The First Dungeon ①When you hear the word dungeon, what do you imagine?
A person from Earth would imagine a tower that touched the skies, caverns leading to the abyss, or mysterious ruins.
「Is something wrong?」
「No, I’m fine」
I told the worried Celica that everything is fine, and I stopped daydreaming and looked ahead.
It was a door.
I look behind the door, nothing. I look around the door, nothing. There’s nothing but a front door alone in the gra.s.slands.
「This is the entrance to the dungeon?」
「Yes, that’s right」
… What is this, this feeling of disappointment?
Since I don’t know what’s inside, I have to brace myself.
「What are you doing? If you are not going to go, this lady will go first」
While I was in thought, Charlotte opened the door.
My body moves forward unconsciously. I only noticed that I had moved after I caught the object bare handed.
「Nn? Uoo!? d.a.m.n, when did you!?」
「Move aside」
I shove the surprised Charlotte behind me, and activate [Detection] to confirm whether or not this arrow was shot by a person.
This was probably a dungeon trap.
What a trap… How many people has this trap killed?
「Mira, I will give you this. Everyone, stay behind me」
I pa.s.s the arrow to Mira, and we all form a line, with me as the vanguard, as we enter the dungeon.
I don’t know why, but for some reason there isn’t any light, and after the door shuts we’re wrapped in complete darkness.
It’s hard to see, but I think there’s a light about 20 meters ahead. I don’t know what awaits us there though, so I activate [Avoidance] and [Detection] and advance.
「There’s trap over there so be careful」
We advance straight ahead while being careful of traps, and after a while the narrow road starts to get wider.
Right in front of the light is a small hole.
It was quite the distance, but the arrow still had enough force to kill at the entrance. Just how much power was this arrow shot with?
「The road goes two ways from here」
「Which way should we go?」
I check both paths with [Detection].
Using [Detection] I can understand how many presences there are, the types of enemies, and the types of traps.
A good [Detection] skill is needed to find the hidden doors, treasure chests, and rare materials.
「Which way do you want to go, Sara?」
「Nn, understood」
Honestly, we would be fine whichever direction we went, so I let Sara choose.
Even though it’s only one trap, it’s a type that is easy to trigger. However, if you know the location of the trap, you don’t have to worry about it.
After we make it through the pa.s.sage, we entered a room where there were 3 knights on each side of the room waiting for us.
「Mu, isn’t that a treasure chest?」
There’s a treasure chest located at the back of the room. Charlotte, who found the chest, tries to go before me, but I pull her back by the neck.
Everyone looks at the collapsing ceiling.
Bones and other remains were scattered everywhere.
「Girls, step back」
At my words everyone falls back. I, on the other hand, walk forward into the room.
I can’t use my sword this time, because it seems that my sword would break if I used it against them.
I wonder if that’s the golem’s core?
If I get rid of that, will the golems perhaps stop?
I stab a golem through its left side to its bosom with my sword and take out its core. 5 to go. (Ed: I thought she wasn’t going to use her sword?)
I hit the golem on my left with my sword, using enough strength that it’s knocked back and collides with another golem. When the golems clash, their cores are destroyed. 2 more.
I quickly yank out the core of a nearby golem. There’s only 1 golem remaining.
This should be enough, right?
「Sara, Charlotte, I will hold it down. Attack it with magic. Mira shoot it with your bow」
The remaining golem is sacrificed to raise the skills of the girls.
Charlotte starts singing something like 「My…」 and 「Jet black…」. It smells of chuunibyou… Un, let’s just pretend that I didn’t hear that. Mira, please stop laughing. The person in question was serious.
「Flame」
「Abyss!」
「Celica」
「Yes!」
Celica jumps in, takes a big swing, and smashes the golem with her full power.
I hear a gla.s.s-shattering sound. It seems the golem’s core was scattered.
「Well done」
The 4 that defeated a huge monster for the first time are celebrating.
