We had secured a guide and a lugger. In the morning, we departed from the motel for the dungeon after storing our camping gear inside her storage. Despite being a lugger, Saya could handle herself on the upper floors.
The second floor was a lake.
"So this is the end of the dungeon." I knocked on the translucent pink wall that marked the end of the dungeon.
"Yes. No matter what equipment we use, we just can't get past it somehow," Saya said.
"Where will you camp? The next floor is inside a cave beneath the lake, so you'll have to swim. But thanks to my Dimensional Storage, your camping gear won't get drenched!"
"Hm... Yuuno?"
"The second floor seems too shallow, but we should get used to the monsters around here first."
"This is a D-rank dungeon, and we just graduated from an F-rank dungeon. There's no guarantee that the upper floors have weaker monsters," I replied.
"Well, that's a risk we must take. No pain, no gain!" Yuuno said. "Let's kill around ten monsters on the second floor. Then we'll make camp on the third floor. The third floor is an underwater cave. It's better for us. The risk of getting surrounded or mobbed is lower."
"I see. That's true." I nodded. As long as Yuuno wasn't blinded by greed, I was happy to follow her orders. She was the most senior member of the team.
"What monsters usually spawn on the second floor, Saya?" Noelle asked.
"Hm... crabs, like on the first floor. Then there are lobsters. Then there are two kinds of frogs. One has venomous spit, while the other has acidic blood. The acid frog should be attacked from a distance, preferably using magic, while the venomous frog needs to be killed quickly."
"We should stay away from those two." Yuuno frowned.
I just realized how underequipped we were. We weren't ready for monsters that inflicted status ailments. And, just like the rest of the dungeon, those status ailments could only be cured with antidotes made from dungeon materials. Modern medicine couldn't do anything against them.
"It would be best if we could recruit a priest, huh?"
"Well, to be honest, it would be cheaper to buy specialized antidotes. They're only a few tens of thousands of dollars per potion. Healing mages are usually employed by the state or the guild. We can't hire them off the street," Saya shrugged, "or we could simply wait until the poison wore off."
I frowned. Tens of thousands of dollars for a single vial. The adventurer economy was on another level compared to that of ordinary civilians.
"We don't have the money for that. If we run into them, we'll have to retreat to the entrance and hope we lived long enough to meet the guild doctors or thhe poison wore off on its own," Yuuno said.
I nodded.
"That's the strategy. Poison saps your strength. It doesn't kill you instantly. So, if you only get one stack of poison, you can usually sleep it off. That's why we should kill the venomous frog as quickly as possible." Saya said.
I turned to Noelle. She had health potions from her brother. In the worst-case scenario, we could use those.
"Let's stop talking and start hunting. Come! Let's make some money!" Yuuno raised her sword, and we began our hunt.
Crabs are now an easy game for us. Especially for Noelle. Just go around and stab the gap. As for the lobsters, they were even easier. As long as we dodged their claws, they posed little threat.
Then we encountered an acid frog. The brown frog was as large as a cow. It was a bit smaller than I had expected. I had thought it would be the size of a truck, but at that size, a single stab from Noelle was enough.
"Is your weapon okay?" I asked, wondering how much wear it had suffered after killing about a dozen frogs and ten lobsters and crabs. Her kill count was almost double mine. She was amazing.
"Hm? Yes. As long as the acid doesn't spray on me, it's fine." Noelle nodded as the corpses disappeared.
"Hey! What about me? Don't you pity this defender even a tiny bit? I was the one they targeted, you know."
"But they didn't even hit you."
Yuuno was deathly afraid the acid frog would ruin her equipment, so she bolted the moment her taunt worked. She even climbed a tree while Noelle stabbed the frog from behind. Since Noelle killed it in one hit, the aggro mostly stayed on Yuuno.
"If a weapon is damaged, an adventurer who works as a blacksmith might be able to fix it. But if it's destroyed, it's gone for good. You know even beginner weapons cost tens of thousands of dollars, right?" Yuuno said.
"Yes, yes. So, are you okay?" While I understood her financial circumstances, life was more precious. If she was gone, I'd be next. I had two empty slots, but I was burning through Essence Shards. I needed about thirty Essence Shards for each monster, and I barely had a hundred shards left.
I wondered whether I should tell them about this skill's limitation. Yeah. I'd whisper it to Yuuno and Noelle later. I could only use this skill about three more times. I needed to return to my harem next week if I wanted to recharge it.
"I'm fine." Yuuno pouted.
