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Chapter 394: Into the Depths of the Golem’s Ruin. [Release Version]
🕑 Added 2023-02-17 23:27:41 +0000 UTCEdit: Syntax, some changes, some logic edits
to the T1 readers, sorry, this should have been before the one I released last time.
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<[Humanize (Moderate)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]>
<Evolution Points: 16/30>
“I need 14 more prestige points to evolve my unique Job. It probably would go by faster if I had [Dragoon] instead of [Tyrant Hatchling], but I prefer the bonuses of the latter.”
Tatsuya nodded to my statement, agreeing that it was the better choice. “I only need six more levels. Our Jobs level faster than yours, so you can use us as your guinea pig. Then again, I am a bit excited to evolve my Job first. Hands feel giddy.”
“Then you can go first! I’ll wait once you’re done.” Kyouya smacked Tatsuya’s back hard, nearly causing him to go tumbling down the dungeon stairs. Thankfully, Tatsuya’s new set of Grimnir armor kept him from feeling the slap, and instead just looked annoyed at his best friend’s teasing.
Tatsuya, Kyouya, Rajah, and I; certainly, not the most conventional party since this was, honestly, the first time only the four of us teamed-up together. Still, as far as party composition went, it was well balanced with two frontliners in the boys while I stayed in the rear with my healing and offensive spells. Rajah, on the other hand, was our scout, flanker, and assassin—essentially our rogue.
Well, I could also take on the role as our archer since I could make my air rifle, but at that point, I could be anything considering I had a Swiss Army Knife Profile. It really didn’t matter what role I took, though I had come to prefer my supportive, idol combat style when I was fighting with others. It just worked.
“The adventurer guilds will have a field day once more and more people start getting unique Jobs,” I stated, continuing our discussion. “Not like it matters to us, since I bought a crystal for our personal usage, but I wonder how the guilds will demand usage fees in the future.”
“Hmm, let’s see—you have a set amount of Jobs, you can spend your prestige points and evolve development Jobs without a crystal, uhhh, setting the skills of your development Jobs?” Kyouya listed things out with his fingers. “… The adventurer guilds will need to change quite a bit, yeah. There aren’t that many things you could monetize using the unique Job.”
“Not our problem!” Tatsuya declared, waving his hand as he sped his pace down the stairs up. “With great changes, comes great turmoil. The guilds will have to figure things out themselves, and they’ll complain. But, not like complaining to the gods will do anything for you.”
True.
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Party Leader
Name: Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor Level: 107 Unique Job: Idol Tyrant Fletchling
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Name: Tatsuya Nagata Level: 73 Unique Job: The Rush
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Name: Kyouya Ishigami Level: 73 Unique Job: Shadow Squire
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[Menagerie of Golems], the rank B dungeon of Inkoran-Tazul sounded like a good challenge for me, but it probably would get pretty difficult in the later floors for the boys and Rajah. There were 25 floors in this humongous dungeon with a more consistent intensity curve than their rank A [Manethala’s Nest].
Naturally, this meant if we kept our guard up, I could power level all three of them up in a good amount of time. Not only in overall levels, but also specific Job levels to help them acquire certain Job skills.
Our enemies from now would probably be around the level of Vifi’Yok and Ghorush. Some might be weaker or just be fodder, but we had to treat all our enemies as stronger than us right now.
There was much to do, outside of our other goal of finding Saori’s fifteen other students, but that was something we had to go at slowly. This was a rank B dungeon, after all.
Fittingly, the mood was set the moment we entered the first floor.
Ruins—that was the most apt way to describe the building before us. The entrance was a dark, sinister-looking forest in the middle of nowhere, to the point we couldn’t see anything else but trees. Once again, the space-time power of these dungeons showed as this forest looked and felt far larger than when we first entered this dungeon.
An artificial night sky covered the ceiling, and it was clear there was only one way forward—through the ruins. In fact, there was even a sign saying “Way to next floor!” right in front of the ruins, with the side paths all blocked out by metal fences. You had to be either a contrarian or an idiot to not follow along.
As such, we abided by the instructions since we were good kids. We, of course, noticed how there weren’t any other people around, but it was also close to midnight on the surface. Due to some intel we got prior, we knew there was a 100% chance we would meet some people outside of the students, but that could wait for later. For now, we had to deal with some obstacles.
