Sure-Hit Archer 108

Test

In Front Of The Mid Boss' Room

"Shh!"

With a brief exhale from my mouth, a swarm of transparent arrows was released, splitting apart and piercing through Golem's hard rock armor, ultimately reaching and destroying its core, which was the weak point in its chest.

"Phew..."

"Nice job, Kaede! This should be the last Golem in this area for now!"

As I looked at the remnants of the defeated Golem, Silphy happily exclaimed while bouncing on my shoulder.

And so, Silphy and I had come from the fifth floor to the fourteenth floor.

After that, it was all about exploring the vast corridors with Silphy's magic. 

Nothing. 

We're defeating the discovered Golems. More exploration with Silphy's magic.

We searched for Silphy's companions, undiscovered hidden rooms, and treasure chests, but we never found anything.

We had been tirelessly searching for such things all along the way. At some point, Silphy and I had become machines, using our skills and magic mindlessly as we wandered through the corridors.

I was getting tired of it, but that's all over now.

"Oh, and there's a staircase leading to the 15th floor."

"Yeah, yeah! We finally made it this far! It was a long journey..."

"...Yeah, it sure was. This dungeon was much longer than I expected."

Because we thoroughly investigated every floor along the way. 

I took longer than usual.

I had mentally prepared myself to some extent by yesterday.

It was even more than I had imagined.

At some point, I even heard the whisper of a demon suggesting that we should turn back, but I'm glad we didn't.

If we had turned back midway, we probably would have had to come back tomorrow, then it would dulled our sense of accomplishment, and we wouldn't have experienced such excitement.

Yeah, thinking about it, diving into a dungeon that hasn't had a complete map made might not be such a bad idea.

We can share this excitement with the same party members.

Party, companions who venture into the dungeon together...

My heart...!

"W-What's wrong!? You suddenly held your chest!"

"Oh, no. It's nothing. Just a bit of emotional turbulence, you could say... Well, it's really nothing."

"Uh-huh... What's that all about? Well, as long as you're okay, don't push yourself too hard, alright?"

"Of course. Sometimes pushing yourself is important, but it's not the time for that now. I'll do my best within my limits."

"Yeah, that's the spirit! So, shall we go check it out right away?"

"Sure, let's go."

With that, I had Silphy get into my inner pocket, and then I carefully descended the stairs.

The next floor was the fifteenth floor.

Finally, our search around various places was temporarily over, as the 15th floor was the floor where the mid-boss awaited.

The q5th floor had a similar layout to the floors with boss rooms I had seen many times before.

"It's different here from the other floors."

"Huh? Oh yeah, you're right. On this floor, the path to the mid-boss room is a straight shot, and there are no Golems, so the atmosphere and structure are completely different from the other floors."

"I see! Are there any traps or anything?"

No, not as far as I know. Well, it's more like a rest area."

"I see. So what are we going to do? Are we going to defeat this mid-boss, or are we going to wait until tomorrow?"

Silphy asked as she perched on my left shoulder.

"Ah, yeah."

I opened my [Item Box] and took out my wristwatch to check the time.

Let's see... It's currently five o'clock.

I had entered the dungeon at six in the morning, but we had thoroughly explored floors 5 through 14.

The only thing I learned from that is that it takes time to thoroughly explore a dungeon.

"Yeah, since we've come this far, let's go ahead and defeat it. Oh, and even though I don't think there's anything, let's check just in case, okay?"

"Sure, sure. Well, I don't think there's anything, though."

"Hahaha, yeah, you're right. It would be nice if there was something, but I haven't heard any stories about finding anything in mid-boss or boss levels so far." 

I said as we divided our tasks and began to carefully investigate. However, just like on the previous floors, on this floor, there were only the usual corridors and the door to the boss room. 

There were no hidden passages or anything of the sort.

"...Yeah, it looks like there's really nothing here."

"That's right. Kaede, there was nothing over here either!"

"Yeah, I didn't expect it to be that easy."

"Right! Well then, let's go ahead and defeat that mid-boss..."

Just as Silphy said that. A cute rumbling sound came from her stomach, more specifically, from around her abdomen.

"...Silphy?"

"..."

Silphy blushed and looked down.

"...Come to think of it, you've been moving non-stop since we had breakfast this morning..."

I said, and Silphy responded with a slightly irritated tone, perhaps to cover her embarrassment.

"Geez, don't explain it so calmly! And if you think that, hurry up and take me out of here so I can eat!"

"Alright, alright. Understood. Shall we go then?"

Saying that I started walking, and Silphy quickly climbed into my inner pocket.

The door to the boss room was open as usual as if to signify that no one had challenged it before.

"Alright, let's do this!"

"Oh!!!"

The mid boss in this dungeon was a monster called Iron Golem, which was like an upgraded version of a regular Golem. 

It gets classified as an A-rank monster, and its characteristics, such as size, toughness, and regeneration, have been enhanced.

In terms of size, it was even larger than a regular Golem, and its toughness had become even more formidable. 

It could deflect attacks from weak weapons and even deform when struck.

Well, that was fine for now. If high-level explorers with fire magic skills worked together to attack, weapons wouldn't matter.

However, the problem was the last of its enhanced abilities, which was the most troublesome: the vastly accelerated regeneration rate. 

If they added such a strong regeneration ability to a creature already tougher than a Golem, it would be impossible to defeat it in an ordinary battle.

In fact, a party, including Gold-ranked explorers, had fought against an Iron Golem with all their might, and it took them over two hours to defeat it. 

Moreover, they had to keep attacking continuously, depleting their potions, and two of their frontliners had become incapacitated, with one of their backliners also injured. With its enhanced stats, fighting it head-on was just foolish.

"Even so, Kaede, what's the plan? It's called a mid boss, so it must be stronger than a regular Golem, right? Should I join the fight too?"

Silphy interrupted my thoughts with her question.

Ah, right. That's true. Usually, that's what you would do.

"Hm? Oh yeah, it's alright. Leave it to me this time."

"Huh? But..."

"It's fine, really. Just watch."

I reassured Silphy, who was looking at me from my inner pocket, and then took a deep breath and slowly stepped forward.

The door to the boss room was open, indicating that there were no other explorers inside.

"Huuh."

I stopped in front of the open door, exhaled softly, and walked into the room.