Kays Translations

Chapter 189

If there was ever a phrase that captured our current pace, it would be “like a raging torrent.”

After defeating that unexpected powerhouse, it was as if a fire had been lit under us. Our joint expedition team — a mix of Killcrawler and our group — began descending the dungeon floors faster than ever before.

Along the way, Melt and I split duties, and for every floor boss that appeared every ten levels, we went in assuming “an unknown, possibly powerful enemy could appear at any time.”

No half-measures. No hesitation. No cautious scouting.
Our formation was pure offense — see the enemy, kill the enemy.

“Magic unit, focus on increasing magic power output. Gark, you lead the charge into the floor. Scouts, nock your bows — permission granted to use anti-armor arrows. Rivana, take the rear fast. I’ll move up front as well.”

“Roger.”
“Roger.”
““Roger!””

And so, fully prepared to unleash a barrage of attacks the moment the enemy appeared, we stepped into the floor boss’s chamber—

The floor boss of the 20th floor awaited us.
And this time, for the first time… we were up against a group.

“Evil Tuna Red”

Leader of the Ocean Squadron Tuna Rangers.
A responsible type who always rushes to help comrades in trouble.
He only ever rushes in, though.

“Evil Tuna Blue”

The cool guy of the Ocean Squadron Tuna Rangers.
Frozen solid — literally — so he’s sluggish.
He coolly drags everyone down.

“Evil Tuna Green”

The prankster of the Tuna Rangers.
Once went too far and froze Blue as a joke.
Secretly disliked by everyone.

“Evil Tuna Yellow”

Responsible for the fatty cuts — the “ōtoro” section.
Exceptionally plump and rich in fat.
Highest market value per kilogram.

“Evil Tuna Pink”

The lone “female” member of the Tuna Rangers.
But the species is actually hermaphroditic.
Insists on being the lone female due to gender identity.

…What the heck is this!?
It was obvious at a glance that someone was having way too much fun designing these things.

They looked similar to the tuna-type monster Melt and I had fought before — massive, humanoid tuna with arms and legs.
Back then, they were decently mobile, but honestly, not much of a threat.

However, the five before us now— five bodies, five colors — were clearly different.
Just like their names suggested, each one was brightly colored in red, blue, green, yellow, and pink.

“Everyone, fire.”

Without hesitation, at Araza’s command, a wave of fire magic surged forward.
I joined in with Prominence Ray, and Melt amplified the flames — the blaze swelled and spiraled as if it were alive.

“Archers, loose!”

A storm of arrows shot forward, disappearing into the fire.
As the flames began to die down, Rivana, who had circled behind, struck — a single sweeping slash cleaving through the silhouettes of all five enemies.

Araza and Gark charged straight in next, finishing them off.

But—

“Cease fire. Gark, pull back.”
“Understood. …What were those things, anyway?”

When the flames finally faded, what remained were only five heaps of blackened ash — already dissolving into particles of light.

In other words… they were weak.
Maybe they had some kind of coordinated group attack planned, but our pre-emptive barrage wiped them out instantly.

A total anticlimax.
A textbook one-joke boss.

“Never seen a floor boss like that before. Another irregular occurrence, perhaps?”

“Well, at least it was easy. Still, why would a monster like that even exist…?”

I thought about it. If this dungeon were like a game, then perhaps the floor bosses weren’t selected randomly.
Maybe, once you began the challenge, the entire lineup of bosses was predetermined.

Like a “drop table” in a game.

If we were on a high-difficulty route, maybe the developers threw in a few joke bosses now and then as a kind of breather.
In that sense… it made a strange sort of sense.

But that would mean—this place was really behaving like a game.

“Could the Dungeon Master here… actually know about games from Earth?”

The suspicion grew deeper.
Still, we pressed onward, heading for the lower floors.

P.S. We got plenty of tuna out of it.
Tonight’s camp dinner should be amazing. 🍣

21st Floor — Melt’s turn, since it’s an odd-numbered floor.

From this level onward — past floor 20 — the scenery began to change slightly.

