Chapter 3: Into the Dungeon

I showed my guild card to the soldiers at the entrance and was let inside.

Strictly speaking, Elrand wasn’t an adventurer, so he showed them a dungeon card that was given to him when he registered. Whenever someone that wasn’t an adventurer wanted to go into a dungeon, they’d be issued a dungeon card when they registered to go in, and could get into the dungeon by showing that card.

The interior was just as I’d heard about: a classic dungeon surrounded by rock walls. I had no idea how it worked, but the stone-sealed passages were filled with a constant comfortable light that was neither too dark nor too bright.

“Sui, we’re inside the dungeon,” I said, and Sui hopped out of my bag.

《Dungeon, dungeon!》 Sui was excitedly bouncing around.

《It looks like there are only weaklings at the beginning. Let us hurry forward. Get on,》 Fel, who could tell by sensing presences, said. Since Elrand was with us, Fel used telepathy. Elrand knew that Fel could speak, but there were other adventurers around in the dungeon, too.

“Wait a second. Elrand, it looks like most adventurers are in the 8th, 11th, and 12th floors, but is that because those are the floors with the best drops and most treasure chests?”

“Let’s see. The 6th and 7th floors are pretty good for that, but I think it would be better to leave those for beginner adventurers. You’re an S-rank, Mukohda, and I’m a former S-rank, so we should start getting serious around the 13th floor, I’d say.”

13th floor, huh? That should be the insect zone, right? The 9th floor before that is an undead floor, so I want to test what I got from Hephaestos and Vahagn there. Also, before I test that out, I want to get used to my new spear. I felt like I could scrape by just by doing a couple test thrusts of it, but you really don’t know these kinds of things until you actually use them.

“To tell you the truth, it’s my first time with undead. So I want to get used to it on the 9th floor. Also, I got a spear to use this time, so I want to test it out on the floor before the undead, so can we explore the 8th floor, too?”

“Of course, if that’s the case.”

“Fel, are you alright with that too?”

《The 8th? I can only sense weaklings, but well, fine. We will head straight there. Get on.》

Get on? But I’m not the only one here this time, Elrand is too. In times like this......

“Sui, can you give Elrand a ride?”

《Yeah, okay—.》

Sui became about as big as Fel. Elrand raised a cry of surprise.

“We’re going straight to the 8th floor, so please get on Sui, Elrand.”

“Huh? Huh? Really? Can I?”

“Yes, it’s fine. Sui evolved, and it can now change its size freely to a certain extent. So it became able to give people a ride,” I said, and Elrand let out an impressed noise.

“So slimes evolve like that when you make them a familiar, huh?”

“No, Sui’s just special, I think. There’s no guarantee that just making a slime a familiar will make them evolve the same way, too.”

“True. In the first place, I haven’t heard of a tamer who would make a slime their familiar other than you, Mukohda. Hahaha.”

That would be true, wouldn’t it? Slimes are treated as the weakest of the weak. My Sui is special, though.

《Hey, hurry and get on.》 Fel, anxious to get moving, hurried me along.

“Okay then, Elrand, please get on Sui,” I said, and Elrand slowly climbed on top of Sui, seeming hesitant.

“Oh, it feels better than I thought it would.” Sui’s squishy, after all. It feels pretty close to getting on a waterbed.

Making sure that Elrand was secure on top of Sui, I also got on Fel’s back.

《I will put a barrier over everyone. Now then, let us go.》

“Sure, thanks. Make sure you two keep up, Dora-chan, Sui.”

《You got it.》

《Okay—.》

We set off through the dungeon with Fel in the lead. We moved further and further along the passages closed in by stone walls.

Just as I’d heard, the 1st through 3rd floors were filled with big rats and giant bats, and from the 4th floor onwards, goblins started appearing. But, thanks to Fel’s barrier, we busted through so easily it’d be more understandable to say something like, “Huh? They were there?”

Every once in a while there were some young adventurers that seemed like newbies, and when we ran past them, they all stared at us with dumbfounded faces. Well, I get how you feel, but you shouldn’t be letting your guard down in a dungeon.

Just kidding.

After about an hour of smooth sailing——

《It will be the 8th floor after going down these stairs,》 Fel said, so I got off his back.

“Wow, that was surprising. To think we’d go through the dungeon this fast,” Elrand remarked while getting off of Sui.

“It’s thanks to Fel. Being able to sense presences is his specialty. Right, Fel?” I said.

Fel’s reaction was a little shy and awkward as he replied with, 《It is nothing for one such as me.》

“So it’s as one should expect from a Fenrir, huh?” Elrand was impressed with that too.

Fel’s ability to sense presences comes in handy pretty much all the time, after all.

“Well then, I’m sorry but we’ll be exploring from the 8th floor on, so I’ll be in your care.”

“Okay.”

It was time to test my spear. I took the mithril one I had Sui make for me out of my Item Box.

“Oh? A mithril spear? You said this is the first time you’re using one, but you sure splurged quite a bit. Well, with the money you earn, it’s totally understandable though, Mukohda. Hahaha.”

I just gave a vague hedge in reply. I guess that’s inevitable when a beginner has a mithril spear. But the truth was that it cost basically nothing. It’s really well made, though. After all, I remodeled the spear a little after having Sui make it for me. This spear’s haft was also made of mithril, and it was smooth and likely to slip out of my grip, so I had Sui change it. I had Sui emboss a pattern on it, so it was harder to lose hold of it.

It had been pretty hard to explain to Sui, and I’d been wondering what I should do, but I’d remembered that there was a knife that had the same embossing done on its handle. So after a little searching on my Online Supermarket, I had found the knife. I’d showed that knife to Sui and asked it to do the same thing. The spear with the embossed pattern on it was much easier to grip and use.

“By the way, this is my weapon.” Elrand showed off the slim longsword made of mithril that he had hanging at his waist. “It’s been my partner since my adventuring days. But, Mukohda, I’m planning to make that dragon sword made from the earth dragon’s fang I bought off of you into my partner too~. Mmheheheheheh.”

