Chapter 24 (1/2)

This chapter totally wasn’t late because I binge-watched all 50 episodes of Sousei no Onmyouji, I swear……… ;-;

Also, this will be the 1st edited GR chapter.

Thank you to G. Sadewa, Parker, J. Luke, DL, and Stewy for funding my patreon!

Enjoy the chapter!

TL: Thy Unsus

ED: EstrdNxlea

Chapter 24 - Where the Underground Water gathers

“Uh oh.” (s.h.i.+njou)

Once I got off from the rope and onto the 7th floor, the ground became slippery.

There were scattered things similar to aquatic plants growing on the floor.

After a while, I came to a fast flowing river.

There was the sensation of spray on my face, and I hear sounds similar to a waterfall from the distance.

There was the smell of rich water, and as shown by large amount of underground water gathered here on the 7th floor, it’s the waterfront area.

The acc.u.mulated underground water flowed into here, so it’s become the treasure trove of aquatic monsters.

It’s a level where you can see monsters with slightly different colors.

When I had walked to the end of the pathway that was facing the waterway, I heard something at my feet, and the figure of a merman revealed himself with a splash from the water.

His upper body is covered in blue scales, and he is wearing leather pants on only his lower body.

Three bodies come up from the water while water drops from them, and the 4th, and then 5th, also emerge with a splash.

Everyone of them has a harpoon with a sharp tip in their hands, and they threateningly stand before me.

“Gyi!” (Merman)

It was a strange cry.

“What’s up, aren’t you going to have a go at me?” (s.h.i.+njou)

I wait to take out『Isolation』as well.

Since I am afraid my feet will most likely slip, I don’t want to move too extravagantly.

“Low Flying Poison!” (Merman)

The first merman, chanting while facing me, launched poison arrows.

The small green arrowheads are repelled by my『Diminished Cloak』.

I have considerably trained my poison resistance, so for an attack of this degree, I don’t have to do anything.

Well, I’ll think about it later.

While I’m dodging the poison arrows that are being launched one after another, the head of the mermen prepared to use the harpoons, so I threw the sword at him.

In actuality, it’s easy to kill an enemy with a fraction of intelligence, such as these 4 guys.

They will run away because they will fear my overwhelming strength.

“Oraa~yotto!” (s.h.i.+njou)

Stab~stab, I pierced the hearts of the left and right enemies; two remained.

The two jumped into the water with a splash and tried to escape.

“Medium Flying Lightning Radiation!” (s.h.i.+njou)

Facing towards the bottom, I used lightning magic.

A dazzling flash of lightning was released from my hand.

Only the appearance of it is magnificent, as the strength of it isn’t much, the chant is long, the mana consumption is large, and it’s a spell which is inferior to Fire Wall.

However, it has stronger water resistance than fire.

The enemies who had fled in the water were electrocuted, and they emerged with a pop.

They were convulsing while foaming from the mouth, stab~stab, I killed them with one stab each.

There is no altruism.

“It’s amusing nonetheless.” (s.h.i.+njou)

Ignoring the treasure chest that appeared, I advanced through the pa.s.sageway with water and the blue blood scattered from the mermen while looking so my feet won’t slip.

It was set so that mermen had intelligence, but it wasn’t a tribe that used magic.

I wonder if they were supposed to be a model of an enhanced version of a monster.

However, only the hardness and the amount of monsters would change even if their strength was raised, and they should have never been modified so they were allowed to use spells.

“Perhaps I should think that they evolved?” (s.h.i.+njou)

It has been 10 days since Genocide・Reality started…….

No, this dungeon has been developed for a while, we only just came here 10 days ago.

The killer orgeMad Troll on the 3rd floor said that he had killed over 100 adventures.

The Rabitto/Rabbit tribe’s party that reached the 6th floor had been adventuring for a long time.

With the dungeon acc.u.mulating the experience of battle, I’m starting to think that this have evolved from the Geno-Real that I know.

There’s nothing wrong with an intelligent enemy memorizing a new chant.

Thinking about it……somehow, it’s making me drowsy.