<Fairnite Gargolye Leech: A living golem made in the form of a vampiric bat with the ability to slightly shrink and enlarge their size like an alchemical gargoyle. With a body made from fairnite, this monster is heavily resistant against spells and mana attacks, to the point it will heal from them. Weak to crushing damage. Rank D>
“That’s a rank D? Three of them, too,” Kyouya grimaced as he let out a sigh. “It’ll be a hard road when the difficulty of all the monsters on the floor is Ds. Well, let’s just deal with it.”
“Hestia-san. Buffing, yeah?” I nodded to Tatsuya's assertion. “Rajah, let’s get some warm up!”
[“Mreew! Master, rest!”]
This was a long journey as well as a training session for them, meaning it was better for me to put myself on the backburner. Keep a watch over them and keep them buffed up, and everything would be alright. As such, I began singing.
“In the midst of the desert ♫
A bright ray of light shines ♫
Pure and brave, that she was, as she walked ♫
She was the ideal for me ♫
The bringer of children’s smiles ♫
Alas, the world seemed bleaker without her ♫”
<[Various Spell Buffs] [The Shield of [The Light]] [Music Resonation (Moderate)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]>
My three teammates all had different combat styles.
Kyouya, with his [Shadowed Martyr] activated, could act like a mobile wrecking ball by turning 75% of his health in a thick knight-like shadow armor. Tatsuya was a single-target damage deal with [All-In], allowing him to gain a significant boost to specific stats depending on which of his Health, Mana, or Stamina he was willing to pay. Rajah, although not a damage dealer, had the spells and agility to overwhelm these slow golems. Even if the fairnite protected them from his offensive spells, they didn’t reduce the effectiveness of his utility ones.
<Shadowed Martyr: A defensive skill used by defenders to shield their allies with veils of shadows and darkness, scorning the sun as they control the battlefield as a shadow knight. At the cost of a percentage of the user’s current Health, they may invoke their shadow to wrap themselves in the defensive version of [Shadow Armament]. Although losing its offensive and mobility effects, the armament is sturdier and is able to reform itself into shields and armor. Once activated, your attacks will leech Health, but reduce all outside healing sources by 50%. Costs and effect: 25% for limbs and weapon, 50% for full armor and weaponry, 75% to assume knight form>
<All-In: A skill revolving around explosive powers at a cost. By consuming fulinoe leaves or seeds, the user may store up to three charges at once, enabling them to consume 20% of Health, Mana, or Stamina per charge to increase specific stats. Two or all charges may be used simultaneously to further increase the boost by 10%, 30%, or 75%. The boost will only last for one attack of any kind, and the user may only have one [All-In (X Charges)] active at once, with X determined by the amount of charges used. These effects may be gained:
Health: Strength and Vitality
Mana: Intelligence and Wisdom
Stamina: Agility and ignores Vitality and Wisdom of the enemy
Killing a humanoid or monster while the status is in effect will refund half of the used resource>
With me healing them all from the back with [Halo of Consecration], I kept the boys going as we smashed right through the first floor, finding no obstacle too hard to slow us down. Same with the second to fourth floors, really. However, since the boys mostly fought, I was able to enjoy the scenery while I sang.
While some dungeons were dull, I have seen enough of them to know sometimes dungeons could be a spectacle for your senses. It was like wandering into a whole new world.
The whole mood of the ruins felt like some ancient robot complex, as not only were there moving golems but actual statues standing around. Unless we appraised them, we didn’t know if they were an enemy or just part of the decorations. Even worse, it was pure darkness in the ruins outside of the occasionally blue glowing and dimming symbols sprawled on all the walls and ceiling.
The anticipation felt like spiders were crawling on our skins, as the darkness coupled with these robotic, “lifeless” creatures made us really question when the next attack would come. The sounds—the eerie rusty metallic movements and their heavy quaking footsteps—kept us all on our feet.
I could perfectly see with my [Night Vision] with the minimal lights around, able to recognize the grey colored rock ground and some green plants growing through the slits, but nevertheless I stillfelt uncomfortable being underground like this. I could barely fly nor could I transform into a dragon within these claustrophobic hallways. There was just enough space to fight those troll-sized golems.
