Ihoujin, Dungeon ni Moguru

Chapter 066.1: The Trapped Adventurer III – Part 1

Translator: Solo

It was dark, and the passageways with stone walls and floor were only wide enough for three people to line up side by side. It was a sight that didn’t look any different than before.

But the enemies were undoubtedly becoming stronger. However, this would probably be the first and last time we had such an easy time in the dungeon.

There are strong characters that join only for a limited time in RPGs and the like, and this was exactly like that.

Otou-san was strong. The enemies we encountered on the 15th to 17th floors were all defeated with a single blow by him.

Putting it simply, he had great physical strength, his sword swings were quick, and he possessed numerous seasoned techniques.

His longsword would pierce the enemies like butter and cut them into two. It was a feat that couldn’t be done without detailed knowledge of the enemies’ vital points.

Because he was good at allocating his power, the depletion of his stamina and regeneration point was also minimal.

『I haven't been fighting these guys for a long time for nothing』

Was what the person himself said.

If it was our usual adventure, we would have taken breaks twice by this point, but Otou-san still had plenty of leeway.

Since he was playing an active role, the other party members barely accumulated any fatigue. Liz, Gashuraku-san, Lazarissa and Rana were essentially just walking.

Frey's magic was also a great help.

It would wipe out at least half of the monsters before they reached Otou-san.

Her control of its firepower was amazing. The area-of-effect was extremely small, but its power was staggering. It seemed that it was original magic that Frey had devised herself for use inside the dungeon. On top of that, the capacity of her magic power was on par with Rana’s and she had the magic power recovery of a Hemu.

It appeared that her title of Brave was not for show.

Rana, who was more expressionless than usual, must have felt quite frustrated.

I was about the only one in the party who was getting worn out.

My job this time was divided into two main tasks; searching for enemies and guiding them.

First, when I found an enemy, I would indicate its position on the map and share that information with Ea.

I couldn’t attack lightly.

None of the monsters here could be killed instantly with one or two arrows. The monsters were not only more dangerous when wounded, if they were the type that called its allies, a monster procession1 would be formed.

A large number of monsters in a narrow passage.

When that happened, an adventurer’s strength wouldn’t matter one whit. He or she would just be overwhelmed. It was probably the worst thing that someone in-charge of searching for enemies could do. There was a need to carefully read the enemies’ characteristics. But this time, even that information was available.

Searching for enemies and guiding normal monsters was easy.

The reason why I was getting worn out, was the task of separating the enemies.

There were troublesome enemies wandering the 16th and 17th floors.

Enemies that came in a set. Also known as monsters with a symbiotic relationship.

Colonies of Chochos and frog-headed monsters.

Chochos are winged monsters with egg-shaped bodies. They’re characterized by their mimicry of a human’s head and have sharp teeth, but alone, they’re small fry among small fry.

They were gathered and brought around like a bunch of grapes. Each bunch had an average of nine Chochos.

When gathered in numbers, even small fry are strong

The frog-headed monster moved about while carrying them like a lantern.

The frog-head has a stubby body and its arms are abnormally long. Its arms looks slender, but it carries the colony in one hand, so it likely has monstrous strength.

The movements of its limbs are slow, but its tongue shoots out quickly, and it would try to snatch adventurers’ weapons with it. One careless moment, and it would even wrench one’s head off, and it fights side by side with the Chochos.

The frog-head is a monster that wandered around on a set route.

Ea and I laid in wait on the route indicated by Otou-san, and then we released arrows at it in a pincer attack.

Ea shot the hand carrying the Chochos and my arrow pierced through the frog-head’s leg.

The Chochos that fell to the ground scattered for a moment, but gathered once more and bared their teeth at Ea. The Chochos on the 16th floor and deeper had a tendency to gather together.

Ea led the Chochos towards the party.

In the meantime, I drew the frog-head’s attention to myself.

This shaved away at both my nerves and my stamina.

The range of its tongue attack was more than 15 meters. If I wasn’t quick or constantly hiding myself around corners, it would get my head. I thought of defending against it using Agathion, but it would be troublesome if it got snatched away. It would probably come back if I called out to it, but causing damage to the frog-head clumsily could lead to unexpected behavior.

