Chapter 9 - Today's Tower Was Fruitful
The moment I opened my eyes again.
I sensed it.
If heaven exists, this must be it.
Soft thighs wrapping snugly around the back of my head.
An enormous motherly love flaunting its heavenly presence before my eyes.
And tickling my nose.
Fur.
“Achoo!”
“Woof! Master, are you awake woof?”
With a grand sneeze, I came to my senses.
So I had fainted.
Earlier I was hit in the side by a wild boar and sent flying.
This time I fainted buried in a chest.
I.
Am really weak, seriously.
Starting tomorrow, I’m going for early bird morning exercises.
I’ll do running, push-ups…
“Are you okay woof?”
“Ah, yes. I’m fine.”
To be honest, I wanted to savor it a bit more.
But what if I get too attached?
Swallowing my regret, I sat up properly.
The place where I had comfortably fainted was a bench in the square where I had met Lumi earlier.
“Anyway, to explain a bit more in detail…”
“Uwuwu, no need for explanations woof! Master is master! Lumi is here to protect master woof!”
She’s overflowing with enthusiasm.
It’s good that she’s enthusiastic.
Without needing to persuade her.
Lumi started following me while wagging her tail.
I should ask later if I can touch it.
Guild House.
Although it’s not like they had no interaction before──
A strange silence hung between the two women.
Ari, in her own way.
Was feeling somewhat uncomfortable being alone with the saint, who could be said to be the most famous person in this city.
Yohena.
‘Did they really do it? No, they couldn’t have, right? Such a bold act? Should I ask? No, it’d be awkward to ask… It’s not like it’s wrong behavior…’
She was floundering in a swamp of misunderstanding that started from a misconception.
Creak──
As soon as the Guild House door opened.
“Welcome back, Ark!”
“Are you back?”
They greeted him with energetic greetings.
“I’m back.”
Following Ark’s greeting.
“Nice to meet you woof!”
Following behind, a dog beastkin woman suddenly popped out.
Shake, bounce.
Momentarily, Ari and Yohena were at a loss for words at that overwhelming presence.
Naturally, their gazes went to their own chests.
‘……’
At that heavy presence that couldn’t help but be compared.
The two women couldn’t help but feel a bit solemn.
“Yes, that’ll be 23 gold.”
After briefly conducting introductions among our heroes.
Since we took the morning off due to mental issues and Lumi’s recruitment, to make up for it, while focusing on the afternoon business.
I continuously racked my brains to solve one problem.
Lumi. How to use her?
If I hadn’t contracted her at all it would be one thing, but having contracted her, I need to somehow incorporate her into the current party and use her.
Even a rotten croaker is still a fish.
Since she’s born a 5-star, her stats are comparatively higher than born 3-star tanks.
There wouldn’t be any problems in the early stages.
But plans are usually made for the long term.
If I fully activate my future vision, she’ll inevitably have to leave the party eventually.
“Haah.”
If I hadn’t seen her in person.
If she was just a piece of data, I wouldn’t have known.
From the standing illustration.
From the Live 2D illustration.
Even from the in-game 3D modeling.
I felt a vividness that couldn’t be felt before, very clearly.
I was troubled.
Should I go for an extreme composition?
Remove the tank, use Lumi as a damage-tank and put in all ranged dealers to overwhelm with damage?
Or should I use two healers to manage HP even if we get hit?
I’ll have to try various things.
If I was a player suffering from chronic resource shortage, I would need to choose and focus on raising.
But now I’m the shop owner.
If given time, I can scrape together and pour in several times more resources.
“That’s 30 gold. Thank you.”
Just like when I worked part-time at a convenience store.
My brain was continuously running Lumi simulations.
It was truly a brain raffle!
However.
My delusions were in vain.
After pouring all of today’s experience potions into Lumi and forming a 3-person party to enter the tower.
“Lumi, you’re amazing!”
“…You’re incredible.”
“Yeah…”
There was no need for Yohena to heal.
No need for Ari to shoot arrows.
Until we entered the tower.
Lumi was just a gentle dog wagging her tail and panting.
But the moment she faced monsters.
“Grrraow!”
Seizing the initiative with a roar!
“Woof!”
She jumped up and punched the wild boar’s head with a thud!
Moreover, if this was the original game, she would have inevitably taken some damage and lost a bit of HP.
“Woof!”
After lightly dodging the wild boar charging at her, she grabbed its tail and spun it around before slamming it down!
That’s right.
Lumi was able to ‘dodge’…!
Moreover.
“Lumi! Only hit the head!”
“Got it woof!”
Just in case, when I gave her arbitrary battle instructions.
Lumi, who had been hitting here and there indiscriminately until now, started selectively pummeling only the wild boar’s head.
Following instructions has a tremendously significant meaning.
By utilizing my knowledge──
If a threatening attack comes, I can make her evacuate in advance.
Or use the taunt skill only at the right times.
At the very least, I can make her use it before battle starts to just get the attack power increase effect.
In other words.
I can become not just a simple player, an observer.
But a commander actively intervening in the battlefield!
Let’s test a bit more.
“Lumi, jump!”
“Woof!”
“Lumi, sit!”
“Woof!”
“Lumi, bang!”
“Kyang!”
Suddenly I miss our Boksil.
I wonder if she’s doing well?
As Lumi, who faithfully carried out the orders, brought her head closer, I patted her.
“…Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Just, a little…”
“Ark? Even though Lumi is a dog beastkin, she’s still a girl, so commands that could be unpleasant─”
“Lumi likes it woof! So much fun woof!”
