Chapter 33: The Bottom of the Pit, Once More
There was only one Monster.
In that case, there’s no need to adjust the power. If I can end it with a single, full-power shot, that’ll be fine.
If I was just testing that, it would only consume a bit more Magical Power. I enlarged the Gun to its limit, and what resulted could only be described as a cannon. Its total length easily exceeded ten meters, and the diameter of its barrel was over fifty centimeters. This was the first time I’d made something this big. I couldn’t exactly test-fire something like this on the surface, so this was actually a perfect opportunity.
Obviously, I couldn’t hold something like this and fire it, so I used both the ground and the ceiling to secure it, lowered the barrel into the pit, and took careful aim. I moved back as far as I could and used Mana Manipulation to fire it.
KABOOOM!
The explosion was strong enough to make my hair flutter and the ground shake, but it fired without issue. The structural integrity seemed fine. I checked below again, wondering if it had hit its mark properly.
The Magic Stone in the center, my target. It seemed to have hit perfectly, as it was split cleanly in two.
However, I was dumbfounded by the sight.
“Hey, hey. I thought it would shatter into pieces, but this means it was that tough, huh?”
Right. This was the highest-firepower cannon I’d made so far. I let out a breath, glad I hadn’t underestimated it and had gone all out.
“Whoops, if I leave it like this, the Apes will gather again. They’ll eat everything.”
I reverted the cannon and instantly jumped down the pit. I fell at tremendous speed, but when I got reasonably close, I used something like a hot air balloon again to slow my descent, extended my Maso legs, and clung to the wall. I secured myself firmly and hurried to prepare a foothold before the Apes arrived, but I didn’t make it in time and had to aim in a great rush.
It’s fine. Their white breath is slow. There’s also a considerable distance. This time, I can easily dodge it.
I tried to calm myself with such thoughts, but the Ape’s unexpected behavior caught me off guard. That’s right, even though it had noticed my presence, it prioritized eating the Petal.
“What an idiot. Maybe if I use this as a decoy, it’ll be a piece of cake?”
Thinking that, I shot its head, but it healed instantly.
Huh?
My thoughts involuntarily stopped.
No, no, you’re eating without a care, but you… your head was just blown open, you know?
While thinking that, I tried aiming for its Magic Stone, and it died easily. As expected, it seems it can’t repair its Magic Stone.
I immediately descended to the bottom, cut off one of the Petals, and threw it at the entrance of the passage. Then, to check if the Giant Magic Stone was still where I left it last time, I reached for the green vine that formed the base of the flower.
The moment I did, a pain as if my fingers were being sliced assaulted me. My hand instantly turned purple, the discoloration spreading as fast as water drips. I couldn’t stand due to the sudden, intense pain and nausea, and I plunged face-first into a Petal. Because I was about to vomit, my tongue unintentionally touched the Petal. My instincts craved that Petal. There was no other way to survive but to follow them. Obeying my instincts, I bit into the Petal. I had no strength to chew; I somehow managed to swallow the juice that seeped out.
In that instant, my thoughts cleared. Everything healed in the blink of an eye. The discolored skin, the pain, the nausea—all gone. Yes, it was just like with the Ape Monster.
But the feeling of despair wouldn’t leave me. The fact that death had been just a hair’s breadth away, right before my eyes, moments ago. If I hadn’t fallen onto a Petal, I would have definitely died. My ragged breathing still hadn’t calmed. I had thought I needed to test if it worked on humans or something, but I never imagined I’d end up testing it on myself.
“No, this isn’t the time for that!!”
Right, even though I’d thrown a Petal at the entrance, there should have been Apes heading this way. I looked, and sure enough, seven Apes were swarming the Petal. They were devouring it at incredible speed, each trying to get there first.
I had to take them down before they finished eating it, so I fired rhythmically, shattering their Magic Stones, but one Petal was almost completely devoured. There were still plenty of Petals. No problem. With these, I could safely clear this Floor. Then, all that was left was Magical Power, so I headed towards the location of the Giant Magic Stones again.
When I touched the green vine to check if they were underneath, I was afflicted by a terrible poison. Naturally, I couldn’t touch it again, so I lifted it with my Maso and checked underneath.
“Ah, good, they’re still here after all.”
A good fifteen of them were rolling around. It made sense when I thought about it. If they didn’t remain, there wouldn’t have been so many of them scattered around in the first place.
Even though I was lifting the vine with my Maso, I didn’t have the courage to go underneath, so I rolled the Magic Stones out, gathered them, and loaded them onto the Cart again. I also cut off a large number of Petals with my Maso, loaded them up, and finished my preparations.
With these, it felt like I could handle any room, but I couldn’t forget the lesson from last time. I would definitely conduct the subjugation in a one-way location.
With the Petals, it was so safe I could say there was nothing to fear. They would stop at the perfect spot. It was so easy, anyone could do it. I shot them down crisply and finished annihilating the Floor without feeling a shred of anxiety.
“I thought this last time I came, but maybe because it’s a deep area, each Floor is small.”
The upper Floors are really intricate, to the point where you could get lost even with a map, yet down here, I can finish annihilating a Floor in two hours. When it’s such a good hunting ground, it almost feels like it’s not enough.
