Year 7443, Month 8, Day 23
Since we somehow defeated a powerful opponent that we don't know much about and we obtained a number of items we took a small break after that while discussing what to do.
..As expected this time was no good. I didn't expect that I would have to cut my trump card. No, to be more precise I didn't think I would have to use it at the level of the 4th floor. I thought at most I might end up needing to use it on a deeper floor like the 5th or 6th floors but honestly speaking I can't say anything other than that I was underestimating it. I had Identified him about one second after he jumped down next to Toris. He was probably disintegrated around 5-6 seconds after that but I feel like I fought him for over a minute.
Since I only glanced at them I don't remember for sure but I saw Vampire and including magic he had a mountain of special skills. He even should have had over 200 HP. If something like that comes out again then this time it'll be bad. I only have 3,700 MP remaining. I used 200 times in that instant but I went overboard.
As expected the only way it would reach 200 times is if he was a bodybuilder or had a splendid physique like that but it should have been plenty around 130-150 times. As proof of that the surrounding ice where his lower body was disappeared from the aftermath of the {Disintegrate}. There's no need to aim for something that's barely enough but too much is also a problem. I'm sure I could have saved 750 MP. If I have over 4,000 remaining then I would have made the decision to continue without hesitation.
"..Wouldn't it be best to return?"
I can hear Toris's voice.
"But, this is an unexplored area. We might be able to find some ores or something.."
Ralpha huh?
"It's true, it's suspicious if there's anyone who made it this far and returned to the surface. I'm sure all of the bones scattered around were done in by him."
Zenom says gravely.
"He just looked like a normal person with a slightly bad facial color though..was he a monster?"
This is, Gwine?
"I don't know. But, I saw him avert masters stone spear spell with his own stone spear spell. It's true it's not something that a normal person would have been able to do."
Zulu's voice was calm.
"I didn't feel like that man was alive. His skin was extremely pale as well..and his eyes were shining red.."
Angela says with some restraint.
"..A nest of undead huh..It might have been a vampire.."
Bel whispered as she said. Correct answer.
"Gwine, draw the map up to here. Bel and Ralpha put the weapons together so they're split up into groups for each of us to carry about the same amount of weight. Zenom..Nn, use this sword. Ralpha use Zenom's {Tomahawk}. Zulu, remain cautious of the hall on the other side. Angela you watch this side. Don't go too far away from here, it would be a pain if the Ghouls in the Northern room were called over. Zenom, Toris, come with me for a bit."
I hand Zenom one of the more decent short swords of the weapons we found this time and after gathering him and Toris on my side we opened the map of the 4th floor. It was unexpected that we would lose a weapon. Since I'm here I thought we wouldn't easily lose our weapons and in order to reduce our luggage until now we haven't prepared spares. I couldn't imagine that I would end up disintegrating it to dust...
"We came to the 4th floor at around 5 am this morning so it's been over four hours. Calculating the distance we walked then the area we teleported to this time should either be here or here. If we match up the map Gwine is drawing later I'm sure we'll know for sure. Then in that case there's a high probability it's not connected to the room with the teleport crystal to the 5th floor. It's the usual cave area. And then"
I looked at their two faces while continuing my words. Zenom is making an amused face. Toris is listening seriously but has a slightly strange expression on. Hmph.
"Since I was surprised just now I used quite a bit of mana. However, I can somehow use that spell I used in the end just now once more. I can't say anything until Gwine finishes drawing the map but if it's this area then since it's small I think we'll keep going. But, if it's this area over here then it has a shape like it fits in so it's possible it could be quite wide. In that case I think we'll return from here. Let me hear your opinion."
"This time, we've managed to get our hands on this much equipment. I'm sure it's a big profit. I think we should return while we're still safe and have energy to spare."
Toris said that. He seems to be quite the cautious type.
"That's fine as well but if that guy was using this as a nest then from here on out is probably a completely unexplored area. In that case we might be able to obtain something. We never know when we'll be able to come next time after all.."
Zenom, you're intentionally saying it. I guess you've already seen through my thinking.
