| Credits | |
| Translators | Aileri, WhiteSamurai |
| Editors | Antichrist1128, Samson3105, WhiteSamurai |
Day 199
Today marks the first real holiday in quite a while.
Well, even if I say it's a holiday, the store is still open and everyone, including the Female Samurai, are still working. Though, because they work in shifts now, they are able to take breaks when necessary.
The same members have been passed off the charge of managing the Skeleton Spiders. While they may not be getting a day off, they are also operating on shifts, so everyone is able to have some time off.
Each person is free to choose how to spend their time. Some decided to simply train themselves as per norm while others decided to leave the Royal Capital on the Skeleton Spiders to sight-see or visit attractions in the surrounding area. There are even some people who have picked up side jobs or studying various materials.
Since it's worth mentioning, I decided on going alone to the Labyrinth City Aquarium. The purpose was to of course challenge the [Age of Gods] dungeon [Aquarium Forlia] once again.
Even though last time there wasn't enough time to fully explore and I had to stop at the very first floor, I had made up my mind to come back. Now I'm determined to head down to the deepest part of this dungeon even if it takes a few days to do so.
If necessary, I can always pass instructions to Kanami-chan through the ear cuffs. Even if something serious occurs and I'm deep within the dungeon, she'll be able to manage it, so there's nothing to worry about for the time being.
Additionally, since I had already passed off most of the bothersome and innumerable quantity of work to my subordinates, there wasn't much work that was necessary for me to complete. None of which needed my immediate attention, and thus I have found myself here.
I made sure to only give the work to those who proved themselves to be rather reliable, so I can relax as I challenge an [Age of Gods] class dungeon alone. I also take pleasure in knowing that the construction system that I set up will see progress and proceed without delay regardless if I am there or not.
Challenging the dungeon alone is the only way I can hopefully rid myself of the utter dissatisfaction caused by being only able to consume a single person of [Hero] level during the coup.
I had even had the first-class Water Hero meat sitting right in front of me after I had worked hard to beat him around to tenderize the meat, and I had to endure it since It was an order from the Tomboy Princess. That, and so that he could grow even stronger, but I certainly have no reason to hold back here.
After all preparations were complete, I delved straight into the [Aquarium Forlia] dungeon.
Just like the ones before it, the decorations in the long and wide passageways make it seem as if it were the interior of a sacred temple. A sacred temple with the floor submerged in ankle-deep frigid water of course.
Overall, the place does give off a certain majestic atmosphere that makes it feel difficult to invade as I am. The labyrinth gives off a pure and somewhat innocent feel that is almost akin to a work of art.
Alone, I slowly advance.
As I progress with a semi-carefree attitude the dungeon monsters continuously come flying at me without a sound. Most of them come from the shadows in my general vicinity the moment I get close enough. Like before, the main monsters that attack me are the Iolite Elementals, which of course I knock down quite easily. They look like round blue orbs clad in running water that makes them seem comparable to a flying slime.
Well, the Iolite Elementals clearly win out in terms of danger and pure fighting power if you were trying to compare one to a slime.
Not only does it have substantial movement speed and physical strength, but it also can use third rank ice magic as easy as if it were breathing.
The magic it uses is dangerous enough that the first shot it fires is likely to kill people. I catch the nucleus of the Iolite Elementals with my silver arm before it is able to do anything.
The moment I pull out the blue round orb from the surrounding water, the water that is approximately 8cm in diameter, loses its binding force and falls to the ground, where it merges with the water on the floor.
After seeing it, I ate the nucleus I caught.
The nucleus’ texture and taste was just like a piece of slightly sweet candy. It might work well as a snack.
Ability gained: [Purple-Blue Iolite Liquid]
Together with the ones I previously ate, I seem to have finally gotten a new ability. Because I killed 23 of them last time and ate them after putting them in the item box, it seems the 24th gave me an ability.
It seems learning can be done quicker than expected, I’m relieved. I immediately used it to see what it does.
Apparently, [Purple-Blue Iolite Liquid] allows the user to cover themselves with flowing water just like the Iolite Elementals.
The running water is like an armor that clings to the surface of my body when I use it and it seems to have very high tolerance against fire attacks. On the other hand, it seems to be weak against lightning attacks, but it still seems to be a useful ability.
Currently, I’m in a good mood, so I went to hunt Armored Scissors which possess a very hard carcass and Dirotonis which is a gigantic fish in succession. I didn’t stay on the first floor for that long, because I found the path to the second floor last time I came to the dungeon.
After I found some treasure chests along the way and opened them, lopsidedly hunted a great number of dungeon monsters, avoided some powerful traps and passed other adventurer parties, not even 1 hour had passed.