You just casually said something really bad there, didn’t you, Elrand? The sword made from the earth dragon should belong to the guild, and wasn’t the plan to decorate the guild with it? You even said it’d attract adventurers.

“Hey, doesn’t that belong to the guild......”

“*Ahem* O-Of course. I’m just thinking of borrowing it once in a while, for just a little bit.”

No, even if you try to erase all of your true intentions that you’ve been leaking all over the place... W-Well, it’s Elrand, after all. I’ll just leave the rest to Dolan’s guild.

“Well then, let’s go.”

“Yes.”

《I want to train with my spear, everyone, so let me have some too,》 I said to my familiars over telepathy, and all of us headed down the stairs to the 8th floor.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

《There are nothing but small fries on this floor. None of them is worthy of my attention. Dora, Sui, you do it,》 Fel said through telepathy, throwing all of the responsibility and action to them.

《There’s just goblins and kobolds here, right? I don’t want to bother fighting those either. Sui, I’m leaving it to you.》

Dora-chan must also have hated the idea of having to fight goblins and kobolds, and passed the hot potato to Sui.

《Is it really okay for Sui to beat them all?》 Sui was happily bouncing in circles.

It seems like no matter who the opponent is, Sui’s always happy to take them on. But you know, taking them all yourself isn’t good. Didn’t I just say to let me have some too, Sui?

“Sui, you can’t beat them all yourself. Didn’t I say that I wanted to practice with my spear?”

《Oh, that’s right. So not all of them? Then Sui can just leave a few for master?》

“Hmmm, for now just let me have one.”

Since I don’t know how well I can use a spear yet. I’ll start carefully, with just one for now.

《Got it.》

We moved forward with Sui at the front, then Elrand and I, and Fel and Dora-chan bringing up the rear.

“Ggyahh! Gehgyah!” Ahead of us in the passage, a group of goblins had noticed us and were approaching.

《It’s goblins! Sui will get them!》

*Pew-pew-pew*

Sui shot them through with Acid Bullets and the goblins fell one after the other. It looked like Sui remembered what I said, and left one alive.

“Hahh!” I stabbed my spear at that goblin.

The spear tip slid into the goblin’s chest so smoothly it was like it was being sucked in. When I pulled the spear out, the goblin fell lifelessly.

Hm, it’s scarily sharp, just like the mithril short sword I see. Just as I expected of mithril. And Sui’s awesome for making this too.

“I’m surprised. I’d heard that it was special from you, Mukohda, but for there to be a slime that can attack like this......” Elrand said, having seen how Sui fought.

Ahh, so he didn’t believe me because Sui’s a slime. Well, I guess that’s only natural, though. In the end, slimes are basically the poster child for weaklings, after all. But, just as you can see, my Sui is strong.

“That’s just the beginning. We’re gonna keep going. Sui, let’s move on.”

Sui replied through telepathy, and we kept moving forward through the 8th level’s passageways. We didn’t bother going into any rooms, and stuck to moving through the passageways until we got to the boss room. When I peeked inside, there were young adventurers in their mid-teens fighting with a mixed company of goblins.

“I wonder if they’re a new party.”

“Looks like it. Hm, they’re pretty good. So Aveling is raising some good adventurers as well.”

Oh, Elrand just said something guildmaster-like.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that? I am a guildmaster, you know? Even I’ll be interested in adventurers.”

I eyed him with equal parts suspicion and disbelief, so Elrand spoke in a hurry.

I mean, he totally just seems like a kinda sad guy who loves dragons way too much.

“I’m telling the truth.”

“Well, let’s leave it at that.”

“No, don’t just ‘leave it at that’......”

“Ah, looks like they’re done.”

The young adventurers finished their fight, and came back this way. And when they passed us, one of them said, “We’re finished, so please go ahead,” before returning to the passageway.

“Huh? Aren’t those kids moving on?”

“The next floor is the first gate, remember? The 9th floor is undead.”

Oh right, the next floor is undead. I guess that’d be too much for some new adventurers.

“Oh right, why not leave this to me?”

“Huh? That’s fine, but wouldn’t that be too boring for you, Elrand?”

Unlike me, who leaves everything to Fel and the others, this guy’s a real S-rank.

“Haha, that’s true, but this is my first dungeon dive in a while. I want to show my stuff, and warm up while I’m at it.”

Ohh, so I’ll be able to witness Elrand’s swordsmanship? I probably won’t be able to mimic it, but I hope I can at least use it as a reference when I swing my own sword.

With that settled, that means I’ll have to convince Sui, who’s totally set on charging in.

“Sui, this elf here will beat them, so can you hold back just a little?”

《Whaaaat? But Sui wants to do it—.》

“Sorry. But there’ll be new monsters on the next floor. I’d like it if you beat lots of those.”

《New ones? Wowww! That’s exciting! Sui will try hard on the next floor!》

That’s good, I’ll have Sui do its best on the next floor. I was planning to put in some effort too, but I could see my legs giving out from under me just by seeing zombies and skeletons.

“Well then, please, Elrand.”

“Yes. Okay, I’ll be going,” Elrand said, before charging into the boss room.

*Schwing!* *Schwing!* *Schwschwschwscwhingggg!* *Thud*

After cutting through the goblins and kobolds like a flowing river, Elrand sheathed his sword.

“It’s done,” Elrand said, smiling wide.

All I could do was watch from beginning to end, open-mouthed and dumbfounded. “That’s awesome! Wow, Elrand! You really were S-ranked, weren’t you?!”

Elrand’s swordplay was as graceful as dancing.

“Really? Did you doubt that? I told you several times, didn’t I?”

No, uhhh, sorry. I mean, all I ever see is your weird side. I didn’t doubt you, but I just felt, juuuust a little bit, like, ‘really?’

Really, I’m sorry.

