Earth-san Level Up Volume 2 Chapter 19 (Patreon)

2-19 5th Floor and 3rd night

And so, just after midnight, we entered the 5th Floor.

We decided to do so because four enemy formations appeared.

"Four enemies!"

"Nin, nin!"

"Yes!"

Meiko suppressed her impatience at the short distance between the 4th and 5th floors, and immediately entered her battle stance.

The lineup consisted of Japanese Doll A, B, Pestle Rabbit, and the Tanuki.

the Tanuki immediately started applying the buffs.

Ruru surprised Japanese Doll A with a water art, and Sasara knocked her back with a Flying Slash and immediately launched an attack on Doll A.

Meiko launched a fireball to knock the pestle out of the Pestle Rabbit's hand, at which moment Ruru launched a high-speed strike to engage the Pestle Rabbit.

Ruru latches the blade of her sickle onto Pestle Rabbit's chin and lifts it into the air, and in that split second, she surprises Doll B with a water trick, dousing her with water.

Meiko, on the other hand, after releasing a fireball, immediately releases a Water Bullet at the Tanuki, who was at the far end of the enemy, to restrain him, and then she herself rushed out to engage Doll B.

As Meiko and Doll B were about to engage, Meiko's eyes meet Ruru's, who was holding Pestle Rabbit up in the air.

Ruru puts her hand with the ninja sword out and with a yell, "Nin!" before slashing her target. At that moment, Doll B, who was about to make contact with Meiko, stiffened due to the water spurting out from the cobblestone floor.

Not missing the opportunity, Meiko slashed Doll B with her saber. Without confirming Meiko's attack, Ruru turned her body back and began firing a series of attacks at the Pestle Rabbit, sending it bouncing to the floor.

"Here comes the scattered bullets!"

the Tanuki, who was behind Doll B and in Meiko's line of sight, fired a scatter of light right after that alert.

Meiko and Sasara evade it with a sideways leap, while Ruru's reaction was delayed because she was moments away from finishing the Pestle Rabbit.

It hit the back of her shoulder and her side, causing Ruru to lose her balance significantly.

Ruru did not defy the impact and dared to fall on the cobblestones and then stand up groaning.

In her spinning vision, Ruru perceived that Doll B turned her as its target, so she immediately escaped.

Doll B with a Katana, which was about to slash Ruru's back, was slashing at the with a Grimoire Attack on Doll B's head.

Sasara's saber, which had defeated Doll A at some point, pierced Doll B's bouncing torso as it slammed into the floor, and it turned back to light.

At the same time, Meiko released a Water Bullet, hitting the Tanuki, who was about to release a new magic, in the face.

The three, working in tandem, approached the remaining of the Tanuki, brushing away the pool of blood that was turning into light.

This time, the Pestle Rabbit was the first to be defeated, but did not trigger their combination attack.

This was because Ruru had successfully defeated it.

The activation of "Tick-Tock Combo" can usually be canceled.

Meiko and her team also discovered that the Tanuki had other characteristics.

When exposed to a fireball, it would force the start of a "Tick-Tock Combo".

The reinforcement rate of the "Tick-Tock Combo" is so high that its speed can increase, which was a dangerous situation if the Water Bullet had not been charged in the battle in which we noticed it.

Incidentally, "Tick-Tock Combo" was also designed to drain the Tanuki's life at a frightening rate.

The three of us beat the Tanuki, who was not strong without his allies.

Until this point, Meiko, Sasara, and Ruru had been attacked many times by the Tanuki's light bullets, so there was no mercy for them. Well, I had no reason to miss the Tanuki, since I had beaten the Pestle Rabbit so many times.

"Ruru, are you okay?"

"Nyau. I was just hit from behind with a basketball."

Different people have different levels of pain because of their different defenses.

Meiko and Ruru were hit by light bullets in roughly the same way, and Sasara was hit about as hard as a shoulder bump.

"Do you need the low grade recovery medicine?"

"No, I don't need it."

I bought two sets of low grade recovery pills. They come in four packets, so that's eight. I had already used three of them in the fistfight we had this morning, and I have five left.

Ruru didn't seem to think this much was necessary, since the low grade recovery medicine heals lacerations that reach the bone and even minor damage to internal organs.

"Don't take it too hard."

"Nyafu...if we overdo it, we'll get in trouble."

"Yeah, that's right. That's for sure."

