Chapter 79.1

79 Part 1

Let’s be an Adventurer! ~Defeating Dungeons with a Skill Board~ 79

Let’s Find The Source Of This Unusual Event!

Haruki squinted as soon as he set foot on the 15th floor.

“…”

Something was different.

made his spine twitch.

Akane seemed to get that feeling as well.

Instead of activating the gate right away, she stood next to Haruki.

“Hey, Air, what should we do?”

Contrary to how she usually sounded like when being gobbled by the Slimy Eels, Akane’s voice was very serious.

That alone made Haruki even more alert of his surroundings.

The dungeon’s sky, which was usually clear, seemed a bit cloudy this time around.

It felt as if the dungeon was rejecting Haruki.

“We should postpone our training on this 15th floor for now.”

“Yeah.”

“Huh?”

Karen felt left behind from Haruki and Akane’s conversation.

Her Detection skill was still at 1.

For that reason, she was unable to grasp that feeling.

As for Akane, there was no doubt that her Detection skill was high enough, due to her high fighting ability.

Though she hadn’t demonstrated her high fighting ability at all so far…

And that didn’t look like it would change anytime soon.

However…

Haruki was interested in another aspect of this situation.

Even though Akane would cry like a baby for losing against an opponent of a lower rank than her, she seemed very composed when about to face a seemingly superior opponent.

Despite her initial trembling, she was now showing no signs of faltering.

That duality of hers was something really interesting.

“What happened?”

“Maybe a rare species has appeared.”

“A… rare species?”

Karen let out a little gasp.

Was her sudden, reflexive curving of her back due to her intense training every day?

Haruki was impressed to see her react so quickly as soon as she started sensing danger.

“We might not be able to defeat it if it’s a rare species, you know?”

Haruki nodded at Akane’s statement.

Rare species were usually overwhelmingly stronger than their regular counterparts, although there were differences depending on the individual rare species.

The rare species of the Centipede could be found starting from the 8th floor.

The Lizardman, which was a rare species of the Berobero, was different from the ones that could be found normally on the 20th floor.

If a monster from a lower floor were to appear like it did in Chikaho, there would be nothing that Haruki could do to stop it.

“What should we do, Akane?”

“We run.”

“Thought so.”

Haruki found himself smiling at Akane’s answer.

Certainly, the way to win was to run away.

The rare species at a Monster Parade would usually disappear naturally after a while as well.

However, there were some rare species and Monster Parades that didn’t naturally disappear.

Those were the kind of monsters that would eventually cause Stampedes.

“If we find one of those monsters, we run away. Then, we put up a request for an adventurer of a higher level. What do you think?”

“Looks simple enough. Do we have enough money for that?”

“I don’t know how much that would cost.”

Haruki’s savings were of a little over a million yen.

However, if a particularly stronger monster were to appear, he would need to hire a team of high-level adventurers.

He had enough money to hire a team of senior adventurers.

However, if a monster that Haruki couldn’t deal with were to appear, he would have little choice but to hire a team.

There weren’t many obstacles on the 15th floor.

However, finding monsters wasn’t particularly easy, since the entire floor was covered with waist-high grass.

Haruki took a quick look around, but was unable to find any Werewolves, let alone any rare species that might have been lurking around.

Haruki used all of his strength to expand his Detection range as far as possible.

He tried to detect signs of anything that could be a rare species just with his sense of touch.

His Detection reached its absolute limit.

Every nerve of Haruki’s body was on edge.

Cold sweat dripped down his forehead.

Then, his webbing of Detection touched a monster.

“–!?”

At that moment, Haruki instantly crouched.

He also urged both Akane and Karen to crouch by lowering his hand.

What he felt was a four-legged, long and narrow silhouette.

The beast’s head had large horns.

“… It’s a deer.”

“A deer?”

“Yes. A deer monster.”

“That’s rough.”

Unlike Karen, who tilted her head to the side, completely unaware of the monster’s true identity, Akane seemed to understand it very well.

“It’s a monster that appears on the 24th floor of another dungeon.”

“Why is a deer the rare species of a Werewolf?”

Deers weren’t the evolved form of Werewolves. They were their prey.

They didn’t meet the criteria for being a rare species.

“It must have simply come up from a lower floor.”

“Ah… I see.”

Haruki’s face showed his understanding after hearing Akane’s explanation.

The rare species Lizardman had also appeared on a Berobero floor.

Beroberos are anteater monsters, so they share no relation with lizards.

That too was a rare species that had come up from a lower floor.

In other words…

“It’s possible that this rare species may cause a Stampede.”

Being able to go up the stairs in a dungeon meant that, if he had the will to do so, he could potentially go outside.

That deer monster needed to be taken care of quickly before it could cause any trouble.

However, there was nothing Haruki could do against a monster from the 24th floor.

If he were to make full use of the Skill Board, it would be possible to defeat it.

But even then, it would be just that. A possibility.

Haruki’s physical level was appropriate for the 15th floor, so his chances were rather low, regardless of skill.

To put his own life on the line…

Haruki preferred to take other measures before having to resort to that.

“Can you defeat this deer?”

“I don’t have the power to subjugate it. At most, I’d prefer to fight a monster as strong as me.”

“I see.”

The power to subjugate was the ability to deal damage to a monster.

Akane used a blunt weapon. While it was perfectly capable to deal damage, its ability to take a life was not much higher than that of a short sword.

At worst, it can defeat an opponent of the same level as her.

Haruki was a bit relieved that she didn’t say it was impossible, though.

“Akane. Can you put in a subjugation request?”

“I can, but getting the adventurers will be up to Oiso. My jurisdiction is only K-Town, so I won’t be able to help get adventurers for the request, okay?”

“That’s okay.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’ll continue doing some more reconnaissance for the time being. We’ll keep in touch through Karen.”

“Got it.”

If all one wanted to do was to defeat this rare species monster, it would be possible to do it just by getting a handful of strong adventurers.