Wait, that doesn’t matter. “What’s with that swordsmanship? Did you master some sort of really awesome sword style or something?”

From how that looked, that’s definitely what happened. He was cutting them down super-fast like a flowing river.

“No, it’s nothing that amazing. It’s just something I figured out for myself. It’s how I bring out the physical abilities of an elf while using my experience.”

“......That’s... something you taught yourself?”

“Yes. Elves have always been light, you see. I basically just adjusted my sword movements to fit me better, and it just gradually stuck. Once that happened, my skills only sharpened as I gained experience. Elves live longer than humans, so I’ve got several times more experience, you see. I’m lucky that I’m an elf, hahaha.”

Woah, elves. No, actually, that’s just cheating. The advantages of having a long lifespan are just ridiculous, huh? Well, nothing’ll happen just by me being jealous, though.

I thought I’d be able to learn something from watching Elrand, but that was totally useless to me. “Well then, let’s move on to the 9th floor.”

We descended the stairs on the other side of the boss room. It was finally time for the undead floor... and time to test what I got from Hephaestos and Vahagn.

“The most important thing on the next floor is to focus on speed, and pass through. Everyone, please be careful not to fall behind,” Elrand said, unusually serious.

“No, we’ll be fighting the undead as well. Actually, I have this......” I showed Elrand the holy sealer. “This is a holy sealer, a stronger version of what the church has.”

At that, Elrand’s eyes went wide. “W-W-Where did you get such a thing?!!”

Of course Elrand would be surprised — the one the church has is just a copy, and the real one is at the headquarters of the Rubanov church; it’s probably being treated like a national treasure. And I just said this one was a stronger version.

“Uhhh, that’s a secret.” There was no way I could just tell him that I got it from the gods. “Anyway, I have this, so I want to try using it. The effect is, as I said earlier, a stronger version of the church’s. As long as I use this on a weapon or something, attacks with it will destroy the undead. And the effect lasts an entire day, it seems.” I explained what I’d heard from Hephaestos and Vahagn to Elrand.

“No way, no way. W-Wait a second here. W-W-What the heck is with that effect?! It’s true that it’s a stronger version of the church’s, but it’s way too different!”

It was understandable that Elrand would be surprised, but it was made by the gods, after all. Really, good job, liquor lovers!

“By ‘weapon or something,’ do you mean that it’ll work on things other than weapons? For example, if you attack with magic, and you put a seal on the caster, will the magic also exterminate the undead? Not only that, but the effect lasts for a whole day?!”

W-Wait a second, please don’t get so close Elrand. Your face! Your face is so close!

“C-Calm down!” I pushed Elrand by the shoulders and tried to get him to calm down.

“As if I could be calm!! Mukohda, you have something that can harm the undead that’s not holy magic! Not only that, but the effect is enormous and all you have to do is mark something with it! This is national-treasure-level — no, it’s even more than that!”

That’s true, but there’s nothing I can do about it; the gods made this. “Ahhh, well, please keep this a secret.”

“Of course! I’m way too scared to tell anyone that a single person owns something that’s more valuable than any national treasure!”

S-Sorry.

“Still, you made a Fenrir your familiar, found the magic sword Caladbolg on top of that, and now this holy sealer, something that no individual should ever own? Just what kind of person are you, Mukohda?”

“What kind? I’m just a regular adventurer......”

I do have the title of an ex-salaryman who got caught up in a summoning to another world, though.

“A normal adventurer, you say? As if that could be true, geez......” Elrand said, exasperated.

Elrand’s exasperated at me...... I’m a little upset, but whatever.

“Okay then. Let’s mark ourselves and go defeat the 9th floor. I’ll put the seal directly on your bodies, Fel, Dora-chan, Sui. And for Elrand and I, it’ll go on our weapons......”

“J-Just wait a second. There’s so much happening, let me calm down first,” Elrand said, looking straight at Dora-chan. “Let me hug Dora-chan. Then I think my heart will become calm.” He opened both his arms and gestured.

《W-What the hell is this...... Stay away! Hey, I’m not cheap enough that I’ll just let anyone touch me!》 Dora-chan said, putting some distance between him and Elrand.

“Ahhhh! Dora-chaaaaan!” Elrand extended his arms towards Dora-chan, who was running away. “I’ve been holding it in all this time since I thought you’d hate me for being so clingy, but wouldn’t just a little be fiiiinnnee?!”

Is that why you were so well behaved even while giving Dora-chan all those hot stares?!

《This-! Staring at me like that after every single thing is the creepiest thing ever! I completely refuse ever touching this freak, got it!》

Dora-chan...... He’s really not liking it, is he? If Elrand heard that, he’d be bawling.

《I won’t let him hug you, Dora-chan, so could you let him touch you a little? Just a liiiitttllee bit?》 I told Dora-chan through telepathy. He responded rather unhappily. 《He’s going to be taking care of us a lot from now on. Just a little is fine, please. I’ll treat you to lots of the pudding you like once we get out of the dungeon.》

I have to leave the red dragon in Elrand’s care, so I don’t really want to offend him too much.

《Tch! Fine. Don’t forget about the pudding!》

I somehow managed to negotiate Dora-chan into Elrand touching him, and he reluctantly balled up into my arms.

“Elrand, he won’t let you hug him, but I got permission for you to touch him.”

“Ohh! OOOOHHHHH!!!” Elrand quickly made his way over.

I’m not Dora-chan, but that’s just creepy, Elrand.

“Well then......” Elrand touched Dora-chan’s back.

*Strokestroke* *Strokestroke*

He must have been really happy, because Elrand’s beautiful face dissolved into a creepy grin. And as his hand moved to Dora-chan’s head......

《Not my head.》 Dora-chan rejected him firmly.

“Ahhh, Elrand, Dora-chan’s head is off limits.”

“Whaaaat?!” Elrand didn’t seem satisfied, but he obeyed and stuck to Dora-chan’s back. Of course, he was grinning the whole time.

