Chapter 166

Let’s be an Adventurer! ~Defeating Dungeons with a Skill Board~ 166

Epilogue

— Do you know about an adventurer called “Air”?

“Air? Can’t say I do. Is he a new adventurer?”

“Who’s that? Nah, I don’t know the name of every single small fry out there.”

“The only adventurers I check regularly are Rankers. I don’t know anything about other adventurers.”

…………

Even when asking adventurers who frequented the dungeon “Chikaho” in Sapporo, nobody really knew about any adventurer called Air.

Information is the lifeline of an adventurer.

In some cases, even a slight difference in the amount of information can make a difference between life and death.

Therefore, in order for adventurers to survive in the dungeons, the internet site “Let’s Become An Adventurer!” strives to collect all the information available.

Most adventurers would assume this so-called “Air” was some trivial adventurer without any remarkable abilities.

However, the name “Air” was a well-known rumor among some adventurers, especially the top Rankers in Japan.

The top Rankers know about him.

They know he’s a tremendously talented adventurer.

So, thinking outside the box, I changed my question.

— Who’s the adventurer that everyone in Hokkaido is talking about these days?

“Ah, that has to be Mr. Masked Man.”

“You mean Mr. Masked Man?”

“That mons… I mean, Mr. Masked Man.”

“Ah, Mr. Masked Man… He’s so amazing…”

Everyone would either smile or put their hands in their coat pockets while meaningfully looking up at the cloudy sky and saying the name of the adventurer “Mr. Masked Man”.

Mr. Masked Man…

That is the name of an adventurer from Hokkaido whose rumors abound on the forums lately.

According to these rumors…

His mask floats in the air, he has feathers growing from his neck, and carries a wriggling plant on his back.

His body is made of scales, with a white face on his back and tentacles hanging from his waist.

A huge centipede parasitizes his abdomen, and he can split his body in two.

His mask shines. And he can fly through the air.

Recently, it has been reported that his legs seemed to be made of stone.

No matter which of these traits you look at, none of them look very human-like.

Could these traits be nothing more than the kind of exaggerations one would find everywhere on the internet?

But this “Mr. Masked Man” really exists.

The hero Masatsugu, the Battle Princess Shigure, and “High Presence” Kagemitsu all knew about Mr. Masked Man.

However, not a single adventurer knows Mr. Masked Man’s true face.

Not even the top Rankers.

What kind of face is behind that mask?

Is it a human being or some kind of monster…?

…No, anyone would be able to tell if he was a monster in disguise.

Mr. Masked Man is a friend of mankind — or at least, so I hope.

＊　＊　＊　＊　＊　＊　＊　＊　＊

That’s weird.

Karaboshi Haruki tilted his head.

Haruki and Karen had broken the record of the fastest time to reach the lower levels of a dungeon, which had previously been held by the hero Masatsugu.

Having become an advanced adventurer had increased the number of visits to Haruki’s blog to some extent.

Oh, five people are constantly coming to my blog!

And on some days, even ten people have visited it!!

Having this many visits was something unthinkable back when he started out as an adventurer.

“Isn’t this the same as an increase in my presence?” That’s what Haruki thought while puffing up his chest.

And yet…

Why doesn’t anyone nod whenever I ask them if my presence has increased…?

His numbers were on the rise.

However, everyone would hold their tongue and turn their eyes away from Haruki when asked.

All while their shoulders trembled…

Haruki was very confused.

However, if no one is really convinced of it, all he had to do was to keep trying until he finally obtains a presence strong enough that they won’t be able to deny, no matter how hard they try to.

With that in mind, Haruki continued to strive admirably.

Lest he allowed his goal to fade away in a mist of uncertainty…

After defeating the golem, Haruki and Karen continued to train on the 19th floor.

Since they had struggled so much to defeat that golem, they decided it was too early for them to go to the 20th floor.

Also, Haruki’s armor had been nearly completely destroyed.

It took him about a month to get new armor.

The reason why it took him so long was that his new armor was using new materials.

“This new armor is made out of the new materials you obtained in Asahikawa. The guys at the manufacturing department were shedding tears of joy. I heard it was quite hard to make.”

“Then they weren’t crying out of joy, but out of pain, don’t you think?”

Haruki’s new armor was a breastplate based on the Dark Knight’s armor.

It was pitch-black and seemed to have no joints.

It had the “Ichi” series logo on its left shoulder plate.

What’s with this armor? It looks like any high-end Ichibishi armor…

Along with that, Akane had also prepared some of the cheapest among the high-end armor.

They were a new robe and breastplate for Karen, and arm and leg guards for the two of them.

She had also prepared a new bag for them, but that one was part of the “Ichi” series, since there were no high-end bags.

With a completely new set of armor, Haruki headed for the 20th floor of the “Garage Dungeon” for the first time.

From here on, the deepest part of the dungeon awaited, which only a handful of adventurers would be able to reach.

Haruki was sure that as they continued to dive even deeper into the dungeon, incredibly stronger monsters would start to appear one after another.

And they would surely get new kinds of materials and treasure.

(If that’s the case, then–!)

That special item that would put an end to Haruki’s incessant pursuit of a stronger presence must still lie somewhere in the depths of the dungeon.

That’s why Haruki’s chest was filled with anticipation.

Haruki and Karen started to go down the stairs leading to the 20th floor with a nervous look on their faces.

On Haruki’s back, Rhea was shaking her leaves in response to the oscillation of each of his steps as he was going down the stairs.

On his abdomen, Esta was moving his feelers around, searching for earthworms on the ground.

Inside his feather necklace, Maat was curling up, and only her beak could be seen from outside.

“Nuhohoh… You may find the perfect jewel for me in the deepest part of the dungeon!”

Inside Karen’s pocket, Chep was murmuring and laughing.

As they reached the base of the staircase, they found themselves on a floor that looked completely different from the ones above.

“…It looks like some kind of temple.”

“Woah… It’s amazing!”

There was a huge opening that looked like the “Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel” found in Tokyo.

The walls, floors and ceilings were all made of stone, with huge pillars towering in some places.

They soon heard something that sounded like a monkey’s screech coming from somewhere.

The sound echoed over and over on the walls, floor, and ceiling, giving the eerie sensation of a large army of monsters lurking all over the place.

There were no signs of whatever had made that screech.

The screech itself could be easily heard, but the echoing made it hard to pinpoint its source’s location.

Haruki’s spine shivered as he stood in front of that huge opening.

This is good.

This is really good!

Behind his mask, the corner of Haruki’s mouth curved itself upwards as he pulled out his Magic Sword.

“Let’s go, Karen!”

“Yeah!”

Let’s have an adventure!

Both Haruki and Karen took a deep breath, and after nodding at each other, they headed towards a new adventure.