CH 115

Chapter 115 – Forest Dungeon

We return from Tir na Nog to the central square of the Starting Town.

“Well, our trip had an unexpected end….so what now.”

“What now indeed~?”

“How about a tour of the Abyss as a thank you for visiting Tir na Nog?”

“You want to repay good with evil?”

“There you go joking again.”

“That should be my line!”

That idea got rejected.

While the Abyss is isolated, it doesn’t seem to be completely off-limits. But the Nether and the Abyss are the afterlife, so they’re no good.

“Oh, yaho yaho~”

“A wild plant appeared!”

“Long time no see?”

If it isn’t Clementia-san. And she’s still riding on something!

“This guy underneath you has a kind of plain, cute mascot feel to it…”

“It’s nice~”

This little one seems to have levelled up too, due to her evolution, right? The buds, which were all green, are now a bit more colourful, and there are six vines instead of four.

I think she was a Dryad.

“So, what are you up to?”

“We were just talking about what we were going to do.”

“Right, right~”

“I know! It’s time to go to bed!”

“That’s the best part of an MMO…”

“”I get it~””

You’re having a leisurely chat with friends, then it’s time for bed…the best thing about playing online.

“Let’s go hunting with the three of us~!”

“I don’t mind, but where?”

“…I wonder?”

So it will be a three person party made up of me, Fairellen-san and Clementia-san. Then Clementia-san will be the main tank and I will be the off tank.

“Cave.”

“Don’t do that.”

“That’s impossible for Fairellen-san. Would you be okay, Clementia-san? The stomps come pretty often in there…”

“This little one’s stomp resistance is really high.”

Clementia-san is the only one in this group who can’t fly. I was asking while thinking about the earth element Goleman’s, but this mysterious plant creature…apparently it’s stomp resistant.

“Fuuu…we’re going? To the cave. Gonna die…I am that is!”

“Why are you being so fatalistic? …Though it’s probably true.”

“Isn’t it better than the ruins?”

“Better than over there~.”

“Well, me too? I’m going to get burned by the fire elemental Goleman!”

“It’s no good.”

The cave seems like it would be easy because of the low level, but enemies of four attributes make it quite painful. Especially so for inhumans, because there are enemies that are bound to exploit their weaknesses. Angels, Devils and Immortals are weak to light and dark, so it’s no problem for me.

“What about the west?

“We don’t have the fire attribute, do we?”

“No, but they can’t exploit your weaknesses either. How is your resistance to abnormal conditions, Clementia-san?”

“I don’t think there’s anything in the west dungeon that would be effective.”

Clementia-san is prone to being afflicted by burning or scalding, and takes more DoT damage than others, but is otherwise fairly resistant. Well, she’s a plant. If anything, she’s more like me, the side that inflicts the conditions.

“Compound-attribute fairies aren’t as resistant…”

“Well, it’s purely an increase to weaknesses, and there aren’t many enemies that use compound magic at the moment, right?”

“Immune to lightning and vulnerable to fire and wind, was it.”

“Lightning is a derivative of wind and earth, so both fire, which is wind’s weakness, and wind, which is earth’s weakness, become weaknesses.”

“Plants are a bit special, aren’t they.”

Plants are derived from water and earth, but they are weak to bashing and fire, and strong against water and earth. Axes are the worst.

“By the way, what’s the situation with dungeon progression?”

“I think it’s about time for the subjugation of the boss in the west to be reported~.”

“They can’t push through the north-east yet. So west is first, huh.”

The cave dungeon in the north-east has various attributes, and there are things such as the golem beam. The level is low, but the difficulty of the dungeon itself is quite high. Since the only opponents are golems, fighting will cause a lot of noise, even if you try to avoid it, and more will come running.

“Let’s go to the west forest dungeon~”

“Speaking of which, how do you travel, Clementia-san?”

“I can use Byakhee.”

She’ll do ‘Ia ia’!

Clementia-san takes out her interstellar whistle. It’s a whistle made from an alloy of silver and meteorite. Apparently meteorite can be gathered at the bottom of the lake at Starfall Hill.

“Err…Maybe I haven’t unlocked the town near the west dungeon.”

“Really?”

“The ruins are too compatible with Princess. There’s no need for her to bother going west.”

“That’s right. Though soloing dungeons other than the ruins is a bit… Ah, we should eat.”

“”Oops.””

After eating the food and receiving the buffs, we split up to head to our destination.

Clementia-san leaves through the gate. Fairellen-san teleports from the statue to the nearest town and will fly from there to the dungeon entrance.

Incidentally, Fairellen-san has cast [Windbreak Barrier] and [Cold-Resistance Barrier] on Clementia-san. Because she’ll be carried through the sky by Byakhee.

I teleport from the statue to Breyvrich in the west, and enter subspace from there. I’ll follow the road leading west.

This town seems to be surrounded walls and sits at the top of a small hill.

<The portal to Tirivetta has been unlocked.>

I have turned off the option to display the resurrection point selection when unlocking a new portal, which was added with the recent patch, so there is only the message about unlocking it. I don’t think I’ll be changing it from my house, so this is fine.

Now, north to the dungeon entrance. Looking at the map, I can see that Fairellen-san has already arrived and Clementia-san will be there soon. Even if it’s not through subspace, going there directly through the sky was fast.

I arrive a little after Clementia-san.

…And I see that other than the two I was expecting, there is someone I’m meeting for the first time.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“Oh, fast.”

“Princess, should we take this snake with us~?”

“Greetings, Princess. I’m Viper.”

“Greetings, Viper-san. I’m Anastasia.”

“Why like a shinobi…?”

“”It’s ninja etiquette. It’s even written in the Kojiki.””

“What are these people that haven’t even sneaked into the NINJA saying.”

Princess &amp; Snake.

I have occasionally seen Viper-san around. I don’t think I knew the name though? No, but, a 10 metre long snake will draw your sight even if you don’t want it to.

According to the person in question, it is 11 metres and 11 centimetres. The race is a basilisk. Since it’s a snake, it is effective at searching for enemies, but being so large means it is bad at hiding. It has good self-healing and a lot of HP, and has the evil eyes of deadly poison and petrification.

It has large eyes with red pupils and elliptical black iris. It’s belly looks slightly purple due to the reflection of light on the glossy black scales. A pretty cool looking snake!

By the way… female! It’s a female player.

The basilisks in this world are known as mid-level killers. They are a wall for C-ranks, that one has to become accustomed to before they can be considered full-fledged.

They have a large body and lots of HP, will regenerate if left unattended and can use evil eyes, so drawn out fights against them are unfavourable. You won’t be able to defeat them without enough firepower and if you haven’t taken precautions against abnormal conditions you’ll be quickly driven into a corner. It seems that they can also use earth magic.

The biggest problem is that these guys evolve at level 50. Generally, the higher species that have nasty abilities start from level 60. The basilisk is considered to be a dangerous opponent for adventurers who have little experience in fighting high ranking species and are not used to fighting opponents with troublesome abilities.

By the way, the chicken-shaped cockatrice is also considered a mid-level killer, like the basilisk.

It seems like it’s difficult to enter towns due to the size. And being completely a snake means not being able to talk to Residents.

Well, let’s invite her to the party.

“Thank you.”

“”Welcome.””

“Nice to have you.”

Let’s go, to the forest dungeon!

The entrance to the dungeon is quite simple. Just a statue in the forest, beside a staircase leading underground.

The statue makes it a safe area, however, so it is probably used as a camp ground for Resident adventurers. There are signs of life around such as traces of campfires.

When we enter the dungeon…Oh, it’s a fantastic forest!

The whole place is dimly lit, and firefly-like lights can be seen quite often.

“Do we need light?”

“It’s not that bad, but it’s still a forest, so visibility will be poor.”