“You said that hugging was off the table, but you’re doing it, aren’t you Mukohda?”

“Ahh, well, you know, he’s my familiar and all...”

“Gnnnrrrr, so it really was the familiar contract......” Elrand muttered, “I’ll need to form a familiar contract with a dragon someday, too,” with a frustrated face.

Form a contract? That’s probably impossible, though.

《Hey, are we done?》

Looks like Dora-chan’s nearing his limit.

“Elrand, you’re finished, right?”

“Whaaat? Just a little more. A little more!”

“If you’re too clingy, he’ll really hate you.”

“Ghh......” Elrand withdrew his hand, very obviously unwillingly.

“Okay then, now let’s mark ourselves. I’ll start off with my spear.”

I tried letting my magic flow into the item while pushing it onto my spear. For just a moment, a hieroglyphic-like character from a language that didn’t exist in this world glowed faintly before being absorbed into the weapon.

Next, I was going to use it on Fel and the others, but then I suddenly wondered if it would hurt. Hmmm, then let’s try it on myself, first. If something happens, I’ll have Sui’s potions, and I even have three of Sui’s elixirs on hand, so it’ll probably be fine.

I tried marking the back of my hand. It felt a little hot, but nothing else, really.

“It feels a little hot where you’re marked, but there’s nothing wrong other than that. Fel, Dora-chan, Sui, I’ll mark you.”

《Indeed.》

I parted Fel’s fluffy coat and planted the mark somewhere near his neck.

《Just as you said, that really was nothing. So now I will be able to exterminate the undead? They have been nothing but annoyances, and I have avoided them many a time, but... Heheheh, now I can end as many of them as I please.》

Wow Fel, that sure is dark. Even though he’s Fel, I guess even he’s been having trouble with the undead up until now.

《I’m next.》

I marked near Dora-chan’s neck.

《So now my attacks will work against the undead, huh? I’m gonna go wild amongst the undead too!》

Dora-chan was also raring to go.

《Sui too—.》

Sure, sure. I marked the top of Sui’s smooth and bouncy surface.

《Sui will also go pew-pew and get lots!》 Sui was also highly motivated.

Well, Sui’s always that way, though.

“I’m last. I’m good at magic too, so please mark the back of my hand.”

Just as Elrand wanted, I marked both his sword and the back of his hand.

“Great, now we’re prepared. It’s an undead floor, so I don’t think it’s been looted too much. We might find something good, so let’s get exploring.”

We all stepped into the 9th floor, teeming with undead.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

The first enemies we encountered on the 9th floor were a group of three zombies.

“Aaahhh...” A chorus of moans echoed. The sight of the zombies, with their lifeless eyes and bodies blackened by rot, walking towards us was straight out of a horror movie.

“Ghh, that’s disgusting.”

Not just the looks, the smell was also......

“Mnn, I do not think I will ever get used to the smell of zombies. The stench is so strong I cannot stand it.”

《What the hell?! It smells so bad!》

《Urrgghh, it’s stinky—.》

Yeah, it smells awful.

“The smell of zombies is a weapon unto itself. When zombies are around, the iron rule is to breathe through your mouth,” Elrand told us. “Now, let’s hurry and get rid of the source of this unpleasantness.”

Elrand readied his sword, and as he prepared to swing at the zombie......

《Sui will do it.》

*Pew-pew-pew*

Sui’s Acid Bullet hit rotting flesh and opened a huge hole from the zombie’s chest to its stomach. The zombies stopped and flopped to the floor... and, after a moment, it disappeared, like it was being sucked into the dungeon itself.

“Ohh! It really works!” I exclaimed.

“To be honest, I half doubted it, but what a spectacular effect. With this, there’s no reason to be scared of the undead,” Elrand remarked.

“Yes, let’s keep going.”

As we moved along the hallway, the next foe we met was a skeleton. Yep... it’s just bones.

“I am next,” Fel said, charging towards the skeleton.

Fel tackled it. He did not cloak himself in magic like Dora-chan, so it was just a regular tackle, but since it was Fel, with his big body, it turned into a proper attack.

With stupendous speed, the skeleton was flung into the air like it was hit by a truck. It bounced off the walls and ceiling, each time pounding its body more and more into dust.

Even though it was just Fel’s physical attack, the skeleton still got crushed this completely. Could it be that skeletons are just really brittle?

“Are skeletons just really brittle, Elrand?”

“No, not really. That’s probably just a combination between the seal’s effect and Fel’s natural attacking power.” Elrand gave a troubled laugh in response to seeing the skeleton get pulverized so brilliantly by neither magic nor a “real” attack, but a simple tackle.

The next enemies we encountered were more zombies. This time, there were four of them.

《It’s my turn next!》 Dora-chan said as he flew forward, skewering the hunched over zombies with pillars of ice.

*Thud* *Thud* *Thud* *Thud*

《Hah! Easy! Hm? There’s something here. Hey! There’s something here!》

It looked like the zombies dropped something. Dora-chan handed over a small bottle.

“What is this......”

There was a pitch black liquid in the bottle. Appraisal is perfect for situations like this.

【Corrosive Solution】

Corrodes living things.

Corrosive solution...... What would I even use it for?

“That’s corrosive solution, a drop from a zombie, I see. The undead don’t really drop too much, so you’ll be able to sell it for a decent amount.” Elrand told me after having seen the bottle.

“But is there even a use for this stuff?” It’s fine that I can sell it, but does it even have a use? That’s the question.

“There’s actually a lot. You can use it as an attack in a pinch, for example. This stuff’s in pretty high demand.”

According to Elrand, the corrosive solution took effect quickly, and that was why it would work just fine as an attack when the chips were down. For example, if we were to encounter a monster we could do nothing about, we could throw the solution at it to buy time. The corrosion would start immediately, and while it would not kill a high-ranking monster, it would be more than enough to stop it for a while.

