This is the resumption of the main story.
Half of the 50 floors had already been reached, and no one had dropped out. No one was seriously injured, and we still had plenty of recovery medicine in stock.
Of course, the strength of the enemies was increasing with each passing floor... but at the same time, my teammates were growing as well.
Shakuna is now able to look at the whole view and act flexibly.
Originally, Shakuna is a versatile warrior who can play both vanguard, rearguard, and support. Thanks to her familiarity with fighting, she is able to adapt her actions to the situation, and she is able to move appropriately without me having to give her detailed instructions.
Haddiss was an experienced tanker from the beginning, but he has also been active as an attacker since he got used to working with me and Shakuna.
He is basically protecting his friends in the rear guard... but he sometimes attacks in front of them, sometimes provokes them and sometimes plays a decoy role, and his dependability has been improved.
Ryuna is not used to fighting, so her movements have always been awkward, but she seems to be gradually getting used to the rough work.
Having conquered the fear of battle, she is now able to assess the situation of the battle and to balance recovery and support.
With this party, it is not difficult to conquer the 50th floor.
I had come to be convinced of this during my journey so far.
But... I mustn't forget.
No matter how much preparation I put in, no matter how many trusted friends I have in my party... no adventure is 100% safe.
I am reminded of this once again.
Through the troublesome presence of the 'Monster House'.
* * *
"Hey, hey... Seriously!?"
That's when we stepped into the 39th floor.
As soon as we arrived on the lower floor, the staircase we had just descended disappeared.
What appeared in front of us instead was a scene that I do not remember. It was a vast room that looked completely different from the map that should have been there.
"A monster house!? What the hell is this place!"
I exclaim in disbelief.
In [DunBrave], 'Monster house' is so rare and rarely encountered.
Monster House.
It is a room filled with monsters, and if player is unlucky enough to encounter one, it is a dangerous area where they will inevitably be annihilated.
However... in [DunBrave], the monster house was a kind of urban legend.
The probability of monster houses appearing is lower than that of 'Dangerous Encounters', and many players have completed the game without encountering a single monster house.
Even I, who played the game more than 10 times, encountered a monster house only once, so I can understand how rare they are.
Some players even say that monster house is a kind of bug, not a game design.
"I didn't expect it to appear here... Is this luck or bad?"
"Of course it's bad! What are you going to do about it?"
Shakuna exclaimed as if she was bubbling over, half impressed by my soliloquy.
In front of us was a spacious room. A vast scale map of the entire floor was spread out, with all the walls of this floor broken through to form one large map.
And there are countless monsters standing in the way.
It is truly a desperate situation. It was impossible not to get upset when faced with such a situation for the first time.
"Well... I understand how you feel. Just calm down. You'll only die if you panic."
"Wait... Why are you so calm!? Do you have a secret!?"
"There's no secret. There are no tricks in a monster house."
There's no secret to monster houses.
The reason is that the probability of encountering a monster house is so small that there is no data on which to develop a strategy.
On the Internet, there are threads that say, "I'm lucky to encounter a monster house and annihilate it~♪, maybe something good will come out of it~♪," and so on.
"However... even if there is no winning method, it does not mean that there is no way to deal with it. Ryuna, put up a barrier! The most powerful one!"
"But, Baskerville-sama. The stronger the barrier, the longer it will take..."
"That's okay. We'll buy you time to finish chanting!"
"I understand...!"
Ryuna receives the instruction and starts chanting magic.
She tries to deploy a barrier to prevent the enemy from approaching... but the monster attacks before she can.
"Gaaaaaaaaaaah!"
"Hmph!"
I slay the wolf-headed monster that leaps at me with my sword.
The monsters in the room notice us and gather around, but we fight them off in cooperation with Shakuna and Hadiss.
"We'll hold them off until Ryuna's barrier completed! Shakuna is not a professional warrior, so don't push yourself too hard!"
"There's no way I'm not going to do my best for my little sister! Death Dance—'Alf Laila wa Laila (アルフ・ライラ・ワ・ライラ)'!"
Shakuna wields her shamshir and fights against the monsters while dancing in a spectacular dance.
Shakuna also activates a dance that can be considered as her trump card. The intense belly dance greatly increases the attack power and speed in exchange for the loss of physical strength.
"Shoot it out... Thunderbolt!
'Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!?'
She is attacking physically with her dance and activating magic attacks as well.
This is the 39th floor. A boss monster awaits at the next level, and Shakuna seems to have realized that this is the place to risk her life.
She was fighting with all her might, draining her strength and magic without a second thought.
"Hnngh! I won't let them to touch the Priestess!"
Of course, Hadiss, a priest-knight, was fighting with his life on fire as well. Using his own body as a shield, he fights off the attacks of many monsters.
His provocation skill attracts enemies, protecting Ryuna and at the same time attracting the attention of enemies heading for Shakuna.
"It's done...! Barrier, deploy!"
Thanks to the two's good efforts, Ryuna succeeded in completing the chanting without being hit by any attack. This white hemispherical dome envelops our bodies, blocking the monsters' approach.
'Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!'
'Ggagh! Ggagh!'
The monster attacks the barrier with a frustrated cry.
The barrier created by enough chanting does not seem to break, and seems to hold for a while.
"Haah, haah... Somehow, we managed to hold out..."
"Now it is time for a short break. Treat your injuries and we'll fight back when you're done."
I turned my shoulders and took out a potion from my bag of items and tossed it to Shakuna.
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