Year 7442, Month 9, Day 1
"Then, shall we go. Is everyone ready?"
After confirming that everyone nodded I teleported us into the dungeon. We started carefully examining our surroundings and determine our current location using the map. Going off the number it's probably around here.
After advancing down the cave for a short while and it turned right. Soon after that there was a split path. Ah, then, after all our current location is here...In that case then we have to pass through three rooms in order to get to the teleport crystal to the 2nd floor. Usually it's dangerous we turn back and re-enter the dungeon to avoid the rooms but since we're aiming for the 2nd floor starting today we can't mind it. We just advance forward. Since we have the map of traps as well it's become quite easy to explore the dungeon. I wonder if we can make it to the 2nd floor in today? It would be good if no one gets hurt though.
After moving ahead for about 30 minutes and we arrived at the first room. I said in advance that I would wipe out the monsters in the rooms. When I tried peeking in with Identify and it was a Green Slime. Hmph, it's already exposed that you're weak to fire. I sterilize the deep green viscous liquid like sewage with {Flamethrower}.
I easily burnt the close to 30 slimes in the room with the spell {Flamethrower} while standing at the entrance. Angela was watching that spectacle with her mouth wide open. How's a glimpse of your master's true ability? Hn? I won't easily throw away the lives of my slaves. Since I'm a cheapskate after all. I think I probably burnt them all to death. I tell everyone to start searching for the bonus items that are the magic stones and items of deceased adventurers while I keep watch in case monsters come to the room from the path further in.
After a short while it seems that gathering the items was completed. After all it seems that there were some worn-out swords and spears but they are all too old and covered in rust so it was just stuff that hadn't even retained their original shapes. It seems that no one had entered it recently. Since we obtained close to 1,000,000 Z in cash mostly in silver coins then I guess that's enough to call plenty.
We quickly started down the cave going further in. We continue for another ten or so minutes while being careful to avoid traps. We should arrive at the next room soon. Now then, I wonder what is making it's nest in this room? Even after looking in from the entrance with Identify vision I wasn't able to see the monster. I wonder if it's hiding near the edge? I slowly approach the entrance of the room...There it is. It's like a huge insect. It has four legs and there's two feeler like tentacles growing from the sides of it's small head. It's body gets thinner as it nears the tail and at the end of it's tail there was a strange protuberance like a propeller. When I tried Identifying it and it was a "Propeller Tail".
Hmm. It's my first time against it. It's not too late to slowly read the Identify window after I kill it. I put the sling-belt of my bayonet on my shoulder and fire {Lightning Bolt} with my left hand and then immediately launched a {Stone Javelin Missile} with my right hand killing it. I feel like it probably would have died with just the {Lightning Bolt}. Since I did even further damage to the corpse it just comes up as Corpse (Propeller Tail) with Identify now. Well I guess it's fine. Since there doesn't seem to be anything else I guess we should head for the next room. Since I've already heard about this thing from Angela there's no need to make the foolish move of trying to take the magic stone from this monster.
It seems that Propeller Tail's have a special skill where any metal that touches those feelers or tentacles rust away. If you touch them with a knife on accident then it's already too late. And I'm sure any items of adventurers have just become a mountain of rust as well. It's best to just ignore them. If the corpse is still remaining on our way back and I have room to spare with my stamina and mana then I'll use earth magic to made a stone axe or something to disassemble it with. Well, I think we'll end up returning to the entrance directly from the teleport crystal of the 2nd floor though.
Up until here we've still only fought against the monsters in the rooms so far this time. If it's like this then we should be able to make it to the 2nd floor in perfect condition. Since we don't have a map for the 2nd floor we're just going to check out how things look and then return though.
We continue ahead again. Along the way there were 6 gnolls wandering around. It's fine to let my subordinates earn some experience as well but we're heading towards the 2nd floor today. I still have an excessive amount of MP after all, there's no point in being stingy with it. I felt like I wanted to show Angela my close combat skills as well so I raised my head but when I was about to put power into my legs and charge in I thought again and just killed them safely with magic.
And we arrived at the room which should be the last one. I couldn't see the enemy this time at a glance as well. However, I already know the enemies identity. If the map of the cave we've gone through up until now is correct (probably, at least on the path up until now I'm sure it's correct) then this room should be connected at the corner.
I'm sure I won't be able to see inside of the room until I get considerably close to it. However, I can grasp it plenty from here. I can see a huge spider web at the edge. I guess this is the entrance of the "Gargantuan Spider" I had heard about? I guess it's fine if I just burn the spider webs with fire magic.
I immediately shot a {Fire Ball} in. It hit the edge of the spider web and sent burning stones flying all around the surroundings. It seems that the spider web is burning well. I quickly raised both of my hands and use {Flamethrower} to send flames spewing out as I enter the room. There it is. In the center of the spider web in the middle of the room there's a huge spider that's about 2 m high, probably about 5 m if it spreads it's legs out. I sent my {Flamethrower} flying aimed at it. The small hairs all over the surface of its body caught fire. The spider is rolling around in pain.
Without letting my guard down I continue pouring mana into the {Flamethrower} increasing the intensity of the flames and burnt it to death. Since it seems these have poison, I didn't want to fight it in close combat. After I safely killed the "Gargantuan Spider" I looked around inside of the room.
Mu, is that..an egg..No, a cocoon?
There's prey wrapped up in what seems to be cocoons all over the spider's web. Goblins, gnolls, and even some adventurers that fell victim to it. Since it seems they died quite a while back we couldn't save them. The items we found that were in good condition were three long swords, two broad swords, and two spears. We couldn't find any shields. Also, we found close to 1,300,000 Z in money. Uhha. It's a large haul. The magic stone of Gargantuan Spider had a value of close to 10,000. If we sell it then it should come out close to 70,000 Z.
