Ch 139 -- Magic Item
Next 'morning' after breakfast we paused in front of the boss room of the 25th level while I took a look inside...
"The room's even bigger than the last one." I said dispiritedly. "And the number of monsters has also gone up."
"Umu." Fer concurred, his muzzle lifted high as if he was sniffing the air while he used his monster-detecting sense. "That's what it feels like to me too."
"1, 2, 3 ... ah, I count 10 Spriggans." It was unfortunately quite easy to count them as the immense Spriggans stood head and shoulders, literally, above the mob of other large monsters that packed the correspondingly immense boss room. Was it because this was the last level of the Giants Zone we were getting a special offer sale, Everything Must Go! deal? Had the dungeon put all its leftover giant monsters in this room just for our benefit? Did Not Want, but they were standing there, between us and the stairs to the next level. I sighed, did the dungeon really have to be so nasty to its visitors?
"Fuuuh, no matter how big the giant monsters are, they're still not that much of a challenge." Fer said with a tinge of disappointment in his voice.
"That's true, big guy. On the other hand they'll be good exercise.” Dora-chan was looking to burn off some excess energy, apparently.
"Sui is ready to knock down more Bad Guys too-" Darling battle maniac Sui-chan added, her Acid Bullet-shooting sniper tentacle at the ready.
Yeah, the mob filling the boss room would be a challenge for most parties of Adventurers but my contracted monsters didn't think they posed any sort of a problem, and they were probably right.
"Well, let's go." Fer said, rushing into the room.
"Charge!" Dora-chan piped, flying in behind Fer.
"Hooray-" Battle maniac Sui pyonged through the doorway behind the other two. I heard Fer's wind magic blast the mob of giant monsters, scattering them around the immense dark room as the unequal contest began.
I wondered if my three contracted monsters ever feared anything, like I feared pretty much everything in this danger-filled world. They were strong, of course and me... yeah, I was weak, I admitted it to myself. I had expected the dungeon to be exciting but with those three accompanying me and fighting all the monsters it had been almost boring, a stroll in the park. If I had been by myself, yeah I'd have been knocked back by a grasshopper, never mind the giant monsters we had been encountering for the past few levels. I peered into the room where the battle was raging, exciting and heart-pounding and all the things I'd played games to enjoy at a safe remove. If I didn't hurry it would all be over soon. I braced myself, made sure I had a firm grip on my Mithril short sword and edged into the boss room.
"Gooah!" A Troll spotted me and headed in my direction. Huh? The pounding of its footsteps sounded faster than the Trolls I had encountered in the recent levels. Were the monsters in this last Giant Zone level boss room faster and more dangerous than in the previous levels? The dungeon was trying to trick us, it seemed.
"Goooooahhhh!" the Troll shouted while it raised both fists and swung them down at me in a double hammer-blow, moving faster than the Trolls of the previous levels...
"Still not fast enough!" I shouted back, "I can easily dodge that!" I stepped to one side as the Troll lurched past me and I cut into its side with my outstandingly sharp Mithril short sword, slicing a gaping wound in its belly and ribs and leaving great ropes of grey intestines hanging out.
"Gooooh" the Troll moaned, swinging a massive fist at me but it was wounded now and slower than before and again I avoided its attack easily. I stepped quickly behind it and slashed at the back of its legs, severing the great muscles in its calves, chunk chunk. The Troll fell forward and I plunged my Mithril short sword deep into its back around the area where its heart should be. I hoped.
"Take that!" I cried as the Troll shuddered and then died.
"Yosh-!" Thump. While I was celebrating my victory over the Troll I was hit by something from behind and knocked onto my backside.
"Wh-, what was that?"
"Bumooo!" I looked up to see a Minotaur swinging a massive axe down at me.
"Ooooh" I covered my head with my arms and closed my eyes. Was my Perfect Defence Skill really working?! I had become over-confident fighting the Troll and this morning Fer had decided that he wouldn't provide me with his Barrier any more because of my Perfect Defence Skill. I knew it had worked before but would it work now? Perfect Defence Skill, don't let me down!
Thump--. The Minotaur's axe hit my arms but... nothing happened. I felt the blow but it didn't hurt or do any damage to me. I moved my arm aside and looked up, seeing the Minotaur shaking his head, enraged. It swung the axe at me again and again, thump, thump, thump-- and again it had no effect. It was like a series of gentle taps, no more. I realised the force that had knocked me on my butt was probably the Minotaur's first attack on me from behind, doing no damage but pushing me down.
Thump, thump, thump--. The Minotaur persisted in its useless attacks on me and I decided enough was enough, now that I had more confidence in my Perfect Defence Skill to protect me.
"Take that!" I cried, standing up and stabbing the Minotaur through the heart with my Mithril short sword.
"Bomoo 'o 'o 'o--" The dying Minotaur fell backward onto the floor and lay there motionless.
"Yosh, I did it!" I picked up the Troll's Poison Claw and Minotaur Horns left as the monsters evaporated, items drops from monsters that I had fought and defeated. Me, monster killer Mukouda-san...
"So are you going to fight a bit more from now on?" Fer asked, approaching me where I stood, still excited and shaking with fear and strangely exhilarated too. Was this how real Adventurers felt after they won a battle with monsters? I looked around but all the other monsters in the boss room had been defeated by Fer, Dora-chan and Sui-chan in less time than it had taken me to fight just two of the smaller monsters present.
"Well, a bit more, maybe." I agreed. "I'm still not used to fighting and I'm not that good at it yet but I can't leave it all to you three, can I?" Fer nodded, as if satisfied at my words.
"Aruji-, I've picked up all the things left around-." Oh, it looked like Sui-chan had collected all the other drops, the room's floor now left bare.
"Oh, you picked them all up for me? Thank you Sui." I took the drops and put them away in my Item Box as Sui-chan pyong-pyonged, happy to be thanked by me.
"Hey," Dora-chan shouted telepathically as he buzzed around, "I can see a huge treasure chest over by the wall!"
"A treasure chest? Let's go!" I followed Dora-chan over to where the treasure chest stood with Fer and Sui-chan following along.
"As Dora-chan said it's big," I muttered, "A lot bigger than the treasure chests we've found before..." A treasure chest about 1 meter square and about 50 centimeters high was sitting there all innocent-looking and tempting. I wanted to throw the lid back immediately and see what was inside but I Appraised it beforehand. Safety first after all. Sure enough...
[ Treasure Chest ]
It releases a Fireball as soon as it is opened and then emits a cloud of poison gas after that.
...... So it emits poison gas as well as a Fireball? Amazing. I was suspicious to start with because of its size but I might have been fooled -- I'd open the lid, dodge the Fireball and then go back thinking it was safe and the poison gas would get me. Sneaky. Without my Perfect Defence Skill and status change invalidation it would kill me outright, one way or the other.
"The insides of that treasure chest has a real nasty trap built in..." Fer said after studying it from a safe distance like me.
"I Appraised it too, Fer. It's got poison gas as well as shooting a Fireball." I shuddered. "We'd die if we didn't have the Goddess' protection."
"Oh yes. It would be possible to avoid the three Fireballs but the poison gas would have an immediate death effect and it will squirt a lot of it." Fer answered.
...... What? "Huh? Three Fireballs? Not just one, and the poison gas has an immediate death effect?" I hadn't seen that in my Appraisal... "Oh, that's the difference in levels between us, isn't it?"
"Oh, yes. As the level goes up, things that can be done with your Skills increase, as I told you before." Fer looked smug, well smugger than usual. "My Appraisal is usually quite detailed in that regard."
So this chest releases a poisonous gas that has an immediate death effect after three Fireballs come shooting out when the lid is lifted. I really didn't want to open it now but, thinking about it coldly, we were all actually safe, what with my Perfect Defence Skill and the blessings from the Goddesses protecting us from the poison gas. So, I could open it after all. Really. I could. Just lift the lid, I didn't really need to do it at arm's length with my eyes closed, my teeth clenched and my hand shaking...
Sure enough when I finally, slowly, lifted the lid of the treasure chest three Fireballs shot out just as Fer's Appraisal had said, in a wide spread that would have hit anyone standing to the side as well as in front of the open chest. A few seconds later a large cloud of dark poisonous gas spread around the area.
"Gaah, cough cough. It smells terrible." I was still alive though and it didn't seem to have any sort of effect on the others too. I peeked into the chest and Yosh! Treasure! There were gold ingots and a large gem and a ring. Using Appraisal on the gemstone I discovered it was called an Imperial Topaz. That sounded very impressive. The ring though, on Appraising it I found...
[ A Ring of Magic Recovery ]
A magic item that recovers magic power a little faster after use.
Wahoo! I got a real magic item at last. Well, I got that magic bag earlier but it wasn't something like this. I asked Fer to Appraise it as well as "a little faster" was a bit vague. He told me the ring improved the rate of magic recovery by about 20%. That sounded really good and I quickly decided to use it myself rather than sell it. I put it on my finger and at first I thought it was too big to fit properly but being magic it shrunk to the perfect size. I admired it for a second then put the gold ingots and Imperial Topaz in my Item Box before we all headed down the stairs to the 26th level.
"Huh? What is this place............" At the bottom of the stairs was a thick forest, dark and foreboding.
"Would you look at this? The dungeon is getting more interesting." Fer said, looking around with a fascinated gleam in his eyes.
No, no, no Fer-san, it is not interesting at all. I had been told by Elland-san that the dungeon had levels like this but isn't this a bit too soon? This level should be like the previous levels, stone walls and rock tunnels. Why is that forest suddenly there, in front of us?
"Hey, get on. I can sense a lot of quite strong monsters around here. Let's get going." Fer's muzzle swung around. "That way." Fer sounded eager to go and have fun. "Hurry up and get on, you."
Yeah yeah, I straddled his back and he rushed off towards the forest edge. I held on grimly, wondering what sort of monsters were waiting for us up ahead...
Monday 29 April 2019
Friday 26 April 2019
Ch 138 Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi
Chapter 138 -- I, Mukouda-san Am Also The Greatest!
I peeked into the immense boss room... which was, not surprisingly, full of immense boss monsters. There were large Trolls and Minotaurs aplenty but as the leader of Tempest had warned us, the three Spriggans at the centre of the mob were even larger.
"The Spriggans, they're so big..." I mumbled unconsciously, amazed at just how large they were. They must be 5 metres tall, each of them. How do you beat a monster that huge?
"Dora, Sui, let's go." Fer ordered, shouldering me to one side as he entered the boss room.
"Yeah big guy, right behind you." Dora-chan flew in behind Fer's back, ready for a fight.
"Okay-" even darling battle maniac Sui-chan was eager to engage these monsters.
That left just me standing outside the door, alone. I looked around, not sure what to do now. Wait here by myself? Follow them? Go back to the safe room? They wouldn't care or even notice if I wasn't with them. Uh...
"Ah..." I'd go in too, I decided. Swallowing hard and holding the Mithril short sword that Sui had made, I entered the boss room behind the three battle maniacs.
"Gugaaahh-"
"Gooaaaa-"
"Bumooo-"
A pandemonium of wounded and dying monsters filled the boss room. Fer, Dora-chan and Sui-chan were going wild, battling like crazy, never stopping or giving the ferocious monsters a chance to defend themselves never mind launch any kind of attack. I watched as Fer's wind magic burst through the ranks of giant figures, knocking them to the sides and breaking bones. Dora-chan was buzzing around launching lightning magic everywhere while adroitly avoiding the wild sluggish swings of the monster's weapons. Sui-chan was pyong-pyonging at one side of the room bombarding the distracted monsters with sizzling Acid Bullets. The monsters were getting their asses kicked in a thorough fashion.
"Gooahhh!" Thump thump thump. The sudden roar and vibrations of the stone floor caught my attention. What? A Troll was lumbering towards me. I looked back at the door but decided not to run for it, instead I firmly gripped the Mithril short sword's hilt.
"Guuarrrr!" The Troll roared as it swung a big fist at me. I was scared but the club-like fist was so slow I easily dodged it.
"Uhhh" I ducked and swung my Mithril short sword at the Troll's right leg.
"Goo-Gooah?!" Thunk.
Unbelievably, the Troll was balancing on its left leg, its severed right leg lying to one side. The Troll looked around as if puzzled and I took the opportunity to swing my sword at its left leg too. Thunk. The Troll's left leg ended up lying on the floor on the other side of its partner. The Troll was now immobilised, resting upright on its leg stumps and a good metre shorter, bringing its neck within my reach. Yosh! I stepped forward and stuck the point of my Mithril short sword easily into the Troll's thick wide neck, meeting no apparent resistance.
"Guoooooh-" the Troll issued a last sorrowful moan, slumped forward onto the stone floor and stopped moving.
Did I really beat it? By myself?
"Wow! Wow! I did it! I did it!" I defeated a Troll all by myself! I'm the greatest! After a little while, the dead Troll gradually became more and more transparent and finally disappeared, along with its severed legs. I felt more confident now, certainly more confident than I had been before I decided to enter the boss room. And even better, a drop item! A Troll skin was left behind. I quickly scooped it up and tucked it away in my Item Box, a piece of loot I had won by my own endeavours. I'd cherish it, now what about the other monsters? I looked around, ready to- Ah. What other monsters? The battle was over and of course my contracted monsters hadn't even suffered a scratch dealing with a horde of gigantic opponents including the three immense Spriggans while I had been fighting with a single measly Troll. Ah well.
I went around the boss room collecting the drop items scattered on the floor. There were two drops from the Spriggans, one was a magic stone and the other was some gems, a ruby and an emerald. They were both small but sparkled nicely with no obvious flaws. Sweet! Skins and monster products were all and well but gems and treasure items were, well, what you'd really expect from a dungeon. Still, that Troll skin, the one I had earned by my own efforts was something special, really, I told myself as we headed down the stairs at the back of the boss room to the 23rd level.
After that we proceeded to clear the 23rd, 24th and 25th levels that comprised the rest of the Giant Zone, pausing only to eat lunch. As we went lower, the number of rooms in each level increased as did the number and strength of the monsters we encountered. This didn't faze Fer, Dora-chan and Sui of course, if anything they got more and more enthusiastic at the prospect of beating up on more and stronger opponents. Of course I didn't forget to collect the many drops left lying around after each unequal battle.
We found and opened two treasure chests on our way to the end of the 25th level, one had a diamond ring and the other had a tanzanite necklace. Jewellery was a very welcome drop because it supposedly sells for a high price on the surface. We also encountered 3 Mimics but only one of them dropped a treasure box. However this was not a small one like a jewel box but rather a large decorated box the size of a treasure chest. It looked to be another high-value item.
Taking our time to clear each level of monsters, defeat the bosses and collect all the drops meant we decided to stop for the "night" in the safe area before the 25th level's boss room, to rest and eat before descending to the 26th level the next "morning". There were, of course, no other Adventurers in the safe area room, not this far down in the dungeon.
Fer said that the 26th level "smelled different", in his words, than the 22nd through 25th levels, the Giant Zone. That meant there was a good possibility that the dungeon's structure would change again. What would it be like? I fell asleep with mixed feelings of anxiety and hope but I reassured myself that I had Fer, Dora-chan and Sui with me so I'd be fine.
I peeked into the immense boss room... which was, not surprisingly, full of immense boss monsters. There were large Trolls and Minotaurs aplenty but as the leader of Tempest had warned us, the three Spriggans at the centre of the mob were even larger.
"The Spriggans, they're so big..." I mumbled unconsciously, amazed at just how large they were. They must be 5 metres tall, each of them. How do you beat a monster that huge?
"Dora, Sui, let's go." Fer ordered, shouldering me to one side as he entered the boss room.
"Yeah big guy, right behind you." Dora-chan flew in behind Fer's back, ready for a fight.
"Okay-" even darling battle maniac Sui-chan was eager to engage these monsters.
That left just me standing outside the door, alone. I looked around, not sure what to do now. Wait here by myself? Follow them? Go back to the safe room? They wouldn't care or even notice if I wasn't with them. Uh...
"Ah..." I'd go in too, I decided. Swallowing hard and holding the Mithril short sword that Sui had made, I entered the boss room behind the three battle maniacs.
"Gugaaahh-"
"Gooaaaa-"
"Bumooo-"
A pandemonium of wounded and dying monsters filled the boss room. Fer, Dora-chan and Sui-chan were going wild, battling like crazy, never stopping or giving the ferocious monsters a chance to defend themselves never mind launch any kind of attack. I watched as Fer's wind magic burst through the ranks of giant figures, knocking them to the sides and breaking bones. Dora-chan was buzzing around launching lightning magic everywhere while adroitly avoiding the wild sluggish swings of the monster's weapons. Sui-chan was pyong-pyonging at one side of the room bombarding the distracted monsters with sizzling Acid Bullets. The monsters were getting their asses kicked in a thorough fashion.
"Gooahhh!" Thump thump thump. The sudden roar and vibrations of the stone floor caught my attention. What? A Troll was lumbering towards me. I looked back at the door but decided not to run for it, instead I firmly gripped the Mithril short sword's hilt.
"Guuarrrr!" The Troll roared as it swung a big fist at me. I was scared but the club-like fist was so slow I easily dodged it.
"Uhhh" I ducked and swung my Mithril short sword at the Troll's right leg.
"Goo-Gooah?!" Thunk.
Unbelievably, the Troll was balancing on its left leg, its severed right leg lying to one side. The Troll looked around as if puzzled and I took the opportunity to swing my sword at its left leg too. Thunk. The Troll's left leg ended up lying on the floor on the other side of its partner. The Troll was now immobilised, resting upright on its leg stumps and a good metre shorter, bringing its neck within my reach. Yosh! I stepped forward and stuck the point of my Mithril short sword easily into the Troll's thick wide neck, meeting no apparent resistance.
"Guoooooh-" the Troll issued a last sorrowful moan, slumped forward onto the stone floor and stopped moving.
Did I really beat it? By myself?
"Wow! Wow! I did it! I did it!" I defeated a Troll all by myself! I'm the greatest! After a little while, the dead Troll gradually became more and more transparent and finally disappeared, along with its severed legs. I felt more confident now, certainly more confident than I had been before I decided to enter the boss room. And even better, a drop item! A Troll skin was left behind. I quickly scooped it up and tucked it away in my Item Box, a piece of loot I had won by my own endeavours. I'd cherish it, now what about the other monsters? I looked around, ready to- Ah. What other monsters? The battle was over and of course my contracted monsters hadn't even suffered a scratch dealing with a horde of gigantic opponents including the three immense Spriggans while I had been fighting with a single measly Troll. Ah well.
I went around the boss room collecting the drop items scattered on the floor. There were two drops from the Spriggans, one was a magic stone and the other was some gems, a ruby and an emerald. They were both small but sparkled nicely with no obvious flaws. Sweet! Skins and monster products were all and well but gems and treasure items were, well, what you'd really expect from a dungeon. Still, that Troll skin, the one I had earned by my own efforts was something special, really, I told myself as we headed down the stairs at the back of the boss room to the 23rd level.
After that we proceeded to clear the 23rd, 24th and 25th levels that comprised the rest of the Giant Zone, pausing only to eat lunch. As we went lower, the number of rooms in each level increased as did the number and strength of the monsters we encountered. This didn't faze Fer, Dora-chan and Sui of course, if anything they got more and more enthusiastic at the prospect of beating up on more and stronger opponents. Of course I didn't forget to collect the many drops left lying around after each unequal battle.
We found and opened two treasure chests on our way to the end of the 25th level, one had a diamond ring and the other had a tanzanite necklace. Jewellery was a very welcome drop because it supposedly sells for a high price on the surface. We also encountered 3 Mimics but only one of them dropped a treasure box. However this was not a small one like a jewel box but rather a large decorated box the size of a treasure chest. It looked to be another high-value item.
