Bofuri: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense. Volume. 2.
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‘Chapter 8: Defense Build and Encounters.’
“Guess we’re not getting out of this cave today…”
“Time to start looking for a place to sleep.”
With a new goal added to their exploration, they headed on down the passage.
“Sure would be nice to just…stumble across an exit…”
“That would be the best. Today’s really taken a lot out of me…”
Maple and Sally were both looking exhausted. They were ready to stop exploring and sleep right here.
Up ahead, they spotted yet another chamber. Then…
“A-an earthquake?!”
“I feel it this time, too!”
The ground was noticeably shaking.
And there was an ominous rumble emanating from the chamber ahead.
All three girls braced themselves for a fight.
It came from one of the other chamber entrances.
Given the height of the ceilings, this thing must be five yards tall and seven yards long.
A giant snail, slowly oozing along.
It didn’t seem to notice the girls—it simply crossed the chamber and vanished down another passage.
“……………Crap. That thing is bad news.”
“I didn’t see an HP bar…”
“H-how is that bad?” Maple said, looking very worried.
“If there’s no health bar…we can’t actually beat it.”
“And that means if we want a safe zone, it has to be where that thing can’t go…or we’re screwed.”
The girls were chained together.
None of them could serve as bait.
“Best we move away from here for now. Before it comes back.”
“Yeah, let’s.”
“Uh, how about that passage?”
They picked a third path—neither the one the snail had come from nor the one it had gone down.
“Well, that does explain the dungeon’s structure,” Sally muttered.
This dungeon was a maze of passages, with many dead ends.
But they all had high ceilings and were free of obstructions.
And the players were chained together.
It was designed to be easy for the snail to traverse and hard for the players to get away.
“Perhaps the difficulty level changes depending on the time of day,” Kasumi said.
She was right—the snail only started prowling after six PM.
There was also an end time, but the three of them had no way of knowing it.
And as time passed, the rumbling grew louder.
“I-is there more than one?”
“…………Maybe.”
Sally perked up her ears, trying to locate the source of the sound.
She didn’t hear any slithering, so she concluded it wasn’t that close by.
But they definitely had to stay on high alert.
And that was taking its toll on her already tired senses.
After making it past a few more forks in the tunnels, it finally happened.
“……!”
They rounded a corner…
And found themselves face-to-face with a giant snail.
“Run! Back the way we came!”
Kasumi and Sally started to run, but Maple couldn’t keep up.
“Oh…crap!”
Sally tried to get Maple back on her feet, but the snail was already on top of them.
It shook itself, spraying sticky fluid.
“Argh!”
The great shield swallowed the fluid, so by hiding behind Maple, they avoided getting hit.
“Sally, run! Superspeed!”
“! Got it!”
They’d discussed this in advance. Their last resort if there was no other escape.
““Superspeed!””
Both girls turned into blurs.
Maple was dragged along behind them.
Any other player would have sustained fatal damage.
And the party would have been wiped.
But not Maple.
Maple could survive this without taking any damage at all.
Of course, that didn’t make it a comfortable ride…
Which was why it was their last resort.
Maple kept bouncing along behind them, her armor clanking loudly.
She’d managed to put her shield away in time, but not her armor.
“How’s it looking back there?”
“We’re good! It’s not keeping up!”
They’d managed to get away this time.
But it would be a while before Superspeed was available again. If they encountered another snail before then, it might well be the end of the road.
And the slithering noise wasn’t going away.
“Tch, there’s one coming from somewhere else!”
“This way!”
They turned down a side passage.
Maple pulled off her gear, and Sally hoisted her.
A typical approach for them.
“I knew it! The snails are tracking sound!”
Without Maple’s armor making a racket, the slithering noises faded away.
“In that case…any nearby?”
“…I think we’re good?”
“Whew…we got away…”
They all collapsed against the wall.
They were in the middle of a corridor, not exactly safe—but it was better than a dead end.
“We’ve…gotta find the exit, or…”
“Yeah…but…”
Their goal was obvious.
The longer they stayed, the worse their odds.
Escaping the dungeon was their top priority.
“This dungeon doesn’t seem to have a boss room. If we find medals or equipment, we’ll certainly grab them, but…”
“Sounds right. With those snails roaming, it’s even more likely the dungeon concept is focused on exploration.”
“So, like, the entire dungeon is the boss room?”
“More or less.”
Sally got to her feet.
“We’d better move before one finds us. The entrance was from above, so…are we thinking the way out will be below?”
“It might be. No guarantees…”
“Then let’s try taking any path that slopes down. Should be better than paths heading up anyway.”