The boys, on the other hand, had to endure the dark unknown with their weaker [Night Vision]s. Even with my [White Flames] illuminating our surroundings, they admitted to me they felt trapped in a horror house. They didn’t do too well with horror, it seemed, hiehie. Well, if I wasn’t confident in my strength, I probably would be shaking, too. The uncertainty in this musty, cellar smelling dungeon and what it would throw at us was part of the fun, I guess.
<Experience for development Jobs has reached multiple breaking points.
[Idol]: Lv. 16 -> Lv. 25 | Multiple reset accumulation finished | Prestige 7 Lv. 1
[Fire Mage]: Lv. 14 -> Lv. 25 | Multiple reset accumulation finished | Prestige 5 Lv. 6
[Tyrant Hatchling]: Lv. 11 -> Lv. 20 | Reset accumulation finished | Prestige 4 Lv. 15>
<Prestige requirement achieved! Job max level has increased. Experienced accumulation and reward quality increased.
[Mage] Max level -> 30>
<You may spend your prestige points when you are ready>
<Evolution Points: 16/30>
<Prestige Points
[Idol]: 2
[Fire Mage]: 2
[Dragoon]: 0
[Tyrant Hatchling]: 4>
_____________________________________________________________________
Job: Idol
Benefit Slots: [Musical Crescendo] [Bardic Cadenza] [Empty]
Level: 1/25
Prestige Level: 7
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Job: Fire Mage
Benefit Slots: [Magic Skills: Proficiency Lv. 4] [Fire Element Lv. 1] [Arcane Skills: Proficiency Lv. 1]
Level: 6/30
Prestige Level: 5
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<Bardic Cadenza: A skill focusing on the bard’s musical abilities. Activates once a spell song is used, increasing the effects of the song’s effect as long as the bard only uses songs as a means of attack, defense, or support>
<Musical Crescendo: A skill that applies additional effects the longer the bard continues playing any kind of spell songs. Escalation depended on [Music Resonation] and the length being played. Minor: Increases bard’s stats by 5%. Moderate: Shares the full effects of all buffs on the bard without reaching Major. Major: Songs travel through mana, bypassing any silence fields or sound protection areas>
<Magic Skills: Proficiency: Increases the proficiency gain from elemental and empty vessel magic skills. Reduces breakpoint requirement by 10% * skill level>
<Arcane Skills: Proficiency: Increases the proficiency gain from arcane, magic casting, and mental skills. Reduces breakpoint requirement by 10% * skill level>
<Fire Element: Increases the proficiency gain of all fire based skills, while increasing general fire damage dealing and resistance skills by 1%. Decreases general water damage dealing and resistance skills by 1%. Effectiveness will increase by 1% each per level. Will exclude other “Element” skills, but under certain conditions and Job evolutions, this exclusion will be lifted>
Hmm, I’ll leave the skill points for [Idol] out for now. Let’s get some mage ones.
<[Fire Mage] prestige points: 2
- Benefit Slot increase
- Job Skill: [Elemental Resistances: Proficiency Lv. 1]
- Growth Boosts: [Mana] [Intelligence] [Wisdom]>
Uhh, yikes, guess I’ll just level up the skills.
<[Fire Mage] Prestige spent. 2 Prestige Points to [Magic Skills: Proficiency Lv. 4] -> [Magic Skills: Proficiency Lv. 6] gained>
Anyways, that was the update on my unique Jobs and so on. I technically could spend some points on [Idol], but since I had barely any SP left after what happened in Elyonda, it probably was better to hold on for now.
<[Idol] prestige points: 2
- Benefit Slot increase
- Job Skill: [Acoustic Skills: Proficiency Lv. 1] [Giocoso Dreamer Lv. 1] [Musical Renaissance Diva Lv. 1] [Acoustic Power Lv. 1] [Heavenly Performance]
- Growth Boosts: [Mana] [Intelligence] [Wisdom]
- Spell song slot (3 prestige point)>
[Heavenly Performance] was just fluff unless some hidden function were to be revealed, while the acoustic-based skills could be useful but weren’t that influential right now. [Giocoso Dreamer] and [Musical Renaissance Diva] were still the highlights of all of these options, but they were also the most impactful choices I could make for my future.
