Chapter 245
A red treasure chest that only appears when a quest is cleared.
Its slightly bright red surface adorned with silver decorations, Ingrid cautiously opened the chest and pulled out a single scroll.
"This is 'Perfect Clean'."
"Can you use it?"
"Yes, there is no problem."
When I urged her to use it, the scroll glowed faintly, and the light was absorbed into Ingrid.
"...I have successfully learned it."
After the light subsided, she opened her status to check, and the 'Perfect Clean' skill was added to Ingrid's skill list. Hearing her report, I felt a wave of relief.
"Good. We'll be counting on you to perform from the next dungeon onward.""Leave it to me.""First, we'll confirm how it feels to use it. Be careful not to involve allies when you use it.""Yes."
This will make dealing with small fry much easier.It's a skill with endless future applications. Right now, we're tackling dungeons with ease, and only a manageable number of drop items appear for collection. But in future dungeons, the number of monsters will increase, and so will the number of drop items.
When the time comes to choose what to keep, it will be easier to distinguish by monster type.
"The time is... around noon?"
Using Perfect Clean to defeat monsters only yields proficiency experience for the Perfect Clean skill itself.
It's a skill that erases everything else, cleaning it all away, making it convenient for situations you'd rather not deal with properly.
Now that she's learned it, I want to check its usability.I confirm the time we finished by rubbing my stomach, gauging my hunger.
It's a bit early for lunch, but given the exercise, I could eat.Yet, it's a subtle level of hunger where I don't necessarily feel like eating right now.
"Hmm, I'm thinking we try out Ingrid's skill in a simple dungeon before having lunch. How does that sound?"
The urge to immediately use a newly acquired skill—that's just what gamers are like. But this time, it's not just that; Ingrid's acquired Perfect Clean is a skill she needs to be thoroughly taught how to use.
"Sounds good to me.""Yeah, I'm not that hungry yet either.""No problem here.""Understood."
Getting approval from Nell, Amina, Lady Esmeralda, and Claudia, I looked at Ingrid.
"Alright?""Yes, please instruct me.""Okay, then let's head to a dungeon with lots of monsters."
Perhaps because I took down most of the turtle-based Boss Rush dungeon myself, we didn't get any great items. I wonder if this is just something that can't be helped, regardless of Nell's luck.
Thinking this, as soon as we exited the dungeon, I began making a flower crown.
"Which dungeon are we challenging?""The Goblin Dungeon. There are lots of them, and it's a decent fight. The boss is a Hobgoblin, perfect for testing Ingrid's skill."
Nell peeked over to see what kind of flower crown I was making, but it wasn't particularly pretty, being mostly unified in brown and green.
Goblins are often the first monsters fought in many stories, but in FBO, they aren't beginner-friendly monsters. They are numerous and use a wide variety of weapons. It's common for players to think, "They're just weaklings, right?" only to get surrounded by melee goblins and shot by archers, leading to defeat.
It's a somewhat nasty dungeon where initially only unarmed goblins appear, lulling you into a false sense of security before weapon-wielding ones emerge from the back. Beginners surprisingly lose here often.
But given our current level, the level difference is so vast that losing to goblins would be difficult.
It's the perfect dungeon to safely test a skill.
"I see.""Done. Low-class dungeons aren't that complex; it's easy and good."
After about five minutes, I finished the flower crown, grabbed a nearby floating brownish bubble, imagined a goblin, applied it to the crown, and created the dungeon.
"A forest-type dungeon?""Yeah. Those guys spawn from anywhere, ignoring paths, so stay alert.""Understood.""Though, they lack the intelligence to hide, so just watch for sounds and you'll be fine."
This time, Ingrid is the main character.Leading the way with her into the dungeon, I began explaining how to use the skill before we even encountered any goblins.
"First, try mimicking my movements without using the skill.""Yes."
Using my scythe-spear, I demonstrated a motion like sweeping the ground clear with a broom.This movement is closer to swordsmanship than spearmanship.Because my spear is longer, the motion is more exaggerated, but it's sufficient for demonstration.
Ingrid mimicked the movement. Confirming her motions were smooth enough to sufficiently hit an enemy, I nodded. Next, I deliberately dragged the blade tip along the ground, moving the spear slowly this time.
"Roughly, the area in front of this arc is the skill's effect range. When activated, anything in front of this disappears, so be careful.""...Understood."
The arc drawn by that movement defined Perfect Clean's area of effect.My spear is longer than her broom, but by adjusting the grip position, I indicated the spot roughly equivalent to the tip of her broom's bristles. Ingrid looked back and forth between her own prepared broom and my demonstration, nodding in understanding.
