Chapter 40: Chapter 38: Harem Leveling

“— Me, Asuna, and Natsukawa-san. The three of us will be vanguard. Sakura and Class Rep are in rear support. And Takanashi-san eill stay close to the them, so we have her protected“

We decided everyone’s positions in our new 6 member party, before restarting our dungeon capture.

There were a few accidents here and there, but now we’re all set. Takanashi-san’s remodeling had borne excellent results, and our dirty clothes were done being washed and mended.

In the first place, the reason why this incident, that is, why Takanashi-san had a maddened runaway, happened was because Class Rep had applied Mimesis Worms on everyone’s clothes so that they’d get fixed while they washed up. She had thought it to be a beneficial action, but Takanashi-san went and carelessly tried picking up her uniform instead of the prepared gym clothes. This is where she ended up touching the object of her fears, the insect, the Mimesis Worm.

A sad tale. Nobody was at fault, with everyone being only a victim, an unfortunate conclusion.

“I’m really sorry Yuuto-kun, I never imagined it’d turn out like that”

Apologized Class Rep garbed in her gym clothes in such a nonchalant expression that I felt a bit of anger boiling up. That damn Class Rep, it’s because she hadn’t had her underwear seen that she’s so awfully composed.

Anyway, let’s forget grudges of the past, and focus on the dungeon before us.

Our originally stable 4-member party now has the powerful swordsman, that is Asuna, and though she can’t fight, she can help by improving and replenishing our equipment, and support us in a bunch of other ways, Takanashi-san. These two would make us all the more strong.

“This area appears to be mainly Skeletons”

It has been an hour since we started walking. And with the only monster we’ve encountered in that time being Skeletons, I can agree with Sakura’s observation.

Despite being somewhat the representative of all weak monsters, the Skeletons appearing here had weapons of much better quality, and with their newfound swift and powerful movements, they turned out to be quite powerful enemies. Herded into groups, or rather I should say platoons, of 5 to 10, they even showed signs of organized movement.

And deserving special attention is the captain of the Skeletons leading those platoon. The troops wore thoroughly blackened (they were likely white before), tattered surcoats, and equipped themselves with iron swords and spears with only a tinge of rust. However, the Captain Skeleton had on an iron helm, and with body armor, gauntlets, and leg pieces, it came fully protected. The great halberd it held was not rusted, but had a dull gleam of steel, clearly displaying good quality. In addition, it also had a round iron shield, strengthening its defense even further.

“I don’t think my Slash can go through all of that”

“Right, it really looks tough with all that armor. Souma, you’re lucky you got that Break”

“Yeah, it’s like in a game, blunt force is more effective on Skeletons every time”

When that Boss Goma was swinging around its Demon Sword, at times, as if releasing a battle art, it made a noticeably powerful strike. Even if that didn’t hit you, it made a shockwave so strong that just being nearby would almost get you blown away. That would be its Break.

Since it was using that move, I must have acquired it when I beat it.

“But what’s being really useful here is Sakura’s light-attribute right?”

This too was exactly like in games. The Skeleton, a monster of the genre known as undead, is greatly weakened when against the light attribute. It’s a fact we’ve known since the time when it was just me and Sakura.

With a simple Lux Sagitta, the Skeletons crumble and turn to ash. The aiming doesn’t matter. Just by sliding against an arm or leg, the arrow of light causes annihilation.

It’s probably from all the experience fighting, but Sakura attained some new skills.

Lux Shield(Shield of Light)

A low class defense magic of the light attribute. A shield of brilliant white light guards against evil.

Lux Blast(Light Cannon)

A low class area-attack magic of the light attribute. A beam of brilliant white light cleanses evil.[1]

In short, a shield and a beam of light.

As for shield made with magic, I’ve already seen this type of defence magic with Class Rep’s Eis Shield. Though named a shield, it isn’t one that you take in hand, but basically, it’s a wall of around the caster’s height that springs out.[2]

But its size can be adjusted by utilizing mana with expertise. Same goes for the toughness. Also, it’s possible to create it separated from yourself, thus being able to provide defenses for the vanguard for example.

