Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
Hoshi agreed to pay attention not to absorb too much experience.
More black wolves appeared again. Hisashi struck first once more by throwing a chain lightning ball which caused large amounts of AOE damage and paralysis.
Mika shot many [Mana Bullets] with her spiritual gun. Although her accuracy was quite poor, all the monsters were unable to move due to the paralysis effect. She was able hit them easily enough.
Hoshi also controlled his spiritual birds to attack. Each time his three birds attacked in unison, one wolf would be killed.
Under the three's teamwork, very few black wolves were able to even reach them. The few that got close were all easily taken care of by Mika's Mashiro's Clothes ability.
Seiji and Shika didn't even need to do anything at all.
Hisashi and Mika already had prior combat experience along with excellent abilities. Although this was Hoshi's first time in an Inner World, he also did quite well for himself.
Of course, this was also because the Forest Palace "dungeon" had an easy difficulty level. It would be quite easy to do well here as long as everyone remained calm and cooperated well with their teammates.
Seiji felt a sense of accomplishment as if he was raising video game characters as he watched the three continuously improve their teamwork and cooperation against the spiritual creatures here.
After observing for a while, he recommended to them that Mika should fight in the front, Hisashi in the middle, and Hoshi in the backline. This would be their basic formation.
Mika had the strongest Spiritual Ability out of the three. Her Mashiro's Clothes ability was capable of completely blocking all minor monsters' attacks. It was no problem for her to act as the tank if she only had to deal with smaller mob spiritual creatures.
Hisashi's "Thunderboom" chain lightning attack was his main ability. He had excellent AOE crowd control abilities with this. And after his previous fighting experience, his thunder-enchanted shield also had a certain degree of close-combat capabilities. Hisashi would be the most suited for fighting in the middle row.
Hoshi's three red birds were highly agile and capable of either concentrating their attacks together or attacking separately. Hoshi's weakness was that he required a high degree of concentration to use this ability. Plus, he was a newbie at fighting, so he would naturally be suited for the back row.
After they started using Seiji's suggested formation, the three's combat effectiveness rose by a great amount.
Seiji's sense of accomplishment from raising them became even stronger as he watched them speedily improve their teamwork.
After absorbing a large amount of mist, one of Hoshi's red birds suddenly enlarged itself, approximately doubling in size. It also appeared to become more physical rather than ethereal. Its physical appearance also changed from resembling a pigeon to looking more like an eagle. This definitely made it appear more vicious.
"Is this an evolution?" Seiji blinked in surprise. "Hoshi, how are you currently feeling?"
"I just felt something heat up within my body. Then, I felt my connection becoming stronger to that bird, and it also became easier to control it… Ah, that same sensation is back!"
Before Hoshi even finished speaking, the second spiritual bird also enlarged and "evolved" just like the first one did.
'Looks like the third will be evolving soon as well. Hoshi, looks like your true path won't be as a magical girl after all. You're on your way to becoming a Pokemon master!'
The evolved spiritual birds… er, spiritual eagles were easier to control, more agile, and more powerful.
Hoshi now felt a concrete sensation of what it was like to become stronger. He was quite excited about being able to level up in real life, and fought with even more motivation!
Not long after, Kazuko who was idly floating in midair warned them that a boss monster was coming.
A green-and-black-furred giant wolf soon appeared. This was the exact same boss monster as last time.
Previously, Seiji and Shika had taken care of this boss monster with just a single [Dragon Counterattack] and a few slices afterwards. This time, they would stand by and watch, letting the boss monster act as a tutorial level boss to train the newcomers.
The giant wolf opened its mouth and spat out a gigantic [Mana Bullet] as a greeting!
*Boom!!* Vanguard Mika managed to block it using her shield and Mashiro's Clothes! The [Mana Bullet] exploded in a blinding flash of light but didn't cause her any damage at all.
"Thunderboom"! Hisashi instantly tossed out a large lightning ball that he had prepared.
His black lightning ball exploded and shot lightning bolts all over, snaring the enemy monster… not at all!
The giant wolf agilely dodged the lightning ball and took only a few lightning strikes. It wasn't paralyzed at all.
Mika shot at the giant wolf with her gun while Hoshi had his spiritual eagles attack.
The giant wolf moved rapidly and dodged the gunshots. It withstood the eagles' attacks as it rushed towards Hisashi!
