Data.91 – Old Bowman, Offense and Defense in the Cave

“Multi-Burning Arrow!”

Multi-Shot, which could hit up to 10 enemies at once, and the exploding Burning Arrow were fused together and launched into the group of goblins.
As the cave was narrow, the 10 arrows could not be avoided, and their shoddy armor could not save them.
After being hit by the arrows, the goblins were annihilated. And they lit up when being hit by the blast, which helped illuminate our surroundings.

I was having no trouble here by chaining skills together. But what about behind me?
When I turned around, I saw that Garbow was scattering pieces of metal that I hadn’t seen before.

“I-is that…Caltrop!”

As the name suggested, it was a skill that scattered things on the ground.
I had traded NSO medals for that skill quite a while ago, but since it was never used, I had forgotten all about it.
And since the passages were so narrow here, they were guaranteed to deal damage.

Garbow attacked the goblins that had stepped on the caltrops and became slower.
He would slash through them with the newly acquired Energy Scissors, or shoot them up with Red Flash. He was wreaking havoc.
Unison Monsters were rare monsters, and so their abilities were on a different level.

And so we were able to destroy the horde of goblins in less than 3 minutes.
If only all of the enemies here were this weak. But I was sure that they would get stronger the farther we went.
The torch could only illuminate so far.
I would have to be careful to catch any sounds of enemies moving through the cave…
Thankfully, Garbow was floating, so there were no sounds of footsteps, and the tabi that I was wearing didn’t make much noise either.
And so if there was any sound, I knew it was an enemy and moved on ahead.

◆ ◆ ◆

Goblins, slimes, and orcs…
We shot through the fantastical monsters until we reached an area where the walls of the cave changed color.
In dungeons like these, the changing walls meant that you were now in a deeper area.
And so I was cautious of stronger enemies, and explored the cave corner to corner, including all the branching paths.

What I was looking for was the key to the secret boss room.
If I didn’t have that, I wouldn’t be able to take on the secret boss and get the reward.
While it meant more enemy encounters, I had to continue the search.

“Hmm…?”

I saw light leaking from the corner up ahead.
And when I cautiously took a look, I saw that in front of the passage stood a monster with a giant shield. It was an Ogre.
And there was a shining treasure chest behind it.
It seemed very likely that the key to the secret boss room was inside of that chest.
The way it shone was different from the treasure chests that had common consumable items.

The problem was how I would defeat the ogre.
The shield was made of thick metal. And so shooting it with arrows from the front…should do the trick.
I just needed to use Sky Tear and shoot it in the head before it notices me.
Well, here goes…

“No, wait a minute…”

I stopped myself just as I was about to move out into the passage.
There was a fused charge attack that I wanted to test.
And so I changed my plan.

“Bound Arrow Storm!”

Bound Arrow, which bounced off of walls, was fused with Arrow Storm, which unleashed numerous arrows.
As my arrows were currently glowing, thanks to an effect from Star Area Range, it looked like rays of light were reflecting off of everything as they shot through the enemy from every angle.
The arrows should bounce a great deal in this narrow cave… That had been my thought. But it was even more spectacular than I was expecting.

While the ogre’s shield was thick, it was just one layer.
It could not block all of the arrows which were coming from every direction, and so this was a very sensible method of attack.
In just a few seconds, the ogre fell and disappeared into light.

This fused skill…it was practically a trump card in small spaces like this.
I was quite satisfied at having found a new combination, and then I opened the shining treasure chest that was behind the ogre.
As expected, it contained the key to the secret boss room.
It was a poisonous purple and had a lot of thorns on it.
The design conveyed that it would open a door to a very dangerous battle.

“Now, I just have to find the door to that room…”

Phew… I let out a sigh.
While the enemies weren’t strong, it was a very human thing to start feeling down when you are in a dark, cramped space for so long.
I wanted to return to the sunlight.

However, I couldn’t rush myself either.
Just as I used sound to tell where the enemy was, they too could listen to the sounds I made.
A good Adventurer should be able to explore caves without making too much noise.
Garbow understood this as well, and did not make a sound unless I talked to him or we encountered an enemy.

As we quietly made our way through the dungeon, the color of the walls changed once again.
The goblins here had better weapons and armor, and their bodies were also bigger.
However, being bigger was also a weakness. It made it easier for me to hit them.

With the help of fused skills and Garbow, I took down the enemies in our path and finally found the boss door.
But my joy was short-lived. There was no keyhole in the door.
In other words, this was the door to the normal boss room.
If I went in there and beat the boss, I would only receive the medal.
But I wanted the special reward, and so I just had to defeat the secret boss.

And so I turned on my heels and continued the search.
Likely, the secret boss room was close by… As I thought this, I found a passage where the walls were completely black.
A real black, where the light didn’t reflect off of.
But I boldly walked through, and this time, found the door to the secret boss room.
It was the same kind of poisonous purple as the key, and was covered in thorns.

And there was a proper keyhole.
I inserted the key and turned it until there was a click.
The cooldowns for the charge attacks were finished now.
I could use them in this state.

“Let’s go! Garbow!”

“Goo! Goo!”

Thinking that the boss battle might be fought in the dark, I had Garbow continue to hold the torch.
However, what awaited us on the other side of the door, was the bright rays of sunlight.

“Uhhh…!”

It was blinding…!
This was bad. I couldn’t fight in this state…
But in spite of expectations, nothing attacked me.

And then my eyes adjusted to the brightness…
This looked like a man-made savanna.
It was surrounded by a concrete wall, so I was reminded of a zoo that I went to as a child.

That…must be the boss.
A giant lion was relaxing on top of a tall rocky mountain. It was very fitting for a Leo trial.
It wasn’t in a low, hostile stance or anything. It was just looking down at me.
Like some kind of king. A lion kin… Nevermind.

Silently, I held my bow ready.
While it was high above, it was still within my range.
I could shoot it right through the head and…

“…!?”

Just as I was about to shoot the lion in the forehead, our eyes met and my body couldn’t move.
This was just like… Intimidating Eyes!

GRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAARRR!!

The lion roared.
And then a female lion appeared from within the grass.
Now that I thought about it, it was the female lions that did the hunting.
And they also hunted in packs…

This enemy was not alone.
It was the most troublesome kind of RPG boss. The type that calls its friends…!

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like