Volume 5 - CH 3

The second layer is a labyrinth of intricate passageways, with occasional zombies, but no traps of any kind.

Something like that?

This would allow us to get to the third layer without any problem.

"Yeaah! It's done, Alec."

Jouga, who I had hired temporarily, gave me a nice smile.

He's been working hard under Janatha, dreaming of winning the arena.

Jouga is very bold and is the first one to cut into the enemy, and he's very skilled, so I feel like I can keep him employed with Fianna for a while.

As we continued on, Meena found the stairs to the third layer.

"Master, I found the stairs to the bottom!"

"Good."

"Ahh, Alec, we're on a mission to find a rare item on the second layer. Sorry, we can't go down there."

Jouga says with a troubled look on his face, but I don't intend to go down there right away either. We've only just begun exploring the second layer, and the map isn't completely filled in yet.

"Don't worry, we'll continue exploring this layer."

"Well, that's great, but aren't you guys going to go down?"

"Yes, but we have to go in order."

"That's an awkward way to go. If I were you, I'd go down."

"That's what you do when you're a party leader."

"Yeah. Leader? Heh, I might as well start my own party!"

Of course. You don't have to pay up for rare items, and you can go wherever you want, whenever you want. You're also free to take a break.

Well, you'll have to make a certain amount of money or you'll hit a dead end, but you can take it easy enough to make it to your retirement. I fight for a living, not a living to fight for.

As I bypassed the room with the stairs and proceeded down the corridor, the air seemed stagnant.

"Keep your head up."

"Hey, hey don't make me get all worked up, Alec. The second layerl's a piece of cake."

"You'll die. If you're not careful."

"What? You're freaking me out."

"But even in the first layer, there were some enemies that gave me a scare, so we should not be careless just because it's the second layer." 

Serina also said.

"Oi, oi. You're kidding, right? You guys are higher level than me, right? Are you saying you had a hard time with a goblin?"

"It's not a goblin. It's a skeleton."

"Hmm? Is there such a thing as a skeleton on the first layer?"

"Be quiet!" Ione warned everyone.

"What's the matter, nee-chan?"

"Shut up for a bit."

She silenced Jouga, but he looked unhappy. But there was a noise at the end of the passage.

Bang, Bang, It sounded like a strong knocking.

"Someone's in there."

"Why don't you just open the door and go on, instead of knocking all the time?"

Maybe there is something that can't be done.

"Let's go."

I went down the corridor in the direction of the noise, but I found a door on the side of the corridor. The sturdy-looking wooden door was closed.

"Oi, is there anyone there?"

Jouga called out through the door.

"Ahh, ......."

A faint reply was heard, and then there was a pounding on the door.

"Oi! Are you injured?"

Juga tried to open the door, but I stopped him.

"Wait."

"Why? If they asking for help, you must help them soon."

"Yeah. But it's possible that this is a trap. Meena, you open it. Jouga, you keep your sword ready."

"Yes, Master."

"That's very thoughtful."

The passageway here was narrow, and they would have to lie down and give way to each other to switch places. Placement was important.

"I'll open it." Meena pulled the handle.

"Whoa! Damn it! It's a monster house!"

Jouga shouted as soon as he peeked over to the other side.

"Everyone, get back!" I instructed.

If the guys in the back row try to move forward, they'll get stuck and won't be able to move, let alone retreat. Rather than fight in a small space, it would be better to fall back to a larger space and then fight each other.

"Uwahh!? Damn!"

Some of the zombies were creeping forward, and they were also (...) moving (...) fast (...).

Jouga in the front row was getting impatient because he couldn't wield his broadsword as he wanted in the tight space. Should I have let the dwarf with the hand axe come forward? No, with his reach, he wouldn't be able to deal with the zombies crawling under the floor. In any case, it was impossible to rearrange the party now.

"Letty!"

"I know!　--I am redeemed. I seek redemption in a pact not of master and servant. Efreet, demon of rage, destroy your enemies with your sharp fire! Flamespear!"

Letty quickly cut the intricate markings with her fingers, completing the spell. A number of flames flew like spears, piercing the zombies and blowing them away.

"Okay, go, go, go!"

Lily also rested her hand on the sling's tow and only cheered.

Jouga cleaned up the remaining zombies and took a breath.

"Fuh~. That was one hell of a spell. Thanks for the help."

"Don't thank me. Instead of tha, you must take care of your injury."

"Leave it to me. --Goddess Eir, grant my wish. Heal!"

Fianna cast a recovery spell. He didn't seem to recover fully at once, so she cast it again and again.

I thought recovery magic was supposed to be more powerful, but this looks like it's not very useful.

"Now that the pain is gone, we can leave it at that, Fianna." said Jouga.

"But the wound is still there."

"Don't worry about it. Just tie it up with a cloth and it will healed."

Smiling, he sat down, ripped off his own clothes and quickly finished the treatment.

"Cleanse yourself with this."

The dwarf took out a small bottle and sprinkled an amber liquid on it.

"What's that, whoa! It stings! What the hell did you give to me, poison?"

"No. It's alcohol, isn't it?

"Yeah."

"No, I don't know why..."

"It's for disinfection."

I told him, but Jouga didn't seem to know about disinfecting with alcohol.

"It's not like I'm poisoned, but damn it."

"Okay, let's get off to the surface."

"Oi, oi. I can still do this, all right?"

"No. It's almost dark. We're going back to the inn."

"Oh, what the..."

"In that case, we'd better go with him. We'll have to check with the store."

The dwarf in the iron helmet said, and we all went to the surface.

"I guess we can only go up to the third layer for a day trip."

The dining room of the inn "Dragon's Dwelling Tree Residence" was spacious.

While eating Ada's special stew, we discussed our future plans. Fianna, Jouga and the others had returned to Janatha's store, so we went our separate ways.

"That's right. We'll bring in enough food that last long and camp in the dungeon. It feel kind of weird."

I thought that Serina would not like it, but it seems that she is not that displeased.

"But Jouga and the others said they were looking for rare items in the second layer, right?"

Meena confirms.

"'Yeah, we'll split up from there."

"Is that so?."

"Well, it doesn't matter how many people you have if the place is too small."

Letty says, and she's right. The dungeon is not a place where you can rely on numbers.

If you're going to split up into multiple parties, there's not much point in taking a vanguard if you're going to let them play around.

There is also the idea of a backup force, but having one that is close to a ranger is probably enough.

I don't plan to stay in the dungeon for long until the situation becomes that serious.

If someone gets injured, we can end the search there and return to the surface.