Chapter 61
Fifteenth floor.
Mana Detection picked up several presences.
They weren't all gathered in one place.
One in the passage ahead.
One farther to the right.
Several more some distance away on the left.
"Let's go left."
"All right."
Felicia and I set off side by side.
After going a little farther, a Black Ogre appeared ahead.
"Gwooh!"
It noticed us and raised its huge club.
A Magic Bullet shot past it.
Boom!
It struck the arm holding the club, knocking its attack off course.
I moved straight into close range.
One slash.
"Guh...!"
The Black Ogre fell.
【You acquired 800P】
"One coming from the right."
"Yes!"
Mana Detection picked up a presence there, too.
An Iron Wolf leaped out from a side passage.
Rather than force the Flame Fang Sword I'd used to cut down the Black Ogre back into position, I turned my body with its momentum.
The sword's follow-through flowed straight into my next attack.
I drove the blade through the base of the Iron Wolf's foreleg.
"Gyow!"
It fell.
【You acquired 200P】
"That's amazing..."
Felicia murmured.
"Is that Sword Saint?"
"Yes. When I watch, the motion from one slash flows right into the next."
I felt the same way myself.
Before, after attacking once, I'd turn my body back toward the next opponent.
Now, I didn't even need that movement.
I naturally knew what to do next.
I put the defeated monsters into Storage.
We went farther in.
Nothing appeared for a while.
After a quiet passage stretched on, a Shadow Panther emerged from behind a rock.
Farther on, a Blood Boar appeared.
The monsters that appeared and their numbers varied.
But we encountered them often.
【You have: 8,950P】
"You're almost at nine thousand."
"Even though I just spent fifty thousand."
Felicia smiled a little.
"Should I avoid killing them today?"
"If you can. That way I'll get the P—"
"I know."
She adjusted her grip on her staff.
"Then I'll stop them so it's easier for Allen-san to finish them off.
I want to get used to sharing at twenty percent, too, so this works out perfectly."
"Thank you."
"But I'll take them down myself if things get dangerous."
"Of course."
I wasn't going to ask her to hold back too much.
Still, just having Felicia disrupt the enemies' movements made a big difference in how quickly I could defeat them.
We proceeded to the sixteenth floor.
After walking for a while, an Armored Ape appeared, and farther ahead we encountered a Death Horn.
Farther in, an Iron Wolf appeared. While searching for the stairs, two Gray Wolves showed up.
Felicia disrupted their movements with Magic Bullets, and I finished them off.
I put the corpses into Storage and continued on.
【You have: 10,280P】
"We're over ten thousand."
"That was quick."
"This dungeon might be better than I expected."
The P for each monster wasn't high.
Even so, it was a different story when we encountered them one after another like this.
Seventeenth floor.
A Blade Mantis appeared from around the corner.
Its scythe-like forelegs swung down.
I stepped back half a pace.
As its foreleg passed right in front of me, I closed the distance in one burst.
I drove the Flame Fang Sword into the joint between its body and foreleg.
"Gii!"
It lost its balance.
"Allen-san!"
Another presence behind me.
It was a Black Ogre.
Felicia's Magic Bullet struck beside its face, and the massive creature turning toward us stopped for an instant.
In that moment, I finished off the Blade Mantis.
I turned around.
The Black Ogre swung its club down.
I moved out of its path and cut through its neck with the Flame Fang Sword.
【You acquired 1,300P】
【You acquired 800P】
After going a little farther, a Blood Boar appeared.
I took it down, too.
【You have: 12,560P】
By now, I was starting to enjoy watching my P increase.
"Allen-san, it's written all over your face."
"Huh?"
"You look happy every time your P goes up."
"Do I?"
"Yes."
I couldn't deny it.
I'd just spent all fifty thousand P and dropped to zero.
And now it was already over twelve thousand.
We proceeded to the eighteenth floor.
We didn't see any monsters for a while.
As we walked down a long passage, Mana Detection picked up a presence above us.
"Above us!"
Felicia and I looked up at the same time.
Huge wings.
A Storm Wyvern.
It swooped down from near the ceiling.
"Magic Bullet!"
A pale blue light struck its wing.
Its trajectory shifted slightly.
The huge body passed right beside me.
The instant it folded its wings and landed on the ground,
I stepped in and swung the Flame Fang Sword.
From the movement of its wings, I could tell which way its body would turn next.
Before its neck could turn toward me, I cut through it.
【You acquired 1,800P】
"That was fast..."
Felicia let out a surprised voice.
"It would've taken a little longer before."
"A little longer? Not even close."
An Iron Wolf appeared a little farther on, too.
I defeated it and collected it.
【You have: 14,560P】
Nineteenth floor.
The first monster to appear was a Crystal Horn.
It lowered its horns and charged.
I waited until the last possible moment, then shifted my body.
As we passed each other, I drove my sword into the base of its neck.
【You acquired 1,100P】
No monsters appeared for a while after that.
We walked down the passage, searching for the stairs.
Just when we were almost there, a Shadow Panther attacked from behind.
Mana Detection had already alerted me to it.
I shifted one step and swung the Flame Fang Sword as I turned.
【You acquired 600P】
【You have: 16,260P】
"The twentieth floor."
Felicia looked ahead.
There was a staircase leading down.
"Let's go."
◇
Twentieth floor.
After going a little farther, we came to a large open space.
There was only one monster at the far end.
It looked like a giant lizard.
Four legs.
A thick tail.
Its body was covered in dark brown scales, thick as rock.
"A Grand Lizard..."
Felicia said its name.
"You know what it is?"
"I've read about it in a book. It's huge."
