Jack of All Trades, Party of None

As I closed the distance by about half, I caught sight of the opponent.

“So, it’s an earth dragon after all. Ms. Selma, what’s the plan?”

Having confirmed the enemy’s identity, I asked Ms. Selma about our next move in the battle.

The earth dragon looks like a wingless dragon that walks on all fours.

Its average length is about four meters, making it quite large.

Yet, it moves swiftly.

However, its scales are softer compared to other dragons.

“There’s only one demonic beast… Orun, can you handle it?”

“No problem.”

The earth dragon is indeed fast, but its reaction speed isn’t that exceptional.

Besides, it’s already wounded from Ms. Rain’s attack.

If we take control of the situation, we can easily deal with it.

“Alright. Then, Orun and Will, take it down. As a precaution, have Rain work on technique construction. If it’s going to take a while, switch to assisting Rain’s attacks. I’ll time the activation... 【Vanguard Up】.”

After giving instructions, Ms. Selma cast buffs on Will.

【Vanguard Up】 is one of the six basic types of support magic—excluding 【Magic Power Up】—where five types are activated simultaneously in parallel construction.

I also activated a quadruple stacking 【Agility Up】 on myself.

The moment we got buffed, the earth dragon, having somewhat recovered from its damage, noticed us and fired a mana projectile.

“I’ll charge straight on! Orun, flank it!”

Saying so, Will extinguished the mana projectile with his dual-bladed sword and dashed toward the earth dragon.

Since I was taking a longer route, naturally, Will reached the earth dragon first.

The earth dragon charged at Will.

“Alright, hold still!”

Instead of simply receiving the charge, Will parried with one blade of his dual swords and swung the other down, slamming the earth dragon’s face into the ground.

(Skillful!)

I couldn’t help but admire the move quietly.

It was such a refined and magnificent action.

As the distance between us and the earth dragon closed to a few meters, I prepared to attack.

—But I suddenly sensed a killing intent from behind.

I kicked off the ground and moved upward, just as something passed right beneath me.

Turning midair, I saw a turtle-shaped demonic beast (Hide Turtle) blending perfectly into the background.

The Hide Turtle is about a meter long and inhabits the lower layers.

As its name suggests, it can camouflage itself to blend into the environment.

It specializes in ambush attacks.

Its only saving grace is its low attack power.

But even with low attack power, although it won’t kill instantly, a badly placed hit can cause injuries severe enough to knock you out of the fight.

When it appears alongside other demonic beasts, it becomes a huge problem.

(I didn’t notice it. Still great at hiding as always.)

I shot three 【Rock Arrows】 at the Hide Turtle in midair.

All three hit, but they shattered against its hard shell without penetrating.

That was fine.

Seeing the 【Rock Arrows】 break suddenly midair would alert the rear guards that the Hide Turtle was there.

I left the Hide Turtle to the rear guards and created footing with 【Mana Convergence】.

Riding on it, I charged at the earth dragon at high speed.

Thanks to Will drawing the earth dragon’s aggro, it was completely unaware of me in its blind spot.

“【Strength Up】, 【Technical Skill Up】, 【Sharpness Up】!”

Buffing myself, I gripped my sword with both hands.

With the earth dragon’s scales already melting from Ms. Rain’s 【Super Explosion (Explode)】, I executed a downward diagonal slash.

Right before the blade hit, I activated 【Instantaneous Ability Surge (Impact)】 and cleaved the earth dragon in two.

“Cut in half in one stroke...”

Will muttered, sounding both surprised and a bit incredulous.

The earth dragon vanished in a cloud of black mist, leaving only a magic stone behind.

After confirming that, I quickly turned and spotted the Hide Turtle.

White smoke was rising around it.

In the next moment, the Hide Turtle was frozen solid.