Let's Level Up So We Don't Lose to the Muscleheads!

Hannah and I caught our breath. Somehow, I felt relieved to have gotten away from that group.

"All right, here's today's plan. We're going to change it a little."

"Huh? Okay. But why?"

Hannah tilted her head at my words, looking puzzled. Seeing her do that while holding a two-handed mace was a little scary, though... But whatever.

I'd told Hannah today's plan was to gather materials from floors six through nine, just like yesterday, then defeat the boss on floor ten and head back.

But seeing that muscle squad changed my mind.

"Until now, we'd practically had the lower-tier beginner 〈Shocker〉 dungeons to ourselves, right? But that muscle squad we just saw will probably pass the 〈Beginner Dungeon〉 test."

"Yeah, so that means we'll have competition, right?"

"Exactly. We're far ahead of them in terms of pace, but we can't afford to take it easy anymore."

Our progress so far had probably been pretty fast by normal standards, but to me, it still felt like I'd been holding back to match Hannah's pace.

Besides, I hadn't expected any competitors to show up yet, but now that a five-person party of 【Muscle Warriors】 had formed, our advantage was in danger.

Those muscleheads were already up to LV5? What kind of training had they done...? They must've been converted by Instructor Davidef.

The 【Muscle Warrior】 Job is a joke Job to me, but in this world, it's recognized as a powerful Job. And that isn't a misconception—there's no doubt it's a very powerful Job.

Well, only at the beginning... Or, put another way, that means it's ridiculously strong at the start.

After all, the 【Muscle Warrior】's SUP is 23P, more than the 【Hero】's.

By the numbers alone, that's the highest among the lower Jobs.

What does that mean? For example, the 【Swordsman】 gets only 12P of SUP.

In other words, every time a 【Muscle Warrior】 and a 【Swordsman】 each gain one LV, the stat gap between them grows to nearly double. Do you understand what that means...?

Well, even by a conservative estimate, the difference is overwhelming.

The 【Muscle Warrior】 is a joke, sure, but at the beginning it's a powerful Job with overwhelming stats.

It didn't earn a double crown in the rankings for nothing. One of those rankings was unofficial, though.

But in exchange, it can't learn any Skills besides Unique Skills, and it's stronger without equipment, so fighting naked is the only option. They look incredibly stifling.

Well, that's beside the point. What I'm trying to say is—

"Let's level up so we don't lose to that muscle squad!"

That's what I mean.

"Huh? But isn't that what we've been doing already?"

Not at all.

Until now, our main priorities were gathering materials and helping Hannah get used to dungeons.

From here on, we're going to a hunting ground. And one with powerful enemies.

"Our target is the tenth floor. The boss room."

I declared to Hannah.

Bosses are powerful monsters.

They have high stats and plenty of toughness, and if you let your guard down, they'll try to wipe us out in an instant.

But the rewards for defeating them are worth it.

〈Dan-Katsu〉 is a little unusual: you get three kinds of loot—the "boss drops," the "drops from regular monsters in the dungeon," and the "treasure chest" reward for defeating the boss—and about 10 to 20 items in total.

You also get a huge amount of EXP.

The ordinary Goblin in the 〈Beginner Dungeon〉 was an exception. It was in the innermost area (the boss room), but it wasn't a boss monster, so it had the same drops as the regular monsters.

Boss runs are a basic strategy officially recommended in 〈Dan-Katsu〉. So my proposal was that we farm bosses.

"Hey, Zephyrus-kun, do you think we can beat a boss at our current LV?"

Hannah asked anxiously, but if it were just Hannah, she definitely couldn't win.

She hadn't invested in combat stats at all. If anything, she'd be a liability.

But I figured I could beat the boss solo, so it wasn't a problem.

I'd heavily specialized my stats for that very reason. It was all to prepare for the boss.

――――――――――

Name: Zephyrus

Category: "Protagonist"

Job: 【Hero】 LV12

SUP: Total 22P acquired

Restrictions: None

【HP 62/62→162/162】

【MP 140/140→170/170】

【STR 50→70】

【VIT 20→70】

【INT 10】

【RES 20】

【AGI 30→50】

【DEX 12→14】

【SUP 132P→0P】

【SP 6P→0P】

Skill

'Body Enhancement LV6', 'Intuition LV5', 'Appeal LV5', 'Status Ailment Resistance LV3'

Magic

None

Unique Skill

'Brave Slash LV1'

――――――――――

This time, I put more points into HP and VIT—in other words, durability.

Unlike regular monsters, bosses can't be defeated in one hit, so the fights last longer.

So if you haven't built up your durability, you're likely to be wiped out quickly.

I haven't invested in healing Skills, so I need to raise my defense and minimize the damage I take. (Lesser) Potions aren't free, either.

Honestly, Hannah's worries were unfounded. I figured we'd finish the boss fight without much trouble.

After all, the 〈Sky Series〉's performance was absurdly high.

――――――――――

〈Sky Sword: Attack Power 85, Magic Power 51, Holy Attribute〉

〈Sky Shield: Defense 31, Magic Defense 20, 50% reduction to Holy-attribute damage〉

〈Sky Armor: Defense 45, Magic Defense 32, 20% reduction to Light-attribute damage〉

〈Series Bonus: 'Status Ailment Resistance LV3'

――――――――――

The 〈Sky Series〉 is incredibly useful.

First off, its attack and defense are higher than my own stats.

On top of that, its traits reduce damage from certain attributes.

A series bonus is a perk that activates when you wear every piece of equipment in a series. With the 〈Sky Series〉, wearing the full set automatically activates 'Status Ailment Resistance LV3.'

Originally, these were weapons and armor intended for use in upper-tier intermediate dungeons.

A boss in a lower-tier beginner 〈Shocker〉 dungeon shouldn't stand a chance against this gear.

After explaining all that to Hannah several times and convincing her, we took the shortest route to the boss room on the tenth floor.

We slaughtered any monsters that appeared along the way, of course, and left the drops to Hannah.

As we followed the route I remembered... Oh, right, there's a dead end up ahead where random treasure chests often spawn. Let's make a quick detour.

"All right, a treasure chest!"

"It's a wooden chest! Hey, Zephyrus-kun, can I open it this time?"

"Sure, go ahead. Open it up."

"Yay!"

'Intuition' didn't detect anything, so there were no traps. Well, lower-tier beginner 〈Shocker〉 dungeons don't have traps anyway.

Treasure chests always get your heart racing. Hannah was excited just to open it.

Her excitement plummeted the instant she opened it. Still, our hurried pace paid off, and we reached the tenth floor by lunchtime.

By the way, the treasure chest contained a 〈Iron Sword〉.

We're definitely selling it! Hannah let out a pathetic "Fweeeh..."—a rare sound from her in a dungeon.