Tier V Seeker ⑫
Fireman.
A humanoid Dungeon Monster made entirely of flames.
They appear quite often in the 13th floor’s maze. However, they don’t drop Relics.
How to extinguish them? They disappear if you destroy the flint stone inside their bodies.
They’re similar to the Water Fairy series from the Water Dungeon.
Monsters like these, based on elements, also exist for wind and earth.
“Ah, this. It’s that.”
I muttered unconsciously. This thought came to me while using [Deep Silent One].
I align the point of light with an attacking Fireman and unleash [Vanish].
After defeating one, I target the next Fireman and fire [Vanish].
Next, I hit Firemen in rapid succession—the Firemen vanish into nothingness.
This is it. It’s like an arcade shooting game.
Point the light gun at the screen, a light point appears, pull the trigger, and the enemy falls.
It’s exactly like that. Feeling like that, I annihilate the Firemen.
I used to play those a lot back in the day.
Pretending all the attacking salaryman-style zombies were my boss.
Pretending all the attacking doctor-attired zombies were my boss.
Pretending all the attacking zombies were my boss.
I played it a lot to relieve stress.
“Master, strong, exhilarating, desu.”
“You’re in fine form, yasu na.”
Shardina’s eyes sparkled, while Alexander-san nonchalantly smoked his pipe.
I was defeating most of the Monsters.
This was the result of my Relic evolving into [Deep Silent One].
Only its operating time increased to 10 minutes, but that drastically improved its usability.
The drawback is that I can’t aim [Vanish] without using [Deep Silent One].
The targeting pointer—the point of light—is just too convenient.
Something occurred to me, so I asked Alexander-san.
“So your job isn’t just setting up Teleportation Arrays?”
“You can think of us as handling all the behind-the-scenes work in the Dungeon, yasu ze. Confirming and dealing with this current Event is also part of the job, sa.”
“This is the first time I’ve heard about Events. Are they common?”
“Big or small, they happen often, yasu. To be frank, the current situation is that it’s hard to distinguish what is an Event and what isn’t, sa. Even experts disagree on whether Monsters from lower floors wandering around upper floors counts as an Event, yasu kara. This time, it was just so massive that it was clearly identified as an Event, yasu ze.”
“I see.”
Now that he mentions it, maybe everything that happens in the Dungeon could be called an Event?
Then, we arrived at the location where the Event was occurring.
A pack of Chimeras. A Chimera subspecies deeper inside. Exactly the same as before.
Did they respawn?
I use [Wheel of Fortune].
Beyond the Cave, multiple green lights. Two yellow lights. One blue light. The blue one is furthest in?
If they’re still there, it means no one has taken them yet.
Apparently, this floor is often skipped because the Teleportation Array to the next floor was discovered relatively early.
Well, nobody likes a maze like this, right? Though I question that attitude for a Seeker.
Or perhaps it’s because the Fire Dungeon’s environment gets harsher the deeper you go?
There aren’t many Seekers here. Come to think of it, there weren’t many in the Wind Dungeon either.
Compared to that, the most popular Earth Dungeon is so bustling that they even have entry restrictions.
Enough for an inn village to form at the Dungeon entrance. The disparity between Dungeons feels quite blatant.
By the way, regarding the town’s Dungeon.
It’s scheduled to reopen one week after the “Great O’Browns” ends.
However, the Junkyard alone is specially kept open even now. That much is good, at least.
Alexander-san gazed at the pack of Chimeras and groaned.
“Personally, I don’t think there’d be a problem leaving them be, yasu kedo ne.”
“That’s… true, yes. Hmm.”
“Is that so, desu?”
Since this floor itself is often skipped, leaving them alone wouldn’t necessarily be an issue.
But well, a job is a job.
“How do you handle the Event?”
“For that, we use this, n de.”
Alexander-san showed me a stone.
It was an irregularly shaped, translucent stone that looked like it could be found anywhere.
“What is that, desu?”
“Events, buildings, anything generated in the Dungeon, is born from ‘thought’, yansu. Thought is a concept of the soul, without physical form. This here is a Phenomenon Stone. It’s a Legacy capable of sealing those formless conceptual phenomena, yasu ze.”
Alexander-san threw the Phenomenon Stone.
As the Chimeras noticed it, the Phenomenon Stone shone brightly and shattered into pieces.
Once it vanished, the pack of Chimeras looked as if a possession had been lifted.
They entered the Cave behind them, along with the Chimera subspecies.
“Did that make the Event here disappear?”
“That’s right, yasu ze.”
That’s fine and all, but they went into the Cave behind them?
That’s where I need to go too… Well, it can’t be helped.
If we run into them, we’ll just have to fight.
As we exited the Cave, we were immediately attacked by a Chimera.
Shardina deflected its sharp claws with her cutlass, creating an opening.
Targeting.
“[Vanish].”
Shot. The Chimera’s head disappeared.
Alexander-san severed its snake Tail.
“Right off the bat, huh.”
“That last blow was heavy, desu.”
“You saved us, Shardina.”
“Master, protecting is job, desu. But, if you insist, you may pat head, desu.”
I patted the slightly crouching Shardina’s head.
She looked happy. Then, onto the first one. I opened the green-glowing Treasure Chest.
“A Potion, yasu na.”
