arc3 · 160-ch160

Chapter 160: Scouting the Inubosaki Tower Dungeon ②

After that, Hayate reached floor twenty without a hitch. And here's the happy part — at this point I hit level 28! Which means Shiden's Skill Points have piled up to 130! One more level and I can put the Wind Bullet Machine Cannon on Shiden!

Now then — time to suppress my excitement and focus on piloting Shiden properly. Just as it entered floor twenty-six, a pack of C-rank Scale Wolves appeared — wolf-type monsters covered head to tail in light-blue scales in place of fur.

The scales they often drop apparently make excellent armor material. Demand is high, but since C-rank monsters are considerably strong, not many explorers can bring one down. Supply is low as a result, so the scales are treated as quite a valuable material. With their speed and stamina, taking them down here would be faster than running.

That said, I couldn't afford to waste MP, so I had to land thunder bullets with pinpoint accuracy. I flew Shiden freely, herding and controlling the Scale Wolves' movements.

Then, the moment three of the Scale Wolves lined up, I fired.

BZZT-BZZT-BZZT!

Against Shiden's thunder bullets, even those hard scales meant nothing. The rounds couldn't punch through the scales, but the lightning attribute seemed to deal solid damage to the bodies beneath. After a few dozen shots, three of the Scale Wolves stopped moving.

Seeing that, the remaining Scale Wolves leapt at Shiden. I dodged by climbing, then, whirling around, fired again — timing it for the instant they landed.

BZZT-BZZT-BZZT!

The thunder bullets hit home on the three Scale Wolves stranded mid-air, and that was the whole pack down. I stored the surprisingly large pile of magic stones and scales and moved on.

Besides the Scale Wolves, other C-rank monsters appeared here too — Cunning Foxes and Lightning Deer among them. I didn't fight everything, just the battles I needed, keeping MP use down. Incidentally, Lightning Deer are lightning-attribute, so the thunder bullets had little effect on them either. The sooner I get that Wind Bullet Machine Cannon, the better.

Floor twenty-seven went the same as the last, but from twenty-eight on, C+ monsters started appearing. Fighting everything would drain my MP for sure, so I ignored anything that couldn't keep up with Shiden and blasted straight through. Bird-type monsters I did take down, though.

And at last, Shiden reached floor thirty.

(Now then — this floor's boss is supposed to be the B-minus-rank Fear Wolf. And more than one of them. There's even a nasty little rule that you can't know how many until you're inside.)

I'm curious whether Shiden could beat multiple B-minus monsters, but charging in like this would probably drain it dry. That would be a bit of a problem, so Shiden's exploration ends here.

I dismissed Shiden and Hayate and resummoned them at Asahi's position on floor ten. Then the two of them pushed the boss room door open and slipped inside. Oh, by the way — to push it open, I pressed the drones' bellies against the door and descended, which swung it open.

Waiting in the center of the boss room were two Rapid Wolves. E-rank monsters — after all those large wolf-types earlier, they looked downright adorable. No, no, they're monsters, I can't let my guard down — but the sheer gap made me feel almost sorry about having to kill them.

But if I don't beat them, the Transfer Stone beyond stays out of reach. Hayate and Shiden can be dismissed and resummoned anytime, but Asahi has to make its own way back. Which means leaving these Rapid Wolves alive was simply not an option.

(Sorry about this, Mr. Wolf.)

The magic bullets from Hayate wiped out the Rapid Wolves in the blink of an eye. All that remained was a small magic stone.

I collected the magic stone, moved to the Transfer Stone room, and jumped to floor one.

(I've got some time — maybe I'll go check out some other dungeons.)

With my Inubosaki Tower Dungeon scouting-and-mapping done, I suddenly found myself wanting to see dungeons beyond this area. Now that I can summon more drones, I can do all sorts of things at once.

In other words, even while filming or on patrol, I can handle other things at the same time. Like going to look at dungeons in other prefectures, for instance.

So I recalled Asahi, and decided to send Hayate and Shiden out to see dungeons I'd never visited while filling in the ground-level map. Let's head north first, I figured.

Decision made, I sent Hayate toward Ibaraki Prefecture and Shiden toward Tochigi.

(Now then, what dungeons does Ibaraki have...)

At the same time, I pulled up info on Ibaraki's dungeons online. Apparently Ibaraki's dungeon is called the Fukuroda Falls Dungeon — a rare one with its entrance hidden inside a waterfall.

Probably because the entrance was so hard to find, its existence only came to light after it caused a Monster Flood. Since hardly anyone lived nearby, though, casualties were reportedly relatively light.

After a few dozen minutes of flying while reading up, I reached my destination — and the falls lived up to their reputation as one of Japan's three great waterfalls. What a view. These days there's a maintained path in beside the falls, and a building nearby to manage visitors.

Well, I'd come all this way, so I went through reception and entered the Fukuroda Falls Dungeon.

This dungeon is mostly cave-type, but there are water sources everywhere. Some are puddle-sized; others are like enormous lakes. Naturally, aquatic monsters live in them, and the monsters most commonly seen here seem to be amphibian-type.

Between the heavy humidity, the grotesque looks of the amphibian monsters, and above all the pain of getting here, this dungeon is unpopular. So unpopular, in fact, that explorers have to be specially hired just to cull the monsters.

Just like the rumors said, there was hardly anyone around today — not a single explorer in sight. I don't have MP to spare for a full run, but maybe I'll try killing one or two.

When I approached a small pond, a small frog-type monster called a Croak Frog crawled out of it. An F-rank monster, not all that strong, but apparently it has a habit of calling its friends with its croak.

The last thing I need is a crowd, so I immediately put a magic bullet through it. Oh — it dropped a Croak Frog pelt. That should be a handy material for waterproofing armor.

Shiden, meanwhile, headed for Tochigi. The dungeon there is apparently called the Nikkoji Dungeon. Inside, it's a forest-type dungeon full of animal-type monsters — monkey-types above all, and the boss is apparently a monkey-type as well.

This one is extremely popular — plenty of explorers at the entrance. But once inside, the trees grow thick, and there looked to be blind spots everywhere. Better to watch out for ambushes here.

Fighting here, though, would draw attention, so after a brief look around the forest, I dismissed Hayate and Shiden and moved to the living room for dinner.