arc2 · 086-ch86

Chapter 86: Sometimes Things Don't Go Well

So, Asahi had mostly finished patrolling the twenty-first floor of the Ghost Forest Dungeon. There were no signs of Dungeon Modification. I should return to the Transfer Stone room and head to the next dungeon.

I toyed with the Crash Dragonfly chasing me as I made my way back to the stairs for the twentieth floor. I'll use the Transfer Stone to return to the first floor.

As for Hayate, I'll have it transfer to the thirtieth floor of Yatsugatake Dungeon to look around, then head to the next dungeon, the Yokohama Blue Brick Warehouse Dungeon.

I operated both Asahi and Hayate simultaneously, completing two tasks at once. Asahi safely exited the Ghost Forest Dungeon and headed toward Tokyo Skyscraper Dungeon, while Hayate transferred to the thirtieth floor of Yatsugatake Dungeon.

Since Asahi was just simple movement, I devoted most of my attention to Hayate. The thirty-first floor of Yatsugatake Dungeon was an unexplored area that even Kokushi Musou hadn't investigated yet. I'd gather information by patrolling it a bit. I carefully moved Hayate into the thirty-first floor.

A reddish-brown mountain surface spread out before me. But maybe it was just my imagination—I felt like up to the thirtieth floor, it was more brown. I see, so starting here it's different from the thirtieth floor. I need to stay alert.

"SCREEEEECH!"

Immediately upon entering the thirty-first floor, I heard a monster's cry from overhead. Could that be the A-rank monster Spiral Bird!? It's a terrifying monster that, once it spots prey, rotates its entire body like a drill and charges.

If it took an attack that could pierce through thick iron plates, even Hayate would be destroyed in a single hit. I absolutely have to dodge it.

WHOOSH!

(Huh?)

I thought the Spiral Bird moved, then the connection to Hayate was cut. What happened? Did it get destroyed!?

Hayate was destroyed before I could even explore the thirty-first floor. I had thought we defeated the thirtieth floor boss together with everyone from Kokushi Musou, but apparently I was wrong.

As expected, those bosses were defeated by the Kokushi Musou members. I was just there with them. Because I was there, I misunderstood that I could fight on equal footing with A-rank monsters too. By providing combat support for F-rank and E-rank parties, I misunderstood that I had become stronger.

Even though my physical abilities had improved somewhat with my level, I still couldn't escape from A-rank monsters. Was Nishikyo-san's movement the other day not serious either?

But the fact remained that Hayate was destroyed. I should give up here, resummon it, and go to the next dungeon. I summoned Hayate from Asahi, which was in transit, and sent it toward the Yokohama Blue Brick Warehouse Dungeon.

Asahi arrived at Tokyo Skyscraper Dungeon first. I can fly up to the thirtieth floor here too, so maybe I should check it out. But I can't let Asahi get destroyed, so I'll skip patrolling the thirtieth floor. I'll just observe near the staircase.

While having Hayate head toward me, I transferred Asahi to the thirtieth floor of Tokyo Skyscraper Dungeon. Then I went down the stairs and looked around without going too far forward. It seemed there were no monsters nearby.

However, monsters might suddenly appear from the other side of the cave, so I observed while staying alert to return to the stairs immediately. Yeah, so far there didn't seem to be any abnormalities.

Since Asahi has better performance than Hayate, I don't think it would be destroyed instantly like last time, but...

Since going too deep would be dangerous, I decided to transfer from the thirtieth floor to the twentieth floor and patrol the twenty-first floor as-is. I do intend to help any parties in danger, but with only this level of patrolling, it's not like I'll conveniently encounter them at critical moments. This is another area needing improvement.

Even so, I couldn't stop patrolling. While Asahi was patrolling the twenty-first floor, Hayate arrived at the Yokohama Blue Brick Warehouse Dungeon. Here, I devoted most of my attention to Asahi while transferring Hayate to the thirtieth floor. After checking for any signs of Dungeon Modification, I decided to fly to the twentieth floor and patrol the twenty-first floor.

Since there were no abnormalities at Tokyo Skyscraper Dungeon, Asahi moved on to Tokyo Mouse Park. Meanwhile, Hayate moved to the tenth floor and began patrolling the eleventh floor. There are many parties around these floors, so there might be demand for potions. I was patrolling with Hayate while keeping an eye on the explorers' movements when Asahi arrived at Tokyo Mouse Park Dungeon.

Mouse Park Dungeon has a Western castle-style structure. Rooms were placed at various points along long corridors. Sometimes you could go through rooms to proceed, other times they were dead ends.

The monsters that appear are mostly Wraith types. Wraith-type monsters are resistant to physical attacks and weak to magical attacks. However, since jobs that can use magic aren't that numerous, this dungeon isn't very popular.

Well, dungeon-produced weapons are somewhat effective, so there are parties level-grinding on lower floors to avoid crowds.

By the way, Wraith types are exceptionally weak to weapons created through Weapon Generation. So, sometimes there are more high-rank explorers than low-rank ones. Well, Wraith types aren't particularly fast, so as long as I watch out for magic, both Asahi and Hayate should be able to escape.

First, I flew to the thirtieth floor of Tokyo Mouse Park Dungeon, glanced at the thirty-first floor, then retreated toward the stairs. That's dangerous. There was an A-rank Wraith-type monster. Probably a Dead Wizard. A dead wizard that uses magic of two or more attributes. If I got targeted by something like that, I wouldn't last even a second.

I decided to return Asahi to the twentieth floor and patrol the twenty-first floor.

Well, I patrolled with two drones for a while, but Tokyo Mouse Park Dungeon and Yokohama Blue Brick Warehouse Dungeon didn't seem to have any particular abnormalities. Finally, I'll have both drones patrol Inubosaki Tower Dungeon and call it a day. I'll send Asahi directly to Inubosaki Tower Dungeon, and Hayate will continue patrolling. Once Asahi arrives at Inubosaki Tower Dungeon, I can just resummon Hayate.

But here too, there were no parties wanting to buy potions. Well, I guess that just means everyone came prepared, so I should say that's a good thing.

Once Asahi arrived at Inubosaki Tower Dungeon, I dismissed Hayate once and resummoned it.

And then, with both drones, I flew to the twentieth floor of Inubosaki Tower Dungeon.