By the way, the structure of the second floor is no different from the first floor.
The corridor of the second floor is a bit bigger than the one in the first floor and there are several monsters that didn’t appear on the first floor that appeared here.
Water Anacondas are anacondas about 9 meters long and 30 centimeters wide, their bodies also release fluids that act as lubricants.
Evil Battle Frogman have muscular human bodies and exceed 2 meters in height. They have the head of a frog, webbed feet and carry a trident and a fishing net.
Mizumoridori are light blue birds that fly at high speed. They have harpoon-like beaks and sharp claws. They don't appear in passages, but instead in small rooms and they are about 60 centimeters long.
These are the main monsters in the dungeon because they are the ones that appear most often and give off a dangerous feel. There are also others such as devil insects and reptiles.
Although the monsters are larger and stronger than normal ones because they’re strengthened by the dungeon, I can still approximately kill them with a single blow and by overlapping abilities. Their level is not high enough to have a chance to kill me. Nevertheless, capturing this dungeon is certainly going to be difficult. The chance of being attacked here is higher than in [Vesper Cave]; it is also more time and energy consuming to kill the monsters with a single blow.
The classic pitfall trap, where a lot of Water Anacondas gather, makes the dungeon especially difficult to capture. It’s hard to spot because of its simplicity and the fact that once you’ve fallen in, it’s normally impossible to get out.
In the first place, once a person falls in, the Water Anacondas immediately use their bodies to strangle and crush the person and due to the pit being covered by the lubricant made by the [Water Anaconda], climbing out is difficult as well.
I personally may manage to ward off the Water Anacondas if I equip solid armor over my whole body, but getting out of the pit is, in and of itself, another problem.
By the way, when I stealthily looked around a corner of the passage, I witnessed the state of a party of adventurers who got stuck in a pit.
The unfortunate party members seem to have all fallen into the several meters deep square pit and they did not have the ability to get out.
I only observed and did not help them because whatever happens in the dungeon is your own responsibility. The group of 5 that fell into the pit were all strangled to death by countless Water Anacondas.
The ones in the back lines immediately had their bones and equipment crushed, but the vanguard who wore magical armor from head to toe was able to hang in there for a while, but was also slowly crushed to death The pit swallowed the five corpses whole and slowly covered itself again. It was slowly and carefully waiting for the next victims.
After seeing that, I intentionally walked into the pitfall and fell too.
I could not miss the opportunity of hunting the high concentration of [Water Anacondas]. Normally, It would be a fight where I would be desperately struggling, but due to [Electromaster] spreading through the anacondas' body fluids, I was able to catch them all at once. Afterwards, I decided to solely eat them starting from the head. The power of [Electromaster] drastically raised the power of my lightning strike, but unexpectedly, the Water Anacondas did not instantly die. However, since I was able to eat them alive, I guess the results are acceptable. It’s a good thing that they're tasty alive.
Ability learned: [Lubricant Body Fluids]
Ability learned: [Water Seeking Snake]
Since I already got 2 new abilities, I decided to keep the remaining [Water Anacondas] as souvenirs.
[Lubricant Body Fluids] is similar to [Self Body-Fluid Control], but it had a better effect when I tested it with simple substances. The smooth skin is able to completely ward off attacks to a great extent.
Even if I get restrained by an enemy, I can very likely easily slip out.
Honestly, I don't think I really need it, since I can transform my body, but it might be useful for surprising enemies.
[Water Seeking Snake], simply put, is like dowsing. Its effect seems to be finding nearby bodies of water.
It is necessary for Water Anaconda to push water outside of its body, so it's likely that they use this ability for replenishing and maintaining their water supply.
Even though it has limited uses, it's a very convenient ability in many situations, since it'll help me find hidden water even in the desert.
I collected the accessories from the bodies of the dead adventurers, and I jumped out of the hole excited.
Because their dead bodies were already eaten by the dungeon, I was really grateful for the items.
Because I fell into the hole after the Water Anacondas ate their body, only an index finger was left at the bottom of the pitfall.
I feel I have advanced quite smoothly while capturing the dungeon.
I had a harder time finding the stairs to go down to the next floor because this dungeon is wider than the derivation dungeon, but I somehow managed to get down to the 5th floor in one day. I arrived in the safety zone just before the large room in the deepest part of the 5th floor which is where the boss awaits.
After having the dungeon monsters as a midnight snack, I decided to challenge the boss tomorrow morning.
In order to fight it tomorrow morning, I went to sleep early to get enough rest.
Because I took the Skeleton Centipede out from my item box, I was able to get a good night's sleep in the chilly cave.