Up until now, the area had been like a sea cave, carved by waves over centuries.
But now the ground had dried out, and it was starting to look more like a normal cavern.

“Hmm? Hey, hey! The monsters here look kind of like the ones you’d find in the mountains!”

“It seems so. In the past, deeper floors occasionally spawned creatures unrelated to the sea.
But when the environment itself starts changing like this, harsher conditions often follow.
From here on, use Hinabird Unit No. 4 carefully.”

“Got it!”

I won’t even comment on the name anymore. It feels like it’s different from the last one anyway.
…Maybe they’re differentiating them by bird species now?

As Melt said, this floor was swarming with wolf-type monsters. Among them appeared a familiar face — the Owlbear.
Even so, the current Melt easily overwhelmed them, defeating them almost instantly.

However, toward the end of the floor, she suddenly realized something serious and called out to us.

“Terrible news…! At this rate, we won’t be able to restock our shrimp supply! Even on the earlier floors before the first boss, we barely saw any shrimp at all…!”

“Ngh… now that you mention it, you’re right. But perhaps the next floor will return to a marine environment…”

“It’ll be a real problem if we can’t secure or replenish food. Thankfully, we have you with us this time, Shizuma.”

“Still, your supplies have limits. And there’s also the problem of freshness.”

That was true. Normally, anything stored in a magic storage tool would just sit at room temperature — it should spoil eventually.
That’s exactly why we packed so much dried meat and hard bread as backup.

“Oh, but look — we got an egg! That bird monster dropped it just now. Think it’s edible?”

“Most likely a roc’s egg. It should be fine to eat.”

“Then maybe the next one will drop actual bird meat. I’ll try targeting their wings next time — bring them down without damaging the body.”

Maybe this environmental shift was meant to make it harder to gather food.
If so, we might start seeing monsters that drop meat instead of seafood.
We’ll have to test that by aiming for their wings next time.

“Alright, let’s send ‘Hinabird No. 4’ to scout the next floor.”

“Understood.”

Araza’s serious face and calm tone as she said that ridiculous name always cracked me up.
She extended the long pole with a small birdcage tied to the end and lowered it into the next floor.

And then—

“B-! Gah! B-b-b-gahhh…!”

The bird convulsed, steam rising from its tiny body, and then went limp.

In other words—
The next floor was hot enough to cook living creatures alive — an instant-death environment.

“Wha—!? Here, already!? We haven’t even reached that deep yet!”

“Could it be… the dungeon itself doesn’t want us to clear it…?”

“Another… failure?”

Everyone was furious at this sudden, seemingly impossible dead end.
If a fatal environment appeared this early, how could we ever hope to reach the bottom?

In other words… maybe the dungeon was telling us to find a way to force through it.

“…Everyone, the Killcrawler squad has ten members, correct?”

“Yeah, as you can see.”

“…Then, I’ll go down there for a moment and come back. I have an accessory that grants partial resistance to environmental changes. I’ll test whether it’s survivable.”

“What!? Absolutely not — that’s too dangerous!”

“It’s necessary. I think from here on, the dungeon’s difficulty assumes we’re prepared for this level of hazard. Please — I’ll be right back.”

I removed the accessory I’d been wearing — the Ring of Mirage.
It allowed me to phase through enemies during evasive maneuvers and deal damage while doing so.

In its place, I equipped one of the many accessories I had in storage—

“Reminiscence of the Blue Sea (EX)”

Top-grade version of the 2024 Accessory Design Contest’s Grand Prize winner.
“Damage Resistance +20%”
“Status Resistance +50%”
“Stamina Consumption –10%”
“HP Regen +1% per 10 s”
“20% Chance to Reflect Magic”
“Negate 20% of Incoming Criticals”

It was the same accessory I’d once auto-crafted via Shijima as a gift for Melt.
I ended up mass-producing them overnight, so several had just been sitting unused in my inventory.

Now I’d find out how much its “Status Resistance +50%” and “HP Regen” could really handle.

Ignoring everyone’s protests, I stepped across the boundary to the next floor.