I peaked into the other caves confirming if it was safe while watching my subordinates gather the items. Hmn, we've earned quite a bit Oh~ that sword is in considerably good condition. However, the end of that spear is broken. Since it isn't rusted I guess we should at least take it with us.
After that we continued walking for close to an hour, after blowing away the goblins and gnolls we met along the way with magic we were safely able to arrive at the small room of about 30 m in every direction with the teleport crystal rod to the 2nd floor. I guess we should take a small break here. I tried asking Zenom the time and he checked the time on the clock magic tool. It seems it's still just past 10 am.
It's just the right time for having some tea. As expected we didn't bring any water that will add to our luggage in the dungeon but we've at least prepared flasks. I use water and fire magic to create hot water and put it and some tea leaves into each persons flask. Putting it frankly the tea of Orth isn't all that good. I guess it's different from the tea of Earth. The bean tea that I like needs boiled beans to make so as expected we can't prepare it here.
We took a break while everyone was blowing on our hot tea that doesn't taste particularly good.
Everyone was worrying about my remaining mana.
"Al, is your mana fine? You've used quite a bit of magic right? Isn't it best to turn back for today?"
Zenom said that.
"That's right. It seems that the monsters on the 2nd floor are the same as the 1st floor but we can't take things back in the worst case situation."
Ralpha said that as well.
I guess since Bel has limited knowledge about magic she's making a face like she doesn't really understand.
Zulu is sipping his tea while remaining cautious of the cave connecting to the small room.
Angela is looking at me in a daze.
I started to feel the urge to start bragging to Angela but I already said I would listen to her opinion after we reach the 3rd floor. Even if I ask her opinion here I'm sure it'll probably just be my boasting so I'll remain quiet.
"Ah, I'm still fine. Then, let's take a look around the 2nd floor for a bit before returning today I guess. Let me drink some sea before that."
It's true that I've used up some MP after fighting several times but I still have around 7,100 remaining. I haven't even used 500. Particularly against the spider or the Propeller Tail that seemed like they could be strong opponents I didn't hesitate on adding extra mana in to kill them all at once. I even feel like I used too much. It seems like it would be best to master the method of using an appropriate amount of mana against those types of enemies as well. It's too inefficient. I guess I should keep entering the dungeon alone on my days off for a while longer.
The sounds of pointless chatting and sipping of tea echo through the teleport room. And then we started to hear multiple footsteps from somewhere. Is it monsters!? We throw out our tea and after throwing our flasks into the corner of the room we stand up with our weapons in hand.
We watch the cave where the footsteps are coming from. After a short while a party made up of 8 people appeared. There was the color green mixed into their equipment and the cloth wrapped on their arms. There's a face I've seen before. The {Verdure Brotherhood} huh?
After the elf leader saw us in the room and he opened his mouth.
"Oh~ so there was someone who got here faster than us huh...Those are faces I don't know. I'm Robert. My name is Robert Vilhaima. I'm the leader of this {Verdure Brotherhood}. Who's you guys leader? Why don't we talk for a bit?"
Oh~ his voice is quite a bit deeper than I imagined. Since the appearance of elves is beautiful, even though he's a decent age, I imagined his voice would be higher.
"I'm the leader. My name is Alan Greed."
After I named myself and the members of the {Verdure Brother} started laughing.
"So that dwarf wasn't the leader."
"Isn't he still a brat?"
"That's some weird armor."
"One brat and two young girls. For half of the party to be kids.."
"The Laios man and Dog Warrior woman seem like they can fight decently well."
"Since they don't even have any blood on their clothes, did they manage to get lucky and arrive here without fighting?"
"Since you always have to pass through at least one large room after all, they probably just passed through after someone else killed the boss."
They're saying whatever the please all on their own. Well I understand their feelings though. Even if we're made fun of a bit by super veterans like them I don't even feel the urge to get angry.
"Hey, leave things around there. Sorry about that, Greed-kun. We want to go to the 2nd floor. I'm sorry to say it when we came afterwards, but do you mind if we teleport first?"
Just as you would expect from the leader of a top team, he didn't pointlessly look down on me in his statements. Yeah. The wealthy don't pick fights.
"Yeah, please do. We intended to go ahead after we took a short break, so feel free.."
After I said that and,
"Hey, let's go...do.ge.nu huh? Everyone's properly grabbed on to it right. Dogenu!"
After saying that and an instant when they seemed to turn half-transparent they disappeared leaving behind something like a powder of light. So this is how teleportation feels looking from the outside.
"What was that? They were acting so arrogant~"
Ralpha looks displeased while saying.
"They're {Verdure Brotherhood}. One of the top teams in Baldukk. Supposedly they've reached the 5th floor.."
Angela replies to her. I guess they're famous, as expected of a top team.
"I don't get what it is about greed but I already knew since I just heard their name. In any case their attitude is too L. Do they have green rust growing in their heads or something?"
How many decades has it been since I heard attitude L. Ralpha, you, aren't you seriously lying about your age...even if you are though it doesn't cause any sort of harm. It's stating false details on your resume..Ah, I didn't have her write something like a resume.
"The 5th floor huh..That's amazing."
Zulu whispered while showing admiration.
"I'm sure they have a considerable amount of skill as well."
Bel continued after Zulu.
"Well they can say that because they have that much level of ability. I can understand just from seeing them. All of them were considerably strong."
Zenom said that closing things.
After gathering our flasks we inspect our equipment.
"Then, it's not like we'll end up teleporting to the same place as them so let's go as well. We're just taking a look for today. After we do that for a bit we'll return."
I said that while putting my flask into my bag and read the purple chant that floated to the surface of the teleport crystal rod. Do.ru.he.me huh. The chant that's in yellow is the one used to return to the surface. The "return us" one. I'm sure it teleports you to one of the large amount of small rooms lined up along the teleport room near the entrance.