Taking our time to clear each level of monsters, defeat the bosses and collect all the drops meant we decided to stop for the "night" in the safe area before the 25th level's boss room, to rest and eat before descending to the 26th level the next "morning". There were, of course, no other Adventurers in the safe area room, not this far down in the dungeon.
Fer said that the 26th level "smelled different", in his words, than the 22nd through 25th levels, the Giant Zone. That meant there was a good possibility that the dungeon's structure would change again. What would it be like? I fell asleep with mixed feelings of anxiety and hope but I reassured myself that I had Fer, Dora-chan and Sui with me so I'd be fine.
Wednesday 24 April 2019
Ch 137 Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi
Ch 137 -- Pork Chop Burger
As soon as Fer, Dora-chan and Sui woke up I hurried to provide them with breakfast. We were going straight to the boss room of this level next and it was important to be well fed beforehand. The defeat of the A-ranked party Tempest in that boss room and what the leader had told us of the monsters there had left me worrying about what was going to happen to us when we entered that room ourselves but the least (well, the only thing) I could do right now was to make sure everyone had eaten their fill.
So what should we eat this morning... I decided against deep-fried food as too bloaty, hmm, how about pork chops? I made a lot of pork chops from the Orc meat we had collected as item drops earlier in the dungeon and served them up in bread as sandwiches. That would do Sui-chan and Dora-chan and myself quite well but for Fer I just piled a lot of chops in a dish without any bread. I didn't want him grumbly and niggly, not today of all days when he would be facing the Spriggans.
Cut a round black bread bun horizontally, add shredded cabbage then top it with a pork chop and some ketchup-based sauce and that's it, quick and simple. I made five of them for Dora-chan and another five for Sui-chan and put them out.
Dora-chan dexterously clutched one with a forefoot and bit into it. "Hmmm, a bit sour-tasting but the meat is delicious."
"It's really. It is delicious ~ " Sui-chan added as she ingested her own pork chop sandwiches. Both Dora-chan and Sui seemed to like the pork chop 'burgers'. I started to eat my own sandwich, last as usual but as usual I was interrupted by Fer's "Seconds". Yeah yeah, as usual. I piled another heap of pork chops on Fer's plate and returned to my own breakfast. Fer mentioned telepathically that he liked meat and it was good, sort-of while his jaws were busy ravaging the dish on the floor in front of him.
Munch-. The black bread, cabbage and pork chop complimented each other in an unexpected manner. The sauce made it, I decided, softening the bread while the crunchy cabbage added texture to the meat. Very filling too, nice and substantial-- Oh, what was that? I felt a hot glance on my back as I bit into my pork chop burger again. I turned to look.
""""""Gulp""""""
All six members of Tempest were staring at me, well not me but the pork chop burger in my hand. I tried to raise it to my mouth but I couldn't, not while I was paralysed by their gazes.
"I know how important food is in a dungeon," the leader of Tempest said, his own eyes never leaving the black bread bun in my hand, "But if you can spare some... well, if we pay for it would you be willing to share it with us?"
"Well, I would but..." I tried to refuse politely, knowing how Fer would react to me giving away 'his' food but the leader jumped in before I could finish.
"Oh, great! Thank you very much. So how much will it cost?"
Well if I'm selling the food to them, how much money should I ask for? How about 5 copper coins? Nah, that's too high, surely. What should I ask? I remembered he had paid more than the going rate for Sui's potion the night before since we were in the dungeon so I tried another tack.
"Since we're in the dungeon, how about one silver coin?" A pork chop sandwich for a silver coin was way too much, I'd let him bargain me down to a more reasonable price and we'd both save face that way.
"Huh?" the leader's face fell. Oops, had I insulted him by asking far too much? "Just one silver coin? Surely that's way too little, you know..."
"No, no, no, one silver coin is fine, really." I protested, surprised. He really thought that a black-bread pork-chop sandwich was worth that much? Seriously? "But that's because there are six people in your party. You get a bulk discount." I extemporised. The leader raised an eyebrow as if he had never heard the phrase "bulk discount" before but he quickly collected a silver coin from each of his party members and handed them to me along with his own contribution. I felt somewhat guilty but I had been paid the agreed price so...
Right, I had hot water to hand in my Item Box because I wanted to drink coffee later. I had some instant dried soup too, I remembered so I'd add a little bonus to their breakfast meal. It wouldn't make up the price difference but this was a dungeon where everything cost more. I was more used to Japan where everything had a clear price tag wherever you were. Of course I made up the soup with my back turned so the members of Tempest couldn't see how I did it before handing out a pork chop burger and a bowl of hot consommé to each of them.
"Oh, umm..."
"Eating hot food in a dungeon is great."
"Until now, only hard bread and salty dried meat for dinner...this is like the difference between heaven and earth compared to that."
"Sure thing. If you ask me what's the biggest hardship about diving in a dungeon I'd say it's not the traps or the monsters but the crap we have to eat..."
"I feel like this is the first decent food I've eaten in a long time."
"It's really great to have the Item Box skill. I really envy anyone who can eat such delicious food in a dungeon."
The members of Tempest chattered freely while eating their pork chop burgers, obviously feeling a lot more energetic than the beaten and dispirited party that had run into the safe room the night before. Even the fellow named Damien who had his insides exposed in a way they really shouldn't have been was now totally fine, happily biting into his burger and slurping his soup. He had recovered really rapidly from his near-fatal wound, possibly due to the effects of Sui-chan's Deluxe High-Grade Potion.
"Seconds, here." Fer demanded, his dish empty. Shouldn't that be Thirds, Fer?
"Aruji, seconds-" Sui-chan's bowl was also empty.
Oh, Fer and Sui wanted still more, but I had no more pork chops left. Quick, what can I find in my Item Box...
"Oh, I just ran out of pork chops. Here's a beef bowl instead." I dished out special offerings of Bloody Horn Bull's gyuudon beef bowl to Fer and Sui.
"Doesn't matter what, anything will do, just hurry it up." Fer grumbled. Yeah yeah.
"Everything Aruji makes is delicious, no matter what-" Sui-chan agreed.
I supplied two more beef bowl "Seconds!" before Fer and Sui seem to be finally full. Dora-chan, as usual, had been filled up with his first serving of pork chop burgers.
"Well, we are much obliged to you." the leader of Tempest said as his party packed their bags and readied their weapons.
"No problem." I assured him. I had managed to make some money in the dungeon from him and his party after all.
"We're going back to the surface now." he added in a sort-of-disappointed tone of voice as they all headed for the door of the safe area.
"Take care." I called to them as they left. A voice, Damien's? called back "you too" as the door closed behind them. I realised only after they had left I had learned only one of their names and now they were gone, leaving only us here. I packed all the bowls and dishes back into the Item Box as Fer stood by the door, obviously itching to get going now he had been fed.
"Hey, let's go." he growled impatiently. Hang on, have we got everything? I double-checked then nodded. Fer pushed the door open with his snout and we headed for the boss room of the 22nd level.
As soon as Fer, Dora-chan and Sui woke up I hurried to provide them with breakfast. We were going straight to the boss room of this level next and it was important to be well fed beforehand. The defeat of the A-ranked party Tempest in that boss room and what the leader had told us of the monsters there had left me worrying about what was going to happen to us when we entered that room ourselves but the least (well, the only thing) I could do right now was to make sure everyone had eaten their fill.
So what should we eat this morning... I decided against deep-fried food as too bloaty, hmm, how about pork chops? I made a lot of pork chops from the Orc meat we had collected as item drops earlier in the dungeon and served them up in bread as sandwiches. That would do Sui-chan and Dora-chan and myself quite well but for Fer I just piled a lot of chops in a dish without any bread. I didn't want him grumbly and niggly, not today of all days when he would be facing the Spriggans.
Cut a round black bread bun horizontally, add shredded cabbage then top it with a pork chop and some ketchup-based sauce and that's it, quick and simple. I made five of them for Dora-chan and another five for Sui-chan and put them out.
Dora-chan dexterously clutched one with a forefoot and bit into it. "Hmmm, a bit sour-tasting but the meat is delicious."
"It's really. It is delicious ~ " Sui-chan added as she ingested her own pork chop sandwiches. Both Dora-chan and Sui seemed to like the pork chop 'burgers'. I started to eat my own sandwich, last as usual but as usual I was interrupted by Fer's "Seconds". Yeah yeah, as usual. I piled another heap of pork chops on Fer's plate and returned to my own breakfast. Fer mentioned telepathically that he liked meat and it was good, sort-of while his jaws were busy ravaging the dish on the floor in front of him.
Munch-. The black bread, cabbage and pork chop complimented each other in an unexpected manner. The sauce made it, I decided, softening the bread while the crunchy cabbage added texture to the meat. Very filling too, nice and substantial-- Oh, what was that? I felt a hot glance on my back as I bit into my pork chop burger again. I turned to look.
""""""Gulp""""""
All six members of Tempest were staring at me, well not me but the pork chop burger in my hand. I tried to raise it to my mouth but I couldn't, not while I was paralysed by their gazes.
"I know how important food is in a dungeon," the leader of Tempest said, his own eyes never leaving the black bread bun in my hand, "But if you can spare some... well, if we pay for it would you be willing to share it with us?"
"Well, I would but..." I tried to refuse politely, knowing how Fer would react to me giving away 'his' food but the leader jumped in before I could finish.
"Oh, great! Thank you very much. So how much will it cost?"
Well if I'm selling the food to them, how much money should I ask for? How about 5 copper coins? Nah, that's too high, surely. What should I ask? I remembered he had paid more than the going rate for Sui's potion the night before since we were in the dungeon so I tried another tack.
"Since we're in the dungeon, how about one silver coin?" A pork chop sandwich for a silver coin was way too much, I'd let him bargain me down to a more reasonable price and we'd both save face that way.
"Huh?" the leader's face fell. Oops, had I insulted him by asking far too much? "Just one silver coin? Surely that's way too little, you know..."
"No, no, no, one silver coin is fine, really." I protested, surprised. He really thought that a black-bread pork-chop sandwich was worth that much? Seriously? "But that's because there are six people in your party. You get a bulk discount." I extemporised. The leader raised an eyebrow as if he had never heard the phrase "bulk discount" before but he quickly collected a silver coin from each of his party members and handed them to me along with his own contribution. I felt somewhat guilty but I had been paid the agreed price so...
Right, I had hot water to hand in my Item Box because I wanted to drink coffee later. I had some instant dried soup too, I remembered so I'd add a little bonus to their breakfast meal. It wouldn't make up the price difference but this was a dungeon where everything cost more. I was more used to Japan where everything had a clear price tag wherever you were. Of course I made up the soup with my back turned so the members of Tempest couldn't see how I did it before handing out a pork chop burger and a bowl of hot consommé to each of them.
"Oh, umm..."
"Eating hot food in a dungeon is great."
"Until now, only hard bread and salty dried meat for dinner...this is like the difference between heaven and earth compared to that."
"Sure thing. If you ask me what's the biggest hardship about diving in a dungeon I'd say it's not the traps or the monsters but the crap we have to eat..."
"I feel like this is the first decent food I've eaten in a long time."
"It's really great to have the Item Box skill. I really envy anyone who can eat such delicious food in a dungeon."
The members of Tempest chattered freely while eating their pork chop burgers, obviously feeling a lot more energetic than the beaten and dispirited party that had run into the safe room the night before. Even the fellow named Damien who had his insides exposed in a way they really shouldn't have been was now totally fine, happily biting into his burger and slurping his soup. He had recovered really rapidly from his near-fatal wound, possibly due to the effects of Sui-chan's Deluxe High-Grade Potion.
"Seconds, here." Fer demanded, his dish empty. Shouldn't that be Thirds, Fer?
"Aruji, seconds-" Sui-chan's bowl was also empty.
Oh, Fer and Sui wanted still more, but I had no more pork chops left. Quick, what can I find in my Item Box...
"Oh, I just ran out of pork chops. Here's a beef bowl instead." I dished out special offerings of Bloody Horn Bull's gyuudon beef bowl to Fer and Sui.
"Doesn't matter what, anything will do, just hurry it up." Fer grumbled. Yeah yeah.
"Everything Aruji makes is delicious, no matter what-" Sui-chan agreed.
I supplied two more beef bowl "Seconds!" before Fer and Sui seem to be finally full. Dora-chan, as usual, had been filled up with his first serving of pork chop burgers.
"Well, we are much obliged to you." the leader of Tempest said as his party packed their bags and readied their weapons.
"No problem." I assured him. I had managed to make some money in the dungeon from him and his party after all.
"We're going back to the surface now." he added in a sort-of-disappointed tone of voice as they all headed for the door of the safe area.
"Take care." I called to them as they left. A voice, Damien's? called back "you too" as the door closed behind them. I realised only after they had left I had learned only one of their names and now they were gone, leaving only us here. I packed all the bowls and dishes back into the Item Box as Fer stood by the door, obviously itching to get going now he had been fed.
"Hey, let's go." he growled impatiently. Hang on, have we got everything? I double-checked then nodded. Fer pushed the door open with his snout and we headed for the boss room of the 22nd level.
Tuesday 16 April 2019
Ch 136 Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi
Ch 136 -- Giants Zone
The previous 21 levels had not changed very much in structure, only progressing from stone-walled passageways to rough-cut tunnels but now we were on the 22nd level things were noticeably different with the passageways being twice the size of the ones before. I found out the reason when we entered the level's first room, a large high-roofed space that mirrored the increased size of the passageway outside. The monsters inside were giant Trolls, over 3 metres tall as well as several Minotaurs.
"There are giant Trolls and Minotaurs..." I said, "that's why both the passage and this room are so big."
"That's right." Fer said, his head turning from side to side. "From what I can detect this level and the next few levels too are only populated by giant monsters like those ones."
I see. Assuming Fer was right we'd be encountering giant monsters, most of them over 3 metres tall from now on. I was disliking this dungeon's structure more and more -- I thought I could maybe help in the fighting here and there, what with my Mithril sword and my Perfect Defence Skill but me tackling monsters as big as that was impossible. I could only look up to anyone who could face those monsters with a calm heart.
"It's impossible for me to fight monsters like that, just so you know." I told Fer.
"Hmmm, you're really gutless, aren't you?" Fer said off-handedly. Thanks, Fer. "Still, Trolls and Minotaurs aren't dangerous enemies to us." I know that but for me, even with Perfect Defence I'm not brave enough or competent enough to go up against a monster over 3 metres tall. "Just stand there quietly and watch, OK?"
"It's time to have some fun! Big slow-moving lumps like these, I'll kill them before they know they're dead!" Oh, Dora-chan was really fired up. Help yourself please, I thought.
"Aruji-, Sui's going to pew-pew the big bad guys too-. I'll use my water magic-" Sui-chan was also totally ready to fight. Pew-pew the big bad guys all you want, Sui-chan. You've got really powerful water magic now you received Water Goddess Rusalka-sama's blessing and you've levelled up so much as well.
"Right, let's go." Fer commanded and the three of them rushed into the room.
Slash, crash, slash--. Fer's wind and lightning attacks hammered into the crowd of Trolls and Minotaurs, knocking them around like toys.
Thunk, thunk, thunk--. Dora-chan's body lit up with fire magic and he simply flew straight through the chests of the monsters in the room one after the other like a small flaming comet, killing them instantly.
Splat, splat, sizzle--. Sui's Acid Bullets melted large holes in Minotaur bellies at longer range while she fired Acid Balls at enemies closer in for a greater widespread effect. Being the youngest of the three, Sui-chan's magic attacks weren't as powerful as Fer and Dora-chan's but her tactics were well-chosen to deal with her opponents appropriately. She was definitely getting stronger as she grew up. I wondered if she might evolve again when we finished here and left the dungeon.
"""Guruuuuu...""" While I was distracted trying to imagine what Sui-chan might evolve into, the battle in the room, such as it was, had ended. Total victory for us, of course.
Oh, is it over? I went in and collected the drops. There were Minotaur horns, a Minotaur's Iron Axe, Minotaur meat and Troll skins as well as a Troll's Poison Claw which was a drop item new to me. The number of drops hadn't increased as we went lower in the dungeon but the quality and value of them had gone up somewhat to match the increased danger on each level. We went through the other rooms one by one killing the monsters as they appeared and collecting drops. It just took some time since there were lots of monsters on this level and they stayed mostly in the rooms off to one side of the passageways. Previously we had encountered quite a few monsters as we traversed the passages but not so much any more.
Of course with Fer, Dora-chan and Sui doing the fighting there was nothing we met that gave them any problems. Often I spent more time collecting the drops than they did killing the monsters we encountered. We finally cleared all the rooms on the 22nd level, leaving just the boss room...
"I'm hungry"
"Oh, I got hungry too."
"Sui is also hungry-"
Ah, it's dinner time for the kiddies now that playtime was over, I thought to myself. Fer gave me a Look, apparently my thought had leaked a little. Oops. Still, the idea of getting fed mollified him and we were soon in the level's safe area, close to the boss room.
What should I serve up for today's dinner? Hmmm, ginger-fried pork using Orc General meat and pork miso soup to go with it, that sounded like a good idea. I filled bowls with cooked rice then topped them with the ginger-fried pork and plenty of shredded cabbage. I also dished up pork miso in bowls for the kids, uh the brave valiant warriors of great renown.
"Right, here you are." I said, putting the dishes out and stepped back quickly before I got trampled in the rush. The sounds of gobbling and slurping filled the small room.
"After all our efforts today, food is delicious." Fer thought as he vacuumed up the pork and rice before turning his attention to the pork miso.
"Oh, the seasoning on this meat is really tasty." Dora-chan added.
"Yup yup, it's very delicious- the juice and the meat with the vegetables-"
I agreed with Fer, eating after being so active added an extra touch to the taste of dinner. I helped myself to some of the ginger-fried pork over rice and pork broth too although I had to admit I'd done very little of the fighting today. I had collected a lot of item drops though, did that count?
Hmmm, adding the fresh shredded cabbage to the ginger-fried pork and rice worked well, providing a sharp crunch to the dish. The pork miso soup with its slow-cooked vegetables tasted good too. It was a soothing flavour and I felt myself relax after the non-stop action of the previous few hours. Oh~ delicious.
""Seconds"". Yeah yeah. Dora-chan looked like he was stuffed with the first large serving I had given out to everyone (about three regular-sized servings) but Fer and Sui-chan were, as usual, still going strong. I dished out more food to them and returned to my own dinner. I was interrupted a couple more times as usual until all of the ginger-fried pork I had in reserve was gone. There was a little pork miso soup left, about a single serving which I put back in the Item Box for later. All that food made me a bit sleepy and I glanced up at the ceiling reflexively, to try and judge what time it was before I remembered we were deep underground and the sun wasn't visible. Maybe I should buy a watch from the Net Super sometime? Then again I'd only ever need it in places like this and I wasn't really planning go dungeon-diving ever again.
"Hey Fer, I feel tired after eating." I said. "Let's sleep here tonight and go into the boss room tomorrow."
"Yeah." Fer agreed. "It's probably time to sleep if we were outside anyway. Good idea." Fer seemed to be able to sense what time it was outside the dungeon but hey, my belly was a pretty good timepiece as well.
"Dora-chan, Sui-chan, we're going to sleep in here today." I said.
"Yah, I understand."