Class Rep and Sakura, both reliable mages, can now not only dish out support fire, but in tougher times, with hard to reach enemies, they can also provide precise defensive options, making combat all the more safe and smooth.

The other one, Lux Blast, simply ups our firepower as a party. Class Rep also has this type of area-attack magic. Her Eis Blast, which she can use to take down enemies within a certain scope all at once, so we knew Lux Blast’s effect right away.

Where Class Rep’s brings forth cold air like a blizzard, Sakura unleashes a scorching flash.

The troops of Skeletons finding us and coming with a frontal attack are exterminated all at once with just one of Sakura’s Lux Blasts.

And in the unlikely event that they make it through that preemptive barrage, there’s all of us in the vanguard squad lying in wait with all our weapons applied with Holy Enchant. Facing our sacred blades, even if they’re slightly stronger, or coming in groups, Skeletons don’t stand a chance.

“—Ah, I just learned a new skill”

“Ooooh! You go Sakura-chan!”

“She’s been at it a lot, so the levelups are faster too huh”

Taking a side-glance at the rearguard team happy for Sakura’s steady progress, us in the vanguard are picking through the defeated Skeletons.

“Oh, lucky me, found a core even though it’s a Skeleton”

“We don’t have to cut into any bodies, and only break a few bones to get it. Skeletons make life so easy”

I guess it’s because they’re stronger, even Skeletons are dropping cores. These are located mostly inside the skull, so looking at the red glow leaking from the eye sockets or from between its teeth makes it easy to know if it has one or not. The Skeleton captain is guaranteed to have one, and the troopers also drop them occasionally.

Core collection has been progressing well all in all. At this rate, we may have enough to use as energy for the Divine Gate to escape from here, and plus, a certain amount can be used with Takanashi-san’s remodeling to strengthen ourselves as well.

“Hmm, this guy’s halberd seems to be better quality… Let’s switch up then”

Moreover, getting some proper weaponry is great. I don’t know how long I can last with just my one sword from that knight we found. Of course, I carry a sub weapon like a knife or short-sword, but having another main is never a bad thing.

Though not as well as the sword, I have learned how to handle weapons like a spear or naginata from jii-san(grandpa). We pretty much had a jack-of-all kind of code for martial arts.

Of course, I’ve never used a halberd, that’s like an axe-tipped spear, or any Western weapons of the sort, but well, as I’m using it now, it doesn’t give me major issues. It can cut as well as stab, so it’ll be convenient in the long run.

“— Yay! Kotori got new skills too! Thankyou God~!”

Come the third time since entering the Skeleton area that Takanashi-san was using the fairy square’s fountain to start her weapon repair, she raised joyful cheers.

From all the battles, everyone has been steadily leveling up, with Sakura getting the most out, but it was a fact the non combat-oriented Takanashi-san was being left out and feeling a bit envious. Asuna was also saying how Takanashi-san not getting new skills was making the person herself more and more anxious. She was worried about her too.

“You did? That’s great Kotori. So what are they?”

“Ehehe, check these out—”

Standard Remodeling    Carry out standard remodeling. In decoding all of creation, it is but the first step.

Ancient Language Deciphering: proficient             Can read the ancient language. Limited to second-class.

“With this, Kotori can make even more amazing weapons!”

Seems like the newly acquired skills are the superior versions of Simple Remodeling and Ancient Language Deciphering: basic respectively. All our weapon remodeling and strengthening has been done so far using these two skills so it’s appropriate to say she has improved.

Looking as how excited she is, I think we can expect the remodeling to produce weapons of even higher performance with the same materials as before. One more good news would be that the failure rate for it was dropping significantly. “It’ll be indestructible!” Takanashi-san was boasting.

