Chapter 35: Drawing Sword? Manually Inputting Illusion Sword Dance!
The adventuring instincts honed through battles with Dungeon monsters allowed him to maintain a high degree of mental calmness, even when facing a vast number of rare Blue Butterflies.
"Rare species…"
"The experience points should be a bit more, right?"
Most importantly.
Setting aside the Minotaur, a monster from the middle levels, during this period of Dungeon exploration, he had yet to encounter a true opponent.
Liam craved a truly challenging battle.
The vast swarm of Blue Butterflies before him perfectly matched his psychological expectations.
Even disregarding the experience points from the Sword Soul template, the sheer number of monsters before him could comprehensively improve his ability scores.
Moreover…
This would be a truly satisfying great feat!
"A new adventurer, facing a vast number of rare species, desperately finding a chance of survival in a desperate situation."
The only fly in the ointment.
Was that before encountering the Blue Butterflies, he hadn't experienced any high-intensity battles. His calm gaze swept over the slowly approaching monsters.
He had encountered them a bit too early.
He couldn't yet be sure if his various ability scores had reached the upper limit for his current level, but precisely because he maintained abundant stamina.
When facing a vast number of rare species, Liam had the confidence to fight!
"Let's try it."
"."
He fully immersed himself in a combat state.
Understanding the specific changes "Flowing Stance" brought to slash damage and range, when the Blue Butterflies, fluttering their wings and scattering scales, approached.
The last 3 meters.
While holding his breath, the Mithril short swords were held crossed in Liam's hands.
This allowed for a much greater angle in his sword swings. When he swung, the sword images were imperceptible to the naked eye.
Sword aura slashes, faintly imbued with flowing light.
Converged in mid-air into a diagonal cross-slash, a Drawing Sword-like strike, tearing through the oppressive air of the spacious passage, rushing towards the Blue Butterflies.
The monsters fluttered their wings, the scales about to envelop the current area.
But the airflow swept up by the sword aura slashes instantly cleared them in the opposite direction.
Blue Butterflies, as butterfly-type rare species monsters, didn't have high defense themselves; it was their scale powder toxic mist that was more troublesome.
Blue Butterflies that entered the range of the sword aura slash.
Their monstrous bodies were directly torn apart, dissipating into black dust in mid-air.
「Exp +201」
"."
"The sword aura range, even with the Flowing Stance skill's enhancement, only extends to a maximum of 3 meters."
Based on the skills provided by the "Sword Soul Template."
What Liam manually "inputted" was at most a simplified version; its range effect naturally couldn't compare to the original.
The air swept up by the slashes enveloped the Blue Butterflies.
As the airflow gradually stabilized, the monsters continued to flutter in mid-air, slowly advancing towards him.
A brief verification of the combat process.
Continuing to use "Drawing Sword" as a means of engagement wasn't the most efficient.
"Illusion Sword Dance."
"Unleashes swift, continuous slashes at the enemy from a stationary position, with the final blow inflicting multiple instances of damage with a sharp sword aura."
"."
The skill principle was easy to understand.
Relying on the "Sword Soul Template" would allow for easier execution. Now, wanting to manually "input" it…
He looked down at the short swords he held.
If he didn't even have confidence in himself, Liam didn't think he would achieve particularly high accomplishments on the path ahead.
Of course.
All his confidence was built upon his own strength.
Taking a lunge stance to adjust his posture, after regulating his breath, Liam's calm eyes were filled with anticipation for manually inputting the skill.
As countless special species monsters approached.
The short swords tightly gripped in both hands, under the enhancement effect of "Flowing Stance," each swing of the short swords was accompanied by afterimages of flowing light.
Extremely fast. Already at a level that ordinary adventurers couldn't capture with the naked eye.
Liam still felt it wasn't enough. Only by continuously breaking through himself could he reach the other shore on the Sword Soul path he had chosen!
---
Not carrying a giant backpack as usual, Lili, the supporter from the Soma Familia, her current identity in the Dungeon.
To be precise, was an "adventurer."
As for acting with her Familia…
She was destined to be a target for exploitation. Conversely, Liam, whom she had met by chance in the Dungeon, still left a fresh memory.
Mainly because…
His approach to solving problems was too unique!
If she encountered a situation of being exploited by her Familia, Liam would first try to reason.
Actually, regarding this statement.
Lili could only sense Liam's naivety. If reasoning truly worked, then the current Soma Familia…
Absolutely wouldn't be in such chaos!
Using physical means.
She felt that as a supporter, she couldn't, from a strength perspective, argue with those addicts.
Conversely, the last method made Lili inexplicably interested.
"The working principle of poison."
"Blue Butterfly…"
"I remember this type of rare species monster is widespread in the 8th-floor area."
Thanks to her familiarity with the Labyrinth environment, Lili arrived in the current area alone and safely. Her target, of course, wasn't those Blue Butterflies.
But rather…
The habitat of the rare species monsters, utilizing their sensitivity to air vibrations.
Attract those Blue Butterflies to another place, and the short time gained would be just enough to search for the scales dropped to the ground during the Blue Butterflies' flight.
"Blue Butterfly scale powder has strong hallucinogenic properties. A sufficient dose should be enough to buy some time, right?"
Lili's idea was very simple.
Applying to the Familia captain to leave the Familia required paying an extremely high amount of Valis. Most crucially, whether she could leave after paying the money.
Was still an unknown!
A better method then was to create an opportunity to meet Lord Soma, by drugging the Familia members addicted to the divine wine.
As for the captain…
She hadn't thought of a specific countermeasure yet.
Currently, it was best to collect as much Blue Butterfly scale powder as possible, make sufficient preparations. If worse came to worst, she would spend money to hire adventurers.
With this thought.
Lili chose to take a huge risk and go alone as a supporter.
As for the reason, it was what she encountered yesterday when hired by other adventurers, passing through a spacious passage on the 8th floor.
At that time, that adventurer lacked the strength to fight.
He hastily chose to retreat.
Now, heading to this place again, the process was considerably smooth, as if an adventurer had just recently cleared out the monsters.
"It seems..."
"Someone passed through here?"
Out of habit.
Lili, wearing her cloak, leaned against the corner of the wall, muffling her footsteps as she advanced towards the passage ahead, which gradually matched her memory.
The first thing that came into view.
Was the figure of an adventurer who looked somewhat familiar. Since his back was turned to her, whether she had actually seen him before.
Was hard to distinguish for a short while.
Facing a vast number of the rare species monster, Blue Butterfly, yet still having no intention of retreating. Lili stepped back to make way for a retreat.
"Is this also good news?"
"Once this guy attracts all the Blue Butterflies away, it'll create a safe environment, giving me time to collect Blue Butterfly scale powder."
Her dark brown eyes were filled with indifference.
It was only when she saw that highly recognizable, unique swordsmanship, that Lili's painstakingly maintained composure, upon seeing Liam's side profile clearly.
Instantly broke.
"...?"
"Why did I have to run into this guy again!!"
(End of this chapter)