The portal the Sage installed was apparently due to his skill.
It had a limit on the total number of installations and required a massive amount of MP to be poured into the gem that served as the catalyst. The effectiveness of the portal more than compensated for such inconveniences.
"It's really easy not having to walk all the way to the temple."
"And we don't have to climb the stairs, either."
Two days after the installation, they tried it out. The moment they stepped into the glowing magic circle, the scenery instantly switched, and they found themselves standing in the temple.
It seemed to have a function to slightly offset the transfer destination, so there was no worry about bumping into someone upon exiting.
"By the way, what if the destination is completely blocked by a barricade or something?"
"The transfer itself won't occur. You won't end up inside a wall, so rest assured."
In a state of full vitality and energy, Ren and her companions descended the stairs and stepped onto the 21st floor of the dungeon.
They arrived at the entrance to the 21st floor.
The air that touched their skin carried a damp, earthy smell. Unlike the stone passages they were used to, they were surrounded by soil above, below, and on all sides. The ground wasn't marshy but felt slightly soft.
Mei disliked this material as it was difficult to use for hardness enhancement.
"The 21st floor... We'll be facing Lizardmen from here on, right?"
"Yes. We fought them a little before, and they were quite troublesome."
Simply put, they are bipedal reptiles.
The basic Lizardman enemies on the 21st floor are armed with leather armor and curved swords, specializing in melee combat. Their physique is less than an Orc's but more than a Goblin's. They surpass humans in agility, and their strength is also comparable to a human's.
Their reptilian, elusive movement rhythm makes them difficult to read, and if you let them set the pace, a struggle is inevitable.
"For us, it might be best to have Mei block their attacks and finish them off with magic."
"They easily dodge my mace attacks, so your assistance would be helpful."
"Well, just stay calm, and we'll be fine. The number that appears at one time isn't too large on this floor."
After advancing for a while, they reached a small room where the first group of enemies awaited.
You could call it a tutorial for Lizardman combat. Mei blocked the enemies charging with curved swords, focusing on preventing them from targeting her allies, while Ren, Iris, and Shion landed single-target magic attacks.
There was no need for area expansion or rapid fire here.
Since Mei, being a golem, has hard skin, she is unlikely to suffer serious injuries, and healing spells cast intermittently are sufficient for treatment. It was more important to ensure the magic wasn't dodged.
As for the other vanguard, Mariabelle,
"There!"
"Gih!?"
She skillfully responded to the Lizardmen's unusual movements and landed powerful kicks. Her technique was mesmerizing to watch, and there was little need to worry about her either.
As a result, the battle itself ended in less than five minutes.
However, there were still many things to pay attention to. A sigh escaped Ren's lips when it was over.
"If there were just a few more of them, we'd clean up with area magic."
"The fewer the enemies, the easier it is for them to spread out."
They almost wished the enemies would appear in larger hordes. More enemies would also mean more dropped items, killing two birds with one stone.
Furi then exclaimed, "Oh," as if remembering something.
"Speaking of numbers, be careful about the new trap. This one is genuinely dangerous."
The new trap from the 21st floor is an alarm.
As the name suggests, a loud sound rings out, summoning the monsters in the area. The strategy guide warns, "Almost all enemies besides the boss will react, so you must find and disarm it." If they accidentally trigger it, they must stop it as quickly as possible.
"Then my new skill seems useful, too."
"Yeah. We're counting on you, Shion-chan."
This was the Yōko skill "Danger Sense."
It's an ability that allows her to sense when something dangerous is approaching, and it immediately reacted after they had proceeded a little way from the small room.
Shion's ears twitched like sensors.
"How cute!"
"And convenient. I like this."
The possibility of overlooking a trap dramatically decreased.
Ren instinctively stroked Shion's head, and her fluffy tail wagged furi-furi.
Ren smiled, then suddenly remembered the 20th floor and the floors before it.
"I wonder if we should trigger it on purpose?"
"Huh? Ren, are you seriously planning to do that?"
"Yeah. With Shion here, I think we can."
"? What do you mean?"
"She means we should use the alarm to gather the enemies and defeat them all at once."
The plan was mostly as Mei described.
If you have the confidence and ability to defeat all the enemies on that floor at once, the alarm transforms into an "easy means of earning experience and money."
The strategy guide mentioned that this was a traditional technique used in good old RPGs. All areas from the 21st to the 25th floor could be shortened this way.
If they were determined, they could even use the method of triggering the alarm to summon and defeat all enemies, then re-enter the dungeon and repeat the process.
"Since the passage is narrow, we don't have to worry about being assaulted all at once."
"I see. That's right. If there are a lot of enemies behind them, even if we miss one, we'll hit another."
Furi nodded in agreement.
"If that's the case, let's give it a try."
If it seemed too difficult, they could always retreat to the stairs.
After a brief discussion and replenishing HP and MP, Furi intentionally triggered the trap.
They waited for the enemies at the exit of the small room where the first battle took place. Their formation was different from usual, with Ren and Iris at the front. Mei, with Shion on her head, was positioned in the back.
After a while, the cries and footsteps of the enemies could be heard.
The echoing, amplified sound, combined with the noise of the alarm, was quite irritating, but they could vent all their accumulated frustration on the targets.
"Air Blast!"
"Wind Blade!"
"Wind Bullet!"
The three of them activated their magic without waiting for the enemies to come into sight.
The chosen element was wind. Wind Blade is one of the Yōko's elemental attack spells, and Air Blast is the wind-attribute version of Magic Arrow.