I have night vision…and it’s probably not relevant to the snake, Viper-san, but Fairellen-san and Clementia-san aren’t taking any special measures.

“Oops, wait a moment. I need to eat.”

“”‘Kay””

“Well, it won’t take long. Secret technique…. [Telekinesis] ….Swallow whole!”

“What the heck!”

She lifted up the soup bowl that was taken out with [Telekinesis], then poured it all down.

“What a snake-like thing…”

“Snakes do swallow whole after all~.”

“Now you mention it….”

They don’t chew and they don’t have hands, so they swallow it down for the cooking buff. By the way, apparently snakes are very hungry, so they have a hard time managing their hunger gauge.

…We also end up eating again, for the cooking buff. The buffs have a time limit!

“Ah, what about those damn monkeys?”

“Ah, everyone in this party but Viper is fine, right~?”

Viper-san is talking about the Noisy Monkey’s. They appear from the second floor.

They are enemies that mainly show up in trees and throw nuts and the like. In short, it’s a ranged physical type of enemy. The problem is that they’re quiet at first, but when they hit you, they squeal and laugh, so it seems like they’re taunting you. That’s why ‘damn monkeys’.

“I don’t mind taking ranged ones.”

“Mmm… maybe Ellen would be better.”

“Really~?”

“For search and destroy.”

If we’re talking about ranged enemies, I can go Jedi, but Viper-san recommends Fairellen-san.

The reason being that Fairellen-san moves fast, and will have plenty of cover since it’s a forest.

Clementia-san can rampage in the forest, and should stay on the ground when considering condition resistance.

If I’m the first one to be attacked, I can deal with it, but I can’t forget that Viper-san is 11 metres and 11 centimetres. She will probably be the first one to be hit.

Therefore, it’s faster for Fairellen-san to go hunting.

“And Princess uses magic, but depending on the position, the trees can block line of sight.”

“Ah, so that’s how it is in a party.”

“I’m too big for that.”

I never thought I’d see a snake ‘tehepero’. One eye closed and the snake tongue flicking.

Hmm…hmmm….I’m not going to comment.

I’ll summon Lizzy for the time being. She’s a purely physical attacker. It’s valuable since Viper-san is the only one in this party.

I follow after Viper-san as she slithers her way along.

“By the way, Viper-san, do you use the evil eye of petrification?

“I want to level it up, so I’ll use it? But I don’t know if will be very effective in battle…”

“I think it will be judged separately from mine, but we should check…”

Freezing, petrification, stagnation. The result is the same, but the attributes are different. Ice, earth and space. Viper-san has earth and I have space. Let’s just check if they attempt to apply the same effect.

Whether it will be effective during battle…that’s another matter.

Now, the first villager, or mob…is a level 47 Stardust Bug. It’s a ladybird with a very beautiful back. And it’s big. Big enough for someone to ride. It’s probably a higher version of the Ride Bug that appears during the Starting Town defence battle.

Well….it is probably too unbalanced for people to ride in combat, but it could be used for travelling. Riding it into battle would be impossible. Considering the shape of a ladybird, that’s understandable.

That aside, it apparently has high physical defence.

“Heyheyhey, ladybird-chan! Good, it’s coming!”

The Stardust Bug charges over, but Viper-san catches it, wrapping around and stopping it from moving.

The Stardust Bug’s defence is high enough that it makes it unsuitable for Viper-san to attack, but if she can stop it, the three of us casters can stack pillars on it. We’re in a party, so there’s no friendly fire and we can drop the pillars on top of Viper-san.

“…It’s easy.”

“Viper, work hard from now on too~!”

“Isn’t it quite difficult to entangle them though?”

“Work hard!”

It was easy, just as Viper-san said. But that was because Viper-san was able to skilfully catch its charge.

Don’t let yourself get caught up in Fairellen-san’s side of the conversation, and please do your best.

By the way, I’ll float with Fairellen-san. Viper-san is too big. To put it bluntly, there are cases where she might crush me.

Lizzy has high enough agility to avoid it, so Viper-san only needs to worry about Clementia-san.

“Crappy mushroom!”

“Uwaa…”

Viper-san sounds disgusted by the Paralyse Matango that are coming over. They are about 60 centimetres tall, have a yellow umbrella and run around on small legs. This one seems to be an agile type of enemy that scatters spores while performing hit and run attacks.

How it runs around at a fairly high speed looks quite frustrating. But if left alone, they will paralyse you.

In addition, they come in groups. There are four of them this time…

“Heey, what do you feel now? What do you feel right now, Viper?”

“Nothingness.”

The Paralyse Matango’s are bumping against Viper-san’s body, but she is completely unmoved by it. It’s like a dog being prodded by a baby…

Also known as ‘Hey, what do you feel now’ mushrooms.

“They’re not a good match with Viper, huh~.”

“There are some idiots who will jump into my mouth, but that’s about all I can do.”

“They’re not much of a threat to me and Princess either.”

Clementia-san and I are both immune to paralysis, so it doesn’t matter if dealing with them takes a while. Their attack power is low, so it’s just the paralysis and movement that is troublesome.

It would be a pain if other enemies showed up though, so the general rule is to defeat them quickly.

Just parrying the mushrooms that come running won’t cause any damage, because they are soft, small and light.

Even if I parry them away in the direction of a tree, they just kick off the tree and come running again…it’s a bit cool for a mushroom.

And they move fast enough that you can hear the sound of the wind from it.

“Hmm….a pain.”

“Putting a wall out near Viper might be easiest.”

So casting a wall there in the hopes that they’ll run into it on their own.

None of our party can properly draw aggro like a tank… Though «The One that Reigns» does make it easier for me to be targetted.

“Clementia-san, can I leave them to you after I knock them down?”

“Okay.”

I’ll put up a wall like a shield for Viper-san, then parry the mushrooms that come my way towards the wall. If that doesn’t work, knock them down towards the ground and leave them to Clementia-san.

It seems to do some damage if I swat them straight down. The ground is the strongest weapon after all.

“Come, you fools! I’ll have you treat me to dinner!”

…One of the Paralyse Matango’s was swallowed by Viper-san.

One was eaten, two took a trip into the wall and one was dealt with by Clementia-san.

The drop from one of them is a para-mush.

This seems to be a mushroom that can be used to produce a very good soup stock. Though they have to be properly prepared first or they will cause paralysis.

Apparently it’s possible to get a guaranteed high quality drop with the correct finishing method, but you need to horizontally cut the umbrella from the stem, so it’s impossible with this party.

“It would be easier if I could just eat them right from the start.”

“The mouth of a big snake is strong~.”

In this game, being swallowed is essentially instant death… So far, there should be no way to survive being eaten. A snake with a large body that has a major premise of swallowing enemies is strong.

Well, Viper-san doesn’t have a build that focuses on swallowing. Basilisks use their abnormal conditions.

“If you’re mainly swallowing, it should be paralytic poison~.”

“I’m looking forward to it, Ellen.”

“Once they’re paralysed, they’re already dead~!”

“Right, right.”

Lightning has paralysis as a side effect. If they get paralysed by Fairellen-san’s attacks, Viper-san will swallow them whole and they’re done for. Already dead when paralysed…yup.

“Can the enemies here be paralysed in the first place?”

“Bugs and Matango’s both get paralysed…”

“HAHAHAHA!”

There will also be some animal types showing up, so that’s about it.

“By the way, what floor will we go to?”

“In terms of level can’t we go to the lowest~?”

“We’ll die if hounds come, though?”

“It’s my first time here, so I’ll leave it to you.”

The first floor is 46-49. The second floor is 48-52. The third floor is 50-54. The fourth floor is 52-56. The fifth floor is 54-58.

We’re all over level 50, so we can at least go to the third floor.

“The problem is the patrolling hounds~.”

“Because they’re fixed at the maximum level for the floor. I’ll be the last one to be eaten.”