"I understand that much but..However, was that guy just now really that strong? I was surprised because he suddenly jumped down but.. in the first place I wonder if it was a monster?"
Toris looks at Zenom while saying that.
"Just from his appearance he looked human. He didn't have a tail after all. But, that skin color was far too unnatural. Maruso said it as well but his eyes were bright red. And..this is just my intuition but that guy was dangerous. I felt like he was a considerably dangerous opponent.
In the first place, isn't it strange that he would be this far in the dungeon with no equipment completely naked? He didn't seem to have anything that looked like a weapon either. If Al hadn't called out to everyone and gotten us to make a bit more distance before freezing it then I felt like something terrifying would have happened."
Zenom said responding to that. I think this is probably Zenom's true feelings on it. It's a serious tone of voice that I can't imagine is just acting.
"In that case there's even more reason. There was only one of those this time. If more than two of them were to come at once..Al-san, as expected isn't that bad?"
Toris looked at me along the way and said. Yeah, it's bad. Next time if it's one person then I can erase them right away with {Disintegrate} or if it's safe I can use an extra-large {Fire Ball} to blow it into pieces but there's a good possibility that one more will use magic during that time. In worst case one of us might end up being killed.
If it just hits an unimportant place like the arms or legs then they won't die after averting it with my {Stone Javelin} but if it hits their face or chest even instant death is possible. Before I could reply Zenom said.
"That's true but it's not like that's for sure right. I can't imagine that there's very many things like that around. If there's no one who has stepped foot beyond this then we might be able to obtain some gold, silver, or gems after all."
You're quite the actor~ Zenom.
"But.."
"What Zenom says is quite right. However, we can buy our safe return. I. If we were to know for sure there was a huge treasure waiting beyond here then it would be different though. Let's return."
Toris passes.
..............
The speed we explored the 4th floor the first time we stepped foot there was roughly an average speed of about 1.3 to 1.5 Km/hour. Our speed has gone up quite a bit since we first took a step in the dungeon last year but even then our speed itself has it's limits. It's not like we're competing so how fast other parties move through doesn't matter at all, and I already have almost no interest so it's unrelated. Either way I'm sure we're overwhelmingly faster. Other than the two blank areas remaining on the 4th floor that I just pointed out there's a number of small areas that remain as blanks.
After we matched it up to Gwine's map and just as expected it was connected to a total of five blank areas. Among those two of them have the possibility of being connected to what's said to be the center of the dungeon where the teleport crystal room is. It's rough but until we fought the vampire today we've explored a distance of about 5 Km. On our way back even though everyone was carrying a decent amount of luggage it was only about two hours. It wasn't a straight line but it's a reasonably large size.
In regards to Toris I only pointed out to the two larger blank areas on the map of the 4th floor. I'm sure that after seeing that Toris thought it was unnatural from his expression but he wasn't so foolish as to point that out there. And even if I pointed out the fact that we could earning something even more valuable he didn't show any interest in it. Rather than treasure he took safety. As long as you're still alive the chance will come around again. Depending on the person they might say it's cowardice but that's fine. I don't think I'm a coward. I just think I'm cautious.
All of the items we found like never before ended up exceeding 11,000,000 Z (11 gold coins). I gave out bonuses of 220,000 Z (22 silver coins) to the other 5 than the slaves and we all went to eat, drink, and rest early. Since tomorrow is Saturday we're doing cooperation training in the morning and the afternoon is off.
..............
Year 7443, Month 9, Day 4
My head hurts. I wonder if this is a migraine? If it was too much for me to handle I thought about taking the day off but as long as we don't overdo things it shouldn't be a problem. In order to eat breakfast when I left the inn the migraine disappeared almost as if it were a lie.
I can handle it, there's no problem.
..............
Year 7443, Month 9, Day 5
We cleared the 4th floor and peeked into the 5th floor.
Just from a glance it doesn't seem all that different from the 4th floor.
