Chapter 5
A Loner's Dungeon
When I was defeating my umpteenth pill bug, with my good intuition, I
realized something. That there was no need to strike it with the hammer over
and over again with all my might. Striking the hard outer shell, which likely
has the highest defense, is far too inefficient. I need to strike its weak
point.
「Smack its
head~」
Hup!
「Magic stone,
magic stone, money, money」
If I step on it with my foot and aim for its head with the hammer, I can
easily defeat it without having to beat it to a pulp. Isn't this so easy it
makes me wonder what all my previous efforts were for? Even so, what was that
about being able to defeat them by stepping on them, seriously. You have to
step on them and then hit their head, don't you. I wish she had taught
me that properly. But I'm glad I noticed the weak point. Thanks to that, I was
saved from having to look at its belly side where all those legs wiggle around.
「Found
another one」
O pill bug, through your death, I gain my sustenance. Your death is
noble, you know. And so I collected another miniscule magic stone that felt
like it might be transparent. I smoothly repeated the process. A monster that
doesn't fight back is a piece of cake. I feel like I've defeated a decent
number of them, so have I leveled up yet?
「Ah, I did.」
When I took out my ID card from my back pocket and looked at it, my
level had gone up. So it goes up before you even know it, huh. But finally,
huh. How much time has passed since I entered the Dungeon? I should be
working pretty hard, though.
■ Memories of the Star Soul
Name: Nagakura Aoi Scarlet
Class: —
Level: 2
Vitality: 6
Spirit: 6
Attack: 6
Defense: 6
Magic: 6
Resistance: 6
Skill: Ultra Hard Mode / Solo Dungeon
Class Skill: —
Blessing: —
「What's this,
my status hasn't gone up much at all.」
It looks like they all went up by 1. Am I really just weak? Is this how
it normally is? Ah, there's a new skill.
「Let's see...
『Solo Dungeon』...?」
The moment I became conscious of it, the air changed. It was the same
sensation as when I stepped foot into the Dungeon. It wasn't just the
air. I should have defeated the pill bugs around here, but it looks like
they've all revived. On top of that, I feel like the vinyl-like trash that had
been dropped on the edge of the path had vanished too. Is it just my
imagination?
No, something is weird. It's no good to just leave strange things alone.
Let's head back for now.
「My level
went up, so I guess that's enough for today.」
Once my high tension from battle settled down, I suddenly felt an
intense hunger. I'm not sleepy, but my stomach is so empty I feel like I'm
going to collapse.
Mustering my strength, I climbed up the stairs and returned the hammer I
had borrowed to the toolbox. Trudging my way back, it seemed Onee-san
was carefreely watching a late-night program. She looks genuinely bored.
「Heeey, I'm
back.」
「Oh my... um,
Scarlet-chan. It was Aoi-chan, right. You were late.」
「Right,
right, I'm Nagakura Aoi. Say, Onee-san, those pill bugs are super
strong, you know! I was surprised.」
「Eh? Calling
things like that strong, that just means Aoi-chan is too weak. But you
were able to defeat them, right?」
「I got the
hang of it, and somehow managed. My level went up, too. And you know, I learned
a skill.」
「You learned
a skill at Level 2? That's amazing.」
Onee-san pointed to the idol on the late-night program playing
on the monitor while saying that. What is it?
「For example,
those girls. Even though they're idols, they also work as Hunters. That
sort of thing is popular lately, you see.」
「Hmm? And
what about it?」
「Those girls
debuted when they were Level 3, and now, two years later, they've finally
reached Level 7, apparently. But they haven't learned a single additional
skill. It means that usually, skills aren't something you can just learn back
to back like that. That's how it is generally.」
Ooh, so that's how it is. Then I must be lucky.
「Onee-san, do you like those kinds of programs?」
「Just killing
time. Night shifts are boring, you know.」
Onee-san looked at me while giving a big stretch.
「Besides,
this kind of information is surprisingly useful. It can be used when consulting
with Hunters, too.」
「Hoh, I see.」
It did feel like a concrete example was very helpful as a reference.
「Then, could
you give me some advice about my skill? It's the one I just learned.」
「Are you
sure? About telling me.」
Onee-san turned down the volume of the program and adopted a
serious expression.
「I should
have told you it's important personal information.」
It seems she's worrying about me because I'm a little girl ignorant of
the ways of the world. Even if it's common sense to keep skills a secret, I
really know too little. To think I'd be forced to keenly realize the price of
slacking off on my studies at the age of sixteen... completely unexpected.
Anyway, as someone who wants money for the time being, I want to quickly
grasp my skill rather than spend time agonizing over it. That being said, I
have no intention of revealing everything about myself, and as a compromise, I
figured it would be fine if I just kept my initial skill, 『Ultra Hard Mode』, a secret.
I desperately want to know about the newly learned skill, 『Solo Dungeon』, which plunged me into a sensation of complete incomprehension. My consultation partner is an employee of the Dungeon Administration, so surely it's fine to tell her about at least one. Persuading myself with those thoughts, I tried telling her about it.
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