“Flash!”

I fired the second spell of the day at the remaining Ogre.

It exploded right in front of me, and the surviving Ogre held its face, staggering.

“Here!”

I quickly circled behind the frozen Ogre and took a few swings to decapitate it.

With that, the only creature still moving in this large hall was the Giant Ape.

The number of Ogres was large, so I had to use two spells, but other than that, it was the same scenario as last time.

Now, just like before, I focused on quickly finishing off the fallen monsters while watching for an opening in the Giant Ape’s movements, or waiting for it to make a move.

I took a moment to observe the Giant Ape.

It was still hard to tell what it was thinking, but it was wandering between the fallen monsters.

Last time, it threw monsters around during the battle with the Ogres, but that didn’t happen this time…

Maybe I’m overthinking things.

“Alright then… let’s go!”

That said, I couldn’t afford to be careless.

I focused on monitoring the Giant Ape’s movements and left the task of finishing off the fallen monsters to the snakes.

◇

It had probably been about 40 minutes since I entered this hall.

The actual combat time was probably around 10 minutes.

I had reduced the number of monsters by about a third, leaving only the ones deep in the hall. Just as the situation seemed to settle, something changed.

I couldn’t tell whether it was the number of monsters in the hall or the approach of the enemy, but whatever triggered it, the Giant Ape finally started moving.

It threw a Wild Boar in my direction, but since I had been on alert, I dodged it without difficulty and then finished off the poor creature.

The Giant Ape didn’t follow up with any further attacks, but the indifference it had shown before was gone, and it was now clearly aware of my presence.

It seemed to be ignoring Zighart, who was waiting in the passage.

Its alertness was solid, but its range of awareness seemed limited… This was typical for dungeon monsters.

“Here we go…!”

I took some distance, activated 【Danrem’s Thread】, and took my stance.

The distance was about 30 meters, and there were no monsters in my line of fire.

I couldn’t hit multiple monsters with this one shot, but my main goal for this shot was to slow the Giant Ape’s movements with a “Burning Orb” spell. The entire body of the Giant Ape was visible, making it easier to aim.

It wasn’t showing any signs of making a large move, so now was the perfect time.

“…Ha!”

I released the arrow aimed at the Giant Ape.

As usual, it struck the ground and carved a trench as it flew toward the Giant Ape. But just like last time, there was no sound of it hitting the wall.

Instead, the stream of light from the bow cut off, leaving behind a glowing arrow. I could faintly hear a growl.

It had been stopped.

“Hmph…”

I had known it was coming, but it wasn’t satisfying to have my maximum firepower blocked.

Well, it doesn’t matter… I’ll focus now, focus.

I didn’t approach in a straight line like before, instead, I circled around slightly and came down from above.

The arrow had already vanished, but the sandstorm it kicked up remained.

Both 【Wind Cloak】 and 【Amber Shield】 were active, so my defense was perfect, but I couldn’t be too cautious.

“Hmm… yeah… seems like I’m burning through mana.”

I confirmed with 【Fairy’s Eye】, and it showed that the Giant Ape was still alive. But blocking the arrow had probably taken a toll on it.

I couldn’t tell how much damage it had taken physically, but it was enough.

“Oh?”

I saw the Giant Ape clutching something with both arms.

It wasn’t alive; it looked like rubble… maybe a rock.

But with both arms? Did it block the attack?

Well, whatever.

If it dodges, then it’s go time.

“…Here it comes! Huh? No, never mind!”

Maybe a dozen seconds passed?

The Giant Ape swung and threw what it was holding. But due to the sandstorm, I couldn’t see it, and it seemed to fall before reaching me.

For a moment, I hesitated, thinking it should have reached me, but the fact that the Ape had taken damage from my arrow meant that this attack had failed to reach me.

I figured no follow-up attack would come and charged forward into the sandstorm.

As I reached directly above the Giant Ape…

“Ha!”

I unleashed a burst of wind from 【Wind Cloak】, scattering the sandstorm in one go.

When the view cleared, the Giant Ape appeared, bleeding from both arms.

I see… unlike the last Giant Ape, this one had caught the arrow with both arms.

It couldn’t have split the damage in half, but it had managed to distribute it.

While it would be better for it to lose one arm completely, being able to use both arms, despite the damage, was likely better in a typical situation…

“Heh heh… not good.”

A smile escaped me without thinking.

If we were fighting on the ground, that would have been the right choice, but against me in the air, it was a mistake.

“Whoops.”

The Giant Ape, noticing me above, threw a stone about the size of a basketball. It was slow and weak, and even without 【Floating Orb】, I could dodge it easily.

I avoided it with ease.

Then…

“Ha!”

I delivered a kick to the Giant Ape’s head from my rapid descent.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Sera・【Hideout】+1【Prayer】【Mira’s Blessing】【Wind’s Garment】・【Floating Orb】+1【Shadow Sword】【Scarlet Bee Needle】【Fairy’s Eye】【Dragon’s Lung】【Amber Sword】【Danrem’s Thread】【Snake’s Tail】【Ankle Bracelet】【Amber Shield】【Purple Wings】・13 cards

Seriana・【Range Identification】・【】・28 cards

Elena・【】・【Green Fang】【Amber Sword】・4 cards

Alec・【Strong Strike】・【Red Shield】【Fierce Horned Trumpet】・8 cards