Ah.
The person in question says it’s fine, but.
The saint’s point had some merit.
“Lumi, I’m sorry.”
“No problem woof! Lumi likes master woof!”
Lumi rubbed her head against me more actively.
The expression is really strange but.
She’s really like a dog…
Even the way fur flies from her tail…
Anyway, one worry is gone.
Let’s keep going like this!
[Tower of Wishes Floor 2 – Evergreen Forest Zone 9 Cleared!]
“Good. Let’s break through Zone 10 right away.”
The party’s stability has certainly increased.
No matter how much area damage Ari’s normal attacks do.
There were times when the angle didn’t work out to sweep everything away with one arrow.
And then, like yesterday, I’d allow my side to be hit by a wild boar, and such problems would occur.
“Woof!”
Lumi jumped in among the monsters boasting colorful manes.
“Bark bark! Bark!”
She used her area taunt in sync with my signal.
“Squee!”
“Squeak!”
As the wild boars started rushing towards Lumi.
“Ari!”
“Okay!”
Through several experiments, we found out that heroes don’t get caught in each other’s area attacks.
So without any hesitation, Ari aimed and fired!
The arrow that left the bowstring went pop at Lumi’s feet!
[You have defeated Earth Boar (LV.17)!]
[You have defeated Wind Boar (LV.17)!]
Look at how uncreative the mob names are.
It seems the easy section is coming to an end.
“Squeeee!”
One wild boar that survived with a sliver of HP wailed pitifully.
“Shut up woof!”
Bam!
Lumi’s punch cleanly struck the wild boar’s crown.
[You have defeated Earth Boar (LV.19)!]
A clean sweep.
Although they were monsters that could be easily swept up even if left to Lumi alone.
We were practicing in advance to coordinate.
As we advanced forward, mowing down small fry like that.
[King Boar (LV.20)]
The boss of the 2nd floor revealed itself.
Roughly estimating its HP.
Five arrow shots.
Or three arrow shots and three woof punches.
That would be if we only used normal attacks.
“Lumi. You don’t need to attack. Just draw the boss’s attention. Ari, let’s stick exactly three arrows in advance. Don’t kill it.”
“Woof!”
Lumi just fully agreed to my instructions.
“Huh? Okay…!”
Ari, who had become full of courage since Lumi’s appearance, also nodded.
“Ark, is there a reason for not killing it?”
Only the curiosity heaven saint threw a question.
That’s a good attitude.
“There’s something I want to test.”
At my kind explanation, Yohena seemed to acquiesce and cast blessings on Ari and Lumi.
“Squeeeeee!!!”
The King Boar let out a roar about 4 letters and 2 exclamation marks more intense than regular boars.
Clash.
“Woof~ Woof~”
Lumi skillfully dodged the King Boar’s mindless charge attacks by jumping around like she was doing acrobatics.
Our obedient Ari also calmly shot one arrow, two arrows, and then three arrows.
Its HP is roughly below 50%, so.
It should be coming out now.
While gauging the distance to the King Boar.
I grabbed Ari and Yohena’s clothes and slowly increased the distance.
Right after.
“Squooo… Squooooo…!”
The King Boar that stopped charging started gathering energy while scraping the ground with its feet.
The precursor to a huge attack pattern.
A pattern where it scrapes the ground five times in total, jumps into the air and slams down on the ground, dealing massive area damage to everyone.
It was easy to miss on a small screen.
But seeing it in person, the movements were too obvious.
Two, three, four, five…
“Lumi! Taunt!”
“Woof! Bark! Bark bark!”
Instead of her usual cute ‘woof~’, she made an intense ‘bark!’ sound.
“Squoo…?”
Just as the boar boss was about to say goodbye to the ground by jumping up.
Its eyes suddenly turned red.
Thud.
It landed on the ground very softly.
“Good! Lumi! Three woof punches in a row!”
“Woof!”
Bam bam bam!
[You have defeated King Boar (LV.20)!]
In the face of clean damage calculation.
The King Boar collapsed with a thud.
“Hahaha, hahahaha…!”
I couldn’t help but laugh.
The hypothesis was verified.
In the original game, Last Felix, one of the key techniques for climbing high floors was timing ‘skill activation’.
Skill cooldown reduction.
Attack speed.
Previous round clear time.
Other characters’ buffs.
By controlling various factors like these well.
You need to refine tactics so that countermeasures like taunts or area shields are ready when threatening attacks are about to come.
If not?
DEFEAT.
You have been wiped out. Please spend more money.
But!
I don’t need to go through such hardships.
I just need to turn off the heroes’ autonomous mode for a moment.
And drive directly with my Class 2 ordinary driving skills.
Pattern? Catch it with taunt.
Consecutive pattern? Catch it with shield. Or take the hit and heal up.
Erratic pattern? Dodge! Breath! To the corner!
[Tower of Wishes Floor 2 – Evergreen Forest Zone 10 Cleared!]
[You can now enter Floor 3 of the Tower of Wishes.]
[New feature unlocked: Daily Dungeon]
And.
Even if I exercise the authority of the shop owner.
A place where I can obtain experience potions that are never enough no matter how much I feed our heroes.
The Daily Dungeon has been unlocked.
“OTTAF.”
“OTTAF? What does that mean?”
“It means ‘Today’s Tower was Fruitful’. Let’s stop here. Let’s have a meat party with the wild boars we caught today.”
“Meat! Lumi loves meat woof!”
Thank you for your hard work today, heroes.
Let’s put some grease in our bellies.