Chapter 298
“Oryaa!”
The Mithril spear tore the Minotaur’s belly apart.
As the death howl exploded from the Minotaur’s mouth, steaming guts poured out of its torn belly. The once tall and intimidating creature collapsed to the floor.
[6] Thankfully, a few seconds later, its body disappeared, absorbed by the dungeon. However, “Ugh, I’ve already seen it… gross…”
[6] That’s right, even after dealing with butchering and killing monsters here and there, the sight of guts and blood spilling out of monsters still disturbs me.
[6] Thankfully, the monsters, along with their blood and guts, will disappear not long after their death, leaving only useful Drops like this very neat piece of Minotaur meat.
I collected the meat and went searching for the next prey.
We’re on the 25th floor, the final floor of the Giant Zone. Naturally, we have no problem getting here but I’d decided to participate in the challenge since it’s the last floor anyway.
“Guoooo!!!”
A Troll spotted me and roared. It waved its massive arms and thumped heavily towards me. [6] If I had been alone, I would definitely have panicked but Fer, Sui and Dora-chan kept most of the other monsters busy, only letting one through now and then so that I could fight them easily.
[6] What was that? This is kind of a scummy move? Like how rich people with too much money shoot wild animals released into the plains after captivity…
I guess this is kind of similar.
…whatever, let’s just take down this Troll.
“Fireball!”
Magic barely worked on Trolls due to their tough resistance but I aimed the volleyball size fire at its face to blind it for a moment.
“Gugaa!!”
The Fireball exploded in its face. [5] [1] This caused the Troll to panic and turn around to run away. That’s when I stepped forward and swung my spear at waist height. It was the perfect height for cutting a Troll’s ankle and knees apart.
“Gyaaaaa!!”
The Troll collapsed to its knees screaming.
I should put it out of its misery.
Stepping forward, I stabbed the spearhead into the Troll’s neck from the back.
It’s a coward’s move. I know this. However, I don’t have any real talent for fighting and would rather fight using tricks and overwhelming advantage. [5]
Once the Troll’s body disappeared, it left a bundle of leather. As I put it away, Fer sent me a telepathy message.
““A big one is coming your way, try and fight it.””
Eehhh? A big one? Wait, is it a-
“Gugaaa!!”
“I knew it, it’s a Spriggan!”
A Spriggan was even bigger than Minotaurs and Trolls. It thumped towards me on huge legs.
““You have Absolute Defence as well as the Blessings from the Gods. Do not be afraid about fighting it.””
“No way! No way! No way! It’s too scary! This is not okay!”
““It’s fine, just do it.””
[6] “It is most definitely not fine!” I am a Japanese born in the peaceful era of modern Japan! Absolute Defence gives me no security at all since I can’t see it! [5] [6] However, no matter how much I protested, the Spriggan continued to thump over with a loud, “Guooooo!!!”
“I will remember this, Fer!!” I shouted. “Curse you! Fireball!!!!”
The 1 meter wide Fireball sucked up half of my mana as it flew towards the Spriggan and set it on fire.
“Gu, gugugaaaaa…”
The Spriggan ran around in a rampage, rolling on the ground desperately trying to put out the fire. Eventually, it stopped moving.
“Is it… dead?”
“Gugo….”
The Spriggan lumbered to its feet and glared at me.
“Guh…”
It righted itself and roared, “GUGOOOOO!!!” and rushed towards me.
“I knew it!!” hands shaking, my mind felt strangely calm as I called up three volleyball size Fireballs with my remaining mana and strike the Spriggan in the knees.
“Guaa…” [6] the Spriggan tilted and fell heavily to the ground. One of its legs had been weakened to the point that it could not support its weight.
“Now’s my chance! Sei, sei, sei, hyaaaa!”
I stabbed my Mithril spear into the chest area many times. [1] I did this over and over again until the Spriggan finally collapsed to the floor and disappeared. Leaving only magic stones and opals behind.
“Phew, I actually managed to kill it…”
“As expected, you can do it after all.”
“What the heck are you saying? Fer! Don’t make me face such huge monsters so suddenly!”
“Humph, I’m just helping you out since you’re too weak.”
