Chapter 272

Defense Specialization and Armor

“d.a.m.n it…how many are there . ”

Chrome looked exhausted as he sat down against the rock wall . Just as he had suspected, this dungeon was crawling with armed skeletons and ghost enemies . Individually, they were not too strong, and while he took damage, his healing was able to keep up with them .

“I considered having Sally help me… But it’s a good thing that I didn’t . Though, I’ve gotten pretty far…”

There were forked paths, so he wasn’t too confident that he was going in the right direction . That being said, the paths continued without any dead ends . So he had no reason to turn back .

“Oh, there they come . Won’t even give me time to rest . ”

Chrome said as he got back to his feet . Ghosts with scythes and spear-wielding skeletons had appeared .

“ARRGHH!! ‘Revitalize’! ‘s.h.i.+eld Attack’!”

Chrome blew several skeletons into the air and then slashed at them with his billhook . As Chrome attacked, one of the ghosts went around to his back and cut at him . But he ignored it and continued his attacks . ‘Revitalize’ was the skill that Chrome acquired with his medal . Its effect was simple . It buffed all of his recovery effects, which included ‘Battle Healing’s’ auto-heal and ‘Soul-Eater’s’ healing upon getting hit, ‘Life-Eater’s’ healing upon attacking, and ‘Soul Sucker’s’ healing upon blocking .

The result; he could ignore one ghost and attack the monsters in front of him without being killed . He had pursued defense in a very different direction from Maple . And he had an incredible advantage against attacks that tried to slowly chip away at his health .

Finally, Chrome turned around and slammed the ghost, which was the last survivor, with his s.h.i.+eld . His HP healed up all of the way, and then he attacked .

“Good, that’s the last one! …Phew . ”

Silence returned to the caves once again . Chrome put away his billhook and continued down the pa.s.sage . There were a number of encounters after that, but it was all against the same monsters . And so Chrome dealt with them calmly .

“This is going to take time…but at least it’s stable . It looks like I was right in choosing that skill . ”

Chrome was a great s.h.i.+eld wielder, and so his attack power was the bare minimum . It was Maple who was strange for being able to deal a lot of damage .

“…Oh, finally an open area . And that…”

Perhaps it was once a cove . There was seawater that had collected in the back and dry land in the front . And in the water, there was a mysteriously wrecked s.h.i.+p .

“Ah, I see . ”

Chrome seemed to understand . At the same time, purple flames rose noisily above the s.h.i.+p . And then a deep cry could be heard .

The wrecked s.h.i.+p began to move so that the side was facing the land . Then three planks were extended out and a host of skeletons were sent towards Chrome .

“A pirate s.h.i.+p…or is it more of a ghost s.h.i.+p? d.a.m.n it . This is not the kind of enemy to fight when you’re alone!”

That being said, Chrome would not go down easily . He drank one of Izu’s potions that healed you over a period of time and also used a few other buffing items .

“Alright . Let’s see who is tougher here!”

Chrome unleashed his billhook and smiled confidently as he raised his great s.h.i.+eld . There was a ma.s.sive roar as the cannons on the ghost s.h.i.+p fired . It signaled the beginning of the battle .

“‘Revitalize’! ‘Guard Aura’!”

Chrome raised his defense and recovery power while blocking the oncoming cannonb.a.l.l.s with his great s.h.i.+eld . They exploded into flames and chipped away at Chrome’s HP . It was better than being hit directly, but it was still a lot of damage .

“Tsk . So I get hurt after all!”

However, there were over thirty skeletons heading towards him right now, and so Battle Healing activated . Furthermore, Izu’s potion healed his HP rapidly .

“‘Ghost Mud’!”

Just as he shouted this, black mud started to pour out of his billhook . He would use skills that had HP losing effects when he attacked . This would help him deal with the monsters quicker .

Chrome killed the monsters one by one . But as there were so many, he was unable to block the attacks from every side, and so his HP started to decline .

“d.a.m.n it . Those cannons are annoying…ggg!”

When Chrome raised his great s.h.i.+eld in order to block the cannon attacks, a ghost went around to his back and landed an attack, bringing Chrome’s HP down to 0 .

However, ‘Dead or Alive’ activated and a skull appeared behind Chrome, bringing him back to life with just 1 HP .

“I can survive no matter what at least once! Now, give me your HP!”