"Then let's go...Everyone's holding onto it right. Doru he me!"
............
At first glance the 2nd floor resembled the 1st floor but there's a lot of humidity. If it's this much then collecting the articles of deceased adventurers on the 2nd floor probably requires more luck than the 1st floor.
The teleport crystal rod is in the center of a cave that somehow feels very humid. We were able to confirm a symbol-like indicator as well. We searched the wall as well but we weren't able to find any place with a number carved into it. I wonder if there's no map with the teleport locations on it for the 2nd floor like the 1st floor..even if there was I'm sure the price is even more outrageous though.
Either way it's our first time after all, no matter which hall we go down I'm sure there's not much difference. I randomly said "lets try going this way" and started leading the way. Quickly Zenom lined up to my right and started hitting the ground with a 3 m or so pole. After spending time slowly going down a slightly curved cave for about 100 m or so. The sound of the pole hitting the floor changed. A trap huh? We hit around the trap that seems to be a pitfall looking for the method around it but there was the same light sound from every direction.
No way, are you serious? There's pitfalls which completely block the path?
Everyone looked at me. 1. Return and go down the opposite hall. 2. Return and go down the opposite hall. 3. Return and go down the opposite hall. Is there anything else we can do!? Why are you looking at my face?
"Let's return. We'll try going down the opposite side of the teleport crystal."
Since we don't need to be careful of traps, we walk back down the path we just came from. It took us about 15 minutes to carefully walk up to here but we were able to return to the teleport crystal in less than 2 minutes. Now then, let's try going down the opposite side.
Just the same way we start carefully going down the opposite side while hitting the ground. This when we advanced about 200 m we heard the sound change again. We carefully tried hitting some other places . Yeah, the sound on all of them is light.
..Aren't we surrounded by pitfalls on both sides!
Ah~ Shit.
"Everyone, take a few steps back. I don't know what will happen but I wanted to try it a bit."
Further. Step back further. I lead everyone to about 40 m behind where the pitfall seemed to be. I stand in front of everyone and used wind magic to blow the sand on the trap away. I was doing it all the time when I explored during my experiment but I never found a trap with this method. I wonder what will happen when I know there's a trap for sure, is what I thought while feeling like trying it.
Baon!
A large amount of air suddenly was generated and I used void magic to make it expand only in front of me, or rather, I use wind magic to make a wall that's sending it back only ahead of me. The diameter of the cave is around 10 m so the amount of air created with level 5 wind magic should be plenty. Unless there's a large room ahead of here then if I think about it really simply then I should create enough volume of air released in one direction to cover up to 270 m ahead of me in an instant.
Since it seems like everyone didn't know what I was going to do, I said I was going to use wind magic to create a large amount of air and use it like an {Air Pump} then Ralpha and Bel understood. However, let alone {Pump} the other three have no idea what an {Air Pump} is. They were making a strange but I just ignored it. Zenom can probably guess the situation right away so that's fine but I'm sure Zulu and Angela wouldn't know. Though that can't be helped.
If they're thinking something so naive that we'll explain every word they don't know to them then I'll blow that thinking away at the same time. It's not like I know the words and names of everything on Orth either. If I hear someone talking about a type of product that I don't know then I think I would want an explanation about it but I at least think of the time and the place. If you're really interested then take your time and ask after we leave the dungeon.
I try going and taking a look at the place where the trap is. It can't be called completely gone but the dirt on the surface was somewhat brushed away. Yeah, it was the right answer to blow it away with wind magic it seems. It almost covers the entirety of the hall and it has a depth of about 4-5 m into the other side of the hall. It's absurdly mysterious. As proof of that everyone including me has their mouths opened dumbfounded at the trap.
The pitfall opened up. It's probably not all that deep. I can even see the bottom. I guess it's around 3 m?
Right. I can see the bottom. There's a board or something with dirt on top of it to camouflage it and it's not like I can see the board itself. Was the board blown away together with it? Since it was covering up a pitfall that's about 4-5 m across, the size of the board would need to be at least 7-8m. It depends on the material but if that wasn't the case then it would curve I'm sure. Well, if even if several layers of boards like that were blown away even with the low amount of light it's strange that we wouldn't notice it, and I'm sure it would make a noise. I didn't create enough air for it to blow away a board of that length and a decent amount of thickness far enough to be beyond our sight.
I timidly grab a bit on the floor while scraping it off and (since all of the dirt that I could easily grab was blown away) threw it at the hole. I already knew the outcome before I threw it but I couldn't keep myself from trying it.
Just as I predicted the dirt that I threw was floating on the ground. If you're asking why I was able to predict it and it's because not all of the dirt that was on the surface of the pitfall was cleanly blown away. No, you could say it was blown away but it was just a portion of what was on it. I did say "the dirt on the surface was somewhat brushed away" right?
I'll try identifying it. After all it seems to be an object that can be targeted. In other words it's not a vapor, or at least not just a vapor.
【Besshuz.Floating Disk.Automending】
【Wind.Void】
【Condition: Good】
【Manufacture Date: -/-/-】
【Value: -】
..It was magic. Not to mention a type that I don't know. Well, the number of spells I know isn't all that large of a number. It seems to be a combination of wind and void magic and it's currently activating normally I guess. The value of manufacture date aren't normally displayed in the case of magic so that's no problem.
The problem is the fact that I can Identify the magic, or rather spell name. Normally, even if you identify the phenomenon that occurs when you use a spell nothing happens. Even if you use identify on the warhead or flame you create while it's in the middle of flying it just shows the type of magic and the condition of it.
There's nowhere I can open on the sub-window.
Zenom is hitting it with the pole. I can hear a light sound from it.
Zulu is stabbing it with the end of his two-handed sword.
Bel is trying to poke it with the of her sword as well.
Angela is timidly stretching out the end of her broad sword as well.
