Chapter 251
"I've got two pair. Still, I'm interested in that unexplored continent."
"Sounds like an interesting place... Oh, I've got three of a kind."
The moment I mentioned the continent of Timbrica, the air around the two of them changed. Konrad continued smiling, while Usuba's expression was hidden by his mask. However, the tone of their voices and the atmosphere around them had changed completely.
Well, that was the reaction anyone would have. If I were in the same position, I'd start negotiating somehow to obtain the information.
"We'll find it eventually anyway, so if it only means finding it a few months sooner, wouldn't it be better to know roughly where it is from the start?"
"Well, yes. If you had map data too, we could cut down on the time and budget spent searching."
"Hey, hey—you can't exactly expect that to be free, y'know."
"Of course, I'll pay you handsomely for it."
Jigoro, who had already dropped out of the game, warned him, and Konrad shrugged before agreeing. Judging by his attitude, he hadn't intended to obtain the information without paying for it. As expected of a skilled merchant, he wasn't the type to skimp on payment.
"By the way, Izamu won this hand, didn't he?"
"Nope, that's not right. Here."
"What?!"
What Akane showed us was a diamond straight flush. Lady Luck seemed to be on her side, and from then on, all four men were steadily fleeced by her.
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"Hey, games are fine and all, but... why don't we head outside soon?"
After we'd enjoyed ourselves with the games for a while, Jigoro made that suggestion. He seemed to enjoy playing card and board games, but even more than that, he preferred moving his body and beating enemies to a pulp.
As for me, I was ready to get back to enjoying the event as intended. I wanted rare items, and there might also be interesting ones we could take to the continent of Timbrica.
In particular, I wanted to actively gather anything that could be used to restore the city we had occupied. Assuming there was anything like that, of course.
"Yeah, I suppose going outside and seeing the field for ourselves is part of the job."
"I prefer dealing with people to monsters, but enjoying the event could be worthwhile."
"I'm going with the boss."
The other three seemed to agree that we should go outside as well. That left the next question: where should we go?
"If we're talking about personally recommended spots, it has to be the Dungeon."
"Why's that?"
"I won't spoil it, but you can obtain mountains of useful items there."
Useful... Apparently, they weren't particularly rare, special items, but simply things that could be put to use. However, gathering them in quantity was important to us right now. There was no reason to pass this up.
"How strong are the enemies?"
"They put up more of a fight than you'd expect. Especially in the high-level brackets—people say an average player is at a disadvantage one-on-one against an enemy of the same level."
"Sounds great! Let's go, bro!"
"Yeah. Let's go."
Hyped up by the news that the difficulty was fairly high, Jigoro hurried me along, and I stood up while pulling my staff from my inventory. I'd put it away because having it out in the game room would only get in the way, but weapons were essential if we were heading into the Dungeon.
This time, Usuba, Akane, and Konrad... no, his butler Sebastian, would be coming with us. As for Konrad, apparently he had almost no combat Skills. His true calling was as a merchant, and he seemed to leave combat to his subordinates.
Instead, he had apparently chosen Skills such as 【Speechcraft】 and 【Linguistics】, which increased his success rate in business negotiations with NPCs and allowed him to negotiate with foreign peoples and monsters. He protected himself not with weapons, but with subordinates and guards hired with money. It was the thinking of a rich man through and through.
Sebastian, who would be accompanying us this time, had a build heavily specialized for guarding others. In his left hand he carried a huge, square tower shield like the one Eiji carried, while in his right he held a small round shield. It was a fighting style that could practically be called dual-shield combat.
I assumed he used the large shield in his left hand to block attacks, while using the round shield in his right to deflect blows and punch with it. My reasoning was that a sharp spike protruded from the center of his round shield, while blades were fitted around its rim.
It might even have mechanisms reminiscent of Iris's weapons. With Konrad's connections, he could probably get a crafter...
"You know the Dungeon's location and mechanics, right?"
"Yes. I went in with my party members on the first day and cleared it right away."
"I got the 'Fastest-Clearing Party' Title."
...So they had cleared it faster than the strategy group accustomed to pioneering unknown areas. No, judging by the way he put it, perhaps they had simply rushed straight through without taking any detours in order to finish quickly. Even so, that was still incredibly fast.
After leaving the mansion, we walked for several minutes with the three people who knew the way, eventually arriving at the Dungeon's entrance. The Dungeon was located in a stone-built, ruin-like structure, with stairs leading underground from the entrance.
In other words, it was an underground dungeon. Unlike the mechanical ruins of the Vetus Floating Island, these ruins had an old-fashioned atmosphere that wouldn't have seemed out of place in the real world. If I had to compare it to something, the closest match would probably be the underground cemetery in Fars. Speaking of the underground cemetery, I hope Gravekeeper is doing well.
