Exploring The Palace Of The Dragon, B1F

We had just stepped through the dungeon entrance, but it was shrouded in a brilliant white light, obscuring even a glimpse of the river outside. It’s likely that this place isn’t directly connected to the surface; rather, we should assume we were teleported here.

I tried stepping back outside once just in case, and since I could go in and out normally, our retreat route seems secure. In the game, monsters never followed you outside the dungeon, but whether that holds true for the monsters of this world remains to be seen. I’ll stay on my guard.

“Alright, let’s set up the formation.”

Yoru and Kuu are at the front, with Paula behind them. I have more HP, but with zero combat experience, I’m nothing more than a decorative paperweight. Mia, who has also never fought a monster, stays next to me.

The path ahead was a single straight corridor that branched into a fork about ten meters ahead. Yoru ran to the junction, twitching her beast ears as she looked left and right. Then, with a serious face, she pointed down the right path and reported in a small voice.

“Suspicious thing—!”

Peeking carefully around the corner, I saw a mound of water rising from the middle of the passage. It was about the size of a basketball, trembling with tiny, shivering vibrations.

“What is that!?”

“Ah, right. The first floor is always the classic Slime.”

Since it’s blue, it’s a Blue Slime. A simple name, but convenient since you can tell its attribute at a glance.

“W-w-w-what do we do?”

“For starters, let’s try hitting it with a Fire Bullet.”

“Wait, seriously?”

I nodded. Mia swallowed hard, took another look at the Blue Slime, and slowly raised her finger. With a satisfying snap, a red flame appeared in mid-air. However, unlike before, it was now the size of a fist.

“Whoa, what is this?! Isn’t it huge!?”

“Hey, don’t point that at me! Over there, over there!”

Despite her frantic expression, Mia’s aim was true. The fireball left her fingertip, streaked through the air, and closed in on the slime on the floor. With a sound like a stick hitting the surface of water, the fire vanished in an instant.

Well, throwing fire at a water attribute isn’t going to be very effective. Or so I thought, but it actually did decent damage. Part of the slime’s surface ruptured, and body fluids began to spill out.

Yoru immediately closed the distance. Approaching the slime without a hint of fear, she smacked it with her tiny hand. Then, she nimbly leaped backward. Kuu dove in to take her place. The bird-child glided through the air and kicked the slime as if stomping on it with both feet.

Furthermore, before I even realized she had moved forward, Paula swung her right hand down gracefully. She was gripping a jet-black whip. Another loud crack echoed, and the slime, taking a sharp lash from the front, easily lost its shape. It stopped moving, spreading its fluids across the floor like a burst water bag.

“Wait, we won?”

“Yes, that was a magnificent opening shot, Mia.”

“Oh, well done, everyone.”

The first battle ended anticlimactically, with everyone landing just one hit. Even against a slow-moving slime, the coordination was flawless.

“Yay! We did it, Yoru-chi, Kuu-chi!”

“Victory cry—!”

“Koooo—!”

Mia raised an excited shout, and the two little ones jumped up to exchange happy high-fives. After spinning in circles on the spot, they struck a pose together with smug looks on their faces.

“Hey, aren’t I amazing? Did I like, awaken to something?”

“Is it thanks to the medicine you gave us, Sir?”

“Yeah. For low-level grinding, brute-forcing it with drugs is the right answer.”

“I have no clue what you’re saying, but I guess it’s thanks to Sensei!”

She acts overconfident, but she seems surprisingly aware of her limits.

“Were such expensive medicines really okay to use?”

“Wait, they’re expensive?! What should I do? Can I pay you back when I’m successful? Though I probably won’t be.”

“No, you can just pay with your body.”

“My, what exactly are you wishing for, Sir?”

At Paula’s comeback, delivered with a knowing smirk, I regretted my “acting cool” comment. Somehow, it feels like she’s got me figured out without me even noticing.

“Er, well, if it’s going like this, the monsters on the first floor should be a breeze. Keep taking them down, okay?”

“Yes, understood.”

“Oh, I see. So that’s what you meant by ‘paying with your body.’ Gosh, Sensei, that was so sudden you startled me!”

“My bad. Time is precious, so let’s keep moving.”

But before that, I have to collect the loot. Yoru and Kuu were crouching down, curiously poking at the remains of the Blue Slime. They seem to have a natural curiosity for everything—quite the bright kids. After patting their heads one after the other, I followed suit and touched the monster’s remains.