"I understand-. Where's the futon?-"
Oh, futons? I glanced around but we were the only ones here in the safe area for this level so it would probably be OK to get the futons out of my Item Box. I put down some cardboard and laid out futons for Fer and Dora-chan and a futon for me and Sui-chan as usual. I hadn't expected to come this far into the dungeon so quickly. Not wanting to use Net Super in the dungeon I had bought more futons and other things to keep in my Item Box but apart from all the food I had prepared it now seemed like a waste of effort. While I was thinking about that as I spread out the futons, I heard running feet and voices from outside the safe area.
"We made it!! Get into the safe area !!!"
"Hurry up! Quick !!!!"
"Hold on Damian, we're nearly there!"
"Is the potion still working?!"
"It's all used up! There's no more left!!"
A group of wounded Adventurers rushed into the safe area, a party of two women and four men. One male Adventurer who was being half-carried by two of his compatriots was in an especially bad way. His side was cut up so severely I could see his internal organs peeping out. Ughhh.
While I was still surprised at their sudden appearance one of the men, the party leader I assumed, shouted at me. "Hey you, do you have any potions?! We'll pay, if you have any sell them to us!" he demanded.
"Ah, y- yes I do have some." I said. I had purchased a lot of bottles in Carerina for shampoo and such but before we had left I had bought some more bottles and tucked them away in my Item Box. Knowing we would be diving into this dungeon I had asked Sui to make advanced, intermediate and lower grade versions of Sui's Deluxe High-grade Potion, 20 of each type just in case. Safety first, after all. I took out one of Sui's advanced potions from the Item Box and handed it to the party's leader.
"Hey, here's a potion, hold on!" The seriously-injured man was laid on the ground and the leader sprinkled the potion on his badly-wounded side. The deep near-fatal cut healed up in an instant as the stunned Adventurers watched.
"Hmm, what is this ...? A high-grade potion?" The leader squinted at the bottle in his hand.
"Oh, no way..." the wounded man said, half-deleriously. "There's no reason to waste a high-grade potion on someone like me..." The Adventurers all looked at me.
"No it's not that," I waved my hands in negation, "It's just an advanced potion but it works better than usual, that's all." I said quickly. "Don't ask me where I got it from, please." OK, it was not quite a lie but I didn't want them to ask me more questions about it.
"Really?" the leader was obviously intrigued but he looked down at his compatriot on the floor and shrugged. "Something that good, I don't understand why you want to keep it secret. Adventurers would pay a lot for advanced potions with such a powerful healing effect".
"Adventurers keep all sorts of secrets." I said, trying to convince him not to probe further into exactly where I had obtained such a potion. "You've probably got some things you don't want others to learn about too, don't you?" The man stared at me for a second more then nodded, seemingly convinced I wasn't going to discuss it further. Still I was surprised just how effective the potion had been in healing the man's injuries and I remained a focus of interest of the others in the Adventurer party.
"He's unconscious now but his wounds have closed up, he's breathing well and seems stable." One of the women in the party kneeling beside the wounded man said with relief. "He will be all right now, I'm sure."
Hearing that the party's leader breathed a sigh of relief.
"Good... Good... I thought there was no hope, we wouldn't be able to save Damian..." Tears leaked from his eyes.
"Don't cry." the woman said. "We know you and Damian have been close for a long time. But I'm really glad he was saved. it was a miracle."
"That's true, I'm the Healer in this party," another man said. "Even if I had not run out of mana I'm certain it would have been truly impossible to recover from that wound."
"Absolutely." another member chimed in. "No-one other than a high-level priest could heal that amount of damage... It really was a miracle." All the members of the party seemed relieved that their companion was still alive.
"Thank you very much for your help." The leader bowed his head towards me.
"No, don't worry. I just happened to have a potion with me and it worked." I said modestly. Of course with Sui-chan's ability to make potions I would never be without potions myself. Safety first after all.
The leader dug a hand into his belt pouch. "Because the potion was so effective and we're in the dungeon, will you accept 15 gold coins as the price of the potion?" I had been informed by the Guild Master at Carerina that the price of an advanced potion was 10 gold coins and I told the leader that but he demurred.
"The potion you gave me was clearly more effective than a regular advanced potion and receiving it in a dungeon is a special condition so the price goes up, naturally." He waved a hand around, indicating the dungeon we were in. "There aren't any traders or stores here where I could buy a potion at the regular price after all." The leader handed me 15 gold coins which I finally accepted.
"This is a bonus. Please find them of use." I handed him three of Sui's low-end special potions since I could see other members of his party, although not as severely hurt as Damian had been were also wounded in various places. Seeing the cuts and bruising on their bodies made me twinge in sympathy.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, please take them. In return," I went on, "can you tell me what happened to you?"
The leader took the low-end potions and handed them to his subordinates before turning back to me, shaking his head. "It was bad," he said as he explained.
He was the A-ranked leader of the Adventurer party named "Tempest". There was another A-rank member and four B-rank Adventurers making "Tempest" an A-ranked party in the Guild's records. They had a long history of achievements and they were rightly proud of their abilities. They had been diving in Doran's dungeon for two months with this being their second time down this far. Previously they had reached the 22nd level where we all were just now but they had run out of food and been forced to return to the surface to restock and recuperate.
They had been planning to go further down this time and they had gotten through the 21st and 22nd levels without a hitch before entering the boss room here on the 22nd level. However waiting for them...
"There were three Spriggans there, a real nightmare." the party's leader shook his head. "There were also Trolls and Minotaurs and we encountered more of them than the last time we made it this far." A Spriggan, according the leader's description was a giant humanoid monster, even larger than a Troll or Minotaur, with an truly ugly face.
"First time we dove this deep into this dungeon we only expected to face one Spriggan and there were fewer Trolls and Minotaurs around too. I know a dungeon changes over time and we can't expect to encounter exactly the same number and type of monsters on our second dive but to have three Spriggans appear..." The larger number of Trolls and Minotaurs also caused them problems and when they tried to withdraw Damian had been hit in the side by a Minotaur's axe. Barely escaping with their lives they ran for this safe area near the boss room to recoup.
"You should be careful too..." the leader glanced at Fer, "but then again you might be okay." Of course, if someone is an A-ranked or B-ranked Adventurer they would recognise at a glance that Fer was a Fenrir? And this party's leader was A-ranked so... "We had heard there was an Adventurer who had Tamed a Fenrir, and now I can see that was a true story."
"Eh, yeah well..."
"Ha ha, you don't have to worry about trying to hide it from us. The word from the Adventurers Guild about the Fenrir and his Tamer is, don't mess with them and don't ask questions and you'll be all right. Bother them and it's your own fault what happens to you." I was very grateful to hear the Guild had instructed their members to leave us alone.
"If you're diving in the dungeon with a Fenrir as your contracted monster then I think you're going to be safe enough. For us, well maybe we didn't do enough preparation. We talked with the Guild Master and got information about the deeper parts of the dungeon from him. However we understood that there was only one Spriggan on this floor, in the boss room. We expected one, planned for two in the worst case but to run into three of them..." he looked around at the other members of his party who were slumped on the floor, exhausted, bruised and cut, their clothing and armour ripped and dented. "That's it for us, this time anyway. We'll head back to the surface once we get a good night's sleep."
So they had encountered 3 Spriggans, more than they had expected as well as lots more Minotaurs and Trolls. This dungeon seemed to be actively malicious, not just dangerous, making things harder than they were before. Fer had said the dungeon was a living organism, killing Adventurers and absorbing their bodies and it seemed its difficulty levels were also increasing as it grew. As the Tempest members laid out their cloaks and packs and prepared to sleep I gave some thought to what lay ahead. If Tempest hadn't defeated all the monsters in the boss room did that mean there were still some Spriggans, Trolls and Minotaurs sitting around waiting for us as the next party to enter? I asked Fer but he wasn't concerned.
"Don't worry about it. One Spriggan or three or thirty-three isn't any sort of a challenge for me. Bring them on." Fer yawned. "I'm tired. Go to bed already. We're going further down towards the bottom level tomorrow."
I supposed Fer, Sui and Dora-chan would be okay even against monsters an A-ranked Adventurer party had difficulty with and I had my Perfect Defence Skill to protect me, but getting into a fight with a crowd of giant monsters all trying to kill us made me worry just a little bit as you might imagine. We'll all be fine, I told myself repeatedly as I curled up in the futon with Sui and tried to go to sleep.
The previous 21 levels had not changed very much in structure, only progressing from stone-walled passageways to rough-cut tunnels but now we were on the 22nd level things were noticeably different with the passageways being twice the size of the ones before. I found out the reason when we entered the level's first room, a large high-roofed space that mirrored the increased size of the passageway outside. The monsters inside were giant Trolls, over 3 metres tall as well as several Minotaurs.
"There are giant Trolls and Minotaurs..." I said, "that's why both the passage and this room are so big."
"That's right." Fer said, his head turning from side to side. "From what I can detect this level and the next few levels too are only populated by giant monsters like those ones."
I see. Assuming Fer was right we'd be encountering giant monsters, most of them over 3 metres tall from now on. I was disliking this dungeon's structure more and more -- I thought I could maybe help in the fighting here and there, what with my Mithril sword and my Perfect Defence Skill but me tackling monsters as big as that was impossible. I could only look up to anyone who could face those monsters with a calm heart.
"It's impossible for me to fight monsters like that, just so you know." I told Fer.
"Hmmm, you're really gutless, aren't you?" Fer said off-handedly. Thanks, Fer. "Still, Trolls and Minotaurs aren't dangerous enemies to us." I know that but for me, even with Perfect Defence I'm not brave enough or competent enough to go up against a monster over 3 metres tall. "Just stand there quietly and watch, OK?"
"It's time to have some fun! Big slow-moving lumps like these, I'll kill them before they know they're dead!" Oh, Dora-chan was really fired up. Help yourself please, I thought.
"Aruji-, Sui's going to pew-pew the big bad guys too-. I'll use my water magic-" Sui-chan was also totally ready to fight. Pew-pew the big bad guys all you want, Sui-chan. You've got really powerful water magic now you received Water Goddess Rusalka-sama's blessing and you've levelled up so much as well.
"Right, let's go." Fer commanded and the three of them rushed into the room.
Slash, crash, slash--. Fer's wind and lightning attacks hammered into the crowd of Trolls and Minotaurs, knocking them around like toys.
Thunk, thunk, thunk--. Dora-chan's body lit up with fire magic and he simply flew straight through the chests of the monsters in the room one after the other like a small flaming comet, killing them instantly.
Splat, splat, sizzle--. Sui's Acid Bullets melted large holes in Minotaur bellies at longer range while she fired Acid Balls at enemies closer in for a greater widespread effect. Being the youngest of the three, Sui-chan's magic attacks weren't as powerful as Fer and Dora-chan's but her tactics were well-chosen to deal with her opponents appropriately. She was definitely getting stronger as she grew up. I wondered if she might evolve again when we finished here and left the dungeon.
"""Guruuuuu...""" While I was distracted trying to imagine what Sui-chan might evolve into, the battle in the room, such as it was, had ended. Total victory for us, of course.
Oh, is it over? I went in and collected the drops. There were Minotaur horns, a Minotaur's Iron Axe, Minotaur meat and Troll skins as well as a Troll's Poison Claw which was a drop item new to me. The number of drops hadn't increased as we went lower in the dungeon but the quality and value of them had gone up somewhat to match the increased danger on each level. We went through the other rooms one by one killing the monsters as they appeared and collecting drops. It just took some time since there were lots of monsters on this level and they stayed mostly in the rooms off to one side of the passageways. Previously we had encountered quite a few monsters as we traversed the passages but not so much any more.
Of course with Fer, Dora-chan and Sui doing the fighting there was nothing we met that gave them any problems. Often I spent more time collecting the drops than they did killing the monsters we encountered. We finally cleared all the rooms on the 22nd level, leaving just the boss room...
"I'm hungry"
"Oh, I got hungry too."
"Sui is also hungry-"
Ah, it's dinner time for the kiddies now that playtime was over, I thought to myself. Fer gave me a Look, apparently my thought had leaked a little. Oops. Still, the idea of getting fed mollified him and we were soon in the level's safe area, close to the boss room.
What should I serve up for today's dinner? Hmmm, ginger-fried pork using Orc General meat and pork miso soup to go with it, that sounded like a good idea. I filled bowls with cooked rice then topped them with the ginger-fried pork and plenty of shredded cabbage. I also dished up pork miso in bowls for the kids, uh the brave valiant warriors of great renown.
"Right, here you are." I said, putting the dishes out and stepped back quickly before I got trampled in the rush. The sounds of gobbling and slurping filled the small room.
"After all our efforts today, food is delicious." Fer thought as he vacuumed up the pork and rice before turning his attention to the pork miso.
"Oh, the seasoning on this meat is really tasty." Dora-chan added.
"Yup yup, it's very delicious- the juice and the meat with the vegetables-"
I agreed with Fer, eating after being so active added an extra touch to the taste of dinner. I helped myself to some of the ginger-fried pork over rice and pork broth too although I had to admit I'd done very little of the fighting today. I had collected a lot of item drops though, did that count?
Hmmm, adding the fresh shredded cabbage to the ginger-fried pork and rice worked well, providing a sharp crunch to the dish. The pork miso soup with its slow-cooked vegetables tasted good too. It was a soothing flavour and I felt myself relax after the non-stop action of the previous few hours. Oh~ delicious.
""Seconds"". Yeah yeah. Dora-chan looked like he was stuffed with the first large serving I had given out to everyone (about three regular-sized servings) but Fer and Sui-chan were, as usual, still going strong. I dished out more food to them and returned to my own dinner. I was interrupted a couple more times as usual until all of the ginger-fried pork I had in reserve was gone. There was a little pork miso soup left, about a single serving which I put back in the Item Box for later. All that food made me a bit sleepy and I glanced up at the ceiling reflexively, to try and judge what time it was before I remembered we were deep underground and the sun wasn't visible. Maybe I should buy a watch from the Net Super sometime? Then again I'd only ever need it in places like this and I wasn't really planning go dungeon-diving ever again.
"Hey Fer, I feel tired after eating." I said. "Let's sleep here tonight and go into the boss room tomorrow."
"Yeah." Fer agreed. "It's probably time to sleep if we were outside anyway. Good idea." Fer seemed to be able to sense what time it was outside the dungeon but hey, my belly was a pretty good timepiece as well.
"Dora-chan, Sui-chan, we're going to sleep in here today." I said.
"Yah, I understand."
"I understand-. Where's the futon?-"
Oh, futons? I glanced around but we were the only ones here in the safe area for this level so it would probably be OK to get the futons out of my Item Box. I put down some cardboard and laid out futons for Fer and Dora-chan and a futon for me and Sui-chan as usual. I hadn't expected to come this far into the dungeon so quickly. Not wanting to use Net Super in the dungeon I had bought more futons and other things to keep in my Item Box but apart from all the food I had prepared it now seemed like a waste of effort. While I was thinking about that as I spread out the futons, I heard running feet and voices from outside the safe area.
"We made it!! Get into the safe area !!!"
"Hurry up! Quick !!!!"
"Hold on Damian, we're nearly there!"
"Is the potion still working?!"
"It's all used up! There's no more left!!"
A group of wounded Adventurers rushed into the safe area, a party of two women and four men. One male Adventurer who was being half-carried by two of his compatriots was in an especially bad way. His side was cut up so severely I could see his internal organs peeping out. Ughhh.
While I was still surprised at their sudden appearance one of the men, the party leader I assumed, shouted at me. "Hey you, do you have any potions?! We'll pay, if you have any sell them to us!" he demanded.
"Ah, y- yes I do have some." I said. I had purchased a lot of bottles in Carerina for shampoo and such but before we had left I had bought some more bottles and tucked them away in my Item Box. Knowing we would be diving into this dungeon I had asked Sui to make advanced, intermediate and lower grade versions of Sui's Deluxe High-grade Potion, 20 of each type just in case. Safety first, after all. I took out one of Sui's advanced potions from the Item Box and handed it to the party's leader.
"Hey, here's a potion, hold on!" The seriously-injured man was laid on the ground and the leader sprinkled the potion on his badly-wounded side. The deep near-fatal cut healed up in an instant as the stunned Adventurers watched.
"Hmm, what is this ...? A high-grade potion?" The leader squinted at the bottle in his hand.
"Oh, no way..." the wounded man said, half-deleriously. "There's no reason to waste a high-grade potion on someone like me..." The Adventurers all looked at me.
"No it's not that," I waved my hands in negation, "It's just an advanced potion but it works better than usual, that's all." I said quickly. "Don't ask me where I got it from, please." OK, it was not quite a lie but I didn't want them to ask me more questions about it.
"Really?" the leader was obviously intrigued but he looked down at his compatriot on the floor and shrugged. "Something that good, I don't understand why you want to keep it secret. Adventurers would pay a lot for advanced potions with such a powerful healing effect".
"Adventurers keep all sorts of secrets." I said, trying to convince him not to probe further into exactly where I had obtained such a potion. "You've probably got some things you don't want others to learn about too, don't you?" The man stared at me for a second more then nodded, seemingly convinced I wasn't going to discuss it further. Still I was surprised just how effective the potion had been in healing the man's injuries and I remained a focus of interest of the others in the Adventurer party.
"He's unconscious now but his wounds have closed up, he's breathing well and seems stable." One of the women in the party kneeling beside the wounded man said with relief. "He will be all right now, I'm sure."
Hearing that the party's leader breathed a sigh of relief.
"Good... Good... I thought there was no hope, we wouldn't be able to save Damian..." Tears leaked from his eyes.
"Don't cry." the woman said. "We know you and Damian have been close for a long time. But I'm really glad he was saved. it was a miracle."
"That's true, I'm the Healer in this party," another man said. "Even if I had not run out of mana I'm certain it would have been truly impossible to recover from that wound."
"Absolutely." another member chimed in. "No-one other than a high-level priest could heal that amount of damage... It really was a miracle." All the members of the party seemed relieved that their companion was still alive.
"Thank you very much for your help." The leader bowed his head towards me.
"No, don't worry. I just happened to have a potion with me and it worked." I said modestly. Of course with Sui-chan's ability to make potions I would never be without potions myself. Safety first after all.
The leader dug a hand into his belt pouch. "Because the potion was so effective and we're in the dungeon, will you accept 15 gold coins as the price of the potion?" I had been informed by the Guild Master at Carerina that the price of an advanced potion was 10 gold coins and I told the leader that but he demurred.
"The potion you gave me was clearly more effective than a regular advanced potion and receiving it in a dungeon is a special condition so the price goes up, naturally." He waved a hand around, indicating the dungeon we were in. "There aren't any traders or stores here where I could buy a potion at the regular price after all." The leader handed me 15 gold coins which I finally accepted.
"This is a bonus. Please find them of use." I handed him three of Sui's low-end special potions since I could see other members of his party, although not as severely hurt as Damian had been were also wounded in various places. Seeing the cuts and bruising on their bodies made me twinge in sympathy.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, please take them. In return," I went on, "can you tell me what happened to you?"
The leader took the low-end potions and handed them to his subordinates before turning back to me, shaking his head. "It was bad," he said as he explained.
He was the A-ranked leader of the Adventurer party named "Tempest". There was another A-rank member and four B-rank Adventurers making "Tempest" an A-ranked party in the Guild's records. They had a long history of achievements and they were rightly proud of their abilities. They had been diving in Doran's dungeon for two months with this being their second time down this far. Previously they had reached the 22nd level where we all were just now but they had run out of food and been forced to return to the surface to restock and recuperate.
They had been planning to go further down this time and they had gotten through the 21st and 22nd levels without a hitch before entering the boss room here on the 22nd level. However waiting for them...
