Chapter 50: Traps and Tricks

Chapter 50: Traps and Tricks

It’s the second day of the Dungeon Investigation.

「Alright, we’ve broken through 5 layers.」

Our group has already finished exploring four layers.

As for any problems: there haven’t been many. Clad, most likely due to the effect of yesterday’s defeat, has remained quiet. No, perhaps his silence is due to the shock of witnessing the spar between Fran and Amanda when he woke up? Well... It serves him right either way.

Still, Amanda’s approach for ‘training’ was quite terrifying... The spar was fierce, and I could only witness Fran being beaten half to death too. When her side was practically gauged out my guts went cold... Not that I have any guts, of course!

There’re many metaphorical expressions that use parts of the body, so it’s quite difficult to use them for me who is inorganic. Still, that doesn’t matter. The point is, I was a tad worried.

It was good that we were able to see the strength of an A Rank Adventurer firsthand, so while Fran was a bit vexed with the result, she doesn’t seem to have started disliking Amanda. Rather than seeing her as an opponent who she narrowly escaped death from, it’s more likely that Fran is viewing her as another wall to someday climb over. Testament to that is the sense of goodwill I can feel from her towards Amanda.

As for Amanda herself, it seemed that the spar from last night was satisfactory. She had lamented the fact that she could easily defeat common Adventurers simply by wielding a Whip, but with Fran’s high prowess in evasive maneuvers and attack even she would be in danger if she relaxed.

It was because of this that the morning was noisy with her request to spar again... Even to Cruz and Frion, the spar between Amanda and Fran was like something from a different dimension.

They didn’t particularly change their attitude towards Fran, but pieces of their actions and language indicated a slight feeling of awe towards Fran. With that, it seems that they’ve fully recognized her strength.

Surprisingly enough, something akin to kindness was even felt from Cruz. Perhaps he’s finally realized that the one he lost to was Rank D? Or perhaps he’s the type of person who would only accept another after measuring their strength firsthand. How manly, Cruz. However, Fran is off-limits!

Moving on, layers 1 to 4 didn’t have any strong opponents and the traps were few, so we simply proceeded without pause for the most part. The Demonic Beasts themselves were Insect-type, so while it’s a shame, I couldn’t obtain any new Skills from them.

「Now, just a reminder, Trap Spiders will be appearing from now on.」

「Nn.」

「If we’re surrounded it’ll get troublesome, so be careful.」

Becoming bound by thread is more than enough to lead to defeat — even if your opponent is weak.

「At the same time, the number of traps will increase. The Transition Traps are particularly dangerous, so prepare accordingly. Rather than focusing on the detection of enemies, I’d like to ask everyone with the Thief Job to focus on finding traps.」

And so, with Thieves as the lead, we plunge into the fifth layer. In case of combat, Warriors step forward, with the Magicians providing support from behind.

The materials capable of being gathered from the Spiders, being quite strong for their rank, have moderate value. Their utility is also a part of that. However, they’re weak to fire and burn up easily, so we’ll be refraining from fire-type Magic as much as possible. Instead, Fran wields me.

Like this, traversing the 5th Layer can be done without a problem. Well, that’s only to be expected with this much fighting power on our side.

However... We immediately encountered a problem after delving into the 6th Layer.

「Sheet, e’en though they’re jus’ small fries!」

「They aren’t falling, even with Spirit Magic...? This can’t be!」

The Trap Spiders have suddenly become stronger. Not only their size, their increase in vitality is also plainly visible. Perhaps the deeper we delve, the stronger they will become?

「Oh, is that so? Well, so long as Fran had fun it’s fine.」

While Fran has an enjoyable expression, the rest of the Adventurers have looks of fatigue. Even Clad seems to be nearing his limit.

「Let’s pull back to the 5th Layer! Those guys shouldn’t follow us there!」

Unless they’ve overpopulated or received instructions from a Dungeon Master, Dungeon Monsters are restricted to their own Layer. And so, the Trick Spiders shouldn’t be able to give chase after we reach the 5th Layer.

「If they’re already breeding, this is pretty dangerous.」

「We know already!」

「Fran, act as the rearguard.」

「Nn.」

「E Rank Parties, withdraw!」

「Got i- Gyaa!」

「Calm down! ‘S just a scratch!」

「There’re more ‘hind us!」

「’S only one! Jus’ don’t make any noise!」

「Here they come again!」

Falling into a panic were some of Clad’s party members from Roar of the Dragon. Not only do they not seem to be accustomed to being surrounded by Demonic Beasts, they’ve taken on the Status Abnormality: Confusion.

「Just wait a sec!」

「Shut it!」

Clad is just barely retaining his fighting spirit as two of his subordinates, ones who took a surprise attack from the rear, blindly ran towards the swarm of spiders ahead.

「Wait! There might be traps over there!」

And so, sure enough, by running into the area that the Thieves hadn’t scanned yet they triggered traps.

*KYUIIIIIIN*

「That... Was that a Transition Trap?」

「Not good-」

With that, Fran disappeared.

I, who should have been in her hand, was left behind.

『Eh? Fran?』

「Fran!」