Ugh… So inside that stupid rock cocoon, it was birthing all those small Rats and those ten Shadow Stalkers in preparation to face us…
I peeked at Edir who was looking at the Rat Shadow Stalkers with concern, obviously worried that we might not be able to get out of this encounter alive.
Well… Her reaction was expected since half of our party got wiped just from facing two of them and we needed at least two members to even fight evenly with one. What were we supposed to do with ten?
All of us would most likely be slaughtered by them before we could even say a word.
The ten Rat Shadow Stalkers flexed their claws, as though mocking us and savouring our plight.
Now I have a choice to make… Reveal my trump card of having an entire Shadow Summon army to Edir or continue hiding it and have us die to these Rat Shadow Stalkers?
Come now, I’m not that big of an idiot, I know which one I should be choosing.
I choose to die!
…
Just kidding.
I choose option C!
You remember that little semicircle of earth I made to prevent the pool of water from reaching us? I discreetly used [Earth Ball] to move the section of it closest to the Rat Shadow Stalkers and allowed the pool of water to flow towards them until all of their feet were touching the water.
I then went for the best distraction technique I had in my repertoire.
“Look out! A UFO!!” I gasped while pointing at the ceiling.
Everybody looked up, including my party and the Rats.
What the heck guys, this isn’t the first time I’m using this trick, at least stop falling for it… Oh whatever…
I shot a [Static Bolt] spell at the puddle, the electrical ball striking against the surface of the water and paralysing all ten Shadow Stalkers at the same time.
I was also feeling a little mischievous so I started to chant my next spell out loud as well, “I call upon the wrath of the gods, converge the light and burn through all that stands in my way! With this light, all shall be pierced with its burning radiance! [Laser]!!”
The spell I was charging before I even started chanting was released, the light beam firing out from my hand to pierce through the head of a Rat Shadow Stalker as well as the one behind it.
I was just about to start charging up a second [Laser] when my first one reflected off the surface of the rock behind those Rat Shadow Stalkers and pierced through another one.
That would have been great except Odeta was in the path of the reflected [Laser].
My wings exploded out from my back to shove her aside, letting the spell pierce through the membrane of my wing instead.
WWAHHHHH!! It hurts!!
Uggghhh!! So this is why no one wants to learn Lumenmancy! Ahhhhh!!
I crouched down on the ground while I cradled my injured wing to my chest.
It felt like I had just touched something scalding hot with my wing! Ahhhh!!
I quickly used [Close Wounds] on myself before remembering to cast [Static Bolt] to make sure those Rat Shadow Stalkers remained paralysed.
“Mistress!”
“Sister Aster!!”
Katsuki and Odeta rushed to my side wearing worried looks on their faces.
“I’m fine! We’re still in a fight! Quickly kill them while they’re still paralysed! The boss as well!” I ordered.
Edir was already firing her arrows at the Shadow Stalkers, hitting them in between the eyes and killing two while I was trying to heal myself.
Katsuki and Odeta recovered themselves and also set to work killing the still paralysed Rat Shadow Stalkers.
My Inugami maid leapt past them, her hands outstretched to slash her daggers across the necks of two Rat Shadow Stalkers and slicing their throats open.
Odeta simply reached out and grabbed two of them by their throats before smashing them down on the ground, cracking the stone floor.
She then leapt into the air before landing on top of their heads, her feet cracking open their skulls and popping open their heads.
Damnit… I’ll have to clean her again later.
I also helped out by calling out another Shadow Summon to have her decapitate the last one as well.
It’s almost laughable how easy this was compared to the last time we struggled so much with two. Status effects are OP as hell… I should abuse them more often.
All of them fell dead by the time I finished healing my wing and returning it into my back.
Ugh… I really need to be careful with Lumenmancy… Odeta even almost got hurt because of me… Lisa was definitely right about Lumenmancy being a double edged sword…
I got back up and rejoined the fight where Odeta had returned to trying to crack open the boss’s stone defence.
