Volume 4 Chapter 9 - The old man goes into the jungle (2/2)

[I saw several good items in the market.] (Til)

Luna and Til took out a raincoat from their magic bag.

[The unique trait of this dungeon was it’s weather. Squalls often occur here causing the weather to change extremely quickly, making it difficult to deal with without rain gear. At the same time, underestimating the rain isn’t an option either. Being drenched in the rain saps away your body heat reducing your physical strength as well as causes your footing to become unstable from the mud. Furthermore long ranged attacks had reduced accuracy and power. We won’t be able to challenge the dungeon at our usual speed and risk exhausting ourselves quickly. It’ll be easy if this was any other dungeon, however be sure to listen to your body this time around. If it’s getting difficult, we’ll fall out immediately.] (Yuuya)

Normally, the weather in the dungeon doesn’t experience changes. However this point onwards, we’ll start to experience dungeons with unique weather. Furthermore those dungeons often have gimmicks which takes advantage of this.

In this dungeon, there is also a hidden floor containing treasures which can only be entered by understanding the change in weather. Since this was a secret that could be understood by other adventurers, I have to be on the lookout for other adventurers.

[Understood. But Yuuya, Erik doesn’t have a coat… Erik, if it rains be sure to enter Luna’s raincoat!] (Luna)

[Kyu!] (Erik)

This should be enough preparation before our departure.

Let’s begin our departure.

[Yuuya-ojisan. The quest I accepted in the guild was to gather meat from Paradise Birds.] (Selene)

[Ah. The Paradise Birds appear in this dungeon…. Normally the meat dropped by monsters are roughly categorized as Beef and Pork. However there are rare cases where the meat has a unique name. For those cases, the meat itself is a delicacy. One of those meat belongs to the Paradise Bird, typically served as a special dish in the upper echelons of luxury for Grannel. I haven’t tasted it myself, but I’ve heard that it tastes exactly the same as its name, like paradise.] (Yuuya)

There were many people who visited Grannel just to eat this special dish. Just as you would expect, I did encounter the item in the past however as I was more concerned about my financial status I sold it. This time however I am curious about its taste.

[Luna wants to go to paradise!] (Luna)

[Uhn Uhn. I want to taste it too. We definitely have to get it. It’ll be our dinner tonight!] (Til)

[The two of you should listen carefully. Our quest is a gathering quest and that takes priority. Although if we’re able to obtain more than required for the quest, we’ll be able to enjoy it too.] (Phil)

[Luna will do her best!] (Luna)

Luna perked up her fox ears and began searching around. Whenever food is concerned, her motivation increases by another fifty percent.

[Now then, let’s begin moving forward. We aren’t the only ones targeting the Paradise Birds. Above all, its meat sells at a high price. Everybody who is capable will be targeting it. It’ll be a scramble.] (Yuuya)

This was the reason why the adventurers’ attitudes flipped around as they rushed towards the depths of the jungle. Everyone was eyeing to hunt the Paradise Birds to make some quick cash. In other words, everyone is our enemy.

Our main weapons were our mobility, Luna’s Presence Detection and her Increased Drop Rate. Let’s earn as much as we can today using our specialized Thief and her exploration skills.

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We are currently walking within the jungle.

Due to the heavy downfall, the soft soil turned into mud as our ankles began sinking to our ankles.

[It’s difficult to move.] (Luna)

Luna had a tense look as her main weapon, her speed was being affected. Luna’s fox ears began twitching out of the blue.

[It’s here! A bird-shaped monster. But something is wrong. I feel it there by the tree but there’s nothing there.] (Luna)

[No, you’re right. Look carefully. It’s on that branch.] (Yuuya)

[Ahh. I understand. The bird is perched on the branch right there. It has the same colour and shape as a leaf. It looks exactly like a normal leaf.] (Luna)

For male Paradise Birds, they stood out prominently with their gaudy coloured bodies while the females camouflaged into their surroundings like this. Thanks to this, the male Paradise Birds were often hunted by adventurers for their meat while the females were left relatively untouched as they went by unnoticed.

[Til, can you hit it from here? If we get any closer than this, it’ll notice us.] (Yuuya)

The distance between it and us wasn’t that far however our footing was unstable due to the mud and the trees were dense here. Firing arrows in this condition would be akin to threading a needle.

[Fufufu. Who do you think you’re talking to. Something like this can be done even with my eyes closed. Look at this.] (Til)

Til was full of confidence while Phil seemed to be uneasy watching her behave like this… Or rather, she didn’t seem that worried as Til reached out for an arrow.

Til continued to fire with her usual elegance as her arrow flew cleanly through the vegetation towards her target. However, the arrow was slightly off as it pierced through the branch, shaking it.

The Paradise Bird took off in surprise as it tried to escape towards the sky. However before it noticed, Phil immediately took out her bow and arrow, firing two arrows which seemed to home towards its body, piercing it before falling towards the ground.

[It won’t escape.] (Phil)

Phil acted so quickly that I wouldn’t be surprised that she had expected Til to miss. She was certainly expecting this outcome as Til grasped her bow tightly.

[What is this!? I did it as usual. I read the wind correctly.] (Til)

[You missed precisely because you fired it normally. You weren’t able to read the power of the wind correctly. The environment here is very humid making the wind heavier than usual. This shows that you’ve never fired an arrow in this climate before.] (Phil)

Til seemed tongue tied as she began to close her eyes, trying her best to grasp the feeling of the wind blowing past her body.

[So this is what you mean. I still have a long way to go. However I won’t miss the next one.] (Til)

[If it’s you, then I’m sure you’ll get it once you try it out several times. The important thing to confirm your surroundings as compared to firing everything as usual.] (Phil)

Til continued to ask questions. Phil was as great of a teacher as I expected. Knowing her I can leave Til in her care with confidence.

[Meat.. I guess not.] (Luna)

Luna proceeded towards the location where the two elven sisters defeated the Paradise Bird however she turned around dejectedly, walking slowly back towards us. This couldn’t be helped as the meat’s drop rate was so low that even with Increased Drop Rate it was incredibly unlikely.

[We don’t have time to idle around. The more time we waste, the more Paradise Birds will get hunted by other adventurers.] (Yuuya)

[Uhn. Let’s continue searching.] (Luna)

For all we know, the male birds could have already been wiped out. It’s just a matter of how many female birds will be overlooked by the rest. We’ll have to be incredibly lucky to get the meat no matter how much we want it.

Just as we continued our hunt, heavy winds and rain began to pour as if a bucket was flipped over the sky.

This was perfect as there were some places that we wouldn’t be able to access without the rain and it was about time for us to head there. Supposing no one has accessed the area yet, the Paradise Birds in that area will be ripe for the taking.