<Giocoso Dreamer: An [Idol] skill aimed to help the idol chase after their dreams, bringing the shining stars upon all who listen to their songs. Boosts beneficial spell song effects like barriers, buffs, and resource regeneration by 5%, increasing it by 5% per level. Anybody hearing your songs will have increased resistances against mental attacks or corruption. Can spread your songs’ effects through others, extending its range, as long as they can hear you and follow your performance. Will exclude [Musical Renaissance Diva]>
<Musical Renaissance Diva: An [Idol] skill aimed to bring the dawn of a new music culture, brought forth by a generational diva. Boosts offensive spell song effects by 5%, increasing it by 5% per level. Effects will increase the more people listen to your songs at the moment of the performance, also increasing your Mana and Stamina regeneration. You are able to play two spell songs, applying both effects. Will exclude [Giocoso Dreamer]>
“Yeah, I can evolve my Job,” Tatsuya mentioned as our party made camp for the night, seeing as Rajah was starting to get sleepy. After we opened the subspace to update the others of our progress, the boys needed the crystal to evolve their unique Jobs.
Filming this with the recorder for the others, Tatsuya told me he had two options to evolve which were [Overclocker] and [Caffeinator]. Kyouya, on the other hand, had [Shadow Knight] and [Black Bulwark].
“…” Kyouya and I eyed Tatsuya, concerned about his options since they all sounded like someone who lived a rather unhealthy, caffeine-filled life.
Regardless of Tatsuya’s excuses for his caffeine addiction, the boys took [Overclocker] and [Black Bulwark] respectively. Tatsuya wanted to become faster and have this single moment of overpowered-ness, similar to my finale, while Kyouya continued down the road of a tank.
In addition, the evolution itself not only opened up a new development Job for them but also gave them more stats. It wasn’t a huge boost like the monster version, but by itself it was a good boost to the boys. Oh, and apparently they got 500 SP from that … Well, Tatsuya certainly was a good guinea pig.
“So … do we want to return to the subspace? Not like we have to stay inside,” I presented them with an option, considering the subspace was available from here.
However, Tatsuya shook his head. “Sometimes we won’t have the luxury to do so. Honestly, if we went back to the subspace, I would honestly feel less tense and I don’t want to drop my guard with how casual it seems.”
“The monsters around here are easy enough,” Kyouya supported his friend’s opinion. “I mean, thinking about it, Hestia-san. A hotspring bath, warm meals, a comfy bed. It’ll be hard to get back into the right mindset after all that. Not to mention, somebody has to stay back to make sure nobody or anything steals the [Room] runes. I’ll keep watch, first, then let’s rotate. Back to the basics, as Captain Yorshka likes to say.”
I shrugged and accepted their choice. It was true that we might have gotten too lazy due to our fortunate situation, so maybe “living” inside this dungeon like real adventurers would harden us up a bit. Peace was nice, but it did dull my senses. I got strong due to the constant terrors in the Belzac forest after all, and this place was a good substitute for it.
Back to the basics. It’s nostalgic.
Once everybody got enough sleep, we had a light breakfast using whatever cooking tools I had in my storage. We didn’t check the time, as I did agree with Tatsuya how we should probably act like we were in a dungeon, and not some lax run. Setting the mood and keeping it sounded important for our mental state.
In any case, the rest of the monsters on floor four were the same ones we met since the beginning. The real challenge of these floors really was the jump scare factor, probably to weed out weaker adventurers and parties with mostly mages. The dungeon master was responsible for all of this, so they probably had that in mind.
<Experience for development Jobs has reached multiple breaking points.
[Idol]: Lv. 1 -> Lv. 3
[Fire Mage]: Lv. 6 -> Lv. 7>
“Floor five entrance!” Tatsuya shouted just as he decapitated a golem. Jumping down from the collapsing body, he rushed towards a large silver-glistening gate, acting and looking like some hyperactive kid on coc—caffeine. “Traps will start spawning on floor five, right? That’s what the Ankoran King men—HESTI-SAN! KYOUYA!”
Tatsuya’s loud shout alerted my mind, drowning out the loud fall of the gargoyle. I snapped my head up as he used [Gale Steps] to dash away from the gate, drawing my attention to a blue sigil on the ground growing brighter and brighter, to the point my instincts took over—I shot my scales forward, using them with [Draconic Barrier] to shield Tatsuya, Kyouya, and Rajah from a massive explosion that rocked the hallway we were fighting in.
