“So what should we do?”
Asks Siphon after we register in the staircase to the thirty-eighth floor.
The question here is whether we keep going, or go back.
Since we didn’t have to fight in the early stages of the thirty-sixth floor, its exploration took five days. But since we took a lot of breaks on the thirty-seventh floor, it took ten.
We can see where staircases are thanks to my Map, so we get to advance without having to wander around looking for them, meaning we get through floors faster than other people. And we tend to avoid monsters a lot too.
Still, if it’s going to take us the same amount of time to go back where we came from, wouldn’t it be faster to just keep advancing?
This would have been an easy decision up until the thirty-fourth floor, but even though we can beat giants, each fight still takes a lot of energy out of us. It’s pretty clear that the exhaustion is accumulating on everyone.
Also, giant guards appear from this floor onward. These are smaller than giants, but rather than being all burly, their bodies are firm and tight. That means they’re more agile, and their speed also increases their attack power.
“How about we check the location of the staircase on Map, and how strong those giant guards are?”
My proposal is accepted, and we go to the thirty-eighth floor.
I call Map like always, and see the staircase is right in the center. My experience tells me it should take about three days to get there.
When I say that, we decide to try fighting them one time.
And sure enough, giant guards are faster than giants, but it doesn’t look like they’ll be a problem if we fight them one-on-one.
“The problem now is the next floor. It’s giant guards again, but apparently their equipment changes, right?”
Says Siphon, and I remember what I read in the reference room.
Giant guards appear on the thirty-ninth floor, and much like on this one, they don’t generally move in groups.
The issue is that their equipment gets pretty fancy. The ones on this floor are practically naked, other than a straw skirt, but the ones on the next floor wear armor, and hold not just weapons, but some use shields too.
“The problem is the ones with the shields. I’ve heard that their good defense means they take a while to beat. We can do it if we surround them and attack all at once, but still…”
That works on the thirty-ninth floor, but from the forty-first onward, they appear in groups, and that tactic stops working.
This is one of the biggest reasons why big clans are trying to get more members.
“The ideal way would be to strike from the front and break their defense.”
Says Rurika, and Siphon nods.
“All right then. Just checking one last time, are we going to keep advancing?”
That’s what we decide.
We can’t beat the allure of getting there in three days, but of course, the most important factor is that we’re not feeling too bad.
If we were, we wouldn’t push ourselves. And I’m sure the food is the number one reason why everyone’s still feeling well.
“Yes, no doubt about it.”
“Being able to eat nice meals in a dungeon is huge.”
Says Geitz, and Jin agrees.
If these were bland preserved foods, everyone would probably want to go back.
“Too bad we don’t have booze.”
Yuno silently smiles at what Siphon says. Her eyes aren’t laughing though.
Preserved foods are made with nutrition in mind, but they’re not really filling. At the very least, most people wouldn’t eat them until they were full.
Also, the dungeon isn’t really cold, because it tends to stay around the same temperature, but eating warm soup is still nice.
“We’ll keep watch first today. You can go rest, ladies.”
Every day, we take turns resting after eating.
The groups change every time, but it’s mostly groups centered around people who can scout like me, Hikari, Rurika, and Orga.
We also take turns not keeping watch on certain days, so we can sleep the whole night every now and then. It really is important to sleep well.
The golems help a lot with this, and so does Mia.
She casts Sanctuary, a spell to repel monsters, before we sleep, and that makes it so it’s rare for monsters to attack us while we rest.
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Thanks for the treat.