Episode 31.14-15

Lecan spent the first two days sleeping.

He still took meals and baths but never stepped outside <Rafin's Rock Terrace Inn> even once.

Arios seemed to be eagerly touring around the town.

On the third day, Arios brought Lecan outside.

There's a shopping district called <Bloombright District> in the center of the city, it's split into several blocks which each sells specific stuff like footwear, or medicine or needlework. The so-called gathering spot of specialized stores. It's also where artisans from all over the vast Tsubolt come to look for tools they need, as well as a tourist attraction.

Lecan dropped by several stores that sell swords, but he completely lost interest afterward. He also visited medicine stores and wand stores, but not for long.

It was the food court that took Lecan by surprise. You can eat inside the eatery, or you can bring them to tables and chairs scattered around the streets. You may also buy ingredients and cook them to your heart's content at home.

"Why'd you keep this nice spot all to yourself?"

"I just found it yesterday myself. I mean, the one who never gave enough break day was none other than you, Lecan-dono."

"Shut it. Drink."

In the end, Lecan spent day three to seven days walking around tasting food for breakfasts and lunches at the food court instead the inn. They ate dinners at <Rafin's Rock Terrace Inn>.

Arios acted independently from Lecan. Apparently he's been going around all over this town of Tsubolt. There was even a day he didn't come back. As he had told Nark he wouldn't need lunch, dinner and breakfast, he must have it planned.

<Grindam> would come back every day, they'd have a chat whenever it was dinner time.

"Haha, Lecan. Initially I was convinced we would have a tough time finding a party to dive with us."

"It's just unbelievable. The fame from getting over floor 100 really works wonder."

"We got an outpour of people wanting to join us. So we decided to change the rules. A party who wishes to join us must write down their explored floors, how many days they want to work with us, and their members' composition as well as achievements. Then we will pick one among those. Hahaha. We've really made it far in life."

Nark joined in.

"Hell yeah you do. Yer' credibility of crossing over floor 100 just ain't on the same level. Also the fact you guys can go anywhere from floor 1 to 99 musta helped too."

"Good for you."

"This too is all thanks to Lecan and Arios. Here, this one's on me."

"By the way, what are you two up to anyway. Can you even find someone to dive with drinking around in a place like this?"

"Well. We're on break right now. We do plan to slowly work our way through the dungeon starting tomorrow."

"Whaddya mean a place like this huuh."

"Forgive us. It's but a slip of tongue."

"Why're ya apologizing Tsuinga."

That day was another day full of veggie-tasting for Lecan.

He's never been one to relish on vegetables originally. He usually only takes a bit along with a lot of meat. But he can't help but wanting more of this inn's vegetables. Not sure if it's thanks to the veggies themselves or the good cook, but what he knows for sure is that he's extremely satisfied he can get to eat these vegetables in this quest to conquer Dungeon Tsubolt.

Their long break ended that day, dungeon exploration resumed the day after.

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

On the 12th of month 2, Lecan and Arios warped to the floor 100's stairway that leads to floor 101. As they haven't stepped on floor 101, they're positioned on the starting side of the stairway.

(No one's in the stairway.)

(I'll give it a shot.)

Lecan put his sword in <Storage>.

"<Float>!"

Lecan's body floated up. He can't kick the wall in this state. He's far from the wall and <Float> would be canceled if he did kick.

"<Wind>!"

A gust of wind blew Lecan from slanted above, just as he aimed. He cast <Wind> while he's in <Float> state. Lecan's body got blown diagonally downward at speed yet unknown to him until then. He flew quite far, and as he was about to hit the ceiling, Lecan twisted his body and kicked the ceiling. <Float> effect vanished just as he touched the ceiling. Lecan got thrown hard onto the stairs below, and proceeded to roll down the stairs at tremendous speed. He couldn't do anything but curling up his body to soften the blow.

The rolling eventually slowed down, Lecan stomped his foot firmly onto the stair steps to stop his momentum.

He's got bruises all over his body. He would have suffered enough wounds to end his life had not for Overking Bear Overcoat and Octocular Great Spider Light Armor on him.

"<Recovery>."

Lecan cast <Recovery> on himself, but the pain within his body wouldn't disappear completely. He took a Large Red Potion from <Storage> and drank it down.

"What are you even doing."

Arios who caught up to him looked like he couldn't believe what he just saw.

Having learned nothing from the experience, Lecan kept trying <Float> and <Wind> combo. He also tried to use physical <Barrier> and found out that it would disappear whenever he moved. There's probably ways to make it persist on the move, but he has no idea how to do that presently.

He arrived at the bottom on the third try.

"Guess it can continue on the next stairway."

"You're still planning on doing that? That aside, what were you saying when you cast that spell that created a strong gust of wind after you floated up?"

"It's a language from my previous world that means 'Wind'."

"That's a foreign language for sure. Then again, it only makes sense."

That day Lecan and Arios got through five normal variant rooms, defeated the <Guardians> and took the stairway down to floor 102 before finishing up.

Going in alone could turn bad if some unforeseen situation arose, thus they would always go in pair. They also decided to accumulate experience fighting normal variants on a floor before challenging the <Guardians>.

Lecan used the <Power Sword> he got on floor 100.

He took a liking on its abundance of Graces on top of strong <Power Boost> Grace, and its high basic attributes.

It was terrifyingly destructive.

Their tactic is simple.

Lecan will knead mana before entering the room and shoot at the mana rich <Armored> first with his spell. Enemies on these floors will dodge a <Flame Spear> shot from 50 step away, but that's more than sufficient to disturb their focus and delay their magic casting.

Arios will dash out and cut down the mana less <Armored>.

Then Lecan cut down the mana rich <Armored> after him.

That's how they do it.

There are times when the enemy shoot their magic before Lecan could run up to them, but since they're targeting Lecan, Arios is safe. And Lecan's got <Necklace of Intuador> on him.

Looking closer, Arios will also make preparations for his techniques before entering a room. As he's not kneading his mana, Lecan cannot directly sense it, but he's most likely focusing his ki. When he's in that state, a single swing of Arios's sword means certain death.

They must no let <Armored> get a clean hit on them. These beasts possesses hair-rising destructive power, not to mention the unknown factor that is Grace Gear they may carry. A hit may very well spell doom. Hence they must swiftly kill those beasts. There is simply no other method to go up against them.

They had a break the day after and conquered floor 102 on the 14th.