“Hmm…Then floor 4, if we’re considering hounds?”

“Eight of them. Can we manage?”

“In the worst case, you take care of them while I’m being eaten.”

“Then let’s go to the fourth floor.”

The patrolling hounds…In short, they’re like the Elimination Type in the ruins.

In this forest dungeon, the first floor has two Blood Hounds at level 49. After that, the number increases by two per floor, for a group of 10 on the fifth floor.

Furthermore, they’re fixed to the maximum level of the floor, so on the second floor they are level 52. In other words, the Bloody Hound’s have evolved into Vampire Hounds and are roaming around in a group of four…

“Is it not impossible for hounds to attack targets in the sky?”

“They climb the trees~.”

It seems that the altitude limit is quite low, and they will jump through the air using the trees. I had a feeling it might be the case when it wasn’t brought up earlier.

Also, it seems you can’t use [Search Magic] here. The hounds will sense it and dash towards you as fast as they can. They’re reacting to the magic power, rather than the chanting, like often seen in games.

“What happens if you overlay it with another party’s [Search Magic]?”

“It looks like they go for the closest.”

“If you can trace it back…no, that would be impossible.”

“You could do it if you know the position of the hounds first~.”

If another party uses [Search Magic], the hounds will head in that direction, so if you can trace the [Search Magic] back and find the location of the other party you should be able to use [Search Magic] to make hunting more efficient…is what I thought, but it’s no good.

Following the magic back will only tell you the location of the other party, not that of the hounds. You’ll only be able to figure out the location of the hounds by using [Search Magic] yourself, so depending on where they are, they might come for you.

“If we seem to be okay after encountering them, we could go further.”

“I wonder how we’ll manage with these members~.”

“Let’s go to the fourth floor for now.”

Right. Let’s proceed quickly and aim for the fourth floor, to begin with.

“Oh, there’s a Charming Moth.”

“Ugh, where?”

“8 o’clock, behind the tree.”

“Okay, leave it.”

Charming Moth mesmerises its foes.

It perches with its wings spread, and uses them to charm its targets. It only seems to spread its wings like this while on a tree, but it’s an enemy to be avoided if possible.

Not that it matters to me.

“No, I think Princess can kill it. Maybe Mine and Pillar with [Parallel Casting]?”

“Well, the words for [Parallel Casting] are… [Wa’zi Lia Persepho Kera].”

Put a mine behind the Charming Moth’s head, and…place a pillar on it.

It is pulled after being blasted by the pillar, then hits the mine when it tries to take off. The mine created with the effect of the Book of Elder Records also detonates, and the pillar burns away the rest of its health.

“Here comes the experience.”

“This is terrible.”

“Okay, let’s leave moths to Princess~!”

“”Let’s do that.””

Moths seem to have low HP, so they can be killed without any problems. Well, they only appear on the first and second floors.

I can place mines and pillars anywhere in my recognition range thanks to the magic eye, so it’s pretty strong in such cases.

If there’s a problem…it’s needing to go over there to pick up the drops. I wonder if it’s easier to just disable the skills…

We’re currently aiming for the fourth floor, so we have decided to ignore any moths that aren’t directly in our path.

The first moth got taken in by me.

“I can see the stairs.”

“Then down to the second floor we go.”

We were attacked by Matango’s several times, but that was it. There were moths in my recognition range, but we passed them by. What a low encounter rate.

We didn’t see any Sword Deer or Sacrifice Tree’s…

The forest itself looks the same on the second floor, but it seems to be wider than the first level.

The Residents will need enough food and water to go to the lower floors, and can’t expect any help in emergencies. This dungeon also has many types of enemies and a generally high level of difficulty…

But this is a forest dungeon. Demand is high for the medicinal herbs and wood that are available. They would need equipment for resisting various attributes in the cave dungeon, so this might still be easier. It seems to be treated that way.

Residents have it tough.

“The next staircase is… over there.”

It’s my first time here, so my mini-map is gradually filling in, but the others have been here before so we can head to the lower floors by the shortest route.

If it was in the ruins dungeon, I could be the guide.

Oh, a moonlight flower. I’ll go and get it.”

It’s a material for Giga MP Potion’s, which are aimed at levels 50-60. By the way, the HP one uses sunlight flowers. I also need the mandrake that finally showed up. Yes, the one that screams.

“Ah, I’ll get the mandrakes.”

“Alright.”

However, Clementia-san is a plant. They don’t seem to scream at her. A new racial trait has been discovered.

Even if a mandrake screams, it won’t affect me, but it will affect the others, including Clementia-san. And since we’re in a dungeon, it would attract enemies.

They don’t scream at Clementia-san, so it’s better to let her take charge of them.

“Oops, there’s a mandrake.”

“Have you seen a mandrake, Princess~?”

“No, not yet. And I can’t grow them at my house.”

“Then here’s one.”

Clementia-san hands me a mandrake that she easily pulled out with her vines.

For the time being, I’ll just appraise it and throw it into the temporary party inventory. It will be distributed when the party disbands.

[Material] Mandrake　Rare: Ra　Quality: C+

A magical plant that requires careful handling, as it shouts when pulled out.

It is very potent and useful for highly effective magic potions.

Those who hear the cry of a mandrake will be drained of energy, and the weak will faint.

The results of testing showed that energy (MP) is drained and people who are weak (A check against the spirit stat) will faint. Apparently being low on magic power causes one to feel weak and lacking motivation, which is probably why it is phrased as drained of energy.

Only priests have high spirit among the Residents, so the general recognition is that the scream causes people to faint.

Oops, there’s an enemy coming.

“From the vibrations….a rabbit?”

“A level 50 War Rabbit is coming.”

By the way, Clementia-san’s method of searching is quite special. It is powerless in the sky, but must be extremely strong for detecting creatures on the ground.

“That’s definitely a rabbit that evolved into a killer rabbit.”

“I get it~. It’s gonna be a Vorpal Bunny for sure~.”

“Wizardry?”

“”Right, right.””

It should go even further back than Wizardry. Movies and Alice in Wonderland.

Simply put, it’s a rabbit that aims for your neck. And in this game, the neck is part of the body where a forced critical hit occurs. It’s very deadly.

“Didn’t the verification team conclude that the rabbit has a guaranteed special effect?”

“An instant kill~. But it makes no difference to me~!”

Special ability or not, Fairellen-san will die instantly if she’s hit, so it really doesn’t matter!

Mm, so it came.

War Rabbit. A rabbit standing around 80 or 90 centimetres and wielding a two-handed axe.

“Ah, sorry Princess. Take this one, please!”

“Mhm, that’s fine.”

Then I’ll be tanking the rabbit.

“…It looks like it would be really fluffy.”

“I think there’s a lot of them as tames and summons~.”

“”Strong too.””

…Maybe I should take one in.

The one in front of us is a little dirty because it is wild, but it looks like it would be fluffy once clean.

Ah, Viper-san is using the evil eye. I should try stagnation too. …There are two different icons, so they are judged separately. The other thing I’m curious about is if the increasing resistance after infliction is also determined separately…but I don’t know if that’s possible to check. The enemy will probably die first.

It has very round eyes, which are around the height of my waist.

At the same time as it jumps, it swings its raised axe towards my neck. Lizzy’s axe hits the side of the airborne rabbit and blows it away.

I follow up with a lance spell after it is knocked away.

“Snakes have a weak point at their neck too, so it’s a bit…”

“Really?”

“It’s smaller compared to humanoids, but it’s there. It still aims for it…”

Clementia-san who has two arms plus her vines should be okay, but it should be safest for me to deal with the War Rabbit.

Even if my neck is cut, it won’t count as a critical hit and I won’t die instantly even if my head goes flying. It doesn’t even affect my ability to see and regrows in 5 seconds.

“As expected, Rabbit-san. Quite…agile!”