The passage they were in was a gentle downward slope. They agreed to follow any paths that did the same.
Down they went.
On the way, they saw several snails in the distance.
And Sally made an important discovery.
The snails were faster than Maple.
If they simply ran for it—they’d never get away.
Any time they turned a corner and came face-to-face with a snail, Sally would have to pick up Maple—delaying the start of their run.
And if they got hit by that sticky projectile, they might wind up trapped.
But if Maple had her shield out to guard against that, Sally couldn’t carry her.
They had to avoid getting that close at all costs.
“Whew…gotta stay focused…”
Sally cracked a whip, forcing her tired body into high-focus mode.
Her ability to detect enemies was keeping them alive.
They had to move carefully, without sound…and as they did, the dungeon’s very appearance began to change.
“It’s pretty…”
“Yeah. It certainly is.”
“I think I actually feel less exhausted now?”
There were purple crystals glowing on the walls.
These weren’t harvestable, but it did seem like the light was easing their weary minds.
And…
“Is it just me or are the passages getting smaller?”
Sally was right—the ceilings were clearly getting lower, some of them just barely tall enough for the snails to get past.
“But…the tremors are getting bigger.”
“So there are more snails, but the terrain is less in their favor?”
They pressed on.
All three of them were hoping they’d find the exit before the day was done.
Praying they wouldn’t hear that slithering close by, every sense straining to avoid getting trapped.
“So…do we think there’re any safe rooms in this place?” Sally whispered.
She was acutely aware that her focus was wavering.
It wouldn’t be strange if she made a fatal mistake at any time.
Sally was their best hope of detecting enemies in time, so one mistake would mean all three of them died.
“Gotta keep going,” she said, slapping her cheeks. She perked up her ears again. “I hear a faint noise from the path on the left. Right sounds safe.”
The other two were listening as well but couldn’t make out anything distinct over the constant rumbling.
There was no way either of them could take Sally’s place.
“Let’s hurry. Before something comes from the right, too.”
“Oof, that would be bad.”
“Then let’s move!”
They hurried down the path to the right.
And encountered no snails on it.
If they’d gone left, they’d have run into a snail.
Sally’s detection skills were still functioning—for now.
The path they took led to a dead end.
But this wasn’t entirely bad news.
“I see something!”
Kasumi was pointing at a large purple crystal.
Trapped inside it was an old key and a pair of earrings that looked like cherry blossoms.
They moved closer—and noticed the crystal had an HP bar.
That meant it was destructible.
“That key looks important… I bet we’ll need it later.”
“That’s what I thought, too.”
“Allow me.”
Kasumi drew her katana.
“Fourth Blade: Whirlwind!”
A slice up and a slice down—twice.
Four quick slashes struck the crystal.
This was more damage than the crystal could sustain, and it shattered with a sound like glass breaking.
The key and earrings fell to the floor, and Kasumi scooped them up, checking them out.
“The key…doesn’t have a description. The earrings are just an accessory. They seem unrelated to escaping this place.”
She let the others see.
“Mm, looks like it.”
“Do we…use this key somewhere?” Maple asked.
“Who knows?” Sally said. She handed the earrings back to Kasumi. “Either way, these are yours.”
They discussed things a bit longer and decided Kasumi should hold on to the key as well.
“All right, back the way we came.”
This was a dead end, and they could easily get trapped here.
They couldn’t afford to linger.
After exploring a while longer, they found a hole near the ceiling.
It was right in the middle of the passage—and not something they’d seen before.
The obvious assumption was that something was hidden inside.
“Can we get to it?”
“Uh…it’s too high for Leap…”
It was a good ten yards above them, and Sally couldn’t jump that high.
They stopped to think.
“………Wait! Shhh! ……Oh no!”
Sally’s ears caught slithering coming their way.
From both directions.
“Argh! I was afraid of a pincer attack!”
They’d managed to avoid it all this time—in fact, their party had avoided having many encounters at all. All because Sally had been so focused on detecting them in time.
Using the direction and size of the tremors to estimate distance and their positions, she’d been carefully picking the best routes.
But their luck had finally run out.
She’d misread one snail’s approach.
“That hole’s our only way out!”
“Sally, Leap for it! I’ll handle the rest!”
There was no time for Kasumi to explain her plan.
Both snails were already in sight.
“Leap!”
Hoping against hope that she could reach it, Sally jumped—but with two others weighing her down, there was no way.
“Third Blade: Blue Moon!”
In midair, Kasumi accelerated.
