Chapter 338: Dungeon Conquest
“Ah, is that you, Rio? I apologize for calling so late at night.”
“No problem.”
Even without holding the receiver to my ear, I could hear the voice clearly thanks to my enhanced hearing.
“Are you free to talk now?”
“Ah, yes. I’m available.”
“That’s good to hear.”
As I listened closely, it turned out the conversation was about the localization of computers. Apparently, they were working on enabling text input in the Otherworld’s language, but I didn’t quite grasp the details. In any case, they wanted me to provide the characters used in Brinks Language, written out carefully, one by one.
“It seems El will also be able to use a computer now.”
“What… really?”
That was the gist of Jushiro-san’s explanation. If we could type in Brinks Language, it would certainly make things more efficient.
“So, they want you to write out the characters in Brinks Language, one by one, in detail.”
“Leave it to me!”
I couldn’t help but chuckle at El’s earnest expression as she immediately responded. Well, if she’s willing to do it, I might as well ask her.
The next morning, when Rio and I arrived at the Adventurer’s Guild, a staff member stopped us and directed us to the Guild Master’s office.
“Ah, I’m glad you both could make it.”
We took our seats as prompted, but the Guild Master seemed exhausted, letting out a deep sigh.
“It seems I’ve been labeled a criminal by the Councilor.”
“Looks like it.”
“They’re putting a bounty on my head, but the Guild won’t be taking any action.”
He nodded as if it were someone else’s problem, but it was clearly a headache for him. The sighs had been coming frequently.
“There’s a chance I might be attacked by someone blinded by the bounty, but I hope they won’t kill me.”
“I won’t do anything so violent. Probably.”
Of course, I had no intention of retaliating with lethal force. But then again, I couldn’t make any guarantees.
“Well, just do what you can.”
Since I’m an S Rank Adventurer, I doubt many would dare to confront me knowingly.
“Also, I need you to maintain contact at least once a day.”
“That won’t be a problem. I never intended to stay out overnight anyway.”
Even though I had a backup, I had set up a Camping House within the city. I could Teleport back anytime, so there was no need for camping.
“That’s a relief.”
By the way, it seemed the Councilor had left early due to the Alert Level rising to 2. I thought it would be easier to manage without that troublesome individual around as we left the Adventurer’s Guild.
And so, we arrived at our third Dungeon attack.
“Today, we’ll take the shortest route.”
“Okay. Please guide me.”
I pulled out my Tablet and sword to display the map. It seemed that I needed to display the map of the first layer with my sword for the shortcut paths to appear. It was a hassle to tap the Tablet with the hilt of my sword, but the parts from the broken robot didn’t respond to the Tablet, so I had no choice.
“This is the first spot.”
As I stepped into the entrance, I nearly fell halfway into a pitfall trap. I examined the wall behind me closely.
“Huh…?”
I could hear Rio’s incredulous voice, and honestly, I wouldn’t expect a path to continue from such a place either.
“Ah, found it!”
When I pressed a faintly visible square cut in the wall, I heard a clunk sound as it recessed. A part of the back wall slid open like a sliding door, revealing a staircase leading down.
“How was anyone supposed to know that?”
It was right in the middle of a pitfall trap. There were no footholds to grab onto, and it would be tough if we couldn’t fly. Shrugging, Rio and I descended the stairs together. I felt a shift in dimensions, indicating we had arrived at the second layer.
“Wow, taking shortcuts really speeds things up.”
I extended my Presence Detection and Spatial Awareness to scout for nearby Monsters and terrain. It seemed there were none close by, but I detected a Monster House a little further away. Continuing to check the map of the second layer on my Tablet, we pressed on with our shortcuts.
We pressed switches hidden in holes where spears shot out from the walls and activated switches beneath falling ceilings. Even taking shortcuts was a life-or-death endeavor.
“Is this the last one…?”
Given how treacherous the traps had been so far, I wasn’t feeling particularly excited about this final one. If there weren’t any useful treasures at the deepest part of the fifth layer, I might lose motivation for a while.
The fourth layer looked similar to the first, but the corridors were about twice as wide, and the ceiling was higher. In front of me was a conspicuously suspicious button.
“Considering the traps we’ve encountered, there’s no way anyone would dare to press that.”
Rio sighed deeply, and I wholeheartedly agreed.
“But we have to press it.”
“…I figured as much.”
With a resigned sigh, Rio cast a Barrier around us while I did the same and pressed the button. I braced myself, but no traps sprang forth. Instead, a cut appeared in the wall beside the button, and it slid open to reveal a passageway.
Astonished, I stepped into the passage. Just because nothing happened didn’t mean we could let our guard down. About ten meters ahead, there was another door, but as the door behind us closed, the front door opened. Upon entering, we found yet another door ahead, but this time, the back door closed without the front door opening.
“Huh?”
“What’s wrong?”
“Well, the previous door should open…”
I checked the Tablet, but there were no switches to open the door. As we discussed this, I noticed Rio’s voice was becoming harder to hear, so I switched to Telepathic Communication. After a while, I finally realized something.
“This room is in a vacuum.”
“Oh, I thought so too!”
I couldn’t imagine there being space suits in this world, and it seemed we had stumbled into a trap with a 100% fatality rate.