“Wow, this time it’s a mermaid.” (s.h.i.+njou)

On the other side of the waterway, there was a mermaid with a harp.

Unlike mermen, mermaid’s lower bodies are fish-like.

Their upper bodies appear to be a woman with their b.r.e.a.s.t.s exposed, but in my eyes, they are monsters.

I used the lapis lazuli from my handbag.

This jewel will keep those who become drowsy awake.

Mermaids have an annoying style of attacking by making their enemies sleepy.

Even if I fall asleep, I can say that there wouldn’t be a problem as I would awaken with a shock when I get attacked, but it’s dangerous if they are with other monsters.

For a solo player like me, it’s something that could become my natural enemy.

Even though she’s in the form of a woman, if I don’t kill her as soon as I see her, I will be killed.

“High Soaring Flame!” (s.h.i.+njou)

The large fireball flew straight, instantly burning the bodies of the 2 mermaids that were gathered on top of a small rock.

I felt I have grown when I saw the advanced cla.s.s magic succeed.

The next thing that appeared was a sea serpent.

The serpent’s figure is like the underground water running in a river and it is taking up a wide amount of s.p.a.ce, it has a dragon-like neck which can swallow people whole; I can’t even imagine that the extremely long snake’s body is a creature that could live in such a place.

“I wonder what such a big guy is eating to live in such a place.” (s.h.i.+njou)

It opened its big mouth and attacked me, but I instantly swung『Isolation』and bisected it vertically.

I withstood the ma.s.sive impact that my arm took heavily, and the pale body fluids scattered and poured onto the middle of my forehead.

“Sigh.” (s.h.i.+njou)

From the ma.s.s of that attack from right in front of me, and because it’s possible for me to cut down the enemy, my skill is rising.

A sea serpent seems to be boss cla.s.s monster because of its size and appearance, but it’s actually a small fry because it only does monotonous attacks and has low intelligence.

It would be a dangerous thing if I were dragged into the water, but because it thrusts its head onto the path of land, it’s similar to cutting up a person.

It was writhing when I had cut it in half vertically with a slash, and moreover, when I had slashed it with the long blade of『Isolation』, it’s head had fallen too quickly.

Even though its head had fallen, its long body was writhing for a while.

It stopped moving eventually, and the dead body of the Sea Serpent floated on top of the water.

“I should be able to eat this guy.” (s.h.i.+njou)

Taking out a knife, I cut off a little piece from the head and ate it.

I wonder what I should say about the taste.

“Instead of fish meat, I guess it’s more like snake meat.” (s.h.i.+njou)

Its body is red and black.

It’s different from lean meat, and the color of it made me not able to see it as appetizing as there was red blood on the grey body.

Even if they commonly live in the underground water, it appears to be different from fish meat.

The taste of it isn’t as bad as the appearance of it.

It’s hard, fleshy, and has a little bit of grease, the taste of it is in between fish and pork, and the meat tastes crispy.

There seems to be some nutrition, so this is a delicious meal in the dungeon.

There isn’t any peculiarities, as its tasty but also not tasty if eaten raw, so I feel it will become something else if I cook it.

“Should I eat here?” (s.h.i.+njou)

I don’t mind fighting, but because I’ve put a little bit of food into my mouth, my stomach has begun to cry.

Now that I think about it, I brought the rest of the pot-au-feu that Kazuha had made in a container.

I couldn’t hold soup as one would expect, but if I taste the soup that is stained with vegetables along with the dimmed flavor of the sea serpent, the taste becomes a little tense.

This is the only time I can have such a luxury.

“Yes, I got better.” (s.h.i.+njou)

I ate as much as I could on the spot, then I decided to roughly cut and pack the sea serpent’s meat as luggage.

The delicious snake meat is first grade food among the ingredients available in the dungeon.

I have to take important care of it.¹

I went through the winding pa.s.sage for a while.

I met several mermaids that used sleeping magic during that time, but I burned them all with fireb.a.l.l.s.

It’s not because I don’t want to kill a thing that had a form similar to a woman, but rather that they were support types, so they didn’t come close to me.

The monsters on this floor didn’t seem to know anything about cooperation as the different types of monsters never came out together.

