I decide to check the abilities of the flower case when I get back, and go back to exploring.
The area to explore and fight monsters is still wide on the thirty-fourth floor, but there’s little to be gained compared to the thirty-third floor.
That’s because thanks to the aqua slimes, I don’t know if a battle is over when monsters go down.
I’ll take one down, move on, and get attacked by an aqua slime that comes out of the corpse and casts magic. In particular, when hobgoblins die, they immediately break through their bodies and attack with ice arrows. I always have to be cautious after taking down monsters.
It’s the fourth day of this, and I found a town bigger than the one on the thirty-third floor.
Fuuma stops, and I let out an impressed sound as I look at a building in the middle of town.
The walls are broken in places, and it’s degraded to the point where I can tell what its original color was, but it’s definitely a castle.
A walled city with a western-style castle towering over it in the center.
It seems to be over a hundred meters tall, and there is a smaller, square building next to it.
I’ll explore the town later, I’m heading towards the castle first.
I eliminate monsters as I advance, and feel an even stronger intensity when I reach the gates.
One of them broke off and it’s missing, but the other part of the gate is standing firm and protecting the castle even now.
I can see a garden through the broken gate, covered with plants and monsters.
Then there’s the entrance, which has a beautiful shape even though the color has faded. And many stone statues are lined up near it.
I pass through the gate, and deal with the monsters that come to attack.
As I approach the entrance, I notice most stone statues are broken. Only one that looks like a dragon is mostly intact.
I say it looks like a dragon, because it’s missing its hands and only has one of its two wings.
Honestly, I’m not sure if I should call it a dragon, more like something with a weird shape.
I pass by the statues and enter, and see a pile of rubble.
I figured it must be intact inside since it’s mostly intact outside, but there are large holes in the walls, the floor is carved, and the staircase to the floor above collapsed completely.
Still, I get on the pile of rubble and manage to get on the second floor, and see it’s decorated with nothing but a frame.
The painting that should be in it is gone, leaving the lifeless square frame on the wall.
I grab it and turn it around to check, and see letters like the ones I saw in the village.
I don’t know what they mean, but I put the frame in the Storage Space and continue.
It might be a good idea to give it to someone who studies this stuff if I ever find them.
I wander around the castle and explore, but it’s a waste of time, as I find nothing new.
…Or so I thought.
I feel like something’s off, and then find a black monster.
It shouldn’t be here. It’s far too weak to be on the thirty-fourth floor.
Big ant. They appear from the eleventh to the sixteenth floor. And it’s here for some reason.
It’s alone, so when it looks at us, it runs away.
I could just let it go, but I’m curious, so I go after it.
It leaves the castle and runs to the square building. I’m almost attacked by other monsters along the way, but deal with them with Wind Magic.
I see the big ant enter the building, and think for a bit about why it’s here.
Maybe they live on this floor to begin with. Maybe someone with a taming skill sent it out to scout.
If it’s the former, it doesn’t have any value here except as prey. As for the latter, if you’re going to tame a monster, you’d go for something stronger. And if it’s for scouting, the weasels on the twenty-ninth floor would be ideal.
There’s no reason to use a big ant here.
In any case, I’m not going to find the answer, so I follow it to the building.
The upper half of the square building only has its frame left.
The entrance is covered in rubble, and while the big ant managed to slip into an opening, it’s not big enough for a person. So I kick Fuuma as a signal. It creates a tornado, and it slowly lifts us onto the frame.
I smell something sweet, and so does Fuuma, who jumps down from the frame and runs.
Normally I’d stop it, but I remember this smell, so I don’t care.
I finally found it!
I remember this sweet smell. I’ve smelled it and drank plenty of it.
Yes, it’s the ant queen honey I yearn for.
I’ve smelled it many times, and the impact it carved into me means I could never mistake it.
I jump down and follow Fuuma, running and killing monsters in one hit to get it.
I reach a giant cave.