"There were three Spriggans there, a real nightmare." the party's leader shook his head. "There were also Trolls and Minotaurs and we encountered more of them than the last time we made it this far." A Spriggan, according the leader's description was a giant humanoid monster, even larger than a Troll or Minotaur, with an truly ugly face.
"First time we dove this deep into this dungeon we only expected to face one Spriggan and there were fewer Trolls and Minotaurs around too. I know a dungeon changes over time and we can't expect to encounter exactly the same number and type of monsters on our second dive but to have three Spriggans appear..." The larger number of Trolls and Minotaurs also caused them problems and when they tried to withdraw Damian had been hit in the side by a Minotaur's axe. Barely escaping with their lives they ran for this safe area near the boss room to recoup.
"You should be careful too..." the leader glanced at Fer, "but then again you might be okay." Of course, if someone is an A-ranked or B-ranked Adventurer they would recognise at a glance that Fer was a Fenrir? And this party's leader was A-ranked so... "We had heard there was an Adventurer who had Tamed a Fenrir, and now I can see that was a true story."
"Eh, yeah well..."
"Ha ha, you don't have to worry about trying to hide it from us. The word from the Adventurers Guild about the Fenrir and his Tamer is, don't mess with them and don't ask questions and you'll be all right. Bother them and it's your own fault what happens to you." I was very grateful to hear the Guild had instructed their members to leave us alone.
"If you're diving in the dungeon with a Fenrir as your contracted monster then I think you're going to be safe enough. For us, well maybe we didn't do enough preparation. We talked with the Guild Master and got information about the deeper parts of the dungeon from him. However we understood that there was only one Spriggan on this floor, in the boss room. We expected one, planned for two in the worst case but to run into three of them..." he looked around at the other members of his party who were slumped on the floor, exhausted, bruised and cut, their clothing and armour ripped and dented. "That's it for us, this time anyway. We'll head back to the surface once we get a good night's sleep."
So they had encountered 3 Spriggans, more than they had expected as well as lots more Minotaurs and Trolls. This dungeon seemed to be actively malicious, not just dangerous, making things harder than they were before. Fer had said the dungeon was a living organism, killing Adventurers and absorbing their bodies and it seemed its difficulty levels were also increasing as it grew. As the Tempest members laid out their cloaks and packs and prepared to sleep I gave some thought to what lay ahead. If Tempest hadn't defeated all the monsters in the boss room did that mean there were still some Spriggans, Trolls and Minotaurs sitting around waiting for us as the next party to enter? I asked Fer but he wasn't concerned.
"Don't worry about it. One Spriggan or three or thirty-three isn't any sort of a challenge for me. Bring them on." Fer yawned. "I'm tired. Go to bed already. We're going further down towards the bottom level tomorrow."
I supposed Fer, Sui and Dora-chan would be okay even against monsters an A-ranked Adventurer party had difficulty with and I had my Perfect Defence Skill to protect me, but getting into a fight with a crowd of giant monsters all trying to kill us made me worry just a little bit as you might imagine. We'll all be fine, I told myself repeatedly as I curled up in the futon with Sui and tried to go to sleep.
Saturday 13 April 2019
Ch 135 Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi
Chapter 135 -- Let's Enjoy the Dungeon!
This dungeon seemed to have mostly humanoid monsters with the 16th and 17th levels populated with lots of monsters we had encountered between the 11th through to the 15th level. Fer thought the same applied even beyond this level. However tougher forms of such monsters were appearing and more of them as we progressed but to Fer, Sui and Dora-chan they still weren't any real threat. Each group of monsters we encountered were gleefully defeated in quick order resulting in a lot of drops, usually skins. I didn't really know what they were worth but the sheer number we collected probably meant they wouldn't sell for a lot. At least they'd cover the cost of the food I had bought for this dungeon trip, I decided as I packed them away in my Item Box.
After going through several rooms on the 17th level and collecting drop items we finally found a treasure chest. Yosh! It appeared at the back wall of a room after the monsters in it had been killed and the drops collected, a white box with gold trim, decorated with a small jewel.
"Ooooh, a treasure chest at last!" I exclaimed but, remembering the games I had played I was in no hurry to open it. This dungeon was full of lethal traps and so I was suspicious that this treasure chest might be dangerous... Safety first, I decided and I used Appraisal on it from a safe distance.
[ Treasure Chest ]
A treasure chest set to release poison gas as soon as it is opened.
...ah, it's hopeless. If it was full of scary poison gas then I wasn't going near it. Sure I've got a Goddess' protection but it's (small). The blessing (small) gives me the power of state abnormality invalidation against things like poison but it only works if there's no immediate death effect and this poison gas is likely to be immediately lethal. What about the others though? They all have full blessings so they should be safe.
"Hey guys, this treasure chest, it will release poison gas as soon as it is opened." I announced. "I've only got a blessing (small) so could somebody else open it for me?"
"Nuuu, it can't be helped." Fer said as he approached the treasure chest but before he could open it I suddenly received an oracle from Ninril-sama.
"Oh- oh-, can you hear me other-world-guy? It's me, Ninril here. Ummm, I totally forgot to tell you, yeah, your blessings are (small) right enough but since you've got (small) blessings from three Goddesses, right, your level of state abnormality nullification works like a full blessing would." There was an embarrassed silence, and some whispering in the background. "Ah, you see, it's quite rare for three blessings (small) to be given to the same person so it took me a while to check, you know. You're safe, you won't die even from instant lethal poisons and the like." There was another short pause, "Let's enjoy the dungeon!" and then silence.
...you should have told me this earlier, deplorable Goddess-sama. She did say it took a while for her to verify this, of course but well, Ninril-sama is Ninril-sama. And what was with that "let's enjoy the dungeon!" at the end? Where did that come from?
"Hold on Fer, I'll open it." I said, stepping forward as Fer looked around. "I just received an oracle from Ninril-sama saying I've got full abnormality nullification like yours because I've received blessings (small) from three Goddesses."
"Nuuu, I see. I'll leave it to you then." Fer said as he stepped aside.
Examining the treasure chest I could see it was not locked, the lid just held down with a simple clasp. I clicked it open and lifted the lid whereupon a purple mist belched out.
"Cough, cough, cough-" I spluttered but the poison gas, if that was what it was, was just like inhaling some harmless smoke. The state abnormality nullification I possessed had succeeded. The Goddesses were normally annoying and problematic for me to deal with but on this occasion I was grateful to them, at least a little bit, for their blessings (small). When I looked in the treasure chest after the purple gas had dispersed all I could see was a dirty sack of some kind.
"What on Earth is this?" I said. I lifted the sack out and the treasure chest disappeared. I used Appraisal on the sack.
[ Magic Bag (small) ]
A hemp bag (large) capable of holding things up to five times its size.
The sack was about a meter in size. It wasn't really that useful to me since I had Item Box but others, Merchants and Adventurers alike would probably be glad to get their hands on something like this. It was dirty looking and its size was small, referring to the 5 times capacity I assumed but I figured I could sell it later for a good price. It still seemed like a good drop for my first-ever treasure chest, a real magical item. I put the bag away in my Item Box and we headed for the next room where we found a party of Adventurers already fighting the monsters within. Instead of waiting until they finished and the monsters regenerated we just proceeded to this level's boss room and peered inside the doorway before entering. This time the room contained several Orc Generals standing around an Orc King. Countless other Orcs filled the rest of the room almost to bursting point.
"Hmmm, Orcs?" Fer said dismissively. "Doesn't matter how many there are, they're too easy. Lets go."
"Orcs, huh." Dora-chan sounded a little bit disappointed.
"Sui will knock down the bad guys a lot-" Battle maniac Sui-chan said confidently.
Fer, Dora-chan and Sui rushed into the crowd of Orcs and started slaughtering the monsters left and right. I entered the room behind them, watching as the Orc army was utterly destroyed, which didn't take long. I picked up the drops which like previous Orc subjugations in the dungeon were skins, Orc meat and this time, Orc King testicles. The kitchen paper came in handy again. I recalled being told by Johan-ojisan back in Carerina that Orc King testicles compounded into an aphrodisiac guaranteed a pregnancy and were much sought after from nobles and Royalty desiring an heir.
We left the 18th level to Fer who defeated all the monsters there without hesitation while I recovered the drops, usually monster skins. The level's boss room had a large number of Ogres and Orcs led by an Ogre with a reddish skin. Of course the battle didn't last long once Fer entered the room. This time as I collected the boss room drops there was no treasure chest which left me feeling faintly disappointed.
The 19th level proceeded similarly, killing monsters and collecting drops. However this time in the fifth room a treasure chest appeared when the last monster was killed.
"Oh look, there's a treasure chest." I said but remembering the last treasure chest I used Appraisal before going anywhere near it. Safety first, after all.
[ Mimic ]
A dungeon monster that mimics a treasure chest. When defeated it drops a rare decorated treasure chest.
Ah. "This is not really a treasure chest, it's a monster." I announced.
"Oh, is it a Mimic?" Fer said. Of course Fer would know about such monsters, I realised. "The Mimic will attack anyone who tries to open it." Fer explained. I stepped forward, my Mithril short sword at the ready.
"If that's the case I'll try to defeat it." I approached it cautiously, probing at the lid's catch with the tip of my sword. The lid sprang open revealing sharp teeth and the Mimic lunged towards me but my Mithril sword sliced it in half. A moment later the two parts disappeared leaving something like a small jewellery box behind. This Mithril sword really cuts well. Thanks Sui-chan.
"Oh, it dropped something. It looks like quite a rare item." I said as I picked up the jewellery box. It was small but nicely decorated with gold and gems, very pretty. I reckoned it would sell for a good price. I put it into my Item Box feeling quite pleased with myself.
Two rooms later we were at the entrance to the level's boss room. This one held a mix of Ogres and Trolls clustered around an Ogre King. The sight of so many monsters and especially the Ogre King who was over two metres tall would normally have worried me but by now I was becoming quite relaxed about such things. I stood back and let Fer, Dora-chan, and Sui rush in happily to play. It was, of course an easy victory for them.
As I picked up the drops of skin and magic stones I said, "This is still our first day in the dungeon but the next level is already the 20th. We shouldn't rush things, the monsters from now on are bound to be tougher to beat I'm sure."
"Hah, we are much stronger than them." Fer said disparagingly. "Monsters on these levels are no match for us."
"Fu, have you seen how I've been fighting?" Dora-chan said, buzzing excitedly around the boss room. "Let them come, I'll defeat them no matter how many there are."
"Aruji, Sui is strong-? Sui will knock down the big bad guys-" Sui-chan chimed in.
Everybody seemed fine and super-eager to continue, in high spirits. I looked at them and smiled. I had reckoned we might need 10 days or so to completely explore the dungeon but at this rate we'd be finished in half that time or even less. We polished off level 20 easily with everyone fired up, and headed for the 21st level immediately after. The monster types we were running into were the same as those we had encountered on the 16th to 19th levels but there were more higher-ranking monsters, Kings and Generals and the numbers were increasing too. We picked up lots of drops on the 20th and 21st levels before proceeding down the stairs to the 22nd level. I remembered the Guild receptionist telling us before we entered the dungeon that there was a high-ranking party of Adventurers exploring this level.
This dungeon seemed to have mostly humanoid monsters with the 16th and 17th levels populated with lots of monsters we had encountered between the 11th through to the 15th level. Fer thought the same applied even beyond this level. However tougher forms of such monsters were appearing and more of them as we progressed but to Fer, Sui and Dora-chan they still weren't any real threat. Each group of monsters we encountered were gleefully defeated in quick order resulting in a lot of drops, usually skins. I didn't really know what they were worth but the sheer number we collected probably meant they wouldn't sell for a lot. At least they'd cover the cost of the food I had bought for this dungeon trip, I decided as I packed them away in my Item Box.
After going through several rooms on the 17th level and collecting drop items we finally found a treasure chest. Yosh! It appeared at the back wall of a room after the monsters in it had been killed and the drops collected, a white box with gold trim, decorated with a small jewel.
"Ooooh, a treasure chest at last!" I exclaimed but, remembering the games I had played I was in no hurry to open it. This dungeon was full of lethal traps and so I was suspicious that this treasure chest might be dangerous... Safety first, I decided and I used Appraisal on it from a safe distance.
[ Treasure Chest ]
A treasure chest set to release poison gas as soon as it is opened.
...ah, it's hopeless. If it was full of scary poison gas then I wasn't going near it. Sure I've got a Goddess' protection but it's (small). The blessing (small) gives me the power of state abnormality invalidation against things like poison but it only works if there's no immediate death effect and this poison gas is likely to be immediately lethal. What about the others though? They all have full blessings so they should be safe.
"Hey guys, this treasure chest, it will release poison gas as soon as it is opened." I announced. "I've only got a blessing (small) so could somebody else open it for me?"
"Nuuu, it can't be helped." Fer said as he approached the treasure chest but before he could open it I suddenly received an oracle from Ninril-sama.
"Oh- oh-, can you hear me other-world-guy? It's me, Ninril here. Ummm, I totally forgot to tell you, yeah, your blessings are (small) right enough but since you've got (small) blessings from three Goddesses, right, your level of state abnormality nullification works like a full blessing would." There was an embarrassed silence, and some whispering in the background. "Ah, you see, it's quite rare for three blessings (small) to be given to the same person so it took me a while to check, you know. You're safe, you won't die even from instant lethal poisons and the like." There was another short pause, "Let's enjoy the dungeon!" and then silence.
...you should have told me this earlier, deplorable Goddess-sama. She did say it took a while for her to verify this, of course but well, Ninril-sama is Ninril-sama. And what was with that "let's enjoy the dungeon!" at the end? Where did that come from?
"Hold on Fer, I'll open it." I said, stepping forward as Fer looked around. "I just received an oracle from Ninril-sama saying I've got full abnormality nullification like yours because I've received blessings (small) from three Goddesses."
"Nuuu, I see. I'll leave it to you then." Fer said as he stepped aside.
Examining the treasure chest I could see it was not locked, the lid just held down with a simple clasp. I clicked it open and lifted the lid whereupon a purple mist belched out.
"Cough, cough, cough-" I spluttered but the poison gas, if that was what it was, was just like inhaling some harmless smoke. The state abnormality nullification I possessed had succeeded. The Goddesses were normally annoying and problematic for me to deal with but on this occasion I was grateful to them, at least a little bit, for their blessings (small). When I looked in the treasure chest after the purple gas had dispersed all I could see was a dirty sack of some kind.
"What on Earth is this?" I said. I lifted the sack out and the treasure chest disappeared. I used Appraisal on the sack.
[ Magic Bag (small) ]
A hemp bag (large) capable of holding things up to five times its size.
The sack was about a meter in size. It wasn't really that useful to me since I had Item Box but others, Merchants and Adventurers alike would probably be glad to get their hands on something like this. It was dirty looking and its size was small, referring to the 5 times capacity I assumed but I figured I could sell it later for a good price. It still seemed like a good drop for my first-ever treasure chest, a real magical item. I put the bag away in my Item Box and we headed for the next room where we found a party of Adventurers already fighting the monsters within. Instead of waiting until they finished and the monsters regenerated we just proceeded to this level's boss room and peered inside the doorway before entering. This time the room contained several Orc Generals standing around an Orc King. Countless other Orcs filled the rest of the room almost to bursting point.
"Hmmm, Orcs?" Fer said dismissively. "Doesn't matter how many there are, they're too easy. Lets go."
"Orcs, huh." Dora-chan sounded a little bit disappointed.
"Sui will knock down the bad guys a lot-" Battle maniac Sui-chan said confidently.
Fer, Dora-chan and Sui rushed into the crowd of Orcs and started slaughtering the monsters left and right. I entered the room behind them, watching as the Orc army was utterly destroyed, which didn't take long. I picked up the drops which like previous Orc subjugations in the dungeon were skins, Orc meat and this time, Orc King testicles. The kitchen paper came in handy again. I recalled being told by Johan-ojisan back in Carerina that Orc King testicles compounded into an aphrodisiac guaranteed a pregnancy and were much sought after from nobles and Royalty desiring an heir.
We left the 18th level to Fer who defeated all the monsters there without hesitation while I recovered the drops, usually monster skins. The level's boss room had a large number of Ogres and Orcs led by an Ogre with a reddish skin. Of course the battle didn't last long once Fer entered the room. This time as I collected the boss room drops there was no treasure chest which left me feeling faintly disappointed.
The 19th level proceeded similarly, killing monsters and collecting drops. However this time in the fifth room a treasure chest appeared when the last monster was killed.
"Oh look, there's a treasure chest." I said but remembering the last treasure chest I used Appraisal before going anywhere near it. Safety first, after all.
[ Mimic ]
A dungeon monster that mimics a treasure chest. When defeated it drops a rare decorated treasure chest.
Ah. "This is not really a treasure chest, it's a monster." I announced.
"Oh, is it a Mimic?" Fer said. Of course Fer would know about such monsters, I realised. "The Mimic will attack anyone who tries to open it." Fer explained. I stepped forward, my Mithril short sword at the ready.
"If that's the case I'll try to defeat it." I approached it cautiously, probing at the lid's catch with the tip of my sword. The lid sprang open revealing sharp teeth and the Mimic lunged towards me but my Mithril sword sliced it in half. A moment later the two parts disappeared leaving something like a small jewellery box behind. This Mithril sword really cuts well. Thanks Sui-chan.
"Oh, it dropped something. It looks like quite a rare item." I said as I picked up the jewellery box. It was small but nicely decorated with gold and gems, very pretty. I reckoned it would sell for a good price. I put it into my Item Box feeling quite pleased with myself.
Two rooms later we were at the entrance to the level's boss room. This one held a mix of Ogres and Trolls clustered around an Ogre King. The sight of so many monsters and especially the Ogre King who was over two metres tall would normally have worried me but by now I was becoming quite relaxed about such things. I stood back and let Fer, Dora-chan, and Sui rush in happily to play. It was, of course an easy victory for them.
As I picked up the drops of skin and magic stones I said, "This is still our first day in the dungeon but the next level is already the 20th. We shouldn't rush things, the monsters from now on are bound to be tougher to beat I'm sure."
"Hah, we are much stronger than them." Fer said disparagingly. "Monsters on these levels are no match for us."
"Fu, have you seen how I've been fighting?" Dora-chan said, buzzing excitedly around the boss room. "Let them come, I'll defeat them no matter how many there are."
"Aruji, Sui is strong-? Sui will knock down the big bad guys-" Sui-chan chimed in.
Everybody seemed fine and super-eager to continue, in high spirits. I looked at them and smiled. I had reckoned we might need 10 days or so to completely explore the dungeon but at this rate we'd be finished in half that time or even less. We polished off level 20 easily with everyone fired up, and headed for the 21st level immediately after. The monster types we were running into were the same as those we had encountered on the 16th to 19th levels but there were more higher-ranking monsters, Kings and Generals and the numbers were increasing too. We picked up lots of drops on the 20th and 21st levels before proceeding down the stairs to the 22nd level. I remembered the Guild receptionist telling us before we entered the dungeon that there was a high-ranking party of Adventurers exploring this level.
Monday 8 April 2019
Ch 134 Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi
Chapter 134 -- Nasty Trap
Fer announced the 13th floor to be all 'small fry' after a quick scan for monsters so we gave up on exploring it thoroughly and instead headed directly for the boss room. There was no-one waiting so we went in straight away. The 13th level's boss room had 5 Ogres which were, of course, no match for Fer, Dora-chan and Sui-chan. I hurried to collect the drops which were Ogre skins before we went down the stairs to the 14th level which we also skipped exploring. Fer grumbled about the continuing lack of real opposition, saying it might be like this, just more 'small fry' until at least level 20. Even waiting our turn in front of the 14th level's boss room he declared "Nothing but small fry inside, disappointing." in a bored tone of voice. When we entered the 14th floor boss room I discovered that it held 5 Trolls. These hulking monsters were 'small fry', Fer?