Could it be that these Petals also work on the dinosaurs?
While harboring that question, I went up the stairs, threw a fragment deep into the passage to lure them with the sound, and as expected, they stopped there and started eating it. I dispatched them in that instant and resumed annihilating the Floor, progressing so smoothly it was hard to believe this was the Floor I had struggled with before.
And so, after finishing the dinosaur subjugation, I returned to the room at the bottom of the pit.
I used three Giant Magic Stones to annihilate two Floors. Thanks to the Petals, I could safely adjust the power, so it seems consumption will remain at this level from now on.
This time, I brought back one Petal and about a hundred kilograms of dinosaur meat. I left the other Petals gathered in one place. If you leave Monster corpses directly in a Dungeon, they get absorbed and disappear, but it’s different if you place something that doesn’t disappear in between. It’s not forever, apparently, but mineral-type items are said to remain for a long time without disappearing. I stacked only the Petals on top of an iron plate that had fallen down with them before coming up. It was quite a hassle because I used my Maso to peel them off, but this way, they should remain until the next Apes spawn.
Even though I could take them back, I had to show them at the Dismantling Yard at least once, so I decided to test the waters with just one Petal for now. To be inconspicuous, I went down to the 25th Floor, loaded up the Cart to some extent, and then returned to school.
“Today too, is it okay to go in order of who’s fastest?”
The man at the Dismantling Yard asked with a cheerful face. He said my way of asking made things less tense and easier for him.
“Yeah, I’ll be taking this and this back as ingredients, so please leave them as they are.”
“Oh, it’s already butchered? What’s this one?”
He tilted his head looking at the Petal, but he didn’t seem particularly concerned. So I let it slide, but for some reason, he stopped me in an unusual way, saying, “Hold on a sec!”
“What’s wrong? There shouldn’t be a problem if I take this back, right?”
“Ah, no, it’s not that. The principal came by during the day. He left a message saying that if you earn ten times the standard evaluation points, he’ll let you graduate even without combat. I’ve passed on the message, okay?”
It seems Mr. Owen had already spoken to him. And he’d managed to get me the best possible conditions. With this, I can definitely graduate.
In a good mood, I returned to my room, put as much dinosaur meat as would fit into the freezer, and cut the rest into smaller portions to distribute to Akito and the others. Of course, I also gave some to Riana-san and Yukina-san.
Hiroki and the others invited me for a meal, and we ate together, but Naomi interrogated me for a good hour about where the meat came from. It seems even a gourmet like her didn’t know meat like this.
I had explained some of it to Akito, so when I told him, “It’s a Monster from the place I was dropped into the pit, so I don’t even know its name,” he gave me a pained look but backed down. Well, it might also be because I told him that judging by the size of its Magic Stone, it was from at least below the 50th Floor.
While I was at it, I boasted that if I earned ten times the evaluation points, I could graduate just like that, but…
“No, you… the evaluation points you have now took you half a year to earn, right? How many years will ten times that take? If we continue like this, we can graduate in another year and four months.”
When Hiroki asked me that, the expression drained from my face. Ami laughed so hard she was rolling around, and I returned to my room, dejected and disheartened.
No, it’s fine.
I just need to bring those Petals, right?
Yes, if I bring that super-recovery material, it should be over.
It’s a pain to bring that much quantity to the surface, but if I do, the evaluation points should accumulate in an instant.
However…
It’ll probably start with ‘Where is this Monster from?’ and then lead to ‘How did you defeat something like that?’
I no longer doubt the strength of the Gun. This thing is seriously dangerous, even in this world.
To be honest, it’s so potent that I’m starting to think I shouldn’t have shown it to Riana and the others, especially if we’re going to drift apart.
I don’t think Riana would go around talking about it herself, but if someone of higher status ordered her to reveal it, she probably wouldn’t be able to keep it a secret.
It’s too late to make them forget about it now, and all I can really do is try not to let it spread any further, so I desperately want to graduate as soon as possible and go to Yuri’s place, but…
Maybe I’ll start challenging myself tomorrow to see how far down I can go.
According to information from a senior dismantler I’ve gotten friendly with, apparently, some pretty valuable materials drop on the thirty-fifth Floor.
And compared to the twenty-fifth Floor, they say you can earn a month’s worth of income in a single day there.
It’s a material for Staffs that acts as a catalyst to increase magic efficiency, or so I hear.
However, apparently, no one has brought it back from this Dungeon in the last few years.
According to the most recent records, the last time it was brought back was apparently by Mr. Owen’s Party, once, before they graduated.
He added, “It’s commonly found in Dungeons that adults go to, though.”
Wait, Mr. Owen reached the thirty-fifth Floor while he was still a student?!
Yeah, that’s an insane feat.
The senior dismantler who told me this pestered me, saying, “You could probably make it there by graduation, right?” and asked me to give him priority if I managed to bring some back.
Well, I’m pretty sure I’ll go there anyway, so I replied, “I’ll bring back as much as I can carry, so I’ll count on you then.”
Hmm, after hearing something like that, I’ve got no choice but to go for it.
Alright, until the Apes start spawning, I’m going to get serious about clearing Floors!
Fired up like that, I bought the necessary supplies at the school store and prepared for the next day.