E-Layer Dungeon Dive (Part One)

Misha and I dove into the dungeon’s first layer.

“Hmm, what should we do, Misha?”

“For now, Grey Ghosts, right? 110,000 gold, get!”

…First, we had to finish our daily routine.

We found a Grey Ghost and attacked it.

Slash.

Huh?

There had been an incredible feeling. No, on the contrary, there had been no feeling. Because the sharpness was far too good.

Had I missed?

So much so that such unease crossed my mind. As if there was nothing there—as if the blade had cut through empty air, the sword swung smoothly without resistance.

But the sword had undoubtedly caught the Grey Ghost.

It had finished it in a single blow.

“Oh…”

It was a terrifying amount of attack power. Compared to this, until now, it had been as dull as trying to cut rubber with a rusty knife.

“Amazing!? Ios, you got super strong!?”

“Hmm… Well, this sword is amazing…”

I approached the Grey Ghost and collected the magic stone and Alchemy Stone.

110,000 gold acquired.

Misha spoke to me.

“Then! Let’s do some test cutting!”

And so, we challenged five goblins and six orcs to consecutive battles.

“Gigi!”

Slash, slash, slash, slash, slash.

“Buhii!”

Slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash.

It ended in the blink of an eye.

As expected of the B-rank weapon, the Demon Wolf Broadsword. It was way too amazing…

No, that was not all.

The armor was amazing too. I deliberately tried taking a goblin’s attack, and the knife of the goblin that had slashed at me snapped.

As expected of the B-rank armor, the Blue Firebird Chainmail. To take no damage at all…

At this point, it became nothing more than the work of simply approaching and cutting things down.

“Nishishishi! Nice, nice! With this, you can defeat strong enemies too!”

The experience gained from defeating enemies depended on the level difference with the enemy. In other words, if you hunted big prey, you received that much more experience.

And the lower the layer, the stronger the monsters that appeared.

To earn experience, we needed to advance deeper. Of course, if we went too far, we would die.

“That’s true. Now, the question is how far we should go down…”

Adventurer ranks and levels were roughly classified like this.

S Rank (Legendary): Lv91-99 / Attack 1900-2100

A Rank (Top): Lv71-90 / Attack 1500-1900

B Rank (Advanced): Lv51-70 / Attack 1100-1500

C Rank (Ordinary): Lv31-50 / Attack 700-1100

D Rank (Lower): Lv21-30 / Attack 500-700

E Rank (Low): Lv11-20 / Attack 300-500

F Rank (Amateur): Lv10 or below / Attack 300 or below

The attack power was for “a warrior holding an average weapon for that rank,” and skills were not factored in. Therefore, upper ranks with advanced classes or high-performance skills were probably much higher.

Conversely, for the lower ranks, there was little margin of error.

My attack power was 760.

“With my current strength, I’ve surpassed D rank, but I’m about on the lower end of C rank.”

However, that did not mean I could fight D- to C-rank monsters.

D-rank monsters were the line that a “party” of D-rank adventurers could contend with.

With just Misha and me, we lacked combat power.

“Hmm…”

Misha furrowed her brow.

“Going straight to D rank might be risky… Though I want to go.”

“It’s risky. …Though I want to go.”

We could not predict what would happen if multiple upper D-rank monsters appeared.

I felt we should make things a little more certain.

Misha opened her mouth.

“Then, first we’ll level up against E-rank enemies—and after that, aim for D rank, I guess.”

“That’s how it’ll be.”

“It might not be bad, surprisingly. Because, you know, even against E-rank monsters, I don’t think the experience will be bad.”

The appropriate level for E rank was 11-20.

If we, at level 15, challenged them, it should have been as a “party.”

We would force our way through that with nothing but “high-performance equipment.”

Furthermore, we would quickly defeat opponents that would normally become deathmatches and rapidly earn piles of experience.

This time, the fact that our party consisted of only two people, Misha and me, became an advantage.

The fewer party members there were, the more experience could be earned.

Misha said while snapping her fingers with a snap!

“In other words, it’s the E-rank easy small-fry mass-hunting operation!”

She called them small fry, but that was thanks to the equipment. In terms of true strength, they were above the two of us.

In terms of experience, they should be tasty.

“Not bad.”

“Right, right?”

“Then, let’s go down.”

We cut down F-rank monsters with slash after slash as we descended lower and lower through the layers.

We arrived at the third layer.

In Piptat’s dungeon, up to the second layer was for F rank, and from the third layer onward was for E rank.

Even in my previous party, when we wanted to earn experience, we fought E-rank monsters.

So I recognized the monsters around here.

“Oh, how nostalgic.”

Misha let out a carefree voice.

A Skeleton Warrior stood before us. It held a sword in its hand, and had iron armor equipped here and there across its body.

For popular monsters, their average strength was already known.

It was quite powerful.

…It was an opponent that the old me, with 350 attack power, could not have defeated even if I stood on my head.

I absolutely could not have won.

The reason was because its “defense power” was 350.

In this world, the relationship between attack power and defense power was absolute.

If your attack power did not exceed their defense power, damage would not get through. There were some exceptions depending on the situation during the attack, but if you hit them head-on, a scratch was the limit at best.

In other words, the me who had 350 attack power had no chance of victory.

The me who had 350 attack power, that was.

Our positions had already reversed.

The Skeleton Warrior’s attack could not reach my defense power. And my attack power could easily smash the Skeleton Warrior apart.

“Go, go, Ios!”

Misha, who knew that, sounded optimistic.

The Skeleton Warrior swung its sword.

I easily received it with my large shield. With a sharp metallic sound, the Skeleton Warrior’s sword was knocked away.

…If it had been the old me, I might have been cut down together with my shield.

But the current me was different.

The Skeleton Warrior slashed at me again. No matter how many times it did it, the result was the same. I blocked with the large shield, then slashed at the Skeleton Warrior after it lost its stance.

Slash! Slash!

Only two blows. As expected, it did not end in one blow, but I defeated the Skeleton Warrior in an instant.

With a loud crash, the Skeleton Warrior collapsed.

…That Skeleton Warrior.

I had defeated it, all alone.

It was a quiet sense of fulfillment. I had struggled against it all this time. It had been that much of a powerful enemy. It was an opponent a party of five had defeated with all their might, and yet—

So easily.

I knew.

Certainly, it was not my own power.

Certainly, it was only the power of my weapon and armor.

But the girl who supported me would surely say this.

That equipment was something you got with your skill!

So, for now, I would say this proudly.

I turned back toward Misha.

“I won.”

Misha grinned and replied like this.

“Not bad.”