The ceiling rattled as it cracked, letting rock-sized debris fall down. Noting this, Rajah first jumped back into my shadow while Kyouya grabbed Tatsuya, dragging him closer to me. With everybody around me, I created a scale dome around us and added [Sanctuary] to further bolster our defenses.
Hearing the loud bangs and cracking from above was quite unnerving. Considering my intelligence stat, [Sanctuary] should be strong enough to endure something like this without any problems.
“He could have warned us a trap was right before the entrance!” Tatsuya complained, frustration clear to hear.
Kyouya, in response, smacked him on the head. “YOU! Could have not run forward like that! If Hestia-san hadn’t reacted in time, you probably would have been blown to smithereens!”
“Ooooor. Survived while the floor cracked open to find some hidden place? If you think about it, there wasn’t a single treasure on our way here. No hidden pathways, interesting points. Sure, the fairnite from the golems will fetch a nice price, but that’s about it,” Tatsuya looked at me, causing me to nod in exasperation.
The golem corpses were fairnite, plain and simple. That meant we got our hands on Peolyncian marble, which was well loved by the nobles of Artorias. Sure, it wasn’t a huge amount, but it already made this trip worthwhile since it would help relieve our debts.
Regardless, once the rubble rain stopped, I dispelled my defensive measures. Then, we noticed the entire way to the large floor gate was destroyed, leaving a sizable hole none of us could determine how deep it was. Based on our prior experience in the Cedaraille dungeon, we knew there couldn’t be a “deep hole into nothingness.” It had to be connected with another floor.
“If we jump, we could potentially skip over your classmates,” I brought up that idea.
Tatsuya grimaced, stroking his neck in displeasure. “Yeah, but look at that gate. It didn’t budge, and the information we got seems to be incorrect. The Ankoran King said the door should be open, so why isn’t it open? There shouldn’t be any traps on the fourth floor; they start on the fifth. Was the scout’s information wrong, too?”
The former pieces of information came from Ankoran King’s knowledge of the dungeon itself. So, its theme, traps, and so on. We even got a map from him, but the boys and I decided to not use it unless we needed to to get the authentic adventurer experience. Have some fun, you know?
“The black mercs, right?” Kyouya replied.
Reports prior to our entry noted how black mercs were gathering in the depths of this dungeon for some reason. Apparently, some dungeon guard was taking bribes to let people through even if they didn’t have the necessary rank or were in possession of a dungeon pass. We had no idea why, but it didn’t matter. There was a possible collision course between them and Saori’s students.
“… I need to speak with Daisy, so I don’t want to miss them, but how are we supposed to find our way through the gates?” Tatsuya chose option one to go the normal way down. “Kyouya, any ideas?”
Kyouya shook his head. “Not like we don’t have a map, right? I mean, we got down here so fast because the ruins weren’t super large and paths were easy to navigate. This is a spook house, nothing else.”
Tatsuya, though, didn’t like that answer as he placed a hand on his hip. “Think outside the box, come on? Where is all that game knowledge I put in your head all over those years? There is always a way forward if a game stage is well designed, and these dungeons aren’t so different. A state-controlled dungeon wants us to reach the finish line; fair but hard.”
“You just listed out the number of strange changes. Something is happening inside the dungeon,” I rebuked Tatsuya, telling him what my gut was feeling. “Well … not like I have anything better to say. Also, wouldn’t comparing this to a game just take the tension out? I thought we wanted to treat this seriously?”
“I am, Hestia-san.” Tatsuya answered stoically. “I’m just using references all of us understand to illustrate it. I’m not a coffee-boy gamer, alright?”
“What do you mean? You are one! Hiehie!” I couldn’t hold in my giggle with the way he was looking at me, finding it too amusing considering Tatsuya usually was too addicted to fulinoe tea to really act serious like this. He really meant it, huh? “I can blast the gate open.”
“Idea outside the box, I like it!” Tatsuya gave me a fist bump, which I accepted.
“Emm.” At the same time, though, I noticed Kyouya’s brows furrowing. He looked a bit displeased.
Dude?
I wanted to question him about it, but his whole demeanor changed as he took a deep sigh, acting like the dungeon’s atmosphere was suffocating. I dropped it; maybe he was just tired since this place even creeped me out.