The rabbit charges in bravely on three legs, then aims at my neck again, so I parry it in the same way, leaving it open to be blown away by Lizzy again. This time it’s goodbye, after Fairellen-san and Clementia-san join me in following up with magic attacks.

“This guys critical damage is weird.”

“It makes no difference to me~!”

“”Suppose so…””

Even if you’re hit in the neck, it’s only a forced critical, and as long as you have HP you will live. However, the attack of the War Rabbit does seem to have some special effect…to the level that it can’t be survived.

Oh, I’ll get permission to take this one in.

The body size is determined to be small, so it has the same cost as a wolf. It’s advantageous that it can be equipped with weapons without customising.

“The skull of a rabbit is pretty scary…”

“The mouth part is the worst bit~.”

Well, it’s not all that endearing.

I’ll need to make a template for rabbits, to make use of [Technique Optimisation].

Considering the stats…The skeleton is War Rabbit, the material is armour, the shell is 1 for the time being, the rating is the current max. level and the size should be the default.

For axes…the only one I have is the tomahawk for Lizzy to throw. I’ll swap it for a two-handed sword for now.

“Hmm…I think it looks good.”

“Haha, seems tough.”

“What’s a rabbit?”

“It’s completely armour…scary~.”

Appearing with round red eyes and fluffy white fur…is not gonna happen.

Red lights shining in a black void, matte metal body and a large, blunt sword.

The rabbit version of an armour.

“The colour of the weapon looks like mithril~.”

“Lizzy’s the only one that can use her axe, so I need to make a new one…”

“Was level 50 meteorite~?”

“I think so.”

I don’t need to worry about weapons for myself, so I’m not too clear on that.

Meteorite is…not suitable for armour, according to the BBS. It’s apparently difficult to gather enough.

“Ohohoho, I don’t use it.”

“Right~.”

…Your weapon is your body!

“Fairellen-sa…”

“Ehh!?”

“Fairelleman is dead!”

“Ukkiii! Kikikiki! Ukya!”

“Damn monkeeey!”

A surprise throw from a Noisy Monkey lands a direct hit on Fairellen-san. I didn’t see it coming until too late.

Noisy Monkeys are very quiet when they’re not screeching, but get really loud after the first attack.

Oh, I’m the only one that can use [Resurrection] in this group.

“I’ll revive you.”

“Please~”

“[Frons Bind]”

Clementia-san’s bind spell causes the branch the Noisy Monkey is perched on to change and entwine it.

Going from casting the bind to restraint was quite fast. So that’s what happens when a plant-based mage uses «Wood Magic» in a forest.

While watching Viper-san approaching the Noisy Monkey, I cast the revive.

“[Resurrection]”

“Ukyaa!”

“Shut up~! Say my name~!”

“Why did you become Jagi? [Frons Pillar]”

Ah, the axe thrown by Lizzy is stuck in the monkey.

Viper-san arrives at the monkey that is caught in a green pillar, drags it down to the ground by entangling it with her tail, then wraps around it.

“Fuhahaha! Now! Hit us both!”

“Are you feeling strange~? Not that it will kill you~.”

There’s no sense of tragedy, probably because she’s laughing like that too much….

That and how it looks. It’s a monkey of about 1 metre, caught and wrapped up by a snake over 10 metres. The snake is the predator here, no matter how you look at it.

There’s no way it can shake off Viper-san, so it’s goodbye to the monkey.

“Isn’t this party terrible~?”

“What is a tank?”

“It’s fine as long as we can beat them.”

Yeah, well… Like Clementia-san says, as long as we can beat them, we’ll get experience, so it’s fine. But the process itself is pretty terrible.

I don’t have one yet, so I take in the monkeys body and we move on.

“It’s a bug. It might be bad!”

Viper-san tried to stop and entangle the Stardust Bug with her body…but it was able to get through.

“No, it’s difficult.”

“Don’t go giving up already~.”

Fairellen-san and Viper-san are joking with each other, but we don’t forget the magic attacks. It’s an enemy that runs in a straight line, so it’s relatively easy to hit.

It has changed its target to me, so I parry away the bug that charges over, then smack it down with a tentacle when it comes back.

“Bugs are tasty!”

“Really?”

“Ah, I can’t actually taste them.”

And it’s defeated once Viper-san gobbles it up.

The second floor is still at the lower levels, so it’s going smoothly.

We came across a Sacrifice Tree, but left it alone. They attack with their roots or use «Wood Magic», but aren’t hostile unless attacked first.

The Sacrifice Tree bears delicious fruit, but they are grown using the bodies of the creatures the tree devours, so they are considered highly dangerous.

Sacrifice tree. For the tree, the fruit is probably the sacrifice, but you’ll die if you try to eat it, so it’s hard to say…

“Ah! A wild deer has appeared!”

“Come, die with me…”

The battle between the snake and the Sword Deer has begun.

The deer that has evolved to have sharp horns and the basilisk are glaring at each other. But the basilisk has an evil eye, so the deer has no choice but to move quickly.

The deer steps up and charges at Viper-san. Viper-san doesn’t dodge, but counters with a bite.

The horns of the deer cause bleeding, but Viper-san’s fangs inflict deadly poison.

The trees are in the way of Viper-san in the forest, so she can’t use her body for cleave attacks or the like. She needs to wrap around the enemy instead.

Naturally, the deer rampages around, occasionally hitting with its horns.

Mm, it feels like a fight you might actually see in nature!

“Hey, you three with the firepower! Don’t just watch, attack!”

“I didn’t think it was polite to interfere in a battle to the death.”

“”Mm, mm.””

“Forget that!”

Well, it could get dangerous if the intensity of the bleeding increases.

The deer isn’t moving anymore because she has already wrapped around it, so we can defeat it with pillars. Thinking about it this way, a big snake is strong… A formidable physique!

Now, the third floor. There is no change to the appearance of the forest.

It is level 50-54 from here, so we’ll only see enemies that have had their level 50 evolutions. Additionally, some will show up in groups.

“Why don’t we try fighting the hounds here?”

“Let’s see what happens when there are six of them~.”

Well, there are four of us in the party, so if we get to the fourth floor I can bring out #1 as a lump of meat…I think.

“Uwa, a caterpillar. I’m sending out Viper!”

“I wonder what sound a basilisk makes…”

“Swallow that Mesmer Gusano!”

“I’d hate that!”

“Then wrap around it!”

“I’d hate that too!”

“Why, when you’re almost the same~!”

“Are you picking a fight!? Don’t lump snakes and caterpillars together!”

Fairellen-san and Viper-san are arguing…

I don’t particularly mind snakes, but for those who dislike both, I suppose there’s not much difference…is there? If I came across a snake in real life, I would run away because I don’t want to be bitten, but that’s different from saying I dislike them.

“Anyway, swallowing that enemy is no good…”

“Is it a natural enemy of snakes and frogs?”

Mesmer Gusano　Lv51

A volatile secretion is generated in the body and gradually released through the skin to spread a mesmerising effect.

Becomes parasitic on being eaten, growing rapidly by devouring from the inside.

Attributes: -　Weaknesses: Physical, Fire　Resistance: –

Class: Insect　Order: Parasitic

Family: Caterpillar　Genus: Caterpillar

Species: Mesmer Gusano

Condition: Normal

It looks like the slightly deformed larva of a butterfly or moth… It looks like a caterpillar, but that’s a terrible ecology.

By the way, it’s really weak. There’s the odd feeling of it being something of a bonus character.

Well, it might be strong if you consider that it’s just a ‘larva’? It spat out thread and attacked at a speed that doesn’t match a larva. But sadly…was just a larva in the end. Lizzy’s attacks took it down quickly. Very weak against physical attacks.

After defeating the Mesmer Gusano and proceeding a bit further, I discover another Noisy Monkey, so I let the others know.

“Stop it, damn monkey, that attack works against me.”

