Episode 5.6

Lecan was satisfied.

It was truly a worthwhile give and take.

Lecan got exactly the info he wanted from the boy. And the boy obtained a red potion he really needed at that moment.

You could say that it was an awfully convenient encounter for both of them.

Still, what a long stairway. It's not just long. The width is quite something as well. You could probably line up 20 people neatly here.

In such a huge stairway, you could see people here and there. The number is smaller than the number of people going from the surface to the first floor, and vice versa, but it's still a lot.

As such, Lecan is unable to go fast. Even though he himself is eager to get down asap.

Lecan was shocked when he arrived at the Third Floor.

--There's more than 20 people who posses mana here.

The girl that was given potion earlier was also a mana possessor, but including her, he only saw three mana possessors on the First and Second Floors.

He didn't carefully search in every nook and corner, so he might have missed some, but the number shouldn't differ too much.

And yet, he detected more than 20 mana possessors all within the range of his first detection here on this floor. There must be some kind of reason for this.

Incidentally, <Life Detection> is telling Lecan that there's a magic beast in front of him. Yet only rugged rocks are reflected in his bare eye.

Lecan kicked away that rock.

The sensation felt was not that of a rock getting kicked.

The rock crumbled flabbily as it turned green and flowed down.

--Hou. An amorphous magic beast huh. And it's even capable of mimicry.

He drew his sword and hacked off at this bizarre enemy.

He did, but the wound instantly closed.

The flabby magic beast swelled out and attacked Lecan.

This time he cut the enemy horizontally in half and jumped backward.

However, the two split parts immediately stuck together into one again.

"Fumu."

Lecan greatly jumped back.

And then the magic beast flopped around for a while before disguising itself into a rock once again.

Lecan made the plan to see how other adventurers deal with this thing.

Just right as there are two adventurers fighting nearby. One of them possesses mana.

He progressed through the winding path and stopped at a spot where he could barely see them.

The two adventurers were both women.

One of them is an archer. However, she fought not with her bows and arrows, instead she threw a rock at the flabby magic beast, dodged its charge, and then threw another rock at it.

The other woman is a mana possessor. She's pointing a short sword in her right hand at the magic beast from afar while chanting some kind of spell.

"...'s Power, descend upon us, manifest into the flame of rage, destroy our enemy. <Fire Arrow (Bayeaerts)!>"

A fireball got produced and flew toward the magic beast. Upon its impact, it flared up like an explosion, burning the magic beast.

The archer woman waited for the fire to die down and then take the magic gem out. It doesn't seem to have cooled down enough, but the glove worn on her left hand is probably heat-resistant.

"Hoi yo. The fourth one. How's your mana doing?"

"I'm feeling pretty good today. I think I can still shoot two more."

"Alright. Let's take a rest after the next one."

"Un."

<TLN: If you're reading this novel at any other site than Sousetsuka.com you might be reading an unedited, uncorrected version of the novel.>

After listening in this far, Lecan fell back and took another path.

Apparently, the weird magic beasts on this floor can't be killed with a sword, but fire magic is effective.

That reminds him, there's a lot of mages on this floor. Physical attacks probably don't work on this magic beast, but magic works well.

Lecan put away his sword and took a pair of gauntlet in its stead.

<Thunder Dragon Gauntlets>.

It's a keepsake of an adventurer who fought together with him in the past. Since the size fits Lecan's hands, he's been keeping them in his <Storage> after that adventurer passed away, and occasionally use them.

After he put the <Thunder Dragon Gauntlets> on, Lecan searched for the next enemy with <Life Detection>.

This one is also mimicking a rock.

Lecan suddenly unleashed a straight punch with his right fist at the enemy.

Electric sparks scattered everywhere with a loud sound, and the magic beast evaporated in an instant.

<Thunder Dragon Gauntlets> have thunder dragon's bones fitted inside, striking with them while pouring mana into them will produce electric shocks. These types of armaments usually consume magic gems whenever used, but <Thunder Dragon Gauntlets> are extraordinary in that they get activated only by consuming the user's mana, and the strength of the electric shock can even change depending on the amount of mana poured.

Lecan grinned.

He got caught in the moment and ran around striking and killing many of these amorphous magic beats.

Small magic gems were left behind, but Lecan paid them no mind. He opened treasure chests whenever they popped up.

He killed a huge number of the magic beasts in a short amount of time, but he got tired of it thus he went down a floor.

He got one blue potion and one wand from treasure chests.

A long and thin treasure chest spawned when it was the wand's. It seems like the shape of these treasure chests change depending on the content.

Right before he got down the stairs, he bowed at the magic beasts he had killed, just like he did on all the floors before.

At that time, he caught a glimpse of the hooded mage's figure.

The face that was hiding under the hood was surprisingly aged.