During his first death, he was always able to use ‘Dead or Alive’ or ‘Indomitable Guardian’ in order to survive .

After that, the best thing for Chrome to do was to become more aggressive and kill enemies in order to recover his HP .

Since ‘Dead or Alive’ was activated, he was able to save ‘Indomitable Guardian’ and fight more boldly .

As he could survive, he continued to fight the skeletons . However, no matter how many he killed, their numbers did not go down .

“There’s no end to it! Where’s the boss…!”

While there were differences in body and weapons size with the skeletons and ghosts, they still all looked like crew members at best .

And so Chrome waited for the moment when the reinforcements started to cross the planks, and then used an item to forcefully break away from the enemies that swarmed around him and head towards the s.h.i.+p .

“I’m going to board your s.h.i.+p before the next wave!”

He blocked and dodged the rain of cannonb.a.l.l.s and grabbed the edge of the boat with plenty of HP left . In the next second, he had boarded the s.h.i.+p . There, he saw a skeleton that was dressed in a gorgeous coat and armor . He wore a pirate hat and a very sharp looking saber . Chrome could tell at a glance that this one was different . However, there was no mark that showed that it could be tamed .

“That’s good . It means I can defeat you without worry! ‘Flame Slash’!”

Chrome charged and cut with his flame enveloped billhook . The boss met him with his own saber, which was covered in purple fire .

Both of them swung their weapons at each other, but in this race to do the other damage, Chrome had the advantage due to his great s.h.i.+eld and HP recovery . He was able to survive within large groups of enemies, but his true worth was revealed in one on one fights .

While he chipped away at the boss’s health, the other skeletons tried to return from the side .

“I knew you were going to do that . ”

As Chrome knew he wouldn’t lose in a one on one fight, it was important to keep the reinforcements away .

In other words, he had already installed some mines on the planks .

There was an explosion that was every bit as loud as the cannons, and the skeletons were blown into the air . The ghosts were still floating towards him, but Chrome started to increase the speed of his attacks .

“‘Light of the Spirit’!”

He used a skill that made him take 0 damage in order that he could ignore the ghosts at his back . Then he pressed in . The swinging saber bounced off his great s.h.i.+eld, and then Chrome’s billhook slashed at its neck .

At the same time, the skeleton crumbled to the ground . The ghosts disappeared . The ominous purple flames faded away, and the cove was silent once again .

“Phew . That captain wasn’t anything impressive . Now… Surely I’d be right to expect a treasure?”

You could enter the inside of the s.h.i.+p from the deck . And so Chrome checked all of the rooms one by one . Then he discovered a room that held the cargo .

Everything seemed to be broken, and the boxes were all opened . However, there was one box that was still closed .

“…I don’t sense any monsters . ”

Chrome remained cautious as he approached it and then tapped it with his billhook . However, it did not seem like a trap . And so he made up his mind and opened it .

He discovered that it was filled with an a.s.sortment of weapons, armor, and gold coins . Most of it was tradable items, and so Chrome gladly put them in his inventory .

“Oh, what’s this…”

He picked up a ring that had been buried with the coins . There was no mistaking it . It was just like the ring he had equipped when borrowing Syrup .

“I guess I should put it on…?”

He thought it was odd that there were no monsters around, but put it on . Then he started to hear a rattling in the room .

“Wh-what!? Huh?”

The sight in front of Chrome was hard to believe . It was as if he were witnessing a poltergeist . A set of armor was floating in front of him . There were separate pieces for the arms, head and also sword and s.h.i.+eld . In other words, it was a monster .

But it showed no hostility when Chrome tried knocking on it . And when Chrome took a step back, it rattled as it moved to follow him .

“So, this ring is for you?”

Chrome checked its abilities and saw that its MP and HP were not particularly high . And its status was modest .

“As for the skills, there’s returning to the ring and… ‘Armored’?”

And so he tried ordering it to activate . The floating armor and weapons moved so that they became equipped by Chrome, and they strengthened the equipment he was already wearing . His weapon was sharper and larger . His armor and s.h.i.+eld were more durable .

Chrome’s buddy monster was able to fight while being worn by its master .

“Woah! I see… Well, I can see myself fighting like this a lot… And I’m sure that Sally will be fine . ”

And so Chrome decided to call it a day . While he left the dungeon, he tried to think of a name for his armor .