“That’s great, Takanashi-san, I’ll be expecting a bit”

“Yep! For Souma-kun, Kotori’ll make the best weapon ever, and gift it to you!”

“Thanks”

She must be really happy being useful to everyone, her brilliant smile going ear to ear is a pleasant scene to see.

“… Nii-san, may I ask what you are doing with that hand?”

“Ha! This is, you know”

I somehow ended up stroking her head. I mean, her head’s at the perfect spot too. Plus, Takanashi-san doesn’t seem to hate it, in fact, she looks so happy like the the pet dog we kept a long time ago.

“You know, I would know what exactly?”

“I’m sorry”

I can’t say I wasn’t getting carried away. It really is a shame. As I lift away my hand, Takanashi-san also making a somewhat sullen face, that must be my imagination.

“— So, Kotori can make stronger weapons with her remodeling now. With that in mind, should we try re-working them?“

“Right, let’s make base here, and walk around the premises, see if we can find more cores and stuff”

Hmm, hmmm, concentrates Takanashi-san in an afflicted voice facing while the fountain. She is focusing on her remodelling, while the rest of us discuss the plan.

“I agree with Class Rep. Kotori’s remodelling will take a while. It’ll be more constructive to get some good materials rather than just waiting for her to finish”

“Yep, me too, I have a few things I wanna try out in real fights, practice makes perfect right!”

“Still, we just can’t leave Kotori here alone just because the square is supposed to be safe… Someone should stay. Other than nii-san of course.”

“Eh, what’s wrong with me?”

“I agree”

“Same here”

“No other way about it”

“Heyy! Kotori doesn’t agreee!!”

“It’s decided. Agreed, nii-san?”

I can’t fight the majority ruling. I haven’t a clue why only I was forbidden to stay with Takanashi-san, but if they’re this adamant, I’ll have to yield.

Well, I’d be worried for the others if I stayed back. Maybe Sakura already foresaw that. As expected of this sister of mine, or rather, my thought patterns must be too simplistic.

“Right, if you’re all set, let’s head out—”

With that, we spent the next two days with the current fairy square as a base, and gave it our all for the so called leveling. The results of which are as follows:

Souma Yuuto・Hero

Learned skills

Hi Step  Boosts mobility. A single kick birthing afterimages, trampling space itself.

Storm Kick           A foundation of the Souma-Style Unarmed Combat Arts. A leg that is fast, heavy

Body Buster       A foundation of the Souma-Style Unarmed Combat Arts. Grab, break, throw.

Impact  Area-damage attack. A devastating blow that spreads around further shockwaves.

Acquired skills

Fortify Bones     Full-body Strengthening. A sturdy skeleton improves power overall.[3]

That’s how it turned out for me. As I was leaping and jumping around with Hi Walk, at some point, I realized I could kick into the air too, that is, perform the fabled double jump, and so ended up learning Hi Step.

Other than that, as I used some of the already ingrained Souma-Style martial arts techniques depending on the situation, following Righteous Fist, the two foundations of kicking and throwing were also mixed in with the learned skills.

That and there’s Fortify Bones. This has to be from fighting Skeletons. Full-body Strengthening may not sound like much, but a boost in physical strength really comes in handy.

On the other hand, Sakura didn’t get any more new skills. She must’ve already gotten the maximum growth she could with Skeletons. Well, fighting the same enemies over and over makes for great practice with magic, she’s had a good deal of that with the skills she has already learned.

Kisaragi Ryouko・Class Re— I mean, Ice Mage, yup.

Eis Curis Sagitta(Frost Spear)

Ice-attribute magic of the intermediate level. A large spear of ice pierces the enemy.

Summon Eis Elemental  Summons an Eis Elemental of beginner level.[4]

Class Rep was also mastering her newly learned skills at the same rate as Sakura. Eis Curis Sagitta can be said to be a superior version of the attack magic she has become so adept at using. So learning this one next was a matter of course.

