11. first co-op (2)
The beginning of the dungeon itself was nothing special.
Descending the stairs, a dark path splits into two.
As soon as Brian and his party came down, they hurriedly took the right path.
“Ian!”
said Helena, who seemed nervous but strangely excited.
“yes.”
“I am concerned about one thing!”
“What.”
“Yeah… Wouldn’t it be dangerous to wear clothes like this!”
At Magdalen Abbey, Helena wore plate armor.
It is a composition that covers only the necessary parts such as the chest, arms, shoulders, and the front of the legs.
However, now she is wearing a black nun’s uniform.
It is a slightly modified version of the previous nun’s uniform design, which adheres to the body but is elastic, and has a long slit in the skirt, making it easy to move.
The important thing is not only that it is easy to move.
“It was enchanted.”
“… Yes?”
“Neh?”
“yes?”
All three were surprised at the same time.
“… Did you really think that I would put on just that cloth and go into battle?”
“that… yes! I honestly did!”
“Are you too honest these days? I like it.”
Vivian glanced down at her clothes.
She put on the white wizard’s robe Taylor had tailored for her.
“The same goes for Vivian. Grade 4 hardening, environment adaptation enchantment is hanging. Both are stronger than most plate armor.”
“… … .”
Iris looked back and forth between Helena and Vivian’s clothes.
“A grade 4 enchantment at the temporary hero level… . The captain introduced me as a great manager, but he is not ordinary.”
I guess I didn’t tell you that I was the manager before the 1st party.
Or even if I told you, I didn’t know.
“How much is a 4th grade!”
Iris replaced the explanation.
It seems that the person who shrugs up his glasses and makes his eyes shine is a personality that likes to explain.
“The lowest level of enchantment is grade 9, and the lower the number, the higher the quality. Prices increase exponentially. Because of this, a rank 4 looks like a middle rank, but in reality, it’s a level that you can barely think of if you’re a full-time warrior, that is, rank C or higher. Not even one, but two… It should be at the top of the C-class.”
Helena and Vivian looked down at their clothes with different eyes.
Helena suddenly raised her weapon and asked.
“Well, then maybe these too… !”
What she was carrying was a kite shield and a mace.
Not really, nothing special.
“They aren’t.”
“okay!”
Vivian is holding something nice because Taylor gave it to her as a gift, but she has no intention of focusing on the equipment from the start.
More than that, skills should be backed up first.
Still, safety is the top priority, so I put on some good clothes.
“Then let’s go now.”
“Yes! Oh sorry! The time was delayed because of me! If you’re not in a hurry, your opponent will come first… !”
“Don’t worry about that.”
“Yes?”
“Even if it’s late to go, the magic stone is unconditionally ours.”
And artifacts too.
***
The path to the dungeon is ‘A’ shaped.
After each departure, it is a structure that meets at the end of the road.
There is a large stone door at the point where the party joins, and beyond that is the space where the dungeon boss is.
The party that arrives first can open the stone door and fight the boss, but the core of this dungeon is different.
It is impossible to kill the boss unless certain conditions are met.
Ian knows the hidden condition, and conversely, it is almost impossible for the opponent to know about it.
Therefore, Ian was very leisurely, and just like Vivian did in the first dungeon, only one Helena was used to adapt to the actual battle.
In line with the theory that you are strong when you are alone, and you should become stronger when together.
“Vivian is practicing behind the scenes to use magic that hasn’t been done yet.”
“yes. Okay.”
Iris politely asked questions without disturbing Ian.
As a scholar, I had a lot of questions, and since I only lived in a laboratory, I was amazed at the scenery of the field.
It was felt that he was careful and polite, so Ian responded as best he could.
Are all heroes like this, is there a reason only Ian is like this, what is the structure of each dungeon, etc.
He had no reason to treat him badly, since he was the person who would invent the warp portal.
In the meantime, it was Helena’s job to deal with the enemy.
In front of her stood the wooden golem that Ian had told her about in advance.
A golem half as tall as Helena, it fights by transforming its wooden body parts to resemble human long-arms.
Helena didn’t have to fight as hard as Vivian.
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Just block, aim for gaps.
What Ian expected from her was to use the miracle of protection.
However, there was one condition.
A wooden golem looked down at Helena and slammed down an arm that had been transformed into an axe.
Helena, who held out her shield, watched the movement until the end.
Right before the ax blade touches the shield.
‘now!’
The protection was activated according to the timing.
-bang!
The wooden golem blocked by the protection fell backwards with a loud sound.
Helena turned off the protection and rushed to finish it off.
Since Vivian hadn’t mastered her new spell yet, Ian gave Helena a special trick.
Turn on the protection only when you need it, and turn it off as soon as you don’t need it.
Even though it’s a skill, it was useful to freely turn off and on the protection at any time because it was good for efficient use of mana and less disturbing to the same teammates.
Helena moved forward and stayed true to Ian’s teaching of ‘block then attack’.
