooks, because of the vents in the ceiling--it’s a brilliant for camping and hunting.

 

Since I could easily split groups of Monsters by using the Earth Magic Wall to control the bare soil, it was easy to make it so that only one Monster would fight the girls at a time. The reason that we didn’t use Arisa’s Space Magic to split up the Monsters, because it seemed very difficult for her to use offensive Space Magic while fighting higher-leveled Monsters.

 

“Come to think of it, a few days have already passed, is it alright for us to not return to the city yet?” Arisa asks.

 

“We have a lot of food and water, so it’s fine, isn’t it?”

 

Four days have already passed.

 

We’ve only raised 2 - 3 levels each day, but since we’ve leveled more than 10 levels since we entered, the result is quite good.

 

There have been some good changes when it comes to the girls’ Skills. The biggest changes are Lulu, who has gained Life Magic and Nature Magic, and Mia who has gained Spirit Magic.

 

Arisa has also acquired the Fire Magic Skill, when her Space Magic Skill reached 8. Apparently, the required points to level it up to 9 was much too large. She said her heart nearly broke, and she got something else--Lulu and I comforted her later.

 

She picked Fire Magic, which is good in combat, since she can already use Advanced-Grade Magic. According to Arisa, the Body-Reinforcement Magic from Fire Magic creates energy by burning the fat in your body.

 

So it’s good for diets--I double checked, and it seems to be true, according to my books on Fire Magic.

 

***

Since we have annihilated all of the enemies in this hall, we went toward the log house that we had been using for the last four days in order to have a peaceful dinner.

 

The log house, that was constructed from Plant-Type Monster materials, originally only had a living room. But, it had more and more rooms and got improved little by little every day. Right now, it has become like a villa with a living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom, and a workshop.

 

We’re growing tomatoes and medicinal plant in the patch of soil in front of the villa. Let’s plant some flowers, and maybe potatoes next time we come here.

 

The location of the villa is where there is a pool of water and air holes--Gushing Holes cannot form here. There are three passages leading in and out of the hall, but I put up doors with Magic Circuits reinforcing them, there are also a lot of traps on either side of the doors.

 

Of course, these doors, and traps, can be opened if you have the correct authentication Magic Tool.

 

I even added a smaller version of the Barrier Pillar Magic Circuit on the doors, to stop bodiless Monsters from entering.

 

We all enter the house, which also has Scarecrows for surveillance. There is an abundance of Magic in the Labyrinth, so I made use of jellyfish feelers to gather Magic Power for the Scarecrows, and to enhance the Magic Circuits in the doors and traps.

 

I quickly stop by the workshop to greet Mara--who excitedly begins explain a new blueprint to me. She has changed a lot since I originally purchased her, she has a lot of fun and has befriended the other girls. She is more comfortable sharing a bed with us, but she still bathes alone.

 

“The hot water has been boiled.” Arisa calls out to me, I can hear the excitement in her voice.

 

“Yeah, I’m coming.”

 

I reply to her, over-exaggeratedly rolling my eyes, making Mara giggle as she rolled up the blueprint that we had been looking at.

 

“Master, thank you for the advice, and--” She looked at the massive pile of resources that I had placed in the corner, “the resources, I will try to make the prototype ready within a week.”

 

She clenched her fist in determination. Her small eyes narrowed, and her small chest thrust out.

 

I couldn’t help but stroke her hair--so puffy and thick, it tickled my palm, and felt like patting a St Bernard…

 

Her cheeks blushed, and she quickly lowered her eyes, but not moving away.

 

“Master, the bath will begin to cool soon.” Arisa poked her head in, and grinned when she saw us.

 

Mara let out a quiet gasp and quickly backed up, while looking embarrassed, “I will begin work on the prototype, Master.”

 

Arisa grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the room. She is already naked. We head into the bathroom.

 

Recently, Arisa, who has learned Fire Magic, does the heating of bath water. Though, the first time she tried, she partially destroyed the bathroom with an overly large fireball. She said that it was a mistake during trying to adjust the heating, but she can do it now.

 

“Everyone is already waiting, undress. Quick, quick.” Arisa says after dragging me into bathroom, tugging at my pants…of course she goes for the pants first.

 

Lulu comes over, carefully removing my robe, and unbuttoning my shirt. She may seem like a maid, but I can see the way she is blushing…and how she deliberately trails her fingertips over my muscles.

 

Everyone is already waiting in front of the bathtub.

 

This is because they had unanimously decided that I should enter first, “the first bath is for Master.” Liza liked to say, so it became a custom.

 

Smiling at the waiting girls, and muttering a quick apology, I quickly enter the bathtub. Slowing leaning back against the edge, I relax my mind and body, the hot water feels quite good.

 

There are a lot of Spirits in the pool here, it may be because it’s a place where an Earth Vein is near the surface. Just by submerging in the hot water, I feel like I’m being massaged--maybe the Spirits, which seem to like me, are giving me a service.

 

While warming my body, I cuddle Nana on my lap and help her clean Mia’s hair. Every bath, they ‘take turns cuddling Master’ in Arisa’s words--which result in very long baths, usually two or so hours…I don’t complain about it.

 

***

“I’m thinking of going back above the ground tomorrow morning.”

“Eh? Let’s go back after we’ve all leveled up to 30.”

“I’d very much like to, but I’ve only paid for the inn for five days, so if we don’t go back tomorrow--our horses and carriage will be sold off.”

 

I persuade Arisa, the only one who raises a complaint, by explaining my reasoning to her.

 

Putting aside the carriage, I’d feel sorry if the horses get sold off, since they have been our companions for the long journey.

 

“Moreover, we can instantly go back here if we leave a carved Seal Board, right?” Those words seemed to be what decided it, succeeding in persuading Arisa.

 

Before we go back, I choose the loot that we’re going to take above ground with us. Among the the Magic Cores, I decided to put the large quantity of deep red Magic Cores acquired from Area -17 inside the Magic Bag, and left it in the log house. I’ve already used a large amount of the small whitish Magic Cores from the Ants and other small-fries for making diluted Magic Potions, but over 100 of them remain.

 

I put only these Magic Cores into a small bag, and bring them along.

 

Since everyone will look at us dubiously if we don’t bring any Monster materials, I’ve decided to bring 10 of the Ants’ carapaces and claws, each of which are in an acceptable condition. I also brought along some Frog meat. All of this had been in the list of materials that the Guild would purchase.

 

I remembered something and decided to bring some yellow Lizard meat, which wasn’t on the purchased list. They were strange lizards that looked like an iguana with feelers--but they taste delicious, with a chicken-like flavour, and fat that tastes like pork-fat.

 

***

With Return Magic, we return to the hidden room in Area 1-4 that we found. Of course, I made sure that there were no Monsters or Adventurers in the room beforehand with Clairvoyance Magic.

 

Since there are around 30 Lost Thieves approaching like they were trying to enclose us when we were in a junction of the first area, I dealt with them using Remote Stun. I decided not to kill them, since they didn’t bother me or anyone important to me, so I just knocked them out.

 

Since I took some detours, using some small passages along the way, we safely got out of the labyrinth without encountering the unconscious Lost Thieves.

 

We were met with a surprise when we got outside the Labyrinth, but it was different than any of us expected.