Chapter 12: Forest of Gold

The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter — LNCrawler · All chapters

Chapter 12:
Forest of Gold

I STILL DIDN’T HAVE very much LP, but I wanted to produce some more useful skills, so I asked my master for advice.

She recommended Water Drop. Not only could it produce potable water, you could stun enemies by firing it at them. It was only 250 LP, so I snagged it. At maximum, it produced a drop that was a foot in diameter.

“I could Edit Water Drop to increase the size limit, couldn’t I?”

<No, dummy! You should Edit it to be able to generate sea water, too! The salt makes it more effective against enemies than regular water.>

I went and took a look.

Water Drop: Creates a drop of fresh water. The diameter may vary between approximately four and twelve inches. Droplets may also be fired.

I tried adding “or sea water” after the words “fresh water.” It would cost 100 LP and, since that wasn’t too expensive, I went ahead and did it.

<Next, I’d suggest Lightning Strike. You can fire a lightning elemental attack from your fingers. You’d be surprised by how far you can get with it.>

This one was only 250 LP, so I went for that too. However, the skill did have one drawback: its range wasn’t very large.

<That’s what Editor is for!>

I Edited that one more like I had with Stone Bullet. The description said that lightning-based attacks had a range of one to six inches. I tried changing “inches” to “yards,” but that required 500 LP. Bit much, you know? But dropping it to three yards was only 150. Still, I decided to save my remaining LP.

<That’s fine. You’re good for now. I picked Water Drop and Lightning Strike because they’re strong on their own, but they become even more powerful when combined.>

“Oh, with Magical Fusion, right?!”

<Yup. Fresh water doesn’t conduct electricity very well; that’s why I told you to make that Edit, kiddo!>

My master took all sorts of things into account when it came to combat. She’d really earned her reputation as a legendary adventurer. I was lucky to have the opportunity to learn from her.

With only about 500 LP left, I decided to call it quits on acquiring new skills at present. It’d take some time to get the hang of my new skills anyway. My master gave me some additional guidance, then I set out for the seventh floor.

First, I used Dungeon Elevator to return to the sixth floor. It was as dark as it was last time, but since I had Night Vision now, I could progress with little trouble. Then a zombie split into six parts burst into view.

“Gaaaarh…”

“Okay, I get it, please die already.”

“Gaaaarh!”

I burned it to a crisp with Holy Flame. That was apparently worth a lot of experience, because I went up a level too. The enemies in the hidden dungeon were, as a general rule, fonts of experience. I was already close to Level 60. I decided I’d make Level 100 my next big goal.

And there it was! The stairs down to the seventh floor. I descended with due caution.

“This seems a little long.”

I’d taken several hundred steps down with no end in sight. Then things suddenly opened up and got brighter.

“A…forest?”

I finally reached the ground and found myself in the middle of a forest. The ceiling looked like the sky, and there was even fake sunlight. I was unsure if it was an illusion, or was it just a trick of the light. At any rate, it was like a normal forest, bursting with trees, shrubs, and all manner of greenery. I could even hear cicadas chirping, and it was wonderfully warm. It was summer incarnate.

“Is that…a rhinoceros beetle?”

A golden rhinoceros beetle climbed up a tree trunk. It sparkled so brightly that I thought it might be gilded. I snatched it up—what poor noble would pass up something like that?

I hesitated before putting it away in my Pocket Dimension. The thought of killing the beetle in the vacuum of that special plane was unsettling, so I tucked it into a bag at my waist, then went back to hunting for gold.

That beetle seemed rare, so I wasn’t expecting to find any others, but then a silver stag beetle walked into view! I grabbed for it.

“Ouch!”

Even as it pinched me as hard as it could, I shoved it into the bag. I hoped it wouldn’t fight with the other one. They were almost certainly worth a pretty penny. Could they be the treasure my master speculated was down here?

I became engrossed in collecting the beetles. After a few hours, I’d collected fourteen of them and was feeling extremely pleased with myself.

“Yeah! Good job, me. It might be about time to call it quits for today.”

I knew I couldn’t overextend myself. I was invested in both my own safety and my wellbeing, so I decided to leave for the day.

“I’ll be back, seventh floor!”

I bid the forest farewell, activated my Dungeon Elevator skill, and jumped in—only to feel an intense impact against my side. I cried out as I was knocked away. My side was agony, but it didn’t seem like I’d sustained any serious damage.

I scrambled up and realized what had happened: I was rammed by a giant golden pillbug. “Giant” might be a bit misleading, admittedly. The thing was dwarfed by the giant ants and snakes on the fifth floor. It was about three feet long, and its whole body sparkled. It looked impossibly rare.

Name: Golden Pillbug

Level: 113

Skills: Somersault Attack; Slash Resistance (Grade B)

And it was incredibly powerful! The first thing that popped into my mind was “run away!” I was such a coward… But my Dungeon Elevator had already vanished, and I wouldn’t be able to create another one for an hour. If I wanted to flee, I’d have to rely on my legs.

Fight or flight? I’d defeated plenty of more powerful enemies before. This one only had one offensive skill and it didn’t seem that dangerous. But I decided to run at first, you know, give myself some distance. I turned tail and bolted.

“Whoa! It’s fast!”

The pillbug curled up and shot forward, rolling at blinding speed to close the distance between us. I jumped up and it flew past beneath me, slamming into a tree.

The tree cracked and came crashing down, but the pillbug stretched out and targeted me again. Pillbug monsters were vicious.

I fired off a Stone Bullet about three feet in diameter. The yard-wide boulder smashed right into the bug. If it wasn’t dead, it definitely wouldn’t be able to move—or at least, I thought it wouldn’t. But the stone crumbled and it came for me yet again.

If that thing hit my leg, I’d have a compound fracture for sure. I leapt up like my life depended on it. This time it screeched to a stop before hitting a tree and whipped around to attack again.

There was no end to the assault. Frantically, I checked my range and fired off a Lightning Strike. Purple lightning shot out from my outstretched fingertips. I made a direct hit on the pillbug and it suddenly unfurled. It slid along the ground, twitching. Yes! It worked.

“I wonder what I should do with this thing.”

I drew my sword and swung down on where I thought the pillbug’s neck might be, but the blade bounced off with a ka-chink. No way, right…? That B-Grade Slash Resistance had to have a pretty significant effect on blades. I mean, I had Sharp Edge on my sword, for crying out loud. Not to be discouraged, I brought down my blade again.

This time, I felt it sink into the creature’s flesh. It didn’t go very deep though, so I pulled my blade back out and tried again. After several strikes, I lopped its head off. Then it occurred to me that it might have been easier if I’d flipped it over.

“So it rolls up to attack, not just protect itself. What a terrifying enemy.”

But thanks to that encounter, I went up another level. My next question was whether to harvest its parts. There weren’t any creatures like it outside, so it seemed like it’d be hard to sell without earning suspicion.

At any rate, I didn’t really like looking at it, so I left the parts where they were. I needed to go home and figure out what to do with these metallic beetles. Just the thought of how much I could sell them for brought a smile to my face.