"I think we've killed more enemies than necessary. Should we move to the next floor?" Noelle asked.
"Yes. We should." Yuuno nodded.
"Erm... I can't swim," I said, embarrassed.
"Yes. We know. You can hold on to me while Noelle clears the path. As long as you hold your breath, you'll be fine," Yuuno said. "Adventurers' bodies are stronger than you think. Holding your breath for five minutes is easy."
I hesitated. She was right, but my body went rigid. Well, just as she said, I only needed to hold my breath. I had tested this in the school's swimming pool. I did indeed have a much better physique since becoming an adventurer. That Dex +1 had almost doubled my strength and speed.
Just as we headed toward the river, a shadow lunged at me.
"Waah!!" I jumped back as a gigantic alligator snapped its jaws shut where I had been standing a moment earlier.
"Blue alligator! It's a high-ranking opponent! Hurry! Get to the side and flip it!" Saya drew her dagger.
Noelle leaped forward with her spear. Flipping the alligator could only mean one thing. The alligator was weak on its belly and very tough on its back.
Noelle's spear skimmed the ground like a snake. Even though the alligator hadn't been flipped yet, her spear still found its way into its underbelly. The hit was shallow, but the alligator turned from me to Noelle. It was too slow for her. Noelle had already darted away before the alligator had even finished turning.
Then it turned toward Yuuno after she used her taunt skill. Noelle circled back. I raced with her to one side of the alligator.
My heart was racing, but there was no way I would just sit still. Together with Noelle and Saya, we moved to one side while Yuuno distracted the monster. Noelle dropped her spear, and I grabbed one leg while she grabbed another. We both pulled as hard as we could. I could feel pain shoot through my hand. Its scales were sharp, but I ignored it and kept pulling.
"It's flipped!" I said as I drew my longsword from its scabbard.
We then grabbed our weapons and rammed them into its belly, killing it in a single strike.
"Phew. It's over." Noelle sighed.
"Ouch." I looked at my hand. It was worse than I had thought. A huge laceration ran across my palm where I had grabbed the beast's leg. "Sorry, can you get the first-aid kit?"
"Shouldn't we use a potion on that? That looks bad. And you need your hand to hold a sword, right?" Saya asked.
"No. Potions are best saved for later. The water isn't poisonous. There aren't any bacteria in the dungeon." I shook my head. We barely earned ten thousand dollars with each dive, and now we had to split it four ways. There was no way I would waste a potion worth tens of thousands of dollars on a scratch. Even lesser potions still cost around twenty thousand.
"Look! A colored stone! This one is brown! Ah, and we also got an alligator drop!" Saya said. "I need this stone to increase my storage. If I get this and another twenty F-rank white stones, I can upgrade my skill and double my carrying capacity!"
I turned to Yuuno and Noelle in silence.
"Ah... sorry. I mean... It's definitely worth a lot. I'm satisfied with the money," Saya said, looking away.
"I don't mind giving it to you. But that stone costs around five thousand dollars, right?" Yuuno said. "With your share, it would take several days to pay us back."
"Well... if it's money, I do have some savings." Saya looked up.
Yuuno turned to Noelle.
"Great. Instead of turning it in to the guild and paying the 30% tax, we should sell it to her!"
"Well..." Noelle frowned.
"Noelle? Do you need it?" Yuuno stopped.
"Well... I need either this or a red stone. It would determine my growth path," she said.
"Well, let's store it for now. We'll decide later," Yuuno said.
"Alright! Leave it to me." Saya then put the stone into her Dimensional Storage. "What about the scales?"
"We'll sell them, of course," Yuuno said.
"Shouldn't we use them to make armor? Our leather armor is no longer good enough for this. Proper armor could improve our stats," Noelle said.
"And where do you think we could find a cheap adventurer blacksmith? You know my circumstances."
"Um... I could ask my brother. Our guild has a dedicated blacksmith. I... I'll cover the fee."
"No. That wouldn't be right." I interrupted. It seemed Yuuno agreed.
"No. If you use your own money to forge the armor, then the armor should belong to you," Yuuno said.
"That's right."
"Um... Well... okay. In that case, just like Saya, I'll buy the materials from the team."
"So, should we head to the third floor, or should we camp here?"
"We should go to the third floor. We might get surrounded here. It's safer near the stairs," Yuuno said.
Despite being tired, she still chose to press on. Yet her reasoning made sense, so I followed her.
It was time to test my swimming lessons.