Following the path lit by torches and relying on memory, I made my way deeper into the dungeon.
Thanks to the labyrinth dungeon's feature of splitting into dozens of alleyways, I got a bit lost at times, but by checking the dungeon map, I managed to arrive in roughly the right direction.
Before I knew it, all traces of other people had vanished, and this time, the feeling was good.
No one had discovered this place yet, or at least, it felt like the treasure chest would still be intact.
"Ah."
Clang!
In the moment I looked away, a spiked trap plate pierced right through my foot.
The spike went through my shoe and my foot alike, but I didn't feel much pain.
Even looking at my big toe completely run through, it just felt like a somewhat large thorn had lodged in it.
Fortunately, it seemed pain perception was greatly reduced.
First, I pulled my foot out of the trap and used a vitality recovery rune to heal the wound.
The pain felt like it had been reduced to about a tenth of normal.
Otherwise, I probably would have screamed when my toe got pierced.
However, even if the pain was minimal, it wasn't completely harmless.
I had to use two runes for the wound to fully heal, so stepping on something like this unknowingly during combat could be dangerous.
Especially since the traps grew more vicious the deeper underground you went.
After finishing the healing, I passed the trap and moved forward again.
The forks in the path increased, and the number of traps began to multiply.
Not just on the floor, but poison gas traps spraying from the walls on either side.
There were even ones where the ceiling collapsed, and goblins ambushed from above.
And...
"Lever?"
A switch-like lever appeared, one that tempted you terribly to pull it downward.
Pulling it opened a massive pit right in front of you, and one misstep would send you tumbling into an endless abyss.
Seeing it after so long brought back memories.
Newbies who fell into that abyss without a teleport scroll often quit the game on the spot.
Out of curiosity, I'd fallen in once myself, and there really was nothing inside the abyss.
Well... now wasn't the time to mess around.
After bypassing all the lever traps, three paths finally appeared.
From here, my memory was clear.
The correct one was the middle path.
The paths on either side led to one-way corridors with no end in sight.
Moreover, the further you went, the narrower they became, until at the end, they were barely wide enough for one person.
If you stubbornly pushed all the way to the end...
With a click, spears installed at the far end would pierce straight through the intruder's body.
I'd shed quite a few tears over this overly malicious trap design.
Considering the malice of the installed traps, the odds were high that the treasure chest here remained undiscovered.
How long had I walked down the middle path?
"Found it."
At the end of the alleyway, a large room appeared.
As I entered, in the center of the empty room sat a treasure chest gleaming with golden light.
My heart pounded at the chest's radiant halo.
I wanted to rush over and open it right away.
But instead of approaching, I quietly gathered my mana.
At that moment.
Rumble!
The treasure chest, sensing my approach, leaped up in an instant.
A mimic disguised as a treasure chest, one that devoured approaching explorers.
As its top parted slightly, countless sharp teeth glinted.
It gaped its mouth wide to swallow me whole and charged.
"Chain Lightning."
Zzzap!
Lightning surged from my fingertips, striking the mimic first.
Then, as if the chest had exploded, fragments scattered everywhere.
Dungeon monsters in the form of little demons: mimic imps.
They burst out the moment lightning pierced the mimic, but they didn't get far before dying to the transferred chain lightning from the chest.
⚙ System Notification ⚙[Defeated Mimic.]
[Acquired experience.]
[Defeated Imp.]
[Acquired experience.]
In an instant, experience filled up, and magic stones clattered to the floor.
"Whew."
I sat on the floor first and recovered my mana with a rune.
Even after dealing with the mimic, there might be no more traps, but who knew if something had changed.
After a short recovery, I picked up all the magic stones.
The imps' magic stones were the same size as goblins', but the mimic's was considerably larger.
This one alone looked worth at least 50 gold.
I stowed them all neatly in my inventory, then slowly felt around the stone-walled room.
It should be around here...
Click.
Found it.
I pushed in a slightly recessed brick in the corner, and the dungeon wall slowly opened, revealing a small space about a handspan wide.
And inside...
A crude wooden box sat there.
The charm of the underground dungeon.
A treasure chest.
It was still here, as expected.
I squeezed my body into the hidden room, wary of prying eyes.
When I let go of the wall, it closed again.
There was one torch left inside, so it wasn't dark.
After a light deep breath, I placed my hand on the treasure chest.
I opened the lid—
Creeeak—
Artifact『Shadowveil Necklace』
—Grants wearer stealth status upon activation.
[Remaining uses: 3]
"Oh!"
The Shadowveil Necklace was among the top artifacts on the 1st floor.
Stealth, first of all, required at least 3rd circle magic to dispel, and considering the mana cost of stealth detection spells, using stealth was overwhelmingly advantageous.
Moreover, that was just the existence of a dispel spell; normally, even noticing stealth was quite difficult.
It was a shame it only had three uses, but there were definitely points where it would come in handy.
