NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 124
The Assassin Butterfly Battle Conclusion
I use [Transparent Lock-On] to survey the mid-boss room, now overgrown with a dense forest and dyed yellow by the Assassin Butterfly’s scales.
Finding an invisible Assassin Butterfly in this mid-boss room full of trees would normally be a huge pain.
But if my prediction is correct, I should be able to find it…
“…Found it. [Appraisal].”
Just as I expected, even in this environment where visual actions like looking and searching are nothing but a disadvantage, [Transparent Lock-On] works perfectly and locates the Assassin Butterfly.
The Assassin Butterfly should be invisible…
Honestly, I can see it just fine, so I’m not even sure if its invisibility is working.
But my eyes clearly perceive the Assassin Butterfly.
That’s good enough for me.
I also used [Appraisal] to check the Assassin Butterfly’s HP, so there shouldn’t be any issues now.
“Okay. Did what I needed to do, so let’s get out of the mid-boss room~”
“Okaaay~”
“Huh? Didn’t you just say you found it…? Aren’t you going to defeat it?”
“Nope.”
“Ahh, right~ Since we didn’t use this method in Big Mountain Dungeon, Dine hasn’t seen it yet. Don’t worry, we’re leaving the mid-boss room like Kaede said~”
“Uh, uh… okay…?”
Dine, seemingly convinced by Silphy’s words—though still looking a little doubtful—follows us out through the open door.
Yeah, yeah. That’s fine.
“Ah, almost forgot. [Magic Arrow]… Shh!”
Close one, almost slipped my mind.
If I don’t deal any damage, the mid-boss room won’t close the door to recover HP after we leave.
Gotta make sure I don’t forget to chip away at its health.
After confirming Silphy and Dine have left the room, I create a transparent arrow with [Magic Arrow].
Then, I nock it onto the Dragon Tree Bow and leisurely fire it at the floating Assassin Butterfly.
After waiting near the door for a bit, [Appraisal] confirms the Assassin Butterfly’s HP has dropped by 1030.
Alright, good.
Now that I’ve confirmed the damage, I step out of the mid-boss room.
“Ah, the door…”
Just as Dine murmurs, the mid-boss room door closes completely again once I exit.
Dine looks a little dejected as she stares at the door, but… well.
Can’t be helped right now.
“…Alright! As usual, Silphy and Dine, stay on standby. I’ve got a few more things I wanna test, so I’ll go finish off the Assassin Butterfly real quick.”
“Um… by yourself?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Then I should come too…!”
“Ahh, Dine? Kaede’s fine, so just wait a sec, ‘kay~? There’s no way Kaede’s gonna get hurt, so let’s just stay put~”
“Eh, but…”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. C’mon, let’s wait over here!”
“W-wait, Silphy, don’t pull me! I get it, okay?!”
Silphy drags Dine away while soothing her, moving to a corner of the room.
Glad I don’t have to explain anything. Super convenient.
“…Alright then, better finish off the Assassin Butterfly before its HP recovers.”
[Appraisal] shows the Assassin Butterfly’s HP at 96,000.
Earlier, my [Magic Arrow] dealt 1,030 damage before leaving the room.
Doing the math, to fully defeat it… I’ll need about 94 [Magic Arrow] shots?
Since I already reduced its HP by one shot’s worth, 93 should do it—but just to be safe, let’s go with 94…
“[Magic Arrow: Full Burst]! Shh!”
Spending 15 MP per [Magic Arrow] × 94 = 1,410 MP, I unleash [Magic Arrow: Full Volley], creating and firing all the arrows at once.
By my calculations, this should be enough…
-Level has increased by 15-
“Bam. Got it.”
The system chime signaling my level-up rings out, and at the same time, the tightly sealed mid-boss room door slowly creaks open.
Looks like it worked. Good, good.
“Kaede~”
“Kaede-san.”
“Hm?”
As soon as the door opens, Silphy and Dine rush over to me.
“Looks like you took it down, huh!”
“Yeah. No problems.”
“Nice! Then let’s hurry up and check the room for magic stones and stuff!”
“First of all… I have a lot of questions, but good work, Kaede-san.”
“Thanks. …If you could keep those questions to yourself for now… I’ll explain later.”
“Haah… Well, I wasn’t planning to pester you anyway, so fine.”
Silphy is energetic as ever, while Dine offers her praise—though reluctantly.
I’m especially grateful to Dine for holding back her questions.
If I had to explain now, the Assassin Butterfly would definitely respawn before we’re done.
For now, time to collect the loot.
Since we took down the Assassin Butterfly quickly, the mid-boss room has far fewer floating scales than I expected.
“Alright, I’ll go collect the Assassin Butterfly. Silphy, search the room in the meantime. Dine, I doubt anything will attack, but guard Silphy just in case.”
“Got it.”
“Understood. Be careful.”
Hearing their replies, I step back into the mid-boss room and walk to where the Assassin Butterfly should be lying.
Well then… At least I’ve confirmed that [Transparent Lock-On] and [Magic Arrow] can defeat a boss from outside the room.
That much is just another application of [Lock-On]’s new abilities, but there’s still more I want to test…
“Now for the real deal.”
Muttering to myself, I store the fallen Assassin Butterfly into [Inventory].
Feeling the breeze Silphy must be generating, I leave the mid-boss room and head back to the others.
Now then… hopefully, we’ll find some kind of clue.