-bang!
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Just by knocking on the protection, the golem loses balance and falls.
This is what Ian saw, Helena’s own talent.
A miracle of innate protection.
Unreasonable counter-resilience that causes the attacked target to collapse in reverse.
‘this… .’
-bang!
‘My talent… .’
Every time he sees a golem falling over his protection.
Every time you defeat an enemy so easily.
Every time Ian shows off his discovered talent without regret.
A warm feeling wells up in your heart.
‘This is what Ian saw in me… .’
Prove your worth, show your talent.
It imprints more on what Ian recognized, and at the same time, he recognizes his own value.
Helena sighed and turned around.
Iris was writing something strangely.
Vivian was still groaning as if her magic wasn’t working well.
Ian watches Helena with a satisfied smile, then makes eye contact and nods.
“Wow, you are good. You can continue as you are today.”
“Yes! thank you!”
Helena went ahead again.
Soon after, two wooden golems came out at the same time.
Helena calmly watched the two of them without panic.
Even myself has become surprisingly cold.
‘There are two targets… . The two weapons are different. One side is a relatively short sword. The other side is a long spear.’
You should not be satisfied with adapting to simple patterns of blocking and hitting.
I have to constantly cross-analyze and think about the enemy and myself.
Remember Ian’s advice.
‘Battle is to fight after already winning it in your head… .’
The difference in reach between the two weapons leads to the time difference between attack arrival.
If so, it will be a short moment that you don’t have to worry about.
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Just turn on the protection and calmly block them one by one.
Ian also told me to do just the same, but I don’t like it.
I’m greedy.
I want to do more, more, better.
It is the same today.
not hard work
You have to do well.
And today, I feel like I can do really well.
“Wow!”
Helena rolled her body and entered between the two golems at once.
Minutely, the weapon got closer to the short golem.
Immediately after, the two golems slashed their weapons.
Crouching Helena raised her shield and activated protection at the right timing.
– Kwakwang!
The moment the two hit the protection at the same time and fell.
He got up and struck one with his mace, then immediately slashed the other through the underside of his kite shield.
-Quad deuk!
Block at the same time, end at the same time.
The flow organized in my head was embodied in reality.
“Whoa, whoa… .”
shortness of breath
It’s not because it’s hard.
I am so happy.
The feeling of elation, confidence, and indescribable happiness that filled my heart is about to explode.
Helena turned to Ian.
It’s a slightly surprised face.
It didn’t just meet Ian’s expectations, it exceeded them.
I could tell from that expression.
“aaan-!”
“Why are you running again… . Suck!”
Helena jumped in hysterically and threw herself at Ian.
“Me, me, how was it! That’s it! This is what Ian expected from me! Is that correct?! Right?!”
“It’s not a run-in, but that’s right. No, honestly, it just… You did much better than I expected.”
“Wow!”
Ian remembered the first time Vivian faced King Slime.
Vivian, who ran and lured the slime swarm to deal with it, and deliberately stayed still to aim for the king slime’s core.
In order to reduce the difference in reach between the two golems, Helena got close and resolved them at the same time.
Both are much stronger in real life.
Ian seriously contemplated whether he should withdraw his thought of Helena as dull.
It was a very pleasant worry.
On the other hand, Vivian became a little anxious.
*
“I thought we came first?”
Standing in front of the large stone door, Eileen said.
By his side were Brian, Dominic, and Claudia.
It was not difficult to reach the door of the boss room.
Claudia shook her head as she saw the way Vivian and her party were supposed to come.
“No matter how good they are, in the end there are only two of them, which is natural.”
two and four.
Although numerically two, in reality there will be more than two, as the effect of cooperation is much greater.
Brian also clicked his tongue.
“Tsk. To be honest, that strange maid overpowered us then. Isn’t that bitch Vivian like that?”
Everyone agreed.
I still feel like I’m going to pee right away thinking about that maid.
I don’t know why, but even when I think of Vivian, the fear of that time comes to mind as if it were imprinted, but it was less than that maid.
Everyone pretended to be stronger because they didn’t want to recall the filthiness of that time.
“What the hell happened to you guys?”
Even when the manager asked, no one gave a clear answer.
“Ah, I just met a guy I used to know and said hello.”
Dominic only responded roughly like that.
“Even if you don’t know what it is, let’s not make an accident… . That Ian is a scary person.”
“Anyway, the manager is nabbing… .”
“I’m sorry for being the same manager as Naburang. And the person in charge of the first party? Other than that, it’s famous for the bad side… .”
“Why is such a person here? They must have been kicked out because they were useless.”
“Whew… . Let’s not talk.”
Still, since the dungeon was cleared before the opponent, the manager decided to put up with it.
Brian opened the stone door without hesitation.
Soon a wide cavity was revealed, and the boss monster was in the middle.
A large wooden golem over twice the height of a stalwart male.
“… what?”
The problem was, there were 5 boss monsters.