“Super effective.”

“Throwing stones of that size at a fairy violates the treaty~!”

“It’s like firing an anti-materiel rifle at a person…”

Yeah, it certainly looks like that.

Stones the size of softballs come flying, which would be enough to mince a fairy if it wasn’t a game…

…Clementia-san binds it and we punish it.

“Hm~…there’s more leeway with MP than I expected~.”

“We’re still in the upper floors.”

We might have a small number of people, but we’re all firepower types. Strength is power.

While glancing at Clementia-san’s mysterious creature as it moves about, I search our surroundings for enemies.

Most of them are picked up by «Sensing» skills, but the forest dungeon is a troublesome place in that there are some plants using mimicry. If you’re hunting here at an equal level, they might slip by.

…I parry the vines that come from above.

“There’s something there.”

“It’s hanging down.”

“It’s coming from above!”

The vine attacks are coming from above, so I keep parrying them away.

“Hanging enemies are the most bothersome to find~.”

“They’re annoying because they don’t have any defining features like the others.”

“There’s the main body. [Frons Pillar]”

“”As expected of a plant!””

Clementia-san finds it easily, so we beat it up.

The main body of a Hanging Tree is hard to find, and it attacks enemies in range from above. Rather than attacking all the time, it’s the tricky type that stays out of sight and attacks when there’s a gap or your guard is down.

Before the main body is found, it only uses vines, but once it is discovered, it also uses «Earth Magic». Put another way though, that’s all it does, so it’s easy to defeat as it doesn’t move around.

“Roasted by pillars from three people, and Lizzy-chan’s axe… already on its way to heaven…”

“””It’s its own fault for not moving.”””

If all the stages of it hit, pillar spells have the highest firepower. Pillars are best for unmoving enemies.

And plants are weak to axes. …Lizzy’s weapon is a two-handed axe. It didn’t move so she got a full swing in. It sounded good.

While proceeding forward while hunting, we have soon reached the path to the next floor.

“We didn’t see the hounds. Should we call them?”

“Call them with [Search Magic]~.”

It shouldn’t make any difference who it is traced back to, so any of us could use it. The dungeon does seem to have PK’s, but only in the upper floors, but…I’ll be the one to use it.

“[Mey Hyrseh Ogma]”.

Ripples spread across the mini-map, and red dots appear.

“Hmm….they’re not nearby… Ah, that might be them. They started moving this way at a high speed.”

“Oh, that’s them~”

“I don’t see any enemies nearby that will interfere.”

“Standby…”

“…They aren’t running straight here?”

“””Eh?”””

“Eh?”

The cluster of six red dots on the mini-map are coming this way while meandering around quite a bit. They’re moving at a reasonable speed, but…in a way that feels like they’re searching for something.

“Ah, the effect has worn off.”

“…Maybe enemies can also fail in reverse detection?”

“Is tracing back a search a spirit check~?”

“I don’t know.”

Viper-san can also use earth magic, but it doesn’t seem to be that high since she uses it infrequently. Her stats tilt towards the physical, so its firepower isn’t that great.

Clementia-san uses it next.

“I caught them.”

“The bait is Viper.”

“Hey, wait!”

“Come get some fresh meat!”

“Princess!?”

I’m more like ‘meat’ though, if we’re honest.

…Would they be easier to beat if I let them eat one or two of my arms? They’ll take the effects of «Unknown Organisation» in by themselves. In my case, losing a limb results in a maximum HP reduction of 20%, so I need to be careful not to reduce it too much.

Hm, I can’t see them yet, but they’re within the detection range. Six red dots are approaching.

They enter into my visual range all at once. Mostly black wolves, but with legs tinged with red.

“Scary faces.”

“””Undestandable.””

They’re monsters and enemies, so even if they were cute, they’re still that…

“There’s a cute rabbit here too.”

“It’s aiming for the neck.”

The problem with the big rabbit is that it has something dangerous in its hands. You can’t help noticing it.

Well, they’re here.

Basically, even if we take one per person, there’s two left over, so two of us would need to take two. It would be possible to have Lizzy take one, but…I wonder. I think Lizzy will pull aggro while fighting, so maybe it’s better to wait and see.

As expected, all six gather around Viper-san and start to tear at her. A Vampire Hound’s attack will cause bleeding, so you’ll soon die if it’s left untreated.

“Taking the one on the left~.”

“Then I’ll get the middle one.”

“The one biting her tail is mine then.”

Attacking each of them will draw their aggro.

After I attack the hound biting Viper-san’s tail with magic, it changes its target to me, drops the tail from its mouth and comes this way. It’s looking at me and snarling.

With this, Viper-san has three of them. Everyone else has one.

“I’m binding, Princess.”

“Got it.”

Clementia-san binds one of the ones attacking Viper-san, while Fairellen-san is playing tag and attacking with magic.

Pillars are dropped on the bound enemy by me and Clementia-san.

“Grrrrrr!”

“You! Eyy!”

“Grawr!”

“Damn you! Oraa!”

Viper-san looks like she’s having fun. …I wonder what the weird voice is about.

While I am attacking the bound enemy, the one I pulled first has been taken by Lizzy, so I’ll get the bound one. I’ll let Clementia-san fight her first enemy.

The bind wears off while I’m chanting another pillar, but the hound is restrained again by biting it with tentacles…just in time for the new pillar.

Leaving alone the enemy trapped in the pillar, I’ll attack the enemy held by Lizzy. As expected, enemies of the same rank are a bit tough for Lizzy.

“Alright, defeated!”

“What are you celebrating for already? Come kill these ones.”

Fairellen-san has finished off her target and is going to assist Viper-san.

Two pillars from me and one from Clementia-san have left the other hound with just a little health, so I parry its claw attack as it rushes at me, then finish it off with magic.

And also defeat the one held by Lizzy.

“Looks like we can manage six~?”

“I think we can do it even with two more.”

We’ll let Viper-san recover for the time being…then it seems we’ll head down to the fourth floor, as planned.

And…there’ still no change in appearance on the fourth floor.

Is the ruins dungeon rare in that it changes as you go deeper? It might be because the cleaner types are there, but it could be that there are enemies that affect the environment, too. …Though it’s also possible that it’s just designed that way.

“Well~, hunting~!”

“Time for the real thing!”

We have been heading straight for the stairs so far, but now we’ll be aiming for enemies.

Now then, where are those enemies.

“The best one, please.”

“Is a group of Mesmer Gusano’s easiest?”

“They use their mesmerise at range via sense of smell, so won’t a group be troublesome?”

“We can leave it to these two~.”

Technique: Leave it to someone else.

It’s true that Clementia-san and I can take them out easily with Lizzy.

Oh, over there.

“This amount is…Parasite Shroom, is it?”

“…Nothingness.”

Parasite Shroom is probably an evolution of Paralyse Matango. The way of handling them is almost the same, so once again Viper-san is staring into space.

While watching the mushrooms come over to hit Viper-san, we all put out walls.

The only difference in appearance is…that black spots have been added to the yellow umbrella of the Paralyse Matango’s.

Parasite Shroom　Lv54

A fungi species that grows by spreading spores and using the target as a nursery.

After growing to a certain point, they become independent, turning into Parasite Shroom’s.

Attributes: -　Weaknesses: Fire, Water　Resistance: –

Class: Fungi　Order: Parasitic

Family: Matango　Genus: Matango

Species: Parasite Shroom

Condition: Normal

This fungus is apparently vulnerable to water.

Both Fairellen-san and Clementia-san use walls of water, instead of lightning and wood.

Viper-san and I can’t use water, so it’s the usual.

“They’re like Docomodake!”

“That’s rude to Docomodake~.”

“I’m laughing at Docomodake falling to darkness.”

Certainly, they do look like that… These ones are a bit more colourful though.

