Hell Mode: Volume 5, page 14
“Don’t know, don’t care,” Dogora growled. “Meruru is our companion. And we don’t sell out our companions.” He lowered his center of gravity, ready to lunge forward at a moment’s notice.
I see Dogora’s as hot-blooded as ever. Hmm, what should I do? It’d be a problem if getting into a fight here somehow affects our dungeoneering going forward.
Allen was racking his brains on how to resolve the situation when Garara sighed loudly. “Don’t be risin’ ta some brat’s provocation, ye lot.” He waved his raised hand, indicating that the exchange was over.
Uh, you’re the one who provoked us first.
Seeing the dwarves let go of their magic discs, Allen ordered Dogora to let go of his weapon. The other boy studied the situation, then grunted in acknowledgment and slowly complied.
“So, ye th’ party leader?” Garara asked Allen, likely having figured it out from the boy’s words and attitude.
“Yes, I am.”
“Well, if Meruru says she wants t’ stay wi’ ye, then she can do as she pleases. That said...”
“Yes?”
“If ye dare use Meruru as a shield and run away, I will find ye no matter which country ye hide in and make sure to end yer life. Ye hear me?”
Leaving the threat hanging in the air, Admiral Garara walked past the No-life Gamers and headed for the floating cube. The other dwarves followed behind.
“Gods, I told you not to kick up a fuss, Admiral.”
“And I told ye t’ shut it! Get th’ medals out already. Why d’ I hav’ta clear the blasted dungeon right after that godsforsaken war? Curse that greedy pig of an emper—”
The admiral’s very audible grumbling was cut short by his subordinates lunging over and clapping their hands over his mouth in a fluster.
“Hurry! The medals!”
“What’re ye lot doin’?! L-Leggo of me! I’ll kill ye!”
They’re carrying him like he’s on a palanquin.
“Gods, Admiral, can you not say that kinda thing in public?”
“How many times have I told ye not t’ call me Admir—”
The air suddenly went quiet as the entire group of dwarves disappeared in the blink of an eye. They had apparently been sent to the next floor.
I’m not sure what just happened, but never mind that. I’m more interested in those medals we just saw. Hmm, so that’s what they look like. They were pretty big.
Allen had paid extra attention when one of the dwarves took out medals that they then gave to the cube. The medals had been about as large as the magic disc hanging from Meruru’s neck.
“And that’s how they’re used, I see... Now, about being a shield... I guess it really has to be a shield.”
“What are you mumbling to yourself, Allen?! More importantly, what was with those people just now?!”
With the dwarves gone, Cecil unleashed all the anger she had kept bottled up. As the rest of the Gamers joined in to express their anger, Allen suddenly shouted out loud, “So Meruru was meant to be our tank after all!”
The girl in question looked bewildered. “Um, what’s a ‘tank’?”
“A tank, Meruru! Oh, I bet you’ve got potential to be a very good one after all!” Allen said before proceeding to explain.
Until now, the No-life Gamers had a big problem as a party: they did not have one member dedicated to defense. Instead, most of them had Talents that made them more suitable for staying in the middle or to the rear of the formation. Keel the Saint, Cecil the Archwizardess, and Sophie the Spirit Wizardess all had to stick to the back line. As a Bow Master, Volmaar’s position was not all that far off from theirs either. And last but not least came Allen, a Summoner, who had to stay in the middle so as to provide support to both those in front of and behind him.
Dogora and Krena fought together as the vanguard, but they were better suited for dealing damage than blocking it. However, considering the powerful enemies that the party would be facing going forward—be it the monsters in the Rank S dungeon, the Demon Lord Army, or even Demonic Deities—the need for a dedicated tank would only grow.
This was why Allen had asked Dogora to wield a large adamantite shield, and the two frontline attackers had put in a lot of effort practicing how to protect the five people at their backs. And thinking back on it now, the reason Allen had given Meruru a spear and a shield back at Academy City was to increase the party’s defense, even just by a little bit.
Against a truly powerful foe, such as a Demonic Deity, Krena and Dogora would have a hellacious time protecting everyone. Allen could help them out with the numerous Summons at his command, but even so, it would likely prove difficult to ensure everyone’s safety.
When Garara warned him not to “use Meruru as a shield and run away,” a certain thought had occurred to Allen. In short, if the party managed to gather all the parts to build a mithril golem in this dungeon, then the golem could be the one to take all of the enemy’s hits when the party ever encountered another Demonic Deity. That way, the rest of the party members could be free to focus on dealing damage.
Allen perfectly understood just how much better everyone could perform their roles if they had a reliable tank: Cecil, Sophie, and Volmaar could focus on going all out with their most powerful attacks, while Keel could focus on healing anyone who needed it. The arrangement was not only for the sake of those in the back—it would free Dogora from having to carry a shield and allow him to throw himself completely into his attacks. This was obvious, but enemies only went down after taking damage. As such, the more attacks that the Gamers could pull off, the faster they would win, and therefore the higher their survivability. Lowering the time they needed to finish each fight meant increasing their efficiency.
