Episode 28.15-16

<p style="text-align: left;">15

That day, the five spent their time mostly sleeping. Besides Arios who went out to town in the afternoon.

The day after, <Grindam> were taking it easy mostly inside the inn.

Lecan and Arios went out early. Unbelievably enough, they went to the dungeon.

Same thing the following day, <Grindam> was relaxing around, <Willard> went to the dungeon.

When they were asked which floor they were exploring, they answered floor 90.

Then, on the 40th of month 1, <Willard> and <Grindam> went up against the Giant Variant on Floor 99.

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

"Welcome back. What's wrong? Why'd y'all back so soon."

"We did it, Nark-san. We did it."

"Did what?"

"We beat the giant variant on floor 99. We've made our first step on floor 100."

"Oooh! Congrats, Bruska! Tsuinga! Yoana! Huh? Where's Lecan? And Arios?"

"Thank you. Those two are still inside the dungeon."

"What?"

"They said they wanted to earn some change."

"Kakaka. Can you believe those guys?"

"They're something else fer' sure."

The three got in the bath and had some light meals before going up to their rooms.

Arios and Lecan returned then they had dinner together. They had a toast but the atmosphere wasn't too lively.

The five got up early the day after. Lecan and Arios went in the dungeon that day. No one commented on that anymore.

<Grindam> spent their day doing maintenance to their weapons.

It's month two now.

The five will finally challenge floor 100 and beyond.

Nark did not actually hear things regarding floor 100s from someone who had first-hand experience in the <The Other Side>.

But anyone who's lived in this town long enough will know about floor 100 down.

From floor 1 to 99, the numbers of magic beasts increase by one every ten floors. Floor 90s have ten magic beasts. Hence adventurers tend to form a party of ten people. More than that and they will take turn fighting.

But from floor 100 onward, there are only five magic beasts per room. And this persists until the last floor, 120.

You'd think it's less dangerous with less magic beasts, but that's not true in the least. It's the opposite. And there are three reasons for that.

First of all, the magic beasts will coordinate with each other in the fight. Magic beasts do work together in groups even before this point. But it was a result of those magic beasts possessing traits that work well with each other, it's not exactly a result of them coordinating their moves. But from floor 100 down, the magic beasts clearly fight together as a group which is nothing short of terrifying.

The second one, each rooms gets way more spacious now. From floor 1 to 99, magic beast's rooms always have the exact same size. You form a habit as you continuously fight in those rooms.

But from floor 100 on, the rooms are large, and the magic beasts move fast, so you have to change how you fight. Yet fighting style is not something you can just switch around at the drop of a hat.

Normally you'd think you want more people in your party to deal with this. But <Skeleton Ogre Zoltan> claimed that a five-person party is optimal for floor 100 down, and the guy did reach the last floor with a five-person party. The reason for that is unclear, but apparently just randomly adding more people is not a good thing. At any rate, floor 100 and beyond are like a whole different dungeon altogether.

Grace Gear also becomes a huge problem here. Any room in floors 100 down will have at least one magic beast guaranteed to bear Grace Gear. Powerful Grace. And there can be more than one Grace Gear bearer among those beasts. Sometimes there's two, sometimes three. There are even known cases where all five magic beasts bear Grace Gear. You can forget about fighting when that happens.

All of that is nothing more than hearsays however, it's not like Nark knows inside out about the terror on floors 100 down.

But what's clear to anyone is the high mortality rate of floors 100 down.

(I don't care if ya guys can't break through.)

(Just come back here safe.)

After the couple had meals together, Nell went out for shopping.

"Tonight we might be celebrating. I'm going to splurge out a bit."

"...Yea."

"What's with that half-hearted response. What's good in you freaking out like that."

"Drop it."

Nell really did splurge and bought a lot of ingredients.

Swept in by her, Nark ended up harvesting lots of vegetable.

And the couple cooked together in silence.

(Is it Water Buffalo period now?)

('Course it's gotta be a drawn out fight.)

(They'd be coming back late.)

The door opened.

"We're back!"

"Eh?"

"We have returned."

"It's heroes' homecoming."

Those were Bruska's, Tsuinga's, and Yoana's voices.

"Hey, those voices?!"

"Y-yeah!"

The two stopped cooking and ran from kitchen to the dining room.

There were five of them. All five are there. No one is missing.

"Ooh! Ooh!"

"Hehe. We've gone and done it, Nark-san, Nell-san."

"Didja break through it? Ya broke through floor 100?"

"Yea, we did."

Of course they did.

It's clear seeing their expressions.

An accomplished look.

"We did it around daytime, but things turned into a commotion at the trading facility."

"Hm? Did you get a weapon with good graces?"

"A scimitar with <Damage Restoration>, <Stamina Drain>, and <Sword Speed Increase> graces got dropped."

"What"

Those are some tremendous graces. Depending on the degree of <Sword Speed Increase> effect, it can go for several platinum coins.

"<Damage Restoration> only gets dropped below floor 100 after all. They found out we crossed over floor 100. We got called to the back room and asked many things by a Mr. knight there, so we got back late."

"Ah, yeah, I figured."

Adventurers who explore floors below 100 get special treatments.

They can stay at the highest class inn under the town lord's management, their meals are covered too.

"I see. So ya guys' gonna stay there."

"No, Nark-san. <Grindam> can't stay at a town lord-run inn."

"Eh? Why?"

"Because we have no plan to explore the floors below 100."

Nark was relieved when he heard that, and he understood why. They must have gotten stronger after breaking through floor 100. Making use of that power to beat foes on the later part of floor 90s would be quite profitable. And safe. Fighting below floor 100 is way too intense.

Arios spoke next.

"Nark-san. We will be moving to an inn under the town lord's management. We told them we wanted to keep our lodging at <Rafin Rock Terrace Inn>, but since it's a rule, we have to move there once."

"Got it."

"But we plan to go back here if we're not comfortable there, so please keep our booking intact."

Lodging of adventurers who explore floors 100 and beyond are paid by the town lord.

At the most luxurious among all other inns located in the furthest back.

The guests there receive the best possible and preferential treatment.

Lecan and Arios probably won't come back.

Meaning the dinner today will act a celebration as well as a farewell.

"Alright. I'm gonna heat up the bath right away. Wash away yer' fatigue there. Look forward to the feast tonight."

They all cheered.

From that night forth, <Rafin's Rock Terrace Inn> would always be lively at night.

[Episode 28 Rafin's Rock Terrace Inn] End/Next [Episode 29 Challenging Dungeon Tsubolt]