Chapter-02 · EP-034

Episode 34: The Second Floor

In the end, I descended to the second floor alone.

Sannomiya and his group said they wanted to try again since they hadn't defeated it themselves, so they left the room. I felt a bit bad for cutting in line, so to speak.

I changed my mindset. Now, let's finally start exploring the long-awaited second floor.

At the bottom of the stairs, a cavern-like landscape similar to the first floor spread out before me.

However, I knew from studying that the monsters appearing here were completely different.

There were no slimes on the second floor. Instead, there were animal-type monsters like large lizards, giant frogs, and giant slugs. Unlike the first floor, which only had slimes, the increase in monster variety meant you needed to adapt your tactics to each one.

Still, it was easy to talk with just knowledge. For now, I'd find a monster, fight it, and get a feel for it through experience.

I walked through the second floor. Unlike the first floor, where there was hardly any sign of monsters, I could constantly hear something moving in the distance. The atmosphere suggested it wouldn't be strange to encounter a monster at any moment. It was a good kind of tension. I gripped my wooden sword tightly.

I'd probably walked for about ten minutes. I still hadn't encountered any monsters.

Come to think of it, today was Saturday.

"Are the monsters taking the day off too…?"

No way!

Bored out of my mind, I muttered a stupid joke to myself.

Still, I passed several groups of explorers on the way, but I really couldn't find any monsters. It was the same on the first floor, but maybe in this dungeon, explorers outnumbered monsters?

Thinking back, even on the first floor of the academy dungeon, I didn't encounter many monsters just by walking around normally. Maybe it was the same here. If so, I'd just have to look for places where monsters were likely to be.

Like behind rocks… I thought, looking at a rock by the wall. Was its surface moving slightly?

Ah! No, that's not a rock!

"Whoa!"

What I thought was a rock was actually a giant frog with a bumpy, rough-looking skin.

"Geko, geko."

"Waaaaah!"

Startled by the giant frog's croak, I panicked and struck it hard with my wooden sword.

At the moment of impact, I grimaced at the slimy feeling transmitted through my hands and the unexpected weight.

I instinctively readied my wooden sword again, and the giant frog glared at me—or so it felt.

No, glare? Do frogs even do that? …But fear is fear!

Shaking off my terror, I swung my wooden sword down at the frog again.

It was hard. No matter how many times I hit it, it just wouldn't die.

But conversely, the giant frog didn't launch any particularly fierce attacks either, so I just kept hitting.

After perhaps dozens of blows with my wooden sword, the giant frog finally died, dropping a Magic Gem.

"Haa, haa…"

I was a bit flustered and out of breath.

I wiped the sweat from my forehead.

Alright, no problem. Let's move on.

Further ahead, I encountered three giant bats. I'd been focused on the ground, so when I suddenly heard flapping above me, I got startled again. If Yuno and the others had seen me, they would have laughed. Fortunately, there was no one around to see me panic. That was one advantage of exploring alone.

I was surprised by the giant bats, but I defeated them quickly with full baseball-style swings. They were fast, but unlike normal bats, they were large, so it was easy to land hits. Growing up in the countryside, I'd seen bats swarming around streetlights at night; their movements were quick. It felt like it would be difficult to swat them down the same way.

Progressing like that without encountering many monsters on the second floor, I eventually reached the Floor Boss's room, as I'd been walking towards the location marked on the map.

There was a line waiting in front of the door here too.

Looking at the explorers in line, all of them seemed to be in parties. I was the only solo.

There were men in impressive armor, and all-female parties. They were all adults, which intimidated me a little.

So… what should I do?

Reflecting on my first fight with the Huge Slime, I had researched some monster knowledge in advance.

The second-floor boss was the Giant Lizard. A larger version of the large lizards that appeared on the second floor. It was apparently three to four meters long. I'd seen a picture; it looked almost like a crocodile, but with a smaller mouth.

The strategy for fighting the Giant Lizard was apparently simple: just be careful of its bite attack.

Now, I knew about the Floor Boss, but the academy's requirement for fighting the second-floor boss was to be at level 3. Honestly, I'd barely fought at all on the second floor, so I was probably still at level 2. I was torn between leveling up more on this floor before challenging it, or trying it as a level 2.

If I were to level up first, what would it take?

Basically, it was said that defeating around 100 monsters alone on the second floor would get you to level 2. I had only encountered four today. At this rate, even if I continued exploring the second floor today and tomorrow, reaching level 3 would be difficult.

What if I challenged the second-floor boss as I was?

Maybe I, at level 2, could defeat it, or maybe it would be too much. But if that happened, I could just run back to the entrance. The trio I met on the first floor said they were re-challenging the first-floor boss. Simple.

Honestly, the academy's curriculum prioritized safety too much and was inefficient. This wasn't the academy dungeon, so I'd do things my way. Alright, I'll test my skills and give it a try!

My mind was made up. I'd been thinking deeply while waiting in line, and my turn was coming up soon.

Well, let's give it my best.