Chapter 14
The Girl Who Won't
Give Up and ____ 3
Translator : PolterGlast
【Side Miku Arisugawa】
[The Knight's Holy
Remains]--This place, a so-called underground dungeon that could be reached by
descending stairs, had been a problem for the kingdom and the Holy Church for
two reasons for a long time.
First, it exists in
the capital Grisnia, albeit in the outskirts.
Even though no
monsters had ever come out since the founding of the country, it was bad for
the reputation to have a dungeon in the capital even though it is not a
labyrinth city.
Izel II seems to have
been thinking about how to deal with it for a long time.
And the second is a
doctrinal problem on the side of the Holy Church.
The dungeon name [The
Knight's Holy Remains] seems to be very bad from the Holy Church's perspective.
In the Holy Church,
holy relics with the word "holy" in their names are strictly managed.
And among them, there
is no such thing as holy remains.
In order to protect
the doctrines of the Holy Church, the church side seems to have repeatedly requested
the kingdom to capture this dungeon.
However, for some
reason, the capture of [The Knight's Holy Remains] had hardly progressed.
However, here came the
existence of the heroes, who were a special class of military force, but could
not be used openly.
After a long period of
coordination between the Kingdom and the Holy Church, we who were summoned as
heroes were sent to capture [The Knight's Holy Remains]--.
[The Knight's Holy
Remains] is a dungeon where undead monsters called zombies, wraiths, and
skeletons appear.
Its entirety is still
largely unexplored.
The current map has
been drawn only in an extremely limited number of places, from the first to the
fifth floor.
The reason for this is
that this dungeon is not worth the effort, as it is too little rewarding and
too difficult to conquer.
Almost no materials
can be obtained from the undead, and they are dangerous because many of them
inflict panic, paralysis, and frenzy abnormal conditions.
There are hardly any
adventurers even though it is in the royal capital because there is too little
fruit and if one stays in it for too long, one will not be able to get rid of
the death stench that has permeated into one's body.
I've already entered
the second floor, but I haven't met anyone yet.
The difficulty of this
dungeon jumps up after the sixth floor.
The difficulty of
subjugation is so high that the royal knights who once went into it were
annihilated without being able to reach the tenth floor.
It seems that it was
about several decades ago, but after that incident, the previous king strictly
ordered not to challenge the sixth floor and beyond of [The Knight's Holy
Remains].
And that idiot king is
trying to break that as a matter of course.
I honestly think it's
crazy to throw us, who haven't even leveled up much yet, into a place where so
many strong undead appear.
I think it's nothing
but reckless, but it doesn't seem to be the case from the higher-up's point of
view.
If we had a light
magic user with a special attack against the undead, the difficulty of this
dungeon would drop drastically.
And among us, there
are four people including me who can use light magic.
For us, this [The
Knight's Holy Remains] will be a good hunting ground to raise our levels.
Apparently,
Hijirikawa-kun was persuaded by such words.
I can understand the
logic that it is perfect for heroes to level up secretly because there are
almost no people here, but it is quite risky to challenge without knowing how
dangerous the sixth floor and beyond is.
"It stinks! It
stinks, Kazuma!"
"It certainly
smells quite a bit... but we have to endure it, it's a precious actual battle
experience after all."
"T-that's
certainly true... but..."
Walking ahead of us
were the vanguard, the [Hero] Hijirikawa-kun and the [Sword Saint]
Kotegawa-san.
This exploration is
being carried out with our current best combat forces.
It's a six-person
party of the [Hero] Hijirikawa-kun, his sister [Bow Saint] Aina-san, [Overlord]
Mitsukawa-kun, who was invited as soon as he returned, [Sword Saint]
Kotegawa-san, [Sage] Mitsurugi-san, and [Saint] me.
Two close-range, two
long-range, Mitsukawa-kun who can go all range, and me as a support role.
It seems to be a
pretty well-balanced party composition.
By the way,
Mitsurugi-san is searching for enemies with wind magic, so we can proceed
without worrying about surprise attacks.
"--They're
coming! Six zombies!"
We prepare ourselves
for battle upon hearing Mitsurugi-san's words.
Just as I was
preparing to send out a healing spell at any moment, I heard the sound of
something being dragged from further back.
The next thing that
comes after the sound is a strong stench that cancels out the smell from
before.
"Ubooo..."
"Uboaaaaa!!"
What came was a
humanoid monster called a zombie with its whole body rotten.
Its appearance is
quite grotesque, with eyeballs popping out and brains completely visible.
Although they are not
particularly strong as monsters, their fangs contain a paralyzing poison.
Even experienced
knights can be paralyzed if they get close and are bitten, so they are not to
be underestimated.
The grotesque
appearance of the zombies doesn't seem that bad to me since I've treated
patients with serious injuries, but Mitsurugi-san and Aina-san don't seem to
have that much resistance, and I can hear retching groans coming from next to
them.
Hijirikawa-kun,
stepping forward to protect them, thrust his palm forward.
Apparently, he intends
to deal with them with magic, not with a sword.
"Holy Ray!"
The white beam of
light that Hijirikawa-kun releases is the Holy Ray of light magic.
It's less powerful
than other elemental magic spells that can be learned at the same level, but
it's extremely effective against undead creatures like zombies and wraiths.
"Agaaaa!?"
"Ugooo!?"
Holy Ray hit four
zombies.
As expected of a hero,
the eyes of the zombies that were hit turned white in an instant and turned
back into mere corpses in an instant
"Akira, I'll
leave the rest to you."
"Don't miss any,
you're slacking."
Mitsukawa-kun
immediately followed up, and before I knew it, he was right in front of the
zombies.
The greatsword he
carries on his back is bigger than his own height. Apparently, it was the
personal belongings of the demon he defeated on his expedition.
