Next 4-8 hours.Year 7446, Month 7, Day 1
I look down at the corpse of the Minotaur with my arms crossed while thinking. The moment I walked outside at the same time as the cage of {Lightning Bolt}s revived the light appeared from the ceiling again. Obviously the moment the Minotaur was believed to have died with the same timing the cage of {Lightning Bolts} disappeared as well. Certainly this could be called a {Sentinel}.
Oh~ guess I should have them gather the magic stone?
"Zulu, take out the magic stone."
After ordering Zulu to gather the magic stone, I immersed myself in thinking even more.
It"s necessary to properly investigate things in regarding to the revival of the Minotaur. I"m thinking of leaving the dungeon once, then coming back after making proper preparations to do that including making this room on the 8th floor into a base.
If we can"t eat proper meals and get some good rest then it can"t be called a base and if we"re going to call it a base then we need an environment where we can relax and get some proper rest.
Should I station someone here in shifts? No, no matter what the case that is..I guess it can be done. But, even if I were to pull some random members out from the {Butchers} even they"re still adventurers. There"s no guarantee they wouldn"t get charmed and try to explore the 8th or 9th floors outside of this teleport room. Even on the 8th floor there"s still a considerable number of areas that you could say we haven"t explored yet.
I"m sure there will definitely be members who want to go and explore. Even if a dispatch leader from the {Slaughterers} holds them back, they should end up acc.u.mulating dissatisfaction. However, hmn..since they"d be able to kill the Minotaur everyday if I think about the income from magic stones it should be profitable so I guess it"s fine?
If we stay here for 5 days then you can obtain over 5 magic stones worth 4,000,000 Z each, depending on how things go it"s possible you could even get 6 or 7. Even a.s.sessing it on the low end that"s income of 20,000,000 Z. 2,000,000 Z per person. No, since I already said my combat slaves don"t need to be counted I guess it"s even more? If they stay here three times a month then they could earn 6,000,000 Z a month.
Whether or not there"s someone who would even give up on that situation just to do something like dangerous exploration...
There isn"t right~ There"s no way there would be.
In that case I guess I should leave it to them huh? Even if I think about the expenses it should be a plus for me.
If the moment it appears, they all run out and beat it to death while it"s still crouching over then I"m sure even a newbie or third-rate adventurer could kill it. Probably. In that case I guess even my four combat slaves would be plenty? Or I could buy a couple more for shift members...That might be be good as well.
"Master, here"s the magic stone..But.."
Hn? The magic stone Zulu handed me had a considerably bad color. And it"s a bit light. Using Identify to check and the value was 30,000. This is way beyond just 1/10th the value!?
Seeing my face surprised looking at the magic stone, Zulu gravely nodded and said, "It seems to be low in value.." with a very disappointed tone of voice. Uwa~ this, there"s no way to make much. Ah, No, there"s still the {bardiche}. Since it doesn"t look to be used if we return with it then it should be possible to sell it for around 500,000 or so. It"s huge that we can sell the weapons. Since it pretty much hasn"t been used at all it could become a huge source of income. It"s to the point where it"s the first time I"ve seen a weapon in this good of a condition in the dungeon.
This time we obtained two of those. Making 1,000,000 from just this is big.
I guess I"ll try asking for opinions a bit?
"If this Minotaur were to revive again, what would happen if we fight head on from outside?"
"Putting aside the case of one on one like Al the first time, if we all do it together then wouldn"t it be fine?"
Ralpha who had come outside before I noticed said. Yeah. I think that"s the case as well but you know.
"If we were to do it with everyone here, Bel and Miduchi use the bow and {Blast.Back}..It might be good to include Zenom as well...And then there"s Toris and Zulu as the tanks {Shield.Holder}..Yeah. There"s probably no problem I"m sure."
Alright, shall we return once? It"s necessary to gather materials and whatnot for making it into a proper base. However, before that,
"Then everyone, leave behind any unnecessary belongings in the room. We"re going to look into the 9th floor. After looking in just a bit, we"ll return once. After that I think we"ll spend the time being carrying stuff in to make this into a base though. Alright?"
And after saying that confirmed that everyone nodded. Things like the battle axes of the Minotaur that aren"t necessary for checking the state of the 9th floor we put together in a corner of the teleport room. Of course, I ordered Angela and Zulu to throw the corpses of the Minotaur away in the distance. They"re in the way just sitting in front of the entrance after all.
................
Thanks to the unexpected Minotaur we ended up not being able to rush into the 9th floor during June but it"s just a short couple of hours, if we had wanted to we could have stepped foot into the 9th floor yesterday after that, so I think it"s plenty to consider this fine.