As I had awareness of this level, I had kept the stay-awake lapis lazuli for emergencies, but it may not have been necessary.

“Well, I’m close to my destination now.” (s.h.i.+njou)

I’m not going straight to the boss’s room, but instead I am following the path that greatly diverged.

“I think it was around here……” (s.h.i.+njou)

As I gently stepped into the water, there was a place where the depth of the water had become extremely shallow.

You could normally walk in the water without swimming here.

The piranhas swimming in the underground water bit me inside my leather boots, but a stab from『Isolation』killed them.

I should have eaten these guys.

Well, let’s stop at that.

I have a resistance for eating small fish raw, but as the hard scales are tough to eat with my teeth, so it’s troublesome.

Fish cannot be bony or bad.

After crossing the river of underground water, I ran into a big room on the other side as I advanced.

There was a large fountain in the center of the square where a lot of mermen lived.

It’s a large settlement of mermen.

All of them instantly raised a scream of “Gyigyi!” and rushed to attack me.

“Good, you’re doing it for me.” (s.h.i.+njou)

There were 15, no, 20 of them nearby.

I don’t know if I saw too many of them, but on the contrary, it can be said that it is a banquet of easily killed things.

Fortunately for me, I can mow them down at a pace of 2 at a time with a single stroke.

Although they are equipped with harpoons, they aren’t using poison magic like the mermen from a while ago.

It seems that they are different from the previous ones.

As I was thinking so, there was a guy who threw a knife from behind this time.

I couldn’t avoid it as it was unexpected so I took it with my arm, but because I have the hard ring mail, I only received scratches.

“You did it!” (s.h.i.+njou)²

“Gyaa!” (Mermen)

It’s mostly just enemies heading towards me monotonously, but it seems that a few smart ones are mixed in.

You can use magic, but it’s difficult to freely use and measure the distance.

Once I retreat so I’m not surrounded, I kill them while aiming to pull them into the pa.s.sageway.

If I’m in a narrow pa.s.sageway, no matter how many there were, there will only be a few in there.

Even if they are the same mermen, the one who jumps in without thinking is weak, and the one who attacks while behind cover is strong.

While defeating and killing the previous enemies, preparing for a long-range attack is a little laborious, but I’ve considerably gotten used to fighting one-vs.-many.

“Well, these guys aren’t a big deal.” (s.h.i.+njou)

Compared to the huge dragons, these guys are just as strong as human beings by themselves.

Moreover, because they are on the land, it doesn’t matter how many aren’t kicked into the sea.

If I were a merman, I would somehow manage to drag the adventurer to the bottom of the underground water, but they don’t have the intelligence for that.

It suddenly became easy from when I had slashed and killed around half of them.

They stopped attacking then and started trying to escape.

“Even if you try to escape, the only exit from the square is here.” (s.h.i.+njou)

“Gyi!” (Mermen)

“Look, try to desperately escape more!” (s.h.i.+njou)³

“Gya~!” (Mermen)

Causing them to panic, I cut and killed those who were moving in confusion and gathering along the walls.

Nevertheless, it seems that some of them escaped while I was killing them.

“Hmph, they escaped.” (s.h.i.+njou)

If I think about it, rather than the students I had as companions on the 1st floor, it can be said that the group of mermen is much smarter as there are those who ran away at the expense of allies.

I also thought of chasing them after killing the rest, but I stopped because it was a waste of time.

There may be a system for the ones who ran away now and they will get more battle experience and become tough enemies.

“It’s an evolving dungeon.” (s.h.i.+njou)

It’s an amusing phrase.

Since I couldn’t kill the them, I thought about stopping the finis.h.i.+ng blows I was giving to the mermen who were writhing in the 4 corners of the room.

I need to be careful and not overestimate my knowledge of the game, but it’s interesting that the enemy seemingly became stronger.

It’s not an unreasonable evolution, but if it’s a fair evolution, it’s not even a matter of accepting it.

If the capturing of the dungeon proceeds as is, it won’t be interesting.

The dangers of life are caused by being unprepared.

While drinking a recovery potion, I noticed that the ring mail had been scratched from the thrown knife.