Only Ralpha was different. She's tapping it with the end of her foot. As expected.
"It feels kind of like I'm floating on water. It feels like it vaguely sinks down."
It's called floating disk after all. I guess I should call out to them pretty soon.
"Hey, Ralpha. That's dangerous so stop already."
Ralpha obediently pulled her foot back.
Now then, what should we do. The pitfall (?) on the other side is probably like this as well. Though it might be different but it's more natural to think that it's the same. We've been exploring the 1st floor for close to three months but we haven't tread on a trap even once, and we've never tried investigating the structure of a normal trap as well. Since we had seen pitfalls that had no cover like someone had already fallen into them a number of times I had already confirmed that even if you fall in there was nothing like spears or needles planted at the bottom. I figured that the only difference would be the shape of the hole so I never bothered trying to wipe away the dirt on the surface to investigate them.
There was never a case like this where the pitfall covered the entire hall of the cave as well. I was afraid that it might not just be the pitfall but some kind of switch and we might accidentally activate that.
However you know...as far as I can tell the depth of the hole is about 3 m. Even if you accidentally stepped on it without realizing it, I'm sure you would get hurt, if you were careless you might even get bone fracture, but I doubt you would die. Since the walls and floor seem like dirt. It doesn't like it was cleanly dug out as well. Obviously there's nothing like a corpse in it either.
"Alright, everyone, back away for a bit."
"What are you going to do?"
Bel tried asking.
"Fill it."
At the same time as I said that I held my hand over the pitfall and used earth magic to create dirt. Using my hand as the starting point the dirt appears in mid-air and falls down. It stopped in mid-air for a bit but in less than a second the floating disk spell was unable to endure the weight of the dirt and started sinking. Even if it wasn't all the way I was able to fill the hole. Since it's not like it's been stomped down I guess I'll add a bit more to it.
"I'm advancing."
After I said that I stuck my leg out and stepped down on the dirt. About 10 cm of my foot sunk into the dirt under my weight but there was no problem other than that. After I quickly crossed the pitfall everyone else came along with me.
That pitfall probably has a spell cast on it to create something like a magic board and that board can hold up a certain amount of weight, thinking that seems the most natural. I don't know if it's the weight of one person or so but when it exceeds a certain weight then the spell loses it's effect. Going off the auto-mending it probably automatically restores itself or repairs itself afterwards I guess. I don't know what Besshuzu is though.
However, it seems like there's a considerable number of pitfall traps and since they're famous you can even hear about them pretty often from the mouths of adventurers in a bar. But, I've never heard of a pitfall like this before. This, is the 2nd floor right? It might be best to quickly level up Ralpha's Spatial Understanding and have her use it. Since it's still level 1 after all. Even if you say 10 m radius or so, it barely reaches the ceiling of the cave.
I was thinking about things like that while walking for a few minutes. It seems we still haven't proceeded very far since we crossed over the pitfall. We figured there wouldn't be another pitfall for at least 100 m or so after the last one so we continued hitting with the pole while moving about 30 m at a higher pace than usual when it happened. I discovered something ahead of us. It seems to be close to the floor.
It's a snake. It comes up as 【Cave.Rattlesnake】 with Identify. Level is 2. It's nothing special but it seems to have poison. The poison is...Neurotoxins huh? I guess you'll become unable to breath. Close combat isn't a good idea.
Since there's just one of them, it seems like it would be good to kill it with a spell.
"There's a snake ahead. It would be bad if it has poison. I'll get rid of it."
I said that and used {Lightning Bolt} to kill the snake.
I got close to the snakes corpse and observed it for a bit. I was interested in it. The thickness is about 5 cm? It has a bit over 1 m in length. Just as the name sounds there's a rattle-like skin stuck to the end of its tail. Since I hit with electricity from the front it's head is burnt. Che...I thought I might be able to gather the poison but I picked the wrong spell to use. However, I'm sure it would have been the same if I burned it to death with fire, and missile tpye would have smashed it's body as well. Even if I smash it, I felt like the portion that has the head would still be alive after all. Well, you could say it's true I was afraid of the poison.
Zulu took the magic stone.
Furthermore, this time we carefully advanced forward. The path split up along the way. It's shaped like the letter Y and the right side feels the same as where we came from. I wonder what we should do?
Well, we had just came to the 2nd floor to take a look this time. We still haven't seen any actual combat on the 2nd floor yet but it might be about a good time. I asked Zenom the time and it was around 11 am. I guess we should return.
We returned to the 1st floor from the teleport crystal on the 2nd floor and then returned directly to the small room at entrance of the dungeon from there. We made 4,000,000 Z (4 gold coins) including the money from the items we found today. I gave Zenom and the others their monthly compensation for the start of the month of 200,000 Z (20 silver coins) and another 80,000 Z (8 silver coins) bonus to each of them. It's our first big profit in a while.
When we were having lunch I said to everyone.
"Let's gather information about the pitfall from today. I've never heard about something like that until now. Though there should be a considerable number of people who have gone to the 2nd floor. Though it's weird that I've never heard about it in the case. Zulu and Angela I'll give you money separately for you dinner for today. Let's all eat at different places and meet up at the usual restaurant for breakfast tomorrow morning. Is that fine?"
Everyone nodded. I handed Zulu and Angela some money and said "I'll try seeing if the knight group has any information on it." and left the restaurant.
I couldn't obtain any information on the strange pitfall from the knight group.
That evening I tried going to a random restaurant and asked some people that appeared to be adventurers about it but I was told they didn't know about that strange pitfall. Rather, they reacted to it like I was trying to sell them some sort of fake information or confuse them.
After I finished eating I did my running while thinking.
Hmm. Was it making it to the 3rd floor two months after we buy the map for the 2nd floor? I've started to get a bit worried if I can protect the promise I one-sided declared to Angela. Just a bit.