This was probably the floor boss.
The Grand Lizard turned toward us.
It growled low.
And then—
"It's coming!"
It kicked off the ground with all four legs.
Fast.
Much faster than its size suggested.
It lunged at me with its fangs.
I dodged.
Immediately afterward, its thick tail swept in from the side.
I crouched.
The tail passed over my head.
I swung the Flame Fang Sword.
Clang!
It bounced off its scales.
"It's hard..."
It wasn't as tough as the monsters on Belgant's deeper floors.
But it looked difficult to cut through normally.
"Magic Bullet!"
Felicia's attack hit it in the face.
The Grand Lizard turned its head toward her.
At that moment, a slight gap opened between its scales.
As a swordsman, I instinctively knew that was the easiest place to get my blade through.
I poured mana into the Flame Fang Sword.
Red flames enveloped the blade.
"Felicia-san, one more time, please!"
"Yes!"
A Magic Bullet shot out.
The Grand Lizard turned its face toward her again.
I stepped in.
The gap between its scales.
I drove the Flame Fang Sword into it.
I compressed the flames.
The center of the flames surrounding the blade turned white.
"Haaah!"
I swung through.
"Gyaaah!"
The Grand Lizard's massive body tilted sharply.
Even so, it didn't fall.
Its tail swung at me.
I moved out of its path and struck the joint in its foreleg.
Its body sank.
I struck its neck once more.
I swung the Flame Fang Sword through.
The massive body fell to the ground.
【You acquired 2,000P】
【You have: 18,260P】
"Two thousand, huh?"
"Even a monster on the lowest floor is worth two thousand, huh?"
"There were monsters worth more than that in Belgant."
The Mithril Golem was worth eight thousand P.
Compared to that, the monsters in this dungeon really were weaker.
I put the Grand Lizard into Storage, too.
Then we checked the area farther in.
A dead end.
"It really does look like this is the end."
"Yes."
Felicia looked around.
"Is there a teleportation stone...?"
I searched, too.
There wasn't one.
"...No, there isn't."
"Which means..."
"We'll have to walk back."
Felicia looked toward the stairs.
"All twenty floors?"
"Yeah."
We fell silent for a moment.
Then Felicia looked at me.
"Well, we can earn P on the way back, too."
"...That's right."
"Did that just make you a little happy?"
"A little."
Felicia smiled.
"You spent all fifty thousand P, after all. Let's build it back up on our way home."
"Yes."
We started back the way we'd come.
◇
On the way back, we took the shortest route to the stairs.
Even so, monsters appeared.
There was a Black Ogre on the nineteenth floor.
After we went up to the eighteenth floor, an Armored Ape appeared.
Sometimes there'd be a stretch with nothing, and other times we'd suddenly run into a Shadow Panther around a corner.
As we continued upward, we encountered Blade Mantises, Death Horns, Iron Wolves, and Blood Boars over and over.
Felicia disrupted their movements, and I finished them off.
We put all the corpses into Storage.
"How many do you think we've defeated today?"
"...I don't know."
"I figured. I stopped counting a while ago, too."
We climbed the stairs.
We walked down the passages.
When monsters appeared, we defeated them, then headed for the stairs again.
When we entered the Royal Capital Western Dungeon, we hadn't planned on staying this long.
By the time we passed the tenth floor, I was starting to feel tired in my legs.
Even so, when I checked Membership, my P had gone up.
【You have: 22,470P】
I'd spent it all on Sword Saint and dropped to zero, but now I was already over twenty thousand.
And I had a huge number of monsters in Storage.
It wasn't just P.
I could sell all of them as materials.
"This dungeon's pretty great."
"If we come again, I'll come with you."
"Are you sure?"
"I want to get a better feel for what sharing at twenty percent is like, too."
Felicia smiled.
"Besides, it's faster to fight together, right?"
"Yes. It helps a lot."
"Then it's settled."
We made our way back to the first floor.
We left the dungeon.
"...It's dark."
The view was completely different from when we'd entered.
The sky had grown completely dark.
"We were here all day."
We boarded a carriage back to the royal capital.
◇
By the time we reached the guild, it was quite late.
Even so, there were still several adventurers on the first floor.
We headed to the reception desk.
"I'd like to sell some materials."
"Certainly. What do you have?"
"A little of everything."
"About how many monsters?"
"...I don't know."
"Pardon?"
The staff member asked again.
"Quite a lot."
In the end, we were led to the dismantling area.
Since we hadn't taken a quest today, all we needed to settle with the guild was the sale of the materials.
We went to a spacious area and opened Storage.
Goblins.
Gray Wolves.
Iron Wolves.
Blood Boars.
Armored Apes.
Black Ogres.
Shadow Panthers.
I took them out one after another.
At first there was only one staff member, but then two, and then three.
"...Are there more?"
"Yes."
Blade Mantises.
Death Horns.
Crystal Horns.
Storm Wyverns.
And finally, the Grand Lizard.
"W-wait a moment, please."
At last, the staff member stopped me.
"Yes?"
"Did you take all of these down in one day?"
"Yes."
The staff member surveyed the monsters lined up.
A little farther away, another staff member was writing down the numbers.
"...We won't be able to appraise these by the end of today."
"I thought so."
It was already night.
It would take time to examine and price each one of them.
"We'll keep them here and appraise them one by one by tomorrow. Would it be all right if we tell you the purchase price tomorrow?"
"Please do."
My P had already climbed past twenty thousand, even though buying Sword Saint had just brought it down to zero.
And I still had all these materials.
The Royal Capital Western Dungeon.
It was a much better place than I'd first thought.
【Total P acquired: 124,680P】