CH 119

[It’s Damp and Cramped, Korin-chan!!!]

–I made it to the ‘Underground Tomb of the Shinigami’!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was a dungeon near the Beginning Grassland where peculiarly tough zombie monsters and flying living weapons hang out!!!

It looked like decaying ruins from the outside and when you went downstairs and into the basement, it was dark, cramped, and damp. It was the worst!!! I didn’t get why anyone would live here!!!

“What does it feel like living here, Zombie-kun?!”

“Ugaaa! Ugagagaaa!”

“I see, thank you for your kind answer!!!”

I didn’t get what you were saying, so please die for me!

And so, I headed deeper and deeper while killing the approaching zombies with my ‘Arms Barrier’ weapon shot!!! Hehehe!

–At the sight of me skipping down the damp passage while slaughtering zombies, the friend trembling behind me complained.

“…Yuri-san, how can you be in such high spirits? You’re so strange! It’s really scary here…!”

The loli ninja was hiding behind my back, her cat ears shaking nonstop.

…Yup. I’d met Korin on my way to the underground tomb!

“What’s wrong, Korin? You hate horror stuff? Then why would you enter a dungeon like this?”

“Ah… uhm, well, there’s this accessory I’d like to get, but it’s a rare drop that only comes from undead monsters…” Korin said, aversion plastered all over her face.

I see, so that was why she came here.

The great thing about VR games was that everything felt real, but that came with its own drawbacks. Horror-type dungeons being way scarier, for one.

I bet they were tougher than advanced dungeons for the faint-hearted players.

“So, how come you’ve been so energetic, Yuri-san? Do you like horror?”

“Nah, I’m not good with horror, either. But I’ve been indebted to this dungeon, you see…”

I wouldn’t have been able to become the strongest if I didn’t get the ‘Cursed Ring’, an accessory that reduced my HP to 1, in this dungeon.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that that had been my turning point. By sacrificing HP as well as stats other than Luck, I’d been able to create a build that made use of a number of skills that could only be used on low HP.

Here I had met the possessing-type monster ‘Living Armor Knight’ who made up for my lack of Agility, too. Really, I couldn’t thank this dungeon enough.

“You could say this place is like my second home already…”

“No, no, no, no, no, a tomb as your second home? Yuri-san, you really are… unique…” Korin made a put-off face. We went deeper inside as we talked.

Hmm. I killed so many monsters already, but I hadn’t got any special items yet.

“So, Yuri-san. I get why you’re so energetic now, but why are you coming back to this dungeon? This dungeon is for level 15s, right?”

“Oh, I’m looking for an item, just like you. There’s something called a special evolution, see. I want to have Pontaro and the gang and Maa-kun undergo it to make them stronger and I figured if I’m going to find the key to that special evolution, it would be where they came from, which is here.”

“Special evolution… I think I’ve heard the rumor before. It’s an evolution that occurs when you give a specific item to your tamed monster, if I’m remembering correctly.”

“For real?!”

H-hmm… Merlin did say “There are also rumors that some monsters can evolve twice by using special items” or something along the lines but he didn’t really go into much detail.

…But I see.

“Okay, that settles it, I’m gonna find it no matter what!”

“Eh, why?! It’s an unconfirmed rumor and the final battle is only a few days away, so why would you go on some wild goose chase…?”

“—That’s all the more reason for me to do it. While there’s no proof it’s true, there’s no proof it’s fake either, right? And if the special evolution is real, I’m sure it’ll give a tremendous power boost to my monsters, what with the conditions being hidden. Don’t you think?”

“?!”

It’d be a gamble, but the odds were fairly high, I was guessing.

I mean, we were talking about the devs here. They had a track record of setting the condition to learn Tengu Hermit’s final secret technique being to be utterly hated by him.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they had included hidden evolution settings with the idea “Tamed monsters can evolve over and over again just by leveling up? That’ll be a bore!”

“M-makes sense… Looking back, you also became so strong because you trailblazed through an unexplored and thorny path. You’ve always been eccentric, huh…”

Korin looked at me with distant eyes. I gave her cat-eared head a pat.

“W-wha?! Y-Yuri-san?!”

“Hahaha, aren’t you the same, Korin? You chose Magician as your second job when you hadn’t got mana at all. Doesn’t that make you pretty eccentric too?”

“Guh?! T-that’s only an accident, and I have some mana now, I’ll have you know…!”

“That so~? Well, anyway, I’ll be going ahead, so you should continue your zombie hunt and finish what you need to do here as soon as possible.”

“W-wait! Please don’t leave me aloooone!”

The cat-eared ninja panicked and hurriedly follow me, then we pushed through the dimly lit passage together.

――And so, my second dungeon exploration with Korin began.