Eminira Dungeon Again (7)
To the 11th floor.
Canal and I can only go this far. Once we reach E-rank, we’ll be able to accompany them up to the 15th floor.
We’ll need to increase the number of hunts to raise our rank.
Hopefully, with the previous and this expedition, we’ll be able to rank up to F...
The 11th floor was a scorching desert. It was just *so* hot!!
Up until now, the temperature had varied somewhat, but it was always bearable.
I want to say we should wrap turbans around our heads, but we didn’t bring any long cloths that could be used like that.
Guess I’ll have to tie a towel dampened with water around my head and use it as a substitute for a hat.
I should’ve checked this in advance. I should’ve learned from the whole sword incident last time...
Apparently, there’s a unit of golem knights serving a Dullahan (a headless knight) riding a camel-like creature called a Dag.
Even though these golems don’t have magic stones, they return to their original form immediately after being defeated.
It seems you have to defeat the Dullahan in order to make the golems collapse and disappear, so you’re forced to fight your way through the golems to take the Dullahan down.
The Dullahan is said to be a master swordsman, so close combat puts me, a magic-focused fighter, at a disadvantage.
This is a scorching desert. A brutal environment where we’ll be drained of stamina and our feet caught in the sand as we fight.
Each Dullahan commands twenty golem knights. The further you advance, the more Dullahans appear, and their power increases too.
When I asked Atre if he was alright, he said he’d cast wind magic all over his body, so sand wasn’t getting caught in his fur and it was just a little hot.
So jealous... If only I had wind magic...
“Hardt, what are you mumbling about being jealous for? Are you talking to Atre or something?” said Brother Gerald.
So I told him what I’d heard from Atre.
Brother Gerald then asked me to ask Atre exactly how he was applying the wind magic to himself.
According to Atre, he imagines the wind repelling the sand away.
Brother Gerald and Meyer began trying it out.
Meyer seemed to be focusing only on his legs at first, and after repeating it a few times, he seemed to get the hang of it and ended up covering his entire body in his own magic.
“This feels nice and cool. But I’d have to cancel it during battle to fight properly, and I can’t keep it up forever if I want to conserve mana. That’s the downside." Meyer said.
Brother Gerald wasn’t able to cover his whole body in wind magic, but he managed up to his legs (about knee level).
Not having hot feet and keeping sand out was nice, but it seemed difficult to keep using mana constantly.
I wonder if we could reduce the heat with a protective spell. Maybe I can try the image of how Linka casts it around the tent.
Alright—Barrier.
A barrier formed around our group. The heat lessened, though it didn’t seem to have any effect on our feet.
“Young master Reinhardt, what did you just do?” asked Linka.
Usually, it would be Allie who asks, but maybe she noticed I used defensive magic.
“I tried using the same defensive magic you cast around the tent." I explained.
She said she wanted to try it too, so I dispelled mine, and she cast hers.
She’s good. It was more comfortable than mine.
When I asked Linka if it used a lot of mana, she said it was no different from the usual protection magic around the tent, so it didn’t consume much.
The sand was still hot underfoot, but it was easier to move. Just blocking the heat made a big difference in stamina usage.
“The Dullahans are here." Said Brother Gerald.
We dispelled the defensive magic and launched spells at the golems. Their arms, torsos, and heads blew apart, but they reformed from the desert sand almost immediately.
If they come back right away after being defeated, what if we just immobilize them instead of taking them out?
Ice might melt in this heat… maybe earth to bind them?
“Hamilton, is it possible to use earth magic to trap the golems so they can’t move?”
“I can do that." Hamilton replied.
“I think it’s fine to just target their legs." I said, and when Hamilton cast earth magic at their legs, the golems were bound in earth up to their knees.
They tried to move, but their feet were stuck, and the upper body toppled over into the desert.
But the golem, now only a torso, ended up regenerating.
“Hmm... I thought that went well.”
“I don’t think the method is wrong. If we bind them up to around the waist, they might not be able to move their arms either.
If we reduce the number of mobile golems, the Dullahan will be easier to take down." said Hamilton.
While we were testing this on the golems, Gregory from the Golden Wings had already finished off the Dullahan with his sword and the battle ended.
If we had fewer people available for the hunt, we wouldn’t even have been able to try this stuff. Times like this make having a big group a real advantage.
What do you think about this chapter?