Immediately, a stifling wave of heat slammed into me.
It was strange — the air was so humid I could feel moisture on my skin, yet my throat burned with dryness.

Even with the resistance halving the effect, the pain was brutal.
Without protection, a person would collapse almost instantly — no doubt, the temperature was literally enough to cook flesh.

Wiping the sweat pouring down my face like a waterfall, I turned back.

“…It felt like a temperature that’s barely bearable—like being in an extremely hot steam bath. If we remove some gear and go light, we should be able to dash through it. It’d be even easier if we cool the surroundings with ice magic while moving.”

“I see… but that would mean you’d go alone, wouldn’t it? That’s dangerous—no, reckless.”

“Ah, no, actually about that accessory… I happen to be holding onto the brigade’s supplies, so I’ve got a lot of them. I’ll lend them out for this expedition.”

Saying that, I took out several ‘Soukai no Omoide (Extreme)’ accessories from storage—one for each person.

“Oh! The same one as mine! So it had that kind of effect too?”
“Yeah. It wasn’t just a gift—it’s a charm the brigade gave as protection. I’ll lend them to everyone for this run. Take off a few layers, and while keeping the area cool with ice magic, we’ll sprint through.”

With this, we could just barely make it through.
Additionally, for this upcoming floor, I decided that Melt and I would prioritize speed and take down enemies ahead of the group, and I explained the plan to everyone.

“Got it! Then I’ll fight using ice magic as well!”
“I’ll do the same. We’ll clear the path to the floor’s end as fast as possible so everyone can run through safely.”

“My apologies… I was too fixated on the idea that if the bird died, we would soon die as well. You’re right—we should’ve been seeking a way to survive and pass through. I’ll reflect on that.”

“Indeed. We only prepared antidotes for poison resistance… We should’ve also gathered magic tools or equipment with special effects for extreme temperatures. We were underprepared.”

“Shizuma, thank you. Thanks to you, we don’t have to give up yet.”

The members of Killcrawler equipped the bracelets.

…It felt a little complicated, seeing the gift I gave Melt—something I thought was one-of-a-kind—being worn by everyone as a mass-produced item.
But this was the only piece of equipment we had in sufficient quantity that could save us here.

“Wow! Matching accessories for everyone! Look, Rivana! We’re all matching!”
“Really, Melt’s been wearing this all along.”
“I never knew it had such special effects though—haha.”

Ah… she actually looks happy.
Good. At least she’s not disappointed.

After everyone changed into slightly lighter clothes, we stepped into the infamous ‘Scorching Floor’.

“Hmm… yes, the temperature is indeed brutal… but still within endurance range.”
“Melt, let’s move! Everyone, keep cooling the surroundings with ice magic as we go!”

As we advanced together through the floor, everyone seemed able to withstand the heat—barely—but their faces were pained. One by one, they shed armor and cloaks to cope with the heat.

Melt and I, meanwhile, cut through the enemies—monsters strong enough to survive in this environment, their bodies no doubt hardened to extremes.

“Melt… no holding back. Let’s go all out.”
“Right…! It’s so hot!”

Melt, now down to just her shirt, gripped her weapon, sweat dripping from her forehead.
I, too, stripped off excess gear—left in only a shirt—raised my sword.

I deployed several Ice Blades around me, drew my sword, and sprinted at full speed.
Activating both magic and Rapid Step at once, I lowered the surrounding temperature, slicing and staggering enemies with icy blades.
Then I struck the stunned monsters down with my sword—acting as both mage and swordsman—to slay the rock-skinned creatures inhabiting this blazing floor.

“…Those mountain monsters we saw before—so they’re covered in lava stone now.”

Even using my Divine Eye, the monsters’ descriptions were identical to normal types.
Meaning—they weren’t variants, but rather normal species adapted to this environment.

As expected… the Dungeon Master ruling over this place must be someone with immense power—capable of freely reshaping the environment and its creatures within the dungeon.

“…This might be the strongest Dungeon Master we’ve ever faced.”

With that thought, I pressed onward, cutting through the infernal heat toward whatever awaited at the dungeon’s end.

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