The Broodmother boss was definitely not expecting those Shadow Stalkers to be defeated so easily since the smaller Rats started to rush towards us in a panic to stop us.
I simply shot another [Static Bolt] that stunned the horde before blasting them with a [Fire Blast] to let them burn. Satisfied with that, I turned to help them with the boss, leaving Edir to deal with any stragglers that I might have missed.
The Broodmother was trying to plug up the hole that Odeta had created but the Amrap was practically tearing the rock apart with her bare hands to keep the hole open.
Katsuki then threw a few needles into the hole, causing the boss to let out a squeal of pain as the projectiles hit the boss that was inside the rock.
I then followed up with a [Fire Blast] shot into the hole, burning the boss that was inside the rock ball and cooking it from the inside.
The fire forced the boss to release the earth ball spell around itself or it would risk being cooked alive by the heat. Unfortunately for the boss, that also meant that it was now open to our direct attacks.
The first thing I did was to hit it with a [Static Shock], the close range paralysing spell bouncing from my fingers to the boss and stunning it, preventing it from trying to use its Geomancy magic again.
Katsuki stabbed her daggers at its vital parts in quick succession, her blades sinking into its flesh easily like it was made of paper.𝑂𝗏𝐿xt.𝐂𝒐𝗆
Odeta then finished casting her [Body Current] and used her increased strength to punch the boss in the head, smashing its face to the side.
Most likely because of its high endurance and its fats, it was still alive even with that.
I joined in by casting [Body Current] and [Lightning Clad] on my fist before punching the boss in the face in the same direction, my punch succeeding in snapping the monster’s neck and killing it.
The boss’s head dangled lifelessly on its broken neck for a moment before the Rats it summoned disappeared into mist like they were never there.
Damnit… I thought I could harvest even more of their Mana Crystals… This would have made a great Mana Crystal farm if that was the case…
Oh wait, this Dungeon should reset back to normal after this anyway, so it’s not like we could just farm this boss after this…
Putting that aside…
“Yay!! We completed the Dungeon!” I squealed, throwing my arms up in the air in celebration.
And as though to validate me, the background music also changed into one of trumpets and fanfare.
“Congratulations, Mistress,” Katsuki congratulated me, right before Odeta ran up to pull me into a bear hug.
“We did it, Sister Aster! We did it!! We’re D ranked Dungeoneers now!!”
Oh yeah, I forgot about that.
You can’t blame me since I was more focused on the loot that the Dungeon would reward us for completing the Dungeon!
Now let me have it! I completed all one hundred floors from start to finish so it should give me something good, right?!
Just as the background music faded away, our Dungeon clear rewards materialised as balls of light that flew towards us before hovering for a moment to drop onto our hands.
Yeah! Let’s see! Let’s see! What did I get?!
The light subsided and in my hands was a… A stone tablet?
It seemed to be made out of some black stone and its surface was featureless, smooth and cold to the touch.
I used my [Screened] on it and the information I got was pretty weird.
[??? Stone – Bring it to a Church and show it to a priestess to exchange for a reward.]
Why does this sound more like an instruction to me?
Whatever, guess I’ll have to take a trip down to the nearest Church when I next get the chance.
Looking to the side, I tried to see what the others received.
Odeta received what looked like iron bracers which she was quite ecstatic to get while Katsuki got herself a wicked looking dagger.
On the other hand, Edir received a… Broom?
What the heck is with the allocation of rewards? I’m not even sure if this is just a matter of bad RNG.
Like we spent a week clearing this Dungeon from start to finish, you know? She also participated in all the fights too! Yet all Edir got was a broom?
Where’s the fairness in that?!
Unexpectedly though… She didn’t seem that upset to receive that reward and was even smiling wryly at it.
Oh well… As long as you’re happy I suppose.
Anyway! Dungeon complete!! Time to go get the Guild rewards!