I’ve been exploring the ruins of the town for a couple of days, but I haven’t gotten anything out of it.
I give up on exploring it, decide to make this a fixed campsite, and explore my surroundings.
I’ve been proactively hunting sky fighting fowl, and I got lucky and found the staircase to the thirty-fourth floor.
I want to go down right away, but I’m staying here to hunt sky fighting fowl. They’re also on the next floor, but Hacchou told me those are hard to use for food.
A rising dragon chakram flies towards a phantom hobgoblin.
It’s very sharp with wind blades enveloping it, and if the hobgoblin was real, it would be cleanly bisected. But it just cuts the air and returns to Fuuma.
This is never gonna end, so I use a rock stake to pierce the mirage great snake.
Fuuma is still having trouble with those, but it seems to have completely conquered its fear of sky fighting fowl. Now it drools as it takes the initiative to fight them.
Its gluttony knows no bounds.
On the fifth day of hunting, I come across a seeker party.
It’s a four person party, the smallest I’ve seen so far.
Two men and two women. They have a portacool, and it’s evident they’re all pretty strong.
I say hello, and they greet me back.
I don’t feel any hostility from them, and it feels like it will be fine if I talk with a smile, so I introduce myself.
Their leader is a woman called Ichinose Rikako, and she’s holding a sword and small shield, and wearing light armor.
The other three introduce themselves too, but their ages are all over the place, so I can’t imagine how they got together.
There’s a guy in his forties, a man and woman in their twenties, and I can’t really tell with Ichinose, but I don’t think she’s thirty yet.
It’s not like this is the only party like this, but it’s rare for it to be so obvious.
The youngest girl in particular boldly introduces herself as a healer, which worries me because she might get dragged into trouble.
Maybe this party was put together to protect her.
Anyway, we talk normally, and I’m about to leave, but it’s getting dark, and they invite me to go to where they’re camping.
Normally I’d say no, but I haven’t had any human contact in a while, so I agree.
We talk about all sorts of things, and nothing really happens.
They’re surprised to hear Fuuma is a summoned beast, but they treat it well. And Fuuma is happy to have its head pet.
We talk about how long we’ve been seekers, if we have partners, and how we fight. They’re good talkers and listeners, so I talk more than I normally would, but it will be fine.
That’s all.
I find some wrinkles in the corners of Ichinose’s eyes when I see her up close, but that’s about all there is.
“Is there something on my face?”
No, nothing.
We say goodbye the next morning.
They’re going back to the surface. Apparently they had a goal and fulfilled it yesterday.
But when we’re leaving…
“Tanaka, we heard there was a misunderstanding, but I want you to believe us. We don’t want any harm for you. Seijyu also regrets what happened, so please visit our home again.
I feel a chill as I watch them leave.
◇ ◇ ◇
The thirty-fourth floor.
I hurry to the thirty-fourth floor after saying goodbye to them.
I’ve hunted twenty sky fighting fowl so far. I wanted more, but I’ve given up on that and decided to move forward.
They appear on this floor, and I’m in no hurry, but I might not get more. I won’t know until I actually try, but I should temper my expectations.
I didn’t expect them to follow me into the dungeon.
Is that how much they value my Healing Magic? This is such a problem.
◇ ◇ ◇
An ice arrow flies on a grassy plain.
I swat it down with my greatsword from horseback, and it shatters.
Next, many ice arrows come my way.
It’s a pain to cut them all down, so I kick Fuuma, signaling for it to run faster.
The ice arrows change direction to come after me, but can’t catch up with Fuuma.
Bit by bit, I approach the place where the ice arrows are coming from, and the moment I catch a reaction with Spatial Grasp, I pierce its core with a rock stake.
Aqua slime.
A slime with a deep blue color that’s good with ice magic. It’s not as physically strong as a green slime, and it rarely executes physical attacks.
