The Darkness was Comfortable for me
chapter-66-67

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Dark

The next day, I met Rifreya early in the morning at the guild.

I plan on going to the 3rd Floor with Rifreya and Grapefull.

It is of course a secret that I went to the dungeon yesterday, moreover, to the 3rd Floor by myself.

“Hikaru, what’s with that wound…? Your clothes are also in tatters.” (Rifreya)

Rifreya ran towards me and touched my cheek with her fingers.

Looks like I had a wound left.

I thought of the chance that it wouldn’t be found out, but she suddenly pointed it out. I was going to throw an excuse for the tattered clothes, but there’s no mirrors at the inn, so I didn’t notice I had a wound that could be noticed at a glance.

There might actually be a pretty noticeable one remaining. Maybe I should check in the mirror of the guild.

…Anyways, the mid potion that the guild sells isn’t that great -even though it is so expensive.

“…Where did you go after that?” (Rifreya)

“Well, actually, I went to the port and fell down pretty bad there. I went there wondering if I could fish.” (Hikaru)

“Fishing? Why do that?” (Rifreya)

“Uhm…hobby…” (Hikaru)

“Hobby…?” (Rifreya)

It became a nonsensical excuse, but it looks like Rifreya has bitten on the fishing for some reason, I managed to muddle my way out.

Maybe fishing isn’t something people do much as a hobby over here.

Or it might just be Rifreya not knowing much about the outside world.

By the way, it is true that fishing is one of my hobbies.

“Well, I immediately went back and rested though. I don’t have fishing tools after all.” (Hikaru)

“Really? Immediately? Around what time?” (Rifreya)

“E-Eh…? I wonder. Now that I think about it, I might have spaced out for quite a while at the sea.” (Hikaru)

“Hmmm… Is that so… If you were going to go out to play, you should have invited me.” (Rifreya)

“Eh, what?” (Hikaru)

“Nothing~! Now, let’s go!” (Rifreya)

I acted as if I didn’t hear it and somehow managed to fool her.

Well, no matter how you cut it, there’s no way Rifreya would know that I went by myself to the dungeon.

I was the one who proposed the break, and I haven’t told her yet my real reason as to why I am dungeon diving.

After we hired Grapefull at the lynx mutual aid association, we entered the guild and had our entry permit issued.

Normally, I would be waiting outside, but we will be challenging the 3rd Floor for the first time, so I was told to check the data in the guild.

“It is easy to get lost in the 3rd Floor, but aside from that, there aren’t that many things to watch out for. However, please take a look at the information about the monsters.” (Rifreya)

“Ah, this. I see… There’s a lot more types of monsters than in the 2nd Floor, huh.” (Hikaru)

The traits and names of the 3rd Floor monsters have been posted here with quite the good illustrations.

Goblins (big) are Hobgoblins; the small fiends are Gremlins; the zombies are Ghouls; the giant men are Trolls; and that tree monster is a Treant.

“Yeah. The monsters aren’t that big of a deal, but we have to be careful when they come in groups. You can’t move when you are paralyzed after all.” (Rifreya)

“Have you gotten hit by that?” (Hikaru)

“One time. I was saved by my party members and somehow managed to escape danger.” (Rifreya)

If I had been hit with paralysis yesterday, I would have died without doubt.

Were the viewers watching and wishing for me to get bitten by a Ghoul? If that’s the case, I should have tried to show myself having a harder time with them.

The viewers must have watched the explorations of Alex too, so I think they have information about the 3rd Floor.

It might be hard to bring fresh content unless I dive to the 4th Floor and below.

“The weakness of Treants is Spirit Abilities…especially Fire Spirit Abilities, huh. Looks like attacks with weapons won’t work well.” (Hikaru)

“Not really. It wouldn’t be that difficult with my weapon. In the case of monsters with weapons, a clash can’t be helped, but a Treant also flails its branches around, so it would be like lumbering.” (Rifreya)

“Lumbering…” (Hikaru)

Well, it is true that it was only flailing around with its arms. Rifreya must be a good match against it.

When that shows up, I will leave it to Rifreya.

“The strongest one is the Garden Panther, huh… Have you fought it before?” (Hikaru)

“No, I haven’t even encountered one. There’s talk that it is so fast there’s no knowing if you can even run away from it, so we have to be careful.” (Rifreya)

“The Panther can suddenly attack you-nyan. You have it eat dried meat and run away in the meantime, or use smoke bombs to run away. The other option is to use Spirit Abilities, but maybe this party can defeat one-nya?” (Grapefull)

“Hm? Monsters eat meat?” (Hikaru)

I haven’t seen them do that even once though.

Or more like, monsters are mysterious creatures that turn into Spirit Stones when defeated…wait, that’s the same for humans in dungeons, huh.

