CH 35

Please.” (Kei)

“Yes, I have confirmed. Please note that access to the 9th floor is currently prohibited.” (Receptionist)

“Haha, I wish I had the ability to go that deep.” (Kei)

We’re currently in a Dungeon Dam. We finished the renovation the day before yesterday and it was still raining heavily yesterday, but today it cleared up and it was easy to come to Tokyo.

The shoes were soaking wet, so I added [Dryer] to them, which I found in the trash skills, and they dried up nicely. However, in its current state, it is a bother, so I removed it.

Speaking of which, the [Perceive Nature] device at the reception had disappeared before I knew it.

It seems that the Hero Party is currently in the dungeon market filming for a live TV broadcast.

I’m not sure if it’s because of that, but I think there are a few people in the Dungeon Dam.

“Then, Haru. See you later.” (Kei)

As we split up and went to the changing room, I heard a voice from outside.

“We, the Hero Party, take pride in our name. We will safely defeat the unique monster!” (Yuki)

It seems that the group of heroes is about to embark on a quest. Will it get more and more crowded from now on?

When I finish changing my clothes in a hurry, I leave the changing room with my bag with my change of clothes.

I was earlier than Haru today, so I took out the money and opened the door of the coin locker, and Haru came and we packed our things together.

“Hey, hurry up. By the way, the Hero Party can go up to the 10th floor, but we can only go up to the 5th floor.” (Kei)

“Oh, that’s right. I forgot.” (Haru)

It’s a ridiculous situation, but it can’t be helped because we’ve defeated more than 100 Black Wolves at home dozens of times. We might not have any choice on the matter.

I walked into the dungeon with Haru pushing me and the Hero Party being interviewed at our side.

When we enter the nearby transition area, we touch the magic circle and think of the 5th-floor exit, my vision changed as usual, and we are now on the 5th floor.

“Then, let’s go. We’ll have to keep our speed down since we’ll be noticed. (Kei)”

“What about the route?” (Haru)

“I’ve got a rough map lying around on the Internet, so I’ve memorized it. Let’s go.” (Kei)

We headed towards the 9th floor with a short run. We met a lot of explorers on the way, but they seemed to have developed a manner of walking on the right side of the road, keeping their distance and looking up.

According to them, since most people are right-handed, attacking the left would delay them for a moment. Someone suggested it to curb the killing and wounding in the dungeon, and it spread.

Walking is genuinely safer than running. Both for you and your opponent.

The only reason to look up is so that people will remember your face when you commit a crime.

So we keep running, and when other explorers pass by, we move to the right and walk. The only thing is that they remember our faces, so we hide them under our clothes and wear chains around our necks. Of course, we have alchemized it with dungeon materials and given it certain garbage skills.

“Worthless… loses impression for a certain amount of time.”

Well, to put it simply, although we can’t disguise ourselves, our faces become less memorable. As long as people don’t stare at your face when they pass us, I think we’ll be fine.

I also added the [Activate] skill, which we only had two of, because without that it would only make the chain less memorable.

I had experimented before and found out that if you put more than one skill on one object, the one you put the skill on will break. I prepared two short chains, attached the skills separately, and then connected them into one chain.

From there, we continued straight through the dungeon, and when we entered the seventh level, we started to look around. Currently, the highest floor an ordinary person can reach is the 11th floor. However, more than two months have passed, and the difference in ability is starting to show.

So it seems that the people on the front lines are often on the 7th floor.

In other words, the people we see around here are excellent adventurers, if not the best. It would be troublesome if someone were to remember our faces.

It had been a long time since we had a hard time getting down to the 9th floor since we’re changing our route so as not to meet other explorers.

“Haru, how about the actions of the people around?” (Kei)

“Yes. There are two people in the area that even brother can see. Something’s wrong.” (Haru)

“I’m not misunderstanding it then.” (Kei)

There are two people in the range of [Perception] that I can confirm, but the reaction is unusually small for both of them. However, the Fighting Power also does not seem to be strong.

“Isn’t it a skill like [Stealth]? It’s probably much stronger than [Stealth].” (Haru)

“Ah, if you have a strong skill that is not suitable for your level, that would be the case. So, because our level is high, still even with the high level of their skill, we were still able to detect them.” (Kei)

“Probably. Brother, let’s work together to see through it.” (Haru)

“If we’re not careful, they’ll find out, and then we’ll have to run.” (Kei)

“It’s okay. I only check the least I can.” (Haru)

It’s been a month since the King Goblin incident. We’ve been experimenting and raising our levels in the Forest. This is why you can find new ways to use the same skills and magic.

First of all, we became more aware of the two people I was checking out and joined hands with Haru. Haru passed her magic power with [Detection] through me once and I deliver it to them adding the effect of [Stealth].

An undetectable thread of magic power reaches out and touches them. For a moment.

The moment the magic touched them, they began to look around.

“Let’s go. Haru.” (Kei)

We immediately leave the scene and run through a different path than the two of them.

“So how was it?” (Kei)

After running a good distance, make sure there is no one around and then I ask Haru.

