Itai no wa Iya nanode Bōgyo-Ryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu

nched into the air, so she was being a much safer landmark this time around.

 

“We should get our backs against this wall and go alongside it as we advance.
That way, we should be able to prevent getting attacked by surprise, since there’s not much light behind our backs.”

 

“Yeah! Let’s do that!”

 

Though Sally was vigilant, being extra careful wouldn’t hurt.

 

“The monsters here will be different from outside, so be careful.
They might take advantage of the darkness to attack.”

 

“Okay~! I’ll be sure to attack anything that comes our way!”

 

Since they couldn’t see that well down there, they wouldn’t be able to launch an attack like the one Maple did a while ago, but that was not what Maple and Sally excelled at either way.
They weren’t mages, meant to stay in rear guard and attack from a distance.
What they were really good at was short-range combat.
Being approached by a monster wasn’t such a bad thing since Maple’s “Dedicated Affection” was active as well.

 

“It really is pitch dark down here…”

 

“If you enter right from the middle of the crevice, there would be no walls nearby, so it would be really hard to know which way you’re facing.”

 

“Seems like your battle style might work well here, Sally.”

 

It would be possible to take advantage of this underwater field to move in three dimensions while attacking monsters non-stop, but in such vast darkness where it was quite difficult to know where one is going, it would be very possible to lose one’s way.

 

“As long as we don’t come across a boss or some other insanely strong monster, we should fight very conservatively.
So…”

 

“Yeah, leave it to me!”

 

“Thanks.
We should ignore as many monsters as possible.
We didn’t come here for the experience points anyway.”

 

“Got it!”

 

Oxygen was more valuable than experience points here, so they decided to avoid all unnecessary battles and aim straight for the bottom.

 

 

 

However, the crevice was considerably deep and wide.
Still, the monsters didn’t seem to have been placed that close to the wall, so Maple and Sally were able to dive for a while without encountering anything.

 

“Are we really going towards the bottom?”

 

“I feel like we are, so we should be okay…”

 

It was so dark that it was hard to tell whether they were actually moving at all, but that quickly changed once they started to see a blue light, different from the one emitted from their headlights, suddenly emerge before their eyes.

 

“Oh.
Looks like we have been going down after all.”

 

“Is that an item? Or is it an event?”

 

“It’s not moving, but… Maple.”

 

“What?”

 

Sally approached Maple and told her something, and Maple nodded as if understanding.

 

“Right… We need to be careful when we approach that thing!”

 

“Yes.
It’s a disadvantageous situation, so the best plan here is to cover each other’s backs.”

 

Carefully, the two approached the light together, aware of the possibility of having to retreat if anything happened.

 

The moment they reached a distance where they could nearly touch the light, the absolute darkness shook, and the headlights cast light upon sharp fangs.

 

“Maple!”

 

“Yeah!”

 

As the two of them quickly backed out, the jaws that had opened themselves in an attempt to swallow them snapped shut in the exact position they had been mere moments ago.

 

“I knew it, that light was there just to lure us in.”

 

“Whoa, Sally, you were totally right about it!”

 

The monster seemed to have been using a skill to mix itself with the darkness, but once it opened its jaw, they could see it properly.
The darkness remained the same, but the monster’s outline was clear as it tried to attack.

 

“Is it like some kind of anglerfish?”

 

“That seems to be the motif here.
But we saw through its trick, we have it right where we want it.”

 

Sally accelerated through the water, quickly getting next to the monster and turning to its side before slashing its big body with her two daggers.
As it’s fighting style was simply hiding and waiting for players to fall into its trap, the anglerfish was sluggish, and couldn’t keep up with Sally’s high mobility at all.

 

“‘Deploy Barrels’! ‘Commence Attack’!”

 

There was no way to escape from Maple’s barrage with such slow movements, so the monster’s body was pierced by each and every shot fired by Maple, causing it to turn into light and disappear before it had any chance to make its next move.

 

“Nice, Maple!”

 

“I can deal with these kinds of monsters no problem!”

 

“We need to be careful if we keep finding strange things.
There might be more mimics like this up ahead.
Though I don’t think we will be falling for anything like this again.”

 

“Yeah, got it.”

 

“I can’t stress this enough, these monsters may try to deceive us by looking very similar to other things.”

 

“Okay~!”

 

Thus Maple and Sally kept on avoiding unnecessary battles, and kept on diving towards the bottom of the crevice.