I see, there is a use for this. I have Fel and the others, so I don’t think I’d ever see that situation, but it might be good to keep one with me just in case, for moments when I’m alone.

“Thanks for the lesson.”

“I’d like as much of these undead drops to be sold at Dolan as possible, so let’s keep taking them down.”

As long as I can put on these marks, it’ll be fine, and even though Aveling will get first dibs, selling the rest at Dolan would be fine, wouldn’t it?

After that, we confirmed that Elrand could destroy undead with his magic, as well. I also defeated a skeleton with my mithril spear, so everything was proceeding swimmingly.

At one point, I’d seen through a mimic, and Elrand gave me strange looks, wondering how I could tell, since having the Appraisal skill is something only a hero summoned from another world (something straight out of a fairy tale here) would have. I smoothed things over by saying that Fel told me.

That was close.

Just like that, we reached the boss room of the 9th floor. There were several tens of zombies and skeletons, as well as a skeleton warrior, but with my three familiars in the mix, the whole thing was over in an instant. The skeleton warrior was melted, sword and all, by Sui. I even beat a skeleton and a zombie each by myself.

There was a trapped treasure chest amongst the drops, and we got a “poison knife.”

Just... Just once, I wish there was a treasure chest that would just open.

Like that, we busted through the 9th floor of undead, and greeted the 10th.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

Once we were out on the 10th floor, everyone started complaining that they were hungry.

I guess this is a fine spot for a break.

“Elrand, we’ve cleared the first gate that is the 9th floor, so how about a meal now?”

“Then if I recall, the first safe area should be right around here. Please follow me.” Elrand said, and we obeyed.

“There’s a white caterpillar, I see. I’ll take care of it.”

I followed Elrand’s line of sight down the passage, and saw a white caterpillar around a meter and a half in length crawling towards us.

A huge caterpillar?! Gross!

“White caterpillars move slowly, but they spit out an extremely sticky string. Not only will touching that string hinder your movement, but removing it is a job-and-a-half, so attacking from a distance is the best way.”

I see, I see, that’s good to know.

Ah, it just spat its string. It goes pretty far, doesn’t it? That one flew about 2 meters. Just like Elrand said, it seems like attacking from a distance would be safest.

“Well then, I’ll be going. Wind Cutter!”

*Whoosh* *Whoosh*

Blades of wind cut the white caterpillar apart.

“Ppghiiii!” After some high-pitched death throes, the white caterpillar disappeared.

“There are also monsters called gray caterpillars that appear on this floor, and you must be particularly careful with those. Gray caterpillars are covered in hair, and if you touch the hair, you will be paralyzed. Not only that, if you are far enough away, it will launch its hair at you.”

So it’s a hairy caterpillar? A huge hairy caterpillar... that sounds creepy and awful. From what Elrand said, the paralysis would last at most thirty minutes, but even that length of time could lead to death in a dungeon filled with monsters.

And since in this insect zone that stretched on until the 17th floor, poisonous monsters started to show up the lower you went, I was feeling particularly grateful for being able to nullify status ailments.

Gotta be grateful to those gods.

After all that, we reached the safe area. The inside was quite spacious, and though, like the one I stayed in before in Dolan’s dungeon, there was no water source, this space was about twice as big.

This dungeon was supposed to be the most crowded on the 8th and then the 10th through 12th floors, and this place only reinforced that with how many people there were. But still, with how spacious the area was, it looked to be easy to secure a spot large enough for us to rest.

Ah, a spot by the wall just opened up.

“Whew, well then, let’s eat.”

《Food, food~!》

《Hm, prepare it quickly.》

《Food! Food, food!》

My hunger brigade was already demanding satisfaction.

Sure, sure, just wait a second. Uhhhh, what should it be......... ah, how about this?

I chose the meat-wrapped rice balls and tonjiru that I’d made before leaving Berléand. I was about to serve them in the usual dishes I’d bought in Nijhoff, but I stopped myself. This place was a dungeon, so its floors were made of stone. With how Fel and the others ate, serving them on the usual dinnerware might just break the dishes. Not only that, but Elrand and other adventurers were around, so if they saw Fel and the others eating out of ceramic dishes, they’d probably faint. My dishes that I’d spared no expense on... it’d be obvious to anyone watching that they were pretty expensive.

So I changed to the wooden dishes I was using before to be safe. After plating the rice balls, I also poured some tonjiru in deeper wooden dishes.

“Here.”

I served the food to my familiars.

《Mm? What happened to the usual plates?》

“Those are ceramics, so they might break if I used them here.”

《I see, that is certainly true. I liked those, but I suppose there is nothing for it.》

So he liked it. He never said anything, so I thought he didn’t care.

All three of them were hungry, so they chowed down with gusto.

Now then, if I don’t eat too, my share’ll be gone.

I divided the portions for Elrand and myself onto a wooden plate a size smaller. Then, I produced a pitcher full of cold water I’d bought with my skill and poured it out into wooden cups.

I bought the pitcher in Nijhoff. I saw the pitcher in the house I’d rented there, and decided I wanted one. I searched around, confident I would find one since I was in the town of pottery, and bought one in a hurry right before we left. Up until then, I’d just been using the water I bought in the PET bottles they came in, but now I had both pet bottles and a pitcher full of water in storage.

“Here you go, Elrand.”

“Ohh! It smells good, doesn’t it~. It looks really delicious, too.”

I used a fork for the rice balls, and a spoon for the tonjiru. Normally I’d want to eat these rice balls with my hands, but they were dirty at the moment and it seemed like there was resistance to doing so in this world. It was a little hard to do, but I used a fork. Stabbing through a meat-wrapped rice ball, I brought it to my mouth and bit into it.

Hm, it’s good. The salty-sweet sauce is mixed in well with the rice, and the flavor is delicious anytime, anywhere.

Elrand imitated me and ate the food the same way.

“Hahh, this is quite amazing~. I can’t get enough of this sweet and salty flavor. I never thought I’d be able to taste something this good while in a dungeon.”

