Translator: mii

First Arc -「The Pair in Labyrinth City」

Chapter 4 -「Layer Hierarchy」

The second layer of the trial dungeon where we got off was a very artificial stone dungeon, unlike the first layer.

The enemies that appeared were vampire bats and some kind of creatures that looked like wolf, in addition to the goblins from the first layer. They were of course not strong, but there were a lot of them.

The number of encounter was around three times from the first layer. When I asked Chittsan, this seemed to be the normal encounter rate in the dungeon.

In each battle, I divided the labor with Yuki and exterminated the monsters.

Our clumsy cooperation had also become relatively better. Most of all, it seemed like Yuki's tension had eased.

Yes, Yuki was fine. …The one with problem was me.

「d.a.m.n it!!」

I swung my sword at the flying bat, but I couldn't hit it.

It wasn't like I couldn't hit it because the bat had its own unique avoiding action using their ultrasound, but it was simply because I wasn't used to fight with flying opponents.

The dexterous Yuki quickly got the hang of it, and now he was shooting the flying bat with his arrow. He was really amazing.

「Nggh!!」

I grabbed the bat that had bitten my neck with my hand.

This was bad, I really couldn't hit them.

It wasn't like they were strong, but it would be a problem if I couldn't hit them. If a strong enemy who fly came out after this, wasn't it a game over for me?

「I'm a little relieved, nya. Tsuna also have parts that are rookie-ish, nya」

「Is he a rookie if he crushed the bats that came to bite him by grabbing them and crush them with his hands?」

「There was only a few people who will crush enemies with their hand like him, nya. I thought that this won't be interesting because he doesn't have anything that he can't do, nya. Rookies have to fail in a lot of ways, nya.

…But then, it's also amazing that he doesn't panic, nya. As I thought, that part of him is different after all, nyaa.」

What she was saying was how normally, if something bit into your neck, you would feel scared even if it didn't do much damage, right?

I was used to it since goblins also bit me, but it would've been dangerous if they had poison in their fangs.

「Since there's no enemies anymore here, I'll give you a lecture here, nya.」

「Yes~」

For the time being, I threw the crushed bat to the ground. It soon magicitified and disappeared.

「Now then, Tsuna who didn't took any damage until now has finally suffered the bats attack, but can you see that the HP in your card has decreased, nya?」

「Err… You're right.」

It was just a mere little, but the amount had decreased from the maximum.

「Err, I have been wondering a little bit about this, but what is this HP anyway?」

「Isn't that our life force?」

I didn't know if we would die or faint when it reached zero, though.

No way, I wouldn't try to make sure of it too.

「That's wrong, nya. This HP is like a wall, nya.」

「Wall?」

「Wall, nya. A wall that protects you from the attacking opponents, nya. You can also call it as a s.h.i.+eld or membrane, but the amount of this HP will take over the damage to your body, nya.」

I see, so even if this was like RPG, the true nature wasn't to grind the numbers, right? It meant like this HP was like the durability of our “s.h.i.+eld”.

「Does that mean we will die if it reached 0?」

「You won't die, nya. However, since the wall disappears when it reached 0, the attack will be able to reach your body directly, nya. If you got sliced in that situation, you will easily die, nya.

Regardless of the lower cla.s.s, as you went up to the intermediate and advanced cla.s.s, 0 HP will be the equal of death, nya.」

It was only to be expected, I guess. In other words, the people who lived outside without the concept of HP normally had 0 HP, which was normal from the common sense of Earth.

「Then, as long as we have HP, there won't be any damage to our body? But I was bitten a while ago. It p.r.i.c.ked me.」

「There are several ways to break through this wall of HP, and one of them is ‘Critical', nya.

It's not like everything will pa.s.s nya, but there is a certain probability that the attack will ignore HP.

The attack that Tsuna received before was attenuated somewhat by the HP, but some of the damage went directly to your body, nya.」

I see, that's more convincing than calling this HP as our life force itself.

In other words, this ‘Critical' was not like those ‘critical hit' that did a lot of damage to HP, but a penetrating damage.

「Then, won't it become meaningless to aim at the vital points? In my fighting style, I often aim at the key points rather than strike against the enemy from the front.」

「It's not meaningless, nya. If the direct attack is Critical, that means you hit the vital point nya, and HP also don't protect our whole body thoroughly, so the weak point will also stay weak, nya.

Even if it's not Critical, if there is a certain difference between the attack power and defense power, some damage will pa.s.s directly, nya.

I can't do this, but at the higher ranks, there seems to be a technology that intentionally changes this HP partial concentration to protect a specific part momentarily, nya.」

Was it pseudo pinpoint barrier? That's cool.

「In other words, an one-point attack is more likely to do Critical rather than a slash, right? Like it's better to thrust rather than slash.」

「…Yeah, now that you said it, that might be true, nya.」

The answer came from Chittsan's experience, and there might be no model answer for this.

Did it mean there were any Critical conditions or details that were unclear? But maybe this cat just didn't know the details.

「I usually consider the Critical probability is based on the weapon performance and skill, so I never thought about the difference in the probability of occurrence depending on the attack method, nya.

It's easy to apply Critical using rapier, sickle, or sword, but it may also have that meaning. It's also the same with when the bat bit Tsuna too, nya.」

As I thought, sword was also there, eh.

「So it's easy to receive Critical with the bite?」

「General techniques tend to easily do Critical, but the bite attacks from the monsters are especially dangerous, nya.

Even the monsters that don't have much offensive power can easily break through this HP, nya. This is the point that you should watch out for, nya.」

This perfectly fit how a cornered rat would but a cat. So biting attacks are dangerous. That's scary.

Now then, except for the fact that I wasn't good at handling flying creatures, we also proceed through the second layer with a bang, and it seemed like we would reach the boss room soon.

I was also gradually getting used to hitting enemies in the air.

「Well, here comes the boss battle, nya. The boss here is the layer boss, and it's a special boss that you have to defeat even after challenging it the second time, or else you won't be able to advance, nya.

Defeating the boss here and in the third, fourth, and fifth layers is the gateway to debut as an adventurer, nya.」

So there was a boss in every floor, huh? Although the first floor was not essential, there was a boss there as well. Didn't they appear too many times?

「Is it okay for us to ask about the boss that will appear?」

「No problem, nya. The second layer here is orc that will match the number of challengers, the third layer is goblin leader that is commanding three teams which will also match the number of the challengers, nya. This time it will be six teams, nya.

The fourth layer is a little different, it's one strong lizardman that appears regardless of the number of the challengers, nya. I can't say about the fifth layer because of the regulation, nya.」

So we should make sure of the fifth layer with our own eyes, huh? Just like Philos said, the beginner baptism awaited us.

「I understand about the goblins and orcs, but are lizardmen also monsters?」

Lizardmen were rare and they rarely appeared outside the Labyrinth City, but they should be a race with their own civilization.

Also, the old man who brought us to the Labyrinth City was a lizardman.