kscans

Chapter 196 - Dinosaur Countermeasures

That night, on the day they went to the floating island, Hayato and Esha logged back in.

Immediately after landing, they had set up the Campsite that would serve as their base, but he had logged out in the afternoon for his shift at the cafe.

Relic, who didn't know about the real world, had been there too, but he would simply perceive Hayato and Esha's temporary absence as them sleeping in their rooms at the campsite, so there was no issue.

Incidentally, when he told Ash about the Pteranodons in the real world, he had gotten very excited. Ren had watched her brother with an affectionate smile, making it hard to tell which of them was the older sibling.

In any case, when Hayato and the others logged in, all the members had returned to the base. Rooms had been assigned without any problems. Apparently, there had been an intense rock-paper-scissors battle, but for the most part, everyone got the room they wanted.

The problem was the island exploration.

They had planned to circle the island within the day if possible, but they couldn't manage it. He decided to ask the leaders of each team for the details.

Hayato gathered the team leaders in a vacant room at the Campsite.

The room had a round table, and coffee was placed in front of each of the assembled members.

The participants were Hayato, Ney, Rosalie, Cecil, and Sonia. According to Rosalie, Lunaria was busy preparing for a pillow fight tournament and wouldn't be coming.

Hayato began by asking Ney for the details of their exploration. He asked why the exploration wasn't going well.

"The dinosaur monsters are strong?"

Ney nodded at Hayato's questioning statement.

"We fought some dinosaurs called Allosaurus and Raptor, but their defense is ridiculously high. We can beat them since Lunaria's with us, but it takes too much time, so we couldn't go very deep."

"Since they're dinosaurs, shouldn't Dinosaur Special Attack work? Was the damage from Cecil's Dragon Eater replica low too?"

Hayato's thinking was that dinosaurs were a type of dragon. Ash's Dragon Eater dealt five times the damage to dragons, and its replica should still deal triple damage due to its special attack property.

He had made them for Cecil and all the current members of the Dragon Busters during the Stampede. It should be a formidable weapon against dragons.

Hayato glanced at Cecil, but she shook her head.

"Nah, the dragon special attack didn't work. I tried it a bunch of times, so there's no mistake."

Cecil had attacked the dinosaurs with her Dragon Eater replica, but there was no damage-multiplying effect. A weapon that dealt triple damage to dragons was apparently meaningless against dinosaurs.

Rosalie gently raised her right hand as if to request permission to speak.

"A member of our party confirmed with the Monster Knowledge skill that the dinosaurs' species is designated as Dinosaur, and it seems an attack with a special property against them is required to be effective."

"Dinosaur Special Attack... I've never seen anything like that."

Generally, special attack properties weren't assigned randomly. They were usually attached to specific weapons. None of the weapons Hayato had crafted so far had ever come with such a property.

However, in some cases, a special attack property could be gained by using special materials. For example, using silver arrowheads as a material when making arrows would grant a special attack against demons. Hayato considered that perhaps using some kind of material might grant a Dinosaur Special Attack.

"Hey, Rosalie, if you knew that, you should've said so back there. I ended up trying it over and over again."

"That is because you kept attacking without listening. However, testing it in practice was also necessary, so there is no problem."

"Alright, alright, both of you calm down. The problem is what to do from here. It's going to be tough to keep advancing while fighting like that. We need to think of something."

They probably weren't fighting for real, but Ney skillfully acted as a buffer and calmed the situation.

"Sonia-san, have you noticed anything about the dinosaurs?"

Hayato turned the conversation to Sonia, who had been lost in thought for a while.

Sonia uncrossed her arms, placed both elbows on the table, and interlaced her fingers.

"Noticed, or rather, what's got me curious, is that they attack each other."

"Attack each other?"

"Yeah. Normally, monsters don't fight among themselves, right? But those things, maybe because of territory or something, start fighting when different types of dinosaurs meet."

This must have happened several times. Ney and the others nodded in agreement with Sonia's words.

"So, instead of fighting them, maybe we should just let them fight each other and run away in the meantime?"

"That's an option, but that's not what I'm curious about. The thing is, their fights are over in an instant."

"Isn't that because dinosaurs have high attack power?"

"Their defense is high too. It's better to assume they have some kind of special attack property."

"A monster with a special attack property?"

"Well, it's just a possibility. But, thinking along those lines, don't you think if we made equipment from the items the dinosaurs drop, it would have a Dinosaur Special Attack property?"

Sonia grinned and took out some items. Hides, fangs, claws, and bones.

"I don't know the details, but you can make certain production items just by changing the materials, right? You think you could make something with these, Hayato?"

"It's possible. I'll get started on it right away."

"I'm counting on you. That seems to be the most likely possibility right now. Oh, and I put all the other members' drop items in the shared storage. Feel free to use them."

Hayato nodded.

These materials might sell for a high price, but it was rare to be allowed to use as much as he wanted. Hayato planned to give it his all.

"Hayato! A sword! Make me a sword! Five of them! Cool ones!"

"I don't know if they'll be cool, but I'll try making one for starters. I'm not sure if I can make five, though."

"The members of the Black Rose do not require them. We have our beloved weapons and armor. Even if they are not useful, we cannot break this coordination."

"You all seem to have your preferences. And why are all the Black Rose members' outfits slightly different...?"

"I'll leave it up to you, Hayato."

"Got it. I'll try to make a full set, from weapons to armor. Well then, I guess we're done for today. I look forward to working with you all again tomorrow."

And so, the information-sharing meeting concluded.

Hayato immediately returned to his room at the Campsite and decided to make equipment from the materials everyone had gathered.

He didn't know what kind of stats the weapons and armor would have, but part of him felt that anything he could make would be fine. Suppressing a slight urge to cause a stir, he began his production preparations.

Cecil has a request, so I'll start with a sword... With my current recipes, would it be a Bone Sword?

A Bone Sword was, as the name suggests, a sword of bone. It used bone instead of metal, but this time, he would use dinosaur bones instead of ordinary ones.

I can use dragon bones instead of regular bones. So I should be able to use dinosaur bones too... I'm excited to see what stats it'll have.

Hayato put the necessary items in his item bag and took out his blacksmithing hammer. Then, he selected Bone Sword from the menu.

A rainbow-colored effect appeared before Hayato's eyes.

A five-star. This is a good start.

The effect faded, and a single sword appeared in Hayato's hand.

The item's name was undoubtedly Bone Sword, but its stats were far from ordinary. Its durability was slightly lower than a normal weapon's, but its base damage was high, and just as Sonia had suspected, the sword had a Dinosaur Special Attack property.

Triple damage against dinosaurs... With this, tomorrow's exploration should be a bit easier. And if we can defeat more dinosaurs, we should get more drop items. I can make even more things.

Hayato began to produce even more, wanting to create a variety of other items.

The next morning, the Campsite's storage was filled with items made from dinosaur materials.