Year 7442, Month 9, Day 1
"Then, shall we go. Is everyone ready?"
After confirming that everyone nodded I teleported us into the dungeon. We started carefully examining our surroundings and determine our current location using the map. Going off the number it's probably around here.
After advancing down the cave for a short while and it turned right. Soon after that there was a split path. Ah, then, after all our current location is here...In that case then we have to pass through three rooms in order to get to the teleport crystal to the 2nd floor. Usually it's dangerous we turn back and re-enter the dungeon to avoid the rooms but since we're aiming for the 2nd floor starting today we can't mind it. We just advance forward. Since we have the map of traps as well it's become quite easy to explore the dungeon. I wonder if we can make it to the 2nd floor in today? It would be good if no one gets hurt though.
After moving ahead for about 30 minutes and we arrived at the first room. I said in advance that I would wipe out the monsters in the rooms. When I tried peeking in with Identify and it was a Green Slime. Hmph, it's already exposed that you're weak to fire. I sterilize the deep green viscous liquid like sewage with {Flamethrower}.
I easily burnt the close to 30 slimes in the room with the spell {Flamethrower} while standing at the entrance. Angela was watching that spectacle with her mouth wide open. How's a glimpse of your master's true ability? Hn? I won't easily throw away the lives of my slaves. Since I'm a cheapskate after all. I think I probably burnt them all to death. I tell everyone to start searching for the bonus items that are the magic stones and items of deceased adventurers while I keep watch in case monsters come to the room from the path further in.
After a short while it seems that gathering the items was completed. After all it seems that there were some worn-out swords and spears but they are all too old and covered in rust so it was just stuff that hadn't even retained their original shapes. It seems that no one had entered it recently. Since we obtained close to 1,000,000 Z in cash mostly in silver coins then I guess that's enough to call plenty.
We quickly started down the cave going further in. We continue for another ten or so minutes while being careful to avoid traps. We should arrive at the next room soon. Now then, I wonder what is making it's nest in this room? Even after looking in from the entrance with Identify vision I wasn't able to see the monster. I wonder if it's hiding near the edge? I slowly approach the entrance of the room...There it is. It's like a huge insect. It has four legs and there's two feeler like tentacles growing from the sides of it's small head. It's body gets thinner as it nears the tail and at the end of it's tail there was a strange protuberance like a propeller. When I tried Identifying it and it was a "Propeller Tail".
Hmm. It's my first time against it. It's not too late to slowly read the Identify window after I kill it. I put the sling-belt of my bayonet on my shoulder and fire {Lightning Bolt} with my left hand and then immediately launched a {Stone Javelin Missile} with my right hand killing it. I feel like it probably would have died with just the {Lightning Bolt}. Since I did even further damage to the corpse it just comes up as Corpse (Propeller Tail) with Identify now. Well I guess it's fine. Since there doesn't seem to be anything else I guess we should head for the next room. Since I've already heard about this thing from Angela there's no need to make the foolish move of trying to take the magic stone from this monster.
It seems that Propeller Tail's have a special skill where any metal that touches those feelers or tentacles rust away. If you touch them with a knife on accident then it's already too late. And I'm sure any items of adventurers have just become a mountain of rust as well. It's best to just ignore them. If the corpse is still remaining on our way back and I have room to spare with my stamina and mana then I'll use earth magic to made a stone axe or something to disassemble it with. Well, I think we'll end up returning to the entrance directly from the teleport crystal of the 2nd floor though.
Up until here we've still only fought against the monsters in the rooms so far this time. If it's like this then we should be able to make it to the 2nd floor in perfect condition. Since we don't have a map for the 2nd floor we're just going to check out how things look and then return though.
We continue ahead again. Along the way there were 6 gnolls wandering around. It's fine to let my subordinates earn some experience as well but we're heading towards the 2nd floor today. I still have an excessive amount of MP after all, there's no point in being stingy with it. I felt like I wanted to show Angela my close combat skills as well so I raised my head but when I was about to put power into my legs and charge in I thought again and just killed them safely with magic.
And we arrived at the room which should be the last one. I couldn't see the enemy this time at a glance as well. However, I already know the enemies identity. If the map of the cave we've gone through up until now is correct (probably, at least on the path up until now I'm sure it's correct) then this room should be connected at the corner.
I'm sure I won't be able to see inside of the room until I get considerably close to it. However, I can grasp it plenty from here. I can see a huge spider web at the edge. I guess this is the entrance of the "Gargantuan Spider" I had heard about? I guess it's fine if I just burn the spider webs with fire magic.
I immediately shot a {Fire Ball} in. It hit the edge of the spider web and sent burning stones flying all around the surroundings. It seems that the spider web is burning well. I quickly raised both of my hands and use {Flamethrower} to send flames spewing out as I enter the room. There it is. In the center of the spider web in the middle of the room there's a huge spider that's about 2 m high, probably about 5 m if it spreads it's legs out. I sent my {Flamethrower} flying aimed at it. The small hairs all over the surface of its body caught fire. The spider is rolling around in pain.
Without letting my guard down I continue pouring mana into the {Flamethrower} increasing the intensity of the flames and burnt it to death. Since it seems these have poison, I didn't want to fight it in close combat. After I safely killed the "Gargantuan Spider" I looked around inside of the room.
Mu, is that..an egg..No, a cocoon?
There's prey wrapped up in what seems to be cocoons all over the spider's web. Goblins, gnolls, and even some adventurers that fell victim to it. Since it seems they died quite a while back we couldn't save them. The items we found that were in good condition were three long swords, two broad swords, and two spears. We couldn't find any shields. Also, we found close to 1,300,000 Z in money. Uhha. It's a large haul. The magic stone of Gargantuan Spider had a value of close to 10,000. If we sell it then it should come out close to 70,000 Z.