"A Troll's got a big strong body but it's sluggish and easy to beat if you move fast. So which one of you wants to deal with them?" Fer asked.
"Oh, can Sui defeat them?- " Sui asked, poinging up and down.
"Hey, how about letting me take them on?" Dora-chan asked excitedly.
"How about we let you beat the bosses on the next floor, Dora-chan?" I suggested. "Is that OK with you, Sui-chan?"
"Yes, good-" Sui-chan agreed.
"Right then, we'll leave these Trolls to Sui-chan and the boss on the 15th floor is all yours Dora-chan, OK?"
"Yeah, can't wait." Dora-chan said.
"Right then Sui-chan, knock down the bad guys!" I commanded.
"Yes, aruji-" Sui-chan extended a familiar-looking tentacle. Pew, pew, pew, pew, pew.
"""""Guuuu-"""""
Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump. Urgh, Sui-chan the Troll Slayer hit them with Acid Bullets, blowing a large gruesome hole in the belly of each Troll. The Trolls could only cry out once without doing anything before they fell down dead and that was it for them. Sorry, Troll-sans.
Sui jumped up and down happily saying "I did it, I did it-". Sui-chan is too cute, but not if you're an enemy I suppose. The drop from the Trolls was two small magic stones which I collected before we went down the stairs to the 15th level. The signs of Adventurers on this level were few in number compared to the levels above but Fer declared the level to be full of 'small fry' yet again. I had been hoping to find some treasure chests, especially now there were fewer Adventurers ahead of us who might have already picked them clean but it was likely that any treasure chests we might find further down in the dungeon would hold more worthwhile contents due to the increasing difficulty levels.
We went straight to the 15th level boss room where it was the turn of a hyped-up Dora-chan to beat the room's occupants this time. Inside the room were three giant bullheaded figures which my Appraisal Skill labelled as Minotaurs. Slobber sprayed from their mouths as they waved giant axes around in a frenzy. When we entered the room they roared like bulls, "Bumoo!" and ran towards us, swinging their axes ready to strike.
"Hiyaaaa, let's go!" Dora-chan flew into the room in front of us.
Boom, boom, boom!
"""Bumoooo..."""
Thump, thump, thump. Oh, the same result again... Dora-chan killed all three Minotaurs in a single attack, quickly shooting lightning magic at the charging figures as he flew at them almost too fast to see. Even a monster as strong as a Minotaur couldn't do anything but bellow once before being killed and falling down dead and that was it for them.
Even though Trolls and Minotaurs are truly dangerous dungeon monsters it was kind of sad to see them being defeated without being able to fight back or really defend themselves. I felt a bit sorry for them and I wondered if our small companions were TOO strong. Dora-chan was flying around saying, "Hachi-Ho, who's next?" and other things as the bodies of the Minotaurs slowly sank into the dungeon floor. I watched them disappear, thinking a dungeon was the epitome of the survival of the fittest, a testing ground where even the strongest might lose and die and go to Buddha. Amen.
According to my Appraisal, the drop was a [ Minotaur's iron axe ]
Iron axe wielded by a Minotaur. It is very heavy.
I tried to lift it but failed since it was too heavy for me, but the Minotaurs had been able to swing it around easily. The Minotaurs had been very strong. Dora-chan had killed them instantly which meant that Dora-chan was also strong. Basically everyone was strong, this party had no weak spots. No, that wasn't true, we had one weak spot. Me. I was the weakest of us all, sorry to say but it was something I had to accept as a fact. I'd have to be protected by everyone as we went further into this dungeon.
On the 16th level the the situation changed completely. First of all, it looked different to what had we had seen before. The previous 15 levels had been tunnels formed from stone walls but the corridors in the 16th level were cut from solid rock, like a drainage tunnel.
"Somehow it feels different now from the first 15 levels." I muttered, looking around. I had gotten used to the stone walls.
"Umu." Fer said, looking around too. "Well, it's a living dungeon and the levels can change. Sometimes a level can be a forest or even a desert area." Ah, just like the games back in my own world. We started along the rocky tunnel leading away from the stairs and we soon encountered a rough doorway-shaped hole in the right-hand wall. Peeking through the hole I saw a large-ish room with a dome-shaped roof filled with monsters. This time it was several Orc Generals surrounded by a large number of Orcs. We stepped back from the entrance to decide how to proceed once we were sure the Orcs wouldn't chase out of their room after us.
"Well it looks like there are fewer Adventurers on this level so let's spend more time collecting monster drops and searching for treasure chests." I suggested. Until now we hadn't bothered much with the drops from the minor monsters Fer and Dora-chan had slaughtered casually as we zoomed through each level, just leaving them behind for other Adventurers to pick up when they were found. Now we had reached this level I decided we should be more diligent and act like real Adventurers.
"It's bothersome wasting time on all these small fry..." Fer grumbled telepathically. I caught the word "Behemoth" in the back of his mind. Rita from Iron Will had said something about us going to the bottom of the dungeon and fighting the Final Boss and that comment had brought that particular S-class monster back to his attention. He was in a hurry but...
"What are you saying?" I replied. "The purpose of diving into a dungeon is to gather valuable drop items and locate treasure chests. Ignoring them means there's no point in going into the dungeon in the first place."
"I'm the one doing most of the fighting down here, you know." Fer pointed out, still not willing to agree to taking it slower on the levels to come.
"Oh, of course you are, Fer." I said, "But I want to collect the drop items and find treasure chests because they're valuable, you see." I offered him a concession. "I'll let you choose a particular dish for dinner if you agree." Fer's ears pricked up at this.
"Nuuu, really? I will do it then." Yosh! Fer was not that difficult to deal with as long as you treated him as an empty stomach on four legs. What he said next was a surprise though.
"I want to eat more meat from another world like the meat I ate before." Uh, domestic Japanese wagyu beef? Wyvern meat and Dragon meat is is obviously superior in taste and texture to wagyu, even A5 top grade meat. Eating food from the Net Super adds a little to our Status for a short time, of course but was there something else that made it extra-delicious for Fer?
"You want to eat meat from another world, Fer?" I asked. "Is it really superior to the meat we can get here?"
"I can only eat the other world's food if you get it for me." Fer explained. "Of course Dragon meat is the best but I want to eat different things as well and I want to eat other-world meat now."
Ah, that made sense. Fer and the others couldn't get hold of ingredients from the Net Super other than asking me to buy them. We had been eating meat from this world exclusively for quite some time now, high-quality meat but Fer wanted to taste the wagyu beef again. I nodded in agreement and Fer quickly entered the room. There was a flash and a Boom! and that was that, instant kills of all the Orcs.
The drop items this time were pieces of Orc meat and Orc General meat. Oh, and Orc testicles. I recalled Johan-ojisan, the Guild's disassembler at Carerina explaining they were much sought after as ingredients for aphrodisiacs. I had been paid quite a lot of gold coins for the testicles sold to the Guild from the Orcs Fer had subjugated, but now they were drop items just lying there on the dungeon floor. I went to pick them up but my hand froze. They're money, gold coins really, I told myself but I finally had to get some kitchen paper from my Item Box to wrap them up in before depositing them in my Item Box.
We picked up a few more drops as we explored the rocky tunnels and defeated any monsters that appeared. They were stronger than the ones we had encountered on the previous levels, of a higher level or more numerous. The traps were getting more dangerous too, flights of arrows and spears rather than single ones, even poisoned arrows. The pitfalls had spikes at the bottom now too. They were no problem though, Fer's Barrier fended off the projectiles while Fer leapt over the holes that suddenly appeared in the floor and Dora-chan flew safely over them, of course.
As we walked along one suspiciously-smooth long straight tunnel I heard a slight click.
"Nuuu, that sounded like a trap going off." Fer said casually, turning around as we heard a rumble and the sound of something heavy rolling towards us from behind, it sounded like... RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE...
"What's that?" I shouted, pointing at the large round boulder that completely filled the tunnel which was rolling towards us. We were going to be crushed! I turned back to start running away but Fer just said "No problem." and waved his front foot at the boulder, leaving an afterimage of sharp claws of light hurtling towards the rock. That was his Claw Slash skill, I had seen him use it before.
Smash. The sharp claws of light hit the boulder and shattered into pieces. …Huh? That technique, it worked on stone too? I stared at the collapsing pile of rubble, mouth agape but Fer being Fer, he just turned back and said "Let's go." I supposed that for Fer it wasn't a big thing, just a large rock and not any sort of a real challenge. Mister Cool, that's Fer. I told myself I should worry less when he's around but, well, all this dungeon stuff was new to me and I couldn't help being nervous. Please be careful, Fer.
We travelled around the 16th level collecting monster drops and dodging traps before we reached the level's boss room. It was almost twice as big as the boss rooms we had encountered on the previous 15 levels. It held a large number of assorted monsters, Orcs, Lizardmen and Ogres. Fer, Dora-chan and Sui-chan disposed of them all in less than five minutes. I helped in this fighting this time though.
I fought against an Orc, to test the sharpness of the Mithril short sword Sui had made for me. I had no real skill for using a sword, I hadn't even tried kendo at school but I think that I was able to remain relatively calm because I knew I had the Perfect Defence Skill and the Orc couldn't hurt me. At least that's what I told myself as I approached the monster.
The Orc I chose as my opponent was wielding a iron axe. The Orc hit me with it but I didn't even feel the blow. Yay for my Perfect Defence! I waved my short sword at the Orc as I was knocked back by the force of the otherwise-harmless impact. It wasn't any sort of a stroke that any real swordsman would recognise but the blade sliced through the Orc's arm and cut it off! The arm and the axe it held in its hand just flew away. I was amazed how incredibly sharp the sword was but I was distracted by the Orc's roaring so I stabbed the sword into its chest. The blade slid through the Orc's tough skin like paper, no, like a soap bubble and the Orc fell to the ground and died. It didn't leave a drop which was a little disappointing but I had actually taken part in the battle this time which satisfied me, and now I had a better idea just how exceptionally sharp and effective Sui's Mithril sword was. I had also learned that the Perfect Defence Skill provided by the God of Blacksmiths was not just for show.
By the time I had dealt with the Orc the others had finished the rest of the monsters in the boss room as expected. I picked up the drops left behind, skins and magic stones and a few other items and then we headed off towards the 17th level stairs.
Fer announced the 13th floor to be all 'small fry' after a quick scan for monsters so we gave up on exploring it thoroughly and instead headed directly for the boss room. There was no-one waiting so we went in straight away. The 13th level's boss room had 5 Ogres which were, of course, no match for Fer, Dora-chan and Sui-chan. I hurried to collect the drops which were Ogre skins before we went down the stairs to the 14th level which we also skipped exploring. Fer grumbled about the continuing lack of real opposition, saying it might be like this, just more 'small fry' until at least level 20. Even waiting our turn in front of the 14th level's boss room he declared "Nothing but small fry inside, disappointing." in a bored tone of voice. When we entered the 14th floor boss room I discovered that it held 5 Trolls. These hulking monsters were 'small fry', Fer?
"A Troll's got a big strong body but it's sluggish and easy to beat if you move fast. So which one of you wants to deal with them?" Fer asked.
"Oh, can Sui defeat them?- " Sui asked, poinging up and down.
"Hey, how about letting me take them on?" Dora-chan asked excitedly.
"How about we let you beat the bosses on the next floor, Dora-chan?" I suggested. "Is that OK with you, Sui-chan?"
"Yes, good-" Sui-chan agreed.
"Right then, we'll leave these Trolls to Sui-chan and the boss on the 15th floor is all yours Dora-chan, OK?"
"Yeah, can't wait." Dora-chan said.
"Right then Sui-chan, knock down the bad guys!" I commanded.
"Yes, aruji-" Sui-chan extended a familiar-looking tentacle. Pew, pew, pew, pew, pew.
"""""Guuuu-"""""
Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump. Urgh, Sui-chan the Troll Slayer hit them with Acid Bullets, blowing a large gruesome hole in the belly of each Troll. The Trolls could only cry out once without doing anything before they fell down dead and that was it for them. Sorry, Troll-sans.
Sui jumped up and down happily saying "I did it, I did it-". Sui-chan is too cute, but not if you're an enemy I suppose. The drop from the Trolls was two small magic stones which I collected before we went down the stairs to the 15th level. The signs of Adventurers on this level were few in number compared to the levels above but Fer declared the level to be full of 'small fry' yet again. I had been hoping to find some treasure chests, especially now there were fewer Adventurers ahead of us who might have already picked them clean but it was likely that any treasure chests we might find further down in the dungeon would hold more worthwhile contents due to the increasing difficulty levels.
We went straight to the 15th level boss room where it was the turn of a hyped-up Dora-chan to beat the room's occupants this time. Inside the room were three giant bullheaded figures which my Appraisal Skill labelled as Minotaurs. Slobber sprayed from their mouths as they waved giant axes around in a frenzy. When we entered the room they roared like bulls, "Bumoo!" and ran towards us, swinging their axes ready to strike.
"Hiyaaaa, let's go!" Dora-chan flew into the room in front of us.
Boom, boom, boom!
"""Bumoooo..."""
Thump, thump, thump. Oh, the same result again... Dora-chan killed all three Minotaurs in a single attack, quickly shooting lightning magic at the charging figures as he flew at them almost too fast to see. Even a monster as strong as a Minotaur couldn't do anything but bellow once before being killed and falling down dead and that was it for them.
Even though Trolls and Minotaurs are truly dangerous dungeon monsters it was kind of sad to see them being defeated without being able to fight back or really defend themselves. I felt a bit sorry for them and I wondered if our small companions were TOO strong. Dora-chan was flying around saying, "Hachi-Ho, who's next?" and other things as the bodies of the Minotaurs slowly sank into the dungeon floor. I watched them disappear, thinking a dungeon was the epitome of the survival of the fittest, a testing ground where even the strongest might lose and die and go to Buddha. Amen.
According to my Appraisal, the drop was a [ Minotaur's iron axe ]
Iron axe wielded by a Minotaur. It is very heavy.
I tried to lift it but failed since it was too heavy for me, but the Minotaurs had been able to swing it around easily. The Minotaurs had been very strong. Dora-chan had killed them instantly which meant that Dora-chan was also strong. Basically everyone was strong, this party had no weak spots. No, that wasn't true, we had one weak spot. Me. I was the weakest of us all, sorry to say but it was something I had to accept as a fact. I'd have to be protected by everyone as we went further into this dungeon.
On the 16th level the the situation changed completely. First of all, it looked different to what had we had seen before. The previous 15 levels had been tunnels formed from stone walls but the corridors in the 16th level were cut from solid rock, like a drainage tunnel.
"Somehow it feels different now from the first 15 levels." I muttered, looking around. I had gotten used to the stone walls.
"Umu." Fer said, looking around too. "Well, it's a living dungeon and the levels can change. Sometimes a level can be a forest or even a desert area." Ah, just like the games back in my own world. We started along the rocky tunnel leading away from the stairs and we soon encountered a rough doorway-shaped hole in the right-hand wall. Peeking through the hole I saw a large-ish room with a dome-shaped roof filled with monsters. This time it was several Orc Generals surrounded by a large number of Orcs. We stepped back from the entrance to decide how to proceed once we were sure the Orcs wouldn't chase out of their room after us.
"Well it looks like there are fewer Adventurers on this level so let's spend more time collecting monster drops and searching for treasure chests." I suggested. Until now we hadn't bothered much with the drops from the minor monsters Fer and Dora-chan had slaughtered casually as we zoomed through each level, just leaving them behind for other Adventurers to pick up when they were found. Now we had reached this level I decided we should be more diligent and act like real Adventurers.
"It's bothersome wasting time on all these small fry..." Fer grumbled telepathically. I caught the word "Behemoth" in the back of his mind. Rita from Iron Will had said something about us going to the bottom of the dungeon and fighting the Final Boss and that comment had brought that particular S-class monster back to his attention. He was in a hurry but...
"What are you saying?" I replied. "The purpose of diving into a dungeon is to gather valuable drop items and locate treasure chests. Ignoring them means there's no point in going into the dungeon in the first place."
"I'm the one doing most of the fighting down here, you know." Fer pointed out, still not willing to agree to taking it slower on the levels to come.
"Oh, of course you are, Fer." I said, "But I want to collect the drop items and find treasure chests because they're valuable, you see." I offered him a concession. "I'll let you choose a particular dish for dinner if you agree." Fer's ears pricked up at this.
"Nuuu, really? I will do it then." Yosh! Fer was not that difficult to deal with as long as you treated him as an empty stomach on four legs. What he said next was a surprise though.
"I want to eat more meat from another world like the meat I ate before." Uh, domestic Japanese wagyu beef? Wyvern meat and Dragon meat is is obviously superior in taste and texture to wagyu, even A5 top grade meat. Eating food from the Net Super adds a little to our Status for a short time, of course but was there something else that made it extra-delicious for Fer?
"You want to eat meat from another world, Fer?" I asked. "Is it really superior to the meat we can get here?"
"I can only eat the other world's food if you get it for me." Fer explained. "Of course Dragon meat is the best but I want to eat different things as well and I want to eat other-world meat now."
Ah, that made sense. Fer and the others couldn't get hold of ingredients from the Net Super other than asking me to buy them. We had been eating meat from this world exclusively for quite some time now, high-quality meat but Fer wanted to taste the wagyu beef again. I nodded in agreement and Fer quickly entered the room. There was a flash and a Boom! and that was that, instant kills of all the Orcs.
The drop items this time were pieces of Orc meat and Orc General meat. Oh, and Orc testicles. I recalled Johan-ojisan, the Guild's disassembler at Carerina explaining they were much sought after as ingredients for aphrodisiacs. I had been paid quite a lot of gold coins for the testicles sold to the Guild from the Orcs Fer had subjugated, but now they were drop items just lying there on the dungeon floor. I went to pick them up but my hand froze. They're money, gold coins really, I told myself but I finally had to get some kitchen paper from my Item Box to wrap them up in before depositing them in my Item Box.
We picked up a few more drops as we explored the rocky tunnels and defeated any monsters that appeared. They were stronger than the ones we had encountered on the previous levels, of a higher level or more numerous. The traps were getting more dangerous too, flights of arrows and spears rather than single ones, even poisoned arrows. The pitfalls had spikes at the bottom now too. They were no problem though, Fer's Barrier fended off the projectiles while Fer leapt over the holes that suddenly appeared in the floor and Dora-chan flew safely over them, of course.
As we walked along one suspiciously-smooth long straight tunnel I heard a slight click.
"Nuuu, that sounded like a trap going off." Fer said casually, turning around as we heard a rumble and the sound of something heavy rolling towards us from behind, it sounded like... RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE...
"What's that?" I shouted, pointing at the large round boulder that completely filled the tunnel which was rolling towards us. We were going to be crushed! I turned back to start running away but Fer just said "No problem." and waved his front foot at the boulder, leaving an afterimage of sharp claws of light hurtling towards the rock. That was his Claw Slash skill, I had seen him use it before.
Smash. The sharp claws of light hit the boulder and shattered into pieces. …Huh? That technique, it worked on stone too? I stared at the collapsing pile of rubble, mouth agape but Fer being Fer, he just turned back and said "Let's go." I supposed that for Fer it wasn't a big thing, just a large rock and not any sort of a real challenge. Mister Cool, that's Fer. I told myself I should worry less when he's around but, well, all this dungeon stuff was new to me and I couldn't help being nervous. Please be careful, Fer.