Summon Eis Elemental is a new type of magic for Class Rep too. This summonned Eis Elemental is a blue, glowing, mist-like sphere of around 30 cm in diameter. Like a fairy, it has wing-like parts, and as for whether it is a living creature or only a clump of mana, it certainly begs the question. This thing doesn’t speak, and nor does it make any sounds, but will move according to Class Rep’s will.

The elemental itself can’t attack, or strictly speaking, though it can’t utilize its internal ice mana to freeze anything, it can go and burst near an enemy’s head or near the legs, causing it to stop moving or become confused. It makes for a new kind of support we haven’t had before. Though, it’s not like we need much help with just Skeletons.

Kenzaki Asuna・Dualweilder

Bone Cutter       Kenzaki-Style Sword Art. Even bones are severed with ease, a capable blade.

Quaking Drill       Kenzaki-Style Sword Art. A spin added to the thrust unleashes a shockwave.

Edge Shaver       Kenzaki-Style Sword Art. When locking blades, cut through and surpass the enemy.

As Asuna got used to fighting Skeletons, It’d be great if I could just cut through bones too, she gained a skill matching her thoughts, and another move that makes a good impact to a bone body. Bone Cutter enters from the crown and has the force to cleanly split apart the spinal cord right down the middle. Furthermore, Quaking Drill grants a tremendous impact to the her blade, making bones scatter to bits when hit.

When attempting to take on enemy attacks, she learned the defensive Edge Shaver. Normally, Asuna would use her Sky Hop, a speed enhancing battle art that’s like a sister skill to Hi Step and Hi Walk, and carried out the strategies to always avoid enemy attacks. But she spent these two days training in relative safety to acquire Edge Shaver. Thinking of situations where defending would be crucial and preparing for such situations in advance isn’t a demerit at all.[5]

Incidentally, the Kenzaki-Style Sword Art tacked on to all the skill descriptions aren’t from Asuna’s family’s style at all. It’s unknown whether the God of Dualwielders did it randomly, or that actually the Art of the Kenzaki-Style also emerged in this otherworld. Asuna seems to be wishing for the latter case.

Natsukawa Minami・Thief

Hi Step  Boosts mobility. A single kick birthing afterimages, trampling space itself.

Repel    Repel enemy attacks using weapons or armor.

Dual Slash            Two back-to-back Slashes

Shadow Pull       Tricks the enemy into seeing a clone for an instant. A form of illusion art(genjutsu)

Shadow Lace      When moving in shadows, sneaking ability rises.

Hide Attack         Aiming from right behind, the enemy is struck precisely in the vitals[6]

Looks like the one who got the most new skills ended up being Natsukawa-san. Hi Step is the same as mine, and Repel is similar to Asuna’s Edge Shaver.

Dual Slash is a battle art borne out of her frustration of not being able to defeat a Skeleton in one hit, and so creates a combo with another. Shadow Pull can be used to mislead the enemy and attack in while they’re distracted. It can otherwise it can be useful for evading too. There’s this restriction of the clone only lasting a moment, but since Natsukawa-san’s namesake is her speed, I’m sure she can pull through.

Shadow Lace and Hide Attack came about after cases where we noticed the Skeletons while they didn’t see us, whereupon we could naturally perform a surprise attack. Using these two together, Natsukawa-san can take on and one-sidedly annihilate a group of around 5 or so of them. Her vocation is supposed to be Thief but she’s practically an Assassin at this point.

Seing Natsukawa-san, who never had any formal martial arts training like me or Asuna, doing so well in our frontlines, I’m again reminded of the concept known as talent. Asuna was even edging to recruit her as a student in the Kenzaki-Style once we get back to Japan.

Like that, we were leveling up at a great pace. At this point, I think any one of us could take on a whole platoon of Skeletons no problem.

And then, after sacrificing more than a hundred Skeletons to our cause, their cores and equipment underwent our Sage, that is Takanashi-san’s, special processing, and became newly made gear for ourselves.