For example... snatching treasure chests from other guilds' territories.
Treasure chests on each floor regenerated on a weekly cycle.
And when they did, all treasure chests regenerated at once.
So, by calculating the regeneration time here, you could figure out the generation times for other points as well.
Fighting each other or stealing items was prohibited, but... there were no such rules for treasure chests.
If snatching treasure chests were banned, there'd be no need to block doorways with people.
I carefully stowed the artifact in my inventory.
Then, I pushed the slightly protruding brick on the sealed wall again.
With a rumble, the wall opened once more.
Map—Underground Labyrinth Dungeon 1st Floor
Checking the map, the path to this point was now properly marked.
Alright then... time to get back to hunting.
I needed to hit level 3.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Kyiek!"
Over twenty goblins collapsed at once.
Chain Lightning had no limit on how the lightning jumped to surroundings, so all the clustered goblins were charred black.
"Whew."
Hunting had become somewhat familiar, and I'd picked up some tricks.
Namely, kiting hunts.
My spells were all great, but they consumed too much mana.
I had to rest at least two minutes per cast, so the more monsters I gathered, the exponentially better the efficiency.
Whether one goblin, ten, or a hundred—as long as they were clustered, one skill wiped them out.
I picked up every magic stone without fail. It was all money; I couldn't just leave it.
Nothing to do while recovering mana anyway.
After recovery, I explored the dungeon corridors again.
Some rooms showed signs of fierce battles, blood-soaked, but in those cases, I backtracked and checked other paths.
"Kiruk."
This time, only three goblins.
Truthfully, kiting didn't require much skill.
Just...
Toss—
"Kiik?"
Throw a stone to attract their attention and wait a moment.
Then...
"Kyiiiik!"
Spotting me, they charged.
I ran forward in this state, scouting other rooms.
Occasionally, entering and exiting rooms got me attacked by goblins, but...
⚙ System Notification ⚙[Basic Vitality Recovery Rune heals wounds.]
Goblin or imp attacks could be covered somewhat with runes.
"Should I end it with this room?"
After circling four rooms, this was my best kiting yet.
Rooms usually had anywhere from one to over ten monsters.
After four rooms, at least thirty goblins and imps were hot on my tail.
I sprinted down the dungeon corridor, then veered left.
Two rooms ahead.
I entered the nearest one.
Greed brings disaster, after all.
That's when it happened.
"A-Are you okay?!"
A woman's urgent voice came from the opposite room.
An attractive blonde woman shouted something toward me.
Her face looked familiar... but more importantly!
Boom!
A small fireball erupted from the woman's hand, engulfing goblins and imps.
Two shots at once just now...?
Did she use a scroll too?
No time to think.
Before she stole more, I gathered my mana.
Zzzap—!
Lightning shot from my hand, striking the goblins right in front.
The bolt pierced a goblin and spread instantly to the surroundings.
The monster horde pushing into the room collapsed in a flash.
The transferred lightning lit up the area brilliantly for a moment.
This was it.
The exhilarating feedback was addictive.
Looking at the fallen monster corpses, four in the back seemed to have been killed by the woman's fireball.
A bit regrettable to lose a few to steal, but overall satisfying.
Mana used, so I picked up magic stones and recovered with a rune.
This was the most vulnerable moment; had to be careful.
"Ah, um, I... s-sorry..."
The woman from the opposite room came over, handed me a magic stone, and apologized.
She knew it was a steal, attacking goblins without a distress signal.
Still, no bad intentions, considering she even used a scroll.
Scrolls from draws were bound, but the magic shop in town sold official ones too.
A fireball scroll cost over 200 gold each, so it didn't make sense she'd use it just to steal.
"Um, here..."
She handed me magic stones she'd picked up from the floor.
Counting them: thirty-two in total.
"I'm really sorry... I thought you were in danger..."
"It's fine."
Now I saw it: another familiar face.
The seal of a fallen noble family from yesterday's basic training.
"Take these."
"...Pardon?"
"The four you got."
"Ah..."
I gave her the four small magic stones.
Not a party, but clear accounting prevented issues.
She alternated looking at my face and the stones, then seemed to remember something and spoke.
"By any chance... did we meet at basic training yesterday...? The one who submitted the exam first... Mr. Rain?"
"Yes."
"I knew it! Ah, I'm Elana!"
Elana chattered on nonstop, from the wonder of meeting an acquaintance to everything else.
As I timed an interruption, she stood up first.
"Ah, I should go ahead. I have an appointment... Really sorry about the steal. If you come to town, let me make it up to you. Not experience value, but..."
With that, she pulled a scroll from her bosom and tore it.
Emergency escape scroll, apparently.
Using teleportation magic or scrolls below underground 3rd floor returned you to the dungeon entrance.
"If you come to town, make sure to tell me! Definitely!"
Her blonde hair fluttering, she vanished.