“I am weak! You know that I’m weak! I need mental preparations before facing something like this!!”
Please don’t compare my weak self with you!
“There’s no need for mental preparations in a dungeon. All you have to do is defeat the monsters in front of you.” [5] [6] Ugh, there’s no getting through to him!! [5]
Just then…
““Aruji~ Here~! There’s something here~~””
““It’s a treasure chest!””
I gladly turned to see what Sui and Dora-chan had found. There was indeed a treasure chest pushed close to the wall at the back of the room.
“Hoohh, that’s a very nice looking chest,” [7] I commented.
Indeed, unlike some of the plain wooden chests or even the nicely decorated ones, this chest was entirely white. It stood at 30cm high and 50 cm wide and the jewel-encrusted clasp alone looked like it’s worth a lot of money.
I’m almost 100% sure it’s trapped.
Let’s check it with [Appraisal]. [5]
[Treasure Chest]
As soon as it opens, a trapdoor will open in front of the treasure chest. Those who fall into the trap will never come out of it again.
Never come out again?
Does that mean the victim will die inside a hole?
This is dangerous, not even Absolute Defence could protect me against a trap that holds a person in place and starve them to death… [5] [8] Fortunately, I have a way around this.
Edging to the side as far as my spear would allow me to, I lever the spear to the clasp and tipped it open. [5]
Gakon…
As soon as the lid tipped open, the floor in front of the treasure chest disappeared.
I stared at the hole where people would ‘never come out’ and heaved a sigh of relief.
“Phew, we really can’t be too careful about these things.”
We all looked into the treasure chest, careful to skirt around the area where the floor was just… gone.
“This is…”
My [Appraisal] was still active and it read:
Magic Bag (large)
A magic bag large enough to hold 100 large sacks of goods. Has time stop function.
“Oh? That sounds useful.”
It was the only thing inside the treasure chest. Still, it was a pretty useful item. [2] When Fer & Co go hunting, Dora-chan could carry it around. [6] This way, my familiars could hunt down 2 large magic bags worth of monsters. [5]
“Alright, time to head back,” [7] I said cheerfully.
“Nuu, can’t we stay a little longer?”
This cry was supported by my other two battle-hungry familiars. [5]
“No, below this floor is the start of the field dungeons. We already have an agreement.” [7] I said firmly. Give an inch and they’ll take a mile, so it’s better to be firm right at the beginning and not set a bad precedent.
[4] ““Booo….””
[4] “How about this, once we get to the surface, I’ll compensate you with both Red Dragon and Earth Dragon meat for dinner?”
[6] ““Hm…””
[4] “And five Fujiya cakes each.”
[6] ““Nuu…””
[6] From their torn expressions, I knew I had won.
“Alright, let’s return to the surface.”
Please read this at kitchennovel dot com ~
Ahhh, how I love the surface~
I tagged along with my self-centred familiars into the dungeon but at least we managed to collect 50 portions of Minotaur meat and a magic bag (large), so it was not all bad.
I was really tired and wanted to go back to the house immediately [6] and sink myself into a warm bath but I did promise to stop by the Adventurer’s Guild [5].
““Nu? Aren’t we going back for lunch?””
“Sorry, I need to stop by the Guild real quick. We’ll head home immediately afterwards.”
““Mu, make it fast. I’m hungry.””
““Me too!””
““Aruji~~ hungry~~””
“Sorry, sorry, it’s just to pick up something. We’ll eat as soon as we get back, alright?” I soothed them the best I could and we headed for the Adventurer’s Guild.
[Gumihou: Wow, I’d half expected Mukouda-san to cave into Fer’s demand to continue with the dungeon]
Eguchi-Ren: We see the rare instances when Mukouda actually fights.
Gumihou: lol
[1] Structural Change: Combine 2 paragraphs
[2] Structural Change: Combine 3 paragraphs
[3] Structural Change: Combine paragraph & dialogue
[4] Structural Change: Change passive sentence to dialogue
[5] Delete Repetitive or Pointless Information
[6] Additional Information for Aesthetic Purpose
[7] Add Dialogue Tag
[8] Creative Licence Taken