E-Layer Dungeon Dive (Part Two)

After defeating the Skeleton Warrior, I brought the rectangular device for collecting magic stones—the Retriever—closer.

The Skeleton Warrior disappeared, and Schrödinger’s Cat activated.

Pretty underwhelming…

Misha, who heard the contents, also grimaced and said this.

“We don’t need any of them…”

“Among these, maybe the rare D, the Cursed Skull?”

“It’s cursed, right? And a skull, huh… It’s bulky and creepy. Besides, it’s something we can get tomorrow again, so why not pass on it? I’ll look up the value of the skull. Since it’s D, I think its value is low, though.”

“Got it.”

I did not choose anything. I collected only the magic stone.

Incidentally—

Skeleton Warriors were equipped with swords and armor. What would happen if you recovered only the weapons and armor without using the Retriever?

The answer was, “They disappear right away.”

To begin with, the defeated monster itself would disappear even without using the Retriever. Along with the equipment it had been holding. It was the same even if part of the body had been cut off.

In other words, only drop items obtained through the Retriever could be taken back.

The ecology of monsters that produced magic stones was shrouded in mystery.

To begin with, they were not even ordinary life.

They spontaneously appeared in places where “miasma” was dense, whether inside or outside dungeons. And when defeated, they disappeared.

Human corpses did not disappear, and ordinary animals that did not produce magic stones did not disappear when killed.

Their mechanism of life was clearly different.

“…Hey, Misha.”

“What is it?”

“What are monsters?”

Misha burst out laughing at my question.

“That’s philosophical, Ios-kun!”

After laughing, fufufu, Misha continued.

“You see, that’s a question everyone wonders about—but it’s a mystery no one has solved even now. The person who solves that problem will surely be spoken of even a thousand years into the future!”

…Then there was no point in someone like me thinking about it.

Maybe I should just steadily earn experience…

We wandered through the E-layer area. It was when we came out into a large space.

Four shining eyes glowed in the depths.

They—slowly revealed themselves.

“Hunter Lizards.”

Misha said that.

They were giant lizards about the size of tigers. Their thick hides repelled half-hearted attacks, and the destructive power of their sharp fangs could not be ignored. Most terrifying of all were their long tongues. They stretched several meters and attacked like whips.

They were monsters more powerful than Skeleton Warriors.

And there were two of them.

Even with my previous five-person party, it would have been at a level where we would consider retreating.

But—

“What’re you gonna do, Ios?”

“…Let’s do it.”

I readied the Demon Wolf Broadsword. They were opponents I could definitely defeat one-on-one now.

And—I did not think I would lose even against two.

“Nishishishi! Then I guess Misha-san will give support too.”

Misha pointed the tip of her staff forward.

“Ice Arrow, Ice Arrow!”

Misha activated magic.

Two arrows of ice flew toward the Hunter Lizards on the left and right respectively.

The Hunter Lizards screamed.

Ice-attribute magic had a special attack effect that increased its power against reptiles.

“Ooooooooooooooooooooooh!”

I approached the Hunter Lizards while raising a war cry.

I could not let my guard down. The enemy’s attack power was 610. It exceeded my defense power of 595.

However—

That was not such a critical difference.

I used my shield to receive the Hunter Lizard’s body slam. The pressure I felt through the shield was something I could easily endure.

When I had taken it with my previous equipment, I had been sent flying as though I had been directly hit by a rolling log.

That was why I could fight quite calmly.

The other Hunter Lizard spat out its tongue. Its thin, long—flexible tongue.

I had certainly caught it in the edge of my vision.

I did not panic.

I calmly moved my body and dodged it. Then I flashed the sword in my right hand.

Snip. A short sound.

The Hunter Lizard’s tongue was severed. Before that lizard could even scream, Misha’s follow-up attack struck.

“Ice Arrow!”

An arrow of ice mercilessly attacked.

While that lizard was faltering, I returned my attention to the lizard in front of me.

The lizard flashed the claws of its right front leg.

But it was the same.

“Don’t underestimate me!”

I easily knocked back the claw strike with my large shield.

Then I cut into it while it had lost its stance.

A strike with 760 attack power exploded. That slash easily tore through the Hunter Lizard’s thick skin and flesh.

…Amazing… Truly… What incredible sharpness!

I stepped in even farther and cut off the rampaging lizard’s head.

“One more!”

I approached the remaining one Misha was pinning down with Ice Arrow and finished it in a single blow.

It happened in the blink of an eye.

In the blink of an eye, I had defeated two Hunter Lizards.

Following the Skeleton Warrior, it had been this easy. It did not feel real at all.

“Nishishishi! You did it, Ios!”

Misha approached while smiling cheerfully.

That was when it happened.

Slither.

Such an unpleasant sound came from overhead.

An unpleasant sound?

Yes, an unpleasant sound—exactly the one I had just heard—

I looked up overhead.

A Hunter Lizard was clinging to the ceiling.

—What!?

At the sight I had not imagined, my heart throbbed heavily.

The Hunter Lizard flicked the long tongue stretching from its mouth. Its gaze was—

Staring fixedly at Misha.

“Misha, above!”

At the same time as my words, the Hunter Lizard’s tongue flexed like a whip.

“Wah!”

Misha probably had not seen anything. However, from my words as I looked up at the ceiling, the clever girl immediately judged what she needed to do.

She dropped her hips as if falling onto her rear.

Misha’s pointed hat was flicked away by the Hunter Lizard’s tongue and flew toward the wall.

Her pointed hat.

But that was all.

Misha pointed her staff toward the ceiling and shouted.

“Ice Arrow!”

An arrow of ice struck the Hunter Lizard directly. As the Hunter Lizard fell with a scream, I rushed directly beneath it and cut it down with a single decisive slash.

That made the third one!

“Aww… My hat flew away.”

Misha, exposing her curly natural perm, scratched her head.

This time, it was finally over.

Just as the air was about to relax—

A light sound echoed inside my head. Misha looked at me with a surprised expression too.

“Hey, Ios. Could this be…”

I nodded and looked at my status.

If you hunted strong monsters at a low level, you received a lot of experience. The fewer people there were, the better the efficiency.

But to think it would be this much.

I had thought it would be a little later, but it was considerably earlier than expected.

That was why we looked at each other and ended up shouting.

“We—”

“We—”

““Leveled up!?””