However, according to previous information there's something like moving statues and an altar with a burning black flame from it that have been confirmed. Those are probably things that appear in the rooms. Let's avoid going to the rooms for now. We should just confirm what type of monsters come out in the halls of the 5th floor and then return. After all, that one ice monster starts coming out around this floor. I'm sure that ice monster is probably a room boss as well though.
By the way there was not a single person in the teleport crystal room of the 4th floor. However, there was several traces of camps remaining so I was able to confirm once again that the top teams are often coming here.
The monsters that appear in the halls of the 5th floor weren't all that different from the 4th floor and made up of primarily undead. Just, Ghouls started appearing in the halls as well. Honestly seeing it lined up together with the decomposed corpses of Zombies gives me the chills. We tried avoiding the rooms and walking around for a bit but we didn't run into any other monsters.
Shall we return?
............
Year 7443, Month 9, Day 8
We tried going all out and looking into the room on the 5th floor once. Just like the time I first looked into the room with the Scavenger Crawler I remained tense while slowly looking into the room. This is the 5th floor that even the top teams haven't cleared yet. I won't let me guard down even a bit.
............
........
....
What is, that?
A dog?
I can see various silhouettes like a doberman.
I tried Identifying it and it was a Zombie-Dog. I don't know if it's lost it's sense of smell but the only special skills it has are Infrared Vision and Paralyze. I don't know if it had Infrared Vision since the time it was alive but I feel like Paralyze is something it gained once it turned into an undead. No idea though.
I freeze the entire room with a thickness of above 30 cm from the floor.
I turn around and nod to everyone before preparing my bayonet and going into the room.
Everyone follows after me. One, two...There's 12 Zombie-Dogs letting out something like rotting juices that could be mistaken for drool as they growl and howl at us but unlike a living dog it has a deep sound mixed in so it's an unpleasant howling sounds.
"It seems they can't move because their legs are frozen.."
Zulu said.
"Yeah, that's right. Let's start hitting the closest one from all sides and finish it off?"
Just when I replied to that.
"Gwoarrurururu?!"
Just when I thought one of the Zombie-Dogs let out a howl it came flying over here.......!
! If I look closely it's limbs have been torn off. Different from the zombies of Orks and Hobgoblins, since it's legs are thin it even tore them off all on it's own!?
I split the one that jumped at me starting from the front of it's head with my bayonet that I suddenly went on guard with. If you approach within a certain distance of them the Zombie-Dogs are tearing off their own limbs and jumping at us one after another but if you pull back a bit they just fall on top of the ice and weren't any sort of threat at all. If we calmly deal with them there's no problem at all.
However, it would be dangerous in the worst case if we can't evade it so I had Gwine's spear and Ralpha and Bel use magic to finish them off once more before we gathered the magic stones.
.............
Year 7443, Month 10, Day 8
"..Nn, this should be fine. The point is around there."
I pointed to the Oshima floating device with my chin. There's close to 100 people on the breakwater and they're all enjoying fishing, eating a light meal, or talking about things. This is above the bank of Okada Harbor in Izu Oshima. Everyone on top of the breakwater is one of our employees or their family. Since our company has no system for employee trips, on a appropriate weekend of the summer we matched our activities with a fishing club of some place and went on a bit of a small vacation.
On Friday night the previous day, we finished up work early and took an eight hour trip a large-scale passenger ship from the town of Hamamatsu to Oshima. We arrived at Oshima at about 6 in the morning but until lunch we played around just like that in the harbor fishing. After having lunch an a random store we entered the inn, it's fine to bath in the sea, or to return to fishing again as well. After enjoying ourselves until evening we can have light party with the fish we caught and then enter the hot springs before resting. Until noon of the next day we can do as we please and then just after noon we'll take the Jettfoil* to return to the Takeshiba Bridge in the town of Hamamatsu in less than two hours.
If we put some sort of large scale name on it like employee vacation then everyone might take it like they're obligated to participate so we just limited it to calling it lodging along with the activities of a fishing club. It's fine as long as people who want to come and people who it's convenient for come. In order for even young children and people who don't normally fish to enjoy themselves, we're not fishing on a boat but picked the bank as a place to do some simple fishing.