The stairs are so narrow that it’s like a secret passage, and I wouldn’t have even known they were here if the floor wasn’t broken.
The cave is bright despite being underground. There are glowing rocks on the walls, and I feel some magic energy exuding from them.
Any other time, I would be digging them to take them with me, but something greater awaits.
I follow the smell and find Fuuma looking down and neighing at the end of the path.
I see there’s a cliff when I reach Fuuma, and when I look down, I see many big ants swarming. There must be over ten thousand. It makes my skin crawl, so I step back.
I’m way stronger compared to when I first fought big ants, but I can’t help but be overwhelmed when there are this many.
I see one that’s clearly larger than the rest.
The big ant queen. Its stomach is smaller than the other one, but its size means it’s definitely the queen.
I can’t stay cool, even though the result means I should retreat here.
I feel magic energy from the ant queen, telling me it’s dangerous, but since I’ve beaten it before, my arrogance leads me to miss my chance.
That’s my failure, not retreating when I feel danger.
This lapse of judgment means I’m slow to take action. And there’s no point regretting not getting away later.
I take the greatsword of fortitude, and quietly use Limit Break.
I grab Fuuma and jump. Immediately, there’s an explosion where I was.
The ant queen looked my way the moment I whispered Limit Break. It was clearly her attack. It noticed us and attacked preemptively.
Half the big ants spread their wings and jump.
I remember seeing winged big ants on the eleventh floor, but these are a reddish color and they clearly exude more pressure. They must be superior species of big ant.
I put Fuuma down, and it controls chakram enveloped with wind blades to sweep the big ants around us.
I also get moving, using Earth Magic to turn the ground into sand, that I then harden to swallow them as I land.
I swing my greatsword of fortitude sideways at the ants that attack me when I land, and Fuuma creates a small tornado to blow away the flying big ants.
So it understands that casting a normal tornado would be dangerous. It can choose the magic it uses.
But someone else doesn’t.
The big ant queen.
It activates a few magic circles and uses powerful magic despite being in a cave.
The magic circles shoot fire balls that turn from red to blue, and turn into white flames. The white flame fire balls screech as they swallow the big ants in their path and scorch the ground.
I’m surprised that it doesn’t care about burning its allies, and I feel like taking that level of magic head on will be trouble for me.
I’ll fight magic circles with magic circles. I activate Break and Strength Up to create large round boulders with Earth Magic. I don’t have time to aim, so I make use of the See Through skill to launch them at the white fire balls.
Eight white fire balls and over twice the number of boulders clash.
There’s an explosion, smoke rises, and we feel an impact.
I stagger but manage to stay on my feet, and hold up my greatsword of fortitude while infusing it with magic energy.
White fire balls jump out of the smoke.
Yes, my boulders didn’t get them all.
I swing the greatsword of fortitude to send out a projectile slash and cut the remaining white fire balls, causing an explosion.
I call Fuuma, and it runs this way, guessing what I’m thinking.
I jump on Fuuma without it slowing down, grab the reins, kick its stomach, and we dash in the smoke.
We’re running towards the ant queen.
Overpowering it with magic will be very hard, since it’s good with it. Not to mention that if I put it down with a powerful spell, I won’t get the honey.
There’s also the danger of causing a cave-in. I want to avoid any more powerful magic being used.
I want to fight up close to stop it from casting it again.
But there’s still some distance.
I kick up dust with Earth Magic to blind it, as we jump towards it. But it has no effect, as a gust of wind sweeps the cave and blows it all away.
It almost blows me away too, but I use Wind Magic to ward off the wind and change its direction, nullifying it.
The ant queen sees the wind didn’t work on us, and escalates her attacks.
Its magic energy moves a lot, and it activates three magic circles.
I have no idea what their effects are, so I infuse the magic mirror shield in the guardian beast armor with magic energy to be able to deal with anything that comes.
I have a bad feeling about this.
I jump down from Fuuma, grab it behind me, and hold up the shield.
