on Wednesday, November 20, 2019 zweindrei
Chapter 90 Return After seeing off the 『Foolhardy Giants』, we proceeded to cull out Cinnamonkeys around the neighborhood.
There are cases of monsters undergoing Cla.s.s Change if they are not defeated for a long period of time inside a dungeon. Since Cinnamonkeys are especially unique with their habit of stealing equipment from adventurers, I realize that they would be the monsters that progress further on that point. Once a Cinnamonkey is defeated, the newly resp.a.w.ned one should have no equipment after all. Or so I convince myself with, in reality I just don"t like their smug faces. If we"re going to grind for levels anyway, might as well demolish those pests, should be good for mental health too. Alright then, it"s annihilation time.
KIIIIII
UKYAAAAA
Hahahahahaha. Burn you monkeys.
I enclosed an area with Stone Walls then unleashed a composite magic with Futsuno-san to burn down all trees inside. Mitama and Wakamoto-san made beehives out of the fleeing Cinnamonkeys. Kagursan who"s standing guard against any surprise attack looks bored.
"Perhaps I too should strive to learn ranged attack magic myself."
"...Won"t hurt to try. I will take a stab at learning magic too. n.o.bu and Nee-san look like they"re having so much fun."
At first we were going to fetch their equipment, but since those monkeys never did maintenance on it, the stuff they had was all worn-out and unusable, so we decided to just eradicate it together with them. Nature destruction? Oh no no, after experimenting at the marsh, I found out that these trees resp.a.w.n like monsters, so it"s OK.
Tettere~♪ t.i.tle 『Monkeycide』 Acquired
t.i.tle 『Monkeycide』
A t.i.tle given to those who ma.s.sacre a great many monkeys. Oozes out intimidation that disturb wild monkey monsters.
I got this t.i.tle after exterminating countless amount of Cinnamonkeys and Cave Kongs. No idea how many kinds of ape monsters out there, but this t.i.tle should prove useful against those crafty nimble monsters.
We keep pushing our way forward in the jungle while switching bases.
In the end, the monsters that gave us biggest trouble were the 2cm tall D-Green Leeches. Just as their name suggests, it"s a green colored leech monster that mimics a leaf, your HP would already be decreasing by the time you realized they"re on you. A single cast of Dry would kill them outright, but since you never know when they"re latching on you, everyone really detests it. To the point that I would scatter lightning bolts everywhere as we go forward when there"s no other people around.
"Oy oy, young"un. Dontcha vent yer" angers just cuz yer" grumpy. Even these lil" leeches... Oouh? It"s gettin" dark out here..."
Noaaa, he"s getting leeched. a D-Green Leech is latching on Wakamoto-san. I tore it off hurriedly and revived him with Dense Mana Water.
"Pheeeew, sorry "bout that, young"un. Blacked out for a sec there. Saw a dream in broad daylight, wonder if I"m goin" senile. I was holding weapons in both hands, swiftly finishing monsters off..."
Whoa there, Wakamoto-san, that"s far enough. And you aren"t going senile, you haven"t even lived for half a month. You hear me, understand? Good. The only good monsters are those that drop items. OK?
Afterward, we encountered two good stuff. Treasure chests.
But we shan"t be careless here. Me and Mitama"s got Lockpicking skill level 1 both. I put Full Protection on us just in case and unlock the chests from the side. Would be scary if flame arrows or flaming b.a.l.l.s come flying from the front.
The struggle continued for 30 minutes. We managed to open them. And Mitama got her Lockpicking skill leveled up. Nice. Each chest had a ring in it. Now then, wonder what kind of effects do these have.
It"s your turn, Discerning-sensei.
Scapegoat Ring
Quality: Average - Enclosed Mana: 3/3
A ring that takes on a fixed amount of damage in place of its wearer. The ring breaks once it exceeds its limit.
Curse Back Ring
Quality: Good - Enclosed Mana: 6/6
Protects wearer from Curse and may return it to the caster at a fixed amount of probability.
Even better than antic.i.p.ated. I"m gonna keep "em all.
After meandering around for a while, we finally arrived at the stairway to 9F. This was the most stressful expedition yet.
As I was telling everyone to be on their guard since the next area is a quicksand grotto, we overheard people talking. Looks to be a party going up from 9F. Six people in total. A man who seems to be the leader and three female slaves. Then two men who seem to be followers.
As I saluted them while being careful, they took the initiative to talk to us.