The unleashed wind power combined into a larger current that traveled down the passage. When it hit the enemies, it delivered a shock, stopping their movement. If the enemy couldn't withstand it, they would be blown away and hit the walls or other enemies.
While a Fireball would be different, wind was arguably the most suitable for fighting in confined spaces among the spells they had.
The result.
For this floor, or perhaps a continuation of the previous one—the genre shifted from dungeon exploration to base defense/tower defense.
Once the enemies were defeated, they cleared the map, being careful only of the trap, collected the items, and eliminated the few remaining enemies.
It should be noted that while the alarm was active, the period until the enemies were gone was counted as a single battle, and they were able to collect the countless dropped items all at once after the battle ended.
-----------------
And so, the exploration of the 21st floor was completed in just one dive.
Since they could recover HP and MP, and the time saved allowed them to proceed quickly, they went ahead and defeated the boss as well. The fighting style was the usual: unleashing maximum firepower, followed by having the vanguards handle the remaining enemies. Since there was no need to hold back, it was frankly easier than the mob battles.
After returning triumphantly, it was time for dinner.
Since dungeon exploration days often involve discussions, they decided to eat together, including Mariabelle and Aisha. It was a luxurious dinner of dishes Aisha had prepared while they were away, supplemented with ready-made items bought on the way home.
"At this rate, we might descend to the lower floors surprisingly quickly!"
Iris smiled brightly, gripping a skewer of beef purchased from a food stall.
She understood the philosophy of "slow and steady wins the race," but she also had the time limit of "before my father gets too old." Ren, who knew this well, smiled and nodded.
The same strategy could be used up to the 25th floor.
They had been mentally prepared for three to four dives, considering the increase in difficulty and size, so this was a significant speed-up.
They might reach the 25th floor before the end of the year. If so, the New Year's holidays would surely be a time for delicious sake.
"However, it might be best not to be too overconfident."
Mariabelle cautiously put a damper on the enthusiasm while serving a vegetable salad heavy on root vegetables.
"The ease we experienced was thanks to Shion-san's cooperation. We should view this as a result of having reconquered the path up to the 20th floor once again. Besides, that method will become difficult to use from the 26th floor onwards."
"Indeed, it took us several months to reach here the first time."
Mei nodded in agreement.
Since clay-like soil walls are difficult to use and store, she was currently absorbing the stones collected up to the 20th floor.
"Well, well. It's a fact that we had it easy here, so let's enjoy it. Right, Shion-chan?"
"Yes. I will do my best to assist everyone, commensurate with the time I've spent training."
"But don't try too hard, okay? Shion-san tends to overthink things."
To Aisha's teacher-like warning, Shion replied with a cheerful voice.
"I've become accustomed to the dungeon's atmosphere, and I'm taking sufficient rest."
"Ah, you do look very comfortable sleeping on the balcony these days."
"Teacher. That's true, but please don't mention it; it's embarrassing...!"
"Shion-chan is very helpful. She even comes shopping with us."
One day, Ren took Shion shopping, and the shopkeeper said, "That child must be one of this year's arrivals, right? I'll give you a discount."
While they wouldn't apply the beginner's discount to Ren's personal belongings, everyone was happy to offer a discount on daily necessities like groceries. Since Shion could also carry items using Storage, taking her along became the default when shopping.
She was adorable and fluffy, making her very popular with the people in the shopping district and quickly becoming the town mascot. It made one wonder if fan goods would sell well.
Remembering how she was asked to "pet me" every time they went out, Shion changed the topic, her voice slightly embarrassed, and said, "W-Speaking of which."
"I've been wondering, we get currency from the dungeon, right? If money is constantly being added, why doesn't rapid inflation occur?"
"Ah. That's thanks to the 'Divine Artifacts.'"
Divine Artifacts are the general term for special items granted when the boss of a milestone floor is defeated for the first time (including by other parties).
Their effect is that by putting in a set amount of money, you can exchange it for an item, or conversely, you can convert unwanted items into money.
"Some Divine Artifacts create magic items randomly, so there are rumors that people sometimes convert unwanted items back into money and try again and again, like a gacha."
"Is that what the rumors call a gacha?"
"Well, I guess it's a gacha."
Of course, the value is reduced when converting back to money, so you can't spin it indefinitely. On the flip side, if an amazing item comes out, it's a huge success.
I should point out that not everything is a gacha.
The Divine Artifacts that convert goods into money seem to be based on value, and there are also vending machine-like ones where you can buy consumables like potions at a fixed price.
"I heard this from the Sage: they invest just enough money in these to prevent rapid inflation, and use the rest to develop the town and advance dungeon conquest."
High-value items like job-change stones and reset stones can also be obtained from the Divine Artifacts.
It seemed there was a reason the Sage had been stocking so many.
"Well, they're managed so that only a few people can use them, so I've never seen them myself."
"Is that to prevent misuse, after all?"
"Exactly. They say they're not easily broken, but there's no guarantee they won't break, and it would be terrible if they were hidden somewhere."
It would be difficult to find them if they were buried in the ground.
"Because of things like that, our dropped items can be bought up quickly. Though the purchase price is apparently a little lower than the money that comes out of the Divine Artifacts."
That's unavoidable, considering it an administrative fee.
"Mhm. We don't have money problems, and because of those things, the town can support us."
"We earned a lot today, didn't we? At this rate, the day we can repay the debt might be close?"
"You don't have to rush. We didn't invest so much that the brothel's operation would be troubled, so you can repay it whenever you like."
"Even so, the word 'debt' somehow..."
Shion, the young lady, still seemed bothered by it.
If worst came to worst, they could always use the alarm strategy to raise funds.
Ren thought about this while savoring the celebratory feast.
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