"Alright, let"s go. Bonukorin"
We teleported into the end of a pa.s.sage and immediately scattered while going on guard for attacks from monsters. After I confirmed that there were no monsters nearby I started using Identify vision to look down the pa.s.sage but at around 70-80 meters it seems to loosely bend to the right so I wasn"t able to see any further than that. However, it"s a relief that there weren"t any monsters in the range I could see. I lower my weapon and after everyone who scattered gathers back near the teleport crystal we relaxed a bit from preparing for an ambush.
Now then, in regards to the 9th floor, but we had already predicted it. That most likely it wouldn"t be all that different from the 8th floor. However, in terms of just the appearance it looks so similar that we really can"t determine whether it"s the 8th floor or the 9th floor.
"Just from looking it feels the same as the 8th floor right."
"..I guess so. Ah, I wonder if the monsters are the same?"
"If they"re the same then we already know, so it would be quite easy. By the way master, congratulations on arriving at an unexplored floor."
"Master, congratulations. Let"s say that master is the number one hero in the Kingdom!"
"Al-san, it"s fine as #1 right?"
"Yeah, Bel, go with that."
"..It seems that the field of vision isn"t any different so there"s no problem with remembering the terrain."
"In other words I wonder if that means there"s another Minotaur as the guard?"
"Yeah, I see. Saji, that"s a good warning. Father what do you think?"
"There is, it would be best to think that"s the case. Also we still don"t know anything about the monsters on this floor. There"s no guarantee that the monsters are the same as the 8th floor. Don"t let your guard down until we confirm the status of a corpse."
"..!! Everyone, please be careful! I can smell something!"
Everyone went quiet hearing Angela"s warning. Bel"s ears stood on end and started twitching as she closed her eyes trying to concentrate on even the smallest sound.
Including myself we all continued looking down the pa.s.sage while trying not to interfere with that, fixing our grips on our weapons.
"..What? Insect? No..I can"t really tell but..Something is approaching us!"
After Bel said that Toris picked up a rock at his feet and after using the spell {Light} on it, threw it down the pa.s.sage. The rock flew about 30 meters before rolling on the ground. We can vaguely tell that the pa.s.sage curves further down.
"We"ll attack it head on. Miduchi, Bel, shoot arrows the moment you can see the monster. We"ll check it out for a bit and if it seems dangerous we"ll retreat once and come back again. If there"s a large number of enemies then Toris, Ralpha, Gwine, and Basutoral all look for the timing to use magic and attack keeping them in check. Since it"s possible we might retreat, Zenom don"t throw your axe."
And while I was saying that the monster appeared further down the pa.s.sage.
"Cr..Crab?"
Ralpha let out a carefree voice but everyone quickly held their breath. Several giant crabs which just the width of their sh.e.l.ls is over 2 meters appeared and they are coming our direction while walking to the side. Judging from just the shape of their sh.e.l.ls the crabs look to be watarigani. However, they don"t have webbed 9th and 10th legs and including their 1st and 2nd legs having pincers attached to them their legs are almost like the isogani that are on banks.
【Male/9/5/7434.Red Battle Crab】
【Condition: Normal】
【Age: 12 Years Old】
【Level: 5】
【HP: 212(212) MP: 1(1)】
【Strength: 25】
【Speed: 27】
【Dexterity: 8】
【Endurance: 35】
【Special Skill: Super Sense of Smell】
Miduchi and Bel start shooting arrows at the crabs. The arrows are stabbing into the joints between their legs nad bodies but it"s not doing much damage. Even in regards to magic depending on the angle it hits the sh.e.l.l some of it seems to be getting deflected. The only effective magic that hit it was the {Flame Bolt Missile} I was using.
There"s no helping it if it can"t be controlled~
"The bow and arrow are no good. Limit the magic to {Fire Wall} or {Flame Thrower}. Miduchi you aim for the stomach or eyes using missile together with me!"
And I while I was saying that they already approached quite a bit. They move at a considerable speed.
It seems Bel and Ralpha used {Fire Wall} but at Ralpha"s skill level she can only make a small wall. Gwine is using {Flame Thrower} to cover for her there. The Red Battle Crabs that make it through the gaps of those walls were shot through by Miduchi and my {Stone Arbalest Missile}. If possible I"d like to aim for the base joints of their legs and do damage while also breaking them. Toris and Zulu will stop the advance of the weakened crabs while Angela acts as a decoy moving around, then while they"re caught up with that Zenom and Basutoral will damage them, that sort of strategy.
