Chapter 8: Let's Go To the Dungeon

A dungeon—a trail left behind by a past shrouded in countless mysteries.

A dungeon—a symbol of adventure, and the one place in the world where even those at the bottom can rise to greatness with nothing but their own strength.

A dungeon—hope standing shoulder-to-shoulder with danger.

Ah, why are people so drawn to dungeons, I wonder?

And so, here we are at the Peteshe Dungeon! Master taught me attack magic, so I’m fully prepped and ready!

“You’re really hyped up, senpai.”

“Of course I am! My blood is boiling! This is the perfect chance to blow off some daily stress!”

I’ve got two dependable frontline fighters with me, so I can freely unleash attacks from the safety zone! This is super easy mode!

“Yeah, yeah… Just watch the ceiling and your six.”

“Yessir!”

And that’s how we ended up here—at the dungeon near the Peteshe guild. Since it’s beginner-friendly, the monsters don’t spawn very aggressively, and they’re not very strong, so it’s supposedly great for building up experience.

On the flip side, that also makes it pretty crowded and not that profitable, but every now and then a rare piece of gear drops, so it’s still got that romantic adventurer appeal.

By the way, the origin of dungeons is unknown. They’ve been around since ancient times, and no one knows who made them or why.

When living beings die inside, their bodies vanish after a while but leave behind their belongings. Monsters are auto-generated by some kind of system up to a certain number. Equipment is also generated automatically, so defeating monsters gets you gear and such.

Because of this, many scholars believe these dungeons were training facilities built during the era of ultra-advanced magical civilization.

In fact, if you go about conquering them in the proper order, you’re guaranteed to grow stronger.

In the shallow levels, the items created are low-grade, so you don’t earn much. But the deeper you go, the more income you can earn—enough to live off of, supposedly.

As for why we came to the dungeon today—rumor has it that the mid-boss class monsters here drop those gacha medals.

With our new slave Lulul now in the party, we figured this was a good time to gather medals and power up the team. I haven’t given up on getting stronger either, and if we plan to go exploring even more dangerous places, then increasing our combat power is absolutely necessary.

Even if Master is a cheat-type protagonist, that doesn’t mean he’s invincible. I need to at least be able to protect myself. You never know when some other yandere might come after us. That’s why he brought me along—for combat training too.

“O fire of the origin, become a blazing stone and scorch my enemy!”

As I chant, a fireball the size of my palm launches from the magic circle in front of me. It strikes the face of a goblin that Lulul was holding off, bursting on impact and burning its body away in a flash.

It’s the lowest-tier fire magic, but since I apparently have high magical power, it hits pretty hard as long as it connects. Though Master says I have no real talent for magic—he told me that even with an affinity for the element, I’d only be able to learn low-tier spells at best. That was kind of a downer… But I’ll just make up for what I lack in talent with raw power!

Oh right, there are also proper ranks for magic and adventurers. From what I’ve heard, the hierarchy goes: lowest, low, mid, high, top-tier, and legendary. Master is a mid-ranked adventurer, just on the cusp of high rank. That’s apparently super fast progression.

High-rank is where you start to be called first-class. He’s gotten this far in under half a year since coming here. Totally cheat-tier. Normally it takes at least two years to reach mid-rank.

That cheat is now off soloing this floor’s mid-boss—a Knight Goblin. Normally, nobody could take something like that down alone, but he’s exuding this effortless air, like it’s no big deal, with all his versatile magic and the power of Levantine.

With nothing better to do, Lulul and I were picking off goblins that wandered too close. At this point, risking our lives in battle or whatever doesn’t even faze me. I saw more than enough splatter and senseless killing back when I was with that toad-faced freak!

Besides, the monsters in dungeons aren’t technically alive. They’re more like magically constructed organic puppets, so hesitating only puts you in danger.

“Sora, Lulul, let’s move out.”

Just as I was tossing a rusted, battered knife a goblin had dropped into the loot bag, Master called out to us. Sounds like he already finished the fight. At this level, even a mid-boss isn’t a challenge for him anymore.

“Let’s go.”

“Right behind you, senpai.”

I waited for Lulul to reposition her gear, then followed behind Master, keeping close enough not to get separated.

We’re now on the 20th floor. This dungeon has a total of 24 floors, with a mid-boss waiting on every fifth floor. The Knight Goblin was the fifth-floor boss. Right now, Master is fighting a huge monster in full armor that looks kind of like a centaur.

““You can do it!!””

I tried firing off a spell, but it didn’t do anything—and actually just made the thing target me instead, which was extra dangerous. So now Lulul and I are staying put, quietly cheering him on from behind a pillar. Lulul isn’t strong enough to fight that thing either, so we’re both watching from a safe distance.

With the stone floor cracking underfoot, the armored centaur charges forward at terrifying speed with a halberd. Master dodges with the effortless grace of cloth fluttering on the wind, and slashes at it with his flaming magic sword. The blade glows red-hot as it cuts easily through the armor, molten copper pouring from the wound and sizzling against the ground.

