Slave Harem in the Labyrinth of the Other World (LN)

Roxanne doesnt seem to be concerned about this at all, but I still have my doubts, to be honest. I really dont know if we should be facing this Floor Boss just yet.

We will only have one go at it, and no retries, because failure here means death, plain and simple. And we dont even know how powerful this guy is going to be, and we have no reliable way of judging that up. Sure enough, Needlewoods, the enemies of this first floor all die after one blow from Durandal, but Durandal is OP as shit, so thats not much of a milestone here. But then, what should I do? Grind and train until I could kill Needlewoods with the Copper Sword, the crappies of the crappy weapons? Technically that is perfectly doable, but Im afraid that it would take too much of our time and ultimately accomplish nothing. And while we are on the subject of grinding, stronger monsters from the higher floor would truly be more suitable for it than the weaklings found here. To that end, ascending to the higher floors as fast as possible would really be a good idea. And you know, maybe the fact that the enemies here can no longer offer anything to us really is our cue that it is high time to face the big baddie and be out of here onto the greener pastures.

Since it is a Floor Boss, then doesnt that mean that it is pretty strong?

I asked her for confirmation.

Its going to be all right, master. I believe that the Floor Boss here wont be any problem to you. For you see, both the monsters inhabiting the floors and the Floor Bosses are a set. As for the Boss itself well, I seem to have forgotten the exact details about him but anyway, since you have been able to kill all the enemies thus far with one or two blows, he wont stand a chance against you, master!

Okay, thats cool, I guess?

I feel like Roxannes faith in me and my combat abilities might be a bit too enthusiastic, but on the other and, she might be right. If we were fine thus far, then how hard this guy can actually be. If the normal Needlewoods are any indication, she shouldnt be much harder than them, unless were in for a sudden difficulty spike of course.

Ah! Master, look!

While I was listening to Roxannes explanations about the Floor Boss, the door to the Boss Chamber slowly began to open. Welp, if there was ever any chance for us to turn back, it just went and fucked itself out the window.

I know you might be nervous, master, but do try to relax. Not many people have entered this Labyrinth so far, and I bet that even fewer made it this far! Now then, let us be on our way. And who knows, if were lucky, then maybe well be able to salvage some of the equipment from the Parties that tried to conquer this Floor Boss before us.

Whoa there, care to run that by me again?!

Equipment from previous Parties as in?

When a Party gets annihilated by the Floor Boss, the next Party to challenge him has all the rights to claim the weapons, armor and items of the ones who tried before them as their own.

Should you really be calling that being lucky then? And more importantly, should you really be so excited about such a possibility?!

Without delving into the matter further, Roxanne went ahead and entered the Boss Chamber before me.

I dont know if I am just too cautious about this or is she being too casual, but a little caution never hurt nobody, but shes already inside the chamber so I guess theres nothing I can do about it now other then heading in myself, hoping that we are somehow going to pull through this.

As soon as I set foot inside, the door closed behind me with a loud bang. As for the room itself, it wasnt all that different from the rest of the first floor, just your regular cavern measuring about four to five square meters. When I looked at the floor and near the walls, I saw no pieces of equipment lying around anywhere, which could basically mean one of two things: either the Party who challenged the Floor Boss before us succeeded without anyone dying and they have ascended to the second floor, or no one has actually fought this guy before us. Honestly, I think possibility #1 is more probable.

Finally, when we reached the center of the room, clouds of green smoke gathered before us, revealing the figure of this floors Floor Boss.

It is taller than me and the normal Needlewood combined. Its body is entirely green, and it has two massive branches that could very well be the separate tree trunks instead of arms.

Identify!

When I appraised it, its name has been revealed: Udowood (TL Note: Udo: a type of medicinal plant related to ginseng, native to Japan, Korea and eastern China. It commonly is found on the slopes of wooded embankments. And thats your piece of useless trivia for today). Udowood, huh? Well, to me it looks like an oversized, beefed up Needlewood, but sure game, lets pretend that it is something else entirely. It definitely is stronger than the usual Needlewoods, but thankfully it is at the same level as them, so maybe its a rule that the Floor Bosss level cannot be higher than that of the mobs.

Lets go, master!

Roxanne run up to it and slashed one of its legs with her Scimitar. I hurriedly rushed in behind her.

Udowood raised its branch arm and slammed it towards Roxanne, but she avoided it like it was nothing by lightly twisting her body. I also avoided it by backstepping.

After recovering from its previous attack, Udowood attacked once more, this time with its other arm. Roxanne dodged it once again and counterattacked by slashing it with the scimitar. I wanted to jump in to attack it as well, but I just couldnt find the right timing to do so.

Aside from its two main arms Udowood also had a second set of them located on its back, so it possesses the means of defending itself from being attacked by two people simoultaneously.

Next time it attacked, Roxanne took its blow head on with her Wooden Shield and slashed back at it the moment it was briefly stunned after having its attack blocked. That was also a change for me to finally let it have a taste of Durandals blade! Take thissssss!

My attack connected, but even after eating it in its entirety, the Udowood was still standing. As expected of a monster classified as a Floor Boss, it probably has so much HP that it didnt even flinch from that strike just now. By the way, even though it was nothing more but a small fry when compared to this guy right here, the Gumi Slime that I though on the road to Veil also could not be felled with Durandals single strike, even though it was Lv.1, the same as this guy here. But that was to be expected, since even though their levels might be the same, different monsters will have different HP pools and damage resistances.

When it finally took notice of me, Udowood started employing its other set of arms to attack us more fiercely. Roxanne did her best to draw its attention away from me so that I could have another clear shot at it. Going behind its back, I slashed it with a wide, diagonal arc. It was another successful hit, but once again, it was not enough to take this guy down. Just how much health does he have?! Im hitting him with Durandal, the strongest weapon at my disposal for Christs sake!

Comparing my movements to Roxannes once more, its obvious that they are completely different. It attacked her again, but she evaded and escaped his every attack like it was the most obvious thing to do in the world. After Roxannes next dodge, I took another step back to get a better look at what we are dealing with. Those four arms are a problem, but I feel like as long as we will keep moving and attack it in a hit & run fashion, Udowood wont be able to keep up with us. It shook its branches and targeted Roxanne with its next attack.

Yes, this might just work.