I peaked into the other caves confirming if it was safe while watching my subordinates gather the items. Hmn, we've earned quite a bit Oh~ that sword is in considerably good condition. However, the end of that spear is broken. Since it isn't rusted I guess we should at least take it with us.
After that we continued walking for close to an hour, after blowing away the goblins and gnolls we met along the way with magic we were safely able to arrive at the small room of about 30 m in every direction with the teleport crystal rod to the 2nd floor. I guess we should take a small break here. I tried asking Zenom the time and he checked the time on the clock magic tool. It seems it's still just past 10 am.
It's just the right time for having some tea. As expected we didn't bring any water that will add to our luggage in the dungeon but we've at least prepared flasks. I use water and fire magic to create hot water and put it and some tea leaves into each persons flask. Putting it frankly the tea of Orth isn't all that good. I guess it's different from the tea of Earth. The bean tea that I like needs boiled beans to make so as expected we can't prepare it here.
We took a break while everyone was blowing on our hot tea that doesn't taste particularly good.
Everyone was worrying about my remaining mana.
"Al, is your mana fine? You've used quite a bit of magic right? Isn't it best to turn back for today?"
Zenom said that.
"That's right. It seems that the monsters on the 2nd floor are the same as the 1st floor but we can't take things back in the worst case situation."
Ralpha said that as well.
I guess since Bel has limited knowledge about magic she's making a face like she doesn't really understand.
Zulu is sipping his tea while remaining cautious of the cave connecting to the small room.
Angela is looking at me in a daze.
I started to feel the urge to start bragging to Angela but I already said I would listen to her opinion after we reach the 3rd floor. Even if I ask her opinion here I'm sure it'll probably just be my boasting so I'll remain quiet.
"Ah, I'm still fine. Then, let's take a look around the 2nd floor for a bit before returning today I guess. Let me drink some sea before that."
It's true that I've used up some MP after fighting several times but I still have around 7,100 remaining. I haven't even used 500. Particularly against the spider or the Propeller Tail that seemed like they could be strong opponents I didn't hesitate on adding extra mana in to kill them all at once. I even feel like I used too much. It seems like it would be best to master the method of using an appropriate amount of mana against those types of enemies as well. It's too inefficient. I guess I should keep entering the dungeon alone on my days off for a while longer.
The sounds of pointless chatting and sipping of tea echo through the teleport room. And then we started to hear multiple footsteps from somewhere. Is it monsters!? We throw out our tea and after throwing our flasks into the corner of the room we stand up with our weapons in hand.
We watch the cave where the footsteps are coming from. After a short while a party made up of 8 people appeared. There was the color green mixed into their equipment and the cloth wrapped on their arms. There's a face I've seen before. The {Verdure Brotherhood} huh?
After the elf leader saw us in the room and he opened his mouth.
"Oh~ so there was someone who got here faster than us huh...Those are faces I don't know. I'm Robert. My name is Robert Vilhaima. I'm the leader of this {Verdure Brotherhood}. Who's you guys leader? Why don't we talk for a bit?"
Oh~ his voice is quite a bit deeper than I imagined. Since the appearance of elves is beautiful, even though he's a decent age, I imagined his voice would be higher.
"I'm the leader. My name is Alan Greed."
After I named myself and the members of the {Verdure Brother} started laughing.
"So that dwarf wasn't the leader."
"Isn't he still a brat?"
"That's some weird armor."
"One brat and two young girls. For half of the party to be kids.."
"The Laios man and Dog Warrior woman seem like they can fight decently well."
"Since they don't even have any blood on their clothes, did they manage to get lucky and arrive here without fighting?"
"Since you always have to pass through at least one large room after all, they probably just passed through after someone else killed the boss."
They're saying whatever the please all on their own. Well I understand their feelings though. Even if we're made fun of a bit by super veterans like them I don't even feel the urge to get angry.
"Hey, leave things around there. Sorry about that, Greed-kun. We want to go to the 2nd floor. I'm sorry to say it when we came afterwards, but do you mind if we teleport first?"
Just as you would expect from the leader of a top team, he didn't pointlessly look down on me in his statements. Yeah. The wealthy don't pick fights.
"Yeah, please do. We intended to go ahead after we took a short break, so feel free.."
After I said that and,
"Hey, let's go...do.ge.nu huh? Everyone's properly grabbed on to it right. Dogenu!"
After saying that and an instant when they seemed to turn half-transparent they disappeared leaving behind something like a powder of light. So this is how teleportation feels looking from the outside.
"What was that? They were acting so arrogant~"
Ralpha looks displeased while saying.
"They're {Verdure Brotherhood}. One of the top teams in Baldukk. Supposedly they've reached the 5th floor.."
Angela replies to her. I guess they're famous, as expected of a top team.
"I don't get what it is about greed but I already knew since I just heard their name. In any case their attitude is too L. Do they have green rust growing in their heads or something?"
How many decades has it been since I heard attitude L. Ralpha, you, aren't you seriously lying about your age...even if you are though it doesn't cause any sort of harm. It's stating false details on your resume..Ah, I didn't have her write something like a resume.
"The 5th floor huh..That's amazing."
Zulu whispered while showing admiration.
"I'm sure they have a considerable amount of skill as well."
Bel continued after Zulu.
"Well they can say that because they have that much level of ability. I can understand just from seeing them. All of them were considerably strong."
Zenom said that closing things.
After gathering our flasks we inspect our equipment.
"Then, it's not like we'll end up teleporting to the same place as them so let's go as well. We're just taking a look for today. After we do that for a bit we'll return."
I said that while putting my flask into my bag and read the purple chant that floated to the surface of the teleport crystal rod. Do.ru.he.me huh. The chant that's in yellow is the one used to return to the surface. The "return us" one. I'm sure it teleports you to one of the large amount of small rooms lined up along the teleport room near the entrance.
