We managed to pressure Dolhoi into letting us crash at his place, and it was now the next morning. After we’d also had him feed us breakfast, we left for the forest.
The forest could only be described as dim, damp, and dismal. The ground was also super uneven and muddy. Plus, there were monsters wandering about.
Yep, that was the dungeon.
I could practically hear the peanut gallery again. “Hey, aren’t dungeons supposed to be underground?!” Nope! Actually, any area that was possessed and dominated by monsters was considered a dungeon! That was just how things were, so no objections! Well, not that I’d be able to do anything even if someone did complain about it.
The forest was right next to town, and anyone was able to enter—I mean, it was a forest after all. The entrance to my birthplace, the Aldora Labyrinth, was monitored and controlled. Considering you could just waltz into a forest from any direction, it was impossible to control, unlike my home.
Anyway, I was currently in my Treasure Chest remodeled 2 form—you know, the one with hips. Suama was walking beside me.
“Why did you want to come here, Harumi?”
“I don’t actually have any business here in particular. This is just the neighboring dungeon, and it’s on the way. We’re just swinging by for pleasantries and all that. Well, there should also be some stores around here that I can use my points at, so I’m planning to do a little shopping too.”
There were many ways for a monster to become stronger. They could gather souls, hone their skills, attempt to awaken new ones through the heat of battle, or study magic and skills. All those were fine and dandy, but the fastest way to become stronger was to buy skills and items with points.
Points were essentially a unit trust placed in the monster. That meant we could use it anywhere other monsters gathered.
“First, I want an Appraisal-type skill. Sounds like it would be useful.”
“There’re stores like that in the forest?”
“Other than that... Hm, maybe we should level you up, Suama? You’re definitely too weak as you are now—wait, uggghhh!”
“What’s wrong?”
“What would you even fight, Suama?!”
Yep, we had a problem finding potential targets. The forest belonged to the monsters aligned under the red demon lord, just as I was. They were comrades, so there was no way I could use them for experience...well, not without extremely good reason, anyway.
Apparently it was also strictly forbidden for adventurers to do the same to their colleagues.
“Hmmm, maybe it’ll be fine if I just kill adventurers? I’m not actually tamed, so it’s not like you’d be murdering them. Plus, if you’re nearby, you can still absorb some of the souls and get stronger, I think.”
So, in order to put that idea into action, I took off the Ring of the Greedy from my right hand. I didn’t want to hog everything for myself, after all.
It would’ve been best if she could wear the ring, but it required the wearer to be over level 15.
“All righty then! No matter what the plan is, we need to get to the maintenance area first.”
That being said, I had no idea where it could be!
Maybe it’s in the very center of the forest?
Normally, it would be placed in a spot where adventurers couldn’t reach it. We’d be stuck here for days if I were to search blindly for it, though.
But I have this thing! I opened my lid and used my tongue to take something out.
“Ta-daaa! A back-entrance passport!”
Suama stared fixedly at the piece of paper I was holding.
“This is a monster-only item that allows me to go directly to the maintenance area! Lord Aldora gave it to me!”
“How do you use it?”
“Apparently, you just stick it somewhere inside the dungeon, and a door will appear. There’ll be a lot of people at the entrance to the dungeon, though, and it’ll be trouble if we’re seen using this. That’s why we came in this far.”
“Um, but...it looks like someone is coming, Harumi,” Suama muttered, sounding apologetic for some reason.
“Huh?”
Yep. Now that she’d mentioned it, I could sense something coming into the forest and towards us.
*Swshh, swshh. Drip, drip.*
I couldn’t see because of all the trees, but something was definitely walking our way.
Ahh, yeah... I really do need a skill or ability to detect enemies.
Even if I was stronger now, I still couldn’t really detect bloodlust, or avoid attacks from behind like a certain master combatant.
What should I do...?
If it was a monster, it would most likely be a red faction ally, so there wouldn’t be much of a problem. If I were to claim Suama as my prey, I was pretty sure no one would butt in.
However, if the approaching threat was a human, they would definitely be an adventurer, given how far they’d come into the forest. In that case, I could have Suama greet them.
Either way, I should be clear to use the passport after they leave.
I was sure that the other party knew we were here too, so it would be weird to run and hide at this point.
Let’s just act confident and wait for them.
“Heh heh... I finally caught up to you.”
