Chapter 60
From the depths of the dark passage, a large shadow approached.
Before long, a familiar monster appeared.
"That's an Armored Ape."
"Yes."
We'd fought them several times in the Belgant Dungeon, too.
Thick arms and a massive body.
It was an opponent I'd once been wary of.
"Gwooooh!"
The Armored Ape raised both arms and charged.
"Could I try something?"
Felicia pointed her staff.
"The Sharing?"
"Yes. I want to see how much it's changed."
A single pale blue Magic Bullet appeared.
"Magic Bullet!"
The light shot forward.
Boom!
"Gwoh?!"
The Armored Ape, struck in the chest, staggered far backward.
It didn't fall, but its attack was clearly stronger than before.
Felicia looked at her staff, seemingly surprised, too.
"...It's stronger than I expected."
"The increase in Sharing to twenty percent must be the reason."
"I fired it thinking it would be about the same as before."
"It may take a little while to get used to."
"That's true. I'll leave the rest to you."
"All right."
The Armored Ape turned toward us.
It kicked off the ground.
I dodged its descending arm and moved straight in close.
I slammed the Flame Fang Sword into its belly and swung through.
"Gwooo..."
Its massive body crumpled.
【You acquired 400P】
【You have: 48,200P】
Eighteen hundred to go.
I touched the corpse and put it into Storage.
"Let's go down."
"Yes."
◇
Even after descending to the sixth floor, we kept encountering monsters.
After walking for a while, we found a single Blood Boar.
Farther ahead, an Iron Wolf sprang out from a side passage.
Felicia's Magic Bullet hit its foreleg, throwing it off balance.
"Now!"
"Yes!"
I struck it with my sword.
【You acquired 200P】
I put the Iron Wolf into Storage and continued on.
A little later, we encountered an Armored Ape.
The types and numbers varied.
But we encountered them at clearly shorter intervals than in Belgant.
We defeated three monsters before leaving the sixth floor.
The Blood Boar was worth 180.
The Iron Wolf, 200.
The Armored Ape, 400.
【You have: 48,980P】
Seventh floor.
A black shadow leaped at us from among the rocks near the ceiling.
A Shadow Panther.
But Mana Detection had alerted me to its presence.
I dodged to the side and swung the Flame Fang Sword as it landed.
"Gyaah!"
【You acquired 600P】
【You have: 49,580P】
"Just 420 more."
"Almost there."
I collected the Shadow Panther, too.
We headed for the eighth floor.
For a while after descending the stairs, nothing appeared.
As we walked through the quiet passage, a Blood Boar came charging from ahead.
There was only one.
I dodged its charge to the side and cut its neck.
【You acquired 180P】
【You have: 49,760P】
Farther on, two Gray Wolves appeared.
Felicia stopped one with a Magic Bullet, and I cut down the other.
I turned around and finished off the one left behind.
【You acquired 30P】
【You have: 49,790P】
"Just 210 more."
A few minutes later, an Iron Wolf appeared.
"That's exactly 200."
"Ten short."
Felicia said.
"Something should show up soon in this dungeon."
The Iron Wolf leaped at us.
I swung the Flame Fang Sword.
【You acquired 200P】
【You have: 49,990P】
"...Ten more."
I put the body into Storage and started walking.
It really did happen soon.
"Gyaah!"
A lone goblin came running toward us from up ahead.
I stopped without thinking.
"Ten points, right?"
"Yes."
Perfect.
The goblin raised its club.
I swung the Flame Fang Sword once.
"Gih—!"
It fell to the ground.
【You acquired 10P】
【You have: 50,000P】
"I made it."
"Fifty thousand?"
"Yes."
I opened Membership right there.
I focused on Purchase Unique Skills.
【50,000P】
Appraisal
Sword Saint
Magic Saint
Bow Saint
Axe Saint
Spear Saint
Fist Saint
There was only one I wanted to see.
【Sword Saint 50,000P】
"Are you going to buy it?"
"I am."
There was no reason to hesitate.
The power Kyle had acquired at the Ceremony of Bestowal.
A Unique Skill that appeared only once every few years.
Now I could obtain it, too.
【Purchase Sword Saint?】
"Purchase."
【You spent 50,000P】
【You acquired the Unique Skill Sword Saint】
【You have: 0P】
"..."
"How is it?"
"Give me a moment."
I reached for the Flame Fang Sword at my waist.
I gripped the hilt.
"...Ah."
"Did something change?"
"The sword... feels different."
My body hadn't grown stronger.
I hadn't gotten faster, either.
And yet, I knew where to place my sword.
Where to move my feet.
What distance would let it reach.
How to swing it to cut without wasting motion.
My body understood before I could think.
I drew the Flame Fang Sword.
Though it was the same sword I used every day, it felt far more natural in my hand than before.
"So this is Sword Saint..."
Was this what Kyle had acquired that day?
After the Ceremony of Bestowal.