Even if I wanted to shoot it through the brain, its position was unknown. The possibility that its brain was relatively small compared to its build was also high.

Without getting unduly greedy, I dealt with it cautiously.

I hid myself around a corner to avoid its tongue. When I heard its footsteps, I showed myself for an instant to induce its tongue attack.

The frog-head couldn’t perform its tongue attack when it was moving. It always went through the same process of aiming first before shooting out its tongue.

With that said, the enemy’s attacks would definitely kill me. Doing the equivalent of putting my body in the path of a bullet was nerve-wracking. The stress and tension from doing so also drained my stamina.

I received a communication from the party that they had defeated the Chochos.

It was time to lead the frog-head towards the party. The route and a guide arrow was displayed on the LCD of my glasses, and I followed it while moving in a zigzag manner. While drawing its attention as well as staying vigilant against its tongue, I dashed ahead.

Encountering other monsters while guiding enemies was not only possible, it was extremely dangerous.

A winged snake separated itself from a wall.

Winged snakes tracked the body heat of their prey, so there didn’t seem to be a way to get away once I had been discovered by one. It was smaller than the ones on the floors above, but the venom of the ones here was a neurotoxin, so I would be paralyzed with one bite.

While staying on guard against the approaching frog-head, I killed the snake with two arrows.

This snake had a head on its tail as well. I properly pierced its vital points with the two arrows. I thought of immobilizing it by pinning it to the wall, but the frog-heads disliked these snakes, so it would stop following me if the snake was in its path. I needed to defeat it for sure.

With the support of my sister, who had rejoined me, we led the frog-head to the party without incident.

If the party was near a corner, then Otou-san would be the one to kill it.

If the passageway was fairly straight, then it would be Frey’s job.

With a sword or with magic, they would defeat the frog-head with a single blow.

Symbiotic monsters must be separated before fighting them. This warning was written in big letters on Otou-san’s maps.

I considered having Rana or Frey defeat them all at once using magic, but when this was done, either of the two types of monsters would invariably protect the other.

The ones that remained would act unpredictably.

If it was the Chochos that remained, they would scatter and attack the entire party.

It would turn into a free-for-all fight.

In general, monsters prioritized attacking those who made loud noises. Vanguards who had shields would draw the enemies’ attention to themselves using gimmicks or with their voices. For the sake of protecting the rearguards.

The Chochos that had remained would ignore this principle.

The frog-head was even more troublesome. It would steal weapons or items from the party, and then run away. On top of that, it was strangely fast when running away.

They needed to be properly separated. They were monsters that were easy to defeat so long as they were separated.

My sister and I took turns to be the one who guided the frog-head.

Despite doing the same job as me, Ea had plenty of leeway.

In the pig hunts that she had participated in, she had to shoot arrows continuously without sleep or rest for at least two days. Using heavy hunting arrows, she would shave away at the pig’s tough skin, causing it to bleed and weaken until it could be killed.

The pigs in the eastern forest were a much tougher and larger species than the dungeon pigs. Half-baked magic and the like wouldn’t even scratch them. Defeating them with swords or spears was a feat for heroes. For that reason, the hunters could only defeat them using the traditional but considerably rigorous method.

My sister was a hunter who had lived through that many times.

Her foundations were different from the likes of mine.

「Yukikaze, give me “that”」

I was pretty much at my limit. My regeneration point had also become zero because I had exhausted my stamina.

『Team member Souya, “that” is an emergency measure in case of injury or emergencies, and it’s dangerous to use it lightly』

「It’s just this once. We’re on a roll right now. I don’t want to halt our momentum」

『Yukikaze will put forward a proposal to Medimu-sama』

「Ah, hey!」

Yukikaze sent a communication to the party without permission.