It looked like the meat-wrapped rice balls suited Elrand’s palate too, as he ate one after the other.

“More.” 《More.》 《More.》

And then came my familiar’s demands for more.

“Give me more of this one with the meat-wrapped around it.”

Fel’s avoiding the tonjiru since it’s got lots of vegetables, I see. He ate what I gave him, though. But tonjiru is delicious...

《I want both. I want extra of this one with the meat around it, and only about half as much soup as last time.》

So Dora-chan wants extra meat-wrapped rice balls and half tonjiru? Actually, you’re being really specific!

《Master—, Sui wants both too. Give Sui lots!》

So Sui also wants both. Alright, let’s give Sui an extra-large portion.

After serving out everyone’s extra helpings, I went back to eating myself.

Ahh, tonjiru’s so gooood. The mix of the rice balls and the tonjiru flavors in my mouth is the best.

“This soup is really nice, and it’s got a lot of filling in it.”

It looked like Elrand really enjoyed the tonjiru. I was really proud of it, so that made me feel a little happy.

“Do you want more?”

“Ohh, well then, please.”

I served Elrand some more tonjiru as well.

*Gulp*......

I heard someone swallowing their spit. And I’d been feeling the stares of other adventurers in the safe area for a while now.

I’m not giving you guys any. Food’s precious in a dungeon. I’m protecting it with my life.

Letting the stares of the adventurers wash over me like a passing breeze, I kept serving several more helpings to Fel and Sui, as usual.

After a small break once we were finished with our meal, we set off exploring the 10th floor.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

According to Elrand, the 10th floor was just white and gray caterpillars, and the string they dropped was apparently popular. As I’d expect out of Elrand, the former S-ranked adventurer, I had a lot to learn from his knowledge of various facts.

It was just that, every time Dora-chan did something, Elrand would go all, “Awesome!” or “Wow!” and send such hot looks over at him... He was praising Dora-chan so much that Sui started sulking, saying, 《Awww, even though Sui’s beating lots too—.》

Sui felt better after I praised it though. And I told Sui, “You know, that elf over there, he loves dragons a lot. That’s why he’s always cheering for Dora-chan. But I know how awesome you are, Sui, so don’t mind it.”

Sui went, 《Oh, really?》 So I wasn’t sure if it understood or not.

Fel said, 《I’m leaving the weaklings to you,》 and threw all the responsibility over to Dora-chan and Sui. But he was still on alert for traps, so I was grateful though.

With all that business happening, we reached the 10th-floor boss room. In the boss room, there were so many white and gray caterpillars wriggling around, about half the room was buried in them.

Dora-chan and Sui charged in and finished them all in a flash, though. After retrieving the not-insignificant amount of drops, we moved to the 11th floor.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

The first monster we encountered on the 11th floor was an ant. It was a huge black ant that was almost a meter in length.

“That’s a killer ant. This floor houses killer ants and their higher forms.”

That ant’s mouth is clacking pretty loudly...

“Killer ants are D-ranked monsters. At any rate, they aren’t that strong individually, but their swarms are massive, so be careful not to get surrounded.”

It seemed like if they surrounded you and started biting, you’d be turned to bones in an instant. I was told that they had exceptionally powerful jaws, and depending on the situation, if they managed to bite into you, you could lose an arm or a leg.

S-Scary... Anyway, I need to be careful I don’t get surrounded... Woah! Just now over ten of them have gathered around and are coming at us!

“The normal strategy here is to kill each one quickly and one by one before they surround you. Of course, that’s while conserving enough magic and energy to run away.”

I get it... it seems like it’d be hard to move forward while avoiding them when there’s this many around.

《Basically, just do what we always do, right? Leave it to us!》 Dora-chan said, before flying close to a killer ant and making it eat lightning magic.

*Cracklecracklecrackleeeee*

Lightning spread to the killer ant’s surroundings, and the killer ant that was hit with the magic flipped over, dead.

《Heh! Easy-peasy!》

“That’s so cool! Dora-chan!!”

《I see you get what’s important, Elf.》

It seemed that Dora-chan didn’t hate the attention, and replied with telepathy.

Man, Elrand’s really putting Dora-chan on a pedestal...

Right, let’s get moving.

Apparently, the jaws dropped by these killer ants were hard and tough and prized as a good material to make a knife out of. It would be sharper and tougher than an iron knife, and wouldn’t rust either, so maintenance was easy, making the knife even more popular.

Might be nice to have Sui make a knife out of this. The mithril knife really stands out, after all.

After clearing out several groups of killer ants......

“Stop. Ahead of us and around the bend there is a group of killer ants that includes a higher form.”

It was Fel’s voice. Probably because there were no adventurers around us, Fel used his actual voice instead of telepathy.

“I will go,” Fel said, before he took off.

Even though he said he’d leave the weaklings to us, I guess he couldn’t sit still anymore. After catching up to Fel, I noticed there were no killer ants to be seen; instead, there were drops.

“This is...... I see there was a killer ant knight,” Elrand said, having spotted a shell that was shining with a black luster amongst the drops. It seemed that killer ant knights were a size larger than killer ants and armored in a hard shell. They dropped that shell, and the material was both light and tough, so it seemed it was popular as an armor material.

“Nadiya was complaining, you know? About not getting as many insect shells recently. Since they’re getting rarer here, you’ll be able to sell it for more than usual. My guild wants it too.”

Huh, Elrand’s guild too? I guess it’s because there’s lots of adventurers hanging around dungeon cities, so there’s enough demand for weapons and armor to always make these worth it?

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

Now that Fel joined in on the fights, our exploration proceeded smoothly, and we were now at this floor’s boss room. It looked like the previous party here just finished, and I saw a group of five adventurers downing potions and walking slowly, since they were covered in wounds and basically ripped apart. It seemed like they weren’t going to continue. Wordlessly, they passed by us.

