Chapter 64.1

64 Part 1

Let’s be an Adventurer! ~Defeating Dungeons with a Skill Board~ 64

Let’s Regain The Spirit Of Japan!

“Karen, fall back!”

Haruki made a warning call as he stepped back.

But the hoard of monsters reacted to his voice.

A large number of them appeared from out of the grass patches.

They jumped out like a cloud of black smoke, throwing themselves at Haruki and Karen all at once.

“– Eeek!”

— Ratatatat!

A startled Karen hid behind Haruki.

Contrary to Karen’s reaction, Rhea had already begun to shoot her potato bullets at the group of monsters.

She furiously unleashed her bullets, which previously hadn’t been able to fatally wound any Chachas.

The new group of monsters scattered through the air in all directions.

These monsters seemed to have a lower defense compared to Chachas.

But their agility was high.

When they jumped out of the grass, even Haruki had a hard time following them with his eyes.

Rhea’s ability with her potato bullets was terrific, being able to hit such nimble monsters with them.

A soft body that can be shot through with potato bullets…

Thick legs that enable quick movement…

A green body that mimics grass…

These new monsters were…

“Rice grasshoppers…?”

They looked like rice grasshoppers, but were between 50 and 70 centimeters tall.

Could it be that the reason why Rhea had stiffened her leaves into thorns was that these grasshoppers were her natural enemy?

But these rice grasshoppers…

They were so numerous that Haruki would get bored of chopping them all up.

He was half expecting the monsters on this floor to be food… But wait. Aren’t these edible?

These rice grasshoppers are also known as “shore shrimp” in the Nagano Prefecture, where they are prepared as a preserved dish boiled in soy.

“Rice hoppers taste like shrimp…”

“Oh no, no you won’t, Karaboshi!”

Karen’s voice came out as a shriek as lightning sparked from the tip of her staff.

There’s no need to act so scared…

Her reaction seemed as if she thought Haruki would force her to eat those grasshoppers.

Haruki laughed sarcastically at Karen’s reaction.

He used his short sword to deal with one grasshopper after another.

Haruki hadn’t checked these grasshopper monsters’ data on the Wiki yet.

He didn’t know whether they were strong or weak.

Though they seemed pretty weak.

Compared to the Chachas on the 11th floor, only their agility stands out. Everything else seems rather subpar.

Their armoring looks so feeble that all it takes for them to die is a kick from Haruki.

And Karen’s lightning attack could pierce through them and hit several of them at once.

Haruki felt that their strength seemed a bit low for a 12th floor monster.

Should they simply press on?

Just as Haruki considered that, they are attacked by another group of grasshoppers.

Their numbers are unusual.

They seem almost countless.

It was almost like a Monster Parade.

They seemed to be slowly pushed backwards by them, even through Haruki’s short sword, Rhea’s potatoes, and Karen’s lightning.

“Let’s run away for now!”

“Y-Yes!”

At his signal, Haruki and Karen ran for the gate.

Fortunately, rice grasshoppers were quite fragile.

Since they could be killed with a single hit, making an escape route was quite easy.

Haruki made way for them to escape by taking down one grasshopper after another.

Any grasshoppers that came chasing after them were brought down by Rhea’s rapid-fire and Karen’s magic.

Haruki and the others safely reached the exit.

When that happened, the swarm of grasshoppers quickly retreated into the grass.

It was almost as if they had been chased by furious wasps.

“What on earth was that…?”

“This is going to be another horrible floor, won’t it?”

Karen’s face seemed as if she had had enough.

Even Haruki could understand that feeling.

They had defeated a large amount of rice grasshoppers, but he couldn’t feel any symptoms of Level Up Sickness.

It would appear that the 12th floor is a place where a lot of low level monsters appeared.

Since their defense was low and they fell apart easily, they couldn’t expect them to drop any good items.

There was little benefit from fighting them.

Haruki decided that they would traverse through the floor as quickly as possible.

But how would they manage to do that?

Haruki rubbed his chin as he stared away into the plains.

They had thrown themselves straight ahead without thinking.

These plains were overgrown with grass.

However, there doesn’t seem to be any grass near the floor’s walls.

There seemed to be some animal trails along the walls, while the middle was filled with grass.

The whole place looked like a field where green manure crops had been planted as a measure against constant crop failure. Like an agricultural field in the middle of fallowing.

“What shall we do, Karaboshi?”

“Hmm. Let’s hug the walls for now. If it doesn’t work, we’ll retreat for a while.”

Still on Haruki’s back, Rhea faced the grass with her leaves still stiffened up and thorny.

Haruki walks along the wall while trying to soothe her.

While committed to tracking monsters with his Detection skill, he continues to hug the walls.

Several rice grasshoppers were lurking in the grass.

However, even if he were to get 10 meters away from them, he couldn’t feel any signs of them getting ready to attack him.

Do they do poorly when they are closer to these walls?

As a test, but in such a way that the dungeon would not judge him for attacking it directly, Haruki drove a dismantling knife into the wall.

Shaving about 1 cm deep into it, he collected the sand he obtained, kneaded it into a ball, and flung it at a rice grasshopper.

— Crash!

“Ah.”

He had flung it a bit too hard, and the grasshopper ended up being crushed by it.

“… What are you trying to do, Karaboshi?”

Haruki could feel Karen’s cold stare pierce through him.

In contrast, Rhea seemed to be cheering him on, as if saying “Yeah, let’s kill some more!”

These rice grasshoppers had far weaker defense than the monsters on the 11th floor.

They just die even if you go easy on them.

Once again, Haruki scraped off the dungeon wall, made a dumpling-sized ball with it, and threw it at another grasshopper.

This time he had put on his kid’s gloves, throwing it very lightly.

The dumpling fell in front of the grasshopper.

However, the grasshopper almost didn’t move at all, other than in order to avoid getting hit.

“Hmm…”

He seemed to understand more.

First of all, it didn’t seem that the walls were made necessarily out of something that the rice grasshoppers didn’t like.