“What… Why are there so many?”
“Isn’t a normal golem dungeon a boss?”
“Well, how do I know that? The order ended before the guild even dispatched investigators.”
“It’s a matter of killing all five of us and defeating them one by one.”
Brian stepped out confidently.
Others were embarrassed, but felt the same way.
These were temporary warriors who were scheduled to be upgraded to D-class soon.
This is an E-class dungeon, and she thought the level was different compared to Vivian, who had just become F-class.
Four of them took on five large wooden golems in their positions.
after a few tens of minutes.
“What is this… . They don’t look like they’re going to die!”
“Aren’t you using magic correctly?!”
“Don’t fuck! You must be weak!”
No matter how much I fought, the five bosses were not even scratched.
*
As you can see from the A-shaped structure of this dungeon, there is a part that continues in the middle of the road.
There is nothing here, so everyone passes by, but Ian knows the hidden way there.
And you have to break the barrier stone of the hidden path to damage the boss monster.
‘If you become a B-class hero, you might be able to press down with force. Less than that is impossible.’
Ian was in the middle, tapping the floor with his foot.
Vivian and Helena, who had been told by him, were repeating similar actions.
Only Iris, who did not know the purpose, was confused and watched the rather funny scene of the three knocking on the floor.
“What is this now… Ah, any magical ritual… .”
“It’s not like that. In this dungeon… .”
“ah! I found it!”
cried Vivian.
Tong-tong, a sound echoed at the place where she tapped her foot.
Ian approached and stamped his foot so hard that the floor collapsed, big enough for a person to fall down.
“I’ll go down first, so follow me.”
“Hey, what is this?”
Embarrassed, Iris raised her glasses and asked.
“It is a hidden road. You can’t clear this dungeon if you don’t use it here.”
Ian didn’t care and stepped down.
Helena, Vivian and Iris followed.
It is a narrow street that one person can barely pass through.
“How did Ian-sama know about this?!”
“So. The guild said they didn’t know yet.”
“Well… . I have a lot of experience exploring similar dungeons.”
It reminded me of what I heard through memory correction, but it wasn’t really a lie.
He’s really solved quite a few hidden dungeons like this one.
In the middle of the road, the alleyway widened and a round space appeared.
On the floor in the middle was a bumpy fist-sized jewel.
Iris asked.
“What is this?”
“This is the barrier stone of the dungeon boss monster. I have to get it out like this.”
As Ian lifted the jewel, the soft light that had been emanating from it disappeared.
“I can clear this dungeon.”
“Ohh… . I wonder if there is any magical principle… . If it’s not an excuse, I… .”
“Take it.”
This barrier stone has no particular monetary value.
I don’t want to do research, but I don’t know how to do research, and I need various facilities.
In many ways, it was something Ian didn’t need.
Iris might invent something new, so I readily handed it over.
“thank you! Ian-nim’s achievements will be reported to our Imperial Magician Team!”
“What’s so… .”
The party went straight ahead, and there was a stone door at the end of the road.
I opened it and went out and it led to the common side where the boss was.
“It’s been five years?”
“And so huge! That’s the last enemy in this dungeon!”
And in front of those five wooden golems, Brian and his party were on the verge of collapsing.
Ian thought for a moment.
‘On the verge of being unable to fight. No matter what you do, they won’t break this dungeon. Should I focus on training more? .’
“Ian! Can we do it like before!”
“I am ready.”
“Well… . Let’s answer one condition.”
Although the two practiced and became close, they never practiced together.
At this point, Ian decided to conduct the first cooperative training of the two in real combat.
“To be honest, I can annihilate those five planes, Vivian alone. But that doesn’t mean the two of them came together.”
“you’re right!”
“So, the two of you fight together.”
“Sum… You mean?”
“Well… . I’ve never done it, but… .”
Vivian and Helena met eyes, then looked back at Ian.
“I will try!”
“I will.”
If Ian would do it, he would.
There were no questions.
It’s the first time, but it’s not like I don’t know how to do it at all.
I often heard from Ian as a theory about where the two should be and how to act in a real-life situation.
“I will take the lead!”
“yes. Don’t get hurt, Helena.”
Vivian gave the cavity a wide sweep first.
“… It’s a bit dark.”
Not as bright as where the king slime was, but not bright enough.
“I will reveal it.”
Vivian raised her wand.
*
Brian’s party was getting tired of having an enemy that couldn’t be pushed back.
And when Vivian and her party came out from the common side, I thought I was wrong.
Why is there a door like that?
How do they get out of there?
Since then, each has evaluated that it is not helpful.
If they had come a little earlier and cooperated, they wouldn’t have been hurt like this.
What could Vivian do in this situation?
The moment I thought about running away laughing like that.
Vivian raised her wand, and a large light rose in the middle of the cavity.
A bright, gigantic light that blinded the eyes.
Heading towards the battlefield where the four stunned people can barely hold on.
Helena and Vivian trudged along.