"If you"re thinking of going to 9F, better give it up."
The male leader spoke.
Fumu? Did anything happen?
"Is that right? This is our first time going to 9F, is there something unusual going on there?"
"Ahh, figured as much. There"s this annoying period on 9F quicksand grotto, see. The guild calls it [Turbulent Quicksands]. Sands that usually only flow to one direction change their directions to who knows where. The flowing rates also rise substantially. It"s gonna take 1-2 weeks till the whole thing settles down. You"d better abandon the idea of going there if you value your life."
I see. Something like that huh. But 1-2 weeks of lull are a pretty hard blow. Yet I can"t let the girls face danger needlessly either.
"I see, didn"t know there was something like that there. I appreciate the info. If there"s something you want..."
"Really?! Then could you spare us some water if you"ve got reserve. We almost got sucked into the quicksands, y"see. Went and dropped our water canteens somewhere, unluckily."
Man, he sure is quick to bite. This was the reason he shared all that info huh. Doesn"t change the fact that it was a big help though, I"ll give him as much water as he wants.
"Do you have containers? I"ll generate water with magic."
"Much obliged! We"re running short of mana after continuous battles too."
Since I"m providing them water and all, might as well ask thoroughly. Never hurts to ask lest you"re led astray.
Once I filled their canteens, all of them drank it all up in one gulp. They must be really parched.
Once they could afford to talk, I found out that they"re C-ranked adventurers. They were inside the quicksand grotto hunting for variant of Iron Ants, Steel Ants when they felt a slight tremor. The well experienced male leader judged that something was amiss and immediately ordered them to turn around and flee. If they got swallowed into a quicksand, they would lose sense of directions, raising risk considerably.
Another thing of note is how the ant-type monsters are going wild with red eyes for some reason. Ants that are in this state would keep attacking even after having their limbs cut off. Truly berserk system. Thus even the guild advised against going to the quicksand grotto during Turbulent Quicksands period. By the way, in case you get left behind in the grotto during this period, you"re advised to go to a simple observation base [Woosh Woosh] located inside. Guild members and guards are stationed there all year round, so you"re likely to survive if you get there.
Umu, I learned something good.
"From experience, Turbulent Quicksands happen once every few months or so. Well, consider yourselves lucky to notice before getting in."
They were really grateful when I shared them smoked food. Guess their food situation was truly critical. They were apparently planning to hunt on 8F before going back.
After going our separate ways, we had a family meeting to decide our next plan. And the result is; we"re going to see how it"s like on 9F before turning back.
At the end of the stairway was... flowing sands that would make even Ishikawa river and Yukon river blush. Fast! It"s definitely contending for the top spot of the rapidest of currents!
Alright, let"s head back.
Of course no one was against it.
We spent most our time on 8F during this expedition. We got so many kinds of drop items as a result, so it"s more than profitable enough. Thanks to the high ratio of Engel"s law, most of it was consumed by us ourselves though. Anyway, once we get back I"ll calculate our results and wait for the Turbulent Quicksands to end. We can also take quests outside dungeon or even delve in the dungeon to procure materials and gain experience.
・ The loot this time
Red Soul Stones (small monsters) x79
Orange Soul Stones (Cave Kongs, Cinnamonkeys) x46
Cinnamon x20 bags
Pepper x17 bags
All kinds of meat (for personal consumption)
Fruits (mostly tropical kinds such as mango, papapya, banana. However, all is for personal consumption)
Mithril Sword (From Cinnamonkey, worn out though) x1 piece
Two rings from treasure chests (gonna keep for ourselves)
Treant Timber (somehow were in our possession after the incineration) x8 pieces
Brilliant Plume (were in our possession before we knew it as well) x3 pieces
Wild Boar Livers x6
Protein x7 bags
Guarana x4 bags
Canola Oil x9 stone baskets (large)
Sugar x12 stone baskets (small)
Honey x7 stone baskets (small)
There"s too many things of unknown trade-in value.
This one especially.
Brilliant Plume
Quality: good - Enclosed Mana: 16/16
Plume of a normally plain bird [Kouhakusachikoba] that gets clad in brilliant colors once a year.
It"s probably less profitable than the last one money-wise, but we"ve procured so much more food, so our family food situation is flourishing. We"ve got more mouths to feed after all, and Master often drops by, our house"s Engel"s law keeps ascending without limit.
Anyway, saving people and stuff, this sure was an expeditions with many unexpected events.