abcnovels
Volume 3 - Ch 1.06
Volume 3 - Ch 1.06
Since this dropped from the Floor Boss after its defeat, then it probably means that its quality must be higher than those dropped by the regular mobs native to the second floor, just like it was with the Udowoods Leaf back on the first floor. Floor Bosses dropping higher quality materials must be another one of Labyrinths rules.
Thinking about it, that White Caterpillar was acting pretty much in the same way as Green caterpillars did, aside from the fact that it used its Skill at the very beginning of the battle. But other than that, it followed a pretty clear pattern: It tried to seal our ability to move with its Web Spit, and when it failed to do so, it moved to attack us directly. Maybe since it is a bug, its brain could not process that such a pattern wont work on us? Or maybe it was not its fault, but rather the code that programmed its natural actions was to blame? Either way, my point is that the difficulty spike which should be present when fighting a Boss rank monster was pretty much nonexistent here.
Roxanne, hold onto this Silk Thread for me, will you?
This time I had to give the Silk Thread to Roxanne so that she could carry it in her backpack for me, because I was starting to run a little low on the space in my Item Box due to all the Drop Items from the Needlewoods and Green Caterpillars we have hunted down on the way to the Floor Bosss chamber.
Since we were having a little break of sorts, I removed my Leather Helmet and Leather gloves to give myself a breather from wearing them all the time. We were lucky that this Floor Boss also dropped its Drop Item after our first battle with it, because a perspective of fighting it multiple times just to earn something like that was not a prospect that I would like to entertain. The battle itself might have been simple, but the Floor Boss is still a Floor Boss, so it would probably hurt like hell if he managed to actually hit us with one of its attacks.
After picking up the Silk Thread, I checked the Party Settings to see if Roxanne obtained some new Job, but sadly, no such thing happened this time. It was the same for me as well; the number of my available Jobs did not increase at all, which is a shame because a part of me expected one of us to get something along the lines of Weaver Job or something like that. I know it probably wont be like that every time, but it would be really funny if it did.
Okay, enough jokes and lets move on. But before we move on from here, lets have a quick look-around first. Anything we have missed because the battle started right from the get-go? No, it doesnt seem like it. Any items left by the previous Parties who were unfortunate enough to get killed by the White Caterpillar? No, it doesnt look like it either. Yeah, there is really nothing left for us to pick up, meaning that either whoever was here before us managed to successfully defeat the Boss and proceed to the higher floors, or no one was fighting against it for quite some time. Whichever one of those two options it might be, that is not any of our concerns. With little else to do here, we nodded at each other and proceeded to the Labyrinths third floor.
The small room that served as the entrance to the third floor looked exactly the same as the ones on the first and second floors. Behind us was a black wall-portal, and before us, the road was forking into three possible directions. The question is: which one should we take. Lets ask our residual expert on the subject.
Alright Roxanne, can you tell if there are any enemies nearby?
If we go straight ahead, then we should encounter a Kobold and a Green Caterpillar, but if we take the path to the left, there will only be a single Needlewood there.
Then take us to the left, please. Since this is a new floor we are stepping into, then lets take it slow and go down the path that has as little monsters as possible first.
Understood. Please follow me, master.
Just a quick note about the other roads in the room outside of the Floor Boss room on the second floor that also have black wall-portals on them: the road forward leads to back to the first floor, the road forward is a shortcut back to the second floor, and the road on the left, the one we ultimately took, took us to our current destination, the third floor.
While still holding onto Durandal, I did a Character Reset to change my Third Job, and when I was done, we went down the road to the left. The first monster we encountered soon after was a Needlewood Lv.3. Makes sense. We are on the Labyrinths third floor, after all, so it should be pretty obvious that the enemies we would encounter here would all be Lv.3, even the ones that were native to the first floor. Not waiting for it to come to us first, I ran towards it and slashed it diagonally with my sword in a fast blow, causing it to fall down to the ground and disappear in a puff of green smoke. Huh, so even on the third floor, where the enemies are supposed to be stronger than the ones from the second floor, one blow from Durandal was still enough to kill them in one strike? Good to know, but also disappointing. I thought that since the enemies were of higher level, then it would mean that they will also start improving in a fashion similar to me or the Adventurers in video games, but I guess the improvement that the third floor made to them are still not enough to turn them into any real threat towards the current me.
For the next encounter, lets test how magic is going to work on the monsters here. I did another Character Reset, changed Durandal for the Copper Sword and got all of my Bonus Skills buffing the amount of gained EXP and lowering the amount of EXP required to Level Up.
The next thing that appeared before us was a new enemy: a Kobold Lv.3. If I remember correctly, they were supposed to be the monsters native to the third floor, if what the guy from that other Party we have evesdropped on was telling the truth. If were to describe it, it looked like a blue dwarf, or perhaps a goblin (TL Note: please dont go full Goblin Slayer, please dont go full Goblin Slayer!), because it also had a pair of big, creepy-looking eyes and sharp fangs and pointy ears. Also, its face is friggin huge! Like, I legitimately think that most of its head is occupied by its ugly face! And its also holding a knife in its hand! I think that is the first monster that I saw using an actual weapon ever since I arrived in this world, and the though that some of the monsters are intelligent enough to be actually using weapons is more than a little scary. I mean, I know that any cuts and wounds my body may suffer will be completely heal with Durandals HP Absorption Skill, but what about any other types of wounds? Simple cuts should be fine, but what about my limbs being completely severed? Because if I were to lose an arm or fingers of my dominant hand without any way of restoring it, that would mean my life as an adventuring her would be over before it even properly began. And what about my internal organs being gouged out? Or if the would I sustain will cause massive internal or external bleeding? Can HP Absorption heal damage like that, or is it limited only to the simple kind of wounds and the more serious ones would require the help of a proper doctor, or healer, or whatever the hell the medical stuff is called here?
I am worrying about everything like crazy, and the actual battle hasnt even begun yet, but hey, look, this is my first time fighting against not an armed human, but an armed monster, so of course I would be freaking the hell out, you know?! And since this is the thing that I absolutely do not want to test out no matter what, then the answer to how I should proceed here should be obvious.
The enemy is a Lv.3 monster holding a weapon, so in this case, victory will go to whoever will successfully make the first move, and it just so happens that I have the perfect tool for doing just that!