Chapter 13 - What lurked on the fourth floor was...

<b>Chapter 13 – What lurked on the fourth floor was…</b>

The dungeon floor movement skill was handy indeed.

However, it still had its limitations, making it usable only once per hour. Caution was to be prioritized during that time.

Anyhow, I pushed forward into the third floor.

I encountered the dead reaper right away, its white bones covered by tattered cloth and in its hands an ominous great scythe with an appearance as if it was ripped out of ancient mythology. As expected, its level was close to 100 and among its skill was the reap of instant death.

The ghastly figure floated closer with dull movement and after waiting for it to come within a five meter range of me, I stretched out my hand and used 「White Flame」.

With a roar the white flame erupted, its reach wide enough to enshrine the whole monster.

My first reaction was being startled by the fire’s beauty. It had a sacred air around it, befitting for a holy flame.

“…ooOOO——”

The dead reaper struggled against the blaze, but its cloth burned to a crisp and fire gnawed at its bones. It was hard to tell with white on white, but the skeleton was certainly burning and before long it turned into no more than a mere corpse.

“I wonder if I should take its scythe along, if nothing else it does look powerful.”

I would have analyzed it, but items required a different skill.

「Appraisal」 300 LP

Like 「Analyze」 it wasn’t too expensive, so I went ahead and picked up appraisal as well.

「Great Scythe   Rank B   No Skills」

It was a shame about the lack of skills, but it didn’t seem like a bad weapon. Looked like the ranks work as with skills, from C to S.

After defeating the dead reaper and having raised my level to beyond 40 I discovered the staircase to the next floor.

White flame’s mana consumption must have been fairly minor, because both my mental and physical condition seemed unchanged.

Since I had already increased my level by a good amount it wouldn’t have been an issue to return home at that point, but I decided to proceed to the fourth floor anyway. That way I could move straight to it the next time.

Actually, let’s go take a deeper look into it.

Unlike all the previous floors, the fourth one had just a single corridor, progressing in a straight line. No monsters appeared either.

I followed the corridor with cautious steps and soon arrived at a wide open place.

It was a rectangular hall with no doors. You could see another corridor on the other side of the room, but my attention had already been caught by something else.

“Eeehh… What’s with all these people?”

A large amount of people, hundreds even, were chatting and walking about in that place, crowding the whole area. Based on their appearances they seemed to be adventurers, almost all of them wearing either armor or robes.

Hidden Dungeons are supposed to be void of people, right?

I had no idea how this many people could be in that place, especially with such a relaxed atmosphere. As I was getting more and more nervous some of them took notice of me and began shouting.

“Guys, somebody came! A living human arrived——!”

“Holy cow, how long has it been!”

All of them bustled closer and surrounded me. It was too much for me at once and I ended up just standing there, unable to react. If they had harbored any ill will I would have probably met my end there.

But fortunately, going by their sparkling eyes, it appeared like they approached me with friendly intentions.

I also happened to notice an important detail.

All of them were a little… transparent?

“You’re alive, aren’t you! One of the living!”

“Y-yes of course, I am. And you guys are…?”

I tried to clear my confusion with analyze, but it didn’t display any text, at all. No names, no levels, nothing. With that I was convinced, they were dead. The same happened back in town when I had once tried analyzing a dead stray cat and wasn’t given any text either.

“Please stay clam and listen. The truth is we are all dead; we’re ghosts.”

“…I guess you are. Explains why you’re see-through.”

“It’s our souls, they are represented by our bodies as we hold them in memory. Usually, in the outside world, your soul would be purified on its own and disperse, probably, but it seems that when dying within this dungeon your soul moves to this floor, gathering here with everyone else.”

And apparently taking even a single step outside the room was impossible.

“This may be rude, but how did all of you even manage to get inside? You did well figuring out that secret phrase.”

“Huh? Secret phrase?”

Everyone tilted their heads in confusion. All of them had entered the dungeon without knowing of the incantation.

What’s going on here? After all it wasn’t just me, from what I was told even master had to use the phrase to gain access.

“Excuse me, but roughly how many years ago was it that you all were alive?”

“Sorry, we don’t have a time interval, but going by the era it would be year 1200 of the sacred calendar, roughly.”

“T-that’s over 300 years ago!?”

Master’s period of activity was around 200 years ago, so theirs was long before even hers. Going by what they told me, ever since then this place had been a Hidden Dungeon. However, apparently a group of people that came and went knew of its existence.

