Enjoy~
TL: ALT
Chapter 13 – Water Park Dungeon
The next day.
I was in front of a new dungeon.
It was a C-rank dungeon, the Black Swan Forest Water Park dungeon.
My parents used to take me to this park, which is about a 30-minute bike ride from my house when I was a kid.
There is a large lake in the center of the park and an island in the middle of the lake.
On the island floats the entrance to the dungeon, which looks like a black mirror.
There is no bridge to the island, so you have to row a boat from the landing place to cross to the island.
The boat dock seems to have been abandoned since the dungeon was built, and there is a sign on the wall of the dock that says, “Please feel free to use it.”
This used to be a popular dating spot for high school students in the neighborhood, but now that the dungeon appears there, the only people I see are a group of people who look like explorers.
They are a group of guys with their hair dyed in a flashy color, and… I wouldn’t want to get too close to them.
I guess they are an explorers’ club from a nearby university.
…Of course, I have no memories of enjoying a date on the boat with a girlfriend.
I didn’t feel any particular emotion and quickly jumped into the dungeon’s entrance.
The inside of the dungeon was not much different from that of the thicket dungeon.
The only difference was that the walls of the dungeon were slightly darker.
It is said that the higher the level of monsters in a dungeon, the darker the walls become.
The walls of the thicket dungeon are as light gray as freshly painted concrete.
In contrast, the walls of this water park dungeon are the color of concrete that has been moistened by rain.
As a side note, let me explain the dungeon ranks.
There are four confirmed dungeon ranks: S, A, B, and C.
This is apparently confirmed by the information brought by the “Voice of Heaven.”
In fact, one of the special conditions I achieved was to ‘step through a dungeon of rank C or higher at level 5 or lower.’
On the other hand, the dungeon ranks published by the Explorers Association include D in addition to the ranks from S to C.
This is a dungeon with a particularly low level of difficulty among C-rank dungeons and is specially designated as a D-rank dungeon to serve as a guide for novice explorers.
By the standards of the “Voice of Heaven,” a dungeon certified D by the Explorers Association is also a type of C-rank dungeon.
Recently, it seems that an attempt has been made to select even less dangerous dungeons among D-rank dungeons and certify them as E-rank dungeons.
The dungeon in the thicket that I conquered would have been E-ranked by that standard.
So, both the thicket dungeon and this water park dungeon have the same rank of “C” according to the “Voice of Heaven” standard.
However, according to the standards of the Explorers Association, they would be C & E.
I tried to find other certified D-rank dungeons, but they were too far away and inconvenient, or the monsters that appeared in them were not good enough.
I would rather go to this water park dungeon that is close to my house and has ‘tasty’ monstersーー
That’s what I decided.
I’m a little worried about the fact that I’ll have to skip from E to C in one step, though.
And the ‘tasty’ monster…
“Oh, there it is. That one.”
────────────────────
Treasure Hobbit Lv 21
────────────────────
It’s annoying to have “Rock Golem Lv 23” on both sides of it, but I guess I can handle it now.
It is a tough and hard monster, but its slow movement is not bad for a monster to leave behind for ‘escape.’
Treasure Hobbits are hard to hit with an attack due to their high Agility.
That alone is enough to make them disliked by explorers, but in the case of the Treasure Hobbit, the biggest reason for their dislike is something else.
Treasure Hobbits have the skill to steal the possessions of explorers.
And when they succeed in stealing, they run away without a second glance.
…It’s a monster that reminds me of someone else.
No wonder they are hated by explorers, just like a snake and scorpion.
However, there is one advantage this monster has that no other has.
It has a lot of SP gained when it is defeated.
The 11 SP gained is almost three times as much as Poison Slime’s 4.
It is more than twice as much as the Rock Golem next to it, which is 5.
And since there is a 20-level difference from me at level 1, the SP gain should be doubled due to the higher level compensation.
…No, it’s still just a hypothesis, but there is a possibility that the SP gain could be tripled instead of doubled.
According to the survey on the wiki, the SP gain was 1.5 times higher when the monster’s level was 1-9 higher and doubled when the monster’s level was 10 or higher.
However, the survey did not provide data for levels higher than 20.
This is not surprising when you consider it.
It is nearly impossible to defeat a monster with a level higher than 20.
There is a limit to the number of parasites in a high-level party.
In fact, just the fact that they were able to find out if the level of the monster was 10 levels higher should be considered a good effort.
I would like to start making an earning as soon as possible,
“But it would be conspicuous if I did it at the dungeon’s entrance.”
Unlike the thicket dungeon, this water park dungeon has a certain amount of people coming and going.
It is not so much a popular dungeon, but there are not many certified C-rank dungeons in the neighborhood.
I use ‘Search’ to look for the Treasure Hobbits in areas far away from the others.
I can get past most enemies by using ‘Stealth,’ and if they get in my way, I can just ‘escape’ ahead of them and walk right past them.
‘Search’ makes a kind of radar screen appear in my mind, and I can recognize the enemy’s reaction by a red light spot.
It is not something you can see with your eyes, but you can intuitively “see��� it.
I found a suitable opponent in an area where no one seems to pass by.
One Treasure Hobbit and two Rock Golems.
Although one Rock Golem would have been preferable, as far as I could see, the monsters, including the Treasure Hobbit, were always arranged in sets of three.
The Treasure Hobbit steals the items, while the tough golem is a pain in the ass.
What a disgusting arrangement.
I can see why this dungeon is so unpopular.
But for me, the slow golem is rather a good opponent.
…Let’s get on with it, shall we?
“More and more and more and more and more――Flame Lance!”
My earning has begun.