“Well, this is fine.”
The next green light was a Power Potion.
A rare Potion that temporarily enhances physical abilities.
“Well, this is fine too.”
Next was a yellow light.
The yellow light is… ah, so this happens too.
“Oh my, this is unusual. A pile of junk has gathered here, yasu ze.”
“All of it, broken, tattered weapons and armor, desu.”
It was a dead end, and decayed weapons, rusted armor, and the like were gathered there.
A small Junkyard. The yellow light… I dig through the junk. Found it. This is it.
What I held was a small, slender wooden box.
An old box with patterns carved on its surface.
Opening it, I found a pendant inside. It had a red gemstone.
“That’s a fine item, yasu.”
“You can tell?”
“Oops, just my intuition telling me it’s not bad, that’s all, yasu ze.”
“Watakushime, not interested, desu.”
Shardina showed a dismissive attitude.
“Well, this is fine.”
I put it away in my pouch.
Now for the main dish.
We defeat about two more Chimeras. Alexander-san told me.
The Chimera’s subjugation parts are its claws and the fangs of its snake Tail. The buyback price is 1500-3000 Oro.
It’s not that high for this kind of Monster. Especially considering the trouble of fighting them.
Well, I’ll take them anyway. Since we’re here.
The blue light was in a Junkyard at a dead end, deep inside.
Next to a rusted Knife and damaged armor, a white plate was carelessly stuck in the ground.
That white plate was the blue light.
“Now this is rare, yasu ne. This is only the second time I’ve seen one, yasu.”
Seeing the plate I held, Alexander-san spoke with surprise and deep emotion.
“What is this?”
It looked like a differently colored Relic Plate.
“It’s a Relic Plate, yasu yo. What’s more, it’s a Legendary called a Duplicated Relic Plate, yasu ze.”
“Duplicated?”
“It allows you to duplicate a Relic and put it into the plate, yasu. However, it doesn’t work on just anything; only common Relics that exist in large quantities, like elemental ones, yasu ze.”
“Huh, that’s still convenient. Does that mean there’s no Relic inside this one right now?”
“It’s blank, so that’s right, yasu ne.”
“Um, Master, have a request, desu.”
“What is it?”
“Watakushime, wants Master’s Relic, desu.”
“Ah, you mean you want me to duplicate one of my Relics, and you want that?”
“Yes, desu!”
“Does that mean you don’t have any Relics, Shardina?”
“Yes, desu!”
“I see. Alexander-san, how do I use this?”
“Just hold the plate and think of the Relic as if you were handling it, yasu ze.”
Like this? I thought, bringing my Relics to mind.
[Wheel of Fortune] didn’t work. [Vanish] didn’t work either. [Deep Silent One] also failed.
[Silent Auto-Move (Half)] didn’t work. [Generous] was obviously no good.
Ah, [Danger Detection] worked. The plate turned black.
“That means it’s gone in, yasu ze.”
“How does she use it?”
“Just hand the plate to the other person, and if they declare ‘Possess,’ they’ll acquire it, yasu ze.”
“Okay, here you go.”
“…Master. Are you really sure, desu?”
Shardina hesitated, even though she was the one who asked.
“It’s better to use things like this quickly.”
“In that case, will use, desu.”
Shardina accepted it and declared, “Possess.”
The plate crumbled and disappeared.
“How is it?”
“Wah, wawa! Master, Master! Deep inside Watakushime’s chest, two Relics formed, desu!”
“Two?”
I only duplicated one.
“Y-Yes. [Crisis Judgment] and [Impact], desu!”
“Not Detection?”
“Yes, desu. Judgment, desu.”
“And [Impact] too?”
Isn’t that Alveld’s Relic?
What’s going on?
“Now this is a rare occurrence, yasu na. As expected of Woff-dono. How delightful and thrilling, yasu ze! A splitting phenomenon like this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, yasu.”
“…Splitting…”
“A part of the original Relic split off, yasu. That’s probably why two Relics were duplicated.”
“From [Danger Detection] to [Crisis Judgment], and from [Vanish] to [Impact], huh?”
“Master! Master! Watakushime, happy, desu! Very, very happy, desu!”
Shardina was jumping for joy. Since her face is Munieca-san’s, it felt incredibly out of place.
But well, if she’s happy, that’s what matters most. Mhm. That smile. Priceless.
“Wof-dono. Ah… was thinkin’…”
“What is it?”
“Ah get the feelin’ that doin’ things like this is why we’re in our current situation, y’know.”
“……”
I couldn’t deny it.
After leaving the Fire Dungeon, I parted ways with Alexander-san.
He really helped me out with so much.
After we got back, Shardina went to The Witch’s House. I went to the Lab.
I dragged a reluctant Hayyarn to the training room and got started.
I flawlessly dispelled only the [Evil Eye] ten times in a row.
Seeing that, she gave me a look that was very unlike a rabbit.
Is she some kind of master detective?
Still, I felt refreshed.
With this, I could finally stand on the same stage as Alveld.
After that, Munieca-san got angry at me about Shardina’s Relic.
Shardina and I had to sit in seiza together while she lectured us for nearly an hour.
Somehow, even though it was supposed to be a lecture, I got the feeling she was jealous and sulking… but that must have just been my imagination.