Episode 17.9

Everyone took it easy as they slept and woke up.

And then they lit up a campfire and took their time having breakfast.

They're finally entering floor 31.

From here on is the real Dungeon Ninae, according to Heles.

Even if the magic beasts they will encounter look the same as the ones they have seen up until this point, those should be regarded as altogether different things.

"Floor 31 to floor 35 have lesser Octocular Great Spiders, floor 36 to 40 have regular Octocular Great Spiders, and from below there to floor 44 have greater Octocular Great Spiders."

"You mean like those Octocular Great Spiders on floor tens?"

"They look similar, but their size belies their similarities. Right. I believe they're around three to five steps tall."

Floor 31 is structured like a sandpit with rocks sticking out of the ground, the view is not good.

As you slowly trek the paths between rocks, you'll occasionally come across spacious sand pits, with one Octocular Great Spider occupying each pit.

The spiders on floor 31 onward are very territorial, even though they don't invade other spiders' territories, they will persistently chase down all invaders that run away in the middle of a fight. As you will end up going into other spiders' sand pits by running away, you're practically left with nowhere to run.

"Attacks just don't work on them. Their head and legs are so tough, bladed instruments cannot cut through them. Their abdomen is jelly-like, you can use blades on that part, but it would either deal absolutely no damage or worse, your weapon could get stuck inside it."

"Fumu? You're saying there's no point attacking their abdomen?"

"Indeed. It might be possible to deal damage if only we had <Yacklubend Explosive Arrows>."

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"How about magic attacks."

"Their head and legs repel light and heat magic. It does work on their abdomen, but they can move around just fine even with half of their abdomen missing. They'd die if an attack gets to the heart however."

"What's stopping you from hitting that heart with non-magic."

"Their heart is their weak point. But it's located high up so hitting it is a tall order. Their legs defend their flanks, while their long abdomen hinders an attack from the rear."

"How do parties who get here defeat them?"

"Most seem to employ the strategy of having someone lure a spider head-on, then another cut off one or two of its legs, and then someone with a long reaching weapon, like spears or glaives, go for its heart. Many also opt to shoot curse and poison arrows at those spiders' abdomen to slow them down."

"Weren't their legs tough?"

"There are slight gaps on the joints where blades can pass through. This applies to their neck too, you can find joints where blades work."

"I see."

"However, facing them head-on means dealing with their biting attacks, full body slams and their legs coming from the flanks. They even have deadly venom and dissolving liquid attack to add."

"What kind of dissolving liquid."

"It melts everything but metal. Even metal get slightly dissolved by it. Unless it's of very high quality metal. There is just no way to defend against this. Hence why red potions are indispensable to explore these floors. At any rate, only a shield warrior with good equipment should face those spiders head-on."

"Hou."

"And of course, if you stare at the four eyes on each of their sides, you'd suffer from headaches before succumbing to confusion."

"What's the carveable parts?"

"There's virtually no part of the spiders here that don't sell high. First of all, their eyes are the best catalyst for curse enchants. The head's exoskeleton works as a material for all kind of things including armor. The abdomen leather and legs also fetch for good prices. And most importantly, their venom. The <Deadly Venom> spewed by the spiders on floors below negates most poison resistances. If you could collect the venom sac way below their heart, or at least gather the spewed out venom, you would get some really nice return. Ah, and also."

"Hum?"

"There were barely any adventurers around up until this point, not the case from here on."

"Figured."

"Even though the enemies get progressively stronger as you go down, there's no huge difference in material quality up to floor 35. It's said that the rates of treasure chest spawning get better the lower the floor, but most people down here aren't here for treasure chests. By default, people flock on floor 31."

"Got it. We're going down now. Wear your armor."

Eda skillfully cleaned up the pan and plates.

Lecan put those as well as the still-burning firewood in his <Storage>.

"Really, just what's going on with that <Box>."

"Told you to quit asking that."

The party waited until Heles finished putting on her armor before going down the stairway.

The scenery on floor 31 came into view as they descended the stairs.

However, sounds nor smell don't get transmitted to where they are even if the scenery does.

Thus how Lecan failed to notice the abnormal situation occurring in the area near floor 31 entrance.

Lecan took <Sword of Agost> from <Storage> and put the scabbard back in. Then he set foot on floor 31.

At that exact moment, he detected a thick smell of blood drifting from somewhere nearby.