Twilight Grotto 2
When I arrived at the eighth floor, I was greeted by not a nopperabou nor an enenra but a Shoukera. (TLN: A mole cricket spirit) It’s the first time I saw one in reality but compared to goblins this guy might look cute in comparison.
Shokera, a youkai that made sure you report your evil deed to the God.
“It looked like a Komainu with the wart of a tree frog though, I have to defeat it quickly or it will become troublesome.”
The Komainu, you will surely see one if you go to a shrine.
I punched the shokera that was trying to howl with third hand. Since it was already close to the wall, I immediately crash it into the wall and sandwich it with third hand. When I tried to do a follow-up attack, the shokera already turned into magic elements and leave behind a magic stone.
“Other enemy’s presence…..none, huh. Let’s keep going.”
Since I immediately defeated it this time, I don’t know all the detail but in Magiero the shokera was treated as a weak but troublesome monster.
“Letting it call its friend sound troublesome after all.”
A lone shokera is weak. But once it called its friend it might surround me, that would be bad. But since the only things that can be called in this area are nopperabou and enenra, it wouldn’t turn out so bad though.
“I thought about making a level-raising chart (A manual for RTA run) for this dungeon for a while but since there are too many monsters that can be called by the Shokera, It would be better to capture the beginner dungeon while using the chart to get the fire battle magic stone.”
Moreover, even if you considered only the magic elements you can farm, the beginner dungeon is still better. Some dungeons are a better hunting ground because it has a higher-species of Shokera though.
While I was thinking so, I detected a monster’s presence when I was about to turn the corner. I stick to the wall and peek at them, it was a shokera and an enenra. It looked troublesome since this enenra is floating near the ceiling, outside of my attack range.
I let out a small sigh.
“Fighting that enenra seems troublesome, should I just breakthrough and run?”
After deciding so, I immediately moved to action. I put my hand on the sword that was on my belt and start running when the shokera turn the other way.
The shokera was like an old lady on the countryside’s road since it just stood in the middle of the passage. The enenra was the first to notice my charge but it was already too late.
Single drawing slash. Was the shokera surprised that it got beautifully bisected? I wonder. I ignore the floating enenra and keep running.
I think it was fortunate that the enenra was slow to react. Thanks to that my chance to escape raised considerably. Normally, there would be a fireball flying at my back but…. this time there’s no such thing.
It should be fine since I already made it this far…. Even so, this dungeon sure is bad. Both its appearance and its treasure chest.
In a normal dungeon, there would at least be a treasure chest for each floor but there’s not even one treasure chest in this Twilight Grotto. That’s one of the reasons the gentlemen chose not to farm in this dungeon. If there’s a useful treasure here then it might deserve a chance.
I keep escaping the monsters and keep proceeding deeper and deeper. Then I finally reached the stairs that head toward the ninth floor.
The ninth floor is the floor just before the boss room but the monsters that appear there are the same old monster you encountered before, it was only to the level that the encounter rate of shokera is slightly higher than the previous floor. There’s no treasure chest nor any delicious loot so it’s natural to just run through all of it.
Additionally, the floor is a little wider than the previous one so it’s one of the reasons to just rush through the place.
“Why bothered yourselves fighting these joke monsters. I don’t understand.”
Although, it is not completely useless since you will get magic elements and magic stones by defeating monsters but if you know of the place that you can farm with more than double efficiency, it would only seem like a fool’s errand to farm here.
I killed the shokera with one slash while ignoring the nopperabou and keep running through the floor. The ninth floor might be the fastest floor I cleared in this dungeon.
Then, I finally reached the tenth floor.
—
The tenth floor is different from all the previous floors, it only consisted of a single road that leads to a single room (Boss room) and the dungeon core room as the final room. I descend the stairs and head toward the boss room while preparing for combat.
“Water battle magic stone, recovery potion, and finally water element enchanted stole.”
