I Try To Enjoy My Life But This Woman Keep Calling Me Villain-Chapter 144: Exploring the Desert Cavern
I look at the people behind me and say.
"Are you guys ready? We are the only people who will hunt in this dungeon. That means we will not get any help if we get injured too badly."
The others nod their head, and Quentyn says.
"We understand. We will make sure we do not get too reckless."
"Good. Let’s go."
Just like our plan, Jul-Tan and Jullian will be at the front with Sonia and Quenty behind them while the rest are at the back. We slowly get inside the cavern, and after a couple of minutes of walking, I feel the air and mana change for the worse.
I can feel the stench of dead invading my nose, and the cold mana makes my back shiver a little. I frown a little, close my eyes, and take a deep breath. I gather mana in the palm of my hand and create five balls of light for us.
This is easy magic as it only requires imagination and mana to create. The more powerful the spell, the more difficult it will take. This world needs a... ’bridge’ that lets magicians cast their spells. There are several kinds of bridges that can do that.
The first one and the easiest type is incantations. They are using words as their bridge to let the spell appear in reality. While this is the easiest, it is the longest to cast – Especially when it is a very powerful spell.
The second one is a magic circle. This ’bridge’ needs a constant experiment to calculate the amount of mana they need, the effect of the spell, and how the symbol inside the magic circle can contain the mana and effect. This is the fastest spell to cast because once you have the magic circle inside your brain, you can activate it immediately. Sadly, this is the hardest way to cast spells.
The third one and the last one are through the name of Gods. By invoking the name of the gods, they will let the caster borrow a very small portion of their power in the form of a magic circle that they can use. This one is the middle child. It is relatively slow but not as slow as incantations, and it is hard to get this kind of bridge, but not as hard as the magic circle. Not only that, but their power output is also in the middle ground because the gods will not give their power too much to mortals other than a few people.
And I currently use the fourth and unofficial ways to cast magic. Usually there are generally three steps to cast a spell. The first thing to do is to make a conceptual idea of a spell you want, then create a bridge for that spell using math, power word, or God’s domains, and you cast or create a spell.
However, there is a way to make a shortcut. Push as much mana as possible and force the world to acknowledge the spell inside your mind. Sadly, it takes a lot of mana to do it, and I even need to watch out for the mana consumption even though I have a massive amount of it.
"Y-Your hand is fake?!"
I snap from my thoughts and notice Quentyn looking at the gap between my gloves and clothes that show my metal arms. Before I can even say something, Silva decides to scold him.
"That is rather rude, you know? Even though we are fellow adventurers, he is still a noble heir. We did not ask for much but a little respect for each other."
Quentyn blushes a little and rubs the back of his head.
"Ah, sorry. I’m just surprised after seeing his left arm."
I decide to interrupt them before they start fighting by showing him my left arm.
"I lose my arm when we are fighting in a war."
"You have gone to war?"
"Yes. I don’t want to talk about it. Maybe when we are a little bit closer."
Lucky for me, Quentyn nods his head in understanding and says.
"Fair enough."
"Thank you. Now, let’s continue. I can hear a movement a hundred meters away from us."
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|3rd POV|
"[Iron Thorn]! Now! Attack the thorn around that thing!"
Quentyn obeys the order and quickly runs alongside Sonia at the massive manticore in front of him. He slices the glowing thorn around the monster, and once he cuts the thorn, he can see the manticore screaming in pain.
"Watch out!"
Quentyn widens his eyes when he sees the manticore’s tail fly at him, but a green barrier appears in front of him to block the attack. He quickly cuts another thorn and retreats as the manticore starts to target him.
With Sonia and Quentyn retreat, Jullian and Jul-Tan run forward and release a barrage of attacks to get the attention of the manticore, with the manticore being busy with the vanguard, Quentyn, and Sonia attack once again.
"Archers, aim for the body."
Gwyn raises the platform even higher and lets them have a higher ground so they can aim at the manticore’s body without risking hitting the vanguard and flank.
"[Wind Blessing] [Seedling of Life] [Star Formation]"
Gwyn cast three spells at once. [Wind Blessing] is a low-level buff spell that boosts the attack speed of all long-range fighters and adds a small bonus to their attack. [Seedling of Life] is a low-level continuous healing spell that heals all allies around it. [Star Formation] is a low-level buff spell that boosts all ally’s defense and resistance.
They continue to do this. Quentyn and Sonia harass the manticore, and when the monster focuses on the two of them, Jullian and Jul-Tan come forward and block all the manticore’s attacks.
On the back, Jonathan, Silva, and Hilda keep firing at the manticore’s weak spot, like its eyes and mouth. Their arrows finally pierce the protective barrier around the manticore’s eyes and blind the left side of the manticore.
Gwyn makes sure his ally survives and is well buffed for the fight even though he only uses a low-level spell (using only up to level 50 spell) and sometimes throws potions at the manticore to cause some debuff.
After fighting for ten minutes straight, the manticore finally releases a last howl before falling to the ground, dead.
Quentyn slowly walks toward the manticore and stabs his sword for a few seconds. Seeing no reaction, he released a sigh and fell to the ground. He can see the others also release a tired sigh and start to rest.
The only person who did not look tired was Gwyn, who started checking them one by one.
Gwyn is an anomaly to him. The young man did not look tired since the fight started on the first floor of the dungeon. They have been constantly fighting for more than seven hours by now. They occasionally rested for ten minutes, but he should be getting tired by now. However, reality tells a different story.
Gwyn looks like he is still fresh and can continue straight fighting for three days.
Other than his stamina, Quentyn also noticed his fighting style. He did not know that Gwyn had a class that let him amplify damage.
’Maybe it was his [Astrologian] class?’ Quentyn thought in his mind.
Quentyn knew the class of [Druid] and its ability to heal mass people, but he did not know what the [Astrologian] did. By the sound of it, it looked like it was a class tied to a star or something because he noticed the star pattern above them and the others each time Gwyn healed the rest of the party.
"So, what will we do from now on? From the map, the next place will be a hot floor full of lava and shit."
Quentyn asks Gwyn while he is checking him for any injury.
"Hmmm, we can camp here for now. We will stay here for today before we go to the next floor. We will camp next to the portal that will take us to the other floor. The monster will not appear near the portal. We can use that. I will create a barrier around our camp to block the monster."
"Oh? You can create a barrier, huh?"
"Yes. It will be enough to block all the monsters. I will try to mask our presence so we can sleep peacefully."
"That is good news, at least."
Quentyn knows that they cannot fight at one hundred percent if they do not have a good night’s sleep and if they take a turn watching the monster and with the monster constantly banging the barrier.
"Anyway, can you take care of the tent with the other? I will be the one storing this corpse."
Quentyn nods and gets up from the ground. Gwyn is an anomaly and a mystery to him, but he is an ally, and he will make sure he does not lose any ally because it can lead to the bad end of the story, and he does not want that kind of ending.
