Chapter 36: Back to the Dungeon After a While
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Materials for the temple’s expansion began arriving.
It seems Lord Dardell had already arranged for the temple expansion before our negotiations even took place, as a large amount of supplies and personnel flooded into the village.
That old woman is something else.
The temple knights put their martial skills to good use, clearing nearly twice the original area around the temple in no time. Since the temple is built of stone, the felled trees were repurposed to create makeshift shelters for the workers and for firewood.
"I apologize for the delay in our dungeon explorations due to my recent commitments. I’m really sorry for the inconvenience, Ben, Sharmi."
It had been nearly a month since we last ventured into the dungeon. Standing at the entrance, I bowed in apology to Ben and Sharmi.
"What are you talking about? My old man says it's tough for someone as young as you to be under so much pressure. He just hopes you don’t go bald from the stress."
Oof. I really don’t want to go bald…
"I actually took the time to review areas where I felt I was lacking in our previous explorations, so the timing was perfect."
What good friends I have… though Ben’s words are his father’s, really.
"Please don’t interfere, alright?"
"Understood."
As Ben, Sharmi, and I were about to enter the dungeon, three temple knights insisted on joining us.
Their job is to protect me, and given the dangers in the dungeon, it makes sense they’d want to come along. Better this than following me to the restroom…
"Alright, let’s go."
"Yeah!"
"Yes."
We advanced quickly through the first layer of the dungeon. Local children had been hunting monsters here, so there were none left to face us.
"It’s a slime."
Without pausing, Ben stepped forward and stomped down on the slime.
Slimes are a dud monster, offering no useful materials even when defeated. Normally, we’d leave their bodies behind as well. After death, a slime’s gelatinous body just spreads across the ground. If I wanted to, I could collect it, but I never saw the point.
Then a thought occurred to me—I’d never checked a slime’s corpse in detail. Gelatinous materials are rare, after all.
When I used my status view, I was surprised at how many things could actually be crafted from slime. Guess we should bring it back.
"Wait, are you actually taking the slime with us?"
"There’s something I’d like to test."
"Well, if you say so, Toma. But, ugh, it’s squishy."
"It’s surprisingly cool to the touch, actually."
I stuffed the slime remains into a cotton bag and tossed it into my pack.
We didn’t encounter any more monsters until we reached the second layer. There were slimes here too, but once again, local kids had already hunted them, so we didn’t need to. I hoped we’d run into a few more slimes on the way back.
Upon entering the third layer, we came across Kozumi and his group.
"Well, look who it is—Toma and the gang!"
"Hey there!"
"Hello!"
"Good to see you again, Kozumi!"
All five of them had their large packs stuffed to the brim. Looks like they had a successful hunt.
"Did you take down anything from the tenth layer?"
"Nope, we went down to the eleventh."
"Whoa!"
Ben, Sharmi, and I all let out a gasp in unison.
"Not bad at all, huh, old men!"
"We prefer ‘young men,’ Ben."
Ben squirmed in pain as Kozumi gave him an iron claw grip.
"Ouch, okay, old men!"
"Still with the 'old men'?"
"Come on, how old are you guys anyway?"
"I’m forever twenty!"
"Me too!"
"And me!"
"Liar!"
There’s no way they’re twenty. I almost yelled that myself, right alongside Ben. Sharmi was openly laughing, and even the temple knights, who were supposed to be guarding us, were shaking with suppressed laughter.
"So, those fancy armored folks are the famous temple knights we’ve heard about?"
"Yes, indeed."
Kozumi didn’t say anything more, just told us to take care and went on his way.
We continued exploring the third layer, and before long, encountered a monster—a Big Hand, a monkey-like beast.
Its arms were as thick as my torso, and its hands were enormous. The force behind its attacks, delivered by those massive arms, was no joke. The impact from its blow was enough to make Ben’s face twist with the force absorbed by his shield.
I fired an arrow, but the Big Hand evaded it.
"To the great deity of light, Lightruide, I offer my prayers. Light Javelin!"
Sharmi’s Light Javelin struck the Big Hand’s right shoulder, as if anticipating its movement.
"Can’t let her have all the fun!"
Ben swung his morning star, causing the Big Hand to stagger back. I took another shot, and this time, the arrow hit its eye. I’d aimed for its left shoulder, but hitting the eye worked out even better.
The Big Hand writhed in pain, giving Ben an opening to jump up and smash its skull with his morning star.
Since we couldn’t carry the whole body back, we skinned the Big Hand on the spot. We were quick and efficient at the disassembly. The Big Hand’s meat was too rank to eat, so we left it. My status view didn’t show any particular use for it either.
While we continued our exploration of the third layer as a warm-up, we stumbled upon a treasure chest. Besides producing monsters, dungeons occasionally generate treasure chests at random.
No one knows why this happens.
"I never expected to find a treasure chest on the third layer."
Treasure chests usually appear deeper in the dungeon; finding one here is rare.
"Praise be to Deuro-sama!"
With that, Ben opened the lid.
In Deuro-sama’s name, I hereby designate Ben as my first follower.
"There’s a gauntlet in here."
Gauntlet of Great Strength: Increases Strength (small) and Life +30 points.
Items classified as magical artifacts display flavor text when touched and activated by saying "Status Open," similar to checking stats. This step is essential, as cursed artifacts can appear identical to regular ones.
If the flavor text doesn’t appear, it means the item isn’t magical, nor is it cursed.
"Ben, you should use this."
"Are you serious?"
"I think you’d benefit most from it. Is that okay with you, Sharmi?"
"Yes, it’s fine with me."
"Alright!"
Ben gleefully removed his gloves and put on the gauntlet.
With his spirits high, Ben went on to perform spectacularly for the rest of our exploration.