In any case, I transformed back into a dragon and took a deep breath before unleashing [Hellflame Breath], scorching the giant silvery gate and melting it down. After I cooled the heat down, the boys got on me and I flew us over the gap before transforming back into a dragonewt.
<[Humanize (Moderate)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]>
We made our way down. The fifth floor was where we could find the first of four floor guardians, with the three others appearing on each subsequent fifth floor. The only way forward was to fight them, and they would usually drop some nice goodies through treasure chests.
Our intel told us it was a rank C, but we most likely wouldn’t have to fight it. Considering the black mercs and the students ahead of us, one of them probably cleared it already.
Similarly to the previous floors, the environment was still a ruin, but it was starting to look more decrepit, with vines and weathered walls. The golems also started to vary, ranging from those farnite gargoyles to small, skirmishing golems and even animated rock armors with weapons. All were rank D, and while nothing special, they could swarm you like crazy if you wandered too deep and fast.
Fortunately, the boys and Rajah had literally no issues taking them down, although, considering their unique skills, I had to heal them quite a bit. There was no challenge up until now, and that wouldn’t happen for a while since the floor guardian was, as we expected, defeated. Our trip down floor six and then to eight was smooth, in other words. It was here that we found our first clue.
<Experience for development Jobs has reached multiple breaking points.
[Idol]: Lv. 3 -> Lv. 25 | Reset accumulation finished | Prestige 8 Lv. 0
[Fire Mage]: Lv. 7 -> Lv. 25 | Reset accumulation finished | Prestige 6 Lv. 3
[Tyrant Hatchling]: Lv. 15 -> Lv. 20 | Reset accumulation finished | Prestige 5 Lv. 6>
<Evolution Points: 19/30>
<Prestige requirement achieved! Job max level has increased. Experienced accumulation and reward quality increased.
[Tyrant Hatchling] Max level -> 25>
<You may spend your prestige points when you are ready>
<Job evolution cannot begin for [Idol]. Please buy [Heavenly Performance] to continue with your evolution. You cannot choose any other prestige skills until you have bought the required evolution skill>
“H-hey, look!” Kyouya pointed with his arm as he bashed an animated armor with his shadow shield. “A body!”
Dungeons were “living” beings in a way, as they desired mana to continue growing to create more defenses to protect its dungeon core. As such, in a day’s time, dungeons could “consume” both dead organisms and outside inanimate objects like equipment, potions, and others. Anything with even a speck of mana—which included everything in this world—and came from the outside would disappear in a day’s time.
Corpses of humanoids weren’t an exception, and if Kyouya just found one, then it means that they should have died pretty recently. After cleaning up the area, we confirmed the body was from some adult—Eh, actually, they looked grizzled but it was mostly the dirt and blood covering their face. It was more accurate to call them an adolescent.
Strangely, though, their death wasn’t caused by a spear thrust, getting crushed, or anything the local golems could do to him. After doing a quick field analysis, I noted how his body wasn’t injured in any critical spot outside of his chest. A single, clean, arrow-sized hole dug right into his chest, to his heart, leaving the flesh burned.
When I relayed this to the boys, Tatsuya whistled, calling me a forensic scientist. “Neither Asaka nor Tamae would be able to do that with such a calm hand.”
“Happens if you have [Miraculous Grace]. I already had to review everything I knew about anatomy and such when I first learned how healing magic worked, so I’m just practicing with all the surgeries.” I pointed at how I manned the clinic in Elyonda after the siege, having forced myself to heal as many people as possible. Regrowing body parts, surgery to heal an organ, and so on were the and I just got used to them.
Well, all my base knowledge came from biology classes on Earth and I had to force my parallel minds to remember all of it, so it wasn’t like I was perfect. I had to learn and practice during these surgeries. I hated to admit it, but it sorta has become a morbid hobby of mine just like toxin making … I really wanted to heal my eye right after Vifi’Yok dug her lightning halberd into it, but, oh well. Thankfully [Symphonie des Feuergottes Movement (Finale)] did it for me.
“In any case, I think this guy got into some altercations with his group or an enemy. I don’t think it’s a physical arrow, but maybe a spell or something similar.” I then pulled out his ID, noticing how he was a rank E hunter and merc … but also a rank C hunter. “It’s faked. We found our first black merc.”
