CH 16

Magic Tree Dungeon

Next day.

I thought about going to the dungeon of the dog’s head again today to raise my level, but I quit today.

Today, I will go to the dungeon of the Devil’s Tree.

I came here to improve my combat skills because I knew that melee combat was an issue after I thought about it the day before yesterday.

This dungeon is an F-rank dungeon, which is below my current level, but it is the best dungeon for me to improve my combat skills.

“I knew this dungeon would be crowded.”

I didn’t choose a particularly unpopular dungeon this time, so it was only natural, but even so, there were quite a few people in this dungeon.

But there were still a lot of people there.

“Okay, let’s go.”

I put Dagger of Speed that I bought yesterday on my waist, equipped with the Dragon Tree Bow and Demon Dog’s Bracelet. I proceeded through the dungeon.

Today I have come here to improve my combat skills after reflecting on the day before yesterday.

In particular, I want to develop my dagger skills, and although I will probably only use the Dragon Tree Bow once in battle, I want to try the dagger.

“Alright, let’s see what the monster is……”

First, I will look for monsters to test the performance of the Dragon Tree Bow.

The only monster in this dungeon is a wooden monster called treant.

Treant is an F-rank monster with a body made of wood. As a tree monster, it cannot move from its spot, but it attacks continuously with its multiple roots.

“Oh, there it is.”

I was able to find one treant among the rows of trees.

In the Magic Tree Dungeon, treant mimics the countless trees that grow in the dungeon, making it hard to tell them apart at first glance.

However, it is easy to recognize treant once you get used to them since they all have eyes and mouths hanging from the trunks of the trees.

“[Lock-On].”

I activate [Lock-On] and aim a transparent arrow made from magic with Dragon Tree Bow at a treant.

The first time I used Dragon Tree Bow today, it was different from the usual one.

The strings are soft and I can hardly feel the weight on my fingertips.

It is as light as my old bow.

But there is no squeaking sound from the bow when I pull the string with all my might.

“Phew…… shh!”

After regulating my breath, I shot the arrow at once.

The arrow flies straight toward treant and hits the thick trunk tree.

But it didn’t end there. The arrow pierced through the trunk and went straight ahead, destroying the trees growing behind it.

And when it pierced a large tree a little further away, it finally stopped and disappeared with a high-pitched sound.

“……No way!”

It’s too powerful! I didn’t think it would be this powerful! This can take down a boss or something with a single blow!

Or perhaps this is the penetrating power of the [Magic Arrow], or my attack power is so high that it couldn’t stop the momentum?

Well, with the Dragon Tree Bow and the Demon Dog’s Bracelet, my attack power has gone up quite a bit, so I can’t help it.

“…… Okay, let’s run away.”

And I decided to run away from the place as soon as possible.

“I’m sure I’ll be okay in here.”

People are usually around, so I got out of there before anyone could see I had created that mess.

I got away, for now, so they wouldn’t know I did it.

Even if people found it, I hope they won’t know about my [Lock-On]. So people will think nothing special about it. But well, just in case.

“Well then, next, let’s try using Dagger of Speed.”

I put Dragon Tree Bow in the [Item Box] and take Dagger of Speed out of its sheath.

For this reason, I took [Dagger Art Lv.1] today before entering the dungeon.

Now Iou can gradually raise my skill level as my body gets used to it.

I have SP saved up for that.

“Treant~ where are you~?”

First, I walked looking for treant again to try out Dagger of Speed.

After walking for a while, I found treant up ahead.

“Okay, let’s get to it.”

Deciding so, I approached treant.

Then treant seemed to notice me and silently attacked me with its roots.

“Hah!”

I parry it with my Dagger of Speed, evade, and counterattack.

However, my attack power status is getting higher, and if I fail to parry, I will end up destroying the roots.

If that happens, it will be a long time before the next attack comes. So I need to create an opening by avoiding or parrying the attack and then attack there.

This time, the goal is not to defeat them, but to improve my fighting techniques.

I want to be as efficient as possible.