"Then let's go...Everyone's holding onto it right. Doru he me!"
............
At first glance the 2nd floor resembled the 1st floor but there's a lot of humidity. If it's this much then collecting the articles of deceased adventurers on the 2nd floor probably requires more luck than the 1st floor.
The teleport crystal rod is in the center of a cave that somehow feels very humid. We were able to confirm a symbol-like indicator as well. We searched the wall as well but we weren't able to find any place with a number carved into it. I wonder if there's no map with the teleport locations on it for the 2nd floor like the 1st floor..even if there was I'm sure the price is even more outrageous though.
Either way it's our first time after all, no matter which hall we go down I'm sure there's not much difference. I randomly said "lets try going this way" and started leading the way. Quickly Zenom lined up to my right and started hitting the ground with a 3 m or so pole. After spending time slowly going down a slightly curved cave for about 100 m or so. The sound of the pole hitting the floor changed. A trap huh? We hit around the trap that seems to be a pitfall looking for the method around it but there was the same light sound from every direction.
No way, are you serious? There's pitfalls which completely block the path?
Everyone looked at me. 1. Return and go down the opposite hall. 2. Return and go down the opposite hall. 3. Return and go down the opposite hall. Is there anything else we can do!? Why are you looking at my face?
"Let's return. We'll try going down the opposite side of the teleport crystal."
Since we don't need to be careful of traps, we walk back down the path we just came from. It took us about 15 minutes to carefully walk up to here but we were able to return to the teleport crystal in less than 2 minutes. Now then, let's try going down the opposite side.
Just the same way we start carefully going down the opposite side while hitting the ground. This when we advanced about 200 m we heard the sound change again. We carefully tried hitting some other places . Yeah, the sound on all of them is light.
..Aren't we surrounded by pitfalls on both sides!
Ah~ Shit.
"Everyone, take a few steps back. I don't know what will happen but I wanted to try it a bit."
Further. Step back further. I lead everyone to about 40 m behind where the pitfall seemed to be. I stand in front of everyone and used wind magic to blow the sand on the trap away. I was doing it all the time when I explored during my experiment but I never found a trap with this method. I wonder what will happen when I know there's a trap for sure, is what I thought while feeling like trying it.
Baon!
A large amount of air suddenly was generated and I used void magic to make it expand only in front of me, or rather, I use wind magic to make a wall that's sending it back only ahead of me. The diameter of the cave is around 10 m so the amount of air created with level 5 wind magic should be plenty. Unless there's a large room ahead of here then if I think about it really simply then I should create enough volume of air released in one direction to cover up to 270 m ahead of me in an instant.
Since it seems like everyone didn't know what I was going to do, I said I was going to use wind magic to create a large amount of air and use it like an {Air Pump} then Ralpha and Bel understood. However, let alone {Pump} the other three have no idea what an {Air Pump} is. They were making a strange but I just ignored it. Zenom can probably guess the situation right away so that's fine but I'm sure Zulu and Angela wouldn't know. Though that can't be helped.
If they're thinking something so naive that we'll explain every word they don't know to them then I'll blow that thinking away at the same time. It's not like I know the words and names of everything on Orth either. If I hear someone talking about a type of product that I don't know then I think I would want an explanation about it but I at least think of the time and the place. If you're really interested then take your time and ask after we leave the dungeon.
I try going and taking a look at the place where the trap is. It can't be called completely gone but the dirt on the surface was somewhat brushed away. Yeah, it was the right answer to blow it away with wind magic it seems. It almost covers the entirety of the hall and it has a depth of about 4-5 m into the other side of the hall. It's absurdly mysterious. As proof of that everyone including me has their mouths opened dumbfounded at the trap.
The pitfall opened up. It's probably not all that deep. I can even see the bottom. I guess it's around 3 m?
Right. I can see the bottom. There's a board or something with dirt on top of it to camouflage it and it's not like I can see the board itself. Was the board blown away together with it? Since it was covering up a pitfall that's about 4-5 m across, the size of the board would need to be at least 7-8m. It depends on the material but if that wasn't the case then it would curve I'm sure. Well, if even if several layers of boards like that were blown away even with the low amount of light it's strange that we wouldn't notice it, and I'm sure it would make a noise. I didn't create enough air for it to blow away a board of that length and a decent amount of thickness far enough to be beyond our sight.
I timidly grab a bit on the floor while scraping it off and (since all of the dirt that I could easily grab was blown away) threw it at the hole. I already knew the outcome before I threw it but I couldn't keep myself from trying it.
Just as I predicted the dirt that I threw was floating on the ground. If you're asking why I was able to predict it and it's because not all of the dirt that was on the surface of the pitfall was cleanly blown away. No, you could say it was blown away but it was just a portion of what was on it. I did say "the dirt on the surface was somewhat brushed away" right?
I'll try identifying it. After all it seems to be an object that can be targeted. In other words it's not a vapor, or at least not just a vapor.
【Besshuz.Floating Disk.Automending】
【Wind.Void】
【Condition: Good】
【Manufacture Date: -/-/-】
【Value: -】
..It was magic. Not to mention a type that I don't know. Well, the number of spells I know isn't all that large of a number. It seems to be a combination of wind and void magic and it's currently activating normally I guess. The value of manufacture date aren't normally displayed in the case of magic so that's no problem.
The problem is the fact that I can Identify the magic, or rather spell name. Normally, even if you identify the phenomenon that occurs when you use a spell nothing happens. Even if you use identify on the warhead or flame you create while it's in the middle of flying it just shows the type of magic and the condition of it.
There's nowhere I can open on the sub-window.
Zenom is hitting it with the pole. I can hear a light sound from it.
Zulu is stabbing it with the end of his two-handed sword.
Bel is trying to poke it with the of her sword as well.
Angela is timidly stretching out the end of her broad sword as well.