The system boosted her movement, rocketing her upward.
Dragging the other two along.
Kasumi spun in the air, leaving an attack effect behind and propelling herself forward…
Landing just inside the hole’s entrance.
The others were yanked after her, and they all went tumbling through. Sally peered over the edge at the snails below.
They were spitting sticky stuff, but it couldn’t reach them up here.
“Looks like they can’t follow us!” she said, relieved. She leaned back against the crystal wall, resting.
“Ha-ha…I’m just glad that worked.”
“Thanks, Kasumi. Leap alone was nowhere near enough.”
“That was amazing!”
“Blue Moon comes with a long recovery time after each use. If that hadn’t worked, I’d have been unable to move at all, and the snails would have doomed us. It was a long shot.”
But that long shot had paid off.
The three girls could finally get some rest.
This hole wasn’t big enough for those snails.
“Rest is good and all, but shouldn’t we scope out this hole first? No guarantee there aren’t other monsters in here.”
“…………Good point. You never can tell. I was definitely assuming those snails were the only thing in this dungeon.”
“We’d better check, then.”
They picked themselves back up and headed deeper in.
It connected to a circular chamber.
It was a five-yard drop to the floor below and had six passages leading in.
Even from a distance, these passages were obviously big enough for snails.
But in the wall opposite the hole—was a door.
Only two yards tall.
Definitely nothing as big as the boss room doors they’d found.
“Think that’s the exit?”
“Hang on. Keen Sight! …………There’s a keyhole. Likely for the key we found. I think we can assume there’s something behind it.”
“Then…should we? I don’t hear any snails coming.”
“Oh?”
“You’re sure?”
Sally double-checked.
Both passages were silent.
She listened for a full minute but couldn’t hear any snails.
“I’m sure. No sounds at all.”
“Then…shall we?”
“I’m in!”
They dropped down from the hole.
Maple and Kasumi both trusted Sally’s detection skills.
Sally had faith in them, too.
And those skills had given her an accurate answer.
There were no snails approaching. There were no monsters anywhere.
But as events soon proved, they should have taken a rest in that hole.
All three girls were too tired to think straight.
Not one of them realized that dropping down might change things.
As they hit the floor, the crystal behind them grew—blocking the hole.
And that awfully familiar sound echoed from every side passage.
That horrible slithering they’d already heard far too much of.
“C-crap!”
“What now?”
“Run for it! That’s our only option!”
Maple was in full gear.
But they didn’t have time to wait for her to unequip it so they could pick her up. Snails were already crawling out of the passages.
They were twenty-five yards from the door.
Not normally a significant distance, but right now—it seemed very far away.
““Superspeed!””
Sally and Kasumi both blurred, rocketing forward, dragging Maple along behind. Three snails each were coming into the room from the right and the left, two of them on the diagonals ahead.
Those two were spraying sticky stuff everywhere, trying to stop them from reaching the door.
“Hngg…left!”
“Got it!”
Sally and Kasumi quickly veered, following a safe path.
Maple was being dragged after them and couldn’t take evasive maneuvers, so she had to use Devour to escape the stickiness.
The snails were faster than Maple, but no match for Sally and Kasumi.
As long as they avoided the sticky goo, reaching the door was simple.
“Kasumi! Key!”
“On it!”
Kasumi popped open her inventory, grabbed the key, and reached for the keyhole.
But then…
“Yikes!”
There was a wet noise, and something shot out of the snail—what could only be called a tentacle.
It snatched the key from her hand.
The tentacle placed the key on the snail’s head. Then it withdrew back into the snail’s body.
“W-we’ve gotta get it back!”
“But I can’t reach with Leap…!”
Sally alone might be able to manage it, but with Kasumi and Maple in tow, it was too high up.
“Can’t stop to think! They’re coming!”
The snails were all oozing toward them. Pausing for a second would leave them covered in goo. And they might use those tentacles again.
“Kasumi, would Blue Moon do it?”
“I’d need a safe opening! Or they’ll finish me before the recovery period ends!”
More and more of the ground was getting coated in goo.
They didn’t have much time left.
It was Maple who broke the impasse.
“……Sally! Run straight toward the hole we came from!” she yelled.
Sally took one glance at her and saw the confidence in her eyes.
“…Got it. Well, here goes nothing!”
Sally and Kasumi raced forward.
Getting back to the hole meant slipping past the snails—
—which already had them surrounded.
“I’ll handle that! Sixth Blade: Inferno!”
Her katana ignited, sending scorching flames among the snails.
