Chapter 12
Goodbye, Tacky Jersey
Activating the skill 『Solo Dungeon』, the Dungeon attack begins. After equipping
the hammer and boots, I cheerfully slipped through the First Floor while
skipping along, and finally charged into the unknown Second Floor.
「These stairs
are so long every single time~」
The Dungeon has a structure that continuously progresses
underground. According to what I've heard, this Dungeon has a transfer
circle that allows you to return to the surface every five floors—in short, a
magic circle that lets you warp—and as long as you register your ID card there
once, you can supposedly come and go with ease.
If I can make it that far, I'll finally feel like a fledgling Dungeon
Hunter. If I reach Level 10 and get a Class, I guess I'll be a
full-fledged Hunter. I want a Class soon too.
「Finally
arrived」
Just as I had heard beforehand, visually it doesn't look any different
from the First Floor. Except for the fact that there are rats instead of
pill bugs.
「Eh, aren't
they huge again?」
According to the documents, the size of the rats should have been about
the same as the pill bugs. They're supposed to be the same as the cat-sized
pill bugs, but the rats I see in the distance look like they could be the size
of a medium-sized dog. Is it just my imagination? Standing still won't get me
anywhere. While feeling a slight sense of tension, I thought it would be better
to go at it energetically here.
Gripping the handle of the hammer tightly in my right hand, I went from
a light jog into a dash. Quickly noticed by the sound of my footsteps, the rat
monster immediately turned toward me. Without fearing me as I ran closer, the
large rat also came running. It was only an instant before we made contact.
What was all that talk about being fine as long as I fortified my leg
equipment? The rat took a massive jump and lunged at my head. It feels
incredibly ferocious and scary. Stuff like its attack power being low, that's
definitely a lie. Although I was surprised, my body moved. The hammer I swung
back splendidly smashed the rat's face in, turning it into particles of light
and a magic stone.
「O-Ooh. I
might be kind of strong」
The weapon's strength is a given, of course, but if you ask whether it's
that easy to accurately intercept a medium-sized dog-class monster lunging at
you with a hammer, I don't think it is. I feel like its movements were fast,
too, and yet I was able to perfectly react to such an attack. This might also
be because I pummeled pill bug-kuns like crazy and got used to handling the
hammer. I am grateful to you, pill bug-kun.
At any rate, if I'm facing a single Rat-kou, I've gained the
confidence that I won't lose.
The problem is when there are two or more, and when I actually end up
taking an attack. Still in my tacky jersey, it's as if I have no defense other
than my boots. I wonder if some armor will conveniently pop out from the
treasure on this Second Floor.
「Once I do
this a little more and get used to it, maybe I'll try going to the hidden room~」
Let's do that. Before that, I picked up the fallen magic stone. I feel
like it's a transparent magic stone again. It's probably just a bit bigger than
the shabby beads from the First Floor. Probably half of a half of a
marble, or maybe a little smaller than that.
It's small. But if this is a high-quality magic stone, it can sell for
300 yen. That's huge! 10 rats mean 3,000 yen. This will completely change my
standard of living all at once. That being said, it wouldn't be fun to get
carried away and get injured. Let's stay vigilant!
I moved around near the stairs to the First Floor searching for Rat-kous,
and instantly obliterated any I found. I have this image of rats acting in
packs, but so far I've managed to avoid fighting multiples. When I think about
getting 300 yen every time I defeat one, it's hard to suppress my rising
tension. The Rat-kous just look like 300 yen to me now, and I completely
stopped thinking they were scary.
「The hidden
room isn't that far away, is it~. Maybe I should go check it out」
If I can get my hands on some armor, I'll be able to fight safer than I
am now. My level isn't going up very easily, and I've gotten quite used to
fighting the rats. It should be fine to go soon, right. If there are a lot of
rats, I'll just run away quickly. Or rather, I feel like I can escape a pinch
if I just deactivate the 『Solo Dungeon』 skill.
There's no need to rush. I constantly kept my guard up ahead of me in
the passages, to the left and right, and even behind me, defeating rats every
time I saw them. By doing that, the monsters will stay gone for a while. The
more I defeat, the higher my personal safety becomes.
It's tedious, but it can't be helped. Ah, I want to get some amazing
armor soon and be unrivaled.
「Come to
think of it, I haven't been able to test the 『Poison Attack』 skill.
Since the Rat-kous die in one hit, there's no point in using it, anyway」
There's no point, but maybe I'll just try using it for the sake of it.
While thinking such things and proceeding down the passage while continuing my
rat extermination, I arrived in front of the hidden room. Since the atmosphere
was the same as the First Floor, I searched for a hidden switch in the
same way. And so, I was able to open the door without much trouble once again.
「Piece of
cake, piece of cake. It's a narrow room again, huh」
The sizes of the hidden rooms I had discovered up until now were all
narrow, but this one was the narrowest. Rather than a room, it had a structure
more like a short passage. And what was resting on the pedestal wasn't the
highly anticipated armor, but a monocular? It was something like a monocle.
Does it feel like a magical accessory? I don't think it's armor.
Feeling a little disappointed, I exited the oppressively narrow hidden
room. Then, there was a shadow there. Simultaneously with me reflexively
stepping back into the narrow hidden room, I could tell by the presence that
something had passed through the space where I was standing just a moment ago.
I'm not half-asleep. I'm still completely, totally energetic. That just
now was clearly an attack. My experience of repelling rat assaults over and
over again had paid off. It was really, truly just by a hair. It seems that
thing's attack grazed my tacky jersey, as a large chunk of the fabric on the
front is gone. And it's my one and only outfit! That damn blockhead!
But what kind of monster could it be. There are only supposed to be rats
on the Second Floor.
What should I do. Running away is probably impossible. Unless that
monster moves, the exit of the passage is completely blocked.
Should I deactivate the 『Solo Dungeon』 skill? Is that a viable option, I wonder. The events
happening right now can be considered something occurring within a Dungeon
exclusive to me. Probably.
What to do. Maybe I'll hold out a little bit, and if it seems absolutely impossible, deactivate the skill—let's go with this. If I get done in because of that "little bit," I wonder if I'll literally regret it to death. But if I can defeat it, I can earn a lot, right. Surely.
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