The next moment, the ant queen goes ghii very loudly, and a shock wave runs through the cave.
The damage is incredible. All the big ants in front of it are destroyed, and the ceiling and walls start collapsing.
The magic mirror armor saves us, but it’s still going. We might get caught in a cave-in, but I still don’t retreat.
After all, I can’t give up on the honey in front of me.
I can’t go back after tasting that.
Even if I lose arms or legs, I can regrow them any time I want. That’s how appealing that honey is.
If I had to put my life on the line, I would present it a dozen times. That’s how much that honey has taken my heart.
So gimme honey!!
Uoooh!! I yell, and the ant queen moves back like it’s scared of the incoming pig.
We’re too close, it’s too late to run away.
Fuuma uses chakram to attack the ant queen. With the same wind blades as before, but more powerful this time.
I jump off Fuuma and infuse the greatsword of fortitude with magic energy. The ant queen creates a transparent film with magic, but I don’t care.
I send out a projectile slash to destroy it. There’s some resistance, but it rips, and the rip spreads to the whole thing.
The sound of glass shattering echoes, and the film collapses and vanishes.
At the same time, a chakram cuts a leg of the ant queen, and it falls to the ground.
It screams, and keeps going gigi like it’s calling for help.
I hold up my greatsword of fortitude to cut its head and end its suffering.
Sorry, I whisper as I’m about to swing down, but I’m sent flying until I crash against a wall hard.
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What happened?
I spit blood and cast Healing Magic on myself.
I raise my head, and see other seekers where I was attacked.
Three men and two women. I’m sure they were the ones who attacked me, but I didn’t feel any magic energy. How was I attacked?
They’re saying something. They seem surprised that I’m alive.
What are they? Bandits? There are bandits even on this floor? What are they after?
My questions go unanswered, as one of the men reaches towards me.
The next moment, I’m smacked against a wall again, and an intense pressure crushes my body.
I might have died if I didn’t use Limit Break. That means they’re trying to kill me.
I try to resist the pressure, and swing my greatsword of fortitude horizontally.
I don’t know what causes the pressure, but I feel something being cut, and blood gushes out the outstretched hand of that guy.
The others are surprised that he got hurt, but if that’s how they are, I’m not going to show mercy either.
They grab their weapons and look at me with caution.
There’s no doubt they’re strong. If they’re here, that means they’re pro seekers. But the pressure I feel from them surpasses the Nijima brothers, so they’re above your average pro.
I can’t get careless, but I’m not gonna lose.
Also, I’m not alone.
An intense tornado is formed, and it smacks them against the ceiling.
Fuuma cast magic.
They were too focused on me to notice it. They probably saw Fuuma as a young and weak summoned beast.
They’re not unharmed after falling from the ceiling, but none of them are hurt enough to not move. Their tough bodies hardened by the dungeon can take an attack like that.
The two members of their vanguard run forward after landing, and their mages attack Fuuma with magic.
One of the vanguard is a middle-aged man with a longsword, and armor so red it hurts my eyes.
The other is a woman in her thirties with a greataxe and a red protector.
Both move fast, directly towards me. I throw rock spears at them to hold them back, but they easily cut them aside.
I activate magic circles. I’m not aiming at them, but behind them.
The mages are focused on magic circles, not me. There’s the guy I assume is a tank that pushed me back with that mysterious power, but I fire anyway.
The two people running at me yell behind them, but it’s no use.
I activated Pierce and Speed Up, creating two rock spears to take them down.
The woman with the greataxe swings, but hits nothing but air. The guy accelerates and swings at me repeatedly.
I block with my greatsword of fortitude, and swing sideways after a few hits.
They’re strong, but really weak compared to the weapon store owner.
The guy jumps back after taking my attack, and the woman with the greataxe takes his place to swing at me hard while yelling, with no technique behind it.
The attack smashes the ground, telling me how strong it was.
It’s clearly meant to be used on monsters. That attack was not made with humans in mind, so it feels odd.