“Well then, let’s go,” I said, and as we entered the boss room, the inside was crawling with a mountain of killer ants.

“Th-There’s really a lot of them......”

“Yes. There’s quite a few killer ant knights, too. There might even be a killer ant queen.”

According to Elrand, the killer ant queen was the highest form of a killer ant, and appeared rarely in this boss room.

“If there’s a killer ant queen, that might appear too.”

“That?” I asked Elrand......

《Whooaahh! There’s so many! Sui’s gonna go pew-pew and get so much!》

《Hahhhahhhh! I’m not gonna lose either!》

Sui and Dora-chan enthused as they headed for the mountain of killer ants. Not even a few minutes passed before the mountain of ants was cleaned up, leaving behind a couple killer ant knights, which were incredibly huge ants.

“There were so many killer ants that I couldn’t see, but there really was one. That big one in the back is a killer ant queen.”

“B-Big!” The killer ant queen was so big I couldn’t stop the words from coming out of my mouth; it was about three times larger than a normal killer ant. It had basically no battle ability, but it would endlessly produce killer ants, so it seemed it was designated as a B-rank.

“The fact that a rare queen showed up means that if your luck is even better, you might get a good drop.”

A good drop? So a queen has a rare drop item? Anyway, I guess I won’t know until we beat the queen.

《Sui will take that big one!》

《That’s not fair. I’ll do it!》

《Sui will do it!》

《No I will!》

Neither Sui nor Dora-chan were backing down. Geez, they’re way too gung-ho about this.

《Wait. You all fought all those black ants before, no? I will take this last one. I will not allow any objections,》 Fel said telepathically. He immediately adopted a posture to start attacking, before swinging his right front paw twice.

*Zzsshh* *Zzsshhh*

Fel’s Rending Claws instantly cut the queen along with her knights to ribbons.

......This always happens, but that’s really anticlimactic.

“Ah, there it is. You were lucky~. I was talking about this,” Elrand said, showing me the item he picked up.

Elrand was holding an opal-like gem slightly bigger than my fist that shone the colors of the rainbow. “It’s a killer ant queen’s eye. The name says ‘eye,’ but it’s treated as a gemstone. It’s been a while since I’ve seen one this big, too.”

The killer ant queen’s eye was popular in jewelry for its beauty, and apparently would often be worked into rings, necklaces, or broaches, among other things. With its rainbow luster, it was popular with nobles too, and I was told that, at this size, a buyer would pop up immediately. It seemed like this only showed up rarely, so I was lucky.

After retrieving the other drop items too, we moved on to the 12th floor.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

The 12th floor played host to the over 2-meter-tall praying mantis monster that was in Dolan’s dungeon as well, the giant killer mantis, as well as its smaller cousin, the killer mantis. But here too, they were killed wholesale by Dora-chan and Sui. I had them leave me several so I could level up, and the mithril spear that Sui made for me was so powerful I managed to do it without much trouble.

Other than that, Elrand and I worked diligently on collecting drops, and thanks to Fel’s navigation, our exploration went smoothly.

The boss room was also full of mantises, and once again Dora-chan and Sui quickly polished the fight off.

Thanks to all that, we were now on the 13th floor. The 13th floor was full of killer hornets. These ones appeared in Dolan’s dungeon, too.

Fel made a disgusted face, and Dora-chan even outright said, 《Ghh, killer hornets?!》

Even so, I thought we’d be fine since they beat the ones in Dolan’s dungeon, but Elrand told me that this dungeon’s killer hornets had an especially vicious poison.

So that’s why we haven’t seen any other adventurers since we arrived on this floor...

《Heeey, you can stop talking about that stuff. Basically we just have to kill them, right? They’re pretty annoying, and it’s depressing how they buzz around, though.》

While Elrand and I were talking, Dora-chan, with his work ethic riled up, called out to us.

《Indeed, it is as Dora says. We can just destroy them.》

《Destrooooyyy!》

Fel and Sui were in agreement, too.

《Right then, let’s go!》

*Boooooooommm!*

Right after Dora-chan opened his mouth, fire shot out of it.

“D-Dora-chan?!!”

“D-Dragon breath?!!” I was surprised too, but Elrand was astonished to the point that his eyes were popping out of his head.

“There’s never been records of a pixie dragon being able to use a breath attack! This is a new discovery!” Elrand was extremely excited over seeing a dragon breathe fire.

Completely unconcerned, Dora-chan continued to breathe fire, burning all the killer hornets as if he was a flamethrower.

“So you have a breath attack, Dora-chan......” I said, but Dora-chan shot back a ‘no’ with telepathy.

《You know, only large dragon species can use breath attacks. I’m just using fire magic. Well, I’m making it look like a breath attack though.》 He said, before resuming his burning of the killer hornets.

Elrand was looking at Dora-chan spewing fire with sparkling eyes. It was more than a little gross.

“Is it okay? With all this fire magic flying around......”

“You are worrying that it will become harder to breathe with so much fire magic around, yes?”

“Yeah. So you know about it, Fel.”

“Indeed. A long time ago, I was fighting in a dungeon......”

So he must have done something before.

“From past experience, this much should be completely fine.”

“Huh? Really?”

“I am saying this, with all my experience of going through many dungeons. Do not worry. In the first place, are you feeling short of breath?”

Oh yeah, I’m actually not, even with all that fire flying around.

“That is your answer.”

Hmmm, I don’t really get it, but it might just be that not all of earth’s physics are the same in this fantasy world. Fel’s saying it’s fine, so I guess I don’t need to worry that much.

Thanks to Dora-chan, we painlessly continued on after that and reached the 13th floor boss room.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“......Well, well, we’ve been hit by some really bad timing.”

The boss room was buzzing with the sounds of wings from all the killer hornets that had filled up all the free space.

“The last time I was here, the boss room had not even half this number...... And while there was a killer hornet hive in the back, this time the hive is bigger than anything I’ve ever seen.”