As it turned out, our mystery guests had familiar faces. At this point, I was at a loss for words. The moment I saw them, I understood what they were here for. We were being accosted by the crude adventurer we’d beaten back at the guild and his friends.
I’d broken that man’s leg, but he was back and in perfect condition.
He must’ve used magic or some kinda item to heal himself.
“Hey, weren’t fights between adventurers supposed to be forbidden?” I mentioned.
“Huuuhhh?! How could anyone possibly find out?! Who’d report it back to the guild? It’s survival of the fittest in a dungeon, y’know! Wait...is it just me, or is that thing real fluent all of a sudden? Also, ain’t it bigger than before?”
Oops—forgot to speak like an idiot. Oh well.
“Question! I was told that fights inside the dungeon are all recorded inside the adventurer’s card. Wouldn’t disputes between adventurers also be imprinted on that?”
“Hah! I thought you two were full of yourselves. So you were using that as a crutch, huh? Well, get a load of this—you can’t fool an adventurer’s card or its recording abilities, but it’s easy to not have it record in the first place!”
“For the record: how do you do that?”
“It’s simple—you just have to push the off button on the back of the card. With just that, no one’ll ever know about the awful things that’re about to happen to you!”
“I see...”
While I was busy being impressed by that newfound knowledge, Suama immediately pressed the button on the back of her card.
Good. I like how she’s so intuitive!
“It’s-Been-A-While-Mimic-Pinball!” I jump-kicked a nearby tree and used the recoil to bounce straight towards the adventurers.
*THKTHKTHKTHKTHKTHK!*
I ricocheted off the trees in all directions, and the adventurers were wiped out in a flash.
Oohh, being able to take advantage of 3D space in places like this is really nice!
“Ah, Suama! Come here, quick!”
“O-Okay!” Suama trotted over as quickly as she could.
“How is it? Did you get stronger?”
“Maybe? I’m not sure.”
She should’ve absorbed some of the dissipating souls, but did she? I can’t see other people’s statuses. Oh well, we’ll just have to keep doing it.
There were a lot of rules surrounding soul absorption. For example, it was easier to take them from victims you’ve finished yourself, stronger enemies gave you more, and so on. In other words, those that didn’t fight weren’t able to absorb much just from being nearby. The world wasn’t that easy!
“Oh, while we’re on the subject—can you see your own status, Suama?”
“Status? What’s that?”
Actually, how does that work for them?
In my case, I just kind of knew vaguely what it was and how to access it, but I wondered how it was for adventurers. I’ve heard them talking about levels and such, so I figured they were like monsters in that respect.
“Well, we can just ask another adventurer about that later. Anyway, now that the interruption’s gone...” I tried using the passport by slapping it on a nearby tree. “I wonder what’ll happen. This is kind of exciting!”
“Ah, it’s glowing.”
The passport started to give off light...
*Fwooosh!*
It burnt up.
“What?” Is that the sign of it activating?
Nope. The passport had simply burned up.
*Fwapfwapfwap!*
Flocks of birds took flight all at once. The surrounding forest had gotten eerily quiet, causing the dim surroundings to seem even darker.
“It’s starting to feel really dangerous.”
“Um, Harumi...when did...?”
Yeah, I know I said that I wouldn’t know bloodlust earlier, but I take that back!
Even I was able to pick up on something this obvious.
We were surrounded by monsters that had popped up out of nowhere.
Huh? Why? This dungeon belongs to one of Lord Aldora’s acquaintances, right? I don’t think there’s any reason for them to be this angry at us...
However, I quickly realized the problem—they weren’t from the red faction; they were blue. Everything clicked into place.
Even though this area was under the control of the red faction, an army of blue monsters had attacked Suama’s village somehow. That meant there must’ve been a blue base in the area.
So, with all that said, I could guess that this place had been taken over by blue monsters.
“I can see you know nothing from the fact that you tried to use a red passport, which has been rendered invalid.” One of the monsters came to the front as it spoke. It had blue skin, a single horn on its forehead, and human clothes that seemed like it belonged to a noble. “But that doesn’t matter—all red monsters must die. I am the demon gen—”
“Mimic Missile!”
“Bgyarrghh!”
I slammed the corner of my treasure chest right into his gut. Then I followed up, jumping at him as he flew away.
“Explosive Legs!”
*KaBOOM!*
I made ground meat out of the demon gen-whatever-he-was-going-to-say.
I’m the same—all blues must die! All righty, it’s time for you guys to become my exp!