Chapter 150 - Bone Knight and Battle Training

We arrive at the castle deepest in.

There’s a castle, so does that mean the area around is a castle town? The residents are bones and illegal residents though.

We arrived at the castle in a few tens of minutes. We barely used any time fighting monsters, so it was mostly just the time we were moving to the location.

“Every single one of them only ran away -despite being undead.” (Jeanne)

Jeanne looked displeased at having only hunted running monsters even though she wished for battle.

“Isn’t it because you are too strong, Jeanne?” (Hikaru)

“There’s no way I am. I have only been here for 1 month, you know?” (Jeanne)

“Well, that’s true.” (Hikaru)

Just from the fact that we have obtained the Gifts from God, we are getting favorable treatment compared to the people of this world in terms of power, so in that sense, there’s no doubt we are strong, but Jeanne’s strength probably doesn’t refer to that.

It is true that Jeanne and I are relying on the Gifts from God quite a bit when we fight.

The castle is made in a simple manner and the 2 spires are what stand out, but the building itself is most likely 3 floors.

There’s no doors at the entrance and it is in a state where they more than welcome intruders.

Even so, there’s no beginner explorers swinging clubs around or funerary merchants.

The moment we entered, we immediately encountered a monster.

“Is that the Bone Knight?” (Jeanne)

“That’s right-nyan! They are apparently more of a pain than an Ogre, so be careful!” (Full)

The moment we entered the castle and there was a Bone Knight right there at the hall. A skeleton with 4 arms holding a sword, short spear, axe, and shield in each respective hand.

Different from a Skeleton Soldier, it is equipped with armor and helmet, and it looks visibly strong.

It is also big; around 2 meters.

It is written in the beginner guide of the guild that this is a monster that beginners shouldn’t face alone but, in terms of matchups, I feel like I would lose if I were to fight it.

“Ain’t that nice. I have been waiting for an opponent like this…!” (Jeanne)

Jeanne looks at her opponent happily, takes a battle stance, and advances.

“Bone Knights appear only one at a time. They are apparently easy to defeat if you fight them with everyone, but what will you do-nyan?” (Full)

“No need for help! Just watch.” (Jeanne)

I don’t know on what criteria the monsters encountered run away from Hated Ones, but the Bone Knight didn’t run away from Jeanne.

A monster that’s strong to a certain degree probably doesn’t run away. Or maybe it is like in games where they run away when there’s a certain level difference?

The rattling noises of metal and bone making contact with each other rang as the Bone Knight took a battle stance.

The hollow eye sockets had blue light in them burning as it attacked Jeanne who was standing at ready with her shield.

It is a speed that’s hard to believe from bones.

With smooth movements as if invisible muscles were present, it swung its sword and stabbed using its spear.

Jeanne was deflecting each and every attack with her shield, looking for opportunities to deal her own.

(Jeanne has a strong defense. It is a battle that lacks danger.) (Hikaru)

My battle style is almost all surprise attacks, and Rifreya’s battle style is attacking without leaving any room to fight back.

In that sense, the battle style of Jeanne that creates openings within exchanges to crumble its opponent is the normal style and, at the same time, it looked fresh in my eyes.

She doesn’t have Spirit Abilities, so it really is a battle of strength.

After who knows how many tens of times they clashed blades, Jeanne’s broadsword found its way to the neckbone of the opponent. The Bone Knight changes into a Black Spirit Stone.

Jeanne was unscathed. It is a complete victory in an upfront battle.

“Fuuh, managed somehow.” (Jeanne)

“It looked as if it had been easy for you though.” (Hikaru)

“Not really. Also, we can’t just fight sluggishly like this, right? If we are seriously going to be conquering the dungeon.” (Jeanne)

It is true that the faster the better when it comes to battles in the dungeon.

That’s because the chances of losing increase greatly when you meet another monster while in battle.

“So, how was it?” (Hikaru)

“Yeah, it was strong. It was, but…how to say it, it was within bounds of common sense.” (Jeanne)

“What do you mean by that?” (Hikaru)

“Imaginable power; imaginable speed; it takes a lot of moves, but that’s all there is to it; however, because of that, it can serve for training. The Skeleton Soldiers on the way were way too weak, but this guy wasn’t bad.” (Jeanne)

“It doesn’t run away after all.” (Hikaru)

I don’t know how it will be in the 2nd Floor and onwards, but I think the Goblins and Orcs would run away from her. Those 2 are weak and their strength itself isn’t that different from a Skeleton Soldier.

In that case, the next opponents would be the Ogres or the Mantis, huh.

“It helps out greatly that a monster for training appears alone in a big open space. I don’t get why such a good place is open.” (Jeanne)

“Everyone is doing exploration as a job, so they probably don’t have any business with a place where they can’t earn money.” (Hikaru)

Or more like, this place isn’t really for training.

“It works the best to increase your player skill in a stable manner though… Well, fine. Today, for the whole day, I will fight these guys to train and hone my battle instincts. It is not like I have a lot of battle experience after all.” (Jeanne)

“Got it.” (Hikaru)

After that, we went around the castle as if exploring it in an uniform manner as we subjugated the Bone Knights.

Jeanne’s fighting style is steady. She would protect herself with a shield, crumble the stance of her opponent with a shield bash, and get a hit in.

It is plain compared to Rifreya who specialized in attack and was flashy, but I feel like that’s the absolute correct way to fight as an explorer.

So I say, but maybe because Jeanne has outstanding physical strength, each and every one of her attacks is incredible.

Shield, spear, axe, and sword.

Each shout she lets out, an arm of a Bone Knight gets cut off with a slash from Jeanne, disarming it.

It then ends with cutting off its head.

“Isn’t this too easy? Shouldn’t we go to the 2nd Floor?” (Hikaru)

“No, I still am lacking any leeway. Before going down to the lower floors, I would like to be able to defeat them in one hit.” (Jeanne)

“I see.” (Hikaru)

A decent amount of humanoid monsters appear.

The 2nd Floor is almost all humanoids, and there’s also in the 3rd Floor and 4th Floor.

Jeanne has properly studied in the guild, so she must want to properly get the feel of fighting a humanoid.

She continued fighting consecutively with barely any breaks.

“…Alright. I am getting the hang of it. Kuro, I will be repeating this the whole day. You can do something else separately for today. It would be boring to just watch the whole time, right? I will have no issues here with Grapefull-chan to find the enemies.” (Jeanne)

“Then, I will go to the 2nd Floor to get myself back in shape too.” (Hikaru)

Seeing the stoicness of Jeanne, I feel like I also have to work hard or I will just end up pulling her leg.

She has a Barrier Stone and Full is also with her, so she should be okay.

We decide at least the time we will be going out, and I head to the 2nd Floor.

I try running without Darkness Fog casted, and it certainly does feel as if monsters come to me. They didn’t do so when Jeanne was with me, so there must be a distinct difference.

“[Darkness Fog].” (Hikaru)

I wrap myself in darkness and run till the 2nd Floor stairs.

(It really has been a while.) (Hikaru)

Now that I think about it, when Rifreya was around, I was mostly diving with her. Meaning that it would be quite a while since I have fought the monsters of the 2nd Floor alone.

It is not like I was trying to act cool there, but if I were to go alone to the 2nd Floor and were to die there from that, it wouldn’t even serve as a funny story.

I should be careful.

Also, I think I have some Spirit Abilities that are pretty close to going up a Tier.