Many Japanese have a tendency to put up with hard things, but that is not always a virtue.

Ruru, who had lived abroad, understood the inefficiency of enduring better than any of us.

The beginning of the composition of the four units means that there is a safety zone in this area.

Since the two previous safety zones were still located near the place where the difficulty level changed, the three of us searched the vicinity.

Finally, we found the safety zone a little further down the road, just past the cave.

Again, it was a Japanese-style rest area, and the interior was spacious enough for several parties to rest.

The specifications of the safety zone were the same.

However, the wooden fence in the yard led to a cliff, with a dense forest below.

It is a pretty scary location, so I would stay away from that side.

After checking the specifications of the safety zone to be sure, the three of us took a short rest and headed back out to explore.

They thought about repeating their search on the road they had come, but this time they decided to pre-search the fifth floor.

The reason being that the number of enemies was greater than our own, and the group of four was tougher than we had expected.

This was a search that also served as a training exercise.

It became difficult to completely avoid enemy attacks, and we were attacked many times.

However, their defense was more effective than anticipated, and Meiko and the others did not suffer much damage, even when the Japanese Doll slashed them in the stomach.

However, if Meiko or Ruru were to be slashed in the face, that might not be the case, so they made sure not to be slashed in the face and neck.

"Hahaha... so many enemies...!"

"Fuu... indeed. It's not impossible to beat them, but it's exhausting."

"The Tanuki is so mean."

"That's right!" "Indeed they are!"

Meiko and the others shrugged their shoulders after defeating the two Japanese Dolls and the Tanuki.

Sasara wiped her sweat with her sleeve and took care of her saber with [simple care paper for weapons] she bought at a store. This is another consumable item, but it seems foolish to be stingy with it and lose its sharpness, so she uses it as needed.

As I mentioned, the Tanuki was troublesome.

This guy was not so bad when there were up to three of the enemies, but when the number of opponents outnumbered them, it turned into a very troublesome enemy when there were four opponents in the formation.

The Tanuki would fire buffs and light projectiles from behind the enemy, disrupting the coordination of Meiko and the others.

The light projectiles were particularly troublesome; although they did little damage, they knocked them off balance as their bodies were repelled from the spot where they hit. When fighting enemies, they could also be attacked in the gap.

The buffs wielded by the Tanuki apparently have the effect of increasing their speed and durability, and it is fortunate that there seems to be no significant change in their attack power.

If the Tanuki's attack power had been increased as well, it would have been a serious problem.

Since the Tanuki was such an enemy, they would have liked to defeat it first, but that was made difficult by the specifications of the Infinity Torii Dungeon's corridor.

It was difficult to get past the 3-meter-wide corridor with three monsters blocking the way to the Tanuki's position, and while it might be possible with Ruru's fast movement, it would be very dangerous if Ruru became targeted in isolation. Moreover, all of Ruru's water-based combos would be lost.

Therefore, they had to deal with the Tanuki while thinning out the vanguard.

The encounter rate on the 5th floor was slightly lower than on the 1st and 2nd floors, but the intensity of the battle was too high.

The amount of remaining magic power, which had become less of a concern before, once again became an issue.

Would there be 5 enemies on the 6th floor?

Meiko was very worried about that.

There was one more thing to worry about.

It was about everyone's clothes.

They had been hit several times by the Japanese Doll's slashes and the Tanuki's bullets.

And yet, their clothes were not damaged.

It would be understandable if it was a light bullet, but it was strange that nothing changed after being hit by the Japanese Doll's slash.

Sasara's jersey was in fact ripped by the Japanese Doll.

It would be nice if this state could continue indefinitely, but if something like durability was decreasing with each blow...

However, there was no way to verify that on this expedition.

Meiko could only warn the two of them not to miss small changes in their armor.

Inside the cave, the difficulty has also increased in level, and a three unit formation had started to emerge.

However, for the three of them, the trio formation was not that difficult to defeat, so the cave was a more relaxing space than it had been before.

Meiko and the others filled in the map to some extent and returned to the safety zone vicinity.

The time was still around 16:00, but they were a little tired from fighting four enemy groups.

At the entrance of the safety zone, each of them practiced their skills.

Sasara and Ruru did chanbara with wooden sticks that had fallen nearby and fought virtual enemies, and Meiko did [Synthetic Enhancement] while conserving her magic power.

