I returned to the seventeenth floor of the hidden dungeon, which was still a wide expanse of natural beauty. The beach and the forest were exactly the same as the last time I was there. As I walked along the sand, I reached down to touch the water. I was almost convinced I’d really arrived on a small island.
“Whatever’s creating this illusion is incredible. It’s even made actual waves.”
Or maybe it wasn’t an illusion. I mean, there were even shells in the sand. After relaxing a bit, I headed toward the forest. There were small bugs and venomous snakes in the trees, and some of them even tried to attack me, but I took them out as I went. It was humid, so I was quite sweaty and sticky. I searched for quite a while, but I didn’t encounter any monsters. This place was huge!
“There’s no way I’ll find the stairs like this. Time to consult the Great Sage.”
I did have a headache immunity skill, but the more valuable the information, the stronger the headache, so I was a little scared.
<There are stairs located at 480 yards south, 1,129 yards northeast, and 683 yards north.>
“There are three sets?!”
I hadn’t encountered anything like that before. Although, I supposed there could have been multiple sets before, and I had just never noticed. There were a few floors with split paths, after all.
Since the stairs to the south were closest, I started off toward them. If real-world rules applied here, I could tell which way was south by cutting down a tree and looking at the rings. Still, something about my surroundings was bothering me. I felt like someone was watching from a short distance ahead.
“Is someone there?”
No response. All the trees and grass provided plenty of places to hide. I went back to searching for the stairs, but the moment I turned my back, I heard a whoosh. I turned to see a spear flying right at me.
I ducked to avoid the attack, but I still couldn’t see my opponent. I pulled the spear out of the tree and examined the tip. It was covered in some kind of liquid. Probably poison.
“Well, if you’re trying to kill me, I’m gonna fight back.”
I fired several Stone Bullets in the direction the spear had come from, and a man appeared from atop a tree. He was shirtless, wearing only a straw skirt and a wooden mask. He must have been who’d thrown the spear.
I took out the Shield of Champions to show that their attacks weren’t going to hurt me. Several more spears flew toward me, but most of them came from the front, so I blocked them with ease.
There must have been about five or six people in total. The attack ceased, presumably because they’d run out of spears. I put my shield away and took out the Shockwave Morningstar—the weapon I’d acquired in the arena on the thirteenth floor. I ran toward my enemies, hurling the ball at a tree. It exploded, but the real show was still to come. Thanks to the skill on the weapon, a massive shock wave followed.
“Hngh…”
One of them groaned, and several others fell out of the tree.
The biggest one of them stood in front of me. “You fight me!”
They were all wearing the same masks and grass skirts. Were they the natives of this island?
The man held a beautiful lyre to his chest. It was an odd contrast with his well-muscled form.
“What, are you going to make me listen to a recital?” I asked.
“Foolish.”
His fingers strummed the lyre. It wasn’t really music, but the tone was splendid. Still, this really wasn’t the time to be appreciating its aesthetics. Especially because arrows started raining down from the sky.
“Whoa?!”
I retreated quickly as almost a dozen arrows buried themselves in the ground. The large, masked man strummed on the lyre again, and more weapons hailed down. This time, it was iron balls the size of my head! I couldn’t afford to get hit by one of them, and I was a little scared at the prospect of trying to block them with my shield, so I wove between the balls and advanced toward the man. After all, if I stayed on the defensive, I’d only dig myself in deeper. Taking this guy out in one fell swoop was the way to win.
Once I was clear of the iron rain, I combined Water Drop and Lightning Strike and fired them at the masked man. He collapsed to the ground in pain, drenched and crackling with electricity. I collected his lyre, drew my sword, and pressed the tip against the back of his neck.
“So you can speak? Are you all human?”
“Intruders, kill them all.”
My Discerning Eye didn’t work on him, but he didn’t seem all that strong. He probably just had Spear Throwing or something like that.
“There are intruders other than me?” I asked.
“Yes. Kill him too.”
Who else was down here…? I stepped back as one of the other masked men came forward with a dagger.
“Escape once. Search for stronger weapon…”
The man with the dagger helped his comrade up, and they all retreated.
“Search for a weapon, huh?”
That seemed to imply this stronger weapon wasn’t something that they already had. It made me wonder if they’d found the lyre on this level too. I checked it out with my Discerning Eye.
Orpheus’s Lyre
Grade B
Skills: Rain of Weapons
Depending on how it was played, it could summon different weapons from the sky. It might not have sounded all that interesting, but I’d seen enough to know it was terrifying. It would also give me 4,900 LP if I converted it. I was a little hesitant, but I ended up pulling the trigger. That put me over 50,000 LP. Things were going well! At this rate, I’d have the hundred thousand in no time.
“I think I’ll go item hunting before I look for the stairs.”
I did have the Bell of Perception after all. I figured I might as well make use of it. The bell would give away my location, but I used it anyway. It rang softly, and I walked around until the sound got louder. When I got to one particular tree, the bell made a loud noise.
“I guess it’s hidden in the tree.”
I checked every inch of the plant—from the roots to the branches to the leaves—but couldn’t find anything. Maybe it was hidden inside the tree? I cut it down and discovered…absolutely nothing! What was going on here? The bell was definitely ringing. I tried holding it out again. When I crouched down close to the ground, it rang clearly.
“Underground, huh?”
I pulled a shovel out of my Pocket Dimension and started digging. I’d given myself an Excavate skill when I acquired my two-edged blade, so I was pretty good at it. I dug for fifteen to twenty minutes until my shovel hit something hard. It was a wooden treasure chest. I pulled it out of the ground and opened it up to find…a cord?
Gleipnir
Grade B
Skills: Bind Magical Beast
It only worked on magical beasts, but it made them easier to restrain. Still, I couldn’t think of any real use for it, so I converted it and earned 3,800 LP in the process.
I set off with the bell again, looking for another enchanted item. The second one was buried too.
Fiery Frying Pan
Grade B
Skills: Heat Up
You just had to touch the pan for twenty seconds and it’d get hot enough to cook something. What an amazing item! When you were adventuring, you had to eat often. With something like this, you wouldn’t have to go through all the trouble of gathering wood to make a fire every time. It was only worth 2,800 LP, so I decided to hang onto it.
Rustle, rustle, rustle.
I looked over at where the sound was coming from and spotted two masked men running at full speed. It didn’t seem like they’d noticed me. I thought they might be hunting, until I realized they were running away from something. Whatever they were fleeing from, they seemed very concerned about it. After they passed me, I heard hoofbeats. Moments later, their pursuer ran past too. I was already familiar with this spear-wielding monster. Yes, it was none other than the Black Lancer.