Kays Translations

Chapter 185

The lower levels of the natural dungeon, “The Dead Sea that Corrodes the Earth.”

Although it’s inside a dungeon, the place is bustling with explorers and has practically turned into a makeshift marketplace.

“This area doesn’t have merchants, so people can trade directly without interference or middlemen. Also, many adventurers who don’t want to lose the items they’ve found make their way back here on their own. That’s why it’s so lively.”

At the front were myself, Araza, and Melt.

Since today’s purpose was to observe my and Melt’s performance, Araza was accompanying us. Being a seasoned explorer, she explained all kinds of things as we moved.

“By the way, I’ve been wondering—if people stay on a dungeon floor like this, don’t monsters stop spawning?”

“These corridor-type floors eject everyone after about half a month. No one can stay indefinitely. That’s why all these people regularly withdraw. If adventurers could stay forever, it would break the dungeon system entirely. Also, as you guessed, monsters don’t appear while people are present.”

“Right… otherwise they could just establish permanent safe zones. Actually, they could just seal the dungeon altogether.”

“Exactly. You can sense the dungeon master’s intent there: ‘I’ll allow some leniency, but never loopholes.’ Similarly, the loss of items and experience upon retreat shows another intent: ‘No withdrawals without risk.’”

“It seems the dungeon master takes a very active hand in its operation.”

“Indeed. That’s why I wanted to ask Same-sama about dungeon masters in more detail.”

“Ah, I see. …I’ve heard about them, both from Same and from another member who obtained a separate dungeon core.”

Not many people knew about Silent yet, so I kept it vague.

“Oh? Truly? Then—could you tell me more tonight at camp?”

“Of course, Araza-san.”

Under Araza’s lead, our expedition party passed through the first and second floors.

As we advanced, the crowd of explorers parted for us like the sea before Moses—

“All right, from this floor onward, I’d like you and Melt to handle the monsters. That all right?”

“Sure thing! Shizuma, think I should handle this floor alone?”

“Yeah, let’s each try solo first, then team up at the end. That sound good?”

“Hm, yes. Testing both solo and cooperative combat makes sense. Proceed.”

The third floor of the dungeon. Other explorers were still visible, but Melt darted ahead with confidence.

With her newly upgraded daggers, she didn’t even need to channel magic—her blades alone dispatched monsters effortlessly.

Unlike before, she didn’t just rush ahead recklessly. She kept pace with the rest of us.
Still, her speed was astonishing. She didn’t interfere with monsters already engaged by others, yet any creature that targeted her—or simply appeared in her path—was cleaved apart in the blink of an eye. Not merely sliced in two—quartered.

“…Incredible speed. She’s certainly on par with Rivana—worthy of being called a light warrior.”

“She’s faster than before. Getting stronger. Also, new weapon—good.”

Their assessments were spot on.

Melt was still growing stronger.

Compared to when I first saw her fight, her swordsmanship and mobility had both clearly improved.

This must be the result of that unique ability I’d once seen through God’s Eye: “A talent for absorbing all things to their utmost limit.”

Melt continued without a single sign of struggle, cutting through every monster like it was routine.
Our group never had to stop even once to wait for her to finish a battle, and we reached the end of the floor without delay.

“Arrived! I took down every monster on the way here!”

“Melt, amazing. You did well.”

“Hehehe…”

Rivana patted Melt’s head with her usual calm face, and Melt grinned happily.

They really got along well. Seeing her bond with someone of equal—or greater—strength made me happy.
If possible, I’d love for Rivana to teach her… though she doesn’t seem like the type who’s good at that sort of thing.

“Good work, Melt. Your speed and precision were astounding. How do you feel? Tired?”

“Araza-san… right? Nope, not tired at all!”

“I’m Araza Mir. We didn’t properly introduce ourselves before. But I see—no fatigue even after that? You’re young, but quite the tough swordswoman.”

“Raised in the mountains! I never get tired! Should I handle the next floor too?”

“Hm… I heard you also use magic. I’d like to see that as well.”

“Got it! I’ll fight with magic next!”

It seemed Araza wanted to observe her magic next.
Melt’s spells were of a rare type—nature magic. She had to be careful using it.

“Melt, pick your spells carefully, okay? Your magic might be unique.”

“Maybe. Then I’ll just use water, ice, and earth.”

Before moving on, Araza tied a small birdcage to the end of her pole and released the bird forward to check for traps and hazards.

Even though we were still in the lower levels, her caution was admirable.

“Hey hey! I’ve been testing something—do dungeon monsters drop different items depending on how you kill them? This floor has tons of bats, but when I shoot the wings, I get fangs. If I hit the body, I get the wing membrane. Isn’t that weird?”

On the fourth floor, Melt had been picking off bats—both the ones flying around and the ones hanging from the ceiling—by firing icy spikes from her daggers like a sharpshooter.

Everyone was amazed—not just by her precision and casting speed, but by what her experiment revealed.

“Hm… I’d never thought about targeting wings specifically, but Melt seems right. For this bat species at least, shooting the wings yields fangs, while hitting the body drops membranes.
Dungeon monsters normally dissolve into particles when defeated, but this mechanic seems modeled after real monster biology.”