It seems to have been
used quite a bit, the grip is discolored brown, and there are countless
scratches on the blade.
It has the awesomeness
of having traveled through many battlefields and combines ruggedness and
functional beauty.
"Flame
Tongue"
And while I was
pondering for a moment, the two monsters had been slain and had begun to burn.
What remains are two
corpses and Mitsukawa-kun holding a blazing greatsword.
Apparently, what he
had just used was a magic sword that imbues magic on the sword.
This is a technique
that cannot be used unless you raise the magic LV considerably, so you can see
that his fire magic has reached a considerable LV with just this one blow.
"It stinks."
Although he frowned at
the smell of burning rotten flesh, he did not hesitate to swing his sword.
Perhaps because his
level has risen while running around the battlefield, he seems to have become
stronger both physically and mentally compared to before.
I don't really like
people who are muscular, but for those who like that kind of thing, he was so muscular
that it was irresistible.
"Let's not
collect the magic stones and move on. We'll focus on efficiency this time. I'd
like to see the sixth floor once if possible."
Everyone nodded at
Hijirikawa-kun's words.
Monsters have
something like gallstones with magical powers called magic stones.
Naturally, zombies
also have them, but zombie's magic stones are incredibly small.
Apparently, it's
smaller than a goblin's magic stone in size, and it's said that it can only be
sold for a few pennies.
In the first place, we
can receive financial support from the kingdom, so we ignore the zombie corpses
and move on.
What we have to do is
explore the sixth floor and beyond, which is still shrouded in mystery.
There is no time to
waste--.
After that, our
exploration went smoothly without any particular difficulties.
After all, it's great
to have a map and Mitsurugi-san's search magic.
The biggest problem in
dungeon exploration is the fear of not knowing when and where you will be
attacked by enemies, and the pressure from the inability to rest because of
that.
But we can solve those
two problems.
We can secure the
former with Mitsurugi-san's magic and the latter with my magic.
Sanctuary, which is
unlocked when light magic reaches LV 8, is a magic that creates a barrier to
ward off monsters.
As long as we maintain
this magic, which is effective against all monsters, we won't be ambushed.
Kotegawa-san wanted to
fight more aggressively, but according to the opinions of cautious people such
as me and Aina-san, we decided to fight only when we had enough leeway and when
the opponent was the number we could fight.
Although this did not
make our exploration the most efficient, it did not put us in any danger.
If we can explore
without a hitch this time, we are also thinking of bringing other classmates
here to level up next time.
So, the priority is
not speed, but safety and reproducibility.
Kotegawa-san has no
choice but to be patient.
From the third floor,
there are zombie dogs, which are zombified dogs, and skeleton monsters, which
are skeletons that cannot be defeated unless the core inside their ribs is
crushed.
And from the fourth
floor, wraiths, which are spirit monsters that release abnormal status attacks,
have come to appear.
From the fifth floor,
skeleton soldiers, which are advanced versions of skeletons, have come to
appear in combination with other monsters.
To defeat skeletons
and skeleton soldiers, we must destroy their cores, which function like magic
stones.
And wraiths don't
leave magic stones even if they are defeated.
I see, no wonder no
adventurer would challenge this dungeon.
We decided to take a
long break in front of the stairs leading to the sixth floor.
Since there was
nothing to do, I decided to check my status for the time being.
Miku Arisugawa
LV 10
HP 95/95
MP 65/87
Attack 24
Defense 59
Magic Attack Power 44
Magic Resistance 44
Agility 27
Gift
[Saint]
Skills
Light Magic LV 8
Water Magic LV 5
Magic Recovery LV 5
Before I came here, I
had only ever finished off a dying monster to check the rate of increase in my
stats, so my LV was 2.
So, I've leveled up by
8 in the last six hours or so.
If I had known this, I
should have asked to participate in leveling up, even if it meant pushing
myself a little.
By the way, the rate
of increase in my stats is 3 for each level up.
In my case, my magic
attack power and magic resistance always increase by 1, and one of the
remaining parameters increases.
Also, by continuing to
use magic as a Saintess, my magic attack power and magic resistance have
increased somewhat, and my magic recovery has also increased to LV 5.
So now, I can use
powerful magic without worrying too much about running out of mana.
"Okay, let's go
into the sixth floor for now. Let Elena search for us, and let's try one hit
against the weakest single monster inside. We'll figure out what to do
after..."
Hijirikawa-kun didn't
finish his sentence before a cracking sound interrupted him.
And then...
CRASHHHHH!!
I hear a crashing
sound, like a window being smashed.
It was the sound of
the sanctuary I had put up being destroyed, which I was used to hearing many
times before.
The barrier, which had
been emitting a pale blue light, cracked and turned into particles of light.
And suddenly multiple
figures appear.
They are wearing black
clothes and hiding their faces.
They are moving at an
incredible speed, and I can't even follow them with my eyes.
Perhaps, their agility
is too high.
Only Mitsukawa-kun was
able to react in a completely relaxed state.
"Don't you dare underestimate
me... Explosive Fist!"
His fists sent two of
the men who came at him flying with incredible speed.
But the remaining
three didn't slow down at all even though their comrades were defeated, and
they thrust their knives at me.
I thought blood would
spurt from my abdomen, but... what came was not pain, but an irresistible and
intense sleepiness.
"Miku!
Bastards... You better be ready!"
Just before I lost
consciousness, I thought I heard Mitsukawa-kun's shout.
-----
Thank you for my Patrons !!
[Platinum]
MaxKne
Swagaraga
[Gold]
B random
DavidA
[Silver]
Creris
Fred A.
Frédéric Bertrand-Hudon
Anton Lim
Ctdela
Curious Panda
Read Advanced Chapters only on my Patreon
-----