I exchanged the battle magic stone (fire) for battle magic stone (water) but the exchange rate was two fire for one water, the rate was almost overcharging. Well, let’s put it as a necessary expense (I don’t know whether I will use it though).
“Alright, Let’s go-!”
I charge into the room while having both third and fourth hands make a fighting pose. Although it is still the same old cave, this room is the widest within this dungeon. A monster stood alone at the center of the room.
Anyone who saw it would think of a black cat. That ears, eyes, and tail. It’s a cat no matter how you look at it.
However, it was not a tiny, cute cat that always lazes around with you.
Firstly, it’s huge. It’s twice my size, its size was already close to a tiger. Moreover, its cry is low. Although it also cries [Nyaaaaa] but its unusually low voice made it sounded a little scary.
The growling cat stood up slowly and head toward me. Then, it created two burning wheels on its side.
“Bu NyaaaaaaaAAa-!”
As it cries, it approached me with the burning wheels.
I received one of the burning wheels with third hand while dodging the other. The wheel keeps going and crashed into the wall then disappeared.
After seeing that, it irritatedly cries out and creates the two wheels again.
The boss of Twilight Grotto, the [Kasha], a monster in the guise of a cat. It was originated from the story of the Japanese Youkai, Kasha. It was revealed so from the game staff’s blog.
Kasha, a type of Bake-Neko or monster cat equipped with fiery wheels.
I defend against the flying wheels again and keep approaching the Kasha. Maybe it was due to the water enchantment, I can easily intercept the flying wheels.
When I closed the distance, I punch the Kasha in the head with fourth hand. However, it easily evades such a straightforward attack. No, it did not just evade the attack. It tried to take a bite at me with its widen jaw. The Kasha showed its prided fangs and lunged at me.
To the Kasha that violently charged at me, I punched it in the gut with the prepared third hand.
“Gyaun”
“S, Scary.”
To be able to counter-attack in time when it lunged at me like that, I’m confident that this thing is slower than sempai. However, since the monsters I encountered inside this dungeon were so slow…it made the Kasha looked faster.
The difference between the Kasha and the other monsters up until now is probably that it still firmly keep its consciousness after I counter-attack and sent it flying against the wall. Up to now, the monsters were mostly died instantly or lost consciousness.
As I stare at the Kasha that tried to regain its balance in the air, I inject magic power into the katana’s scabbard and prepare to unleash it.
The Kasha successfully landed kicked the ground and jumps toward me. This time it is not using its fangs. It popped out its claws that looked like the claw weapons ninja usually used from its uncute oversized paw and lunge at me.
I activated Mind Eye while intercepting the approaching claws with third hand. Then, the Kasha turned and come back to attack me with its left paw. I firmly defended it with fourth hand and release the magic power stored inside the scabbard while drawing the katana.
At that point, my victory was confirmed.
There are a lot of people who said this in the past. You can’t confirm the results yet, why are you so sure of it? I think it’s often the case when I was shooting a basketball or soccer. Even though the ball just left your limbs, you still know how it will fly along the path you imagined and enter the goal. It seemed to be the same as archery. When you nock the arrow and release it from your hand, you will somehow know that [Ah, this will hit.] or something like that. These sensations are probably the same.
Your body will remember the feeling when you repeat something countless times.
I can feel only gratitude toward Yukine-sempai. At first, I was shocked when she told me “Sorry Takioto, you don’t have the talent to wield a katana.” But immediately after, she told me “But you have another talent.” I remembered she was quite ecstatic when she told me that.
After that, I have been practicing just one move every day. It finally takes shape after so many days of practice.
Battoujutsu – Matataki
(TLN: Drawing technique – Blink.)
The most accurate depiction?
I return the katana to its scabbard and set the magic power I sent into the stole to a minimum.
“Niigya”
The Kasha let out such a voice and at the same time, its body split into two. It turned into a huge amount of magic elements and leave behind the biggest magic stone I’ve ever seen.