Chapter 26. Dungeon
Dungeon. Natural or man-made disasters that have brought the world crashing down? Dungeons have appeared out of nowhere and are slowly encroaching on the human world. It’s a problem for constant warfare and lost resources. Companies and investors, who had initially provided funding through higher taxes and had come forward to help destroy the dungeons, became defensive in the never-ending battle against the dungeons, people complained about politics, and governments changed hands many times.
If countries had joined hands and dared to fight together, they might have managed if they had focused on training skill holders and had many people who could withstand the dungeon outbreaks that followed.
However, it was bad enough that they could fight back with an army. It was also bad that the companies stopped providing funds once they had obtained the specimens. It was also bad that people repeatedly changed governments out of discontent. It was also bad that each country was only concerned with protecting its interests and did not want to join hands with other countries.
At first, countries thought they could destroy dungeons immediately and didn’t think dungeons would occur endlessly, thinking they were military fairs. When they realized that the dungeons were endless and that they were losing weapons and bullets like hot water. It was too late.
The military companies panicked because no matter how much money they had on hand. They would lose their resources, and humanity would finally lose. The politicians and military who were only concerned with expanding their power finally decided that they could be destroyed, by that time, dungeons had appeared all over the world, There wasn’t enough military power to cover all areas, and finally, humanity decided to abandon all but the largest cities and settle down. That was about 10 years ago.
A girl was standing in front of such a dungeon. She was a petite, beautiful girl with shiny, shiny, semi-long black hair, a kindly look in her eyes, a small, shapely nose, pretty lips the color of cherry blossoms, and a pretty face.
With lazy eyes, she was looking at a dungeon in the forest. There were no goblins or other creatures in the area. It was the result of the hunt. Thanks to the efforts of Shingen and the others, we could hunt the goblins in the backcountry.
Deciding not to tackle the dungeon near the hunting ground, Shizuku reached the back of it. 3 shadow tigers and 3 shadow snakes were waiting by her side, killing the demons that appeared occasionally.
“Goblin dungeon. The dungeon consists of 5 floors, 18 map patterns, and 3 types of terrain: grasslands, caves, and ancient temples. The dungeon boss is the Goblin King.”
Softly, in a cute voice tone, she mumbles out the details of the dungeon in a mumbled, nonchalantly. There is a hole about 3 meters high and 10 meters wide.
[Shizuku-san? How do you know so many details? Does that mean the guys in the inner city know about it?]
The flying old man’s ghostly body, Sakimori, asks with jittery eyes as it floats in front of Shizuku’s eyes, but I huff and puff, my chest heaving with a small bulge, and I gently put my index finger to my lips, as if I’m good at what I do.
“I don’t know everything. Just what I know.”
[He~h.]
“Nyaa!”
Shizuku imitates a cat and brings out her fist with a plop. She seems to be getting her usual weird sickness again.
Huffing and hunching, she threatens me like a cat, but when I let out a sigh, she brushes her hair back and poses with her arms folded. She leaned against a three-meter-tall large sword that looked like a lump of iron stuck in the ground like a pillar. On her back, she carries a hunting rifle. At her waist is a belt with several knives.
“We were able to get into the dungeon attack earlier than expected. Now, let’s go in and take full advantage of the Equivalent Exchange Store’s capabilities.”
With a thump, she kicks the root of a large sword stuck in the ground and, using the principle of leverage, spins it around and picks up the hilt.
A glistening lump of iron. A beautiful girl of about 140 centimeters of petite stature, carrying on her shoulder the huge greatsword used by the Goblin King, entered with a thin smile.
She had dived into the dungeon a long time ago. It was more than 10 years ago Sakimori dove into the dungeon. At that time, the army was carrying guns every day to destroy every dungeon that appeared, gunfire rang out, and fighter jets and helicopters scattered missiles and launchers.
So it was relatively easy to sneak into the dungeon and defeat the enemy. There were no infiltration restrictions in place.
The country was looking for heroic heroes to defeat them if they could defeat the dungeons, or so was the desire, and there were no penalties. And there was no room in the military to prevent them from entering.
Of course, no such cheat heroes appeared. Reality is a harsh place.
Sakimori initially used steel clotheslines with knives attached; 5 years later, when my skill level reached one, I used magic to defeat them. If I recall well, I used to fight with shabby homemade weapons when I had zero skill level.
[Well, you said there were three types of terrain, right? What does a dungeon look like? I’ve never heard of subsidence or anything like that when you destroy a dungeon.]
A dark cave where water falls from the ceiling. A special luminous moss dimly lit the area, the soil was bare, and it was a tunnel-like dungeon with rough pebbles rolling around. According to Shizuku, it’s a cave type.
“The dungeon distorts space when it slips into the place. To use an analogy, it’s like an air bubble building in a swimming pool. You can destroy some dungeons with bunker missiles, but after it’s gets destroyed, water will enter, and return to its original state. It will completely revert to its original state. So no subsidence will occur.”