Only Ralpha was different. She's tapping it with the end of her foot. As expected.
"It feels kind of like I'm floating on water. It feels like it vaguely sinks down."
It's called floating disk after all. I guess I should call out to them pretty soon.
"Hey, Ralpha. That's dangerous so stop already."
Ralpha obediently pulled her foot back.
Now then, what should we do. The pitfall (?) on the other side is probably like this as well. Though it might be different but it's more natural to think that it's the same. We've been exploring the 1st floor for close to three months but we haven't tread on a trap even once, and we've never tried investigating the structure of a normal trap as well. Since we had seen pitfalls that had no cover like someone had already fallen into them a number of times I had already confirmed that even if you fall in there was nothing like spears or needles planted at the bottom. I figured that the only difference would be the shape of the hole so I never bothered trying to wipe away the dirt on the surface to investigate them.
There was never a case like this where the pitfall covered the entire hall of the cave as well. I was afraid that it might not just be the pitfall but some kind of switch and we might accidentally activate that.
However you know...as far as I can tell the depth of the hole is about 3 m. Even if you accidentally stepped on it without realizing it, I'm sure you would get hurt, if you were careless you might even get bone fracture, but I doubt you would die. Since the walls and floor seem like dirt. It doesn't like it was cleanly dug out as well. Obviously there's nothing like a corpse in it either.
"Alright, everyone, back away for a bit."
"What are you going to do?"
Bel tried asking.
"Fill it."
At the same time as I said that I held my hand over the pitfall and used earth magic to create dirt. Using my hand as the starting point the dirt appears in mid-air and falls down. It stopped in mid-air for a bit but in less than a second the floating disk spell was unable to endure the weight of the dirt and started sinking. Even if it wasn't all the way I was able to fill the hole. Since it's not like it's been stomped down I guess I'll add a bit more to it.
"I'm advancing."
After I said that I stuck my leg out and stepped down on the dirt. About 10 cm of my foot sunk into the dirt under my weight but there was no problem other than that. After I quickly crossed the pitfall everyone else came along with me.
That pitfall probably has a spell cast on it to create something like a magic board and that board can hold up a certain amount of weight, thinking that seems the most natural. I don't know if it's the weight of one person or so but when it exceeds a certain weight then the spell loses it's effect. Going off the auto-mending it probably automatically restores itself or repairs itself afterwards I guess. I don't know what Besshuzu is though.
However, it seems like there's a considerable number of pitfall traps and since they're famous you can even hear about them pretty often from the mouths of adventurers in a bar. But, I've never heard of a pitfall like this before. This, is the 2nd floor right? It might be best to quickly level up Ralpha's Spatial Understanding and have her use it. Since it's still level 1 after all. Even if you say 10 m radius or so, it barely reaches the ceiling of the cave.
I was thinking about things like that while walking for a few minutes. It seems we still haven't proceeded very far since we crossed over the pitfall. We figured there wouldn't be another pitfall for at least 100 m or so after the last one so we continued hitting with the pole while moving about 30 m at a higher pace than usual when it happened. I discovered something ahead of us. It seems to be close to the floor.
It's a snake. It comes up as 【Cave.Rattlesnake】 with Identify. Level is 2. It's nothing special but it seems to have poison. The poison is...Neurotoxins huh? I guess you'll become unable to breath. Close combat isn't a good idea.
Since there's just one of them, it seems like it would be good to kill it with a spell.
"There's a snake ahead. It would be bad if it has poison. I'll get rid of it."
I said that and used {Lightning Bolt} to kill the snake.
I got close to the snakes corpse and observed it for a bit. I was interested in it. The thickness is about 5 cm? It has a bit over 1 m in length. Just as the name sounds there's a rattle-like skin stuck to the end of its tail. Since I hit with electricity from the front it's head is burnt. Che...I thought I might be able to gather the poison but I picked the wrong spell to use. However, I'm sure it would have been the same if I burned it to death with fire, and missile tpye would have smashed it's body as well. Even if I smash it, I felt like the portion that has the head would still be alive after all. Well, you could say it's true I was afraid of the poison.
Zulu took the magic stone.
Furthermore, this time we carefully advanced forward. The path split up along the way. It's shaped like the letter Y and the right side feels the same as where we came from. I wonder what we should do?
Well, we had just came to the 2nd floor to take a look this time. We still haven't seen any actual combat on the 2nd floor yet but it might be about a good time. I asked Zenom the time and it was around 11 am. I guess we should return.
We returned to the 1st floor from the teleport crystal on the 2nd floor and then returned directly to the small room at entrance of the dungeon from there. We made 4,000,000 Z (4 gold coins) including the money from the items we found today. I gave Zenom and the others their monthly compensation for the start of the month of 200,000 Z (20 silver coins) and another 80,000 Z (8 silver coins) bonus to each of them. It's our first big profit in a while.
When we were having lunch I said to everyone.
"Let's gather information about the pitfall from today. I've never heard about something like that until now. Though there should be a considerable number of people who have gone to the 2nd floor. Though it's weird that I've never heard about it in the case. Zulu and Angela I'll give you money separately for you dinner for today. Let's all eat at different places and meet up at the usual restaurant for breakfast tomorrow morning. Is that fine?"
Everyone nodded. I handed Zulu and Angela some money and said "I'll try seeing if the knight group has any information on it." and left the restaurant.
I couldn't obtain any information on the strange pitfall from the knight group.
That evening I tried going to a random restaurant and asked some people that appeared to be adventurers about it but I was told they didn't know about that strange pitfall. Rather, they reacted to it like I was trying to sell them some sort of fake information or confuse them.
After I finished eating I did my running while thinking.
Hmm. Was it making it to the 3rd floor two months after we buy the map for the 2nd floor? I've started to get a bit worried if I can protect the promise I one-sided declared to Angela. Just a bit.