Instantly, Blue Slime Fluid, Blue Slime Skin, and one Blue Magic Stone were added to my item list. I brought ninety-nine of each magic stone with me just in case, but water-attribute Blue Magic Stones are stones I use frequently for extraction and cooling , so they’re very welcome.

“Whoa, it disappeared! What was that!?”

“It’s my specialty, Pocket Dimension Storage.”

Explaining it that way saves time. Honestly, she should have noticed something was up the moment I started pulling out potions from thin air despite having no bags.

“Oho… city folk really are something else.”

We proceeded down the right passage and turned a corner, only to run into another Blue Slime. We took it down with the exact same routine: Mia’s Fireball to start, followed by consecutive attacks from Yoru, Kuu, and Paula.

We collected the materials and moved forward. The passages were almost entirely T-junctions, with a simple layout of either going straight or turning at right angles. We explored thoroughly, checking every dead end to make sure nothing was missed.

“You really know your way around, Sensei. I’d definitely get lost.”

“I strongly agree, Mia. This place is indeed very difficult to remember. As expected of you, Sir.”

Actually, they’re blaming the location, but in Paula’s case, she’d probably go the wrong way even if there were helpful arrows painted on the walls. That said, I’m not that confident in my own memory either. To reveal the trick: I’m just walking while looking at the map in the Command Menu. Inside the labyrinth, it has an ultra-convenient feature where the parts you’ve walked are automatically mapped out. This was actually how I navigated the Royal Capital’s sewers without getting lost.

And despite her unfortunate lack of a sense of direction, Paula’s performance in combat was excellent. As we went deeper, the slimes stopped appearing alone. When they were in groups of two or three, we could take one out quickly with a coordinated opening attack, but the remaining uninjured slimes would then charge us.

The slimes look slow, but they are monsters after all. They bounce their round bodies and strike with attacks that are incredibly fast and heavy. To put it in perspective, it’s like being hit at close range by a basketball filled with water. If I were to carelessly approach them, I’d probably take a hit to the gut and suffer internal ruptures. The moment I crouched in agony, I’d take another to the face and pass out. After that, I’d be left helpless, ending my days being dissolved and eaten.

Of course, since I’ve buffed their Physical Defense, even the small Yoru and Kuu don’t take as much damage as I would. They’ve actually taken a few body slams, but they just roll away and stand back up like nothing happened, so they seem fine. Their HP only drops by 1 or 2 points.

Still, there’s always the chance of taking a hit in a dangerous spot—a “Critical Hit” in game terms. To prevent the slimes from attacking too many times, it was Paula’s turn to shine.

People usually associate Monster Tamers with whips, and Paula was exceptionally skilled with her Allure. She would crack it against the floor to intimidate them with the loud noise or snap it in the air to create a whistling sound to distract them. And even more useful was her specialty, Fire Bullet.

A red fireball exploded against one of the two slimes occupying the passage. Yoru dove in, her claws extending in an instant, carving deep wounds into its surface. Naturally, the other slime compressed its body against the floor like a spring to help its kin. In that moment, the long tail wrapped around Paula’s waist unfurled, swinging in an arc while the spade-shaped tip shimmered. Simultaneously, mana surged, and the slime’s movements became sluggish in an instant.

Taking advantage of that opening, Kuu swept down from near the ceiling, delivering a taloned kick to finish off the first one. After that, we just had to gang up on the remaining one as it wandered around in confusion.

In this manner, the exploration proceeded safely and comfortably. After walking for about an hour, we finally reached the deepest part of the first floor.

It was a larger room than any we had seen before. It was square in design, maybe five or six meters in depth and width. On the right stone wall was a carving of a lion’s face, and clear water was spilling from its mouth. Directly beneath it was a large basin, filled to the brim with water. However, several Blue Slimes were gathered around the wall fountain, making it look difficult to approach.

And at the back of the room… there were stairs leading further into the depths of the earth. But the entrance in front of them was blocked by thick iron bars, and standing before those bars—

“What is that?! Isn’t it huge?”

“Big boss—!”

“Koo!”

To the trio raising their voices together, I muttered solemnly:

“The boss has finally made its appearance.”

Stationed as if to guard the stairs was a giant slime, easily five times the size of a normal one.