We didn’t see any more Pink Slimes or any other Pleasure Monsters after that.
Our next encounter was another party that was engaged in a fight which we heard before we saw them.
The clashing of metal and shouts of people could be heard coming down a tunnel to the side.
Everyone looked towards Jack who paused for a moment to listen to the sound.
He nodded, “Sounds like they’re in trouble. In favour of helping them?”
A chorus of “Aye”s echoed through the group and Jack increased his pace to head towards the source of the noise.
I guess everyone was thinking of receiving some kind of reward from the party we would be helping since repaying such debts was the norm in this World.
When we found the party, they were fighting a humanoid monster made entirely of stone that was at least three stories high.
[Name: Gold Stoner
Race: Monster
Stats:
450 Strength
30 Dexterity
600 Endurance
150 Magic
Magic Skills:
Geomancy (Tier 1), Aeromancy (Tier 1)]
Is this Monster high on gold or something? Better not ask…
The party that was fighting it seemed to be in quite a bad state with two out of six of their members currently out cold. The remaining four were all barely able to continue fighting with their tank sporting an obvious broken left arm with how it was dangling by his side.
“Damn… A Gold Stoner…” Jack muttered. “I don’t think it’s worth the risk… In favour of retreating?”
Another chorus of “Aye”s came from the group.
Eh? We’re just going to leave these guys to die huh?
That’s sad… But it’s normal for people like us to prioritise your own party over a stranger’s anyway. This isn’t a game where people don’t die when they are killed.
Just as I was about to suggest that I jump in and handle the monster on my own, a shout came from the party fighting the Gold Stoner.
“Fuck this! You guys are on your own!!”
The magic caster of the party turned around and ran, not even looking back as he sprinted towards us.
He only gave us a passing glance before he disappeared the way we came from, the sounds of his footsteps echoing further and further away.
The tank pulled off the shield on his broken arm and tossed it at the monster, distracting it long enough to pick up the unconscious ranger lying next to him with his one good arm.
I thought he would escape with the ranger but he then tossed the ranger towards the monster before also turning to run away.
The monster snatched the ranger out of the air and smashed its fist into the ground, literally splattering the ranger into pieces as blood and body parts flew everywhere.
Oh wow… Ok… That’s not what I expected…
The tank then ran past us, not even looking in our direction with another magic caster chasing after him while screaming.
That left one last conscious guy who was unable to run because of a broken leg, though he was desperately hobbling his way towards us right now.
The Gold Stoner moved towards the last unconscious party member, picking him up casually with one of its hands like it was just inspecting him.
It lifted the Mahun up into the air before dropping him into his mouth, crushing the Dungeoneer inside before turning its gaze towards the final guy.
The hobbling guy was literally sobbing as he tried to escape from the monster, even abandoning his weapon just to try and get to us faster.
Well… Even with that, he was only moving at a normal walking pace though…
The Gold Stoner lunged forward and smashed its fist down, completely obliterating the poor guy with a single punch.
So… Half the party ran off and the other half basically got killed… I’m not even sure if those three guys who ran off would be able to get out of the Dungeon in one piece.
“Should we run now?” I asked, right as the monster lifted its head to glare at us.
“Yes,” Jack answered simply.
All of us promptly spun around and ran back down the tunnel, trying our best to ignore the angry roar from the Gold Stoner coming from behind us.
The stomping sounds were so loud that it felt like the monster was right on top of us, only to stop abruptly before the tunnel shook violently, followed closely by a loud roar behind us.
I chanced a look behind to see the Gold Stoner ramming itself against the tunnel entrance, its body being too big to chase after us.
That doesn’t mean we could slow down yet since it was tossing rocks and wind bullets at us, forcing us to pick up speed to avoid being smashed or impaled.
We managed to escape the tunnel without a scratch, though Melissa was gasping for air and collapsed on her knees the moment we reached safety.
Well… She’s still a physically weak mage after all…
I then noticed that the three guys who abandoned their party were also there, all of them leaning against the wall on the other side of the tunnel a short distance away from us.
The tank guy with the broken arm glared at me, “What are you looking at? Got a problem?”
I tilted my head at him, “Er… No? Do you have a problem?”
He gestured to his broken arm, “What do you think, dumbass? Do I look like I don’t have a problem?!”
Viera quickly tugged on my arm, “Don’t bother with him… This is something that happens in Dungeons too… He’s not worth it.”
Eh? Did she think I was going to lecture him for abandoning his party or something? I wasn’t though.
I mean… I know it’s normal for people to prioritise their own lives here so I don’t plan to scold him for that? Just because I would not abandon my own team mates doesn’t mean I would force my own ideals on others.
Jack then nodded at us, “Let’s go. Maybe we can find another Gold Tortoise before we leave.”
We formed up again and started to move, leaving the three guys behind to nurse their own wounds.
We barely even went far when screams came from behind us which lasted only for a second before the voices were cut off abruptly.
Jack immediately turned around with an excited grin, “Oh! Let’s go and see what monster attacked them!”
He wasn’t even concerned about their well being at this point I see…
I guess after we knew that they were people who would not only abandon their own team members but also use them as bait to save themselves, all consideration for them had melted away.
We turned and rushed back to where those three guys were and… Well… A Gold Stoner is standing over their smashed up dead bodies…
Ugh… That monster literally tore off the tank guy’s head… The spine is still even attached to it too while the face was making a rather stupid look of surprise.
It should not be the same one from before but another one that probably came from another tunnel and found those unlucky guys here.
“Damn… Looks like we have no choice but to fight this one. Prepare for a long fight! Melissa, the buffs please! Aster, this one is resistant against magical attacks! Focus on supporting us! Everyone else, switch weapons!”
On his command, everyone stored the weapons they had been using away and switched to bludgeoning weapons instead.
Jack and Markus both wielded maces in their dominant hands while their shields remained in the other. Viera stowed away her longsword and pulled out a two handed warhammer while Sabrina changed her pointed spear to a hammer shaped one. Even Loyd pulled out a bunch of blunt tipped arrows that he switched out for his normal ones.
Seems like all of them were prepared for something like this, as expected of a veteran party.𝔬𝔳𝓵xt.𝒞𝐎𝑚
The monster let out a roar of challenge and even tossed the head of the guy it killed at us, the improvised projectile bouncing off of Jack’s shield.
“It’s coming! [Fortress]!!”
Jack stood his ground as the Gold Stoner charged towards him, intending to block the monster with his Valour Skill.
Everyone else was also waiting for the impact before they moved to flank it and surround it from the sides, a tactic that was similar to our fight with the Gold Tortoise earlier.
Except… It did not attack Jack.
It jumped over Jack and everyone else in the vanguard and headed straight towards me, surprising everyone.
Its fist that was as big as my entire body was raised before hurtling down towards me.
On instinct, I raised my hands above my head and caught the blow, feeling the ground under me sink as the impact of the force cracked the ground.
I let out a growl of my own as I felt a little miffed at the fact that this monster ignored everyone to attack me instead. Does it think I’m the weakest one and chose to take me out first? I’ll show you!!
I flung its fist aside and lowered myself into a stance.
Taking advantage of the fact that it was still reeling from having its punch redirected, I used [Body Current] to increase my arm strength before punching forward.
A small section of the monster’s torso was blasted clean off and I quickly pulled back in preparation to defend myself against a counter attack from the monster.
That was proven to be unnecessary as the monster let out a low groan before it collapsed onto the ground and shattered into several large pieces of stone, each of them containing a few Monster Gold crystal clusters.
Eh? That’s it?
Where did you six hundred endurance stats go?