Slayin’ With a Strap

A crack of thunder and a plume of smoke, before through the smoke rushed Dale, wielding the flintlock pistol came forward, blowing through a goblins head as he continued to advance through the goblins and kobolds of the dungeon.

He was still dressed in his leather armor from before, however, his right arm had a guard that covered the wrist and went up to the elbow, he got it for deflecting and helping him block attacks in the event he may need to.

He had a longsword hanging from his waist now, nothing special but a simple one made in case he needed it.

He continued to advance, others were fighting around him Another man was wearing half plate armor. He wielded a mace and shield, he had short brown hair and was human, a good 5 or more inches shorter than Dale.

There was another guy who was dressed in cloth armor, it wasn't a robe, but he did have a small cape. Having red hair he was casting a small bolt of fire that flew forward and helped the guy fighting at the front line.

A smaller woman who had black hair pulled into a ponytail was sitting further away with a bow and arrow, helping pick off them as well.

They were in a rather large room, the goblin's feeding into the room.

Dale's pistol suddenly vanished as his musket appeared, firing off another round with ease as he then switched to using the rifle's bayonet instead. Continuing to advance through the goblins.

Just as he pierced two goblins at once and threw them back to cause them to cause the rest of the goblins stumbling in to trip. Dale walked backward as an object appeared in his hand, it was a round object and with a hand pulling what looked to be a match from his pouch, he parted his lips to show his teeth.

Using his teeth, he lights the match before lighting the fuse on the object. Speaking out loudly and clearly. "Brace!"

Tossing the grenade forward, the one with his shield back peddled quickly, shield raised as the others were far away enough but they still braced, the mage covering his ears.

Soon the explosion rocked the entrance as it engulfed the goblins and kobolds in the explosion. Dale had already drawn his pistol again after he had tossed it and reloaded it in the time it took to have the grenade explode.

Waiting, they all heard nothing. The mage used a wind spell to cause the smoke that had built up to disperse, showing the ground littered with a ton of crystals.

The mage was the first to speak out. ''Man, hunting with you is so much easier."

"He's right Dale, we were usually pretty fast, but with you, it's many times more efficient, especially since we've started to use your idea to control monster trains." It had been the tank of their party that had spoken.

"It's because I've got the means to deal with a large group at once without wasting mana at that, for any other team they would need to have a way to do the same or at least a mana efficient method, we're only grinding for excelia anyway."

"Well yeah, usually it's impossible to get jack birds, but you just... Find them?" It was the archer who spoke, she was pretty, stepping forward to join them as they collected the monster drops, giving them all to Dale as he was the one who had the extended storage bag on his waist.

"As I said, it's a skill. I can't go into details because Loki asking me not to. But hey, it means, unlike other starting adventures, we get the best gear. While others in the guild get help maintaining their own gear from the overflow.''

The mage laughed, twirling the wand in his hand. ''Don't I know it, usually getting a wand like this would be hard, and really it only thanks to Belle I was able to find it."

The archer smiled, shaking her head. ''Just luck I think, I'm just glad I got an extended quiver, it's much easier to not need to worry about arrow consumption."

Dale chuckled at that since he knew exactly how she felt. Due to his system, he didn't need to worry about ammo, what he did need to worry about was mana drain as he reloaded, but since the flintlocks were technically 'Weak' compared to other firearms, he could practically machine gun fire them without needing to worry... Actually, why hadn't he thought of that?

While they talked, giving their equipment some cleaning and heading up from the dungeon, Dale looked to his inventory, there was a crafting section.

He crafted multiple flintlock pistols, it would cost him a pretty penny, or GP in this regard, but he put them all to automatically reload.

Basically making it so he had a way to rapid-fire pistols, it wouldn't do for long-range, but in close range like before? Perfect.

Dale released a sigh, too bad his system didn't do anything for making him smarter, it did give him the ability to clearly view all of his memories, but even if he remembered all the information he's ever received, doesn't mean he's smart. Just mean he can learn easier.

''Everything okay Dale?" It was the tank who spoke.

''It's alright Tyler, just stuck on a design flaw."

Tyler looked a bit awkward to that. ''A-ah... I'd offer to help, but I can't make heads or tails of your blueprints... I'll just stick with hitting things.''

"It's good for you to understand you're stupid Tyler!" It was the mage who quipped, which got a chuckle out of Dale.

''Shut up before I grind your teeth to dust Alex!'' Tyler growled back before he was cut off by a wack to the back of the head.

''Both of you quit it." Belle sighed out, Tyler rubbing the back of his head.

''What you going hitting me for Belle?! He started it!"

"But, you threatened physical harm, so you were a part of the problem.'' Dale shrugged at that as he put in his two cents, getting a firm nod from Belle, Alex too busy laughing to care.

"I wish you two acted more like Dale, he's a gentleman, and he rarely talks but he's always listening."

"Is this about the bathroom incident this morning?" Tyler grumbled. "I said I was sorry, what more can I do? I wasn't the only one who saw, Dale saw you naked to!"

"Yes, but Dale had the decency to turn away, unlike you who continued to stare even after I told you to turn around."

"Well, you are beautiful, hard to turn away myself, you've even got my preferred proportions."

Despite her cheeks blushing to that, she smiled. ''Thank you, Dale, and if you ever want to see more, just let me know."

''Augh God's they're flirting again, can't ya'll just fuck already?" It was Alex who sighed out as they entered the Guild reception hall.

''She's tried, a few times already. But the meetings between me and Hephaestus keep me busy. If I'm not pushing the dungeon, I'm working with her on the blueprints, and if I'm not there, I'm learning magic from Riveria with Lefiya, or sleeping. I've asked her to wait until I'm finished with my current project. Then we plan to go on a wild date on the town."

Belle grinned at that, already having a few places in mind.

The group had been hunting for a week now together, and Belle was straightforward in her approach to men, and Dale was currently prime meat. He was definitely going to go far, as the upper parts of multiple familia's were already interested in him. Perfect for her to sire heir's for her clan in the mountains, strong, smart, dependable, and not embarrassed easily, if at all.

Stepping to the counter, they sold all the crystals, along with 4 golden eggs, netting them a little over four million valis.

Once they finished there they all parted to their own destinations, Dale himself was heading towards the dungeon once more to head up the tower, he had a meeting with Hephaestus after all, today is the day he shows off the finished product after all.