Volume 2 Chapter 7.1 (1/2)
Chapter 7.1
Translator: Einbedo
Editor: Weasalopes
「Hiroshi.
「Aye?
「I get that this material’s valuable and all but should we really be standing around here for this long?
「If we were to get there ahead of everyone we’d have ta throw down with the boss all by ourselves, no need ta rush things.
Hiroshi replied with an answer that only addressed one of Artiem’s concerns and went right back to picking apart the wines and various leaves. His focus was unwavering, his hands glided through the air with purpose. It was clear to anyone that Hiroshi knew what he was doing and he did it well.
「Wasn’t there anything worth gathering on those walls you just blew a hole though?
「Those last few walls didn’t ‘ave anythin’ of value. Some of the plants on there could be used for class seven potions but I don’t see any reason why we should drop what we’re doin’ for a material we can find almost anywhere else.
「What’s so different about the ones here?
「With just a little pinch ‘o the good ‘ol alchemy I can transmute ’em into either Barcella or one if its substitutes Millaret, both materials for class one potions.
Artiem looked visibly baffled at the mention of class one potions. Both the first and second class potion recipes were a relic of the past, although five pots of the real thing can still be found scattered around the world. All five of those were exclusively hp pots, all the other types got completely used up while repelling the coordinated onslaught of limbo monsters.
As such it was reasonable to be healthily skeptical about Hiroshi’s ability to craft something that’s been lost to the sands of time. Even if Hiroshi was to achieve this highly unlikely feat there was no way of knowing whether it was the real thing or not as regular town folk could get a full heal from just a class eight while the average decently levelled adventurer could achieve the same effect with class fives. The difference in healing amounts would progressively scale the further down the ranks one went and by class three they would already hit the max hp cap, which made it downright impossible to tell a class three and a class two apart purely by the numbers.
「What’s a Barcella?
「A moss found within the great divine cavern situated around the summit which, when consumed raw, would heal for as much as a class five, with a lil bit of tinkerin’, of course.
「What about Millaret?
「It’s basically Barcella that’s been purified down to only its elements with healing properties. You’d think that it’d be more potent that way, but due to how those impurities interacted with one another they actually put Barsella ahead, which made it the choice material for potions. That being said, with a bit of workin’ around the difference is negligible at best.
Artiem stared on blankly as she was being bombarded with a flurry of specialized lingo. The whole exposition did little to clear up her doubts but at the same time her gut feeling had a hard time fully distrusting the highly expansive track record Hiroshi had going for him.
「Just know that the stuff we got on hand isn’t anywhere near enough for class one brewing, so as much as I’d love ta put my money where me mouth is that’ll come at a later time.
「Alright then.
Hiroshi, who had taken notice of Artiem’s dubious stare, off-handedly brushed off any implicit accusations with a trick up his sleeve by the name of reality. Once that was cleared up he returned right back to work and after a solid five minutes of silence he picked apart the entire wall clean.
「Now that that’s over with what say we take this pole axe for one more spin?
「Not going to stop you just, make sure to be ready for a fight in case there are monsters hiding behind that wall.
「I don’t need ta make sure of anythin’ since I’m almost certain that’s goin’ ta be the case.
「Uh, huh?
Artiem was in complete awe at Hiroshi’s reckless abandon. That’s not to say that she wasn’t giving credit where credit was due, his ability to sense enemies across dense objects was praiseworthy although Artiem, a pragmatist at heart, found it hard to fathom how, despite this foresight, he nevertheless insisted on charging in without any real plan in mind. This frustrating disconnect made her want to give Hiroshi a piece of her mind but she managed to hold back.
「Don’t ya worry ya pretty lil head, there’s more than one wall separating us and the monsters plus I’ve already got a strategy in mind in case brute force won’t do us any good.
「Are you sure?
「I’m sure I’m sure.
Hiroshi’s vague hints at there being a plan weren’t all that convincing but, if experience taught us anything, is that when push comes to shove he wasn’t fooling around. Whether or not those plans of his would go without a hitch was debatable but there was almost no doubt that he wasn’t intent on throwing his life away for no real reason.
Hiroshi, completely unaware of the inner turmoil happening right in front him, approached the wall with a sly grin, raised his pole axe above head and
「How do ya like me now, eh?
Swung it down like his life depended on it. Just like the many times before the attack disintegrated the walls in an instant, opening up a massive gaping hole in its wake.
What awaited on the other side was a pack of oversized squirrels which were a few heads taller than the average human.
「H-Hiroshi!
Their sheer size and number inspired fear in Artiem’s heart which made her unconsciously turn towards Hiroshi in hopes of finding relief. What she saw at that moment absolutely blew her away.
「Eat this!
「Where did you get that!?
Hiroshi’s battle cry was followed up by the sight of a super-sized pomey soaring through the air. To get a more accurate idea of just how massive it was, for comparison the one they shoved in Barold’s face was tiny by comparison. It’s as though an entire mutated cabbage head was repurposed into a bomb. For a normal human being it’d be a challenge to rip it off the ground, much less throw in a straight line of all things, but for Hiroshi, who could wield the heaviest of war-hammers without breaking a sweat, it came as naturally as breathing.
「Get behind cover!
Hiroshi yelled at the top of his lungs as he grabbed Artiem, who was standing frozen in place, and hid behind the wall. He finished casting defensive circle and fortress right as it went boom, the shock waves were so intense they could be felt across the entirety of the dungeon.
Although it’s destructive force falls short of the titanic roar it was still much more impactful than any lower tier advanced aoe ability. The squirrels in the epicenter of the blast were wiped clean off the face of the earth while the ones just shy of it were turned into bloody pulps. The few who happened to be in the outer blast radius had either their entire skeletons blown to smithereens or passed away from fatal internal organ damage, while the three remaining lucky rascals who didn’t get blasted into heaven suffered heavy damages. Just like that a few dozen gigantic squirrels met their maker in a sequence of events that took mere seconds to unfold in real time.