Rather than being cut, it felt more like it was burned through. So that’s another way it can be used, huh. The centaur, having lost one arm, lost its balance and began to turn in a wide arc, swinging its halberd forcefully with the remaining arm. The lack of reaction to the pain is proof that it’s not a living being. It also shows that it can’t be disabled by half-hearted damage, which would make it quite a troublesome opponent.

Despite losing an arm, the centaur continued attacking without hesitation. Master frowned slightly, then swung Levatein vertically from bottom to top. A crimson flash lit up the room, and the pitiful full-armored centaur was split cleanly in two, collapsing onto the floor.

A few seconds later, the scattered bits of flesh and armor turned into light and were absorbed into the dungeon floor. Master picked up the halberd while watching them disappear. The design looks nice and it’s in good condition, so hopefully it can be sold.

“Still no medal, huh.”

“Is that so?”

Master sighed while checking the drops. Looks like we didn’t get one this time either. Well, it’s probably set up to be that hard to get. Might be best to just collect them patiently.

“Alright, let’s beat the boss and get out of here.”

“Yes.”

“Understood.”

We headed down the stairs at the back of the mid-boss room to the next floor. When a mid-boss is defeated, the room’s entrance closes, and about ten minutes later, it respawns and the room opens again. It’s completely game-like. It might be a training facility, but it also feels like an amusement park.

From there, there weren’t any real obstacles, and we casually took down the floor boss: the Dragspecter—a monster that looks like a dragon’s skeleton wearing a robe—and escaped through the teleporter at the deepest level.

It floats around, casting spells nonstop, so if you fight it normally, it’s supposed to be pretty tough. But at the start, Master used the same technique he used to slice up the centaur—zuba!—and took it out in one hit. It was zuba! all over again.

I thought this was going to be my time to shine with magic, but nope. Even the loot was kind of lame. Bit of a letdown. I mean, I get that since it’s a long-range spell spammer, if the fight drags on, Lulu and I would be in danger, so Master ended it quickly. I understand that. But still, it felt really unsatisfying.

I still wanted to rampage some more! …Or so I thought, until we got home. As soon as we walked in, exhaustion hit me and I collapsed onto the sofa. During the journey, I barely had to walk on my own, so I let my guard down.

“Ugh…”

“You really need to build up your stamina.”

I glared at Master while rolling over as he patted my head. I mean, come on, the real reason my stamina’s dropped is because you won’t let me leave the house! Even when I ask to take a short walk with Lulu, you never approve it!

“It’s not my fault I’m out of shape! It’s your fault for not letting me out of the house, Master!”

So I really think I should be granted permission to go out. A slave can’t leave their residence without their master’s permission. If I try to break that rule, the collar tightens around my neck.

“Well yeah, but… letting you out makes me nervous. Like, you’d totally fall for candy and get kidnapped or something…”

What a horrible assumption. I’ll have you know, mentally I’m the same age as you. I wouldn’t fall for such an old-school trick!

“That’s just way too insulting… Fine, I’ll let it slide that you don’t want to let me outside, but in return, come up with a way for me to exercise! Staying cooped up inside is so boring!”

Even housework has gotten easier thanks to all of Master’s modified gadgets—like the enchanted washing machine and magic-powered pump. Thanks to that, I have way too much free time, and that’s why I want to go to the dungeon so badly. It’s hopeless. At this rate, when the bath he’s developing is finally finished, I’ll probably end up soaking in it all day just to kill time.

"I'm out of shape… Fine, I guess I have no choice."

…Huh? Wait, what? After hearing my words and falling into thought, Master suddenly slipped one hand under my knees and the other behind my back, lifting me up. What is he planning?

"Um, Master, uh, why are you picking me up?"

"Didn’t you say you were bored and wanted to get some exercise?"

"Uh, um, but that’s the bedroom! That’s not a place for exercise!!"

That’s a place for quietly going to sleep, you know? It’s way too early for senility, you sadistic brute.

"Well, I just remembered—I’d totally forgotten something."

"W-What are you… talking about?"

Jokes aside, this is bad. Dangerously bad. My instincts are going off like crazy. If I don’t run now, this is going to turn into a full-on pervert disaster.

"Your punishment."

You could’ve just forgotten it forever!!

"Lulu! Luluuu!? I’m in trouble, help me! Please, I’m begging you!! Nooooo!!"

"Okay okaay, I’ll come join in after I finish cleaning up over here—"

"Why are you adapting so fast, you pervy cat!?"

Is there no one on my side!?

◇◆ADVENTURE RESULT◆◇
【EXP】
MAX Combo 21
BATTLE TOTAL 14
◆【Sora Lv.8】+21
◆【Lulu Lv.1】+4
◇―
◇―
＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝
Sora Lv.8 [82] → Lv.10 [103] Level Up!!
Lulu Lv.1 [13] → [17]
【RECORD】
[MAX COMBO] >> 21 New Record!!
[MAX HIT] >> 21 New Record
【PARTY】
[Shuuya][Lv28] HP410/410 MP630/630 [Normal]
[Sora][Lv2] HP-10/20 MP50/50 [KO’d]
[Lulu][Lv1] HP297/297 MP22/22 [Normal]
＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝
【Comment】
"…………………………"
"Senpai? Hellooo? …Ah, she’s rolled her eyes back."