While talking, I parry them towards the walls, then when the wall disappears put out a new one and repeat until they’re defeated. They’re quite easy to beat, but if you take too long the abnormal condition will increase in strength, making you more likely to die.

…It’s usually called a DPS check, but since they’re spores, it’s not really a problem if you don’t breathe them in.

“If it’s a spore-type condition, it might work on me…”

“No, isn’t the body of Princess already made up of much worse?”

“…I see. So even fungus will die.”

I was parasitised by a plant during the camping event, but I was still a zombie race at that time. It wouldn’t be strange to think that I’m protected from even that, now that I have «Unknown Organisation».

Well…it’s okay to think of it as being immune due to having abnormal condition immunity, since it’s a game. That is justice in the game.

Heading towards a reaction on the mini-map, there is something glowing, near the ground.

“””Oh, it’s a bonus character.”””

It’s a Lantern Skink. Sadly, it’s a bonus character, second only to the caterpillar Mesmer Gusano.

The reason for its defeat is its behavioural patterns and ecology. No, does it count as ecology? To put it simply, it’s a lizard version of a butterflyfish, and attracts insects to eat with the faintly glowing artificial bait.

When something touches the bait, it’s treated as an attack and the lizard enters battle mode and crawls out of the soil.

But, but…

“Then, pillar and mine”.

The area near the lantern…is where its head is.

Prepare a pillar and a mine with [Parallel Casting], place the mine near the glowing area, set down the pillar and done.

It is pulled by the damage from the pillar. Then when it crawls out of the ground, it runs straight into the mine.

Mines and pillars from three people. And an extra mine from Viper-san. My equipment effect gives me 2 mines and 2 pillars, so it’s a total of 5 mines and 4 pillars.

“I’m really laughing at this enemy.”

“It’s bad that he doesn’t have invincibility when he crawls out.”

Crawling out means defeat, because it’s guaranteed behaviour.

In other words, it’s like an appearance cutscene, but it’s not a boss, so it’s not invincible during that time. You can attack all you want. You can put down high-power mines, walls and pillars…a tragedy.

“Isn’t a mine enough?”

“Feels that way.”

It should be enough to just use mines next time, to save MP.

This forest dungeon is popular because it’s easy to hunt in.

Visibility is poor, because it’s a forest, but the map is wide enough that you’re unlikely to have more than one encounter at a time. Things to be aware of…would be the Noisy Monkeys, Hanging Trees and the hound patrols. Other than that, it’s pretty good.

In that sense, the cave dungeon is very difficult, isn’t it?

“By the way, do you have any information about the boss here?”

“It’s a giant beetle~.”

“So it’s a beetle…is it a hercules?”

“No, what was its name… It has three long horns~…”

Ah….there was one like that. I don’t know the name of it…

“So it’s a saw-like caucasus beetle.”

“Was it a red stag beetle, with jagged, slightly downward facing horns?”

“That’s it~.”

Even if I’m told it’s a caucasus beetle, I’m not sure I’m imagining it correctly, but…I at least understand that it’s a beetle with three horns, so it’s fine.

“But it seems to be bipedal.”

“…Isn’t there something like that in Pokemon?”

“Yeah, well… This beetle is different from what you’d imagine~.”

Apparently the saw-like horns are not attached to the top of its head, but grow out from around its cheeks.

“I couldn’t stand it when I saw a screenshot with the caption ‘Why…’.”

“That was hilarious~.”

“The way its horns are arranged is like Arcbeetle from Medabots.”

Arcbeetle….umm, was it that one. The one with the protrusions from its head and chest.

If it has three horns in that kind of arrangement, is it two from the head and one from the chest?

“It looks like it’ll shoot something when its HP drops…”

“””Understandable.”””

Oops, a War Rabbit popped up behind us. There’s bound to be more than one party hunting here, so it happens.

It saves us the trouble of going looking for one.

“Bunny-tan logged in!”

“Time for it to log out again.”

“You’re in the way Viper~!”

Fairellen-san and Viper-san are pretty close.

Bunny-tan logged out after being knocked around.

…It’s too bad that it came out alone.

“Hmm…maybe a plant type.”

“…The tree over there has some really colourful fruits.”

“”A Rainbow Plant.””

There is a tree with red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and purple fruits in my recognition range.

They are basically inactive, but once they are active they use wood, earth and water magic. In addition, the fruits come flying at you, with each colour causing a different abnormal condition.

Of course, eating them will cause the condition too, but I at least don’t think they look tasty enough to want to try that…

If there’s something to mention… you shouldn’t eat them because they cause conditions, but there’s no mention of the taste. For those of us who can ignore the abnormal conditions, there is a chance they are just delicious fruits…

“I wonder if that fruit tastes nice…”

“It tastes exquisitely bad.”

“…Is that so.”

So there was already a challenger.

Exquisitely bad…that kind of makes me curious, but I’m not going to bother trying something I’ve been told is unpleasant.

There might be people out there who are able to eat them as though they’re delicious though.

Now, what are these two red dots nearby?

…Noisy Monkeys. What a bother. And they’ve already spotted us…

The stone comes out when they rummage around near their waist. It’s really strange… It’s the size of a fist, so I can’t imagine they would be able to fit more than one there.

Viper-san is slithering towards the monkeys, while the stones rain down on her. With that happening to one side, we attack the monkeys with magic.

“Orraa!”

“Kikii! Kikiiiki!”

“Damn it!”

Being that size, Viper-san is able to leap towards the monkey on the tree, but it brilliantly avoids by jumping from tree to tree.

Well, the Noisy Monkeys are typical ranged attackers, so it’s unavoidable that it’s hard to Viper-san to get close.

“I thought I’d do my best, but I took a stone to the knee…”

“Which part of you is the knee, snake~”

“”Fufufu.””

There are many who used to be adventurers, like us, but took a stone to the knee after coming to this dungeon.

…There’s a group of three War Rabbits. Rabbits are the most likely to come in groups, after hounds and Parasite Shrooms. The number in a group is determined when they spawn. Meaning you could have a single one spawn behind you, or if you’re unlucky, a group with the maximum amount.

Incidentally, the worst luck in this dungeon is to have hounds appear behind you.

For War Rabbit’s, me, Viper-san and Clementia-san will take the aggro. Lizzy will attack mine and Fairellen-san will target the closest.

I can’t tell if these War Rabbits are smart or not.

The rabbit’s identity is its jumping ability, and the fact that it jumps to aim at the neck of its target is understandable. I understand, but jumping in battle is basically a foolish idea, isn’t it? At least unless you can jump again while in the air.

This rabbit doesn’t turn away even after it gets parried away when it jumps. Perhaps because it’s in the air, when it gets parried it backflips away, lands, then immediately jumps for my neck again.

Compared to other enemies, there’s not much of a gap to attack after parrying. But if it is hit, there’s not much chance of it resisting, since it’s in the air. On the contrary, it allows for a fairly high-speed battle.

Yeah, I think it’s amazing. They only aim for the neck, so it’s pretty easy to hit them with shot, and you can even just drop a mine in their path…really amazing.

The tentacle counter will sometimes knock them away, and even if the counter doesn’t activate, Lizzy will attack from the side and blow them away, followed up with my magic and a throwing attack from Lizzy.

“Somehow, these rabbits are extremely easy to fight…”

“””Princess is just special.”””

…They seem to be easier to fight against in an agile melee battle.

They repeatedly crouch, then jump, slashing while aiming at the neck. Since they are aiming for the neck, they will only slash horizontally…

The general rule is to just swing your weapon down before the enemy’s axe hits, knocking them back down.

If the timing is off, your head will go flying, so it seems like they are feared as rather thrilling rabbits.

“If you get ambushed by these rabbits at this level, they can take out up to three people right from the start…”

“It’s especially dangerous for the rearguard.”

“I’m more scared of monkeys~!”

