Vol. 7 - Ch. 394 - Int-mid Dungeon Conquered! The Dawn Before the Promotion Exam!

After the boss farming, the rest of the dungeon week progressed according to the schedule. We cleared a dungeon every 2 days and gradually paved the path for the promotion.The next dungeon we challenged after the ‹Cat-Dun› was another unpopular dungeon——‹Venomous Scorpion and Sandstorm Dungeon›. Just as its name implies, the dungeon had low visibility due to the chaotic sandstorm and gust of winds blowing more menacing than ever. The scorpion type monster that appeared there from the ground below was another reason behind why it was less preferred, A single sting attack of theirs was enough to inflict ‹Poison› ailment. And depending on the variety, there were even some capable of inflicting ‹Paralysis› ‹Confusion› ‹Sleep› ailments. They were truly a troublesome opponent.

The recipe ‹Purifying Dust›, that we had found in ‹Cat-Dun›, swiftly came in hand. In fact, this recipe was the reason why I chose this dungeon as our second target. The main obstacle this dungeon posed was ‹Internal Abnormal Status›.

Of course, that which can't hit can't hurt you applies here as well, but it wasn't always possible to defend against the multi-strike pincers attack. You thought you blocked the twin pincers? Io and behold the stinging spectacle—the sting attack! As if that was not enough, they were surprisingly fast, and strong to boot. Apparently, many students fell prey to them.

But, in the end, it was just a dungeon with monsters completely relying on physical based attacks—A place for the tanks to shine. Rika had pulled a marvelous performance, seemingly to make up for her blunder in ‹Cat-Dun›. And since scorpions mostly rely on close-range attacks, she absolutely dominated this dungeon.

Lana and I supported against the abnormal statuses, and in situations we couldn't make it in time, someone else would use ‹Purification Dust›. For the most part, it was a bump-less ride, and we managed to clear this dungeon in two days as well.

It was an unpopular dungeon among the upperclassmen, so we had the option for boss farming here as well, but this was where girls immediately voted against. As a result, we left the dungeon as soon as we were done with the boss. I guess that was inevitable huh? Pitiful worm monsters, they always receive the short end of the stick.

Aside from prioritizing swift clearance, we also went around the five hidden rooms, and each of them ended up ‹Silver Chest›. We used ‹Okarina› here as well and out of three attempts, managed to hunt it down two times. The rare material this time was ‹Golden Scorpion's Toxic Stinger›, a strong weapon which could perform ‹Poison Attack› ‹Paralysis Attack› ‹Frenzied Attack› ‹Sleep Attack›. ......A pity that girls refused to use it, so I passed it to Marie-senpai's guild.

While we were on it, we also went around checking out the dead ends in ‹Cat-Dun›. And much to our surprise, we discovered a ‹Gold Chest› just on our first dead end. It dropped ‹Meowzing›, an item capable of performing dowsing modeled after a cat. By registering the material and item we want to search for in it, it would make a 'Meow, Meow' sound either of them were in our near victiny. Any of the ‹Collection Department› ‹Trap Disarming Department› students would jump in delight at the sight of it.

Speaking of it, Hannah had opened this treasure chest. It was her long-awaited ‹Gold Chest› so she was truly delighted.

On the last weekdays of Dungeon Week, our third targeted dungeon was ‹Beast Assembly Dungeon›. It was quite an odd dungeon, with paths and plazas alternating between. The plazas were crowded with the monsters. There was no random encounter in this dungeon, but the fights in plaza were unavoidable.

The monsters in this dungeon that appeared were, for the most part, a group of 5~6 ‹Wolf› type monsters. They were quite challenging battles since each of them excelled in maneuvering as a group. The battles were time consuming here.

It was as if monsters were saying 'Proof your worth by defeating us if you want to pave your path to success', truly fitting the image of a dog-eat-dog dungeon. It wasn't difficult, but more of a nuisance dungeon, so I really wanted to avoid coming here on normal days.

But, of course, how could there be a blind spot in my ‹Dungeon Activity› database? Anyone worth their salt knows that this was the easiest dungeon around.

This dungeon here was more like a simple maze play. Even the maze was just a maze in name, and they were as simple as a riddle from a children's book.

So, in short, while the battles in plazas were unavoidable, it was possible to skip them entirely by deducing the correct route and moving onto the next floor. The same rule applies for all floors. If there was an easy out, why bother grinding yourself, right? S~ᴇaʀᴄh the NʘvᴇlFɪre.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

Well, this was practically the only dungeon among all where it was possible to reach the boss room without engaging in a single encounter. Of course, the battles in plazas were unavoidable if the goal was hidden room and collection, so this option was limited to when the target was just the boss.

This was also the primary reason why I chose it at the end of Dungeon Week. I mean, if push came to shove, I had the backup plan to straight make a beeline for the lower floors with the help of Ester and Celestine's carriage and get over it in just one day.

So, with that in mind, we moved the schedule up by one day to Saturday. The end result was I still had Ester and Celestine working out to race toward the end. I didn't say this method was saved for desperate times, right? Celestine's workload seemed to have reduced so it wasn't a problem to invite him. But since he had yet to clear the requirement for Int-mid, I borrowed ‹Guest Bracelet› from the academy for him. With this, it turned into a dungeon exploration with 10 member battle force and 2 support.

We safely reached the last floor while avoiding the guardian boss and wandering boss. The boss of this dungeon was the evolved version of ‹Battle Wolf› that appeared in Beg-mid—‹Battle Wolf (3rd Form)›, along with four subordinates.

‹Battle Wolf (3rd Form)› was four meters big, a jet black body and eyes shining in ominously red glow—a perfect description of a wicked beast. Even Lulu, who loves animals and fluffy things,appeared afraid of its visage and hid behind me in fright.

It seemed to be quite confident in its battle strength, as it didn't even lift its tail despite noticing us. I showed him his place by breaking that confidence with a single attack. We won easily.

Of course, one reason was that we have fought ‹Battle Wolf› multiple times, but even more than that, I could say I had the most ‹Battle Wolf› kills in the game. I had so many ways to deal with it that the fight wasn't even a struggle.

This dungeon and the boss was a perfect ultimate combo. I promptly decided to make this our main hunting ground to max out levels. It was going to be a hunting fest till tomorrow's evening! We could then advance to even greater heights—Advanced Jobs!

On sunday's evening, I suddenly felt like ‹Battle Wolf› tail drooped as soon as it caught sight of me. No way, right?

Aside from that, we received another blessing. The through ‹Battle Wolf› farming gave us a total of 6 whooping ‹Gold Chest›! Had we encountered ‹Gold Chest› Rush!? I wondered.

‹Gold Cat Coin› had finally started to show its effect. I also decided at that moment to offer rare monster meat to ‹Sachineko-sama›!

I raised my level till 71 before I started to saw the decline in leveling speed. Aside from Lana and Ester, who stopped at the same level as me, majority of members surpassed LV65. I guess it was too much to ask for hitting the level cap in just two days. I estimated we should be able to hit level cap by next weekend. Ah, no, we will have D-rank test before that. After the fight with ‹Battle Wolf›, we had cleared all requirements for the promotion.

Fuhaha! Everything was set! ‹Eden› was now stronger than ever, and we just need to clear the text this week, and then, ‹Eden› will rise to D-rank!

Though unstoppable momentum we were riding on, <Eden> still had a long journey ahead of the, right?

Arc 7 - End