'Snap out of it and engage the monsters!' I called out when I saw the Cheep Sheep still charging toward them.
Remu was the first to move.
She dashed straight for the Mino as it struggled to rise, her lithe body leaping forward as she swung her sword cleanly toward its throat—there was no hesitation and no wasted motion.
[Remu
Explorer Level 9
Equipment: Hard Leather Boots, Steel Sword, Round Steel Shield, Steel Forehead Protector, Hard Leather Jacket, Hard Leather Gloves, Sacrificial Misanga]
Remu had already been to the seventh floor of the Quratar Labyrinth before; coupled with her impressive performance during yesterday's bandit fight, I wasn't particularly worried about her in this battle.
My focus shifted instead to Shera, who stood beside me.
Her arrow was already nocked on the wooden bow, bowstring drawn tight. Without even a flicker of hesitation, she released it.
The copper arrow flew true—threading the gap past Remu's face and burying itself directly into the Mino's eye.
[Shera
Forest Ranger Level 6
Equipment: Hard Leather Boots, Wooden Bow, Steel Forehead Protector, Hard Leather Jacket, Hard Leather Gloves, Sacrificial Misanga]
"GRRRAAH!"
The Mino roared in pain, collapsing back to the ground under the combined assault.
Remu shot Shera a startled glance—the arrow had passed dangerously close to her face.
Shera only smirked, calmly pulling another arrow from her quiver.
She wasn't carrying many of them: five steel, five iron, five copper, and five wooden arrows.
Still, the arrows were retrievable—and according to Sherry, she could craft more of them.
Especially the Wooden arrows which only required Needle Wood Branches, which we had in abundance.
The higher-grade arrows, however…
Those would require monster drops from higher floors.
BAM!
Beside Remu, Vesta successfully intercepted the charging Cheep Sheep with her large shield. Learning from her earlier mistake, she didn't fling it away this time—instead, she slammed the shield straight into its head, making the beast stagger back.
'Get asideee, it's Shea's turn nowww!' the rabbit girl yelled through party chat as she dashed forward, hopping high with her hammer raised behind her head.
[Shea
Swift Scout Level 3
Equipment: Hard Leather Boots, Steel Long Hammer, Steel Forehead Protector, Hard Leather Jacket, Hard Leather Gloves, Sacrificial Misanga]
'Shea—SMASH!' she cried with a wide grin, bringing the hammer crashing down onto the Sheep's body.
BONK!
Most of the impact was absorbed by the Cheep Sheep's thick wool, but it was still a solid hit. At the very least, Shea looked immensely proud of herself.
The Sheep, however, clearly didn't appreciate her smug smile.
Snorting angrily, it lowered its horn and lunged toward her, ready to skewer the rabbit girl.
For a split second, my heart jumped—
—but then Shea darted backward in a blur, slipping neatly behind Vesta.
'Hehe, you can't catch me!' she taunted, sticking her tongue out.
Her retreating speed was genuinely impressive. It was probably her Quick Escape passive skill at work.
Vesta immediately raised her shield again, stopping the Sheep's charge dead in its tracks.
Meanwhile, as Shera's second arrow struck the Mino, Nyx finally reached it.
Her running speed was… honestly slow. Judging by her labored breathing, she clearly wasn't used to it. Still, she steadied herself and thrust her spear toward the Mino's mid section.
[Nyx
Explorer Level 4
Equipment: Steel Boots, Steel Spear, Steel Helmet, Hard Leather Jacket, Hard Leather Gloves, Sacrificial Misanga]
The thrust wasn't bad.
But to be completely honest, after watching Kunou drop her spear earlier, my standards for "bad" had admittedly fallen to an all-time low.
Fortunately, Remu had completely drawn the Mino's attention. Which meant that Nyx didn't really need to worry about dodging any follow-up attacks—something I was fairly sure she wouldn't have managed anyway.
'Remu, bring the Mino over to Vesta. And Vesta, use your large shield to stop both the Sheep's and the Mino's charges. Keep them firmly locked in front of you,' I instructed after a quick assessment.
'Yes, Master,' both of them replied without hesitation.
'Shea, switch your attacks to the Mino. It doesn't have thick wool, so your hammer will be more effective there. Stick to its side while attacking,' I continued.
'Nyx, your spear has better reach—so keep your focus on the Sheep and try to stay covered behind Vesta's shield.'
