Even if you ask me to thoroughly check, it’s not going to be enough no matter how much time is given if I need to check every single room carefully. I’ve already noticed this when I enter the dungeon, but when I compare the map given by Chronoire and my Map skill, although just bit, there’s a slight difference.
I think that this map was made at the time of the last search. Since Chronoire looks like she’s around 20 years old, so I guess her father should be around 40 to 50 years old? In other words, this map might have been made at least 20 to 30 years ago.
Since the internal structure of the dungeon changed frequently unlike normal place, it seems that it’s not going to be that useful to refer to this map. Not to mention my Map skill is not a skill to find a position of an important item even if the geographical features can be grasped.
In that case our method had become limited, so the only thing we can do is choose either going from the right or left. In a situation where there’s not much to lose, I think picking either one is the same. To be frank, let’s just leave it to luck, so I decided to have Claire who have the highest luck value among us to pick.
“Do I need to decide? Not master?” (Claire)
“Unfortunately I have no idea which one is the right one either. I’m asking Claire here since I want to test the luck. I didn’t tell you to take any responsibility in particular, so just think of it lightly.” (Est)
Claire was surprised with bewildered eyes at my sudden suggestion. Even if I said to think about it lightly, she might take it seriously judging from Claire’s character. As expected Claire was lost in thought for a while while she thinks, until she finally decided.
“Let’s go with the right side. I have a feeling that we need to go there somehow.” (Claire)
“Understood. Let’s go to the right then. Everyone else is fine with that right?” (Est)
Diabell and Shallie nod as they have no complaints. Apart from Diabell, Shallie doesn’t seems like she know anything as she nods while smiling. However I’ll forgive her since she’s cute! When I instinctively pet her head silently, she wags her tail with pitter-patter being pleased.
For the time being I don’t want to head straight towards the Dungeon Master’s room to defeat it. However, I thought about searching the dungeon slowly first since there’s no guarantee that I could win against it. Also I don’t want to be outwitted by the adventurers on the prince’s faction when I got weakened by the fight and just focus on searching instead.
Since the enemy did not appear for a while, so we kept on doing the monotonous work of going around entering small rooms. How to say it, I felt like a sashimi being put on a conveyor belt.
Since we kept on doing that monotonous and boring work, light gradually lost from our eyes. Our eyes turned from looking like those innocent one to an empty one, until we finally arrived at a room where a treasure chest is displayed conspicuously in the middle of the room.
“Master, somehow there’s a chest.” (Shallie)
“My Lord, could that be…” (Diabell)
“Master…” (Claire)
[T.N: Shallie called MC the same way as Claire(Goshujin-sama), however Claire use kanji while Shallie use hiragana.]
I know what everybody want to say. In every aspect this is a trap. However, since the possibility of there being a treasure remains, I decided to check it. I glance at the corner of the room, checking if there’s any holes that will shoot some darts or something like that. Next, the placement of the tiles on the floor look unnatural, so I carefully observed if there’s any change in the color.
There doesn’t seems to be any trap in the room itself. In other words, it’s possible that the chest itself is a trap. It’s possible for the keyhole to have some traps. If I carelessly shove some wire into the keyhole, something like a need could jump out.
As for the other trap, poisonous gas gushing out or explosion could occur if I open the treasure chest. It could also be a Mimic. Mimic has the appearance of just like a treasure chest, it’s a monster that preys on the adventurer who approached carelessly. It’s body is pretty flexible even though it looks like a treasure chest, it could wriggles its body and jumping up and down. It’s offensive power is extremely high, as it could defeat normal adventurers in a single blow. A Mimic is as troublesome as the previous golem we faced, in that I can’t detect it as an enemy until it starts moving.
[T.N: His Map skill didn’t show the previous golem before until it start moving.]
Unfortunately, we don’t have any skill that could judge whether the treasure chest is a genuine one or a Mimic. But in case of the Mimic, I want to defeat it since there’s a high probability that there’s treasure inside it body. Then what should I do? Of course I’m going to attack it without getting near.
Although I think that it’s safe, I made everyone fall back in in case that there might be other traps. I prepare the image of flame spear for a remote position. The number that I’m going to shoot is only one. Since I might destroy the insides if it’s a real treasure chest, I limit the number. Since I can’t use the explosion magic because the power is too strong, this would be the only appropriate move.
