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TL: ALT
Chapter 131 – Reef
It has been a little over a month since I conquered the first floor of the post-collapse Okutama Lake Dungeon.
I was sitting by the window of my classroom, idly watching the rainy season rain soak the balcony.
I am in an English class.
The air in the classroom is relaxed, probably because it is between regular exams.
The appearance of the dungeon has not changed the high school curriculum.
In the skill world, college entrance exams have been reformed, but in the job world, it is still a long way off.
Although I am a high school dropout, I still remember some of the lessons.
That’s why I tend to be distracted in class.
If I can remember it so well that I don’t have to listen to the class, but with my fuzzy understanding, I’ll have to relearn it, or I’ll have a bad final exam.
I had hoped to be back in the world by then.
I stifle a small sigh so people won’t hear me.
The first floor went better than I expected.
I honestly didn’t expect to defeat the floor boss in just one day.
On top of that, I managed to reach the maximum job rank of Usurper.
The second floor, which I took on with my new job as Dungeon Master, was a different story.
I don’t think it was a mistake to choose the Dungeon Master job, but…
Of course, there are reasons why I chose to be a Dungeon Master instead of a Hero or a Demon King.
First of all, the Dungeon Master’s support ability, Dungeon Travel, is a big factor.
Dungeon Travel allows the Dungeon Master to travel to any point in a dungeon that he has already conquered. The transfer requires mana coins based on the distance. This is the reason for it.
It is almost identical to the Dungeon Travel skill I gained in the skill world.
However, while the Dungeon Travel skill can only be transferred to the entrance portal, the version of the support skill can be transferred to “any point” in a dungeon that has already been conquered.
The post-collapse Lake Okutama dungeon is not a conquered dungeon, so it is not eligible for transfer.
However, if I have already completed another dungeon near Lake Okutama Dungeon, I can transfer from a dungeon near my home to that dungeon.
On my way home that day, I quickly cleared the C-rank dungeon near the Okutama Lake Dungeon.
…No, even though it is a C-rank dungeon, the dungeon boss has a level increase, so I have to be careful about the boss fights except on the way there.
However, it is nothing compared to the Shadow Roper.
Since it was a higher-level orc, it was a perfect match for Hobijinkai, who had no chance to play an active role on the first floor of the post-collapse Lake Okutama dungeon.
The reason I was so particular about dungeon travel, even putting off the more powerful jobs of Hero and Demon King, was simply because of the time and distance involved.
From my home to Okutama Lake takes several hours each way.
As a high school student, I can’t stay up too late to explore.
With Dungeon Travel, it would be possible to dive a little after school on weekdays.
Of course, the second floor of an S-rank dungeon is not so easy to conquer with after-school exploration.
In fact, the second floor I started raiding the next day was, to put it simply, hell.
In addition to the arc sahagin, king roper, and dark gazer, new monsters began to appear on the second floor.
The baby cerberus and the grim reaper were completely new monsters to me.
The baby cerberus is a formidable enemy, but the reaper is by far the most troublesome.
It is the very image of the reaper, a ragged skeleton, but it has high VIT and MND, and its physical attacks with its large scythe have an instant death effect.
As I followed the dark gazer, I thought to myself, “Another instant death!” I fought it with a feeling of annoyance, and in no time, it destroyed my substitute doll.
I managed to catch a blow from the scythe with my sword, but it didn’t matter.
It seems that even if the attack is blocked, the instant death effect is still produced.
If it’s the same instant death, wouldn’t the instant death of the dark gazer in his line of sight be more annoying?
But the grim reaper does not have a certain advantage that the dark gazer had.
While the dark gazer has a substitute doll as a drop slot, the reaper does not.
With the dark gazer, even if I get hit by a death gaze, as long as I can retrieve the substitute doll by the time I defeat the gazer, I can make a profit.
Since I don’t get hit by the death gaze every time, my stock of substitute dolls will increase in the long run.
However, this is not the case with grim reapers.
Grim reapers also have a high DEX, which makes it difficult to avoid all of their attacks.
Also, because of their toughness, it will inevitably take several turns to defeat them.
Therefore, it is necessary to catch one or two attacks before defeating a grim reaper.
If you are unlucky, more than one substitute may be destroyed in a single battle.
The only way to be safe is to hunt Dark Gazers and secure a large number of substitute dolls in one phase of the battle.
However, even when fighting dark gazers, substitute dolls are sometimes destroyed by instant death by sight.
I can steal more consistently than before because I’m used to it, but it’s not so efficient that I can steal as much as I want.
“…If only Honoka-chan or Sayuki were here.”
As a Telepath, Honoka-chan is able to set up a mental barrier that prevents abnormal state attacks of the type that interfere with the mind.
Sayuki, a Dark Magician, also specializes in the return of curses that reflect abnormal attacks.
However, it is useless to ask for something that is not there.
“Should I have bet on the Demon King’s unique bonus? But hey.”
The job Demon King has the unique bonus of “reasonable resistance to all kinds of abnormalities.”
But “reasonable” is only the second level of expression.
Even if I had expected the unique bonus to increase, I would have ended up having to collect substitute dolls as a countermeasure against the grim reapers.
“No, I shouldn’t be discouraged. It was a well-considered decision.”
There are other reasons besides Dungeon Travel for choosing the Dungeon Master.
Dungeon Masters can use item boxes.
The unique bonus includes the phrase “The capacity of the item box is unbelievably large,” and as part of their job skill, Dungeon Masters can store things in the item box―a different space.
The effect of this item box seemed to be the same as the Item Box skill in the skill world.
If that were the case, wouldn’t the items stored in the skill world’s Item Box be able to be retrieved from the Dungeon Master’s item box?
In other words, the Dungeon Master’s item box could have the exact same contents as my skill world Item Box.
This is the kind of expectation I have.
And as it turned out, I was right.
The elixir I had saved, the laser blade I had obtained in the Kururi Castle dungeon, and the Karakuri UFO I had stored in the Item Box were important, but what was more important was the set of powerful equipment I had plundered from Clovis.
In addition to the Staff of the World Tree, the Elven Cloak, the Falcon Boots, and the Ring of Slaughter that Clovis had equipped himself with, I also obtained the Staff of Thunderbolt, the Ring of Protection, the Elven Boots, and so on from his possessions.
When I first took them out, the descriptions were incorrect due to system differences, but after a while, they were converted to the skill values of the job world.
The equipment is a bit more mage-oriented, but there is also a sword, Shadow Slayer, which I got from Shadow Roper.
The sword I already have, Stormcaller, isn’t bad either.
The Laser Blade, a romantic weapon that is not a magic sword but produces a beam blade, can also be useful depending on the opponent.
My plan was that I might be able to compensate for the Hero and Demon King’s distraction with my equipment, and indeed, I was right.
However, the second floor was much harder than I expected.
“Hahh…”
With a sigh of impatience, I returned to my second youth, which I did not want.