“I only saw it for a moment, so I could only confirm only a bit of it. I didn’t have time to transmit the magical power fully, so I don’t know their name and gender.” (Haru)

“It’s okay if you know only the important parts. And that’s one man and one woman. Their skeletal built was like that.” (Kei)

“It’s the chopping block for a person who grasps another person’s gender through their skeleton.” (Haru)

“Don’t say that. It is true that it was hard to tell from the appearance because of the hood. So, what was the result of the [Inspection]?” (Kei)

“Hmm? Oh, the skills were [Colorless and Transparent] and [Harmless Doll]. Both are skills for hiding. The performance of these skills is far different from that of [Stealth]. It was leagues better, so it’s probably a top-tier skill.” (Haru)

The difference between the two skills must be overwhelming because Haru said they were different by an enormous margin. I was curious, so I asked her about the detailed results of her [Inspection].

“[Colorless and Transparent] interferes with the other person’s vision, hiding their own appearance and even reducing the color of their presence. [Harmless Doll] would let the user distract and disguise themselves until they struck their first blow. Now, that’s a lot of cloak and dagger skills to pull off.” (Haru)

I couldn’t help but cringe at the cheating nature of the skill Haru had revealed to me.

“That’s impossible. You can’t win against that much stealth.” (Kei)

“They’re geniuses, huh?” (Haru)

Boom!

I stopped talking and listened carefully to the sound of a small explosion coming from far away.

The sound reverberates well in the cave. However, perhaps it’s a dungeon phenomenon, but the sound doesn’t reverberate as much as in a normal natural cave. At best, it’s comparable to the inside of a house. If you don’t have good ears, you won’t notice.

It was hard to tell because of the echoes, but I slowly walked toward the direction I thought was probably this way.

Boom!

The explosion rang out again. However, it was clearly louder than before.

I could also hear the sound of metal clashing against metal. And then.

“Brother, there are too many presence reacting.” (Haru)

Haru, who knows a wider area than I do, seemed to have seen the battle. But.

“What do you mean by ‘too many’? Monsters, unique monsters?” (Kei)

In the dungeon, we don’t use numbers except for monsters. The reason for this is that there are various restrictions placed on us.

There is a numerical value called [Status] that is required to progress through the dungeon, it is also a level requirement for wearing equipment. And then,

“There are more than four people fighting.” (Haru)

There’s a limit to the number of people you can have in a dungeon, and just one more person means you can’t take advantage of the dungeon.

“With that feeling, there is only one unique monster and I don’t know if it’s the Heroes, but there are 12 explorers. There are 3 parties.” (Haru)

“Does that mean they’re only interested in defeating it?” (Kei)

As I walked slowly and cautiously, I could see that there was a battle going on within the range of [Perception], as well as several parties that were not participating in the battle.

There are six parties in total, including the parties engaged in battle. Including us, that would make seven parties. [T/N: Since the two Hero Party is not formally introduced to the MCs I’ll address them as such: Hero – Yuki, Shield – Gouta, Healer – Risa, Magician – Arisu.]

“[High Heal]” (Voice)

I hear a voice from the non-combatant party.

“[High Power]” (Voice)

Furthermore, it seems that the Enchanter was included in the party that was not fighting.

It seems that the limit on the number of people in a dungeon does not matter if you are just looking around. However, cooperation was not allowed. Enchanting and Healing constitutes sufficient cooperation. This seems to indicate that there are six parties fighting.

Now, beyond even our grasp, we came to a distance where we could see the battle. It was a large space in the dungeon. It’s a place we’ve used for hunting Treants. Even in different dungeons, such open spaces still exist. Covering Haru and me with magic, I activate [Stealth] with all my concentration.

Normally, the magic power is only used to an unrecognizable degree, but little by little it is used.

I look at the open space and see eight explorers there, shields and swords at hand, armed and ready, clad in silver armor, blocking the movement of the rampaging monsters. Around them, I see three parties of explorers with staffs and swords.

And then there are the four explorers dressed in equipment that anyone who sees them will know is expensive. Two vanguards and two rearguards who are older than us but still quite young. The name of the group was the Hero Party. The Fighting Power of the group is overwhelming compared to the other explorers, and the other explorers seem to be doing little more than slowing them down.

And then there was a large knight who blocked all of their attacks and turned to attack. He was probably about two and a half meters tall. It is wrapped in pitch-black armor and holds a pitch-black sword and a pitch-black shield, and moves quickly without feeling heavy.

“Black Knight, Fighting Power is 165, so stronger than a Minotaur.” (Haru)

“Seriously.” (Kei)

While talking, I see the Black Knight in the distance, but even though he is attacked, only scratches are left on its armor.

“Get down!” (Shield)

The vanguard goes down according to the words shouted by the Shield of the Hero Party, and the sword of the Black Knight shines, and it made a wide slash.

No one was hurt thanks to the quick decision.

“Everyone, let’s go!” (Hero)

The people who had retreated charged the Black Knight again at the sound of a young man’s voice. Even though they were no match for him, they did not show any sign of giving up.

Inspiring trust from his surroundings and wiping out fear and anxiety with just one phrase.

I thought he was just like a Hero.

However, they were unknowingly taking a step towards a tragedy.