When I opened the chest, there were 3 potions inside.
– ? ? ? ? rank ?
? ? ? ? ?
After I took the potions out of the chest, I couldn’t see their effects.
I probably can’t see the name and effects of the potions because those skills are still too low.
Charlotte obtained [Magic Chanting]. This skill increases the magic power of the spell if you sing while chanting. It suit Charlotte.
I put the potions into the item box and look at the effects.
– Potion rank6
External wounds heal slightly faster.
As expected, the potions obtained from treasure chests are better than those in the store.
I collect the fragmented cores from the golems and check whether or not there is a hidden door in the room where the girls are waiting.
I looked for one for about 30 minutes, but I couldn’t find anything. I decided we’d go the opposite way this time.
「Horrible」
Just like in the other room from a while ago, there are decomposing corpses scattered around.
The causes of death are all different though. Where the bone had all been scattered in the room before, the cause of these deaths was a single arrow stuck to the head.
「Wait here a minute」
I determine the number and locations of the traps.
There isn’t enough s.p.a.ce for me to unsheath my weapon.
Once the traps are triggered, they won’t fire again for a while, so this pa.s.sage is safe.
When I notice that it won’t attack me even when it can see me, I think it’ll be safe unless I enter the room.
Now, what should I do?
Without a doubt, it will break after only one more blow. It would be better not to use the weapons we bought at a store in dungeons of this rank from now on.
That means Celica will have to sit this fight out, and while I distract the enemy, the other 3 girls can attack from outside the room with their ranged attacks.
I bring the 4 girls in, and after I hand another arrow to Mira, I tell them the strategy. Celica was a bit depressed when she heard the strategy, but this is the only way.
The same moment I enter the room, the orc prepares the large sword and attacks while roaring.
This time I won’t use my swords.
While the orc rushes at me, I kick it lightly.
The orc is blown away, and releases its sword from the impact.
「Flame」
「Abyss!」
Sara and Charlotte attack the orc with magic.
Is this orc resistant to fire?
「Sara, different magic」
「Yes!」
I kick the orc another time, and while it tries to regain its composure from the impact, I pa.s.s the giant sword to Celica.
「Use this and be the vanguard with me」
「Eh, oh, yes!」
I found a good weapon, so Celica can fight as well. The sword is really big, but it should be okay if she holds it in both hands.
「Abyss!」
「Wind cutter」
Magic was released again, and the orc opened its mouth to roar and deflect the magic again, but this time, when the orc opened its mouth, an arrow pierced it.
The orc writhes in pain while the magic Sara had released cuts the orc, and Charlotte’s magic drills the flesh out from its chest.
「Yaa!」
Celica stabs the orc in its wound with the big sword.
If it had still been moving after this, I was planning to finish it off myself, but it seems the orc died after the last blow.
The growth of the 4 girls is faster than I expected. I’ll check everyone’s status.
Sara Lv27 Talent 9
Skills
– Magic Lv3– Detection Lv2
Mira Lv24 Talent 9
Skills
– Cooking Lv3
– Hawk Eye Lv5
Celia Lv26 Talent 8
Skills
– Hammer Lv8
– Big sword Lv2
Charlotte Alister Lv20 Talent 10
Skills
– Flight Lv5
– Grapple Lv1
– Magic chanting Lv3
Their levels are rising quite a bit.
Although we’ve acted together up until this point, why have none of the girls learned the [Discovery] or [Appraisal] skills?
Let’s experiment with this a little.
「Ano, how do I dismantle this?」
「A lady like me doesn’t need to see the dismantling of this pig」
That reminds me, what materials from the orc could I sell?
Can’t be helped, let’s stuff the whole corpse into the item box.
After I touch the corpse, it disappears, and I explain my magic to the surprised Celica and Charlotte.
Even after I had explained it, Charlotte didn’t look too impressed, and started to look around the room.
After confirming that there was nothing in the room, we decided to head down the stairs.