There’s a nest......

“For killer hornets, it’s best to finish off the hive first, right?”

“Indeed. However, with this many it will be impossible to even attack the hive. We will have to thin their numbers first before even thinking of that,” Fel said out loud, since there were no adventurers around us.

“With this many, it really would come to that, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes. If we don’t do something about all these killer hornets first, there’s nothing to be done,” Elrand agreed.

《I’ll go ahead, since all I have to do is burn these things to the ground, just like always.》 Dora-chan said before attempting to move into the boss room. I hurried to stop him.

“Wait a second. Fel, put some barriers around us please.”

“Okay. Understood...... It is done.”

《Well then, I’m going!》 Dora-chan said, moving into the boss room. As soon as he did that, he started throwing fire around posthaste, burning the killer hornets.

“W-W-W-Wait a second please. Barriers? D-Does that mean, the legendary Barrier magic?!!”

Huh? Legendary? “What’s he talking about, Fel?”

“There have been humans in the past that could use it, but right now I am probably the only one that can.”

W-What the hell?! I’ve never heard anything like that?! He’s been using them like it was normal since we met, right?

“Of course. Why would I not use what I have?” Fel said, as if it was obvious.

I mean, well, that’s true, but...

《Hey, I’m almost done here. Can I burn up this stupid huge hive, too?》 Dora-chan asked with telepathy.

《No! Sui will do it!》 Sui threw a tantrum because it wanted to take over that part.

《Huh? But it’d be easiest to just burn it up along the way.》

《It’s not fair that Dora-chan is doing all of it! Sui wants to do something too!》

Sui didn’t get much of a chance to shine on this floor, after all.

《Sui hasn’t had much of a chance to do anything on this floor. Sorry, but could you let Sui do this?》 I said, and Dora-chan withdrew with a, 《Tch! Oh fine.》

“It’s fine, Sui. Make sure you say your thanks to Dora-chan, got it?”

《Yeah. Thanks, Dora-chan!》 Sui said, causing Dora-chan to look away, seemingly embarrassed.

“So, how are you going to attack it? You gonna drown it like you did in Dolan?”

《Yeah! Sui is gonna trap it inside a big huge ball of water!》 Sui said, happily bouncing up and down.

《Okay then, Sui will start.》 Sui entrapped the hive that was over twice the size of the one in Dolan’s dungeon, which was already the size of a wagon, in a ball of water.

All that’s left is to leave it until the hive disappears, huh? It’ll probably take a while.

Dora-chan cleaned up the rest of the killer hornets, so there were a dizzying number of drops lying around the boss room.

“Now then, let’s start picking up these drops,” I called out to Elrand, who was still in shock over the Barrier magic.

Getting back on subject, the drop items were killer hornet’s poison stingers, killer hornet (special individual) poison stingers, killer hornet wings, and killer hornet (special individual) wings. With the number of hornets defeated, there were quite a lot of them. It seemed that the wings, which didn’t appear in Dolan, were ingredients for medicine.

Just about when we finished picking up all the drops, Sui messaged me with telepathy.

《Master, it’s dead.》

Looks like the hive is finished too. Having Sui unmake the water, I checked the drop items.

“Ah, there’s some royal jelly.”

“Ohh, that’s great. Royal jelly is rare and very popular. I wanted to buy it back at Dolan too, but the hides ended up being prioritized, so I had to give up on it.”

It seemed that royal jelly was prized by nobles who watched their health; it was said that it would fill you with energy just by licking some.

“Oh! There’s a killer hornet queen’s poison stinger too,” Elrand said, showing me a long, thin, and pointed cone-shaped needle that was over a meter long. “Lance users would go absolutely crazy for this.”

With durability as a given, lances made out of these were considered first-class products it seemed, especially since they could also poison their enemies.

We continued diligently collecting dropped items after that, before we moved down to the 14th floor.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

The 14th floor played host to poison spiders, as well as venom tarantulas that had also appeared in Dolan’s dungeon.

There really were a lot of special individuals showing up, so I asked Elrand about it, but—

《Man, humans really do love to talk, don’t they? Before you go and talk about it, just beat them, you know? Beat them right up,》 said Dora-chan, before proceeding to breathe fire out of his mouth just like on the 13th floor, burning the venom tarantulas and poison spiders.

The several monsters that managed to get through Dora-chan’s fire were beaten by Sui. I took down a venom tarantula myself, as well.

“Still, we’ve managed to get a lot of drops on this floor, haven’t we? My Item Box is already near full,” Elrand said.

It looked like Dora-chan and Sui were competing with each other, and they chased down all the monsters we saw, so we ended up with quite a lot of drops. At this rate we’ll probably have to keep picking up huge amounts of drops won’t we? ......Oh, right.

“Then I’ll give this to you, so put them in there.” I handed my magic bag over to Elrand.

“A magic bag? Okay, I’ll borrow it.”

《Hey, I’m hungry.》

《Sui is also hungry—.》

“Just like Dora and Sui say, I certainly am hungry.”

While I was talking to Elrand, everyone started complaining about their hunger. It’s already time for dinner?

“It looks like they’re all hungry, Elrand, so let’s stop here for the day.”

“Is it already time for that? It was going so well that my sense of time is all messed up. Hahaha!”

While we were talking, Fel led us to a safe area. After taking a pause at the entrance, I found that there were already people inside. It was my first time meeting other adventurers on this floor. There were two human men, a bearded dwarf, and a female elf for a party of four. The adventurers seemed to be curious since we had Fel with us, and were glancing at us every now and again.

“......Could it be, Dolan’s guildmaster?” The whispered sentence sounded very loud as it reverberated through this quiet, spacious safe area.

“Oh? I recognize you. Let’s see...... The A-ranked adventurer party, Ark?”

“You really were Dolan’s guildmaster. I’m happy you remembered us.”

It seemed that the party, “Ark,” that we met here were acquaintances of Elrand’s.