Slave Harem in the Labyrinth of the Other World (LN)

Volume 4 - Ch 5.07

That is our Roxanne for you, dodging magic like it is nothing.

Thank you for your kind words, master, but that really was nothing all that praiseworthy. Since that attack has been shot at me from behind the other three Needlewoods, it had to travel through such distance that my eyes had more than enough time to adjust to the speed at which it has been flying, so avoiding that was really not that big of a problem.

No, no, no Roxanne, you are giving yourself way too much credit! I mean, dodging magic? There is no way in hell that any regular person would have been capable of pulling something like that off! I would have never been able to do it even if you gave me an extensive tutorial. And besides, the distance that this Water Ball travelled was not all that great either, certainly not big enough to warrant Roxanne saying that it travelled long enough from her eyes to get accustomed to its speed when it was actually in the blink of an eye, so in my case, the only options for me would be to either tank it head on or try slashing through it with Durandal, the biggest question being which of these two options would be less harmful for me.

Oh, I-I see. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Therefore, that is the only think that I can reply with to her.

Also, that monster was not really trying to hit me for the purpose of damaging me.

It. . . . it did not?

Yes, judging by the way it fired that spell, it was more for the purpose of forcing me to change my position so that they could gain more control of the battlefield.

Really? That is what it was? Because it sure as hell did not look like that to me.

In the meantime, Sherry picked up the Drop Items and handed it over to me. I tried to silently aske her with my eyes if what Roxanne was saying was true or not, and she just nodded her head, confirming that.

So she is right after all?

Right about what after all?

Roxanne asked, looking puzzled

N-Nothing. . . . .

I was right about thinking that Needlewoods branches are one of the items needed for blacksmithing purposes, so it might be a good idea to hold onto some of them instead of selling them all right off the bat.

Sherry saved my ass with her explanation on branches. Nice follow-up, Sherry!

I have defeated the four Needlewoods, so there are now four branches left in the places where they fell down and became the puffs of green smoke.Is that so? I have never heard of any blacksmithing item needing a branch in order to be created.

Is that so?

I asked, because I genuinely had no idea about it at all.

Yes. They are too thing to be used reliably as a fire-starting material because they burn up too quickly, but they still have their fair share of uses in the smithing industry.

Oh yeah? What are they used for then?

Branches are mainly used together with other materials when making metal equipment such as swords and armor.

So they are necessary if you want to make items and equipment that are made out of metal, huh? Well, I guess it is perfectly natural. But if that is the case, then I wonder if. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Do you also need a furnace if you want to make equipment made out of metal?No, that would be too costly of a purchase, so thankfully it is not required. Actually, when it comes to smithing, there is no need for any kind of specialized equipment or tools at all. Everything is carried out just by using Skills, and that is it.

Hmm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

So all you have to do is worry about preparing the right items, and the Skills are going to take care of the rest. As expected of a game with Skills in it. Such a user-friendly system. If only we had something so convenient in my old world, then maybe life would have been even easier than it already was.

Okay, so if we are finished here, then how about we go and move to the eighth floor of the Labyrinth of Vale?

My Item Box is already stuffed with quite an astonishing amount of branches, and I have seen Needlewoods using magic, so for the time being, I guess there is no reason for us to be staying here in Quratars Labyrinth for much longer.

We could do that, but it is going to be morning soon, master.

Roxanne gave me an advice.

It is already so late, huh? Well, I guess it should have been expected, since we have spend quite a long while watching over Sherry until She became Master Smith Lv.2, and apparently that took us even more time than I have initially expected.

Okay, in that case we are going to stay here for just a while longer.

After that, we continued to fight against the monsters on the eighth floor of Quratars Labyrinth. For a number of next encounters, we did not come across many more Needlewoods that would be using magic, but when we did, I managed to notice something about them, mainly the fact that they could be using their magic attacks not only when they were hiding behind the wall that their buddies were making out of themselves for them. We faced two groups made out of two Needlewoods and two Slow Rabbits in a row, and every time the Needlewoods were attempting to cast their magic at us even though they were standing in the middle of the corridor, not hiding behind other monsters or natural terrain obstacles.

Here it comes again, master!

Roxanne issued me another warning when she saw that a blue magic circle has begun to form under the feet of one of the two Needlewoods.

And, exactly as expected, that was exactly what happened. A blue magic circle appeared under the Needlewoods feet, a Water Ball formed itself above its head, and in the next moment it has been launched forward.

But this time, the target of that spell. . . . . . . . . . is me!

Guh. . . . . . . . . . . ! ! ! ! ! !

Oh shit, oh fuck, oh shit, oh fuck this is bad! I am going to die soon! I cannot avoid that spell! It is impossible for me to avoid something so fast! Very impossible! Absolutely impossible!

I knew that I had to avoid that Water Ball if I did not want to be definitively done for, but my legs have been firmly stuck in the ground because of my indecisiveness whether to try and duck to the left, or whether to try and duck to the right.

Avoiding it was the obvious thing to do, but since I lack the reflexes needed to dodge, I could not even afford to perform such a simple action like that.

I just cannot do it, even if my life depends on it.

That is why I decided to do the next best thing that came to my mind: tank the hit head-on after casting Platingon myself in a hurry. Thanks to me using it, the damage done to me when the Needlewoods Water Ball hit me is not going to be enough to outright kill me with one shot, but the damage I took was still quite intense, to the point where it felt as if my legs were going to snap themselves in half the moment the spell blasted me right in the middle of my chest. Another saving grace here was the fact that since the thing that hit me was Water Ball, then it was quite literally a ordinary water shaped into a ball and propelled forward, so it did not do much else aside from making me wet from top to bottom. If instead of that I would have been hit with a Fire Ball, then I think I would not be able to remain as calm and composed as I was now, because let us be honest, who in their right mind would remain perfectly calm after being set on fire? No one, that is who.

After the initial shock has passed, I smacked the Needlewoods with the fifth serving of Fire Storm.