We travelled around the 16th level collecting monster drops and dodging traps before we reached the level's boss room. It was almost twice as big as the boss rooms we had encountered on the previous 15 levels. It held a large number of assorted monsters, Orcs, Lizardmen and Ogres. Fer, Dora-chan and Sui-chan disposed of them all in less than five minutes. I helped in this fighting this time though.
I fought against an Orc, to test the sharpness of the Mithril short sword Sui had made for me. I had no real skill for using a sword, I hadn't even tried kendo at school but I think that I was able to remain relatively calm because I knew I had the Perfect Defence Skill and the Orc couldn't hurt me. At least that's what I told myself as I approached the monster.
The Orc I chose as my opponent was wielding a iron axe. The Orc hit me with it but I didn't even feel the blow. Yay for my Perfect Defence! I waved my short sword at the Orc as I was knocked back by the force of the otherwise-harmless impact. It wasn't any sort of a stroke that any real swordsman would recognise but the blade sliced through the Orc's arm and cut it off! The arm and the axe it held in its hand just flew away. I was amazed how incredibly sharp the sword was but I was distracted by the Orc's roaring so I stabbed the sword into its chest. The blade slid through the Orc's tough skin like paper, no, like a soap bubble and the Orc fell to the ground and died. It didn't leave a drop which was a little disappointing but I had actually taken part in the battle this time which satisfied me, and now I had a better idea just how exceptionally sharp and effective Sui's Mithril sword was. I had also learned that the Perfect Defence Skill provided by the God of Blacksmiths was not just for show.
By the time I had dealt with the Orc the others had finished the rest of the monsters in the boss room as expected. I picked up the drops left behind, skins and magic stones and a few other items and then we headed off towards the 17th level stairs.
Saturday 6 April 2019
Ch 133 Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi
Chapter 133 -- Mouth-Watering Beef Stew
It was Werner-san and Ramon-san, Franca, Rita and Vincent, the members of the C-ranked Adventurer party 'Iron Will' who had taken good care of me when I first came to this world. I never thought that I would meet them again and here they were, in Doran's dungeon?
"Everyone, it's been a long time." I said, pleased to see them again.
"It's been a long time, Mukouda-san. It's amazing that we should meet again here of all places." I shook hands with Iron Will's leader, Werner-san. As he explained it, after they left me in Fariel they set off to journey to Doran. It took a long time with many carriage journeys and they only arrived in the city the day before yesterday, beginning their dungeon exploration the day after.
"Is that so?" I gestured to Fer. "We are heading for the coastal city of Berleean. We only stopped off in Doran because Fer insisted we do so, to explore the dungeon here." The members of Iron Will nodded in understanding. They had spent some time with Fer and me in the past, they could sympathise with what I went through dealing with him. It was nice to be with people who knew what a hard life I led coping with the demanding Fenrir monster.
"So Mukouda-san, you've acquired another follower since we last met?" Werner-san said, studying Dora-chan closely. "A Dragon indeed, a baby Dragon?" Well anyone seeing Dora-chan for the first time would think he was a baby Dragon. Of course I had made a submission contract with both Dora-chan and Sui-chan since we had last met so I had two individuals to introduce.
"This Dragon is actually an adult, fully grown, it's a rare kind of Dragon called a Pixie Dragon. It's my contracted monster, I named it Dora-chan."
"You named it what..." Werner-san blurted.
"Splutter" Hey! Vincent, don't laugh when you hear the name I chose for Dora-chan. And you too, Werner-san, if you please.
Rita and Franca both said politely "Pleased to meet you, Dora-chan." Ramon stayed admirably silent despite his red face and shaking shoulders. I continued the introductions regardless.
"And this is my Slime, Sui." Sui-chan had crawled out of her bag to look around so I lifted her up to introduce her to the Iron Will party. Seeing the expressions on their faces I added, "Yes she's a Slime but she's a special type and very strong."
"Having Fer alone as your contracted monster was amazing, Mukouda-san." Werner-san said, examining Dora-chan and Sui-chan closely. "Contracting with two more formidable monsters such as these is a remarkable achievement. I am impressed." Werner-san's praise rather embarrassed me. But I had things to do, the Gluttonous Trio were hungry and wanting to be fed. That's why they had contracted with me after all, the other two as well as Fer.
"Hey, where's dinner?" Fer demanded.
"I'm hungry." Dora-chan added.
"Aruji, I'm hungry too-" Sui-chan said.
Oh, I'm sorry I'm sorry. "I'll get dinner for you, Fer, Sui, Dora-chan. Just give me a moment." Well, what should I serve them? The beef stew would be nice, I decided, along with the local black bread I had bought earlier in town. It's a bit firm but it should go well with something like beef stew. I took out the stockpot of hot beef stew from my Item Box and dished out generous servings to the Gluttonous Trio.
"I've eaten this food before." Fer mumbled, his muzzle deep in the gravy. "The meat is softly simmered, it melts in the mouth. Umu, delicious." Thank you, Fer, I appreciate hearing you like it.
"Oh, this food is delicious again. Really, all the food you make is delicious." It looked like Dora-chan was enjoying the beef stew too, the way his scaly nose was ringed with gravy.
"This is because the meat is soft and tastes good, too-" Sui-chan's seal of satisfaction completed the Trio's approval of my cooking. Wonderful! But a cold feeling along my spine caused me to shiver. What was it-
""" Gulp """
Looking around, I found the eyes of the Iron Will party were nailed to the pot of beef stew. Vincent and Rita had drool running down their chins. Rita, you're a girl, you shouldn't be drooling like that, it's not seemly. I sighed, it couldn't be helped, I'd feed them for old time's sake.
"Ah, do you want to eat some too?" I asked somewhat redundantly. The members of Iron Will nodded their heads vigorously. I got out more deep wooden bowls and a loaf of black bread and dished out more of the beef stew for them.
"Ha-, I can finally eat Mukouda-san's food again. It's the best." Vincent-san said, digging his spoon into the stew.
"Vincent cried when Mukouda-san left us back in Fariel," Rita added, her own spoon poised over her bowl, "but I agree, Mukouda-san's food was delicious."
"Hold on there, Rita," Vincent interrupted. "It was you that cried when he left, not me. But yes," he said, dipping his spoon into his bowl once again, "it was delicious."
"Oh, maybe you're right." she admitted, eyes shining. "And it is still really delicious."
So while Vincent and Rita were talking to each other ....
"Oh, it's delicious." Franca agreed. "The vegetables are also boiled so softly... After all is said and done the way this meat melts in my mouth leaves me speechless."
"Oh, it's really delicious. Eating this bread with the stew is just the perfect thing." Werner-san bit off a chunk of gravy-soaked bread and chewed it ecstatically.
"This deep taste with its rich flavour... I can't believe that such delicious food can be eaten in a dungeon." Ramon wiped away a tear. "Mukouda-san, you can truly work miracles."
Iron Will were filling their mouths with beef stew, mumbling between spoonfuls about how good it tasted. Yeah, it was great that everyone liked it - but I hadn't had any myself yet. That was easily fixed though, once I had my own bowl in front of me. The first mouthful, yep as they said it's really delicious. The Bloody Horn Bull meat was thoroughly simmered, so soft that it could be broken with a spoon. The soft boiled meat crumbled into flakes when I put in my mouth.
I soaked a piece of the black bread in beef stew and bit into it. The demi-glace sauce in the gravy and the chewy black bread, sheer bliss. Delicious. I took another spoonful...
"""Seconds"""
Fer, Dora-chan, and Sui were all wanting more. Even Dora-chan was asking for extra stew, I was surprised. What sort of evil magic had the stew worked on his little stomach that he wanted seconds? I put out more beef stew on each plate for the Gluttonous Trio.
"This stew is truly delicious. What kind of meat is in it?" Vincent asked as he dipped his spoon in the bowl again. When I replied, "Bloody Horn Bull meat," Vincent nearly choked in shock. The other members of Iron Will froze at my words, their mouths hanging open.
"Mukouda, the meat, it really is Bloody Horn Bull meat?" Werner-san asked in a quiet voice. "In this stew...? I'm sorry. I didn't know that it was such a high-class food, I wouldn't have accepted it if I had known..." I held up my hand to get him to stop apologising. It was so like the reaction of Rashu-san and his Adventurer party, 'Phoenix' in Carerina when they discovered the food I had cooked for them on the road had been made with similarly high-class meats, Rock Bird and Black Serpent and the like.
Saying that this stew was just normal everyday food for us, nothing special. Well, the Dragon steaks we had eaten yesterday at Elland-san's house were special but they were exceptional for many reasons. Of course with Fer tagging along with me I had to provide food for him every day of the sort a nobleman might eat once a month if that, and of course I also had to feed it to Dora-chan and Sui-chan too. It helped that I could always rely on Fer to replenish our meat supply, a necessity since the Gluttonous Trio ate a lot of meat. Still, eating delicious food was a bonus.
"No, please don't apologise. We've still got a lot of Bloody Horn Bull meat left." Werner-san looked surprised. "Fer and Sui-chan got it for me." Werner-san let out an "Ah" as he understood what I had said.
"Fer-sama is amazing-" he said, nodding at Fer.
"Thank you Fer," Vincent and Rita said, their eyes shining as they bowed to Fer. Franca and Ramon added their own thanks and praises.
"Anyway that's why you shouldn't worry about it." I said. "Now would you like another bowl?"
"Is that ok?" and "of course" and "please!" and "go on" and "thank you" were the responses. Fer looked displeased.
"Hey, there won't be any more left for me!" he said telepathically. His own bowl of "Seconds" was already empty and I knew Thirds wouldn't be the end of the meal for him.
"I owe Werner-san from before." I explained. I had hired Iron Will to get me out of a certain country before the borders were closed and war broke out and they had done their job helping me to successfully escape. "I'll cook some more meat for you, Fer." He brightened up at my words.
"Oh, that Drago..." he said audibly before I clamped my hands around his muzzle to silence him. "Mumble mumble..." He gave up trying to speak out loud. "What are you doing?" he asked telepathically.
"Fer, don't say anything about Dragon meat." I answered him telepathically. I took my hands from his muzzle and gestured at the members of Iron Will. "They think that Bloody Horn Bull beef stew is amazing, if you mentioned we have Dragon meat they'd probably start a riot."
"Nuuuuu." Fer calmed down as my explanation percolated. "OK then, Wyvern's meat, that would be fine instead-"
"You can't have that either. Wyvern meat is also too good to cook in front of them, the smell..." I remembered the smell of Wyvern meat cooking, it was the best smell I had ever experienced until the day before when I had cooked Dragon steaks at Elland-san's house... I thought fast, I had fresh supplies of Orc meat, the drop from the boss room fight on the 11th level. That would do.
"Well, it can't be helped." Fer moped. For a country-destroying legendary monster with unbelievable powers he could be remarkably self-pitying. Once more I resisted the temptation to scritch his ears and pat him on the head to console him. "You had better put lots of seasoning on it though."
"Yeah yeah." I wish Fer could read the mood better when we were around people but I supposed he never had to be considerate of other people's feelings before he partnered up with me.
"So, is everyone ready for seconds?" I asked.
"Is it really OK?" Werner-san asked, his eyes on Fer, aware that he didn't care for the idea of me handing out his food to others.
"Yes, I still owe you for the help you gave me back then." At that time I was alone, new to this world and I didn't understand anything and then I ended up making a submission contract with Fer which complicated matters. It was only thanks to all the members of Iron Will that I got safely across the border and away from that Kingdom.
"Well I'll definitely have seconds!" Vincent broke in.
"Hey, Vincent." Party leader Werner-san said quietly and Vincent froze.
"Sorry, leader." Vincent looked down.
I listened to Vincent's apology then asked, "Well, Werner-san?"
Mr. Werner nodded to me and, saying "Please," he offered me his wooden bowl. Rita, Franca, Ramon and finally Vincent handed me their bowls too. It was a compliment of sorts, that so many people found my cooking delicious but serving them second helpings and Fer and Sui's third helpings emptied the pot of beef stew. I took out the little gas-bottle cooking stove I had bought from Net Super so long ago and fried Orc steaks for Fer and Sui-chan, with plenty of seasoning as Fer had demanded. The smell of cooking meat brought out hungry-looking expressions on Vincent and Rita's faces so I carved off a little bit of the steaks for them to nibble on.
Other Adventurers in the safe area glared at us enviously as they ate their own dungeon rations, typically dried meat and hard bread washed down with cold water. The smell of cooking steaks in such a small room was impossible to hide but I had to ignore their mute appeals because I couldn't really share our food with strangers, and besides I only really had enough for our own needs. Sure I had cooked and prepared a lot of food before we entered the dungeon but my contracted monsters, Fer especially, ate enormous quantities of food for each meal. It would all be gone soon enough.
After taking a short break after our meal I got on Fer's back and we prepared to head off for this level's boss room.
"Well then, take care everyone." I said in farewell.
"Same to you and the rest of your party, Mukouda-san," Werner-san replied. "Still I'm sure you'll be OK since Fer-sama is with you."
"Mukouda-san, you're going further down into the dungeon?" Vincent-san asked. "All the way to the bottom, I'd guess."
"Yes, because Fer wants to complete the dungeon......" I admitted.
"Behemoth is the Last Boss, they say." Rita laughed. "You'll have fun playing with that monster when you get there."
"That's for sure." Franca added to general laughter from the rest of the Iron Will party. They probably understood Fer's capabilities better than I did even after I had travelled with him for many months but Behemoth, brrr. Not a monster I actually wanted to encounter myself.
"See you again." I said as we left the safe area and headed straight for the boss room. The Iron Will party were going to explore this floor a little later before maybe going a couple of levels deeper depending on how difficult they found things. They had told me the 12th level's boss room reputedly had a bunch of Lizardmen. When we got to the boss room door there was no-one waiting so we entered straight away. Sure enough, the room was full of Lizardmen, lots of large lizards standing on two legs as the name suggested but they were no match for Fer, Dora-chan and Sui-chan. I collected the drop of Lizardman skins after the brief one-sided battle was over and we descended to the 13th level.
It was Werner-san and Ramon-san, Franca, Rita and Vincent, the members of the C-ranked Adventurer party 'Iron Will' who had taken good care of me when I first came to this world. I never thought that I would meet them again and here they were, in Doran's dungeon?
"Everyone, it's been a long time." I said, pleased to see them again.
"It's been a long time, Mukouda-san. It's amazing that we should meet again here of all places." I shook hands with Iron Will's leader, Werner-san. As he explained it, after they left me in Fariel they set off to journey to Doran. It took a long time with many carriage journeys and they only arrived in the city the day before yesterday, beginning their dungeon exploration the day after.
"Is that so?" I gestured to Fer. "We are heading for the coastal city of Berleean. We only stopped off in Doran because Fer insisted we do so, to explore the dungeon here." The members of Iron Will nodded in understanding. They had spent some time with Fer and me in the past, they could sympathise with what I went through dealing with him. It was nice to be with people who knew what a hard life I led coping with the demanding Fenrir monster.
"So Mukouda-san, you've acquired another follower since we last met?" Werner-san said, studying Dora-chan closely. "A Dragon indeed, a baby Dragon?" Well anyone seeing Dora-chan for the first time would think he was a baby Dragon. Of course I had made a submission contract with both Dora-chan and Sui-chan since we had last met so I had two individuals to introduce.
"This Dragon is actually an adult, fully grown, it's a rare kind of Dragon called a Pixie Dragon. It's my contracted monster, I named it Dora-chan."
"You named it what..." Werner-san blurted.
"Splutter" Hey! Vincent, don't laugh when you hear the name I chose for Dora-chan. And you too, Werner-san, if you please.
Rita and Franca both said politely "Pleased to meet you, Dora-chan." Ramon stayed admirably silent despite his red face and shaking shoulders. I continued the introductions regardless.
"And this is my Slime, Sui." Sui-chan had crawled out of her bag to look around so I lifted her up to introduce her to the Iron Will party. Seeing the expressions on their faces I added, "Yes she's a Slime but she's a special type and very strong."
"Having Fer alone as your contracted monster was amazing, Mukouda-san." Werner-san said, examining Dora-chan and Sui-chan closely. "Contracting with two more formidable monsters such as these is a remarkable achievement. I am impressed." Werner-san's praise rather embarrassed me. But I had things to do, the Gluttonous Trio were hungry and wanting to be fed. That's why they had contracted with me after all, the other two as well as Fer.
"Hey, where's dinner?" Fer demanded.
"I'm hungry." Dora-chan added.
"Aruji, I'm hungry too-" Sui-chan said.
Oh, I'm sorry I'm sorry. "I'll get dinner for you, Fer, Sui, Dora-chan. Just give me a moment." Well, what should I serve them? The beef stew would be nice, I decided, along with the local black bread I had bought earlier in town. It's a bit firm but it should go well with something like beef stew. I took out the stockpot of hot beef stew from my Item Box and dished out generous servings to the Gluttonous Trio.
"I've eaten this food before." Fer mumbled, his muzzle deep in the gravy. "The meat is softly simmered, it melts in the mouth. Umu, delicious." Thank you, Fer, I appreciate hearing you like it.
"Oh, this food is delicious again. Really, all the food you make is delicious." It looked like Dora-chan was enjoying the beef stew too, the way his scaly nose was ringed with gravy.
"This is because the meat is soft and tastes good, too-" Sui-chan's seal of satisfaction completed the Trio's approval of my cooking. Wonderful! But a cold feeling along my spine caused me to shiver. What was it-
""" Gulp """
Looking around, I found the eyes of the Iron Will party were nailed to the pot of beef stew. Vincent and Rita had drool running down their chins. Rita, you're a girl, you shouldn't be drooling like that, it's not seemly. I sighed, it couldn't be helped, I'd feed them for old time's sake.
"Ah, do you want to eat some too?" I asked somewhat redundantly. The members of Iron Will nodded their heads vigorously. I got out more deep wooden bowls and a loaf of black bread and dished out more of the beef stew for them.
"Ha-, I can finally eat Mukouda-san's food again. It's the best." Vincent-san said, digging his spoon into the stew.
"Vincent cried when Mukouda-san left us back in Fariel," Rita added, her own spoon poised over her bowl, "but I agree, Mukouda-san's food was delicious."
"Hold on there, Rita," Vincent interrupted. "It was you that cried when he left, not me. But yes," he said, dipping his spoon into his bowl once again, "it was delicious."
"Oh, maybe you're right." she admitted, eyes shining. "And it is still really delicious."
So while Vincent and Rita were talking to each other ....
"Oh, it's delicious." Franca agreed. "The vegetables are also boiled so softly... After all is said and done the way this meat melts in my mouth leaves me speechless."
"Oh, it's really delicious. Eating this bread with the stew is just the perfect thing." Werner-san bit off a chunk of gravy-soaked bread and chewed it ecstatically.
"This deep taste with its rich flavour... I can't believe that such delicious food can be eaten in a dungeon." Ramon wiped away a tear. "Mukouda-san, you can truly work miracles."
Iron Will were filling their mouths with beef stew, mumbling between spoonfuls about how good it tasted. Yeah, it was great that everyone liked it - but I hadn't had any myself yet. That was easily fixed though, once I had my own bowl in front of me. The first mouthful, yep as they said it's really delicious. The Bloody Horn Bull meat was thoroughly simmered, so soft that it could be broken with a spoon. The soft boiled meat crumbled into flakes when I put in my mouth.
I soaked a piece of the black bread in beef stew and bit into it. The demi-glace sauce in the gravy and the chewy black bread, sheer bliss. Delicious. I took another spoonful...