“Whaff, I’m finally done with e~veryones things”

Great work, we all thank Takanashi-san for her efforts, while our upgraded weapons are passed around.

I’ll mention mine to start off:

Paladin’s Sword                A sword used by a certain paladin. It has an emblem of a red lion engraved on it.

Steel Halberd     A halberd forged from superior steel.

Iron Dagger        A general quality dagger.

Takanashi-san says the weapons’ names and descriptions pop into her head right after she’s done remodeling. Is the naming done by the Sage’s power or is it a function of the fountain? Well, it’s fine either way.

Anyway, that knight’s sword I had gotten back then was born anew as a Paladin’s Sword with a much sharper edge. After feeding in multiple halberds taken from the Skeleton captains, we got back one made of steel. We used up a decent amount of cores, so looking at the before-after, there’s a wide difference in quality.

I had asked for a throwing knife anticipating cases like with the Boss Dog, which is where the Iron Dagger comes in. It says general quality, but in a place where you can only get rusted blades from Skeletons, this is a good upgrade in its own right.

Oriental Bow of the Saintess       A bow used by the Saintess Sakura. It possesses a glint of light.[7]

“… Saintess Sakura pfft”

“W-what is the meaning of this embarrassing description, hey, Kotori!!”

“Eeh~! Not her fault, Kotori’s not the one thinking these up kay~!”

Somehow, the description is making out Sakura to be a genuine saintess. Before any vocation, she’s supposed to be a normal highschool girl. But the text makes it appear as if she has been a holy woman all her life.

That being said, though Takanashi-san’s remodeling didn’t change it’s outer appearance, that of an archery club bow, there is currently a clear difference in its durability. And even if the string breaks, she can quickly fix it with a bit of remodeling.

“Sorry about your wand Ryouko-chan, looks like Kotori can’t handle magic weapons yet”

The long wand being used by our Ice Mage, Class Rep, is one we plundered from a Skeleton captain of the mage class. This class seems to be somewhat rare as we only encountered 3 during the recent leveling session. Luckily, on the 2nd time, it was shooting out clumps of ice magic everywhere, and after defeating it, we got a weapon for Class Rep.

“Right, magic wands may need special attention compared to normal weapons. Perhaps we’ll have to wait for the Remodeling skill to get stronger, or maybe you will need something like a Magic Remodeling skill”

“Hmm, Kotori’s wondering, any clue how she’s gonna learn it?”

“For now, just don’t tinker around with my want alright? It’s my only weapon after all”

“Hey~! What do you take Kotori for, meanie~!”

Takanashi-san seems to be making a show of fuming in anger, but all of us have already seen how she tried to use the other 2, fire and wind attribute wands, and tried to combine them with her remodeling. We saw how it was a great big failure.

Leaving the wand upgrade as an assignment for the future, Asuna and Natsukawa-san’s equipment were also processed in due order.

Blade of Cleansing           A blade exorcised of its curse. Now it is not wickednes, but a holy light that grants it power.

Knight Saber      A single-edged blade used by Knights. Piercing or slashing, it serves its purpose.

Iron Sword          A general quality sword.

Iron Short-sword             A general quality short-sword.

Bandit Knife       A shiny knife suitable for threats as well as killing. A must-have for robbery and murder alike.

Kill Carver            A kitchen knife not for cuisine, but thirsting blood, it was reborn to kill.

Iron Short-sword             A general quality short-sword.

Iron Dagger        A general quality dagger.[8]

Those were, respectively, Asuna and Natsukawa-san’s weapons. With the upgrades this time, we’ve completely gotten rid of any rust in our things, with the description now saying General Quality. Of course, Asuna’s two-sword style and Natsukawa-san’s dual-knife mains were made much stronger as well.