This did no damage, but it did make them flinch—buying the group enough time to rush past. (They’d tested this on the way here.)
The snails turned to give chase.
“Thought so! They’re not too smart,” Maple said.
The snails were all following in their footsteps.
This alone told the others what Maple’s plan would be.
“Hydra!”
“Leap!”
“Third Blade: Blue Moon!”
Each skill did its job.
Maple made the snails flinch, and Kasumi and Sally took that opportunity to vault up to the snails’ shells.
Maple’s skill had bought enough time that Kasumi could recover from hers.
“No goo up here! And…”
Sally looked ahead. More snails, all following the same behavior.
One of them had the key.
Since the snails had all come after them single file, they formed a line almost all the way to the door.
And by a stroke of luck, the snail with the key had joined the queue last and was parked at an angle.
“We can grab the key without the shell getting in the way!”
“Leap!”
The shell was higher than the snail’s head, so all they had to do was hop down and snatch the key back.
“Got it!”
“Hurry!”
But the ground below was in such poor condition, they lost a few precious seconds.
By the time they reached the door again, the snails had had enough time to send sticky goo and tentacles their way.
But…
“Cover!”
Maple’s shield blocked them all.
With her on defense, not a single attack could make it through.
“You’re not getting us twice!”
“All right! It’s open!”
They went tumbling through the door.
The second they were all inside, the doorway vanished—there was no chance of the snails following them now.
And the chain binding them together crumbled away.
They’d successfully cleared the dungeon.
“Whew…we’re aliiiive…”
“I’m…so tiiiired…”
“I never wanna see another snail…”
The room had four treasure chests and a magic circle.
“Should we open those up?”
“Ooh, yeah.”
They each took one.
“I got a spear!”
“Great shield.”
“Mine has a wand.”
Amethyst Spear.
[Strength +20]. [Vitality +15]. [Crystal Wall].
Amethyst Geode.
[Vitality +30]. [Crystal Wall].
Amethyst Wand.
[Intelligence +20]. [MP +30]. [Crystal Wall].
They each looked them over. The great shield was the only thing any of them could use.
“Maple, you can have this. It does me no good,” Kasumi said, handing Maple the Amethyst Geode.
“You’re sure?”
“Please take it.”
It wasn’t exactly a fair trade, but Maple handed the spear over, and Sally added the wand.
“Hmm…they’re all good pieces,” Kasumi said, checking the stats.
Players who could actually equip these would definitely be interested.
“There’s still one chest left.”
Sally headed toward it.
The other two peered in as she lifted the lid.
“Hmm…three scrolls. That’s it!”
Making doubly sure there weren’t any medals, Sally picked up the scrolls.
“They’re identical. We can all learn the skill.”
She tossed over the spares.
Once everything was back in their inventory, they were done with this place.
“Should we go, then?”
“Yeah. Man, that cave was tough. I’m bushed!”
They stepped onto the magic circle and left the dungeon behind.
All three of their unique play styles had helped them make it through intact.
Each had made up for the other two’s shortcomings.
At long last, they found themselves in the desert once more.
“Ah…the night sky…!”
“We weren’t down there that long.”
“But it’s still a sight for sore eyes.”
After several hours in a cave, seeing the sky was an undeniable source of relief.
“So, uh…we meant to fight you, Kasumi. But…I think we’re past that.”
After all that cooperation, Sally wasn’t in the mood to rekindle their battle.
Neither was Maple.
“I’m not looking for a fight, either,” Kasumi said. “Not that I ever was…”
“Oh!” Maple said. “Can we add you to our friends list?”
“Mm, certainly.”
All three of them registered one another and then flopped down on the sand, gazing up at the sky.
Between the fatigue and the relief, none of them was inclined to do anything else.
“Kasumi, what’ll you do next?”
“Hmm. Well, I think we should go our separate ways. Now that we’re friends, we can find each other again once the event’s over.”
“You could come with us if you want.”
“Yeah! Totally!”
“Ha-ha. I appreciate the offer, but not this time. I feel like having two gold medals in the same group would mean we’d be looking at a lot more fighting.”
That was a very good point.
The other players all knew both Maple and Kasumi had a gold medal each.
That made them tempting targets indeed.
And if they had two—that simply doubled the value of attacking them.
“Oh…it’s a shame, but I gotta agree.”
“Mm. Okay,” Kasumi said, getting to her feet. “I’d better be going.”
“Good luck!”
“Same to both of you.”
Kasumi waved once and walked off across the sand.
Their unexpected partnership drew to a close.
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Diamond. Diamond. Diamond.
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