“Um, Allen...” Cecil was so overwhelmed by how passionately Allen described the usefulness of a tank that she was left at a loss for words. She even found herself wondering if she was wrong to be angry at the earlier exchange.
“Now, then... Apparently Bronze Grade slates can be found on this floor, but I feel like we should probably start with Iron Grade at the very least. So for now, we’ll just be focusing on gathering bronze medals. Is that okay with you, Meruru?”
“Yep!”
“All right, our top priority right now is to reach the next floor.”
One of the things that the Gamers had learned back at the Adventurer’s Guild was where each grade of slate could be found.
Golem Slate Drop List
Bronze Grade slates: Floor 2
Iron Grade slates: Floor 3
Mithril Grade slates: Floor 4
Their ultimate goal was Mithril Grade slates, but Helmios had warned Allen about how powerful the monsters were on the fourth floor. Allen had talked it out with his friends before entering the dungeon and reached a consensus that they needed to complete an Iron Grade golem before heading to Floor 4.
“All right! Off we go to find three bronze medals, then head straight to the next floor!” Allen cried out and pumped his arm, brimming with motivation.
“Sounds good!” Krena replied with equal enthusiasm.
Now, what was it Helmios said about the medals?
After working together to take down Rehzel in Rohzenheim, Allen had squeezed all the information he could get out of Helmios about the Rank S dungeon. Thanks to this, the Gamers already knew that they needed medals to gain access to higher floors, and furthermore, that the number and type of medals required also differed for each floor.
“There are three ways of obtaining medals, right?” Allen asked half to confirm with himself.
Cecil nodded. “That’s right.”
Unlike Rank C to A dungeons, which only had a final boss at the final level, each floor in the Tower of Tribulation had multiple especially mighty monsters that the adventurers referred to as floor bosses. Defeating one of these bosses was a guaranteed way to obtain a medal.
Which Floor Bosses Drop Which Medals
Floor bosses on Floor 2: Bronze medal
Floor bosses on Floor 3: Iron medal
Floor bosses on Floor 4: Mithril medal
The second way to obtain medals was from treasure chests. In addition to the weapons, equipment, and stat-boosting accessories one would normally expect, treasure chests in this dungeon also had a fifty percent chance of including a medal. The types of medals obtainable corresponded with the types bosses dropped based on floor number. There were a variety of ways to discover such treasure chests.
Last but not least, it was always possible to trade or purchase medals from other adventurers. The market price for a bronze medal was a hundred gold, and the Guild helped facilitate many such trades, given that bronze medals could be found on Floor 2, the lowest floor of the dungeon proper.
Allen had more than enough money to buy three bronze medals. However, he had chosen to hold off for today, as he wanted to first see how long it would take to find them to handle it personally as opposed to going through the whole process of a trade.
“Griffs, come on out.”
Not caring that he was in the middle of a large gathering of adventurers, Allen Summoned out everyone’s Bird Bs. Nukakai had said that Summoning inside cities was a big no-no but had given permission to do so inside dungeons.
“Wha—?!”
All the surrounding adventurers were bowled over by the Summons’ sudden appearance, with some even reaching for their weapons. However, no one attacked right away, either having sensed that the Summons were not hostile or holding back to see how others were reacting.
The No-life Gamers planned on remaining in this dungeon for the next year. It would be impossible to keep hiding the Summons from the rest of the adventurers, and attempting to do so might come across as even more suspicious. With this in mind, Allen decided to do it in broad view today, hoping that the other dungeon crawlers would grow accustomed to the sight. If anyone did attack, Allen planned on using Stone C’s Ability, Substitute, which had proved effective enough to withstand a serious strike from the Hero.
Looks like no one’s actually attacking, though.
Since no one was stopping them, the No-life Gamers mounted the Bird Bs and flew off.
All right, Hawkins. Use Farsight again.
The visual information gathered by the freshly Summoned Bird E rushed into Allen’s head. He had heard before that, aside from the floor bosses, Rank B monsters primarily occupied this floor. As no one in his party had Analyze, there was no way to check the ranks of the monsters below based on their appearances alone.
Darn, I should’ve asked Helmios for descriptions of each floor’s floor bosses too.
In the absence of any other clues, Allen decided to focus on monsters that were exceptionally large or were moving about on their own.
Hmm, there are quite a few species here that I’ve never seen before. Oh, hey! Is that one Rank A?
Upon spotting a sizable lizard-like creature he had never seen before, Allen shouted, “I think I’ve found a Rank A monster! It’s that way!”
The group of Bird Bs swooped down, but just before they got close enough, a different group of adventurers began attacking the lizard. According to Farsight, they were doing so while staying just out of range of the creature’s attacks, making it follow them a distance away to where another group—likely their companions—were lying in wait in a half circle formation.
The person who fired the first shot was probably their scout. Wow, beastkin sure move fast. Is that their top speed?
Allen gave up attacking this particular monster and had the Bird Bs stop in midair.
“What happened?” Meruru, who was riding with Allen today, peered over his shoulder.
“Some other adventurers got to it first. Let’s find another one.”
So we’re going to be competing for the monsters. This sure brings me back. I had to do the same thing in the first MMO I ever played.