[Shizuku knows everything. Un? What is it? ]
For some reason, she looks at me with impressed eyes, but what?
“No, I would like to say the line I just said, but ……. It’s time to start the battle.”
Shizuku narrowed her eyes and held a large sword in her hand, lowering the sword’s tip to the ground. Ahead of her gaze were the goblins. As usual, they were running, slamming with clubs in their hands, smiling wickedly.
There are 5 goblins and 1 archer. It already has an arrow on its back. Before the goblins came this way, the archer skillfully shot its arrow.
It shoots arrows in such a straight line, and in such a low-ceilinged place, Sakimori thought that it had to be tongue-tied for its skill, but Shizuku calmly waited.
There is a hissing wind-slash sound, and the arrow comes right in front of her, but when she puts one hand out in its line of fire. She lightly shakes her palm. She places her shaking palm on the arrow and changes its trajectory, and it passes by her face. The arrow grazes her hair and falls backward without effort.
Quickly, the archer nicks the next arrow and releases it. It’s the most vicious and feared of the goblins. But when she sees the goblins approaching, she stops attacking and disappears into the back of the passage. She’s too smart.
“Now, let me show you the power of skill level 3.”
Dragging her greatsword towards the goblins approaching her, Shizuku steps forward with a vicious light in her eyes, her mouth turning into a thin smile.
“Gah gah gah.”
“Gasp!”
“Gob!”
As the goblins raised their clubs to attack her all at once, she stepped out on her right leg, twisted her body, and both hands gripped her greatsword tightly, swinging it sideways.
With a “bion,” winds whipped up from the sword, knocking the goblins off their feet. The blade easily cut through all the goblin’s bodies with a force that couldn’t be generated from her small body. The bodies of the goblins splintered into pieces, scattered, and fall into the sky. Fresh blood danced in the air, and Shizuku laughed, as if in a good mood.
“Shhh.”
With a slight exhalation, she pulled a knife from her waist and threw it underthrown to the far end of the passageway, and then there was a thud and the sound of something falling.
“I’ll take down all the apostles!”
The girl is in a good mood as she huffs and puffs. She also mumbles some unintelligible line and walks away again, carrying her greatsword.
[What’s an apostle? Shizuku-san?]
“Warriors with great swords fight apostles. I’m sorry that was unfinished.”
[Really?]
Sakimori was dumbfounded, thinking it must be something that doesn’t make sense again, but Shizuku returned it with her cheeks puffed out in dissatisfaction.
Dragging her greatsword with a slithering motion, Shizuku walks down the aisle with archer’s corpse by her side. Turning a few corners, she encounters goblins and hobgoblins, all wielding great swords. But Shizuku kills them all by swinging her greatsword. The mass and centrifugal force of the greatsword cut through the enemies equally.
The hobgoblins seemed equal in strength to Shizuku, but Shizuku’s attacks timed to slip through their defenses as if aiming for an opening.
Even if they try to block her by crossing their huge arms, her body sinks in, she cut their legs, and she bounces back to the ground, turning her body and turning her around and slashing back with a sword. She knifed archer too.
“Depending on the number of attackers, monsters change their numbers. Except for special monsters, that is. If it’s solo to 6 people, then it’s up to 36 of them.”
Kicking the goblin running in front, turning its torso into a dogleg and pushing it out to the goblins behind, lowering the greatsword backward so that her body floats, with physical strength that doesn’t look like it. Slashing at the goblin from the right. When it hits the ground, it swings up with the recoil and another one. She flips her body and rotates sideways to tear the rest of the goblins apart like a tornado.
[If the number of appearances is the same between solo and six, why not six?]
While looking at the scene of the dismembered massacre, I ask to pass the time that the guard will not come out. It’s kind of like a game.
“The dungeon was created with such specifications in mind, but this is a trap for humans who are conscious of the game from the dungeon. It sounds like a good strategy for 6 people, but it’s a break. Considering time watchers and large-scale battles, one company is good enough. It’s a trap to attack with six people.”
[How many people are we attacking now? About 100?]
Isn’t the current number of people bad? Shizuku-san?
“If it’s something like us, it’s possible to conquer it. It would wipe out all the valuable strong people, so 6 people aren’t recommended. It’s just like the saying goes. The elite dies first.”
Shizuku smiles back at the words of the defender.
“But if we don’t have enough strength to go through this trap, we won’t be able to move on in the future.”
She also pulls a knife from her waist with the blinding speed of a rapid-fire gunman and throws it toward the end of the passageway.
How much further ahead is she looking? I know she won’t give me an answer.
“Well, I understand.”
[Understood?]
Shizuku nodded as she traced the rough dirt wall with the palm of her hand.
“Yes, I found the pattern of this map. Now we will run through to the boss. It will be roughly 30 minutes. This time, we’ll fight the Goblin King normally, Sakimori-san.”
With a cute smile, the beautiful girl with nothing but mystery giggled. She has grasped the map after just a few dozen minutes of walking in this dungeon. She is a terrifying girl.