“Monsters are born with an empty stomach, so they are always hungry. Giving them food to run away is a basic of explorers.” (Rifreya)

“Then, do monsters die from starvation?” (Hikaru)

“The dungeon is filled with Spirits, so they won’t be dying from starvation. Even we don’t get hungry that much inside of it, right?” (Rifreya)

“Eh? That was because of Spirits?” (Hikaru)

I am full of things I don’t know.

It is true that I thought I didn’t get that hungry when inside the dungeon.

I thought it was from the tension, so I didn’t pay it much mind though…

“Anyways, I only have one dried meat, so we have to be careful about the Panther.” (Rifreya)

“Yeah, it would be rough if it were to hit us with a preemptive strike. If it goes straight for me, it would be the end. Or more like, I will prepare some myself too.” (Hikaru)

I didn’t encounter a Garden Panther yesterday.

I knew that there would be the danger of getting attacked by surprise, so I ended up using Darkness Fog from beginning to end, but it might be better to do the same today.

We can buy dried meat for escapes in the guild, so I buy 3. By the way, there’s apparently no problem with humans eating it. So it serves as emergency food as well.

“At any rate, let’s try and see if the strategy we used in the 2nd Floor works there.” (Rifreya)

“Right. Also, Rifreya, do you think you could defeat this Troll thing without any support?” (Hikaru)

“I can. It is like a matured Ogre after all. I am a worse match against fast types like the Mantis.” (Rifreya)

“Then, the only one we have to be careful about is the Garden Panther, huh.” (Hikaru)

“Yeah. Also, you should at least be careful about the Gremlins. They can use Spirit Abilities. About the Panther…it might be hard to get a hit in without your support, Hikaru.” (Rifreya)

In a party with 3, the fighting style changes.

I am serving solely as the support, and have the flashy battle style of Rifreya be the focus. The more flashy she is, the higher the viewers.

3 days of diving and 1 day to rest; in that 1 day, I explore alone.

When diving in a party, I gather viewers with a steady fighting style.

I will aim for 1st place with these two plans.

Even if there’s 1,000 Chosen (to be precise, only around 700 are alive), it is not like all of them are living in a way that gathers viewers.

Even living requires money.

It is not like everyone can put their everything to get viewers.

• Chapter 067: Frog Plaza and Mankind’s Untrodden Layer

“Already found one-nyan. 1 Hobgoblin. What will you do-nya?” (Grapefull)

“Let’s do this. Make this one quick.” (Hikaru)

We went straight to the 3rd Floor.

Rifreya and Grapefull apparently explore in the 3rd Floor mainly, they’ve got their own handmade map packed with memos, and you apparently can begin seeing the peculiarities of the structures once you get used to them and can travel without getting lost.

That one Hobgoblin was easily split apart by Rifreya.

She has astounding attack power as always.

“Don’t get lost, okay, Hikaru? It would be the end if you get lost on this floor.” (Rifreya)

“Is it really that bad?” (Hikaru)

“Well, there’s nothing you can do if you can’t go back anymore. It is impossible to fight monsters the whole time, and there’s only the 2 of us…3 counting Full-chan.” (Rifreya)

According to Rifreya, it is pretty reckless to explore the 3rd Floor with a party of 3.

A scout doesn’t serve as a fighting force, so it is technically 2.

Rifreya is a warrior that has the means to heal herself, and I can serve as a porter. In that sense, you could think of us as a party worth 5 people.

That’s because there’s normally 3 warriors on the front and the remaining 3 are backup.

After walking for a while, we arrived at a plaza that’s around 100 meters in diameter.

There was a statue in the middle of around 2 meters modeled after what looked like a dancing frog.

“A frog statue-nya. Will you be hunting here today-nyan?” (Grapefull)

“Right… This is the first day, so I would say yeah. There’s the need to walk around and get used to the 3rd Floor to a certain degree, but…let’s leave that for tomorrow.” (Rifreya)

“Then, I will go take a look for a bit-nyan. Fine with any monster?” (Grapefull)

“Let’s avoid only the Garden Panther.” (Rifreya)

“Got it-nyan.” (Grapefull)

Rifreya and Grapefull were forming the plan for today.

I personally want to fight a Garden Panther too, but this is still the first day, so I will follow their lead for today.

“Hikaru, this place is the Frog Plaza. It is the biggest plaza in the 3rd Floor. As long as you arrive at this place, you just have to walk in the direction that the frog is facing and you will arrive at the exit, so -at the very least- try to remember this place. Also, there’s a lot of explorers that fight or take breaks here, so it can serve as a base, and you can get help if something happens.” (Rifreya)

I see. There’s stone paving closely packed in the ground, and it is suitable for Spirit Stone hunts. There’s also no other structures around, so there’s no obstructions. It might be convenient for Rifreya who swings around a big sword.

By the way, I came here yesterday too, so I remember this place.

It might have been too plain for the viewers, but having a place this open inside the dungeon is pretty mysterious.