“Look at that, this swords glowing even without Holy Enchant on it”

“The description did say something to the likes of Sakura’s light fully purifying it”

“Yeah, whatever it is, it’s a good sword if nothing else. This Knight Saber has a good feel too. With these I think I can really bring out my dualwielding potential”

Appreciating her great quality swords with a satisfied smile, Asuna strokes Takanashi-san’s head. Naturally, there isn’t a peep from Sakura. The heck, so it’s A-OK when it’s a girl?

“Right, so now that everyone’s got their things, you guys want to head out?”

“I’m satisfied with the results, so why not”

“Just come to Kotori once you get new materials, she’ll fix you right up!”

“Hey, hey you guys, why do my knives have these ominous descriptions, hey?”

Her eyes slightly damp, Natsukawa-san was questioning the large, bulky, survivalist fashion Bandit Knife, and also, though it was once a normal sized kitchen knife, it was now bigger, and more like a sword, she was questioning the Kill Carver held in her hands.

“Hey, Souma-kun! Why do only mine gotta be like this!”

Uaah, you’re asking me!? I didn’t wanna be involved. I was even planning to ignore it and head out… Crap, think think.

“Eh, well that’s…”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

I peep to my right, Sakura just looks away. Trying left this time, theres Class Rep. She’s supposed to be Natsukawa-san’s best friend but, she too averts her eyes. Asuna’s looking at me as if expecting me to give a great answer, not a hint of support from there. Finally, the perpetrator who originally caused this mess with her nasty names and descriptions, Takanashi-san, she wasn’t even facing this way.

Guys, give me a break here. So this is that so-called womanly-pact thing huh. Scaaary… Yup, alright then, I’ll just have to try something and hope Natsukawa-san doesn’t get depressed.

“Well that’s cause, uh… you’re a Thief, right?”

“I, I’m not a bad Thief alright!! Fueeen!”

We spent the next 30 minutes before heading out consoling Natsukawa-san as she’d started crying.

________________________

[1] 光盾 — Hikari Tate — Lux Shield and 光砲 — Hikari Hoo — Lux Blast

[2] I wonder if I mentioned this before, but stuff I’ve been TLing as Ice was pronounced like aizu and not aisu so I was very troubled what to use instead. I did a bit more research now and found in German Eiz, meaning Ice, has the same pronunciation, so I believe This is what the translation is meant to be. My problem was looking for ice in latin roots because ignis, terra, aqua, aer, are all latin, but there’s nothing in latin that sounds like aizu, and I was stuck there. Incidentally, I also checked what Kuro no Maou TLs did and it’s either Ice or Aiz (no idea why). Anyway, TLDR, ICE → EIS (pronounced like ice with a Z)

[3] Hi Step and Impact are as is.

嵐蹴り — Arashi Keri — Storm Kick

体崩し — Tai Kuzushi — Body Buster

活性骨身 — Kassei Honemi — Fortify Bones

[4] Eis Curis Sagitta is as is. 氷精霊召喚 — Kouri Seirei Shoukan — Summon Eis Elemental… I’ve changed Kris → Curis, blah blah latin for spear.

[5] 骨断ち — Hone Tachi — Bone Cutter

震い穿ち — Furui Ugachi — Quaking Drill

鎬削り — Kou Kuzuri — Edge Shaver

空跳ね — Kuu Hane — Sky Hop, this last one, may get proper name by author later, but it’s like this for now.

[6] Hi Step, Dual Slash, Hide Attack are as is.

弾き — Hajiki — Repel, is same as what Futaba-sama had.

影残し — Kage Nokoshi — Shadow Pull (lit. Shadow Leaving)

影渡り — Kage Watari — Shadow Lace

[7] Changing Saint → Saintess. It’s sexier. Also, oriental bow as in traditional japanese bows.

[8] 清めの太刀 — Kiyome no Tachi — Blade of Cleansing… or purification/exorcism.

人斬り包丁 — Hitogiri Houchou — Kill Carver (lit. Murder Kitchen-knife)

バンデッドナイフ — Bandeddo naifu — Bandit Knife, I tried to match it with the description, but should it be Banded Knife?