Since the enemies also move around, the encounter rate is slightly lower when they do not move, although frequent battles do occur.

After finding the safety zone, the Doll dropped a second dagger on a second search.

In addition, the Tanuki dropped a Hairband. Apparently, this is the Tanuki's Rare Drop.

The dagger became Sasara's subweapon.

The Hairband was added to Meiko's equipment. The effect was unknown. Probably something related to magic power has been changed.

Another Bunny Tail was obtained.

Sasara equipped it.

As the sun was about to set, Meiko and the others went into the safety zone.

Immediately, everyone started their work.

Meiko does [Synthetic Enhancement] until her magic runs out, and Sasara and Ruru cook around the hearth.

Cooking is just grilling rabbit meat, though.

Incidentally, the Tanuki and Tsuchinoko also dropped their meat, but they decided not to cook it.

While the Tanuki might be a poisonous item, Tsuchinoko might not be, and they had a surplus of rabbit meat, so they did not want to take the risk.

Using the appraisal ball would have helped, but they didn't want to use it too much.

The meat was finished cooking when Meiko finished the synthesis, and the three of them made the rice balls they had bought into a staple for supper.

When they were done, they wet a towel with a bottle of water in the lodging house and wiped themselves. The others.

"Banzai please!"

"Wa, no armpits!"

"No, no! I'm the one who wipes!"

"I'll wipe it myself!" "Mysterious motivation! But I wipe my armpits and front!"

"Umm... why can't I?"

"Well, it's too embarrassing!"

Ruru, perhaps enjoying yesterday's washing session, had started to wipe Meiko's body.

Wiping Meiko's body diligently, Ruru took care of her.

Meiko was wiped from the back and refused to be wiped from the front because she was too embarrassed.

She was too shy.

Nevertheless, it felt good to have someone wipe her back and neck. Meiko was 15 years old and this was her first time.

When it was Sasara's turn, Meiko stood by the window and stared at the moon.

Sasara was full of energy, probably because she had had a good scrubbing yesterday.

She looked like a princess of some kind, with her face upturned and clear. But her face was bright red.

And finally, Sasara returned the favor to Ruru.

Ruru was smiling, as if even that was fun.

Meiko is a fashionable person who enjoys moon-watching.

But in her mind's eye, the cheery opening theme of a micro Yuri anime was playing.

On the outside, it would still be early evening, but the three of them went to bed as soon as they were done with their business.

The Tanuki's fur was stuffed into a backpack and used as a makeshift pillow.

The floor is stretched out under their bodies, but they could not afford to be extravagant.

With Ruru in the center, the two of them lay down on the floor in the shape of a river.

Like last night, after a little while Meiko got up and started [Synthetic Enhancement].

Since magic power never over-recovers, it would be a waste if it were not used when it has recovered fully. In the current situation, wasting the four sets of [Synthetic Enhancement] that could be done at night could lead to death.

In fact, Meiko realized that her hard work last night had saved her many times today.

If she had not worked hard last night, she would have taken damage that would have hindered her in the battle once she was hit by the light bullets. Perhaps everyone would have been killed by the cat-bat's all-out attack.

"Meiko-san, thank you so much."

Sasara thanked me in a quiet voice while I was synthesizing the second set.

"Sorry, did I wake you?"

After all, she was synthesizing the kimono and hakama that they were currently wearing.

The synthesis produces a little bit of light, and although she was doing it quietly, it might wake up a person if they were sensitive to light.

"No, I'll sleep again as soon as I meditate, Meiko-san, please don't strain yourself too much."

"Yeah, Synthetic Enhancement doesn't take too long. I'll just do it quickly and go to bed."

In fact, [Synthetic Enhancement] was a very quick process, as long as one didn't worry about it.

Meiko had already divided the materials into cloth enhancement materials, metal enhancement materials, and so on, so all she had to do was sort use them in order.

"Meiko-san."

"Yes."

"...Thank you."

The conversation was like a swing between dream and reality, and Sasara fell asleep once more.

Not surprising, since she had been climbing mountains and fighting from dawn to dusk.

Meiko felt that the second thank-you was not for the nightly work, but for something else.

When the synthesis was over, and she closed her eyes again, Meiko somehow fell into a stupor, remembering the time she had met Sasara on the riverbed.

The happy smile on Sasara's face when she invited her to run with her.