Kays Translations

Chapter 23: Abandoned Mine

We arrived at the abandoned mine.

Inside the mine, it was dim and cool due to the fluorite. The giant rats were individually weak, but they became troublesome when they formed a large group.

However, this time, we were hoping for a battle against a large group. To gain experience in fighting numerous monsters. With our current equipment, we should be able to handle it.

After walking for a while, we reached a spacious area. Right there, we found five giant rats.

Mia and I spread out horizontally to avoid hitting each other with our attacks.

Then I threw 5 fluorite stones into the area with the light intensity increased to +9 with my "Tampering" skill. These reinforced stones were the ones I picked up when we came here before. The wide space that was previously dimly lit became bright.

I gripped my lightsaber and looked at Mia. She turned to me and nodded firmly. It seems Mia is also ready.

Zoom……

I extended the red glowing lightsaber blade and charged towards the giant rats.

Boom, Whine, Van.

At the moment I smelled something burnt, the giant rats immediately turned into black smoke. The sound of the swings, like the ones I heard in movies, felt super satisfying. I felt a connection between myself and the protagonists I saw in movies at that time, and it was beyond exciting.

"Mia, don't wipe them out. Let them call for reinforcements. We'll make this place our hunting ground."

"Y-Yes.

After a while, we heard a massive number of footsteps coming from afar. Red eyes covered the ground in the passage at the back of the square.

In the past, we would have been prepared for death. But now, we were looking forward to it.

We cut down the approaching giant rats like playing a rhythm game. Sometimes, we would slice through two of them at once. It was awesome!

This battle against the large group of monsters embodied the unstoppable scenes I had seen in anime and manga.

Normally, I wouldn't stand a chance against the sheer number of opponents, especially since I'm not a master of swordsmanship. If they exploited the opening after swinging the sword, I wouldn't be able to defend myself.

However, we had the "Heart Wall" barrier. No matter how off-balance our stance was, as long as we felt in danger and rejected it in our minds, the octagonal barrier would automatically generate and protect us.

However, each barrier consumed 1 SP, so wasting them was strictly prohibited.

I think I killed about 50 by myself. I was starting to feel a bit tired.

At that moment, I felt an impact on my back. I had been attacked by a giant rat.

"Why isn't the barrier activating!?"

I panicked. Could it be that the "Mind Wall" necklace was malfunctioning...?

As I was about to fall into a state of more panic, Mia's voice reached me.

"Just now was an attack from outside of sight. Be careful."

It seems Mia witnessed the moment I was attacked. I see, when attacked from an unseen position, it becomes an ambush, and the will to reject the attack doesn't activate. That's why the barrier didn't activate. Attacks from outside our field of vision are troublesome.

I remained vigilant against attacks from all directions and reject them. As a result, a barrier surrounded me.

"Wow... Mia, I managed to envelop my whole body in a barrier."

"I'll give it a try too... I did it!"

We moved apart, ensuring that our barriers wouldn’t collide, and positioned ourselves with our backs against the walls. This way, we are prepared for attacks from behind. Alright, let's resume the battle!

-- And we continued fighting for nearly an hour.

Defeating the final large rat, we collapsed on the ground.

"I can't do it anymore. I can't move."

"Wow, I'm too exhausted to move too..."

Our HP hasn't decreased at all, but we have zero stamina. I wonder how we can recover from this... Potions won't help, will they?

Feeling hungry, we eat our lunch while surrounded by a large number of magic stones.

Fortunately, in the midst of all the chaos, I was able to verify the performance of the strengthened traveler's clothes when I received a surprise attack from behind.

As expected of a defense power of +91, it didn't take any damage.

After lunch, we took a short rest. As we gradually regained our ability to move, we started collecting the magic stones.

They wouldn't all fit in our backpacks, so when the cloth bag is full, we store it in the pocket of the cat-shaped stuffed animal.

Surprisingly, the number of magic stones exceeded 300.

What about our levels?

I released the status disguise of my "Spoofing" skill.

------

Name: Arai Takumi

Occupation: Hacker

State: Normal

Level: 15 (New)

HP: 150/150 (New)

SP: 74/150 (New)

Elements of Skill: Contact, Character, Change

Skills: Analysis, Tampering, Spoofing

------

------

Name: Yamamoto Mia

Occupation: Painter

State: Normal

Level: 13 (New)

HP: 130/130 (New)

SP: 58/130 (New)

Elements of Skills: Material, Feature, Expression

Skill: Deformation (Tampered)

------

Recently, we were stuck at level 10, but we've made a significant jump now. Mia was also delighted.

After readjusting our stats using the "Spoofing" skill, we resumed our exploration.

I went further into the abandoned mine and looked for monsters, but I couldn't find them.

That's the number of magic stones. I may have hunted.

As we ventured further into the abandoned mine, we searched for monsters but couldn't find any. With the number of magic stones we’d collected, it's possible we had hunted them all down.

While thinking about that, we continued walking and spotted a staircase leading down to the lower floor.

Should we go back or descend the stairs? What should we do?

We didn't have to worry about food and water. We had plenty stored in the plush pocket. And honestly, we didn't feel like losing to the monsters. With our late-game stats, no one would hesitate to conquer an early-stage dungeon.

We decided to descend the stairs.

◇

This is the third basement floor.

Monsters like spiders and pill bugs appeared on the second basement floor, but they weren't our enemies. And now, we've reached the third basement floor.

There was only one path from the staircase. Ahead of us was an incredibly spacious area we had never seen before. Mining tools and such were scattered all around, as if abandoned.

"Perhaps they were attacked by monsters while mining," I speculated.

"Yes, that seems likely. There are also scattered ores," Mia agreed.

At that moment, something resembling a thread flew down from above.

As soon as I noticed it, the "Heart Wall" barrier activated and deflected the thread.

Looking up at the ceiling, I saw a creature with a human-like upper body and a white spider-like lower body. It resembled a monster called Arachne in light novels and games.

Could this be its nest?

"Mia, be careful. It might be strong," I warned.

"Okay. There's another one behind us. Oh, and there are many small white spiders too," Mia said.

Of the two Arachne, the larger one was probably the male, while the smaller one was likely the female. As for the numerous smaller spiders, could they be their offspring? This is bad... there are about a hundred of them.

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