Episode 16.13-14

There's something that has been bugging Lecan for a while.

About what Shira said.

She told him that they should only get to floor 21 at most if he's taking Eda to Dungeon Ninae. That's been bugging him all this time.

Shira must consider that floors below floor 21 are too dangerous. That they should not go there until after Eda has been trained enough in coping with danger. Lecan even considered going ahead by himself to see how things are there before letting Eda go down the floor.

But Shira spoke about that in the context of replacing Eda's equipment, during a conversation where they talk about teaching Eda dungeoneering, it was never about making Eda conquer a dungeon for real.

Furthermore, Shira said that even Lecan cannot possibly conquer Dungeon Ninae alone.

Looking at it from another side, that also means it can be conquered if he's not alone.

Meaning, it should be possible if only Lecan works together with Eda.

Of course, in that case, Eda will have to assume the role of a healer. Because that's the role she's best at. However, that would mean it's no longer an excursion for the sake of training Eda, but one where both Eda and Lecan have to risk their lives.

Lecan originally wasn't going to let Eda use <Recovery> this time around. He was planning to train her as an ordinary adventurer. So she could live on by herself once they went separate ways in half a year time.

However, she's with Lecan right now. The role that fits her best in their times dungeon diving together is healer most of all. And Eda herself has learned the basic ability of an adventurer, surprisingly enough. To teach her further, he must make Eda push herself to her limit. If this ends with her dying, then she doesn't have any chance to survive in the future.

Lecan has made his decision.

"Everyone, listen up."

Everyone fell silent, waiting for Lecan to continue.

"First, you Eda."

"Yes."

"You're allowed to use <Recovery> from here on."

"Eeh"

"<Recovery>? Eda-dono, you can use <Recovery>?"

"Not just <Recovery>. Make use of everything you have. Do anything you deem necessary in the situation you're in. Give your maximum contribution for this party to conquer this dungeon."

"Y-yes."

"And let me tell you this, Arios and Heles."

"Yes."

"Umu."

"You must have been bored so far, but I'll have you two keep us company for a bit more."

"Please ask me anything."

"I shall do everything in my power."

"First, as a preparation to explore floors below floor 21, we're gonna conquer floor 20. We'll take down the giant variant there and get the <Mark>."

"No, Lecan-dono. I'm sorry but getting floor 20's <Mark> is simply asking too much. It might be doable with these members, but it would take so much work and we might even lose someone."

"We'll stop if it looks bad, but we're giving it a try. Then once we have the <Mark> we're going back to floor 15. And earn some cash."

"Another big hunt is it."

"That again huh."

"Indeed. However, we will focus everything into getting treasure chests this time around."

"Oho. That sounds quite interesting."

"I do not think that's something you could control however."

"We'll think about it if this fails. Just follow my lead."

"I understand."

"Affirmative."

"Un, I'mma work real hard!"

"Alright. Let's start."

<TLN: Catch the latest updates and edits at Sousetsuka.com >

Lecan unleashed his strength without holding back.

In other word, they were on an unstoppable march.

Octocular Great Spiders on floor 18 posses the ability <Stealth>. Unlike human-based mind magic <Invisible> which hides user's figure by tampering with the target's mind, this one is more akin to camouflage. They merge in their surroundings.

It doesn't completely hide their body, you can still hazily make out their presence, but since it's always active, they're invisible most of the time. They would move around swiftly in that state, thus these spiders are hard to deal with. Ordinary adventurers can't even land a hit as they take unseen attacks they can't block.

However, Lecan possess <3D Perceptions>. He's got a perfect grasp on enemy's location.

"Flame Spear <Bandroux>!"

"What"

Heles was taken aback.

While Arios was unflinching to see Lecan unleashing such a powerful magic, perhaps because he had borne witness to the destruction Lecan caused at Goncourt House.

"<Move>."

A magic stone flew to Lecan at once.

Lecan killed all magic beasts in cavities found in three passages while striding ahead, grabbing their magic stones along the way as they went down a floor.

Floor 19 spiders' ability is <Hardening>. Their shell is hard enough to stop bladed instruments. Their normally soft abdomen is unusually elastic which also hinders blades.

"<Flame Spear>!"

However, all of it meant nothing before Lecan. He just kept marching forward while grabbing magic stones flying his way like it was just a literal side job.