The common sense from Allen’s previous life was that monsters belonged to whoever attacked first. This was an ironclad rule that was never to be broken. Anyone who did would be expelled from the hunting grounds and no one would party with them anymore. If they did it multiple times, their name would be blasted on the game forums, and they would be known by the entire player base all the way to the end of the game’s service as someone who breached the most basic of online gaming dos and don’ts.
Although this was not an MMO, Allen still considered it basic manners to not attack a monster that someone else was already fighting unless the monster changed targets and came after him instead.
Once more, Allen had a Bird E use its Awakened Skill to look for a floor boss, making sure this time to confirm that it was not already someone else’s target.
“Oh hey, this time I see a giant bird, and there’s no one nearby. Maybe that’s a floor boss too.”
There were no other monsters within the range of Farsight that looked similar to the unbelievably large bird. Based on this, Allen suspected that there was only one of each kind of floor boss at any given moment.
Unfortunately, halfway to the bird, Allen had to stop the Griffs again.
“Why’re we stopping this time?!” Cecil’s cross voice could be heard from her Bird B at the rear.
“Sorry,” Allen apologized. “The target disappeared.”
By using Farsight again, Allen found the bird much farther away than before. There was no sign of the creature having used a teleport skill, which led him to the conclusion that floor bosses randomly respawned in a different location in the dungeon after a certain period of time.
“Huh? What does that mean?!”
Allen gathered his companions and shared his observations and hypotheses.
Sophie pulled a troubled face. “If a floor boss were to suddenly appear next to a group of adventurers, wouldn’t it be very dangerous for them?”
This floor was extremely vast, so the chances of a floor boss reappearing right on top of a group of adventurers were quite unlikely. However, if they were already in the middle of fighting another floor boss or resting, the worst-case scenario just might involve the entire group getting massacred.
“It certainly wouldn’t be pretty,” Allen agreed. “According to Helmios, these floor bosses are anywhere between Rank A and Rank S.”
This feature was likely at least partly responsible for why half of all adventurers who entered this dungeon died in their first year.
“What’re we going to do?” Cecil asked. “We’re not finding anything to fight.”
“Tsk, tsk, what are you saying?” Allen wagged his finger. “Our hunt has only just begun. We’ll still keep going, of course.”
Now then, are there any other unique-looking mon— Oh, found one. Looks like a red rhino beetle? Stag beetle? Either way, looks like it’s gonna make contact with a party soon. We’re not gonna lose this time!
Allen had spotted a creature that looked like a cross between rhino and stag beetles and was red all over. It was flying in lazy circles some ways up directly in the path of a group of adventurers who did not seem to have noticed it yet. According to Allen’s rules, that meant the monster was still up for grabs.
“There’s one close by, but it’s gonna get taken soon. Let’s hurry!”
“Wait, what?!” Cecil let out a shriek as the Bird B that she was riding accelerated all of a sudden. Despite this, Allen refused to slow down; he was not going to strike out for the third time in a row.
Dammit! At this rate, the adventurers are gonna beat us to it!
“Griffs, use Jet!”
“Kieee!”
The Bird Bs accelerated even faster, rushing toward the red beetle at breakneck speed. Unfortunately, once they were almost there, the monster changed its flight pattern and started heading for the adventurers of its own accord.
No! I refuse to give up! Or so I’d say, but distancewise, we’re probably gonna lo— Huh?
Just as Allen thought he was going to let his prey slip away again, the group’s Scout shouted something and the adventurers all promptly turned tail and ran away helter-skelter.
From the rear, Cecil shouted to be heard over the wind rushing past. “Allen, something doesn’t seem right!!!”
The No-life Gamers had gotten close enough to see the red beetle in much greater detail. It had a large horn on its head, large jaws jutting out from underneath small eyes, and a long, wriggling tongue protruding from a mouth lined with jagged teeth.
“I can tell! We’re charging in!” Allen shouted back.
All of the members of the party being chased were beastkin. Despite having lost all semblance of a formation, they were managing to stay ahead, albeit barely, seemingly thanks to their superior physical prowess.
Is that monster that strong? I see one of them’s got an adamantite greatsword. This isn’t some scrubby party with cheap equipment.
Suddenly, one of the beastkin, a catkin, tripped and fell flat on her face.
The red beetle immediately flew straight for her, making a hair-raising noise that sounded like “Kishaa! Kishaa!”
“Sara!” A wolfkin noticed the catkin falling and, despite hesitating for a split second, rushed back to help her. However, the monster was closer to her than he was.
“Uru, no! Run away!”
The moment the catkin screamed back at her companion was exactly when the No-life Gamers arrived on scene.
Allen barked, “Krena, Dogora, take the vanguard!”
Krena and Dogora acknowledged his command and, using the momentum from Jet, rushed past the wolfkin and smashed the beetle’s face with their weapons.
“Wha— Who’re you guys?!” the wolfkin asked, but there was no time to answer him. The monster bounced twice on the ground from the impact, making its disgusting “Kishaa!” noise, but it quickly regained its balance and spread its wings to hover in midair.
“Allen, it’s super tough!” Krena reported.
“We did almost no damage to it,” Dogora agreed. “What’s its deal?!”