“No such thing happened with the bats in The Scorched Canyon dungeon. I’d say this is unique to this place.”

“Indeed… This dungeon feels unusually systematic, as if every function is carefully managed. Even this may reflect the dungeon master’s personality.”

I thought a bit about what Araza and Gark were discussing.

…Honestly, when we went through the Scorched Valley, I just happened to pick the correct paths the whole time, so I never actually experienced what kinds of tricks or gimmicks were there myself.

Apparently, in the original version of the valley, if you don’t pick the right path, all sorts of things can happen—like being teleported somewhere else without realizing it, the path looping endlessly, or finding yourself back at the starting point even though you thought you were progressing forward.

In other words, if I hadn’t been following behind Hishida and the others who were already ahead using my map ability, it might’ve been pretty difficult to conquer that place relying only on my map power.

Considering how many traps were set along the way, plus fake dungeon cores rigged with instant-death traps, the dungeon master of the Scorched Valley—“Diedrich”—must have been one sly and downright nasty guy.

So then, what kind of being would be managing a dungeon this well-controlled…?

“All right, the safety of the next floor is confirmed. My Kana No. 17 shows no changes in condition.”
“Master, can we please stop giving your birds numbers as names?”
“No. Even if they’re little more than sacrifices, they’re still comrades who explore alongside us. A name is only fair.”

…You know, I’ve been thinking for a while now—doesn’t Araza remind you a bit of Melt? I mean, she likes shrimp, names birds…

No, I know, their personalities and appearances are nothing alike, but still…

From the fifth floor onward, it was my turn to take the lead.

Around this level, the number of explorers started to thin out, meaning naturally, there were more enemies for me to handle. It seems that starting from the fifth floor, the types of monsters appearing begin to change.

This is also where the giant shrimp-like “Killer Lobsters” begin to appear. Their meat is popular, but they’re a pain to take down, so apparently many “artificial dungeon beginners”—those who clear the fourth floor—turn back at this point. That explains why this layer is less crowded.

“…So the drops change depending on how you defeat them, huh.”

I decided to test Melt’s theory right away against the Killer Lobster that appeared before me.

Using Rapid Step, I boosted my movement speed, and with my gear’s effects, I briefly vanished during evasive maneuvers.

Naturally, the monster lost sight of me and froze for a moment.

“…Hah!”

I swung my sword twice in rapid succession. The lobster, distracted and looking around in front of it, never noticed me behind—it lost both claws in a clean cut, followed by its head and torso.

It wasn’t quite as fast as Melt’s technique, but the precision with which I carved up the lobster’s “edible parts” paid off—

[Killer Lobster’s Claw Meat]
Firm, white flesh from the claws. Rich in flavor and pleasantly springy, yet easy to bite through.

Perfect. Along with the regular meat, I got two extra pieces of claw meat as drops.

“Well done, Shizuma-kun. That was a beautiful sword stroke. You deliberately created an opening to test Melt-kun’s theory—clever.”
“Yeah. And besides, these monsters are delicious. I’ll go finish off the rest.”

Looks like we really hit the jackpot this time. Seriously—Killer Lobsters everywhere.

…Guess tonight’s dinner is already decided.

“Flame Sword!”

Next was the sixth floor. Here, I fought using one of the basic universal spells—an attack spell that creates a flaming sword.

It’s technically a step above beginner-level magic, but it seems the “universal magic” set actually includes a few spells that border on intermediate level. Honestly, this alone already expanded my combat options quite a bit.

That said, using magic for melee attacks feels a bit redundant—you could just enchant a normal sword with fire and get the same effect, right?

Well, it is convenient to have in situations where you’ve been disarmed, at least.

Anyway, I continued through the sixth floor, making full use of magic whenever possible.
And then, I made a new discovery.

Apparently, the type of drop you get also changes depending on how you defeat the enemy.

“…Hmm. This is efficient. I see—defeating them with fire, huh? I’d avoided using fire against sea monsters since it’s not a great element against them, but for the finishing blow, it might work.”

As she said that, Araza was munching on something she had just looted.

[Grilled Lobster with Salt]
“Tender lobster meat, infused with the perfect amount of ocean salt and grilled to a fragrant finish. Delicious, and also helps reduce fatigue.”

Yes—unbelievably, it was a cooked drop.

Sure, attacking a giant shrimp with fire isn’t exactly efficient. With enough power you could steam it alive, but it’s hardly worth the trouble.
And besides, mana’s a precious resource—magic potions aren’t exactly cheap, either.

“Maybe I’ll try finishing one off by hitting it with a torch…”
“Taima-fu, ready to go!!”

Before Araza even finished muttering, Melt had already prepared a torch—while still holding a steaming piece of shrimp meat in her mouth, of course.

…Yeah. They really are kind of similar.

And sure enough, when the finishing blow was delivered with a torch, the lobster dropped perfectly grilled shrimp meat.

I’ve got to say, exploring with this team was starting to get genuinely fun.

With the sixth floor cleared, our plan was to defeat the floor boss on the tenth level, set up camp there, and then head back.

Alright then… onward to floor ten—time to continue the assault!

“Shizuma, if a squid shows up, make sure you use fire.”
“Haha… got it.”

…Is it just me, or is this turning into a gourmet tour?

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