Hisashi recalled his previous near-death experience and reflexively became afraid. However, he immediately restrained himself and didn't allow his hands to shake.
This was a real battle that was quite dangerous. He had recognized this long ago.
This was a good time to hide behind Mika… No! Mika had already blocked a powerful attack for everyone already. Rather than only relying on her, he should be relying on his own strength!
Hisashi entered a state of high concentration as the boss monster rapidly charged at him.
With his current combat experience, his own abilities, along with all the magic abilities he'd seen in manga and video games before…
Hisashi had already attempted to develop new abilities while training in the Domain last time. However, he didn't succeed.
But at this moment, he felt that he would definitely succeed… He had this feeling that he could only develop new abilities in such circumstances!
Hisashi didn't consider the possibility of failure. He simply acted.
With such a way of thinking, Hisashi suddenly tossed away his shield, pressed his hands onto his legs, and released electricity!
He had tried many times already, but had always been unable to use his legs to cast electricity. In that case, he might as well simply put his hands on his legs.
Electricity instantly twirled around his legs, which caused him to feel a numb sensation of pain. However, he also felt as if this stimulated something as power welled up within him.
Jump!
Hisashi used this power to jump with all his might. With a whoosh, he suddenly flew far away from the ground and speedily flashed a great distance away!!
At almost the exact same time, Hoshi used a spiritual eagle to carry him while flying!
Mika had originally intended to take this hit again for her two allies. But after she saw this, she hurriedly glided in an attempt to dodge the giant wolf. Unfortunately, since she was a bit late to act, the wolf's charge hit her directly!
Mika was sent flying by the impact. However, thanks to Mashiro's Clothes supporting her, she was able to twirl in midair and land steadily on the ground. She beautifully mitigated the impact by spinning in midair like an ice skater.
'Wonderful!!'
Seiji, who had thought that he would need to act here to help everyone out, felt as if he wanted to give everyone a big thumbs up.
The giant wolf stopped, turned around, and charged at everyone again. Hisashi cast a thunderbolt at the fastest speed he could and struck the giant wolf!
*Boom!!* The lightning strike managed to slow the black wolf's movements.
Hoshi had his spiritual eagles all attack the giant wolf's front right foot in unison. This succeeded in having the giant wolf momentarily trip.
Mika created a dark-red ball and glided over at a high speed. She aimed at the giant wolf's head and fired a...
"Dimension Shattering Jade!"
The ball left a blood-red trail behind as it made a direct hit against the giant wolf's head. With a deafening explosion, it instantly vaporized the entire head.
The headless wolf's corpse collapsed and transformed into dense dark-red mist.
'This ability of hers is just like cheating… But I suppose that's fine,' Seiji thought to himself.
Mika, Hisashi, and Hoshi succeeded in defeating a boss monster all by themselves without him and Shika needing to help them. That was quite excellent.
Seiji then saw someone kneeling on the ground in obvious discomfort.
"Hisashi! What's the matter!?" Seiji hurried over.
"My… balls hurt…"
"Eh?"
"Just now, I cast electricity on my own legs… The numbness from doing so has spread all the way to my balls… Argh…"
Hisashi clutched his crotch and made sounds of discomfort.
Seiji was rendered speechless.
Hisashi's super-jump just now had such a side effect!? Seiji revealed a rather subtle expression.
"I'll use some healing magic on you."
"Thank you… Ahh…"
Mika and Hoshi also revealed rather subtle expressions as they also heard what Hisashi's "injury" was about. Kazuko covered her mouth, turned her head, and appeared to be breaking out into laughter. Shika was the only one whose expression didn't change.
Although Hisashi ended up having a rather painful experience a minute later, it was still quite meaningful. He had successfully created a method of escaping that could be used in emergency situations. Hisashi's actions could be called either courageous or reckless.
Judging by the end result, Seiji supposed that Hisashi was courageous. However, testing new things out in the middle of battle was something he didn't recommend.
"It's fine as long as it's only some leg numbness and your balls… er, I mean your lower half having some pain. There might have been more severe consequences which you couldn't predict. Anyways… just pay attention to your own safety."
Seiji found it impossible to completely forbid others from trying such things out as he recalled how he had also made such realizations during battle. He could only let everyone figure things out for themselves.