Floor 20 spiders' ability is <Warp>. The moment one noticed an approaching human, it would <Warp> around all over the place to attack them. Most adventurers have no mean to oppose this.

Lecan jumped off and landed in the center of a cavity. Urging the spider to use <Warp>.

The spider <Warp>ed.

Lecan turned around and cut off the spider's head the instance it manifested there.

As someone who's capable of casting several spells of space magic, Lecan could sense ripples in space right before it appeared.

Even without that, <3D Perceptions> and his beast-like reflexes would easily deal with it no problem.

Since Lecan couldn't be bothered to fight the giant variant with a sword, he shot out a <Flame Spear> from above its cavity and blew away its head.

"Alright. We got the <Mark>. Let's head back to floor 15."

"Y-yeah. But, this is just, it's just"

"I did say I would help, but I'm not sure if we're even needed here."

"Lecan is really amazing."

"I'm gonna need your help once we go deeper. Now is time to prepare for that."

Afterward, everyone got back to floor 15 and had a meal.

Heles and Arios were shocked.

Lecan had lit up a campfire.

Lecan had bought up a huge amount of firewood in town and put it in his <Storage>.

"Just what's going on with Lecan-dono's <Box> anyway."

"I told you to stop asking that."

Lecan grilled and ate meat.

The sound of popping firewood was reassuring.

You really can't have camp without this.

"Lecan, you really live your life as you please huh."

"That's just how adventurers are."

"Me think Lecan is a special case."

Everyone fell asleep soundly, and got up.

Then the hunt began.

No, you can't call it a hunt anymore.

It's nothing more than harvesting crops.

Each cavity has five lesser Octocular Great Spiders inside. Lecan would shoot out five <Flame Arrow> as he walk past one. <Flame Arrows> would pierce the spiders' hearts, killing them. <Move> then gets cast five times to collect five magic stones. The bodies that have lost their magic stones turn into ash, then after a period of time, new magic beasts respawn.

Lecan repeated this process while absorbing mana from the magic stones he collected.

Eda does the same thing with <Bow of Isya>. She drinks medium blue potions twice whenever she runs out of mana, after the second time, she'll lie down on her side to restore her mana naturally.

Arios and Heles are in charge of collecting magic stones from magic beasts Eda took down. The faster they work at it, the faster the next magic beasts respawn.

Heles isn't wearing her armor anymore. She's got no need for one.

The two would go on to kill magic beasts themselves whenever Eda is resting. Heles could only watch in awe as Arios showed off his swordsmanship to deal with five spiders at once, massacring them with his brilliant strokes of sword.

Whenever Lecan shouts for the order, it's the signal to take a break, have meal and get some sleep.

Thus how the five of them spent five days on floor 15, focusing everything into getting treasure chests.

And these are the results.

Bows, 15.

Arrows, 12.

Shields, 8.

Daggers, 6.

Bracelets, 3.

Longswords, 2.

Many kinds of potions, 22 in total.

Every one of them has Grace.

None of the bows was suitable for Eda. What she needs now isn't a bow with a special ability, but an ordinary bow that grows stronger with the growth of its user.

Some of the arrows had useful Graces like <Sure Hit> and <Explosion>, five were given to Eda.

One of the daggers was very apt for dismantling work, also given to Eda.

One of the bracelets had the <Resist Curse> Grace, another one for Eda.

The potions were split between all four of them. Blue potions are for Eda, while red, yellow and green potions are for Arios and Heles.

Lecan took all the magic stones. They also got one blue purple and one red purple potions, which Lecan claimed.

Once they got back in town, the amount of cash from selling the Grace-ladden equipment exceeded 180 gold coins. One white gold coin and eight big gold coins.

Earning that much in just five days without spending money on expensive consumables or curse grants, and with no loss of weapons or equipment, they truly made a killing. Eda, Arios, and Heles were on the brink of collapsing though. Even Eda missed a lot of her targets near the end.

Eda, Arios, Heles got 50 gold coins each, leaving 30 gold coins for Lecan. The share is only fair since he monopolized the magic stones.

They're taking a break for two days.

Once they're done resting, it'll be time to challenge the middle stratum.

[Episode 16 Dungeon Ninae Upper Stratum] End/ Next [Episode 17 Dungeon Ninae Middle Stratum]