"""Seconds"""
Fer, Dora-chan, and Sui were all wanting more. Even Dora-chan was asking for extra stew, I was surprised. What sort of evil magic had the stew worked on his little stomach that he wanted seconds? I put out more beef stew on each plate for the Gluttonous Trio.
"This stew is truly delicious. What kind of meat is in it?" Vincent asked as he dipped his spoon in the bowl again. When I replied, "Bloody Horn Bull meat," Vincent nearly choked in shock. The other members of Iron Will froze at my words, their mouths hanging open.
"Mukouda, the meat, it really is Bloody Horn Bull meat?" Werner-san asked in a quiet voice. "In this stew...? I'm sorry. I didn't know that it was such a high-class food, I wouldn't have accepted it if I had known..." I held up my hand to get him to stop apologising. It was so like the reaction of Rashu-san and his Adventurer party, 'Phoenix' in Carerina when they discovered the food I had cooked for them on the road had been made with similarly high-class meats, Rock Bird and Black Serpent and the like.
Saying that this stew was just normal everyday food for us, nothing special. Well, the Dragon steaks we had eaten yesterday at Elland-san's house were special but they were exceptional for many reasons. Of course with Fer tagging along with me I had to provide food for him every day of the sort a nobleman might eat once a month if that, and of course I also had to feed it to Dora-chan and Sui-chan too. It helped that I could always rely on Fer to replenish our meat supply, a necessity since the Gluttonous Trio ate a lot of meat. Still, eating delicious food was a bonus.
"No, please don't apologise. We've still got a lot of Bloody Horn Bull meat left." Werner-san looked surprised. "Fer and Sui-chan got it for me." Werner-san let out an "Ah" as he understood what I had said.
"Fer-sama is amazing-" he said, nodding at Fer.
"Thank you Fer," Vincent and Rita said, their eyes shining as they bowed to Fer. Franca and Ramon added their own thanks and praises.
"Anyway that's why you shouldn't worry about it." I said. "Now would you like another bowl?"
"Is that ok?" and "of course" and "please!" and "go on" and "thank you" were the responses. Fer looked displeased.
"Hey, there won't be any more left for me!" he said telepathically. His own bowl of "Seconds" was already empty and I knew Thirds wouldn't be the end of the meal for him.
"I owe Werner-san from before." I explained. I had hired Iron Will to get me out of a certain country before the borders were closed and war broke out and they had done their job helping me to successfully escape. "I'll cook some more meat for you, Fer." He brightened up at my words.
"Oh, that Drago..." he said audibly before I clamped my hands around his muzzle to silence him. "Mumble mumble..." He gave up trying to speak out loud. "What are you doing?" he asked telepathically.
"Fer, don't say anything about Dragon meat." I answered him telepathically. I took my hands from his muzzle and gestured at the members of Iron Will. "They think that Bloody Horn Bull beef stew is amazing, if you mentioned we have Dragon meat they'd probably start a riot."
"Nuuuuu." Fer calmed down as my explanation percolated. "OK then, Wyvern's meat, that would be fine instead-"
"You can't have that either. Wyvern meat is also too good to cook in front of them, the smell..." I remembered the smell of Wyvern meat cooking, it was the best smell I had ever experienced until the day before when I had cooked Dragon steaks at Elland-san's house... I thought fast, I had fresh supplies of Orc meat, the drop from the boss room fight on the 11th level. That would do.
"Well, it can't be helped." Fer moped. For a country-destroying legendary monster with unbelievable powers he could be remarkably self-pitying. Once more I resisted the temptation to scritch his ears and pat him on the head to console him. "You had better put lots of seasoning on it though."
"Yeah yeah." I wish Fer could read the mood better when we were around people but I supposed he never had to be considerate of other people's feelings before he partnered up with me.
"So, is everyone ready for seconds?" I asked.
"Is it really OK?" Werner-san asked, his eyes on Fer, aware that he didn't care for the idea of me handing out his food to others.
"Yes, I still owe you for the help you gave me back then." At that time I was alone, new to this world and I didn't understand anything and then I ended up making a submission contract with Fer which complicated matters. It was only thanks to all the members of Iron Will that I got safely across the border and away from that Kingdom.
"Well I'll definitely have seconds!" Vincent broke in.
"Hey, Vincent." Party leader Werner-san said quietly and Vincent froze.
"Sorry, leader." Vincent looked down.
I listened to Vincent's apology then asked, "Well, Werner-san?"
Mr. Werner nodded to me and, saying "Please," he offered me his wooden bowl. Rita, Franca, Ramon and finally Vincent handed me their bowls too. It was a compliment of sorts, that so many people found my cooking delicious but serving them second helpings and Fer and Sui's third helpings emptied the pot of beef stew. I took out the little gas-bottle cooking stove I had bought from Net Super so long ago and fried Orc steaks for Fer and Sui-chan, with plenty of seasoning as Fer had demanded. The smell of cooking meat brought out hungry-looking expressions on Vincent and Rita's faces so I carved off a little bit of the steaks for them to nibble on.
Other Adventurers in the safe area glared at us enviously as they ate their own dungeon rations, typically dried meat and hard bread washed down with cold water. The smell of cooking steaks in such a small room was impossible to hide but I had to ignore their mute appeals because I couldn't really share our food with strangers, and besides I only really had enough for our own needs. Sure I had cooked and prepared a lot of food before we entered the dungeon but my contracted monsters, Fer especially, ate enormous quantities of food for each meal. It would all be gone soon enough.
After taking a short break after our meal I got on Fer's back and we prepared to head off for this level's boss room.
"Well then, take care everyone." I said in farewell.
"Same to you and the rest of your party, Mukouda-san," Werner-san replied. "Still I'm sure you'll be OK since Fer-sama is with you."
"Mukouda-san, you're going further down into the dungeon?" Vincent-san asked. "All the way to the bottom, I'd guess."
"Yes, because Fer wants to complete the dungeon......" I admitted.
"Behemoth is the Last Boss, they say." Rita laughed. "You'll have fun playing with that monster when you get there."
"That's for sure." Franca added to general laughter from the rest of the Iron Will party. They probably understood Fer's capabilities better than I did even after I had travelled with him for many months but Behemoth, brrr. Not a monster I actually wanted to encounter myself.
"See you again." I said as we left the safe area and headed straight for the boss room. The Iron Will party were going to explore this floor a little later before maybe going a couple of levels deeper depending on how difficult they found things. They had told me the 12th level's boss room reputedly had a bunch of Lizardmen. When we got to the boss room door there was no-one waiting so we entered straight away. Sure enough, the room was full of Lizardmen, lots of large lizards standing on two legs as the name suggested but they were no match for Fer, Dora-chan and Sui-chan. I collected the drop of Lizardman skins after the brief one-sided battle was over and we descended to the 13th level.
Thursday 4 April 2019
Ch 132 Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi
Chapter 132 -- Reunion in the Middle of a Dungeon
We moved into the dungeon, advancing quickly through a series of stone-walled passageways. Monsters that appeared as we approached were dealt with by Fer and Dora-chan with no apparent effort. I felt the rate at which we were moving was a bit too fast, we should be more careful but Fer and Dora-chan wouldn't be dissuaded. I was proved right a moment later.
Hyun---. "Waah!" An arrow flew past my eyes, bouncing off Fer's Barrier. Some kind of dungeon trap?
"Oh, this dungeon has arrow traps." Dora-chan commented as he skilfully dodged around the deflected arrow in mid-flight. "The big guy's Barrier will come in useful after all."
"There's no problem with traps because that guy has Perfect Defence, he doesn't really need my Barrier." Fer said telepathically, continuing to sprint down the corridor. Huh? Can Perfect Defence protect me from inanimate traps? I thought Perfect Defence was 'a Skill that completely protects against physical attack and magical attack from hostile forces'. How could a trap be a 'hostile force'? I thought that meant some person or monster had to be hostile to me for the Skill to protect me.
"Ah, that's right. You're ignorant about dungeons and how they work." Fer said. Well, I had a vague idea about dungeons from the games I had played, if you defeat monsters you get valuable drops, there are treasure chests here and there, traps and pitfalls and the like. Fer went on to explain how dungeons worked in this world.
"A dungeon attracts people to enter them with drop items and treasure chests that can be obtained by defeating stronger monsters. Sometimes the people are killed by the traps and monsters. Those dead people are absorbed by the dungeon as nourishment and the dungeon grows." Another group of monsters fell to Fer's magic attacks, Kobolds? it happened in a blur and then we were around a corner before I could look back to check, and he continued his explanation. "Because of this, a dungeon is considered to be a living being. So, you see, a trap is a hostile attack by the dungeon creature and so Perfect Defence protects you from them."
Oh I see. Fer's explanation made it clear the dungeon really was a living thing. Fer went on to tell me about the dungeon's core. It was the heart of any dungeon and meant the dungeon would live and slowly grow unless the core was broken or captured whole and removed from its dungeon.
"If you break the dungeon core or remove it, what happens to the dungeon?" I asked as more unidentifiable monsters appeared before us, were dealt with and left far behind as Fer rushed through the dungeon. Dora-chan was flying alongside us and keeping up with no apparent difficulty.
"It means the dungeon dies. It becomes merely a hole in the ground that produces nothing, no monsters, no treasures. However the dungeon core is always moving around in the dungeon so it's almost impossible for most people to find it."
"When you say 'almost impossible' and 'most people', would you be able to find it, Fer? After all you have that monster-detecting ability of yours." I asked. Fer agreed that he could, with some difficulty and a lot of effort, find the dungeon core if he wanted to, but as he went on, "It would be stupid to kill an entertaining playground like this dungeon".
From then on I didn't worry about the traps we triggered in our rush through the dungeon passageways. Arrows and spears bounced off Fer's Barrier and he jumped easily over the pitfalls that opened in our path. Each level's boss was dealt with in a passing blow by Fer or Dora-chan and we didn't even slow down as we descended the stairs behind the dead monster. By the way, Sui-chan was fast asleep in her leather bag hanging from my shoulder as usual.
After getting down to the 10th level we finally noticed traces of other Adventurers.
"What will we do now?" I asked as Fer stopped for a moment.
"Hmm, there are no enemies here worth fighting seriously." he said grumpily. "The level boss is a Venom Tarantula." I could understand his disappointment, Fer had effortlessly knocked down eight Venom Tarantulas in a single attack in the Forest of Ishtam so this level's boss was just another 'small fry' as far as he was concerned.
"Okay, just go straight for the boss then?"
"Nuuu, let's do that." Fer agreed so we skipped exploring the tenth level and instead headed directly to the boss room using Fer's monster-detecting ability to guide us there. Outside the boss room we found four muscular guys, obviously a party of Adventurers, patiently waiting. When they saw Fer and Dora-chan approaching they reached for their weapons in a practiced manner but they stopped when they saw me on Fer's back.
"Ah, a Tamer, right?" one of them called. I nodded, not wanting to bother with the long explanation and they put their weapons away.
"Is that the boss room?" I asked and the one who had spoken, the party's leader I presumed told me it was.
"Can't you go in right now?"
The Adventurer shook his head with a confused expression on his face. "Is this your first dungeon?" he asked. When I answered yes he went on to explain further.
"You see, inside a dungeon there are various ways of doing things, rules we follow."
・ When fighting monsters in a dungeon, the party that attacks the monster first gets priority and any dropped goods belong to that party, naturally.
・ You don't help others during a battle with monsters unless you're asked to help.
・ Whoever opens a treasure chest has priority on what it contains.
Those were the basic rules of dungeon exploring as the Adventurer explained them to me.
"There is a party already in there fighting the boss. We can't go in until that fight ends." he went on. "I should warn you though, some people in here don't agree with the rules. They snatch items dropped during someone else's fight, even steal them from other Adventurers." He looked at me shrewdly. "Someone who's not that familiar with dungeons, the bastards might even try and kill newbies like you and take their stuff. The dungeon takes care of the dead bodies for them, leaving no evidence. Watch your back, that's all I'll say." That was scary stuff to hear.
As he finished speaking the boss room's door creaked open. This meant the previous group of Adventurers had finished fighting the boss monsters inside and had gone down the stairs at the back of the room to the 11th level. Or, and the thought chilled me, they'd all been killed and absorbed by the dungeon, there was no way of knowing what had happened to them. The four-strong party that had been waiting went in and the door closed behind them again. It looked like they'd be some time fighting the boss and I settled down to wait.
"Hey, what are we hanging around here for?" Fer grumbled.
"Yeah, Let's just go in now!" Dora-chan chimed in.
"Don't say that, Fer, Dora-chan." I chided. "There are rules in this dungeon and you have to abide by them." We waited and finally the four-man party finished their battle. They collected their drops but surprisingly they came back out of the boss room.
"Good luck, you guys." their leader said as his party members went past us towards the corridor we had come from.
"Aren't you guys going down to the next level?" I asked, puzzled at their departure.
"Oh, we always planned to stop at this floor. We all have wives and children after all and going any further down is too risky for us. Bye." Saying that the party leader followed his compatriots along the corridor behind us.
... why is it that such rough-looking guys have wives and children? Damn, normies go explode.
"Hey, let's go." Dora-chan led the way into the boss room where the monsters had already regenerated, a boss Venom Tarantula and a bunch of smaller spiders (although they were 30 centimetres across, only small compared to the boss). I identified them as Poison Spiders using my Appraisal Skill. Dora-chan blasted the Venom Tarantula with fire magic and finished it off before Fer could use any of his own attacks. I took the opportunity to shoot off some Fireballs myself at the surviving smaller spiders as revenge for hearing about the normie party's happy family life. Take that, normies! Explode! Fwoosh! Kapow! Somehow I felt better afterwards.
The Venom Tarantula drop was a poison sac which I collected before we headed for the stairs to the next level down. The 11th level was yet more small-fry, according to Fer so again we just went straight to the boss room which had a group of Orcs led by an Orc General. I expected this fight to be a tougher one but Sui-chan had woken up by this time and joined in enthusiastically, pew-pewing the bad guys along with Fer and Dora-chan. The battle with the Orcs, if you could call it that, lasted less than a minute. I felt a bit sorry for these monsters even though I knew they'd respawn in the boss room as soon as we left. I'm sorry guys, I said silently as I picked up the drops which were pieces of Orc meat. Tasty tasty Orc meat. I started running through possible recipes in my mind as we descended the stairs to the 12th level.
There were no substantial monsters on level 12 either according to Fer but we decided to go through the level this time because everyone was complaining they were hungry. We'd stop off and eat in a safe area before going straight to the boss room right afterwards. I didn't know where this level's safe area was because we didn't have a map but Fer said he could find it. After going down a few passageways triggering harmless traps and slaughtering assorted minor monsters Fer stopped at a doorway in the side of the corridor.
"This is it." he announced so I pushed the door open and we entered. Inside was a large room, about the size of a typical school classroom. Over by the back wall there was a water fountain gurgling away, splashing into a drain. We had been told by the Guild receptionist that there were several Adventurer parties exploring the 10th to 15th levels and there were quite a few people in the safe area, I guessed about five parties in total looking at the way they were grouped together. We settled down in a vacant space near the entrance, staying together like the other parties did.
"Mukouda-san?" I turned around in surprise as I heard my name called and recognised the person who had spoken.
"Vincent?!" It was Vincent!
"It really is Mukouda-san! Long time no see!!" Vincent replied. "Hey look everybody, it really is Mukouda-san like I thought!" The people around Vincent were the Iron Will party who I had last seen in the town of Falier in the far-off Kingdom of Feenen.
We moved into the dungeon, advancing quickly through a series of stone-walled passageways. Monsters that appeared as we approached were dealt with by Fer and Dora-chan with no apparent effort. I felt the rate at which we were moving was a bit too fast, we should be more careful but Fer and Dora-chan wouldn't be dissuaded. I was proved right a moment later.
Hyun---. "Waah!" An arrow flew past my eyes, bouncing off Fer's Barrier. Some kind of dungeon trap?
"Oh, this dungeon has arrow traps." Dora-chan commented as he skilfully dodged around the deflected arrow in mid-flight. "The big guy's Barrier will come in useful after all."
"There's no problem with traps because that guy has Perfect Defence, he doesn't really need my Barrier." Fer said telepathically, continuing to sprint down the corridor. Huh? Can Perfect Defence protect me from inanimate traps? I thought Perfect Defence was 'a Skill that completely protects against physical attack and magical attack from hostile forces'. How could a trap be a 'hostile force'? I thought that meant some person or monster had to be hostile to me for the Skill to protect me.
"Ah, that's right. You're ignorant about dungeons and how they work." Fer said. Well, I had a vague idea about dungeons from the games I had played, if you defeat monsters you get valuable drops, there are treasure chests here and there, traps and pitfalls and the like. Fer went on to explain how dungeons worked in this world.
"A dungeon attracts people to enter them with drop items and treasure chests that can be obtained by defeating stronger monsters. Sometimes the people are killed by the traps and monsters. Those dead people are absorbed by the dungeon as nourishment and the dungeon grows." Another group of monsters fell to Fer's magic attacks, Kobolds? it happened in a blur and then we were around a corner before I could look back to check, and he continued his explanation. "Because of this, a dungeon is considered to be a living being. So, you see, a trap is a hostile attack by the dungeon creature and so Perfect Defence protects you from them."
Oh I see. Fer's explanation made it clear the dungeon really was a living thing. Fer went on to tell me about the dungeon's core. It was the heart of any dungeon and meant the dungeon would live and slowly grow unless the core was broken or captured whole and removed from its dungeon.
"If you break the dungeon core or remove it, what happens to the dungeon?" I asked as more unidentifiable monsters appeared before us, were dealt with and left far behind as Fer rushed through the dungeon. Dora-chan was flying alongside us and keeping up with no apparent difficulty.
"It means the dungeon dies. It becomes merely a hole in the ground that produces nothing, no monsters, no treasures. However the dungeon core is always moving around in the dungeon so it's almost impossible for most people to find it."
"When you say 'almost impossible' and 'most people', would you be able to find it, Fer? After all you have that monster-detecting ability of yours." I asked. Fer agreed that he could, with some difficulty and a lot of effort, find the dungeon core if he wanted to, but as he went on, "It would be stupid to kill an entertaining playground like this dungeon".
From then on I didn't worry about the traps we triggered in our rush through the dungeon passageways. Arrows and spears bounced off Fer's Barrier and he jumped easily over the pitfalls that opened in our path. Each level's boss was dealt with in a passing blow by Fer or Dora-chan and we didn't even slow down as we descended the stairs behind the dead monster. By the way, Sui-chan was fast asleep in her leather bag hanging from my shoulder as usual.
After getting down to the 10th level we finally noticed traces of other Adventurers.
"What will we do now?" I asked as Fer stopped for a moment.
"Hmm, there are no enemies here worth fighting seriously." he said grumpily. "The level boss is a Venom Tarantula." I could understand his disappointment, Fer had effortlessly knocked down eight Venom Tarantulas in a single attack in the Forest of Ishtam so this level's boss was just another 'small fry' as far as he was concerned.
"Okay, just go straight for the boss then?"
"Nuuu, let's do that." Fer agreed so we skipped exploring the tenth level and instead headed directly to the boss room using Fer's monster-detecting ability to guide us there. Outside the boss room we found four muscular guys, obviously a party of Adventurers, patiently waiting. When they saw Fer and Dora-chan approaching they reached for their weapons in a practiced manner but they stopped when they saw me on Fer's back.
"Ah, a Tamer, right?" one of them called. I nodded, not wanting to bother with the long explanation and they put their weapons away.
"Is that the boss room?" I asked and the one who had spoken, the party's leader I presumed told me it was.
"Can't you go in right now?"
The Adventurer shook his head with a confused expression on his face. "Is this your first dungeon?" he asked. When I answered yes he went on to explain further.