There were quite a few people gathered around the entrance, but most of them seemed to be recruiting party members. The others were merchants negotiating to buy items brought out of the Dungeon, merchants selling various items for clearing it, and blacksmiths maintaining weapons.
Unlike an ordinary field, the Dungeon sent each party to its own separate location with the same layout, so there was no trouble with other parties over turn order or competing for prey. Thus, the people here couldn't possibly be waiting their turn.
"Feels like we're being watched?"
"Can't be helped. It's a party with two monsters, two PKs, and only one ordinary player mixed in. Of course we'd stand out."
"Heh heh. Setting aside Izamu, who changed his mask, Jigoro was the one who went on a rampage on the first day. Anyone who saw the screenshots would recognize him instantly, even if they weren't there."
That was true. We were extremely conspicuous, and I could keenly feel the players gathered in front of the Dungeon staring at us. However, none of them seemed to have the nerve to approach us; they merely watched from a distance.
As Usuba said, we had Jigoro, who had gone on a rampage on the first day. If someone picked a fight with us, they might get beaten to a pulp like that young man. I could understand why people would avoid getting involved when poking the bush might make the demon go berserk.
"It's convenient that no one is getting in our way. Let's get into the Dungeon."
"Agreed."
With that, we headed straight into the Dungeon. The interior was dark, without a single light. Sebastian therefore took a lantern from his inventory to serve as a light source.
It was unnecessary for those of us with 【Night Vision】, but it seemed that being Human came with a lot of inconveniences like this. That said, Usuba and Akane were both Human, yet neither of them was using a lantern. There were plenty of ways for Humans to obtain 【Night Vision】 as well.
"This looks like a complicated Dungeon. Is there anything we need to watch out for?"
"Yes. This is the most difficult Dungeon to clear. The items available are useful, but it is extremely complex. Moreover, the map function cannot be used, so please be careful."
"The map? That's troublesome."
Sebastian was the one who answered my offhand question. He had hardly spoken at all during the journey, maintaining a respectful distance because we were his master's friends. However, the way he immediately answered our questions made him seem more like a capable secretary than a butler.
I trusted him, but I checked just in case. The map displayed the message 'The map cannot be displayed here.' Moreover, if the routes were as complicated as he claimed, things could become troublesome even for someone who had already cleared it once.
"In addition, if you challenge it again after clearing it once, the internal structure changes. The difficulty is high, but there is no death penalty, so you can challenge it casually."
"So if it's too complicated to clear and your healing items run out, you can try again right away. However, the system is designed to make it difficult to farm items by clearing it at high speed over and over... I imagine there are people with mixed feelings about that."
"The number of times you clear the Dungeon seems to affect the rankings. I suppose they don't intend to let people mindlessly speedrun it."
It was only natural that people who could stay logged in for long periods would have an advantage, but I sensed a firm intention not to let people who charged in without thinking reach the top of the rankings. Perhaps they wanted players to give their all to every attempt.
As we discussed this, we proceeded through the underground passage. There were still no branches at all, nor were there any traps to watch out for. We simply had to keep moving straight ahead. It seemed this wasn't because of our good luck, but because of the Dungeon's mechanics.
"We're about to reach a fork. Enemies begin appearing from there, so be careful."
The Dungeon proper began at the fork, where we would have to watch out for enemies blocking our progress and cunning traps. Usuba and Akane were skilled at detecting enemies, while Sebastian excelled at finding and disarming traps, so we planned to leave those tasks to them.
In return, Jigoro and I had to be useful in combat, or we'd be letting everyone down. All right, let's do our best.
"They're here already. One enemy, medium-sized."
"That is... a giant? No, maybe not. What is that?"
Usuba pointed ahead, and some large humanoid figure was approaching us. At first I thought it was a giant, but apparently it was something else. It stood about three meters tall and had a generally squat, bulky shape. It had no head, and its limbs were extremely thick. Its arms were so long that its hands scraped the ground, while its legs were short enough to make walking look difficult.
It slowly approached, dragging and scraping its way along the Dungeon floor. When it was far away, I could only make out its silhouette, but once it drew near, I realized something. Was this thing made of metal? A large, round, crystal-like object was embedded in the center of its chest, eerily flickering as though it were an eye.
"That is the Iron Golem, the weakest Mob in this Dungeon."
"The Iron Golem... That's a Golem?"
"Oh? I thought it was a fairly standard shape."
"...Now that you mention it, I suppose it is."
I stared at the Iron Golem in astonishment. We had fought a Golem before. That one had given me the impression of a robot specialized for combat, but this one seemed different. Because that was the one we'd seen first, my expectations had been shaped by it, making this Golem feel strange.
Anyway, if this Iron Golem was just a weak enemy, we might as well take it down. It would also serve as a test to gauge how strong our opponent was. All right, let's fight it!