Which would mean…

Around the time between 1200 and 1300 of the sacred calendar this place was sealed. Who locked the entrance, and why? Because of the casualty rate?

Or maybe for a different objective…

I had no idea and abandoned that train of thought, paying the people in front of me attention instead.

“Noir was it? Actually there’s a favor we’d like to ask of you.”

“Go on.”

“Could you bring us a priest with the ability to purify souls?”

In this world there are certain kinds of undead monsters that pollute one’s soul when killed by them, causing zombification. To prevent that it was necessary to quickly purify the souls and send them to heaven. It was a skill commonly mastered by priests.

“We’re at our limit. Our bodies don’t feel pain, but neither is there any feeling of being alive!”

‘You aren’t, after all,’ but given how serious they were I didn’t voice my retort.

I was troubled. Truthfully, I didn’t want to tell others about this dungeon. It was fine with someone I could trust, but who knows what would leak if I told a stranger about it. If that happened, it could become impossible for me to keep casually visiting it.

But still…

“Please, no, I beg you!”

“Master Noir, Master Nooiir!”

The sight of all of them falling to their knees and begging me had too much of an impact. Declining under such circumstances required some immense mental fortitude.

I guess it would be fine for myself to do it?

「Purification」 50 LP

And thanks to how low purification’s price was the problem was solved.

“Alright, I’ll perform the purification.”

“You can!? Despite that unreliable look on your face!?”

“On second thought I don’t have time right now, farewell.”

“Waitwaitwait! Sorry, I’m sorry! Master Noir is the coolest, just the best, the most reliable purifier ever!”

The ghosts became desperate and begged me to stay. But still, that earlier remark really got to me, you know?

“That’s nice to hear, but being complimented like that by a guy…”

And now the female ghosts raised their voices.

“My, how wonderful Master Noir is! Of all the gentlemen this lady has met until now no one had a more gallant face. Is that not the truth, everyone?”

“Indeed. Master Noir’s bold eyes, those firm lips and his gentle posture that reveals manliness wherever you direct your gaze. Without a doubt the world’s best looking man.”

“Am I that attractive?”

“Absolutely! If only I had a physical body, I would be craving your embrace! Have you turn me into a mess!”

“Handsome?”

“The. Epitome. Of handsome!!”

“Please form a line, I’ll be starting the purification.”

‘Hurray!,’ shouts of joy echoed through the fourth floor. I expected ghosts to have a more sluggish feel to them, but that wasn’t the case. They turned out to be quite the high tension sort.

The purification skill was straightforward, I just had to touch them and focus on it. Although it wasn’t their physical bodies but their souls which I was physically touching, despite them being see-through.

“Aaahhhhh, with this I can finally ascend to heaven. I thank you—”

The already transparent body became even more translucent until eventually vanishing completely. Right before purification they all had a look of happiness on their faces. I couldn’t imagine how boring it must have been to remain locked in that room all that time.

“On which floor did you die?”

A question I asked them all before purifying them.

“It’s embarrassing, but I got hit by a gold slime’s spit and…”

“When I triggered a trap on the second floor, I was…”

“To the monster on the third floor. I died just from having it graze my finger, what’s up with that?”

The majority of people died before they reached the fourth floor. However, a couple of them didn’t.

“I was eaten by a huge crab, fifth floor.”

“A huge snake on the fifth floor swallowed our party and dissolved us in its stomach!”

Hmm, the fifth floor certainly sounded dangerous. I was lucky to receive that information in advance. The last person, a man in an expensive looking armor, died on the third floor, but still shared some great information.

“As a token of gratitude, I wish to bestow a mighty weapon of mine to Sir Noir. However, it may have already been dug up in the last 300 years.”

“You buried it?”

“Quite so. Is the clock tower near the center street still intact?”

“Still standing.”

“I buried it in the park to the south of that clock tower, under the largest tree.”

He called it a mighty weapon, yet went ahead and buried it? I voiced my question.

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“Mighty indeed… but for whatever reason I was plagued by misfortune ever since my acquisition of it, thus I sealed it away. But for you, Sir Noir, it may be possible to take proper control of it. If it is not, please go ahead and sell or dispose of it as you wish.”

“Understood, I’ll accept it with thanks.”

I purified him as well and went over to the corridor in the back. There was a staircase and after hesitating for several minutes I descended it with silent steps. I was anxious, what if a huge monster appeared out of nowhere?

Luckily it turned out to be a needless fear. The corridor was free of monsters and I hurriedly used my skill to return to the second floor.

I told master the gist of what happened and made my way out of the Hidden Dungeon.