I dodge it by jumping to the side, and swing at her throat, but she takes a big jump back.
I hear magic energy buzzing, and flames are expelled from the greataxe.
The greataxe swings up due to the flames, and it accelerates towards me with the sound of a small explosion.
I block it with my greatsword, wondering what that’s about, and we’re locked sword to axe. And the woman grins, like that was her plan.
Flames are ejected from the greataxe, burning me inside my armor.
I infuse the greatsword of fortitude with magic energy even as I’m burned, deliver a kick to the woman’s stomach to make her recoil, and send a projectile flash at the longsword guy.
He’s surprised by it, but quickly dodges. But he doesn’t dodge the wind infused chakram that rips his body.
The woman yells his name.
I control magic energy to fire magic at her while her attention is elsewhere, but something stops me.
That invisible pressure sends me flying again.
Dammit, I say as I use Wind Magic to kill the momentum and land. I also use Healing Magic, and look at the five of them gathering as I heal my burns.
I’m annoyed that this is starting over, look at Fuuma down there near me, and think it can’t be helped.
Fuuma moved this way when I attacked the back row.
The rock spears I fired were heading straight for their two mages, but the tank guy stopped one, while the other pierced one of the mages in the leg.
One mage is being healed, so two others can’t move. I wanted to take one of their vanguard down in the meantime, but it didn’t go that well.
The guy Fuuma ripped with a chakram is focused on healing with a potion, but he’ll be back soon. Only the mage guy whose leg was pierced is out of action.
I wanted to take the tank guy out of action, but that’s hard with them so wary.
And that ability even Spatial Grasp can’t detect is big trouble.
I glare at them. One of them is down, but four are healthy.
Fuuma and I are at a numbers disadvantage, but we’re not outdone in power.
I’ll focus so I’m able to cut them down any time.
But because of this, I’ve been too focused on what’s in front of me and not what’s important.
That’s right, the big ant queen.
It’s been preparing magic as we fight.
That magic is being targeted at us humans, but mostly at me because I cornered it.
I’m so focused on those people that I’m late to react.
Magic energy moves violently, and I try to jump away, but an intense force from above crushes me.
It’s not the people in front of me, it’s the ant queen.
They seem to have noticed what’s going on, and take a lot of distance from me.
Fuuma is also being crushed, but it doesn’t yell, and just neighs a little.
This is more overwhelming than that tank’s attack, and I can’t fight it. I try to deploy the magic mirror armor to nullify it, but its area of effect is too small.
If they attack me now, it’s over.
We can’t move, so we’re good targets. But they don’t attack. They’re being attacked by a lot of big ants.
I try to take advantage of this opportunity, but even more pressure pushes me down.
And the ground cracks.
Or rather, a cave-in starts.
It feels like the cave was at its limit after being hit with all that firepower from the big ant.
But even as a cave-in starts, the pressure doesn’t ease up.
Said pressure isn’t just on us, it’s on the ground too, and it finally breaks.
Fuuma and I fall. There’s darkness under the cave, and we can only plunge into it.
Holy stream flower vase
Generates a fixed amount of water when infused with magic energy. Infusing it with more gives the water light. The water with light has the ability to make vegetation grow, and it has a small holy water effect to clear away evil.
Purchasing price: Four million yen
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Haruto Tanaka (24)
Level: 28
Skills: Earth Magic, Trace, Healing Magic, Spatial Grasp, Toughness, Magic Energy Control, Physical Strengthening, Poison Resistance, Storage Space, See Through, Parallel Thinking, Sewing, Limit Break, Dismantling, Magic Energy Circulation, Consumption Reduction (Stamina), Wind Magic, Curse Resistance
Equipment: Greatsword of fortitude, guardian beast armor (modded)
Status: Fat (All abilities boosted)
Summoned beast: Fuuma
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Fuuma (Summoned beast)
Skills: Wind Magic, Toughness, Magic Energy Control, Physical Strengthening, Consumption Reduction (Stamina),
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