“Our classmates have been in this dungeon since two days ago. They were, uhm, 19 people? Three five man parties with a guardian knight each. There’s also that Saintess; she probably has some guards?” Tatsuya tried to remember, prompting Kyouya to correct him.
“22 people from that group arrived by train. The Saintess probably had three guards. They vastly outnumber us and probably pushed harder than we did. I think our second day is about to arrive.”
[“Rajah tired …”] my virigress voiced his exhaustion. His circadian rhythm was far more accurate than ours, not to mention how much we’ve been fighting.
Worried about him, I wanted to make camp, but I also had to respect the boy’s opinion in this. “Do you guys want to push? We don’t know what’s happening, but your classmates might be in trouble.”
“I’m not friends with any of them,” Tatsuya declared.
“Dude, Aiko …” However, Kyouya reminded him of one of the students, causing Tatsuya’s brows to furrow. “Not to mention, Sensei is relying on us here, even if she doesn’t know what’s going on yet. She would want us to help them, not to mention, how will you make up with Franz if we let him die?”
“Shut up! I’m not trying to make up with him! I just … want to speak and clear things up. In any case, Takuma is supposed to be a ‘hero,’ right? They even have a Saintess, so their guards are probably strong. Don’t forget, Takuma’s and Aiko’s group have the second ‘knight-captain’ assigned to us all. Yorshka said that she was stronger than him, but that knight probably isn’t that weak.”
Tatsuya did mention how he had a bad relationship with this ‘Daisy’ fellow. This Franz. I wonder why?
“Who are the knights?” I asked.
“Karlst von Kriemhild. Royce Albert Loucestro. Falamm Astolfus,” Kyouya answered. “Royce is the knight we should watch out for. Don’t forget, they probably got the notice to hunt you down, Hestia-san. You probably shouldn’t appear as a dragon.”
“You look like a Japanese in your human form if you color your hair black.”
I nodded to Tatsuya’s remark. Those students weren’t my enemy, but they were controlled by the demonkins to treat me like theirs. There was also the Saintess … but Aurena hadn’t spoken to me, so no idea if the Saintess would know about me. I had to clear things up with her. We weren’t enemies, and I really should ally with Aurena’s other blessed.
In any case, after a three-to-zero vote to rest, we made dinner and played some red hands during camp. If we had cards, we probably would have used them, giving me a big reason to maybe have people mass produce them for us.
“Yeowch!” Tatsuya cried when Kyouya successfully slapped his hand. “Dammit, how are you faster than me?!”
Kyouya showed a boastful smug, knowing where to tease his best friend. “Underestimating me, that’s why! I’m not as fast as Hestia-san, but you aren’t, either!”
Drinking some fulinoe tea, our worries for everything just disappeared. Right now, it was resting time, and we just had to believe the students were doing alright. With no showers for two days, we all smelled, but we stood united as four stinky adventurers.
Let’s do this already.
<[Idol] Prestige spent. [Heavenly Performance]>
<[Fire Mage] Prestige spent. 1 Prestige Points to [Magic Skills: Proficiency Lv. 6] -> [Magic Skills: Proficiency Lv. 7] gained>
<Job evolution has begun for [Idol]. Please, choose from the below option to continue leveling your development Job. Your choice of Job evolution will affect your unique Job’s future evolution and your choice of prestige awards
[Star Idol]>
<You have chosen [Star Idol]. [Idol] will now evolve into [Star Idol], resetting your level and prestige level. Prestige Points: 2, retained. Max level -> 25. Evolution bonuses given: [Mana] [Intelligence] [Wisdom]>
<[Star Idol] prestige points: 2
- Benefit Slot increase
- Job Skill: [Acoustic Skills: Proficiency Lv. 1] [Giocoso Dreamer Lv. 1] [Musical Renaissance Diva Lv. 1] [Acoustic Power Lv. 1] Evolve [Heavenly Performance]
- Growth Boosts: [Mana] [Intelligence] [Wisdom]
- Spell song slot (3 prestige point)>
Evolve? I can evolve [Heavenly Performance]?
<Heavenly Performance: An idol’s voice and body are their most prized possession during a performance for the world to hear and see! The art itself is reward enough!>
There was a bit of a risk since I just had no information there. I already felt bad having to spend a prestige point for a literally useless skill, but doing it again? Just to evolve it without knowing if it would turn out well? That sounded awful.