“Alright!” (Est)
I readied myself and send the flame spear towards the treasure chest. The treasure chest wrapped in flame after getting hit by the spear. The next moment when I tried to extinguish the fire with Ice magic in case it was not a Mimic, the treasure chest starts rattling once it got hit by the flame spear, and then the chest opened its mouth and approached me.
My reaction is a bit delayed since I got caught off guard, but I managed to defend myself from getting bitten using my shield. Dull biting sound could be heard, as i got surprised as the Mimic could use its teeth to penetrate my shield.
“Uwooooh!?” (Est)
That surprised me! That seriously surprised me! Fortunately, the part where the Mimic’s teeth penetrated is not connected with my arm so I was not injured. Everyone came near me in a panic to attack the Mimic. Although I couldn’t move the shield as its teeth is still stuck there, the Mimic got attacked by 3 people at once and died. I lose the strength to hold the shield and just dropped on the ground.
“Master, are you hurt!?” (Claire)
“I’m fine. I got a bit shaken, but I’m okay somehow.” (Est)
Although I received an unexpected surprise attack, it seems to be worth it. When I examine the body of the mimic which is our original purpose, A bracelet with beautiful decoration came out of it. I don’t particularly feel any evil sign, but I could sense a strong magic power. It is slightly small, so everyone in our party couldn’t equip it aside from Shallie. Since I think there’s no danger to it, I let Shallie to equip it immediately and ask her to jump on the spot, but there’s no significant changes.
Thinking that it might be reinforcing your attack power, I ask her to have a match with our hands. Since our condition is improved with the level up against the Mimic just now, Shallie’s speed and power had considerably increased. However I can’t really feel the effect of the bracelet in particular from it.
Next when she received an attack from me, that’s when a change happened for the first time. Although I sent a light blow from the flank, I felt like it collided with something invisible a little bit before it reach Shallie. I tried attacking her in different ways for trials. When I put my weapon away and slowly stretch out my arm towards Shallie, it’s possible for me to touch her like normal.
“Fumu…” (Est)
“Is that a bracelet for defense?” (Claire)
“That’s a very convenient item huh?” (Diabell)
Just as Claire said, the effect of the bracelet seems to be protecting the body of the one equipping it. Even when I was lightly sparring with Shallie, the Bracelet defended her body like an invisible wall. It’s the proof when I was able to touch her normally. But although that is a great item…. It’s not only a good thing.
When I look at Shallie’s status, 20MP had decreased when she’s not suing it for anything. Since she it defended my attacks twice during our spar, it seems that it consumed 10MP whenever it blocks an attack. Considering that Shallie doesn’t have that much MP to begin with, it should only be used in critical situation.
However, we should avoid her using it till she runs out of MP and fainted. Now then, let’s see our status after the level up.
Est：Level 43 『Floor Master’s Subjugator』『Immortal Slayer』
MP 803/803
Intelligence Level：4(+5)
Luck Level：1(+2)
Skills Possessed:
『Swordsmanship：Level 4』
※Some skills are under concealment
『A new skill can be acquired. Please choose from the list:』
『Lightning Magic：Level 1』
Claire：Level 42『Floor Master’s Subjugator』
MP 221/221
Intelligence：Level 2(+1)
Luck：Level 4(+1)
Skills Possessed:
『Evasion：Level 3』
『Rapid Shot：Level 4』
『Power Shot：Level 2』
Diabell：Level 39『Floor Master’s Subjugator』
MP 618/618
Intelligence：Level 4(+1)
Luck：Level 3(+1)
Skills Possessed:
『Swordsmanship：Level 3』
Shallie：Level 35『Floor Master’s Subjugator』
MP 110/130
Intelligence：Level 1(+1)
Luck：Level 3(+1)
Skills Possessed:
『Swordsmanship：Level 3』
『Evasion：Level 3』
This time I’m going to go with 『Lightning Magic：Level 1』. Although I want some magic that could detect traps, there’s no use crying for the moon(T.N: no use complaining about what you cant have). Apart from that, I’m glad that I’ve finally able to use the magic from the Lightning series. I guess I’m really starting to look like a genuine hero now? I’ve been able to use many convenient magic now. Shallie also managed to get a new equipment, so lets keep searching with this condition.