'My hammer will strike wherever you point, Master!' Shea declared, a little too enthusiastically.
Nyx, in contrast, simply nodded and adjusted her position.
These kinds of small positional adjustments during combat had always been handled by Roxanne before. Most of the time, she didn't even need to say anything—she would position herself or the monsters in a way that naturally guided everyone else into place.
I wasn't sure I could do the same if I were on the front lines. Maybe Roxanne just had an instinctive sense for spatial awareness that made it all look effortless.
For me, even while staying in the back line, just keeping track of everyone took a surprising amount of focus.
Still, the girls had fortunately settled into a solid rhythm quite quickly.
With Vesta repeatedly slamming her large shield into the demons' heads, it was easy to keep both monsters' attention fixed on her.
Though… her shield bashes had ended up crushing the arrows Shera had lodged into their eyes.
Repairing a bunch of them would only cost Sherry a single branch, but I still called out to Shera to aim for their legs instead, if possible.
As for me, I had kept chanting storm spells in a steady rhythm, all the while keeping an eye on the battlefield. Unfortunately, my gaze kept getting distracted constantly.
And who can even blame me?
Shea's breasts kept bouncing enticingly every time she hopped to attack. Nyx's pale face, flushed from exertion, looked absurdly hot under the dim labyrinth light. Remu's tail swished back and forth with each movement, drawing my attention to how perky her ass looked. And then there was Vesta—standing right in front of me—her massive, absolutely ridiculous butt practically demanding to be noticed.
Fucking hell I was about to have a boner!!
In fact I knew exactly why I was getting so distracted!
I had swapped Swordsman for Sex Maniac previously, just so I could level it up quickly using this labyrinth trap. And I could already feel the job gnawing at my thoughts, amplifying every stray impulse and turning mild distractions into outright fixations.
To gain some respite, I forcibly turned my head away from the front line—only for my gaze to land on the beautiful, busty elf standing beside me.
Shera stretched her fair arm back as she drew her wooden bow, muscles tightening smoothly. The bowstring snapped forward as she released, and her breasts jiggled in a way that made my mind blank for a split second.
'Master?'
Her blue eyes glanced at me, curious. She had clearly noticed how intently I had been staring.
'Ah—' I cleared my throat and quickly worked up an excuse. 'I was just wondering why you aren't using your Arrow Skill.'
'I can use it if Master wants to see it!' she said brightly.
In the next moment, her expression sharpened as she faced forward, drawing back an empty bowstring while beginning to chant.
"O spirits of the ancient woods,
shape the unseen into form,
and let my arrow fly true—Magic Arrow!"
A soft green glow gathered between her fingers and the bow. The light condensed, forming a fully shaped arrow that nocked itself in place. She held it there, steady, and I could see the arrow solidifying further with each breath she took.
After five slow breaths, she exhaled—and released.
SWOOSH!
The glowing green arrow sliced through the air and struck the Mino squarely in the head, forcing it to stumble back two steps.
'…Impressive,' I said honestly.
'Thank you, Master,' she replied with a giggly smile.
Her Magic Arrow skill was genuinely impressive—creating arrows entirely from mana. She didn't have cheat-tier abilities like mine, so she still needed to chant, but the result more than spoke for itself.
'Was that the strongest one you can make?' I asked curiously.
'Ah, yes, Master. If I hold it for too long, it becomes harder to aim,' she said with a wry smile. 'I call it the Strong Arrow.'
I remembered her mentioning before that she could only use three of those at most.
'Try to use your strong arrows as many times as you can,' I instructed. 'With my Hero Job, you should be able to fire more than three easily. Still, take a sip of a mana potion after the fourth or fifth shot.'
'Sure, Master,' she replied happily and immediately began chanting again.
Watching her skill bought me a brief moment of breathing room—but my horny thoughts, and my naughty eyes, inevitably drifted back to their beautiful forms in motion.
Was this the downside of fighting alongside such ridiculously hot women?
"GAAAHHH!"
A sudden noise from the labyrinth trap's entrance snapped me back to reality.
The next second, a kobold—still wrapped in swirling dust from the storm spell—burst out of the opening.
Instinct took over, as I raised my steel wand and smacked it straight on the head.
BONK!
The kobold dropped its knife, clutched its skull, and collapsed to the floor, whining pitifully.
'It's just a kobold—no need to worry,' I told the girls as their attention shifted toward the noise. 'Continue the fight.'