『Please excuse the sudden communication. Yukikaze is the wide-area combat program?Advanced-Izora?Yukikaze-Modified that supports the party. Please call me Yukikaze. Yukikaze has a report for everyone. Team member Souya is completely exhausted, so Yukikaze is requesting a break』

「Hey」

Ignoring orders and acting without permission……

They were very human from the start, but lately, they've been overstepping their bounds. The limits set on their ability to learn had been released due to the damage to the failsafe. They’re constantly performing modifications on themselves. I’ve nothing but worries about what they'll eventually become. If this was the modern world, they would be sent straight to the manufacturer's support department.

「Onii-chan, are you okay? You don’t look so good」

I was being worried about by my sister, who had come up to me.

「I’m fine. I can still go on」

『Hey, Souya. There’s a watering place nearby. We’ll take a break there』

「………………Alright」

A communication came in from Otou-san. It appeared that he was being considerate of me, which vexed me. The route to the watering place was displayed on the map on the LCD.

「Onii-chan, this is convenient, isn’t it?」

My sister was fiddling with her glasses.

「But it's too convenient and it feels like it would dull my senses」

She has a point. But without this support, I would be the bottom of the barrel as an adventurer.

While staying on guard, I rejoined the party with my sister.

「Good work, dear」

「Oh, err………」

I ended up responding awkwardly to Rana's voice. She lowered her eyes. It was an uncomfortable atmosphere.

「Hey, let's go. Souya and Princess Ea, get behind Shuna」

「Okay~」

「Understood」

I positioned myself according to Otou-san’s order.

We started moving in a group. Frey tried to start a conversation about random topics with Rana, but she was ignored.

「I’ll give you this~」

「Oh, thank you」

I received a berry from Gashuraku-san. I put it in my mouth without thinking.

Sour.

It was incredibly sour. It was probably as sour as about 100 lemons. The stimulation was too strong, so I washed it down with the water from my water bottle.

「I also want one」

「Here you go~」

「Sour!」

My sister also had the same reaction.

Oh, that eased my fatigue a little. Is that a lump of citric acid? Is it something like the Umeboshi2 of the alternate world?

「Don’t you have any more?」

「Nope~」

My sister pestered him for more.

The location of the displayed watering place was a little off the specified shortest route.

It had been four hours since we started exploring the dungeon.

Two and a half floors in just 4 hours. At this rate, even if we took a break, by my reckoning, we would be able to go back by night-time.

A day trip through the dungeon.

This is something that cannot be done without an outstanding adventurer and comprehensive maps.

It's so easy that I’m afraid for our next adventure. If there is a next adventure, that is.

「Hmm, it sure is in a strange place」

Said Otou-san as he signaled for the party to stop. Moss was growing on the surrounding walls and floor, which was a sign that a water source was close.

I looked ahead of us with Otou-san. At the end of the passageway, was a bright and open space.

There was a fountain in the center of the space.

Clear water flowed through the shallow waterways on the ground, and green spread out all around like a carpet. Lighting that used Shogaku stones had been installed on the walls.

The fountain was crumbling and covered with ivy, but it had the look of the Rococo style3 of architecture. Only the remnants of civilizations like this, or perhaps I should say, this entire space was clearly out-of-place. Moreover, it was likely a waste of time to think about things like what kind of mechanism was used to draw the water here.

「That guy is going to be trouble」

There was a frog-head beside the fountain.

Most of the monsters in the dungeon avoided light, but this frog-head had lost both of its eyes.

What was even more problematic, was the colony of Chochos in its hand.

Chochos have a habit of attacking sources of light. Their ecology is still somewhat unknown, but they become meek when placed in a dark room, and when exposed to light, they become thin and wilted, and then turn ferocious.

The Chochos that the frog-head beside the fountain had in its hand were all withered and had turned ferocious. They were on edge, grouchy, and grinding their teeth.

「What should we do, Otou-san?」

I couldn’t think of anything other than to stay clear of them.

「Hmm, we can rest on the next floor as well, but other adventurers will troubled if it stays here. It has to be killed」

It's the sense of responsibility of a senior adventurer.

「So, do you have some sort of plan?」

「If I'm eaten, take the chance to go to the next floor. Abandon me」

In other words, his plan is to do it by himself.

Then I’ll take a good look. At what a senior adventurer is.