I couldn’t get over the image of Touya carrying a board on his back while a shoal of needlefish drove themselves into it like nails, and I burst out laughing, as did everybody else.
“Actually, though, that isn’t the worst idea,” said Haruka.
“Mm. But we’ll have to do some tests to confirm in advance that it works,” said Natsuki. “If it does, however...”
“...Then we can ensure both safety and profit, right?” said Yuki.
The rest of us, including the sisters, nodded—with one exception.
“Nah, wait, that would be really heavy to lug around!” Touya interjected. “A board is one thing, but the metal plates would add way too much weight!”
In this world, door panels were made entirely of wood, so they could weigh over twenty kilograms on their own. Once we added metal plates thick enough to stop the needlefish, even if they were no more than a centimeter thick, the total weight could exceed a hundred kilograms, depending on what type of metal we used. It would be a huge burden on Touya, and it would be a disaster if he ended up dangling from a rope with that kind of weight on his back.
“Actually, I think you could probably pull it off, Touya,” I said.
“What the hell are you talking about, dude? Like, I’m a lot stronger than I was, but—”
“Well, rescue teams sometimes have to carry people on their backs while going up and down a rope, right? So it’s definitely possible...”
The total weight of the rescuer plus the person rescued had to be over a hundred kilograms, especially factoring in the equipment the rescuer was carrying. If a feat like that was possible for someone back on Earth, Touya had to be able to pull it off. In fact, I was more concerned about the rope; that would probably be the main issue we had to address.
When I explained my thought process to Touya, he paused in thought, then gently nodded. “Well, when you put it that way, I guess I probably can pull it off.”
“It won’t be cheap, but I think it might be wise to replace both our ropes and the rope ladder with wire,” said Natsuki. “It may also be possible to reinforce the ropes with alchemy, although I’m not certain of that.”
Thanks to Natsuki’s efforts—and a stroke of good luck—the shoal of flying fish had failed to sever Touya’s lifeline, but it definitely wouldn’t have survived a direct hit. However, wire was expensive and difficult to work with, so if alchemy was a viable alternative, it would definitely be preferable.
“Haruka, Yuki, is there any alchemical technique we can use on these ropes?” I asked.
“Hmm. Nothing comes to mind right now,” said Yuki. “There are some things we could try that would make the rope stronger, but...”
“...we don’t know if that would actually make the rope strong enough to withstand an attack from a shoal of needlefish,” said Haruka. “And if we hit on a technique that works, it might be wiser to prioritize upgrading our actons with alchemy.”
I couldn’t disagree with that. If we’d had alchemically reinforced actons, Touya’s injury could have been prevented.
“Well, in any case, let’s return to this topic once we get home,” said Haruka. “For now, we need to decide whether to advance or head back.”
“Yeah, good point,” said Yuki. “If we don’t wanna take any more risks right now, we should head home and rethink our preparations. But it kinda feels too soon for that.”
“We just got here,” I pointed out, “and we haven’t even been in any real battles yet.”
Even considering our safety-first approach, we had spent a week practicing rock climbing and preparing all kinds of tools, besides which the journey to the twenty-first floor had consumed a few days. After all those preparations, it would suck to head home after only a few hours to the dungeon. Luckily, after selling all that precious wood earlier, we were in good shape financially, but we had yet to accomplish anything on our current expedition...
“So far, all we’ve gotten this time are a few dozen flying needlefish,” I said. “It’s been kind of a letdown. Like, sure, I’m looking forward to eating them, but still.”
“The question is whether they taste more similar to normal flying fish or gars,” said Haruka. “Or they may have a unique taste of their own. We have no way of knowing.”
“We also have no way of knowing if they even taste good,” said Yuki. “All we know right now is that they’re edible.”
“...Oh, right,” I said. “That’s a shame. It’s been a while since I had some saltwater fish...”
Freshwater fish were good in their own right, but they weren’t the same. It would be great if this level was just an easy source of saltwater fish. Flying needlefish were a bit dangerous, but once you figured out how to deal with them, it became obvious that they were pretty stupid.
“Given that they seemed to come flying out of the waterfall, I’m not sure I would categorize them as saltwater fish,” said Natsuki. “But perhaps it’s a saltwater cataract.”