I followed that up by kicking the kobold's head into the wall with my steel boot.
Seeing its ugly green mug wiped away whatever horny thoughts I'd had left. Instead of killing it outright, I spent the next few moments kicking the shit out of it!
Strangely enough, that gave me an idea.
Maybe I should introduce football—or other sports—to this world. I could start by letting the girls play them within themselves back at the mansion for now.
I could already picture it: the girls' laughter, their hot sweaty bodies, loose clothes, jiggling breasts and round butts, shining in sunlight—
…Yeah. Looks like kicking the kobold was losing its effectiveness quite quickly.
It didn't take long for the pitiful kobold to die, and soon after, the girls finished off both the monsters as well.
'Don't attack the Naive Olive yet,' I called out quickly, stopping them and calling them back.
'Vesta, I want you to defeat it alone. Leave the shield for now and use this sword.'
I handed her the Orichalcum Sword from my bag.
'Understood, Master,' she replied, her expression hardening as she leaned the shield against the wall and gripped the heavy blade.
'She needs to defeat a monster alone to fulfill the condition for her racial job,' I explained to the others as Vesta stepped toward the plant.
My original plan had been to let her fight something from the first floor—that too should have been enough to fulfill the conditions. But after seeing how effortlessly she had handled the previous monsters, and with the conditions itself lining up so perfectly, I decided to let her try right now.
'All the best, Vesta!' Shera cheered, pumping her fist.
The others joined in as well—everyone except Nyx, who was leaning against the wall, head lowered, focusing on steadying her labored breathing.
"Arghh!"
Vesta reached the plant and swung the sword straight at it.
I had been half-expecting a repeat of the Mino scene—but instead, the Orichalcum blade cleanly sliced into the bark, snapping several branches at once and forcing the Naive Olive to stagger backward.
The plant was clearly hurt. It lashed out violently, its thick branches slamming into Vesta and tearing through her Plating.
'Vesta, do you want me to heal you?' I asked, a bit worried. I was still maintaining the storm spells, which meant I would have to interrupt them to switch skills.
'No, Master. It doesn't hurt at all,' she replied brightly.
'The armor you gave me is amazing—and so is this weapon!' she added, continuing her assault with obvious excitement.
She was wearing full steel plate, which was impressive enough on its own—but her innate Dragonkin defenses had to be absurdly high. Just watching those thick branches hammer against her was making me flinch, and yet, she fought on as if it were nothing.
Vesta's duel dragged on for a bit while the rest of the girls regrouped beside me, ready to intercept any stray demons that might wander over.
Thankfully, it wasn't long before I noticed that my Storm spell hadn't activated this time.
Normally, I wouldn't even notice if the storm spell failed to activate—that was the whole reason I periodically used Fire Storm in between. Its brightness made it easy to tell whether anything inside the labyrinth trap was still being hit.
But this time, when I casted the Storm spell, I felt something was wrong.
Maybe I had used it too many times in quick succession… or maybe I was subconsciously sensing the lack of mana expenditure. Either way, something felt off.
To confirm it, I casted a Water Ball spell.
And it activated instantly.
Which meant that the earlier Storm spell really hadn't activated.
I tried the Storm spell again—twice more—even moving closer to the wall to maximize the spell's reach into the trap.
But it still didn't activate.
'Looks like the labyrinth trap is cleared,' I said with a slow breath. 'But don't let your guard down yet. We're not completely sure of it. We'll check it after Vesta is done.'
I didn't want anyone relaxing too early.
Thankfully, Vesta didn't make us wait too long.
With a powerful swing, she split the Naive Olive cleanly in two using the Orichalcum sword.
I couldn't help but smile.
'Congratulations, Vesta. You are now a Dragon Knight,' I said as I swapped her job through the party settings.
'Th-thank you, Master,' she replied shyly, handing me the demon drop.
I let the others gather around her, offering their congratulations, before speaking again.
'Alright, Vesta—pick up your large shield. We're heading inside the labyrinth trap to confirm whether it's truly cleared.'
I grinned as I said it.
'I'm ready, Master!' Vesta replied, easily lifting both the massive shield and the Orichalcum sword—one in each hand.
The other girls looked visibly energized.
Even I could feel it.
With a dual-wielding Dragon Knight in our party, our combat strength had just taken a massive leap forward!
***
[Pretori33 has redeemed an Extra Chapter this week]