I lost to Kyle for the first time, even though he'd never beaten me before.
His swordsmanship had been like that of a different person.
Now I felt like I understood why.
"I want to try it out."
Felicia said.
"Me too."
I put the goblin into Storage and continued onward.
◇
Ninth floor.
Mana Detection picked up a presence.
To the rear left.
One.
"It's coming."
Before Felicia could turn around, a black shadow leaped out from behind a rock.
A Shadow Panther.
Its claws were aimed at my neck.
Before, I would have dodged far to the side.
But now, I knew that wasn't necessary.
I moved half a step.
Its sharp claws passed in front of my chest.
At the same time, I reversed my swing with the Flame Fang Sword.
"Gyaah—!"
The blade cut through its neck.
The Shadow Panther landed, then crumpled.
【You acquired 600P】
"..."
Even I was a little surprised.
"Allen-san?"
"Yes?"
"You barely moved just now, did you?"
Now that she mentioned it, I hadn't.
"About half a step."
"You dodged with just that, then cut its neck...?"
I looked at the Flame Fang Sword.
I hadn't swung it quickly.
Nor had I hacked at it with brute force.
I dodged only as much as I needed to and brought the sword along the shortest path.
That was all.
"It feels like I'm not wasting any movement anymore."
I put the Shadow Panther into Storage.
We continued farther in.
This time, it was an Iron Wolf.
It charged straight at me.
Its fur was hard as metal.
Before, the blade had skidded off it, and Felicia and I had needed to attack the same spot over and over before finally bringing it down.
The Iron Wolf leaped.
I readied the Flame Fang Sword.
There was no need to cut through its hard fur head-on.
The base of its foreleg.
The spot where the direction of the fur changed ever so slightly.
I drove the blade in there.
Chhk!
"Gyaow!"
The blade sank deep.
As I pulled the sword back, I shifted my body and sent the next strike into its neck.
The Iron Wolf fell.
【You acquired 200P】
"You can get your sword through there."
"I hadn't noticed it before, either."
It wasn't as if I could see its weak points.
But I knew how to move and where to strike when fighting with a sword.
Back when I fought the enemy Sword Saint,
their swordsmanship alone had been better than mine.
Now, I'd closed that gap.
No.
Including physical ability, I was far stronger than I had been then.
We moved on to the tenth floor.
Monsters continued appearing one after another from there.
They weren't always waiting right by the stairs when we went down.
Sometimes, nothing appeared for a while.
But as we walked, a Blood Boar would spring out of a side passage, and farther on we'd encounter an Armored Ape.
Sometimes there'd be an Iron Wolf around a corner, or a Shadow Panther would creep up behind us.
Since acquiring Sword Saint, the time it took to defeat each monster had grown even shorter.
Felicia disrupted the enemies' movements.
I finished them off.
I put their bodies into Storage.
Then we moved on.
By the time we reached the eleventh floor, I'd recovered a good portion of the points I'd spent on Sword Saint.
【You have: 3,380P】
"You already have over three thousand?"
"Yes."
"You just spent it all a little while ago."
"I know."
Monsters on Belgant's deeper floors were worth overwhelmingly more points apiece.
A single Mithril Golem was worth eight thousand.
They were incomparable to the monsters here.
But here, we didn't have to wander around for ages looking for monsters.
The battles ended quickly, too.
And there was no need to dismantle them afterward.
We could just put everything into Storage.
"It's not much per monster, but it adds up when you look at the time it takes."
"They keep coming one after another."
"And we can bring back all the materials, too."
It wasn't just points.
We could make money from them, too.
We continued straight on to the twelfth floor.
We came to a fork.
Right and left.
I used Mana Detection.
There was one presence to the right.
To the left, there were several presences some distance away.
"Let's go left."
"Yes."
We proceeded down the left passage.
After walking a little, we found an Iron Wolf.
Farther on, a Black Ogre.
After that, two Gray Wolves.
Just when I thought there was nothing around for a while, a Shadow Panther appeared from behind a rock.
The monsters weren't all waiting together.
If we walked, we'd encounter another one.
We defeated them, collected them, and moved on.
Thirteenth floor.
Fourteenth floor.
The farther down we went, the more points each monster was worth.
【You have: 7,170P】
"I'm earning more than I expected."
It had been hard to save up fifty thousand points.
And yet, right after buying Sword Saint, I'd already earned over seven thousand back.
This dungeon...
It wasn't as bad for farming points as I'd first thought.
We descended the stairs leading to the fifteenth floor.
I used Mana Detection.
"...There are a lot."
"Nearby?"
"Not just in one place. They're all over."
Straight ahead.
Down the passage to the right.
And farther beyond.
Multiple mana signatures were scattered here and there.
The monster density was even higher than before.
I readjusted my grip on the Flame Fang Sword.
There were still five more floors below us.
"Let's go."
"Yes."
We started walking toward the next monster's presence.
【Total P acquired: 109,380P】