Chapter 177: A Zoological Encounter (1/2)
Like pretty much every settlement he'd seen since reincarnating, the village had a wall, in this case a wooden palisade. The gate was currently open, and several well-armed individuals, that he assumed were adventurers, were entering and leaving in small groups.
[Maybe I should bring the others next time. This might be a good place to train.]
He sauntered through the main gate, attracting a little attention due to his getup, but much less than he figured. Evidently, rumors of his identity hadn't spread this far yet. Something to be thankful for, he supposed.
The interior of the small village was clearly designed with adventurers in mind. Weapons and armor shops were plentiful, only outnumbered by the taverns and bars. Stores that focused on magic items, delving gear, dismantling, and even dungeon maps were interspersed throughout. A large building bearing the symbol of the Adventurer's Guild stood along one side of the main street, which was also lined with a variety of colorful characters hawking all kinds of unusual items and services.
While he was tempted to do a little shopping, he knew that he really didn't have enough time to do more than a cursory glance, so he pointedly ignored the calls of the street merchants. Thankfully, his appearance was strange enough, or threatening enough, that people tended to avoid him as he followed the stream of traffic towards the base of a massive tree that dominated one side of the village.
As he got closer, he saw the dungeon portal swirling within a hollow formed by two giant roots. The entrance was so large, he thought Red could even fit through, albeit with a little of squeezing. He considered the idea for a moment before dismissing it. The dungeon passages were probably quite narrow, and would be problematic if the dragon got stuck.
A short line of adventurers had formed in front of the entrance, and guild personnel were checking them in. As he watched, a group of four walked into the portal, disappearing into the dungeon.
He took his place in line, once again feeling the strange incongruity of all of this taking place in reality. It was simply hard to believe that such a convenient thing existed, but he supposed he shouldn't be surprised. A defining quality of this world seemed to be that tangible rewards were always available to those who worked hard enough to achieve them.
With something like the System in place, with its tendency to reward effort and experience with increasing levels of power, he supposed it wouldn't be a stretch to imagine that, a similar concept could be put into effect on a smaller scale in specified locations. Not for the first time, he wondered what the gods were thinking when they created the current world.
He doubted that they simply wanted to restrict the rampaging mana, and just so happened to put features into place that benefited a very specific type of lifeform. It was possible they were merely looking out for their humanoid creations, giving them the ability to survive and thrive, but he doubted it. From the sounds of it, the divinities of this world were far too human-like to be that generous.
Lost in thought, he almost didn't realize it when his turn to enter the dungeon came.
”Are you by yourself?” A tired looking man working behind a weathered desk asked upon seeing him walk up. He was sizing Mike up with his gaze in a dismissive manner.
”That's correct.”
The man motioned him over, ”Would you mind displaying your Guild Card?”
He sighed when Mike did so. ”Look, I know the listed difficulty for this dungeon is Rank 4, but that's just an approximation. Everyone's experience will be different, and it's entirely possible that you'll find yourself quickly surrounded by powerful monsters. Are you sure you want to take on this dungeon alone? It's strongly recommended that delvers below Rank 8 travel in groups, regardless of the listed difficulty.”
Mike knew the guy was just doing his job, but it was hard to not be a little offended by the intimation that he didn't know what he was getting into.
”I appreciate what you are trying to do, but I'll be alright. Despite my rank, I have a lot of solo combat experience.” He replied, enhancing his voice with a little mana to get his point across.
The man shrugged. ”Fair enough. Just didn't want you to walk in blind. Anyway, as a Guild member, your entry fee is waived, so whenever you are ready, you may enter.”
Thanking him, Mike walked towards the giant tree. With its root structures soaring overhead, and the dark shadowy entrance in front, it felt like he was descending to the burrow of some titanic beast. Although, he supposed that wasn't far from the truth.
After passing through the portal, he found himself in a dank, underground cavern. The walls were composed of damp earth with twisting and tangled root systems holding the dirt in place. While it was fairly dark, patches of sunlight streamed through small holes in the cavern ceiling. Out of curiosity, he tried to investigate one of them, only to discover an invisible wall that prevented him from getting through.
[They aren't even trying to make it realistic.]
At a loss to explain the laziness of the developers, Mike decided to focus on clearing the dungeon. After all, he was on a bit of a time crunch, so he began running randomly through the network of caverns, only stopping to quickly eliminate monsters and claim the dropped materials.
The inhabitants of this particular dungeon were almost universally bestial and animalistic, often resembling oversized or slightly exaggerated animals. They mainly consisted of large predatory mammals like wolves, lions, bears, and the like. Every so often, though, he would run across an unusual one.
He also fought chimeras of various shapes and sizes included, the worst of which was some kind of bear/eagle hybrid which had developed the ability to fire its feathers at him like projectiles.
He initially tried to use the methods described in the Beast Taming manual, on the off chance it worked on dungeon monsters, but it ultimately proved ineffectual. They just continued to attack him regardless of what he said or did. So, he was forced to simply kill his way through. Luckily, nothing proved truly challenging or surprising until he was about halfway through the fourth floor.
He had just finished clearing out a room of gorilla-like creatures with snakes for arms, which had to be biologically improbable without the aid of magic, and walked into the next chamber only to find it was significantly larger than the others.
[Did I get to the floor boss already, or is this some kind of mini-boss?]