"I understand that the area *outside* the arc is the effect range. Is it correct to assume the effect does not extend beyond the ends of this arc?""Right. Perfect Clean's effect activates, extending forward from the arc's path. It won't affect areas to the sides of where you stop the swing.""What happens if I swing it vertically from behind to the front, like this?""Then the effect range becomes a semicircle. Be careful, as the effect doesn't reach below the point of impact on the ground.""So, essentially, the range is the area *outside* the arc described by the broom's movement?""That's correct."
She was confirming our shared understanding.I appreciated that.This skill is truly frightening in terms of friendly fire, so handling it requires caution.Well, as a workaround, I could have Ingrid equip a modified 'Crest of the Weak' boosted to +100 to lower her stats while we keep our levels the same. That would prevent us from taking damage, but fighting in a weakened state from now on would be honestly tough.
That's precisely why she needs to master its usage.
"Next, just visualize activating the skill and use it. Think you can do it?""No problem.""Alright. Then, for now, Amina, can you sing and lure the goblins over?""Okay!!"
The fastest way for her to learn its handling is through actual combat.
"Everyone else, step back and watch. Observing Ingrid's skill and confirming its effect range will help us understand how to position ourselves later."
It's not just Ingrid who needs to learn; all party members, including me, will benefit from memorizing this effect range for future use.
"Got it!""Yes, understanding a comrade's skills is a good thing.""Understood!"
Amina gave a thumbs-up while singing, indicating she understood, so she'll probably keep a good eye on things.
*'GyaGya!!'*
While we were confirming this, guttural voices began to be heard from deep within the forest, mingling with Amina's singing.A cacophony intruding upon the clear singing voice.
It was abundantly clear they were running towards us, making a huge racket.
Three goblins charging from the front, with two more behind them. Judging by the unarmed ones, these were the weakest type of goblins.
"Liberta-sama.""Shall we try it right away?""Yes."
With Ingrid's current stats, she could easily defeat the goblins with strikes from her broom form, without even drawing her blade.
But, instructing her not to do that and to use the skill instead, Ingrid stepped forward and took a stance.The goblins, with ugly expressions and drool dripping from their mouths, charged at Ingrid at full speed.
I watched from behind as the goblins swarmed in, not hesitating at all before the motionless Ingrid, even accelerating.
The moment the goblins were about to enter Ingrid's range.
"Perfect Clean."
Ingrid quietly uttered the skill name while swinging her broom. Unlike usual, white light enveloped her broom, and the moment she swung, a expanding light was released along the arc, engulfing the goblins.
"They're gone.""Yes, they vanished.""...Miss Ingrid, how did it feel?""There was no sensation whatsoever. It felt like a practice swing, and this was the result after swinging."
She quickly cut down the goblins outside the effect range with her concealed blade, sheathed it, and looked at the spot where the goblins had been just moments before.
Faced with a skill that erased the goblins without any attack feedback, merely by activation, Nell and the others stared wide-eyed.
"How was the magic power consumption?""It wasn't as much as I imagined. However, I wouldn't call the consumption low.""It has a recast time, so it can't be used frequently, but it can still be a trump card. Mastering it in just one go will be difficult, so let's have lunch after clearing this and train more this afternoon.""Understood."
The contradiction felt—terrifying yet giving the impression that the area before you had been cleaned perfectly.The power of this ridiculous unique skill, born from the developers' idea that mastering cleaning leads to this.
If an amateur uses this, a toxic player who team kills is born. But in the hands of a skilled user, it's a truly convenient skill.
I believe Ingrid can reach that level.
I won't hold back at all in teaching her this.
"For now, let's clear this dungeon.""Will I be able to use it once more before we finish?""Hmm... Should we clear it slowly so you can use it again, and time it so the recast finishes while we're eating lunch?"
We entered this lower-level Goblin Dungeon not to raise proficiency, but purely to learn how to use the skill. But for this party, even an hour in the Goblin Dungeon feels too long.
However, if we deliberately take it slow, it could take about an hour.
Lunch will be a bit late, but it should be fine.
In that case, shall we take a detour, fight the goblins, and collect magic stones?Every little bit adds up.There are endless uses for magic stones; the more, the better.
And so, we embarked on clearing the Goblin Dungeon.
"They are weak, aren't they?""Well, they are goblins. With our current level difference, we can't really feel any challenge.""My skill level won't increase like this."
This must be what 'cutting through a thousand enemies as easily as brushing dust from one's sleeves' means. A light swing of Nell's halberd sent goblins flying. A casual backfist from Claudia sent goblins flying. A spell from Lady Esmeralda sent goblins flying.
It's clearly overkill.
Lady Esmeralda smiled wryly at the sight.
This continued until the very end, with the supposed boss, the Hobgoblin, being instantly scattered by a Perfect Clean whose recast time had just ended.
"Treasure chests do appear.""Well, it's like a bonus for clearing the dungeon."
Nell sighed in relief that a treasure chest appeared.