The Academy Dungeon 5
“Knocka Knocka Knocka Kno Kno Kno Knocka Knon ♪”
Dear, Ludi-san.
How are you? I am almost broken. No, I am already broke. It’s the result of such tedious tasks one after another.
There are times that I have to use sound magic stone and imp-chan’s innocent looks don’t heal me at me all. There’s only imp-chan that poke me with a spear. No imp-chan says [What’s this, you are hard here? What a hopeless fellow.] nor does there’s any imp-chan that I want to rub my back.
The monsters that appeared in this place are hobgoblin twenty percent of the time, while forty percent of the time the hermit crab and the Loli Shota Knocker appearing. I still don’t know whether it is a male or female so I will add [-tan] as its suffix from now on.
At first, I thought that knocker-tan was cute because of its cool and stylish movement. However, since Knocker-tan stubbornly doesn’t want to drop the magic stones I want, I am angry at it and I don’t feel anything toward it anymore. Sometimes I do want to just grab their body and search through all of their belongings too.
“KnoockaKnokaKno–………….Haaaa.”
What am I writing I wonder? I immediately tore the letter up and throw it away inside the dungeon. I felt kind of guilty so I pick it back up though. Seriously, what am I doing?
I managed to hold onto my sanity until I get the third one. I even close one eye and said [the probability is …converging!].
Thinking about it, I may have already been broken at that point.
I felt so relieved after the fourth one dropped. The gap between the third and the fourth one dropping was so long that I was crushed by the thought that I would have to make do with only three. But
“Just another one, just one more.”
Since I decided that I will spend more than a day here, it is still within the schedule but seriously, you really don’t want to drop it huh.
“I should start hunting again soon…..”
I continue to hunt after a break and lost my sanity again after two hours.
———-
Once I got all the battle magic stones, all that is left is to run to the thirtieth floor.
From the twenty-eighth floor onward, the hobgoblins disappear and they are replaced with a flying deer monster called [Peryton].
Visual aid
Of course, I immediately tried to run away from it. But.
“Escaping and fighting is getting harder….”
The reason is simple, the monster’s ability including its speed is getting higher. However, the main reason is that the monsters are becoming more sly.
For example, a peryton would attack me while I am fighting with a knocker. I managed to defend against it with fourth-hand but it was still extremely dangerous.
The knocker that appeared just now didn’t chase after me when I was running away. When I thought that it was strange there is a trapdoor in the direction I am heading to.
The monsters are still relatively easy to deal with but from the thirty-first floor onward then it might get worse. After that floor, the strength of the monsters will be equal or even higher than me after all.
For now, I used a light magic stone on the peryton in front of me.
“I am spending them like hot water….. But it would be bad if I have too much leftover too huh.”
Having too much leftover shown that you haven’t done enough to prepare for your adventure.
It probably the result of a poor preliminary survey. Well, in this case, I never conduct the survey in the first place. I just asked Sempai for her knowledge and establish my hypothesis on that. It can’t be helped that I am too naive here.
I used the light magic stone to rush to the thirtieth floor, as all the previous floor that was a good breakpoint, there’s a boss on this floor. Well, that’s natural.
Should I describe this floor as an oval field? It is like a small sports stadium with the seats replaced with waterways.
I walk to the center of the floor and heard the sound of splashing water from the waterway in front of me.
What appeared there was a dark brown sh.e.l.l. The uneven sh.e.l.l slowly rises through the water and approaches me.
The next thing that came out of the water was a big pincer. However, it is not the hermit crab I have been fighting with for the past ten hours. Its pincer is way bigger and thicker than that. Its sh.e.l.l isn’t that of the hermit crab, its whole body is covered with a sh.e.l.l.
“Finally come out huh, Clambon.”
A Clambon is a crab monster. Its appearance is that of a crab but its size is totally different. In the first place, it could easily pick me up with its pincer…..no, it wouldn’t be weird if that thing can cut me in two, it was that big. It raises both of its pincers as if to intimidate me…..
“It’s so full of opening…….”
I take out the intermediate-level fire magic stone I prepared and use it on the clambon. The fire with high temperature incomparable to that of the low-level magic stone fly toward the clambon that is currently raising its pincers while making a smug face.
At the moment of impact, a terribly loud explosion echoed through the surroundings. I think that it is even more powerful than Nanami’s explode arrow. Nanami also absorbed the magic elements and done her own training too so she should be able to do this much. Rather, the most unusual thing here is Nanami’s growth rate……
The orange fire spread all around, there’s a sweet fragrance blowing along with the blast. I’m hungry so I want to have dinner a little early but unfortunately, the clambon wasn’t defeated with only one magic stone.
There are embers in the surrounding area but I run toward the crab that is still raised its pincers then draw my katana and tried to cut its joint but it was blocked by its pincer.
I immediately get away from the clambon and return my katana to its sheath to prepare for the next attack. Then I use third hand and fourth hand to guard my left and right sides while looking at the clambon.
Apparently, it seems angry. Its sh.e.l.l turned red and run toward me like its legs are a high-speed sewing machine. Its redness must be because I heated it with fire though.
The clambon that is stomping towards me vertically swing its pincer at me. After that it releases a large number of bubbles toward me, I thought that it would keep charging at me like that but it suddenly disappeared.
“Ha?”
I wipe away the bubbles while trying to locate the clambon.
It’s too fast that have to let out a dry laugh. It was like a big sand crab (Ocypode). However, the power behind its pincer that is coming toward me is nothing to laugh at.
I received it with fourth-hand but it made quite a strong impact. Unable to kill the momentum, I was almost blown away but I managed to use third-hand as a brake in time.
But that was not the end of its a.s.sault. It tried to crush my body with its rapidly moving feet.
I protect myself with fourth-hand while escaping from that spot. Then the clambon stomped past where I was and make semi-circle to get in front of me. Now it is repeatedly trying to crush me with its pincer.
I took a defensive stance with third and fourth hands while readying my katana.
After it tried to smash me with its pincer four-five times it started to move.
This time it widely opens its pincer and rushes toward me. My intuition tells me that it would be bad to get caught so decided to jump right away.
The clambon pa.s.sed where I was and stopped a little further ahead while raising its arm to intimidate me again.
It’s a chance. I ran toward it while using a fire magic stone. The fire hit the clambon and explode. I jump at it without minding the flame.
My body is so hot like it is burning. No, I think I am actually burning. However, I will ignore that for now. As its sh.e.l.l is getting crunchy by the heat, I have to use this time to break its legs.
As the heat is too strong I have to close my eyes so my field of vision is limited. However, as the effect of mind eye, the more I concentrated, the more I can clearly see the clambon. At the same time, the clambon’s movement looks slower than usual.
I draw my katana and slash at its joint.
It was fast because it has a lot of legs but it was easy to cut off its leg one by one when it already lost its balance. It tried to retaliate with its pincers but because its legs have already gone, I easily guard against its attacks as it is now full of opening, the result was already decided.
I let out a small sigh while drinking a recovery potion.
“If I don’t have the intermediate level magic stones, I would have struggled quite a bit…….will I be fine on the next floor, I wonder”
It will be a difficult battle. From this point onward, the monsters are rapidly getting stronger.
“The monster should be getting stronger on Thirty-first to fortieth, fifty-first to sixtieth, and the from sixty-fifth floor onward.”
That being said, even if the monsters are rapidly getting stronger, it doesn’t mean that it can’t be defeated. I have been coming up with countermeasures against that too so it shouldn’t be a problem.
“Alright, let’s keep running away while praying that I will not meet any monster along the way.”
———————-
Author Note: The final and also basic technique of RTA [Praying].