CH 224

Episode 224 – New Area

I made my way back to the other two in the rear guard while avoiding the Demon Arachnid’s remaining threads. I felt a little shy, seeing their approving gazes as they nodded at me.

“Good work.” (Aruna)

“Good job out there. You completely crushed it!” (Rosalie)

“Good work, you two. With your support, we managed to win safely.” (Lewin)

“No, no… I tried throwing a few of the Medical Herb Pills you gave me, but I couldn’t land a single one, so I seriously didn’t do anything,” Rosalie said with an apologetic look on her face.

“Mhm. I wasn’t doing much, just watching,” Aruna said, looking completely unashamed.

In the middle of the fight, out of the corner of my eye I had certainly seen some Medical Herb Pills flying in the wrong direction, and I had also happened to notice Aruna standing there idly about halfway through the fight.

The Medical Herb Pills clung to surfaces very easily, which also made them stick to your hands when you tried to throw them. Yet this time, we had no choice but to provide long-range support due to the threads that were all over the place. Aruna had stopped attacking with her bow because she had seen that I was overwhelming the Demon Arachnid, but I had nothing to complain about since her actions in the opening and middle of the battle were perfect.

“Yeah, I noticed. Well, you just have to get used to throwing the Medical Herb Pills. Aruna-san, I would’ve wished that you kept attacking until the end, but I won’t complain since you still fulfilled your support role perfectly.” (Lewin)

“Yes. I felt like I could maybe land some throws near the end there, so next time for sure!” (Rosalie)

“Mm. I decided you didn’t need support.” (Aruna)

From the looks of it, they’ll be fine next time. Well, for Aruna’s case, if she had seen that I was having a hard time, she would probably have continued attacking until the end, anyway.

“For now, let’s leave the reflection for after we leave the Dungeon. From here, would it be good to take a quick look around the 16th layer before heading back?” (Lewin)

“Mm, sure.” (Aruna)

Just like that, we left the Demon Arachnid’s floor and headed down to the next layer.

I felt a gale blowing through as we descended the stairs… which ended in a rocky area. There was not a single plant or tree to be found, and it was almost hard to believe that the 14th layer just before it had been overgrown with lush vegetation. Some parts of the path were like cliffs, and if you fell from them, you would be knocked down to the lower layers below.

It was hard to tell from the 16th layer, which was the topmost layer, but the area from here… was none other than a canyon. It wasn’t just the monsters that were dangerous. The floor itself was also dangerous.

“Is this where the real Dungeon clearing begins?” (Lewin)

“I think so. Back when I was an adventurer, I had a really hard time here.” (Rosalie)

“Well, we’ll be fine. I’m here,” Aruna uttered some reliable-sounding words in her usual aloof manner. It was true that Aruna’s bow was the key to clearing this canyon area.

After all, there would be a lot of flying monsters from here, as well as monsters that stood up on the cliffs and attacked from a distance. It was basically up to Aruna to deal with those monsters.

“Yeah. Of course we’re expecting great things from you, Aruna-san.” (Lewin)

“With Aruna-san here, the danger is reduced by half!” (Rosalie)

Hearing our hopeful words, Aruna gave us a thumbs up.

“So have you decided how we’re going to go down the canyon area, Jade-san?” (Rosalie)

“I’ll think about that more after we return, but… I think it would be best to go down the stairs as usual.” (Lewin)

Rosalie was asking if I wanted to take a shortcut down. As mentioned earlier, the upper and lower layers of this canyon area were connected because of the cliffs.

If you were to fall, it would normally mean death, but if you prepared certain measures for the fall, it was possible to make it down to the lower layer in one go. However, there wasn’t only the danger from falling, since there were still the flying monsters and long-range attacks on each floor.

And yet, the most troublesome existences were the Canyon Monkeys that lived only on the edge of the cliffs. They appeared in packs, and their only goal in life was to knock adventurers off cliffs. They possessed a high level of intelligence, and they had the special characteristic of using the items and weapons from those countless adventurers that they had pushed off the cliffs.

Dropping from the cliffs was a quick and easy method… But it was accompanied with dangers of its own.

“I also agree that we should go down the stairs, but… let’s decide later at the review meeting what we’ll do from here on!” (Rosalie)

“That’s right. Then let’s take a quick look around this layer before heading back.” (Lewin)

To familiarize ourselves with the new area, we checked the terrain and dealt with a few monsters before heading back the way we came.

We were clearing at a very good pace, and my goal to reach the 33rd layer was starting to come into view. From here, the real Dungeon clearing would begin, but if I wanted to catch up with the [Azure Alliance], I had to try my best to keep up this pace.