But after a while of doing that, the roots stopped coming out.

Do you mean I destroyed all the treant’s roots?

“Ah!”

This time, I’m the one who’s going to attack.

With a Dagger of Speed, the blade passes easily through treant’s body without piercing its body, which is no longer attacking me.

Treant stopped moving without a sound.

“Okay, next.”

I didn’t retrieve the defeated treant, but only took the magic stone and immediately left the place to look for another treant.

A while later, I find another treant, so I do the same, practice with the dagger, and take it down.

“Phew …… okay, I guess that’s about it.”

After I defeated ten treants with Dagger of Speed, I took a break.

About thirty minutes have passed since I entered the dungeon.

Although it had not been that long since I entered the dungeon, I fought with ten torrents and raised the skill level of [Dagger Art] to 2.

I feel that raising my skill level has improved the sharpness of my dagger swinging.

I also think my evasion skills have improved thanks to the fact that I was able to practice evasion for the first time in a while.

“I’d like to keep going like this, but I guess it’s …… difficult.”

I can’t practice on treant anymore with my current status.

“I don’t have a choice. Let’s go to the boss.”

I finish my break and head for the boss room.

The door to the boss room is on the fifth floor, three floors down from the second floor where I fought treant.

On the way down, I beat the attacking treant with a single blow and proceeded up to the fifth floor.

When I reached the fifth level, the door to the boss room was open, just like in the other dungeons I had visited.

“Oh, lucky me. I didn’t see anyone else in there.”

I thought I might have to wait because this dungeon is usually crowded, but I was glad it was open.

“Well then, let’s get on with it.”

I enter the boss’s room with my dagger at the ready.

Then I walked in, and a few seconds later I heard the door behind me close.

“Oooooooooo!”

Then, with a low growl, a monster appears in my vision from the darkness behind me.

The monster looked like a treant with a hand attached to it. It looked like a large tree, maybe seven meters tall.

The boss monster’s name is evil treant.

Its attack method is like a slightly enhanced version of a treant.

“Ha!”

I approached evil treant with my dagger to see what it would do.

Then, the evil treant attacks from the ground with a root that is thicker than the treant’s. I avoid the root, just as I did to treant.

I evade, parry, and sometimes cut them down with my dagger, just as I did to treant.

“It’s hard”

My attacks are solid, but it’s still more defensive than treant’s and there’s a bit of resistance when I put my blade through them.

If I get a little better with it, I should be able to cut it without resistance.

And at least it is weaker than the white kobold I fought the day before yesterday.

Evil treant is much larger, and the number of attacks and the mass of its roots is scary, but that is all.

I continue to observe while attacking.

After slashing at each other, the evil treant stops attacking with its roots and raises its hands to slam them into the ground, trying to cause them to vibrate.

But I jumped and overcame the vibration, twisted my body in the air to adjust my position, and while falling, I thrust my Dagger of Speed deep into evil treant.

“OOOHHHHH!”

Ignoring evil treant, who screams in sudden pain, I swing the dagger with all my might.

Then, combined with the sharpness of Dagger of Speed, I cut through the evil treant’s torso and inflict a large wound.

However, I still couldn’t defeat evil treant, and it turned its hand toward me, trying to grab me.

“You’re naive!”

I tried to slash at it again with my Dagger of Speed, and this time I succeeded in severing its arm and blowing evil treant’s hand away.

“Alright! That’s how I’m going to finish him off!”

I continued, slamming my fist into evil treant’s face, knocking him to the ground.

“Phew, I managed to win.”

I’m getting used to fighting with Dagger of Speed, but I’m still not there yet.

In the end, I ended up attacking with brute force.

“Well, that’s good enough for this time.”

Whatever the case, I came to this dungeon today to improve my combat skills. I can fix it from now on.

“Woohoo! Well then, let me practice a little more.”

I put the magic stone I took out of the evil treant into the [Item Box] and went out of the boss room.

Then, after confirming that no one is around, I go back inside the boss room and fight evil treant again.

Well, let’s see how many times I can try today!