Zenom closed in on them and used his magic axe to smash open the sh.e.l.ls while breaking their legs. Of course the crabs were using their huge pincers to attack but since Angela is acting as a decoy they aren"t approaching a close enough distance to get caught in the pincers. They"re just luring them. Zenom made skilled use of controlling his axe, knocking down all of the attacks, and accurately smashing the sh.e.l.ls splitting them. Basutoral is making good use of his long reach as she stabs the stomachs of them like crazy.
If we calm down and it then they"re nothing at all. If we use attack spells normally then if it"s just this number we can crush them from head on.
In the end there was a total of 8 Red Battle Crabs.
"This, I wonder if it can be eaten?"
And, the gluttonous one lifted up one of the huge claws hanging from her axe while saying but her adoptive father said, "If you think that you should try it first. I don"t really care for crab or shrimp."
The appetizing scent of sh.e.l.lfish types being cooked spread around the surroundings and even if I tried using Identify to check it, it just said 【Red Battle Crab"s First Leg】, since it doesn"t seem like there"s any poison in abandon I took it along with the axe and tried cracking open the sh.e.l.l of the claw.
Since it"s raw meat it feels like there"s a bit of thickness to it. I need to properly pa.s.s it over fire.
I carefully approached the flame of {Flame Thrower} to it and after the half-transparent meat turned white I erased the flame and used a knife to cut off some of the white portion before putting it in my mouth.
The reincarnated people around me were watching over me closely.
In the worst case if I end up hurting my stomach it should be fine if I just use the spell {Neutralize.Poison}. Ah, I guess I should use it on it first. After using the spell {Neutralize.Poison} on the crab meat in my hand just in case I carried it to my mouth once again.
Ah, it works. This.
After just one bite I thought. I want some Kanisu.
"Want some?"
I said that and took another bite. All of the reincarnated people surrounding me nodded. It seems it"s fine so there"s probably no problem. After holding the claw of the crab and exposing it to the base I used magic to cook the meat again before holding it out to everyone.
"Try eating it. I think it"s probably fine."
Several of them stretched out their hands so I handed over the claw to someone and then watched over for a short while. It seems that no one is showing any strange reaction so there"s probably no "allergies". Though Baldukk and Rombertia are close to the ocean and there"s already various crab dishes so I wasn"t that worried about it. Hmm, it seems Miduchi is skillfully using {Flame Thrower} as well. That"s a delicious smelling scent.
I went to where Zenom and my two loyal servants were standing on guard at the end of the pa.s.sage. Along the way I picked up one of the legs. I had Zulu hold up the leg so it doesn"t fall over and used a knife to quickly cut through to the meat. I cut it down into three places from the base of the sh.e.l.l. This, doing it while it"s still raw takes quite a bit of getting used to it. I"m glad my body still remembers it.
I ordered Angela to bring over one of the huge sh.e.l.ls and too the sword out of my bayonet before cutting the remaining legs off at the base. Following that I stuck my sword into the center and caught from the stomach to back tearing off the sh.e.l.l all at once. After pouring some water into the sh.e.l.l and cleaning it out, I filled it with boiling water and used it like a container.
After taking the leg meat from Zulu I immersed the meat into the boiling water. The leg meat quickly swelled up almost like a blooming flower. I then handed that to Zenom who"s eyes went wide seeing that.
"There"s no seasonings but well try eating it. It"s fine to put some salt on it though. If this isn"t delicious then crab really might not suit your tastes."
"It seems it hasn"t been cooked very much but it"s fine right?"
"I think that eating them like this is the most delicious way. Personally though."
"..Nn..Oh! It"s delicious."
"It"s one of the best things you can have together with alcohol. Here, you two pick up a leg and eat as well. I"ll take over keeping watch."
It seems Zulu and Angela couldn"t skillfully take off the sh.e.l.l and were struggling with it. Seeing that when I helped them they smiled. Here, make sure you immerse it before the water cools down.
The Red Battle Crab"s were different from the boars on the 6th floor in that they have the special skill Super Sense of Smell. I wonder how it compares to the skill with the same name that Angela has? I think it might be the same as hers and increase in detection range based on body level. In that case since their body levels are low that would mean their detection range is that much more limited.
If we cook these things here creating the scent and then look for a good chance to use wind magic and send the scent circulate down the hall it should reach quite a bit into the distance. After all, the ones that were closest by these fellows are already rolling around right here now.
Next maybe I"ll try using a Cloud or Web-type spell to defeat them.
After doing it a number of times and we establish the most efficient method to defeat them then I guess we can advance a bit further inside.