After all, I didn’t have Benefit Slots anymore since I had to buy that skill. To gain one of [Giocoso Dreamer Lv. 1] or [Musical Renaissance Diva Lv. 1], I needed to spend two points to acquire them. One for a slot and another for a skill.
_____________________________________________________________________
Job: Star Idol
Benefit Slots: [Musical Crescendo] [Bardic Cadenza] [Heavenly Performance]
Level: 0/25
Prestige Level: 0
_____________________________________________________________________
Skip for now.
After everybody got their rest, we had to rush forward. Mounting Rajah, I cast [Unheiliger Engel] to carry the boys and we just rushed through the remaining floor eight and also nine, ignoring as many enemies as possible to reach the tenth floor as soon as possible.
With another scenery change, this time the ruins had deteriorated to the point you could see nature reclaiming it all, turning some chambers into literal groves. Even the golems started to show aspects of this, with trees and greenery growing on them. It was also here that we started seeing rank C monsters in the midst of the horde of rank D.
Unfortunately, those weren’t the only threats ,as traps like pitfalls, spikes, golem ambushes, and spell projectiles were now everywhere. Avoiding them was problematic, but having [Mana Eyes] for these situations helped a lot.
“Rajah, I’ll handle the offense, just move through!”
[“Yes, Master!”]
With my glaive on hand and parallel minds ready, I was shooting spears of flames and holy spells at all the enemy, prioritizing pushing things away and telling Rajah how to avoid the traps. Again, once we reached the supposed floor guardian area, it was empty. No boss, no treasure, no—No, actually, there was a treasure chest! There was also a huge hole right in the middle of all of this.
Kyouya dashed forward and grabbed whatever was in the chest and placed it in his storage without looking at what he grabbed while the rest of us contemplated if we wanted to jump down. Something really was happening here. Dungeon floors, walls, and ceiling were indestructible, unless the dungeon master or core decided otherwise.
Meaning, this was something the dungeon decided. Just like the hole from before. This was, in other words, a trap.
“Or a secret area!” Tatsuya suggested, but I disregarded it.
Kyouya, though, gave a rather important suggestion. “The boss is gone, but the treasure chest was still filled with stuff. If the mercs or our classmates defeated them, then no way would they leave it behind if they had a choice. They must have fallen into the hole.”
It was decided. Our goal was to find them so while grabbing the boys and with Rajah in my shadow, I flew down. I couldn’t see how deep this was, but I did find how the hole diverged into two sections. Not knowing which to take, we decided everything with a coin flip, leading us to take the left path.
Not knowing on which floor we were, we landed on the ground and inspected the area. The nature-reclaimed ruins were still the theme of the environment, meaning we were probably around floor elven to 14.
… Blood. I noted how I smelled fresh red stains on the ground.
Following the trail, we passed numerous golem corpses, including two rank C ones. In addition, there were also human and beastmen bodies among them. All fresh, all black mercs, all having burns and deep arrow wounds. Something wasn’t right. But we also knew the person who killed these people were close by and certainly not a fan of them.
When I picked up on the noises, that was when I was sure of it. This really wasn’t right. I could smell the stench of burning meat, but it felt too precise. Too perfectly aimed. If this was a normal fire mage, then they wouldn’t have left them burned like this. This is only considering this was a normal fire mage.
They could be an abnormal one, this could be a magical archer, a lightning mage, or we could have an empty vessel user on our hands. Nevertheless, I knew how to confirm my suspicion. The noises were close.
When it became louder and louder as we headed to them, we all readied ourselves in case this was an enemy. And … who could guess it … there was an enemy. An enemy I had not expected to see again so soon.
“YOU!” I shouted as I entered the decrepit ruin chamber, noticing a young woman with black and purple hair holding a human male by his collar. She snapped her body around, allowing me to notice her missing left arm and the spark of red lightning around her feet. “Vifi’Yok!”
This was not a good omen.
The demonkin girl understood this too. “… W-why are you here?! God Marsven’s shadow, WHY ARE YOU HERE?!”
Comments
Diego Rossi
Thanks for the chapter. and so on were the and I just got used to them. -> where the?
