Chapter 103.1

103 Part 1

Let’s be an Adventurer! ~Defeating Dungeons with a Skill Board~ 103

Let’s Fight The Lord of Asahikawa Dungeon!

After going through the unmanned boss room, Haruki carefully went down the stairs.

The Dungeon Lord would be waiting ahead.

Haruki became even more nervous just by thinking about that.

At the end of the stairs was a circular hall with a diameter of several hundred meters.

The ceiling seemed to be several tens of meters high as well.

The room descended from the outside towards the center, making it look a bit like a giant earthen mortar.

The dungeon wall was made of rock, and about half of the area was covered with green moss.

The entirety of the 10th floor looked like an empty space that could fit several baseball stadiums.

“There’s no gate…”

Haruki looked around, but he couldn’t find any passages other than the place where they had come from.

Apparently, the Dungeon Lord’s room was not accessible via the gate.

The deepest part of the room seemed to be one step higher than the rest of the floor around it.

It looked like a stage made out of stone.

Since it was in the Dungeon Lord’s room, there was sure to be some kind of secret related to it.

Haruki wanted to investigate the stage right away, but he stopped right where he stood and didn’t take a single step.

He couldn’t move.

A feeling on the nape of his neck told him it was dangerous to move any further.

There was a large tree standing in the middle of the 10th floor, between Haruki and the stage.

The tree was huge like the Jomon cedar that grows naturally on Yakushima.

The large black tree swayed its black leaves even though there was no wind.

“Is this Kamuikotan’s Dungeon Lord…?”

Haruki was overwhelmed under the giant tree’s intimidating air, and was unable to move.

Behind Haruki, Karen was the same.

She was holding her staff tight and couldn’t move a single step.

The giant tree pulled some of its roots out of the ground.

It began to move them around like tentacles as if trying to provoke Haruki and the others.

As soon as he saw the roots, Haruki noticed.

“So this is the one behind all those pesky tree roots…”

“Looks like it…”

At the same time, Haruki and Karen regained their ability to move.

Though they had been completely intimidated just a few moments ago, the surprise had vanished from their eyes, leaving behind an overwhelming murderous intent.

“How dare you get in the way of my exploration…”

Haruki had seen those tree roots in the dungeon over the past few days.

Haruki, who saw various shapes and noticed small changes and differences, had no way of not noticing after looking at the Lord’s tree roots.

That’s right.

This giant black tree was the one behind those tree roots that grew naturally in Kamuikotan, blocking the path of adventurers.

It was said that this Dungeon Lord was the kind of boss that would reward adventurers for their efforts in reaching the 10th floor, but after all, they must have meant to say that hitting this Dungeon Lord made you feel better.

“Hehehe…”

— In that case, let’s forget about the pains of being endlessly tossed around the dungeon by doing something enjoyable, shall we?

Laughing, Haruki took out his two short swords.

The hatred and murderous intent he was feeling were fully applied to the blades.

Karen was also holding her staff, ready for battle.

Her eyes were also filled with an unusually vivid hatred.

Rhea sat on Haruki’s shoulder, ready to go at a moment’s notice.

Esta was wiggling his tail, eager to go.

After taking a deep breath, Haruki shouted.

“Let’s go!!”

“Yes!!”

With a shout of encouragement, Haruki rushed in with all his strength.

There was some distance left to the Dungeon Lord.

200 meters.

100 meters.

Before Haruki could get any closer to it, the tree furiously slammed its roots at him.

“–Kuh!”

Haruki had never fought a large tree before.

Since it doesn’t have muscles or bones, he couldn’t predict its movements based on his own experience.

Even so, he made use of his dexterity and avoided the attack at the last moment.

— My body feels so light!

He felt even lighter than when he fought against the black Fishman.

Haruki could quickly feel the effect of his enhanced Agility tree.

Rhea let loose with a barrage of shots just as Haruki dodged the tree’s attack.

Her potato stones flew towards its trunk.

But the tree used one of its branches to block the attack.

“Okay!”

Still, Haruki’s voice sounded even more excited.

Rhea’s potato stones were utterly destroying the branch the boss was using to defend its trunk.

The broken branch slowly fell, making a thunderous sound as it collided with the ground.

It was hard to tell because of the distance, but it seemed that the fallen branch was quite heavy.

The sound of the fall caused Haruki’s lungs to shake slightly.

Haruki watched the movement of roots and branches as he approached.

The roots suddenly jumped out of the ground and attacked Haruki.

As he jumped up to avoid them, he shook the branches off as if the tree had taken too much of a careful aim.

Haruki skillfully twisted his body to avoid the attack.

Rhea and Esta followed Haruki when the boss’ attack was about to come into contact with them.

Haruki’s movements hadn’t been optimized for dealing with such an opponent.

For that reason, even avoiding its attacks could leave him wide open.

It was a series of absurd movements for Haruki.

At this rate, he could end up being driven to a corner.

Fighting an unfamiliar opponent highlighted his lack of actual battle experience.

Haruki was unable to make the best out of his increased physical abilities.

It was a lot more work than any monster he had ever fought.

Besides, he was unable to predict its movements at all.

“Damn it!”

Haruki voiced out his frustration, which was the one would feel when they know they can run faster than ever but still can’t run fast enough.

Gritting his teeth, Haruki kept dodging the attacks at the last moment.

He couldn’t let his guard down for even a millisecond.

However, Haruki was at a loss when it came to avoid being hit by the branches as the tree slammed at him from above.

It was easy to avoid those branches.

However, Haruki’s Detection would pick up attacks coming from different angles.

No matter if they come from the right or the left, Haruki would end up taking the tree’s attacks.

Haruki had been cornered by the Dungeon Lord, which had blocked his escape earlier than what he could have imagined.