Unlike the fish along the shores of Honshu, the fish of a detached island aren't used to being fished so if it's at the level of a mackeral then even a child who's held the fishing pole for a first time can catch them. If they're lucky they might even catch an island mackerel. If it's someone like me who has a decent level of control and confidence in their skill with the rod then if I use the Oshima device then even from the bank I might be able to catch some sea bream, or medina.
I put some krill on the rod of my wife who is weak to boats while (they only sell krill as bait on Oshima), "Eh..Where?" I point to make it easier to tell for my wife.
"Kawasaki-sa~~~~n, is this fine~?"
A bit of distance away a young new employee is calling out to me. I tried looking over there and the way they hooked the bait completely sucked.
"You won't be able to catch anything with that, you put the hook in through the tail and pass it up through the stomach."
I said that while going to their side and fixing it for them once. On the other side some elementary school or so siblings are frolicking after catching some mackerel. On the other side I guess it seems to be a newcomer girl to the warehouse management together with her boyfriend, a young couple is frolicking in the same was as some elementary schoolers, "No~ It's alive! I can't touch~ it~" ooo, how cute.
I look at the state of everyone while walking and check if anyone is troubled. When I was about to return to my wife's side and turned around on the edge of the bank, someone started talking to me.
"Wai, Kawasaki-sa, wai"
It's Shiina. This fellow was supposed to have been participating alone. Since she's young I'm sure it's lonely with no one to bring along. Her rod was bending largely. She didn't seem to be sticking to one spot but wandering all over the bank but I guess she had come to this place.
"Oh~ That has a good feel to it! Calm down! Give it your best!"
I light up my cigarette while cheering her on. Shiina regains her composure while panicking, and carefully starts the exchange. On her side Inoue who's brought his girlfriend along that he's marrying next month, I walk past them and help Shiina with the rod from her side while smoking my cigarette and made sure it remained in the water.
Oh~ It's a huge Fat Greenling like a beer bottle. It's a big catch!
(....no..i......wa....)
？
............
I was shaken awake by Bel. It seems it's about 5 in the morning. This is the teleport room of the 3rd floor.
(Somehow I feel like I was seeing a fun dream...How unfortunate.)
"Alright! Let's get right to passing through the 4th floor and go to the 5th floor!"
I said that energetically and used water magic to wash my face.
I make water in a bucket and in addition floated some ice in it.
Everyone washes their face with the cold water and we finished preparations feeling refreshed.
..............
Year 7443, Month 11, Day 29
We've filled in close to 40% of the map of the 5th floor, we've finally risen up to the ranks of the top teams. Though it hurts that we still haven't discovered even a single magic item but this is completely a matter of luck. However, we've found one raw emerald gem, one gold ore, and two silver ores. The gold ore was on the 4th floor and the remaining ones we found all of them on the 5th floor. The raw gem and gold ores each ended up with a price tag of over 10,000,000 Z (10 gold coins). The silver ores were around 1,000,000 Z.
In addition to these items, every time we go to the dungeon we bring back a huge amount of magic stones totaling about 2,000,000 - 3,000,000 Z, so it's said that it's just a matter of time before the Slaughterers get their hands on a magic item as well. Of course I think so too. Everyone thinks so.
However, we definitely won't let our guards down or too arrogant. If anyone shows signs of that we all warn them. Things feel good. Honestly speaking, being able to make it to one of the top adventurers in Baldukk in around a year and a half is good performance. And I'm sure we're the ones with the most accurate map as well.
If we don't let our guards down and properly continue our adventures then I'm sure we'll be able to reach the 6th floor before anyone else. If it comes to that then we'll almost entirely be able to monopolize the treasures. Sooner or later the other guys from the top teams will come to the 6th floor I'm sure, I'm sure we'll do some slightly dangerous things when we're the first ones to arrive on the 6th floor to obtain whatever treasures there are as well.
Until then we just need to keep moving forward one step at a time without getting impatient.