Chapter 144.2

144 Part 2

He looked around for the place where the Boss of this floor could be.

“There’s an open spot over there…”

“Is the Boss there?”

“Maybe.”

Haruki climbed down the tree, making a mental map in order to reach the spot he had found.

It didn’t take long to get to that open spot that Haruki had found.

Suddenly, a 20-square-meter open area appeared in the woods.

In the center of this open area, a monster larger than the normal species was enshrined.

It seemed to be the Boss.

Haruki and Karen nodded at each other, checked their armor, and faced the Boss battle.

The ability of this Boss wasn’t very high.

Its scariest point was that its tear-gas attack was stronger than that of the normal species.

The fallen Boss was absorbed into the dungeon.

The entire dungeon glowed faintly, and two items appeared at the spot where the Boss had been absorbed.

The first one was a root that looked the same as that of a Mountain Wasabi.

Upon picking it up, Haruki quickly noticed its extraordinary hardness.

“This could even be used as a weapon.”

“How about this?”

Karen was holding the second Boss drop.

It was a beautiful white and green stone.

The palm-sized stone was shaped like a Mountain Wasabi.

“Yet another trinket that looks like food?”

“Looks like it.”

Haruki and Karen dropped their shoulders.

Perhaps these food-like trinkets dropped by monsters in the dungeon could be bought by enthusiasts at a high price, but unfortunately Haruki had no connection with such enthusiasts.

Probably not even Akane knew anyone who would be interested in such things.

If she did, she would be the first one to take them off Haruki’s hands without hesitation.

So, unfortunately, this stone was nothing more than a garbage drop.

For Haruki, at least…

*slap slap*

Rhea slapped on Haruki’s shoulder with her leaves.

It was as if she was trying to say “Ok, I’ll do you a favor and carry it for you”, but her true intentions were as clear as day.

“Is it okay if I give it to Rhea?”

“Sure.”

With Karen’s permission, Haruki handed the Mountain Wasabi trinket to Rhea.

Rhea carefully buried the trinket in the soil while softly moving her stalk.

After reaching the 17th floor, they activated the Gate.

Then, they left the Gate room, and took a look around the 17th floor’s layout.

“This looks about the same as the 16th floor.”

“Yeah.”

Like the 16th floor, the 17th floor was a forest stage.

(No way, we need to fight even more Mountain Wasabi?)

Haruki stepped into the forest while activating his Detection.

As soon as they entered the forest, his Detection showed a reaction.

It had caught the signs of several monsters.

“…”

Haruki silently raised his hand to let Karen know.

With a serious look on her face, Karen held her staff tightly.

One of the signs he had caught was approaching Haruki without hesitation.

Was it also highly skilled in Detection? Or was it a type of monster that could notice the presence of adventurers by smell, like Chachas?

As the wait started to build up a strong tension in them, the monster finally appeared from behind the trees.

Two long horns, and brown fur.

It had a slender body, but its thighs were unusually well developed.

It was a deer monster, similar to the rare species that Haruki had previously defeated.

“Will it have a special ability as well?”

The deer he had fought against before was able to spit out a black-purple ball from his mouth.

It was a special ability that allowed him to control its target upon contact.

If this deer could shoot that thing as well, it would be very troublesome to deal with.

Haruki braced himself and studied the deer’s movements.

He then immediately noticed.

“This one’s different from that one…”

It was darker in color and larger than that other rare deer.

And above all, the strength felt from its sign was completely different.

That other deer had a terrifyingly strong sign that they could strike fear into its foes.

However, the deer currently in front of me didn’t feel that strong.

“Should we try to fight it carefully?”

“Okay.”

After making light eye contact with Karen, Haruki jumped forward.

He delivered a light blow, and checked how much aggro he drew from the deer.

The deer immediately responded to Haruki, swinging the horns on his head.

At that moment…

*Vrooooom!!*

A direct hit from Karen’s lightning strike.

White smoke whirled up from the deer’s body.

Its muscles were cramping

There were no signs of them calming down any time soon.

(Is this a chance?)

Haruki slashed at the deer, being careful to have enough room to escape immediately if necessary.

His first slash broke off one of its horns, and the second one cut deep into the deer’s neck.

Rhea’s fire put several dents onto its body.

The deer’s eyes sparkled with intense hatred.

The moment he felt a sign of a counterattack, Esta jumped.

He slammed against the deer’s body, breaking its stance.

Then…

*Vrooooom!!*

A second lightning strike.

A little later, Haruki found its weak spot.

He then cut the deer’s neck with his Magic Sword.

“…It looks like it was a normal deer.”

“That’s right. If it had been the same as before, I wouldn’t be able to beat it at this level.”

“Yeah…”

I’m glad it wasn’t like that other deer.

Haruki sighed in relief.

Haruki quickly took it apart and carved off its materials.

“So it wasn’t a spice after all…”

Haruki brought his nose close to the horn he had picked up, but it only had the smell of a beast.

It would have been great if this was a spice like it happened with the other deer. Haruki felt a little disappointed.

Since this was a different kind of deer, that was only natural, but still Haruki dropped his shoulders.

Its horns were quite hard.

When he knocked on them, he heard a hard sound, as if he had struck metal.

These horns were likely to be a good weapon material.

Its fur felt good to the touch.

It could be used as a material for leather armor, but it could also be used for furniture.

In that case, it seems that the furniture could be quite expensive…

Haruki and the others resumed their search by storing all of the obtained materials in the magic bag.

The normal species of deer were considerably weaker than their rare species.

However, their ability was still on par with the 17th floor.

They couldn’t let their guard down.

After finishing mapping about one third of the 17th floor, Haruki and the others returned to the surface in the evening.

The number of deers defeated this time was 45.

This was a fairly small number of defeated monsters for Haruki.

However, the selling price of the materials they got from them went over 700,000 yen.

“I’ve seen <Let’s become an adventurer>!!”

“Gyaaaahh!!”

Akane was so pleased with the new materials that she shed tears of joy.

The significant increase in price compared to Werewolf materials was partly due to the products posted on the request forums.

However, the main reason was that the quality of the deer materials was high.

After three more floors, they would be reaching the deeper levels of the dungeon. It was the territory of advanced adventurers.

Since they were materials from monsters found in such places, it was natural that they would fetch a high price.

“Soon, we’ll become advanced adventurers ourselves!”

“Ah… Yeah, you’re right.”

Haruki could feel it in Karen’s words.

It was almost time for him to stand in the same place as the Rankers he had looked up to for so long.

When he realized that, his body trembled.

He wondered if it really was okay for him, who had just started an adventurer, to stand at such a height…

But he knew he was being conceited for thinking that. He was still lacking in ability compared to his predecessors.

He warned himself with that thought, but his face still loosened up.

“Well, if all we do from now on is rush recklessly into action, we’d only be throwing our lives away.”

In fact, Haruki had noticed the possibility of forcing himself into reaching the 20th floor.

But just because he was in a hurry to become an advanced adventurer didn’t mean that something would change immediately.

The only thing that would change would be his title, which wouldn’t actually raise his level nor his skills.

There was no point in overdoing it because the rewards for risking his life like that would be too small.

“Let’s keep going forward without rushing.”

“Yeah!”