Astral Online: Cursed by the Demon Lord to Become the Strongest Beautiful Girl, I Rapidly Grow and Dominate with Cheat Skills Despite Being the Weakest Profession - Chapter 175
Chapter 175: Leveling in the Sea
Since fighting on the ship was causing serious concerns about its durability, Sora and the others decided to dive into the sea for their consecutive battles.
The only concern was the reduced mobility underwater, but this was resolved by the level 5 passive skill ?Aquatic Aptitude? from Arisa’s ?Gáe Bulg?, which negated underwater ability penalties for all party members and increased all stats while underwater.
Moreover, this ?Aquatic Aptitude? skill allowed arrows shot underwater to be fired just as effectively as on land.
That said, it was inherently strange for archers to enter the sea and fight with bows, but nobody dared to voice their opinion against Arisa, who was leading the charge.
Inori, now able to handle arrows easily underwater, could no longer refuse to enter the water just because she was an archer. She wore a face that looked like the end of the world.
“I… I’ve never swum in real life, you know…”
“Don’t worry! I’ll give you a proper lesson, and as long as you chew on this ?Yggdrasil Leaf?, you won’t drown!”
“Kuro’s mom is just another ?Sora?…!”
“Hey! What do you mean by another me!”
“Inori-chan, let’s do our best together…”
“I’ll also do my best!”
While the two girls looked despairing, only Laura had a face full of determination.
Considering the fight against Asmodeus, she couldn’t afford to miss the chance to become stronger.
She must be motivated to help her mother.
However, I had to reconsider my previous thoughts.
Though her face was determined, she seemed somewhat pale, and upon closer inspection, I noticed her legs trembling slightly.
…She’s just putting on a brave face.
Even if we could move like we were on land, the sea was the enemy’s territory.
According to Arisa, due to the game’s mechanics, monsters over 20 meters long wouldn’t appear, but sea monsters were still terrifying and easily surpassed the typical horror game level.
I was trying to stay calm, but I’m not exactly a fan of horror myself.
So, with the overall morale low and a sense of danger in the air, I wondered how we could handle this situation.
Starting this way will probably drain some of our ‘remaining life points’, which are specific to this game.
As I was thinking that, Arisa cleared her throat.
With a smile that suggested she had a clever plan, she announced to everyone:
“Because the bed is too small, let’s decide that starting today, only the person with the most damage at the end of each day gets to sleep in the same room as Sora-chan.”
“!!?” x3
The three girls instantly turned serious and simultaneously faced Arisa.
She received their intense gazes with a calm expression, wearing a truly devilish smile.
“Oh? I mean, sleeping in such a small space with four of us isn’t very good for our condition, is it?”
“Um, just to clarify, what happens if I get first place?”
“Then Sora-chan will get to sleep alone. If you want to sleep with someone, you can choose just one person freely.”
The arrival of my own golden age.
To enjoy my long-awaited solo time, Sora decided to give it his all.
………………………
A large deep-sea monster known as ?King Shark?.
It is level 100 and considered as dangerous as the ?Kraken?.
Visually, it looks exactly like a great white shark, but it’s a massive 10 meters long.
With a solid, stocky body, it has a stout nose and mouth, equipped with sharp and sturdy teeth capable of easily crushing its prey.
The attack patterns include tackles, tail strikes, and slashes using its sharp, blade-like fins in combination with tackles.
What’s necessary is to remain calm and not rush, properly observing the enemy’s preparatory movements to avoid their attacks.
If you dodge the third attack, the ?King Shark? will enter skill recovery, allowing you to hit it with your maximum damage without missing the opportunity. Even if it has three health bars, four players’ attacks can quickly reduce it by half.
Furthermore, when attempting an attack learned through ?Skill United?, I successfully wiped out one health bar in a single hit.
Throughout the day, after taking several breaks, we defeated seven ?King Sharks? and now faced the last one.
Inori’s precise sniping struck the moving enemy, temporarily paralyzing the giant shark with a thunder arrow.
Laura, holding the beautifully decorated blue rapier ?Blue Rose?, and Kuro, wielding the vibrant lavender-colored ?Sword of Dawn?, coordinated their approach.
Their combined charges and powerful strikes, united through their chosen skills, reduced the shark’s health to half.
Then, as if seeking revenge, the ?King Shark? unleashed a skill effect from its tail and attempted to strike both girls, who were slightly immobilized due to skill recovery.
“Slarrr!”
To prevent this, Laura’s summoned slime, Sue-chan, stepped forward, forming a shield-like shape to defend against the tail strike.
As the immobilization ended, the ?King Shark? tried to escape from the counterattack of the girls with a powerful swim away from the spot.
Now, it generated skill effects all over its body and made a large U-turn with its momentum.
As the giant shark charged like a bullet while spinning, Kuro and Laura used their emergency evasion skill, ?Sonic Step?, to avoid it, causing the massive shark to freeze in skill recovery.
Although the immobilization lasted only a few seconds, it was the perfect opportunity for Sora, who had been timing it.
“This is it!”
Since we were underwater, I shouted in my mind, and the silver-haired adventurer sprang forward, first selecting the charge attack ?Sonic Sword?.
The second choice was the powerful attack with lightning attribute, ?Rising Slant?.
The two skills combined through ?Skill United? became ?Rising Rage Sword?.
Its effect surrounds the user with lightning, temporarily greatly enhancing speed and attack power for a powerful strike.
Wrapped in lightning and moving with the speed of a flash, Sora approached the immobilized monster and swung the blade from a right downward position to a left upward position with all their might.
“????!”
A powerful strike hit the unguarded back, depleting the last remaining health bar and dropping it to zero in an instant.
The massive shark transformed into particles of light.
Sora gained a significant amount of experience points, and combined with the effect of her title, her level increased to 75.
As expected from a level 100 monster, the experience points were exceptionally high.
When Arisa sent a message saying to wrap it up for the day, the five of them used the ropes lowered from the ship to return aboard.
There, the results of the day’s battles were announced.
“Alright, today’s damage MVP is Sora-chan! You’re the clear winner!”
“Ugh, Sora is too strong…”
“I wish you’d hold back a little…”
“I never imagined that even with Sue-chan and my combined efforts, we wouldn’t catch up…”
The women voiced their complaints about my results.
After all, the underwater battles felt similar to the VR game ?Space Wars? I had played previously, and I quickly got used to moving with my arms and legs.
Kuro and the others had been taught by Arisa, but it took them two battles to get accustomed, so it was natural that Sora would win.
However, this was a competitive environment, and to relish the experience of being a solo victor after a long time, I didn’t hold back at all.
I thought it might be a bit cruel, but while I internally clenched my fist tightly, I felt a light jab in my side from Kuro, who looked dissatisfied.
Thinking she might voice some objections, the girl pointed her right index finger at Sora’s nose and declared, “Next time, I’ll beat you!”
In her eyes burned an indomitable fighting spirit.
I couldn’t help but recall my own past, having once shared that same look when I crossed blades with Shino.
Smiling at the challenge, I gladly accepted it as her senior.