They start appearing from this floor onward, and most live near water, so I’ll have to be careful about approaching rivers. They also hide inside monsters that drink water, so I can’t relax even after taking down monsters.
The aqua slime I pierced is a beautifully lustrous blue, but it’s actually like a parasite.
Monsters on the thirty-fourth floor to the thirty-sixth could have those inside them, so even taking them apart is dangerous.
Fighting monsters already carries the risk of death, so I want to avoid adding to it as much as I can. Except treasure chests.
◇ ◇ ◇
The thirty-fourth floor is calm, and not that different.
There are paths in the grassy field, trees, forests, and I see mountains. The temperature is stable, not hotter or colder, just right. Although that’s mostly thanks to the perpetual spring scarf Fuuma is wearing.
I feel a little chilly when I’m outside of its range, so it’s actually the perfect temperature to fight.
I’m not feeling nervous either, so I yawn as I activate Pierce and Speed Up magic circles to shoot a stone spear at a sky fighting fowl above.
It hits it, and disappears somewhere.
It’s like the sky fighting fowl was the victim of a hit-and-run, and falls with a hole in its body.
It falls a little far away, so Fuuma runs over there, and I start taking it apart.
There are more aqua slimes in it than I thought. Two come out when I drain its blood, and three when I’m cutting the meat. When I’m done, it won’t enter the Storage Space.
Living beings can’t go in there.
That means the Storage Space recognizes there is something alive in the dead sky fighting fowl’s meat.
I cut it even more finely, wondering what it could be, and find small aqua slime cores here and there.
I decide to toss it because I can’t eat this, and Fuuma insists I cook it.
You don’t have to try to not be wasteful here. What if it wrecks your stomach!?
It rubs against me, ignoring my warnings and asking me to cook it.
H-hey, that’s gross.
It gets up on two legs and looks up at me, and it looks terrifying. Like I’m seeing something repulsive.
I do what it wants and cook it, but I hear sounds like something’s breaking, and something blue oozing out of the meat.
I tried to remove the aqua slime cores as best I could, but it looks like I didn’t get them all.
The blue liquid falls on the frying pan, and its smell spreads. It’s very fresh, like a minty aroma.
Would this taste good, I start to wonder. I don’t think mint goes well with meat, but maybe.
I’ll feed Fuuma, my poison tester, and if it doesn’t look like there’s a problem, I’ll have some.
And so I serve it on a plate and put it in front of Fuuma.
Its eyes shine, and it takes it all in one bite. It chews, and spits it out. It must’ve been really bad, because it starts writhing and going mhe~.
That’s what I figured, I think as I wash the plate and frying pan.
The flower vase I got on the thirty-third floor is more useful than I thought. It’s especially good how it uses less magic energy than the magic circle.
Hn? What? You want water?
It walks like a fawn, grabs on to my leg, and opens its mouth towards me.
I’m kind, so I tell it to listen to my warnings, and give it water. I’m pouring quite a bit, but it doesn’t look like it’s enough, so I practically turn it over on its face, towards its mouth.
It’s still not satisfied, so I pump in more magic energy. And something happens to the flower vase.
Water starts pouring out with light.
The shining water spills from Fuuma’s mouth onto the ground, and where it falls, grass grows rapidly.
It quickly gets bigger than Fuuma and covers it.
I stop pouring, and the grass stops growing.
I touch the grass, but it’s normal grass. There’s some magic energy in it, but it soon dissipates.
Could it be that the flower vase’s water has the power to give vitality similar to Healing Magic?
I cut my finger with a knife, and pour shining water on it. But there’s no change to the wound, it just stings.
I close the wound with Healing Magic, look at the ground where the water fell, and see grass growing as it did before.
What is this? I look at Fuuma coming out from behind the grass, but don’t see anything different. In fact, it wants more water.
I know it’s not harmful, but I feel like I shouldn’t use this water too much until I figure out the effect of the shining water.
Join my patreon to support me and read ahead.
<<Previous Chapter Index Next Chapter>>
