Chapter 326 - The Tower of Four Sides
"—From here on out, we're gonna focus on gettin' Sora some 'experience.'"
"No objections."
"None here."
"None from me!"
"O-oh, um… I'll be in your care…!"
And so, as we prepared to kick off the afternoon session—the real start of our expedition—Tiger Lucky laid out this 'guiding principle' with the black tower at his back.
His reasoning was likely that focusing on strengthening Sora, who still has so much room to grow with that thing, would yield more potential than trying to add to my already advanced skills and growth.
Three immediate assents and one flustered acceptance. The proposal was passed without a hitch, and our party leader nodded once before turning to face the dungeon we were about to challenge.
"This place is that type of dungeon too, but the plan is to hit dungeons with attribute- and magic-based bosses."
"To promote the growth of her [Anima], right?"
"That's right. Every Anima requires different kinds of experience, but considering the nature and potential of that magic sword… well, having her fight opponents that fit the bill is probably the best way to go."
What do you think?—his eyes asked. Sora-san nodded vigorously. His gaze then shifted to me, and since I completely agreed, I nodded back.
"Alright, let's go. Maru, Rinne, give 'em a quick rundown of this place on the way."
"Got it."
"Roger that!"
◇◆◇◆◇
[The Tower of Four Sides]—its dungeon format was exceedingly simple: a boss rush.
Upon entering the tower, you're greeted by a square room, just as the exterior suggests. It's a space just shy of pitch black, with only lines of blue light running along the floor as a guide.
When a player stands on the magic circle-like design formed by the converging blue lines in the center of the room, four doors, each glowing a different color, appear in the corners.
Needless to say, a boss monster awaits behind each door. Defeating all four activates the magic circle, opening a transfer gate to the main boss.
And so, the first one—enemy name: [Burning Horn].
To describe it in a word, it was a flaming unicorn.
Its mane, tail, and even its hooves were made of flames that blasted out heat. It breathed fire, left trails of flame wherever it ran, and rampaged with wild abandon.
It was about the size of a 'normal horse,' so it wasn't a particularly large target, and it was quite agile.
Furthermore, it came fully equipped with cunning tricks like heat haze illusions and scattering embers for area damage… It was quite the boss-like boss, but—
"Haru!"
"Got it!"
Sora stopped its legs with her magic sword, and I finished the game by lopping off its head with [Samidorizuki].
It put up a decent fight, but honestly, it wasn't threatening enough to be a concern. The [Gemrant Quintesta] was way tougher than this.
Next, the second one—[Cascade Bull].
A Minotaur, entirely blue, wielding a great axe with a blade of flowing water.
I thought it was just a simple, strong, and tough power fighter… but it turned out to be a surprisingly dexterous slab of muscle, transforming its water axe-blade for surprise attacks and summoning water bulls to sic on us—but,
"《A Tower in My Hand (Turm Riesig)》"
Its power and skill were completely outmatched by Sora, who cleaved it in two after shutting it down completely.
Overall assessment: a 1/10th scale [Angalta] with water magic. For us, who had just fought a far superior armored knight, this opponent was lukewarm at best.
Third—[Grandleprus].
……………………I don't know, a dinosaur?
It was like a really poorly balanced T-Rex, or maybe a giant, vicious dog's head stuck on a feeble dinosaur body… In any case, it was a bizarre monster.
And of course, true to its name, it had three eyes.
I apologize for the deeply personal tangent, but ever since I was little, I've had a strange tendency to be afraid of 'three-eyed' characters.
And I'm still dragging that phobia around with me—so,
"《Kiraboshi》!"
I closed my eyes and carved it up.
Having confirmed from the previous two that the individual HP pools weren't that large, I went for a full-power opening attack. The mystery dinosaur, which probably would have used earth-attribute magic or something, was summarily dismissed after less than a minute on stage.
Sora was dumbfounded, and Tiger Lucky smacked me on the head, asking, "What are you doing?" but I hope they'll forgive me. I was just startled by the sudden trigger of my trauma…
And the fourth—[Faelowies].
A mass of wind, visually represented as green for gameplay purposes. Judging by the four floating blades, which closely resembled 'scythes,' its motif was likely a kamaitachi.
This one had the simplest fighting style, but it was also the toughest.
The main body, positioned in the center of the field, periodically blew gusts of wind to hinder player movement, while constantly tracking scythes reaped the immobilized prey. It was a real bastard of a strategy.
The scythes are instantly replaced even if you destroy them, and if you try to hit the main body, a forced knockback shoves you away once you get within a certain distance.
The pressure from the main body weakens when it regenerates the scythes, so you have to destroy all four blades at once to neutralize the gust. In that opening, you strike the core visible within the green wind… That seems to be the proper strategy.
Or more accurately, doing that as a team is probably the proper strategy.
"—《Tausend》!"
Our Sora, of course, annihilated everything by herself.
…And that's how it went.
"Hmmm…"
"I know what you're thinkin', but you two are the weird ones, got it?"
"I thought so when I took that hit during this morning's duel, but that 《Kiraboshi》 is completely inhuman now. I'm looking forward to the video they're supposedly uploading later."
"Hey, hey, Sora-chan, about how many magic swords can you summon at once?"
"Um… Right now, probably around two thousand? Oh, but I can't really control that many…!"
Having trampled all over the four bosses, we returned to the starting room for the fourth time.
Our party began a tension-free conversation, starting with Tiger Lucky's retort to my noncommittal hum.
I knew it, but this is too easy.
In the end, only Sora and I had stood on the front lines. Tiger Lucky and the others had just watched from the side, providing commentary.
Well, I guess this place isn't even considered a 'high-difficulty dungeon.' It was a mistake to compare it to the secret dungeons I've been tackling recently.
"Well, the final boss has some fight in him. We'll join in too, but don't get careless and die on us."
"Oh, really? Now that's something to look forward to."
The tough enemy, of course, but also the rewards that lie beyond.
Apparently, the completion reward for this dungeon is 'plain but useful,' and almost every player has made use of it at some point… Come to think of it, I didn't get any completion rewards for the [Great Rock-Eating Hive] or the [Buried Labyrinth of Forgetfulness], did I?
If you don't get one from those certified high-difficulty dungeons but do get one from a normal one like [The Tower of Four Sides], does that mean it's unrelated to difficulty? Well, regardless…
"Alright, let's go."
"Yes!"
With Sora in tow, I joined the other three who were already waiting for us on the magic circle.
Sensing the challengers had assembled, the lines—which had turned from blue to red after the four bosses were defeated—glowed even brighter. The familiar sensation of teleportation filled my avatar.