“Nah, there’s no way that’s— Actually, I take it back. You can’t rule anything out in a dungeon,” said Touya.
But Haruka quickly rejected his suggestion. “No, I’m fairly confident it’s not saltwater. We’re soaked from the spray. It would feel different if it were saltwater.”
“Oh, sure, makes sense,” said Touya. “So I guess flying needlefish are just freshwater fish that look like saltwater fish back home. We’ll just have to wait and see what they taste like.”
We’d been drying ourselves periodically with magic, but when we stood still for any length of time, we ended up a little damp, and I hadn’t gotten the gritty sensation of saltwater. Touya didn’t have any objections to Haruka’s reasoning either.
“Let’s take a moment to assess our current situation first,” said Haruka. “Then we can decide whether to head home or proceed deeper into the dungeon.”
“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” I said. “We still have plenty of stamina and magic, and we haven’t used up a lot of resources either, so both options are okay.”
Haruka looked around to make sure we were all paying attention before continuing. “All right. Let’s start with the rock spiders. You can detect them reliably with your Scout skill, correct, Nao?”
“Yeah, pretty reliably, but when they’re a ways away from us, I can’t be sure—especially not when they’re on the ledges below us,” I said.
Touya glared at me. “Huh? You didn’t mention this earlier when I was climbing down there!”
I nodded and explained, “That’s why I’ve been using magic to double-check. Besides, even if a spider rammed you, it would probably bounce right off you, right?”
“Well, yeah, probably, but...”
The real threat posed by rock spiders was that they’d abruptly force us off the narrow plank trail. However, that wasn’t a risk for someone as heavy as Touya, especially in wider areas like ledges. I could deal with rock spiders just fine as long as I was prepared, but they would be considerably more dangerous for someone Metea’s size. Fundamentally, though, they depended on the ability to ambush their targets. I was confident in that judgment: My Third Eye skill told me they had the skills Disguise and Ambush.
“Next, the arrowhead eagles,” said Haruka. “I was able to shoot one down with my bow, so I don’t think they pose much of a threat to us.”
“I actually kind of disagree,” I said. “What you did isn’t easy for all of us, Haruka.”
If nothing else, the eagles were dangerous by virtue of their speed. They flew in a straight line, so it was relatively easy to aim at them, but you still needed to be a good shot.
“I can’t fight those birds,” said Metea.
“Me either,” said Mary. “They’re out of reach of my weapon, and they’re fast too.”
“Haruka, Yuki, and Nao-kun are the only ones who can easily dispatch arrowhead eagles,” said Natsuki. “I believe I could as well if they were to fly within range of my naginata, but it seems they only aim for people who are descending the cliff...”
Metea raised her hand, apparently eager to be helpful. “Oh yeah, I can slay them too if they fly near me!”
But the issue was that arrowhead eagles didn’t seem to aim at people who were standing with melee weapons at the ready. Haruka could only take down one at a time with her bow, and Yuki and I could each take down two with magic. Thus, assuming Haruka began using magic immediately after loosing an arrow, six was the absolute maximum number of arrowhead eagles that the three of us could engage in combat at one time.
“Hmm. Three arrowhead eagles attacked us earlier,” I said. “I think three more is the most we can safely handle.”
“I’m in agreement,” said Haruka. “That being the case, I suppose the greater threat is the flying needlefish.”
“Yeah, they’re hard to deal with ’cause of their size and how many of them there are,” said Yuki. “Even if we manage to kill a lot of them at the same time, it’s not enough.”
“If our three mages each slay three fish, that adds up to nine,” I said. “That leaves seven fish—assuming the average shoal is the same size as the one that hit us earlier.”
“There were a few more fish than that, actually,” said Haruka. “Yuki and I slew and drove away a few more. In fact, there were a number that easily got around your magic.”
“Ugh, I was hoping you didn’t notice!”
“Ah, yes, some of them weren’t even seared, much less grilled,” said Natsuki.
Okay, I admit it—some of them were totally raw. I didn’t even manage to char their skin!
“Yeah, yeah, I messed up and used the wrong spell. My bad.”
“Just so you’re aware, Nao, you aren’t cute when you sulk,” said Haruka.
“I’m not sulking!”
Haruka poked me in the cheek, but I swatted her hand away, then changed the subject.