Rabbits are basically herbivores, so they’re good at hiding. War Rabbits are bigger than a normal rabbit, though.

Fairies are glass cannons, so it already doesn’t matter once the enemy uses physical attacks… In that case, the stone throwing monkeys are more dangerous.

“In the first place, you have a weirdly colourful position Princess, being a magic attack parry tank.”

“Jedi with attack magic.”

“It’s a shame you don’t have a threat building skill~.””

“Not as much as a shield user, but I would like at least something…”

Rather, I don’t want to do as much as a shield user. I don’t want pull aggro from the tank. Being able to maintain second place in threat would be best.

It’s unlikely that Athame will adapt to shield skills, so maybe a presence skill. My ability to move stealthily will be destroyed, but that doesn’t matter if I enter subspace.

We continue to wander around, defeating enemies and collecting items.

“Oh, moonlight flower, mm.”

“MP is important.”

“Put another way, it’s no exaggeration to say it’s more important than life!”

“The end of MP is the end of life.”

Well, that’s the case for magic attackers. It’s basically a style dependant on MP, so when the MP runs out they become a liability.

“Uwaa, uwawauwaaaaa!”

“That’s not a voice a maiden should make.”

There was clearly something wrong when Fairellen-san suddenly started screaming after moving away to gather.

It seems that there was a Calmness Spider. A small spider with short, sickle-shaped protrusions near the mouth, called the chelicerae. It’s an evolutionary change that seems like it might make eating difficult, but maybe it’s better than not being able to catch prey. It does increase its murderous appearance.

It’s a spider that performs sudden physical attacks. It hides behind the leaves of medicinal herbs, then attacks with deadly poison through the sickles.

In other words, an attack like that is pretty dangerous for Fairellen-san.

“Caught it with my face. Safe!”

“Are you in primary school?”

“Your face is out.”

“What are you saying about my face~!”

Fufu…Power Pros, was it.

With all that said, the Calmness Spider was still quickly defeated. This enemy is only a nuisance because of the surprise attack and souvenir of poison, but it’s fine as long as it doesn’t hit your neck. …Though Fairellen-san’s HP has gotten quite low.

“Oh, it’s about time to get my laundry in.”

“Then let’s go back to the entrance take a short break.”

“”Okay.””

Viper-san needs to bring in her washing, so we’ll go to the entrance of the floor.

“See you in about 10 mintues then.”

“”Alright.””

“Understood.”

I’ll go to the toilet, hydrate myself and stretch a bit. I have to move my body now and then.

After about 10 minutes, I return.

“Oh, Princess is here.”

“I’ve been doing a little bit of exercise.”

“That’s good.”

Clementia-san was the first one back. She is relaxing on the mysterious creature. I’ll also make myself comfortable on meat mass #1.

“That’s quite a queen-like personality, leaning back with your legs crossed, stroking the eyeball sphere.”

“This is where I’ve got the RP perfected…”

“I can see that. But you’re completely a villain.”

Oh, Fairellen-san is back too.

“Extremely inhuman.”

“I think it’s important to appeal to the feeling of being different to humans.”

“It’s true that Princess looks like a human, but then there’s the spheres.”

Clementia-san has light green skin, Fairellen-san is small and has wings and Viper-san is a big snake.

I’m blindfolded, but at first glance I look human. But after that you’ll notice the spheres orbiting around me.

“Oh, wait….seriously a hidden boss.”

“”I get it.””

“What’s that now?”

“Lizzy-chan’s already standing a little behind you.”

As Viper-san says, Lizzy is standing upright with an axe, a little behind and to the left of me.

…The contents of Lizzy really are a mystery. The soul, which would be the main body of Lizzy, is already in the Nether. And it’s not #1. Maybe it’s a ‘residue’ that remembers how the body moves. Or a fragment of a memory.

“Let’s continue then!”

“”Let’s go.””

“Right, shall we?”

After a short break, hunting time resumes.

Search and destroy in the forest again.

Hm, the enemy is coming.

“Uwaa, there’s a whole bunch coming.”

“Oh, good, good.”

“Hey, hey, hey! Become my food… nothingness.”

As soon as the Parasite Shroom’s come into view, it’s like she becomes dead inside.

“Rabbits coming from 5 o’clock.”

“Maximum number of both mushrooms and rabbits!”

“See you again after we die~!”

“We should do something about the assumption of death.”

It’s a large group of 6 Parasite Shrooms and 3 War Rabbits. The maximum group size for both types on this floor.

Dealing with the Parasite Shrooms is left to Clementia-san and Fairellen-san, while me and Lizzy are handling the rabbits.

However, letting the rabbits go to Viper-san is troublesome. If we’re not careful, Viper-san will die. As you’d expect, three of them aiming for her neck and she’ll die.

In that case, it might be best if I hold all the rabbits. To be honest, War Rabbits are easy to handle, so let’s do it.

I place mines so that they will trigger them as they jump for my neck, or shoot them with a shot as they are airborne.

Using [Parallel Casting] to cast different spells of the same attribute, I can place mines along their path and send lances flying at the rabbits blown away by Lizzy.

I can afford to do so, since the AI only aims at my neck. Parrying is very easy, so there is plenty of room for magic.

“Nom~”

…The rabbit that I parried back into the air was swallowed by Viper-san as she jumped forward. It was the one with the most HP left, so it definitely made my life easier.

…This is the natural order of things. I feel like the War Rabbits are probably on the predator side, but….hm? Does hunting for heads mean the War Rabbits are carnivores? Or is just a means of self-defence and they’re still herbivores?

“Being a big snake is romantic, but it doesn’t work well in tight spaces.”

“If not in a forest, just moving about is enough to be considered strong, huh?”

“Well, yeah. But I don’t want to cut down trees every time I go hunting…”

“It doesn’t sound very efficient.”

A mushroom rushes in from behind, so I turn around and hit it with a full swing.

The two types of AI both have relatively simple methods of attacking, but since there are a lot of them, the problem becomes how to deal with the large numbers. Or so I’d like to say, but usually a main tank with a large shield and an offtank with a small shield are enough to hold them.

If you can’t fight in a stable way, either the hunting ground is no good, or your party is not strong enough.

That rabbit seems to be dying. I’ll leave it to Lizzy, who smacked it away.

Put a mine by the landing point of the rabbit I’m parrying, then a wall near Viper-san. There are still many mushrooms.

Lizzy seems to be done, so put her on standby. In the case of mushrooms, Lizzy can intercept them.

I match the jump of the rabbit with shot, then say goodbye to it as it hits the mine at its landing point.

“Rabbits are done, but…mushrooms are nearly finished too.”

“Kinoko no ko~.”

“”Die already, damn mushrooms.””

Two very bitter people interrupt Clementia-san’s attempt to sing. They really are annoying, so I can’t say anything.

The remaining mushrooms are completely beaten down.

“From 9 o’clock…coming this way!”

“Won’t retreat! No cowering! No regret!”

“Stop re-translating for laughs~?”

That was a dubbing after translating the lines from an anime, then translating them back again…

9 o’clock is the direction obtained by viewing the mini-map as a clock-face, with north representing 12 o’clock. It’s 9 o’clock, so to the left.

It’s hard to understand at a glance, if the mini-map is set to rotate, but I have it fixed, so there’s no problem.

“Doggies coming.”

“It’s time to hunt~!”

“Now, which of us will be hunted…”

“At that time, we still didn’t expect it. We never thought it would come to that…”

“We never thought that such a thing would happen to Viper~”

“Oi, oi, oi.”

While we’re having such a conversation, Vampire Hounds arrive in a group of eight.

They approach slowly, growling and snarling.

“Viper, take eight!”

“Hey, wait.”

“We’ll laugh while pushing you in.”

Well considering her size, they’ll go for her at the start.

“Come and eat my meat!”

“Ah, don’t hesitate~.”

