Vol. 10 - Ch. 513 - Another Yokai? Oh, the tale of troublesome Yokai!

I had planned to test out our coordination... but it instead turned into a one-sided massacre. No wait, I think it would be correct to say our team was that good.The monsters were certainly not weak for a Rank 8 dungeon, putting aside that we're still on upper floors.

However we still managed to cheese our way through the monsters.

Lana let out a deflated grumble.

"It was a letdown."

"So it may, but don't take these demon-type monsters for weakling. It's just that our fourth order skills were that strong."

The difference had come from our party of only advanced job members; in the Int-high dungeon where basic jobs were the norm, we had obviously outpaced the requirement.

"Is this going to continue till the deep floors?"

"I fear yes. Monsters only get power up every 10th floor. And I doubt we're going to have any hard time against the 40th to 50th floor either with our party."

In the setting of intermediate dungeons, the floor went as deep as the 50th, and monsters became stronger every 10th floor. The later half of the dungeon also adopted a different vibe, with more stronger monsters like «Ogre», «Cyclops» and «Troll» making their appearance starting on the 31st floor.

Maybe, a mid-ranking advanced job might have faced some hardship in the end floors. But for our party, well, it was going to be a smooth...too smooth sailing ride. It would be strange otherwise when literally four of our party jobs were placed in the top 10 of 'Advanced Division - Official Strongest Job' ranking.

"Anyway, we mustn't keep being that strong!"

"That's a statement enough to get on the wrong side of whole academy."

Nice! I nodded in satisfaction at Lana's rebuttal.

We then left for the place where the field boss should have been while taking a roundabout way as there was one hidden room along the way.

"Hn. Found a treasure chest!"

"Good job, Karua! What's its colour!?"

"Silver."

"«Silver Chest»!!"

Karua had suddenly come to a standstill, and then reported of a treasure.

It was the same hidden room that I had been expecting, and I was expecting Karua to spot it so it was according to the plan. Fuhahaha.

After the first three failed guesswork, she finally pinned down the hidden room location.

Swiftly, the deflated Lana picked up the pace faster than lightning. I was also excited.

"Hn, it's there."

"L-Let's go there together. Yeah, it's not like a treasure chest is going to grow a leg!"

Lana said more so to calm down herself and take the front.

Sierra quietly chuckled, and Ester saw that with a warm smile.

I thought she would soon come to her senses that Karua was the guide here, but as if she was being attracted toward it like the beckoning cat, she actually stopped right before the end point where the treasure chest was hidden. ...I would believe it if someone told me she was an esper.

"I found it!"

Ultimately, she even managed to find the treasure chest.

Amazing. But for now, the audience had all joined in so time to open it!

"Alright, let's decide who's going to open it! Raise your hand if you want to open it!"

" " "Me!" " "

Lana seemed like she was ready to jump on it so hurriedly started our custom. The eager participants were Lana, Karua, and...me.

As usual, Sierra didn't appear much interested in it, while Ester was content as long as Lana was having fun.

"It kinda reminds me of beginner dungeon days. It used to be Hannah in place of Karua."

"Indeed. And you sure didn't miss out on speed to raise your hand. I like it. —Lana, I think Karua should open this one, what do you say?"

"Hn. Are you sure?"

"It's fine. You discovered it after all. But I'm going to watch it by your side though."

"Hnn. OK. Then I am going to open it."

Lana was certainly not very happy, but she did give her OK for Karua.

She was growing huh. In the past, she surely would have tried to argue. And for other times, often I participate in the stupid squibble too so I turned a blind eye.

Karua knelt in front of the treasure chest, I took my spot to her right, and Lana on her left.

Sierra and Ester looked interested in the drop as they gazed from behind her.

"Hn, I am opening it. Click."

Did she just verbalise Click!?

Though I didn't have the time to make the jab as I, and everyone else, peered inside the treasure chest.

Inside it was—

"They're...medicine vials?"

"It's full of it."

Ah, «Recovery Breath» huh. The breath category items weren't easy to figure out at a glance, but they're closer to sprayer in shape, each effect confirmable by their colour. The green ones here were for HP recovery.

Inside the treasure chest, there were 10 of «Recovery Breath»—upper tier versions of «Hi-Potion».

"This is a nice drop! The «Recovery Breath» is a party wide item that restores 300 points of HP. They're pretty to use, just push the button and done, so no need to drink. And they're still effective at distance."

"Oh, sounds like a useful item."

"An item that can heal ally from distance? It sounds great for when you’ve no healer, their skills are on CD, short of MP, or when tanks are in tricky positions dealing with aggro. It sure has wide range to use."

Ester and Sierra quickly drew out its use case when they heard my explanation. They seemed to have found it quite an interesting item.

Oh wait, there was still Karua failing in understanding their worth.

"Hn, is this like, amazing?"

Ester took over the explanation to Karua.

"This is a party wide healing item, and just its recovery value of 1500 made it one of the best recovery items. But its advantage lies in the fact that you don't have to drink it. There may be a chance for the frontline to collapse if the attacker or tank had to fall back to recover, but the long distance healing made it sure that the frontline can keep going on."

"Zephyr, they can't be produced?"

"Only if there's a recipe... which we don't have."

The recipe for «Recovery Breath» was only obtainable from Int-high dungeon's last floor boss. So there's that, and also, the material for it could only be farmed from this «Demon-Dungeon».

"Oh..."

"This is a pity."

Sierra and Ester a disappointed expression.

"But I don't think there's any need for them. I am still here."

"Of course. We do have Lana-sama, our greatest support."

But for Ester, it barely lasted for a moment after hearing Lana's remark.

I guess we would save them for emergency case. Selling them to other guilds was also an option. They actually fetched premium price.

Anyway, closing our this time on our treasure chest log, we returned back to the normal route to face the boss.

"But why is it that the treasure chest had to be hidden in such dead ends?"

"That's indeed a mystery. It would make things so easy if they happened to be in the middle of the route. But they just have to be around some remote place, don't they?"

Sierra muttered her obvious doubt with a curious expression, same for Ester as she tried to think about it, one of her hands supporting her cheek.

The answer was simple.

"In simple words, Yokais hide them away."

This setting was all too-familiar to be called for yokai, but it sure was their work, as they called it 'Yokai - Where's that treasure chest.'

In RPGs. There were often hidden items that weren't outright visible for players, neither visible on screen, but you just needed to search some obscure area like the edges and you will have them. Such was a common scenario, and in general, it had all been dubbed as work of yokai.

"Is that so? These yokais are really troublesome things."

"Good grief." Sёarᴄh the NôᴠelFirё.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

I did happen to overlook some hidden treasure chest myself. They really loved to make you spin around huh, the yokais I mean.

Engaging in such banter, we soon stepped in the area of the field boss.