Chapter-11 · EP-168
Episode 168: Tatsunori Susa (Part 4) – The Strongest Explorer
I, Tatsunori Susa, was searching for the place within Tokyo Dungeon Academy where high-rank potions could be obtained.
But the days just passed by without any clues.
I had assumed that if a student who had just started exploring could find it, then I, a seasoned veteran, would surely find it easily. But with zero leads so far, I was starting to feel frustrated.
Nevertheless, today, with a glimmer of hope, I was working on checking the monsters on all floors.
After defeating the ninth-floor boss and passing through the stairs that appeared, I opened the door to the tenth-floor entrance and stepped inside. It was a rocky area at the foot of a mountainous region.
The tenth-floor stage was the mountainous region spreading before me; this entire mountain was a goblin fortress.
And this tenth floor was the lowest floor of the academy's dungeon.
What appeared as I advanced along the path to the summit were Goblin Soldiers, wearing armor and wielding swords.
Compared to the unarmed normal goblins on the third floor, they were far stronger.
"Divine Sword Summoning."
As I slowly walked toward the Goblin Soldier, I chanted, and the divine sword "Habakiri" appeared in the palm of my right hand from nothing.
When I swung Habakiri, the reckless Goblin Soldier charging at me was split in two, transforming into a gem.
This would be a tough opponent for someone at the recommended level 10, but for me at level 43, it was nothing.
Repeating such battles, observing whether any special monsters appeared, I slowly climbed the goblin fortress.
After advancing a while, the path became narrow, flanked by cliffs on both sides.
If I encountered a monster here, there would be no escape.
Not that I needed to escape, though.
Defeating the repeatedly appearing Goblin Soldiers, I headed toward the fortress's main camp.
The purpose of this exploration was to observe monsters. But so far, only Goblin Soldiers had appeared. And on the other floors before reaching this floor, no special monsters had appeared either.
Passing through the narrow mountain path and emerging into an open area, I saw a palisade of logs rising before me. And on the tall watchtowers built to the left and right were goblins.
Lookouts, noticing my presence, raised their bows.
Yes, those on the watchtowers were Goblin Archers. Goblins that use bows.
I cut down the incoming arrows with Habakiri.
Then I waited for their next attack.
If I struggled against this palisade, the goblins would call for reinforcements.
And so, the number of archers increased, eventually growing to eight.
But one of them wasn't an archer.
It held a staff, muttered a spell, and floated a fireball above its head.
A Goblin Magician.
Just as I was shooting down incoming arrows, a fireball now came flying.
It arced toward me and landed at my feet.
Dust rose from the ground, and a burnt smell filled the air.
Goblin Magicians have poor magical accuracy, and often miss explorers like this. However, a direct hit can cause severe burns and is a dangerous magic that can also burn equipment like clothing.
The Magician couldn't cast magic consecutively; it took time for the next fireball to come.
While waiting for it, perhaps having run out of arrows, the Goblin Archers floundered on the watchtowers without firing their next shots.
After dodging several fireballs, the Magician's magic power ran out, and there were no further attacks.
Normally, I should have broken through the palisade and advanced inside before being attacked this much, but I was observing to see if any unique monsters would appear.
When the attacks from the watchtowers ceased, the gate in the palisade opened, and a horde of Goblin Warriors rushed out.
Eight in total.
"All Warriors…"
There were no rare monsters there.
I quickly defeated the eight that charged at me and advanced into the fortress.
Inside, in the center of an open area, stood a particularly large goblin wielding a guandao.
The floor boss of this floor, the Goblin General.
Unlike the leather-armored Warriors, it wore sturdy iron armor, and its attack and defense were incomparably higher – a dignified monster truly worthy of being the tenth-floor boss.
The General raised its guandao and charged at me. As we passed each other, I swung Habakiri.
The boss of the tenth floor, and of this dungeon, was easily cut in two and vanished.
The General dropped a larger gem than the previous monsters, and with that, I ended the battle.
In other dungeons, defeating the General would cause stairs to the eleventh floor to appear, but in this dungeon, this was the lowest floor, and no stairs appeared.
An anticlimactic end.
No variants, no unidentified monsters. All the monsters that appeared were of types that could be seen in other dungeons around Tokyo.
Sigh…
I picked up the General's gem and turned back.
At the academy store, I was selling the Magic Gems I had brought back today.
The woman at the counter inspected the gems with practiced hands, tapping on her terminal to calculate the assessment.
The deeper the floor, the stronger the magical power of the gem and the higher the price, but gems from around the tenth floor were not worth much compared to the gems dropped by the monsters I usually fought.
"As expected, Self-Defense Force members are amazing. This is the first time someone has brought in so many gems at once."
The receptionist said.
That made sense. Basically, only students dove into this dungeon.
It wasn't comparable to me fighting on the front lines.
That aside, hoping for even a small clue, I tried asking the woman.
"By the way, have you heard any stories about high-rank potions being obtained in this dungeon?"
"High-rank potions? Basically, the only thing students occasionally come to sell are Rank 1 potions. I haven't heard of any Rank 2 or higher. Even if we could procure them, the buyers' reservations are already full, so they'd be gone immediately… Ah, come to think of it…"
The store woman seemed to remember something and continued.
"A D-Class student this year got seriously injured on his first exploration day. I heard he obtained a Rank 4 potion then. I heard he used it on himself immediately, so I didn't see it myself."
I had heard that story. Shirou Ichinose.
Apparently, Ichinose fell off a cliff in an unexplored area of the first floor and, when he defeated the unique monster, the Acid Slime, a Rank 4 potion dropped.
After that, the academy teachers explored the area below the cliff to check for danger, but no Acid Slime appeared, and there were no connecting passages. In other words, there was nothing there anymore.
…But,
"Just in case, I'll search that place again."
I had expected to find clues more easily, but I didn't feel like returning to the Self-Defense Forces headquarters without any information at all. So I stepped into the dungeon once more.