“Oraa! But don’t think it’s gonna be free.”

The hounds charge in and start chomping away, but it won’t be a free meal. It’s amusing how it’s eating meat for the sake of eating meat. A completely wild fight, without honour.

For the time being, I’ll take two of them. If they haven’t been attacked yet, I can pull them away with a single lance.

And Clementia-san will be using bind, so I’d like to put down a pillar too.

“I’ll bind.”

After pulling them away one by one, it’s time for bind. Let’s stack the pillars. Fairellen-san will join in too, so we can defeat one.

I cast two lances and pull away two of the hounds biting at Viper-san, making sure not to let Lizzy take aggro.

If the tank can endure it, it’s best to focus fire on one at a time, to reduce the number, but we don’t have a proper tank with us in the first place. I really appreciate the high damage reduction having someone using a shield provides.

I stick my tentacles straight out to a hound running this way after being pulled by the lance.

“Ah, it ate it…”

“Because it’s a carnivore? They aren’t eating mine…”

That one has lost a lot of health from taking in the meat containing my «Unknown Organisation». Abnormal conditions are the strongest if you can apply them from inside the body.

If they aren’t eating the plant-based Clementia-san, I wonder if it’s due to her appearance. No, they’re wolves, so it must be scent.

In the case of Clementia-san…she could have grown sharp thorns on her vines. It would certainly be easier if the enemy bit down on them. The amount of damage done by poison is directly related to the intensity of the condition.

Let them chew on it and they’ll be full of abnormal conditions.

As for the first one to eat my tentacle…

“Hmm…how clever.”

“Well, Princess’ poison is strong… They won’t want to eat it again.”

The hounds seem to have a learning AI. It would have been easy to take them down by having them eat my tentacles, even if they’re a patrolling mid-boss…

I have two of them and Clementia-san has one. I’ll get Lizzy to join in so we can take them down quickly.

For the time being, lets try and have Clementia-san’s target eat too.

“I like this tentacle strategy. It doesn’t even decrease Princess’ HP.”

“It’s sealing their bite attack, so it seems like it might be effective against other enemies too.”

The hounds are only attacking me with their claws.

Well, in action games…it’s common for acting a certain way to induce an enemy to act in a specific way too.

“Is it…possible to get bitten deliberately to limit their behaviour?”

“It would make the fight easier, but what about the MP cost?”

“Right.”

“But in this case, it seems like it might reduce the number of shots needed.”

“Ah, certainly in this situation.”

The basic rule is to shoot from behind, so it’s a bit tricky to think about getting bitten once in that situation.

But in this case, we need to spread the enemies out, so with one or two targetting me, it’s fairly reasonable.

“No, but you can put a mine in the path of the bite…though wall doesn’t work.”

They are smart enough not to charge into walls.

It’s a bit difficult, but feeding them a mine while avoiding the bite is strong. If stability is preferred, shot is better.

The enemy’s AI has gotten smarter, along with the level rising. Balls and lances can be avoided when shot from the front. Hitting with the fast arrow spell is relatively easier.

Hunting becomes more efficient as you try various things…this is fun. It’s the best part of action games.

“Now, the rest…”

“Yeah, looks like there’s no problem at this level, right?”

“Yes, it does.”

One of them is still chomping at Viper-san. Another one is chasing Fairellen-san. The one pulled by Fairellen-san has more HP. She must have only just taken it.

Well, the one targetting Viper-san is the first to take down. Fairellen-san’s is harder to predict, so I’ll leave that one until after.

“Fuhahaha! It’s my victory!”

“Think about why you lost by tomorrow…is not possible.”

“You’ve been freed from your worries. Hahaa!”

“Scary, haha. The resident of a nightmare land?”

Now, next is Fairellen-san’s target…

“Ellen, I’m binding!”

“Okay~.”

Fairellen-san comes towards us, the hound chasing her is entwined in plants, then it’s ‘amen’ after the pillars.

“An easy win~.”

“Look at my HP and say that again.”

“Oh~? What’s wrong, Viper-san, you’re covered in scratches~!”

“Orraaa!”

“That was close!”

Viper-san is trying to eat Fairellen-san, but she’s avoiding…

Lost HP can be recovered. I can raise my «Holy Magic», so it’s okay for Viper-san to get hit some!

We continue to wander around the dungeon, defeating enemies. We happily beat the enemies that come to us, and we hunt down the enemies that don’t.

I can say that the hunt has been going well, without any problems. Sometimes Fairellen-san dies… but that’s just the usual. It’s not something to treat as a ‘problem’.

“Nuaa!”

“”Was that a monkey?””

“Oh, there it is. That was the best shot today.”

I’ll leave the monkey be for the moment, and bring back Fairellen-san, who has become a ghost.

When a player dies, they become transparent for the duration of the revival countdown and are able to move within a certain range of their body…but Fairellen-san is floating above her body in a daze.

“I was dead before I realised. I don’t know what else to say, because I don’t know what happened…”

“”You were sent to heaven by Clemens.””

“A stone came flying at you.”

“You’re being too cold, you guys.”

“Says the corpse. Haha!”

“I enjoy the dark jokes Princess suddenly throws out.”

“Understandable. Let’s go.”

“Don’t leave me!”

I wake up Fairellen-san after we’re done playing about.

“Oh, hero. How pitiful to die here…”

“If you think about those worlds realistically, they’re a little surreal.”

“After fighting honour-less battles against monsters, they diligently stuff the bodies of their allies into coffins and drag them back to town, to get the church to resurrect them…huh.”

“And mercilessly break jars in other peoples houses~.”

“Trespassing, property damage and theft.”

But put another way, is it the privilege of a hero to have those three things overlooked?

As compensation, they have to keep fighting monsters and demon kings many times, while being injured and dying repeatedly…I don’t think it’s worth it…

“You can’t really know the setting of that world just from playing the game, can you?”

“Well, it’s information that doesn’t matter~.”

While hunting and talking about unimportant things, the time passed in the blink of an eye.

“Hmm, already this late~.”

“Right. Is it about time to break up?”

“I need to make food~.”

“Then let’s head home.”

Everyone takes out a dimensional crystal obtained as drops during the hunt, to return home. I’m using [Return], though!

“You guys! Did you get logs?”

“If it’s logs, they’re there.”

There are certainly many logs in the future. Because it’s a forest dungeon.

“Did you know? It’s called a tree.”

“That’s a problem. What’s the difference between a log and lumber?”

“”…Eh?””

Due to a sudden question from Clementia-san, Viper-san and Fairellen-san have frozen.

“Aren’t they the same thing? I see it displayed as Lumber (Log), but is there a clear classification?”

“Maybe they’re the same.”

“The explanation says ‘A log that is cut to a certain length’.”

“Mmm… Hm? In other words, a tree that isn’t cut to a certain length is neither lumber nor a log.”

“…Like a fallen tree?”

“A fallen tree! Really?”

“I…see…?”

“Well, I don’t really care, so I’m going home.”

“”You’re the one who brought it up.””

Incidentally, in this game, the item name after cutting down a tree is ‘lumber’ of a certain type. It is then processed with woodworking skills.

…Let’s go home.

Using a dimensional crystal or [Return] brings you out to the entrance of the dungeon. From here, you need to use [Return] again, or another method, to return to town.

“Yeah, good work.”

“”Thanks all.””

“Thank you for the hard work”

The party is dissolved on-site so everyone can return by themselves. It’s easy for me to return to my house by using [Return] again.

Well, there’s still a little time before dinner, but…I think I’ll stop here. If I have some time before bed, I can do some crafting.

I log out in my room at the palace.

T/N: There are still the Future Software chapters to come, but with this we are finally caught up. Thankfully we are not stuck waiting for the next chapter on a cliffhanger. If you have found yourself enjoying the translation, please consider donating a little. Thank you all for reading.