"You see, inside a dungeon there are various ways of doing things, rules we follow."
・ When fighting monsters in a dungeon, the party that attacks the monster first gets priority and any dropped goods belong to that party, naturally.
・ You don't help others during a battle with monsters unless you're asked to help.
・ Whoever opens a treasure chest has priority on what it contains.
Those were the basic rules of dungeon exploring as the Adventurer explained them to me.
"There is a party already in there fighting the boss. We can't go in until that fight ends." he went on. "I should warn you though, some people in here don't agree with the rules. They snatch items dropped during someone else's fight, even steal them from other Adventurers." He looked at me shrewdly. "Someone who's not that familiar with dungeons, the bastards might even try and kill newbies like you and take their stuff. The dungeon takes care of the dead bodies for them, leaving no evidence. Watch your back, that's all I'll say." That was scary stuff to hear.
As he finished speaking the boss room's door creaked open. This meant the previous group of Adventurers had finished fighting the boss monsters inside and had gone down the stairs at the back of the room to the 11th level. Or, and the thought chilled me, they'd all been killed and absorbed by the dungeon, there was no way of knowing what had happened to them. The four-strong party that had been waiting went in and the door closed behind them again. It looked like they'd be some time fighting the boss and I settled down to wait.
"Hey, what are we hanging around here for?" Fer grumbled.
"Yeah, Let's just go in now!" Dora-chan chimed in.
"Don't say that, Fer, Dora-chan." I chided. "There are rules in this dungeon and you have to abide by them." We waited and finally the four-man party finished their battle. They collected their drops but surprisingly they came back out of the boss room.
"Good luck, you guys." their leader said as his party members went past us towards the corridor we had come from.
"Aren't you guys going down to the next level?" I asked, puzzled at their departure.
"Oh, we always planned to stop at this floor. We all have wives and children after all and going any further down is too risky for us. Bye." Saying that the party leader followed his compatriots along the corridor behind us.
... why is it that such rough-looking guys have wives and children? Damn, normies go explode.
"Hey, let's go." Dora-chan led the way into the boss room where the monsters had already regenerated, a boss Venom Tarantula and a bunch of smaller spiders (although they were 30 centimetres across, only small compared to the boss). I identified them as Poison Spiders using my Appraisal Skill. Dora-chan blasted the Venom Tarantula with fire magic and finished it off before Fer could use any of his own attacks. I took the opportunity to shoot off some Fireballs myself at the surviving smaller spiders as revenge for hearing about the normie party's happy family life. Take that, normies! Explode! Fwoosh! Kapow! Somehow I felt better afterwards.
The Venom Tarantula drop was a poison sac which I collected before we headed for the stairs to the next level down. The 11th level was yet more small-fry, according to Fer so again we just went straight to the boss room which had a group of Orcs led by an Orc General. I expected this fight to be a tougher one but Sui-chan had woken up by this time and joined in enthusiastically, pew-pewing the bad guys along with Fer and Dora-chan. The battle with the Orcs, if you could call it that, lasted less than a minute. I felt a bit sorry for these monsters even though I knew they'd respawn in the boss room as soon as we left. I'm sorry guys, I said silently as I picked up the drops which were pieces of Orc meat. Tasty tasty Orc meat. I started running through possible recipes in my mind as we descended the stairs to the 12th level.
There were no substantial monsters on level 12 either according to Fer but we decided to go through the level this time because everyone was complaining they were hungry. We'd stop off and eat in a safe area before going straight to the boss room right afterwards. I didn't know where this level's safe area was because we didn't have a map but Fer said he could find it. After going down a few passageways triggering harmless traps and slaughtering assorted minor monsters Fer stopped at a doorway in the side of the corridor.
"This is it." he announced so I pushed the door open and we entered. Inside was a large room, about the size of a typical school classroom. Over by the back wall there was a water fountain gurgling away, splashing into a drain. We had been told by the Guild receptionist that there were several Adventurer parties exploring the 10th to 15th levels and there were quite a few people in the safe area, I guessed about five parties in total looking at the way they were grouped together. We settled down in a vacant space near the entrance, staying together like the other parties did.
"Mukouda-san?" I turned around in surprise as I heard my name called and recognised the person who had spoken.
"Vincent?!" It was Vincent!
"It really is Mukouda-san! Long time no see!!" Vincent replied. "Hey look everybody, it really is Mukouda-san like I thought!" The people around Vincent were the Iron Will party who I had last seen in the town of Falier in the far-off Kingdom of Feenen.
Tuesday 2 April 2019
Ch 131 Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi
Chapter 131 -- Teach Me, Fer-Sensei!
The next morning on our way to the dungeon's entrance I asked Fer about the new Skill forced on me by those Deplorable Deadbeat Deities. "You see Fer, yesterday I, uh, 'received' a new Skill from the Gods called Perfect Defence, do you know anything about it?"
"Perfect Defence, huh?" Fer thought for a moment. "That sounds like a really good Skill for you to get. It protects you completely from hostile attacks. You've got my Barrier which is the same thing, sort of, but I can't keep it in place around you all the time."
"One of the Gods, Vulcan-sama I think? said you couldn't keep Barrier up continuously. I was surprised."
"Idiot." Fer said bluntly. "You've used magic yourself, you know you can't do something like that continuously. Even I can't keep Barrier up for more than five days at a time." Five days? That was a lot longer than I expected but this was Fer, after all.
Having learned that I came to the conclusion that getting the Perfect Defence Skill was a pretty good deal for me, a "Skill that completely defends from attacks by hostile forces." I felt better about entering the dungeon now and I thanked the Gods for giving it to me. Should I maybe give them something extra next offering time? Thinking about the Gods and Goddesses and the new Skill I had supposedly received I realised I hadn't checked my Status recently. Was this new Skill actually there?
[ Name ] Mukouda (Tsuyoshi Mukouda)
[ Age ] 27
[ Job ] A person from a different world who got caught
[ Level ] 13
[ Stamina ] 229
[ Magic Power ] 223
[ Attack Power ] 206
[ Defence Power ] 205
[ Agility ] 200
[ Skill ] Appraisal Item Box Fire Magic Earth Magic Familiar Perfect Defence
[ Contracted Monsters] Fenrir, Big Slime, Pixie Dragon
[ Unique Skill ] Net Super
[ Protection ] Wind Goddess Ninril's blessing (small) Fire Goddess Agni's blessing (small) Earth Goddess Kishar's blessing (small)
So there's my Perfect Defence Skill. If I shifted my Appraisal point of view to the words 'Perfect Defence'...
[ Perfect Defence ...... a Skill that completely protects against physical attack and magical attack from hostile forces ]
Oh, an explanation appeared, confirming what Fer had just said. Thinking about it when I Appraised the Mithril knife and sword that Sui made for me there was an explanatory note attached too. I didn't think it strange at that time but maybe for some reason my Appraisal Skill has levelled up? This sort of thing... teach me, Fer-sensei!
"Fer, if I use Appraisal on something like my Perfect Defence Skill, I now see an explanation..."
"Nuu, that would be because your level has increased and so has the things Appraisal can tell you." Fer-sensei said.
"Hm? How does that work?" I asked. Fer explained that as someone's level went up, it meant that they could do more with the Skills they possessed. Since Appraisal is a Skill then I could now see more detail about something or someone I Appraised. Fer didn't bother much with using Appraisal himself so the extra information wasn't important to him though.
Wait though, I'd seen this sort of explanation even before I levelled up. I had Appraised food I'd bought at Net Super, bread say and seen things like "Eating this improves magic power by 1% for 10 minutes" and the like.
"I saw explanatory notes when I first used Appraisal on something from another world, but why?"
"Nu? Is that what you saw? I also tried to use Appraisal on those other-world foods but I couldn't read what it said at all, first time ever for me." Fer shrugged. "It's maybe because they're from the other world."
I already knew that things I bought from the Net Super in this world were different. Eating them causes strength and magic to increase -- even Sui-chan received a boost when she ate the garbage, plastic bottles, wrappings etc. so they had to be fundamentally different to similar items in this world. I gave up thinking about it since there was nothing I could do about it and until now it hadn't really been much of a hindrance, other than me having to keep my Net Super Skill a secret from everyone else.
For now, knowing I can get an explanatory note during Appraisal because my level has risen is useful information. As Fer had explained all the Skills and magic someone possesses improve as their level increases which, now I thought about it was a natural result of levelling up. Fer went on to say there were some Skills that didn't improve due to increasing levels though, things like Item Box and my new Skill, Perfect Defence. Skills provided directly by the Gods and Goddesses didn't level up, apparently, just the ones people were born with or, as in my case, had been given to me when I was summoned to this world.
So that's how it works～. There wasn't anything I could do about them though so I asked Fer about another Skill I had.
"So what about my Familiar Skill?" I could make submission contracts as I had with Fer and Sui and Dora-chan, how would that Skill change as I levelled up?
"No idea. As I said before my submission contract with you was the first I'd ever agreed to. The crazy Elf said the way you make submission contracts is strange, anyway." That was true, Elland-san had said that when we had discussed the contracts I had made -- it wasn't a Tamer Skill as the Guild understood them but something else.
I shrugged, I assumed I wouldn't lose any Skill abilities even when my level rises so I wouldn't worry about it. I asked Fer about my Unique Skill, Net Super but he replied "There's no way I'd know anything about something like that. It's Unique to you after all." Well that's true, being able to order up Japanese goods in this world and have them delivered was weird to start with. I just had to be careful and keep an eye on it in case it changed somehow. As my discussion with Fer ended I found we had arrived at the market area outside the dungeon.
"Right then," Fer said, staring hungrily at the dungeon's gateway, "Shouldn't you go and register at the Guild's branch office? Like, now?"
* * * * *
After registering we lined up with a row of Adventurers entering the dungeon and waited patiently until it was finally our turn to enter. I showed my Guild card to the knights standing on both sides of the entrance and we went into the dungeon. I still had some concerns though...
"You said I didn't need a map, but is that really true?" I had planned to buy a map of the dungeon at a street stall before we joined the queue at the entrance but Fer said we didn't need it. His sense of smell and ability to see signs would be enough to guide us and it would be more reliable than any map bought from a sketchy market dealer, he said.
"It'll be fine. Trust me." Fer declared, his attention fixed on the dark entrance in front of us. Well I suppose if he said it's okay then it will be okay. It was just that a map was always an important thing in the sort of computer games I had played, getting hold of one and following it, that sort of-
"It seems like there are only small fry to start with." Fer interrupted, his head moving from side to side. I remembered he had mentioned how he could detect monsters at a distance during our trip to carry out the Mithril Lizard subjugation back when we were staying in Carerina. He was apparently using this monster-detecting ability on the dungeon entrance.
"Oh, that sounds right. Most regular Adventurers only explore the first 10 to 15 levels according to Elland-san. They can find treasure chests and also collect monster drops they can bring back out and sell. The monsters further down are a lot tougher."
"Got it. Right then, let's get going, the sooner we get to some monsters worth fighting the better. You, get on my back." Yeah yeah. I got on Fer's back as commanded as Fer looked back at me over his shoulder.
"You're going to be fine since you've got Perfect Defence." Fer said considerately. He was worried about me and trying to cheer me up? How- "You're a coward of course so I'll keep my Barrier up too, just to keep you happy." Thanks Fer, you didn't have to say 'coward' like that, just say I'm 'cautious' or 'careful'. Please?
"Dora, do you want to climb on too?" Fer said to Dora-chan.
"Naah, I'd just fall off, big guy." Dora-chan answered aggrievedly. He was hovering beside Fer, his muzzle fixed like Fer's on the darkness before us, eager to enter the dungeon. I had almost forgotten just how formidable a foe a Pixie Dragon was given how cute they looked, and this Pixie Dragon in particular seemed to be ready for the battles to come. "It's kinda insulting to all Pixie Dragons, you know, to say I should ride on your back. Our reputation is for flying the fastest and the best, after all."
Fer nodded in apology. "Right then Dora, are you ready to go in? Oh, and you too." Fer asked me as an afterthought.
"Let's go, let's go." Dora-chan answered eagerly as we advanced into the dungeon.
The next morning on our way to the dungeon's entrance I asked Fer about the new Skill forced on me by those Deplorable Deadbeat Deities. "You see Fer, yesterday I, uh, 'received' a new Skill from the Gods called Perfect Defence, do you know anything about it?"
"Perfect Defence, huh?" Fer thought for a moment. "That sounds like a really good Skill for you to get. It protects you completely from hostile attacks. You've got my Barrier which is the same thing, sort of, but I can't keep it in place around you all the time."
"One of the Gods, Vulcan-sama I think? said you couldn't keep Barrier up continuously. I was surprised."
"Idiot." Fer said bluntly. "You've used magic yourself, you know you can't do something like that continuously. Even I can't keep Barrier up for more than five days at a time." Five days? That was a lot longer than I expected but this was Fer, after all.
Having learned that I came to the conclusion that getting the Perfect Defence Skill was a pretty good deal for me, a "Skill that completely defends from attacks by hostile forces." I felt better about entering the dungeon now and I thanked the Gods for giving it to me. Should I maybe give them something extra next offering time? Thinking about the Gods and Goddesses and the new Skill I had supposedly received I realised I hadn't checked my Status recently. Was this new Skill actually there?
[ Name ] Mukouda (Tsuyoshi Mukouda)
[ Age ] 27
[ Job ] A person from a different world who got caught
[ Level ] 13
[ Stamina ] 229
[ Magic Power ] 223
[ Attack Power ] 206
[ Defence Power ] 205
[ Agility ] 200
[ Skill ] Appraisal Item Box Fire Magic Earth Magic Familiar Perfect Defence
[ Contracted Monsters] Fenrir, Big Slime, Pixie Dragon
[ Unique Skill ] Net Super
[ Protection ] Wind Goddess Ninril's blessing (small) Fire Goddess Agni's blessing (small) Earth Goddess Kishar's blessing (small)
So there's my Perfect Defence Skill. If I shifted my Appraisal point of view to the words 'Perfect Defence'...
[ Perfect Defence ...... a Skill that completely protects against physical attack and magical attack from hostile forces ]
Oh, an explanation appeared, confirming what Fer had just said. Thinking about it when I Appraised the Mithril knife and sword that Sui made for me there was an explanatory note attached too. I didn't think it strange at that time but maybe for some reason my Appraisal Skill has levelled up? This sort of thing... teach me, Fer-sensei!
"Fer, if I use Appraisal on something like my Perfect Defence Skill, I now see an explanation..."
"Nuu, that would be because your level has increased and so has the things Appraisal can tell you." Fer-sensei said.
"Hm? How does that work?" I asked. Fer explained that as someone's level went up, it meant that they could do more with the Skills they possessed. Since Appraisal is a Skill then I could now see more detail about something or someone I Appraised. Fer didn't bother much with using Appraisal himself so the extra information wasn't important to him though.
Wait though, I'd seen this sort of explanation even before I levelled up. I had Appraised food I'd bought at Net Super, bread say and seen things like "Eating this improves magic power by 1% for 10 minutes" and the like.
"I saw explanatory notes when I first used Appraisal on something from another world, but why?"
"Nu? Is that what you saw? I also tried to use Appraisal on those other-world foods but I couldn't read what it said at all, first time ever for me." Fer shrugged. "It's maybe because they're from the other world."
I already knew that things I bought from the Net Super in this world were different. Eating them causes strength and magic to increase -- even Sui-chan received a boost when she ate the garbage, plastic bottles, wrappings etc. so they had to be fundamentally different to similar items in this world. I gave up thinking about it since there was nothing I could do about it and until now it hadn't really been much of a hindrance, other than me having to keep my Net Super Skill a secret from everyone else.
For now, knowing I can get an explanatory note during Appraisal because my level has risen is useful information. As Fer had explained all the Skills and magic someone possesses improve as their level increases which, now I thought about it was a natural result of levelling up. Fer went on to say there were some Skills that didn't improve due to increasing levels though, things like Item Box and my new Skill, Perfect Defence. Skills provided directly by the Gods and Goddesses didn't level up, apparently, just the ones people were born with or, as in my case, had been given to me when I was summoned to this world.
So that's how it works～. There wasn't anything I could do about them though so I asked Fer about another Skill I had.
"So what about my Familiar Skill?" I could make submission contracts as I had with Fer and Sui and Dora-chan, how would that Skill change as I levelled up?
"No idea. As I said before my submission contract with you was the first I'd ever agreed to. The crazy Elf said the way you make submission contracts is strange, anyway." That was true, Elland-san had said that when we had discussed the contracts I had made -- it wasn't a Tamer Skill as the Guild understood them but something else.
I shrugged, I assumed I wouldn't lose any Skill abilities even when my level rises so I wouldn't worry about it. I asked Fer about my Unique Skill, Net Super but he replied "There's no way I'd know anything about something like that. It's Unique to you after all." Well that's true, being able to order up Japanese goods in this world and have them delivered was weird to start with. I just had to be careful and keep an eye on it in case it changed somehow. As my discussion with Fer ended I found we had arrived at the market area outside the dungeon.
"Right then," Fer said, staring hungrily at the dungeon's gateway, "Shouldn't you go and register at the Guild's branch office? Like, now?"
* * * * *
After registering we lined up with a row of Adventurers entering the dungeon and waited patiently until it was finally our turn to enter. I showed my Guild card to the knights standing on both sides of the entrance and we went into the dungeon. I still had some concerns though...
"You said I didn't need a map, but is that really true?" I had planned to buy a map of the dungeon at a street stall before we joined the queue at the entrance but Fer said we didn't need it. His sense of smell and ability to see signs would be enough to guide us and it would be more reliable than any map bought from a sketchy market dealer, he said.
"It'll be fine. Trust me." Fer declared, his attention fixed on the dark entrance in front of us. Well I suppose if he said it's okay then it will be okay. It was just that a map was always an important thing in the sort of computer games I had played, getting hold of one and following it, that sort of-
"It seems like there are only small fry to start with." Fer interrupted, his head moving from side to side. I remembered he had mentioned how he could detect monsters at a distance during our trip to carry out the Mithril Lizard subjugation back when we were staying in Carerina. He was apparently using this monster-detecting ability on the dungeon entrance.
"Oh, that sounds right. Most regular Adventurers only explore the first 10 to 15 levels according to Elland-san. They can find treasure chests and also collect monster drops they can bring back out and sell. The monsters further down are a lot tougher."
"Got it. Right then, let's get going, the sooner we get to some monsters worth fighting the better. You, get on my back." Yeah yeah. I got on Fer's back as commanded as Fer looked back at me over his shoulder.
"You're going to be fine since you've got Perfect Defence." Fer said considerately. He was worried about me and trying to cheer me up? How- "You're a coward of course so I'll keep my Barrier up too, just to keep you happy." Thanks Fer, you didn't have to say 'coward' like that, just say I'm 'cautious' or 'careful'. Please?
"Dora, do you want to climb on too?" Fer said to Dora-chan.
"Naah, I'd just fall off, big guy." Dora-chan answered aggrievedly. He was hovering beside Fer, his muzzle fixed like Fer's on the darkness before us, eager to enter the dungeon. I had almost forgotten just how formidable a foe a Pixie Dragon was given how cute they looked, and this Pixie Dragon in particular seemed to be ready for the battles to come. "It's kinda insulting to all Pixie Dragons, you know, to say I should ride on your back. Our reputation is for flying the fastest and the best, after all."
Fer nodded in apology. "Right then Dora, are you ready to go in? Oh, and you too." Fer asked me as an afterthought.
"Let's go, let's go." Dora-chan answered eagerly as we advanced into the dungeon.
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