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 56
Chapter 56: The Strongest Backstory
After battling five Big Spiders, we walked for a while before finally seeing the tip of our destination’s structure.
“That must be the ?Temple of the Wind?.”
We had finally arrived.
After walking for about ten minutes, not just the tip but the entire temple came into view.
Although its presence was noticeable from a distance, up close, the grandeur of the temple was overwhelming.
By estimation, the temple was over ten meters long.
It was a massive stone structure, with a design reminiscent of large European cathedrals.
The outer walls were made of pure white stone, and touching it left only a smooth sensation in my hand.
Activating the ?Insight? skill, I saw the text ?Unbreakable Object? appear in my view.
Typically, buildings have defense and durability, but it seemed this dungeon had none of those features.
Opening the massive wooden doors, we entered to find a spacious interior, with faintly visible routes leading left, right, and up to a second floor.
The only source of light was the glowing trees inside, known as ?Spirit Trees?.
The dim light made me frown.
For now, I decided it was best to use my ?Perception? skills to identify the locations of monsters in advance while we explored.
So, were there monsters nearby?
Using my skill, I began investigating the first floor.
I noticed something surprising.
“Hmm, it seems I can’t expand the range any further.”
Despite the detection skill’s reputation for being versatile, it seemed that in the dungeon, the system limited the range to a maximum of two meters.
With this limitation, it seemed impossible to avoid encounters with lurking monsters.
I stepped outside briefly and said to the others,
“For now, I’ll give Kuro and Aria one wind resistance and four poison resistances.”
“Got it!”
“…Okay.”
Aria responded energetically, while Kuro’s response was a bit less energetic than usual.
Despite trying not to show it, she seems to be forcing herself to be okay since that conversation.
But I wasn’t sure what to say to her.
Poor attempts at comfort might actually make things worse.
Thinking about what to do, I used the enhancement skills.
When my MP ran out, I drank a Magic Potion and used the skill again.
I repeated this a few times.
Once all the enhancements were done and the empty Magic Potion bottle vanished into light, we were ready.
Aria had the ?Magic Lamp?, so I’m in charge of the map we got from Giorl.
The formation as we proceeded through the dungeon was Aria at the front, with Kuro and me following behind.
“Why am I at the front?!”
Aria protested, but currently, she was the highest level and had the best equipment among us.
Her total defense was [A], far superior to my [E+], and her HP was 1000, a full order of magnitude higher than mine.
I had almost forgotten, but her clothes had a skill that, by spending 100 MP, could activate an advanced defensive magic called ?Wind Spirit Barrier?.
In case of emergency, that should help us out.
So, I directed our path using the map, and along the way, we encountered several level 30 monsters known as ?Leviathan Warrior?, which were giant snakes with thick limbs.
However, their attack patterns only had an added poison claw attack called ?Poison Claw?.
I used ?Sonic Sword III? in time with their attacks, causing the Leviathan Warrior to fall easily. Kuro’s ?Strike Sword II? hit next, reducing their HP to 30%.
Aria then calmly sniped, and the remaining 30% HP was wiped out, causing the Leviathan Warrior to scatter.
With this flawless combination, we advanced through the dungeon, defeating every Warrior we encountered without trouble.
As a result, my level increased from 31 to 33, and Kuro’s rose from 24 to 26.
While progressing through the dungeon, we collected several treasure chests labeled as supply boxes.
All the contents were items named ?Fall Ore?.
According to the description, it seemed they could be used to enhance weapons.
But I’ve never heard a thing from Kirie about blacksmithing, like being able to strengthen weapons.
This might be a hint that some content will be added later, just like how ?Antidote Elixir? were introduced.
Sharing the loot with Kuro, I barely detected a Leviathan Warrior waiting around the corner with my ?Perception? skills.
I led the charge, and then the two of them followed up.
After defeating the Leviathan Warrior with minimal attacks, I watched Kuro sheathe her sword and couldn’t help but smile.
“By the way, Kuro, your skills are getting sharper and sharper. The quality is on par with mine. Watching you reminds me of someone I used to play with a long time ago.”
“…Someone?”
Kuro seemed interested in my story and looked up at me.
Thinking it might distract her even a little, I continued speaking as we walked.
“That person I mentioned was my ‘apprentice.’ She was a girl like Kuro, with the player name Ilya.I met her in real life once, and I think she was a half-Japanese girl with blonde hair.”
“I’m surprised that Sora-sama had an apprentice.”
“Was this Ilya person strong?”
Kuro’s question made me nod.
“Definitely. She had about the same natural talent as you, Kuro. She picked up what I taught her in no time, and she was a really excellent kid.”
“…Was she cute?”
“Well, she was cute enough to have a fan club.”
“Oh, she was cute, huh?”
Kuro’s expression turned slightly sullen.
It was better than her being depressed, but her sharp, cold gaze made me sweat profusely.
“She was cute, but we weren’t dating or anything.”
“Okay, I’ll ask Shino and Shio for more details.”
“Huh…?”
She didn’t believe me.
Or rather, why was I feeling so cornered when there’s nothing between me and Kuro?
As I puzzled over this strange situation, I pulled myself together and steered the conversation back on track.
“But she had a habit of dwelling on mistakes. Whenever something went wrong, she’d get discouraged, and I’d always give her advice and encourage her to keep trying.”
“When I hear about Sora’s apprentice, I expect her to be a monster just like you.”
“A monster? Kuro, I think I’m still pretty normal compared to my master.”
“Really? Are you joking?”
“I think Sora-sama is far beyond the normal range.”
“You guys…”
It was harsh for the two of them to say such things.
The term “monster” was applied to the character I used, whose power was only about 70% of the cheat specs I boasted. My own strength was only about 30%.
Moreover, in other games, there are plenty of players with higher skills than mine.
Feeling a bit hurt, Sora breathed out a heavy sigh.
At that moment, Kuro leaned forward and asked:
“Ilya isn’t playing this game?”
“Hmm, I don’t know. It’s been three years since we last played together, and we haven’t been in touch since then.”
“Three years!?”
“Did you have a fight?”
Aria was surprised, and Kuro questioned me.
Since detailing everything that happened with Ilya would likely darken the mood, I hesitated a bit and then said.
“It wasn’t a fight.”
“If it wasn’t a fight, then what was it?”
“Ah, how should I put it… It was…”
I scratched the back of my head and stopped walking.
Then, I gave a self-deprecating laugh.
“Well, I wasn’t a very good master. So…”
I was about to say, ‘I’ve lost my precious disciple,’ but I stopped myself.
“Sora-sama…”
“Sora…”
“Sorry for getting so gloomy. Once we get through this passage, we’ll be out of the area mapped by Giorl. From here on, let’s stay focused.”
Aria closed her mouth and walked at the front.
Kuro stood next to Sora, who followed behind.
She suddenly took Sora’s hand and said:
“Sora, you’ve been through a lot too.”
“Not as much as you, Kuro.”
As they both forced a smile, Sora firmly gripped Kuro’s hand.