Logically speaking, this place should be deep underground -several hundreds of meters down. It means that that city has a dungeon like this existing below it.

And yet, there’s air, and there’s no gas that would bring harm to the body of a person. It is truly like a place that exists only to be conquered by people.

Moreover, there’s still more to this dungeon.

“A Troll-nyan. It is only 1 though. What do you wannya do?” (Grapefull)

“Let’s do it -with the same fighting style as usual.” (Hikaru)

I sink the monster into darkness, bring it out from the darkness on signal, and Shadow Bind it at the same time. Rifreya comes in there with a full power hit.

It is a method that works even by myself with anyone aside from the Treant. There’s no problem at all, and the reality is that we managed to defeat the Troll without any issues.

The exploration continued without any problems just like that.

We are not a 3rd Floor level party.

I am physically weak, but I can use abilities quite well, and Rifreya excels as a warrior.

Grapefull must also be a pretty skilled scout herself. She is properly guiding us while searching for monsters in a way that we don’t encounter several monsters at once. It seems like her Tier is slowly increasing from fighting monsters every now and then. It was possible to defeat a Hobgoblin in one hit by hitting their weak point.

“Looks like we will be able to manage somehow in the 3rd Floor. Well, the earning isn’t that different from the 2nd Floor though.” (Hikaru)

“There aren’t that many monsters after all. Even so, it would be scary to go to the 4th Floor and 5th Floor, so I would say our right difficulty is here.” (Rifreya)

“You have gone down to the 4th Floor, right?” (Hikaru)

“Only a bit though.” (Rifreya)

The 4th Floor, the Rain Dragon Grand Waterfall, is apparently a cave that has a giant waterfall.

“The 4th Floor isn’t that suitable for exploration. Water Spirit Users and Fire Spirit Users are necessary. If possible, a Light Spirit User would be useful as well.” (Rifreya)

“Sounds like a pain.” (Hikaru)

“It is a pain. The monsters are strong, the ground is slippery, you get wet from the water, it is cold, dark, and monsters suddenly come out from weird places…” (Rifreya)

I see. In contrast, it is easy to fight in the 3rd Floor. There’s mist, but it is not to the point of dampening, and it is not cold or hot. The ground isn’t bad, and the monsters aren’t that strong. Most of all, it isn’t dark.

“Speaking of that, the information of the dungeon you can get only goes up to the 5th Floor. What’s with the 6th Floor?” (Hikaru)

“The furthest the parties in this city have reached is the 6th Floor.” (Rifreya)

“In other words, the 6th Floor is still in the process of being cleared, huh.” (Hikaru)

“There’s apparently explorers who have reached all the way to the 7th Floor. Those are only rumors though. There’s also no information shared about it.” (Rifreya)

The 5th Floor is ‘The Hell to Glory’ and the 6th Floor is ‘The Dawn of the Gold Plain’.

The 5th Floor -the Hell to Glory- is pretty problematic. There’s apparently a lot of explorers who lose their lives there, but Rifreya said that the 4th Floor is also really rough. In other words, the 4th Floor, 5th Floor, and 6th Floor aren’t floors that one can go to with a half-baked party.

“Is there information about the 6th Floor?” (Hikaru)

“I wonder. The guild might have, but the guild doesn’t recommend going to the depths.” (Rifreya)

“They don’t? Even though it is our job to explore?” (Hikaru)

“It is because Spirit Stones themselves can be gathered plenty well all the way to the 5th Floor. It would be more of a loss if they were to push further into the depths and lose skilled explorers.” (Rifreya)

“So that’s how it works. It is true that there’s not much aside from Spirit Stones…” (Hikaru)

“However, if the depths are not explored, the density of the whirling chaotic energy increases too much, so there’s the need to hunt monsters in the surface levels at quite the high pace to compensate.” (Rifreya)

What can be gained from the dungeon…

You obviously get Spirit Stones, but putting it the other way around, you only get that.

Of course, there’s the Gift of the Divine Beast, but that’s not something you get often, and I even got it on the 2nd Floor. It probably has nothing to do with the floor.

Even so, you can get quite the amount of money if you sold it, so it would be really profitable…I think. Of course, you can’t trade them in the dungeon, but it is possible when you go outside.

Also, you can bring worth in raising your Tier from fighting.

But that might be slightly special for explorers. Everyone is exploring for the sake of their livelihood. There’s no need to go to the depths and poke your head into danger.

“There’s 2 Gremlins and 1 Troll mixed party-nya. They are a pretty problematic bunch if you don’t fight it well. What will you do-nya?” (Grapefull)

Grapefull had come back from scouting and we headed to battle.

Rifreya dealt with the Troll, and I dealt with the 2 Gremlins; in that way, we managed to dispose of mixed parties easily.

And in this way, we managed to finish the first day in the 3rd Floor with a party.

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