We all finished up our ices in no time.
“Should we get going?” Kent asked.
“I’m ready!” Tarte energetically announced.
Having cooled down with those shaved ices, we began walking through the second level, heading for the spot where Ifrit could quell the volcano.
“Kent, head a little to the left,” I said.
“Got it!”
Directing us through the second level, I kept an eye on our surroundings. The encounters here were more formidable and included more powerful versions of the monsters we’d seen on the first level.
“Huge rat ahead!” Kent announced.
“That’s a Flaming Lava Rat—a stronger version of the Lava Rat we saw upstairs. It’s bigger and spews fire. It could be a little troublesome,” I said.
“Okay. Taunt!” Kent used his Skill and drew the rat’s attention.
In the next breath, Dark Arrow and Water Arrow turned the Flaming Lava Rat into a burst of light. I should have known a little Flaming Lava Rat was no cause for concern. Reapplying buffs to the party, I encouraged us to keep moving.
As we trudged through rocky ground and took down monsters, I was secretly enjoying our journey and the sights along the way. Walking inside a volcano was a luxury reserved for this fantasy world! Back on Earth, I’d probably have died if I’d tried something like this. Now that we’d cleared the scorching heat of the first level, was it so bad that I wanted to enjoy this unique experience? After all, the whole point of my adventures was to see the fantastical views this world had to offer. Of course, even in this world, it was no ordinary task to enter a volcano. It had taken some convincing to gain permission from the Adventurer’s Guild.
Although the volcano was supposed to blow any day, I knew from my game knowledge that the volcano wasn’t going to erupt. Maybe that certainty helped me enjoy the view without freaking out. On the other hand, the rest of my party thought the volcano was a ticking time bomb and were feeling the pressure more than usual. Unfortunately, I couldn’t prove that the volcano wouldn’t erupt. My friends might just believe me without any proof, but I didn’t want to put extra stress on them.
“We’re going to follow this path for a while until we get to a clearing. There should be a swarm there,” I said.
“A big one?” Kent asked.
“Decently,” I answered. This would be one of the biggest swarms we’d encountered so far. “The problem is, it’s going to be a swarm of Infernal Butterflies. They’re palm-sized butterflies that fly all around the place, so they can be tricky to deal with.”
“Got it,” said Kent.
It was bad enough that they would be flying all over the place, but Infernal Butterflies also dropped flaming scales as they flew. That was simply their normal state, making them an annoying encounter. “Watch out for the scales that fall from their wings like flaming dust. They can burn.”
“Okay. Let’s move slowly and scope out the situation,” Kent suggested.
“That’s a good idea,” I said. Our party was no stranger to scouting. Recently, Kent had been acting as a scout, carefully leading the party to see what waited ahead. That allowed us to form a strategy before facing a large group of monsters, or even to pick them off one by one.
Carefully following Kent, Cocoa asked, “Should I go in with an AoE attack? If Lulu and I use our Skills together, could we take them out before they target Kent...?”
“It’s a good idea, but those butterflies have enough HP to make taking them down in one shot difficult,” I said.
“Okay... I thought I had something there.” Cocoa’s shoulders sagged.
“Besides, they’re constantly on fire, so we can’t really freeze them either,” I added. If we’d been able to freeze them, we could’ve just thrown Molotovs at the problem.
Cocoa grunted, thinking over our options until she reached the simplest solution. “Kent will just have to power through.”
“Mm-hmm. We just need to focus on the attack,” L’lyeh said, hitting the nail on the head.
“I’ll shoot them down as quickly as I can,” Cocoa said.
“Jeez...” Kent had just returned from scouting out the clearing. “Pretty wide space. Maybe thirty monsters or so.”
The clearing was about thirty meters squared, so a swarm of thirty Infernal Butterflies must have been quite a sight. Their flaming scales created a mystical and beautiful scene, but as our tank, Kent would have to dive right into the midst of that. I didn’t envy Kent’s job right now.
“Drawing them out isn’t an option,” Kent said.
“So you need to power through it, Kent,” Cocoa said ruthlessly.
“You had to say it again?!” Kent sulked for a moment before slapping his face with both hands, forcing some courage into himself. “Okay! Here goes... Taunt!” Kent jumped into the clearing and began screaming from the heat of the burning scales. “Make it quick! Please!” He pleaded in a voice that made it very clear how hot those scales were.
Damage could be prevented with barriers, but there was nothing that could protect him from the heat itself. Feeling sorry for our tank, I cast Starlight on Kent so his HP would heal with time.
Cocoa and L’lyeh were firing AoE attacks to shorten Kent’s suffering.
“You got this!” Tarte cheered him on.
“Watch this. Dark Whispers!” L’lyeh shouted, boosting her damage output further.
“Arrow of Water, Wash the Woe Before Us!”
L’lyeh’s and Cocoa’s attacks mowed down most of the butterflies, and Kent sliced up the ones that were left.
When the last butterfly was taken care of, Kent plopped down on the ground. “That was rough. I felt like I was on fire...”
“Thank you, Kent. You should hydrate while we pick up the dropped items,” I said.
“Thanks.”
Unfortunately, there were no rare items to be found—just Butterfly Scales.