CH 219

Day 58 – Early Evening, Dungeon 80F



A floor master of the 80th floor can be stronger or more troublesome than a random dungeon master. This is truly troublesome. In other words, this one is of a troublesome kind. Like, ungraspable-type?



「We will whittle it down, so don’t overdo it. Just don’t try to eat it before we weaken it, okay? It’s bad for your stomach, although you don’t have a stomach, but it’s bad for digestion, or rather, it’s hard to dissolve, or rather it would be a problem if it begins struggling inside you, so don’t eat it for now? Kind of?」



(Jiggle-Jiggle)



Looks like Slime-san got it? Sort of? I guess?



The boss of the 80th floor is 『Ground Cloud Lv 80』, no, not the one with a sword, an actual cloud. Since it even has 『Ground』in the name it’s a non-flying cloud. A cloud that cannot fly is just a cloud? No, if it cannot fly or even float, then it isn’t even a cloud, but apparently, it is. A thunder cloud.



Shrouded in raging winds, and surrounded by 『Windstorm』, it’s dancing with thunderbolts produced by 『Lightning』, a floor master Ground Cloud! Slime-san is looking at it with a great appetite. I wonder if it’s tasty? Ground Cloud seems to have picked up on the hints of this overwhelming desire to consume it, and appears shaken by that.



A threat capable of frightening a floor master. And the name of that glottoniuous predator is Slime-san! Or rather, what do we do if it eventually begins going 『This one still doesn’t have a name』?



Well, the idea of getting eaten usually is a terrifying one, even more so for a Lv 80 floor master, who probably never thought that it might one day be devoured.



Scanning Ground Cloud with 『Rajingan』, it’s core seems to be surrounded in mana and some sort of energy. Eating it should be easy if we remove that. Let’s peel it off.



So using『Spell Absorption』of『Staff?』I shave off mana and that energy of sorts, along with 『Windstorm』and『Lightning』surrounding it.



Armored Pres-san already slashed away about half of the Ground Cloud, while Slime-san became a shield against Ground Clouds attacks, devouring both『Windstorm』and『Lightning』, keeping it suppressed. A clean sweep.



「Was it good? It’s another rock, so you can have it, but can you at least show it to us first?」



Looks like it devoured『Windstorm』and『Lightning』with『Gluttony』.The earth element is now the last one to consume? It ate Jotun too, so it should’ve devoured 『Ice Bound』, and it might’ve eaten 『Ice Spear』, 『Ice Shroud』, and『Freezing Cold Seal』too. And Slime-san can digest skills. It’s using something new every time I look at it, so I can’t remember everything at all, but Slime-san already acquired an outrageous number of skills of every type and strength except for the earth element.



At this rate it might soon rival Armored Pres-san? Since both of them aren’t exerting themselves to the limit of their abilities, they have too many hidden cards, so I can’t gauge their strength, however, if such amazing Dungeon Masters or Dungeon Emperors are this common, then this world should’ve perished a long time ago, what is going on here? A mystery.



And since lower floors have many enemies with rare skills Slime-san is overjoyed. But you know, Fly-san had rare skills too? Weren’t you running away from it? Well, I was running away too, so whatever, but did it give up on eating it just from seeing it? Well, it would be a problem if it developed a taste for flies, so we shouldn’t feed them to Slime-san. And I also don’t want it to get 『Insect Fluids』or any similar skill? It might be the strongest skill versus humans, but it’s still a big nope.



And so the menacing lower floors are being penetrated by the biggest menace around. Checking the hidden room on the 86th floor we head to the 87th. Is it going to have more than 90 floors?



Attacks causing Abnormal Status Effects are commonplace on the lower floors. The vicious design, where failing to resist even one attack can lead to a checkmate.



Well, not going to happen though?



But I wonder how effective the resistances of my classmates will be on the lower floors? My debuff resists are boosted by the effects of a mysterious skill 『Health』, but how much can be resisted with items alone? I wouldn’t have gone as far as to call it a trash skill, but I didn’t think of it anything more than 『Oh, not having to worry about getting sick in another world is nice』, for it to have such a hidden effect. I didn’t get afflicted by a negative status effect even once, and I even got a skill that probably doesn’t belong on humans, 『Regeneration』. Puzzling, but good for health.



But did I get『High Sexual Vigor』or『Insatiable Libido』out of overflowing health too? That’s indeed healthy, but not very wholesome, however, as far as rumors go, it seems that those two are the most useful and usable skills in another world. Since they already became objects of rumors and it’s not been 75 days since we came here, there is wild gossip around them. And I’m tirelessly working night after night on the source of those rumors, investigating every inch and opening, feeling and tasting, that sigh of her moaning in pleasure is… There is also a saying『Speak of the devil and they should appear』, which seems to be true? I can see a shadow of a morning star’s iron ball? Naturally, I can see the morning star itself too? Looks, isn’t that—(BAAAANG!) [1]



(Currently undergoing treatment, please wait for a while.)



Since the ancient times it was said『Rumors blow everything twice out of proportions』, but that attack power was triple that? It’s fine to call it a beautiful rondo with an unavoidable iron ball. Yeah, so now I’m a bit busy kneeling? Currently undergoing medical treatment (a lecture). Seriously. In addition 『Rumors always come from afar』, but this one came from point blank distance.



As I thought, lower floors were full of dangers, or rather, they are, presently, and it hurts a lot?



But I still don’t get the principle behind her ability to show blush with the helmet on? The only thing I learned for sure is that red means danger. It was carved into my body and branded into my soul that this signals DANGER! How do I take the morning star from her? It’s enchanted with 『Acceleration』, so it’s seriously undodgeable, demanding constant alert and speedy recovery.



And with the Iron Ball Rampage Express we reach the 90th floor. The next floor is the 90th, since it is us who will have to go down, so I’m not going to forget about that? There is an actual risk of forgetting, so I have to be careful.



But there is something I’d like to check before we go down. Perhaps, I might even be able to do a bit of an experiment.



It’s『Entwined Tree Branch ? ? ? ? …』that we found on the 88th floor. An item with a whole bunch of 『?』that I haven’t seen in a while.



With no clues for even its possible use, an All 『?』item, but the part I’m curious about is that it’s『Living Tree Branch』. That is a very interesting part, after all 『Wooden Stick?』turned into『Living Wood Stick』and fused with『Parasitic Vine – Strengthen Wooden Sticks and Staffs, Magic Absorption ? ? ?』 And now it’s an unexpectedly overpowered weapon. Well, there is an issue of it still looking like a stick despite having『Heavenly Sword of Gathering Clouds』slotted, but I shouldn’t let it bother me.



I especially shouldn’t compare with the person in shining armor right next to me. I’ve seen a vast number of weapons and armor since then, but there was nothing as outrageous as that 『Full Silver Armor『Complete Immunity』『Enhance All』『Skill: Guardian』? ? ?』. And those 10 living swords are likely extremely OP as well. That’s why I shouldn’t compare their appearance with my wooden stick? I’ll cry? For real.



Wiping away the tears, I investigate『Entwined Tree’s Branch ? ? ? ? 』, that’s a branch. But it came from the lowest dungeon floors, moreover, it’s 『Living Tree Branch』. Slightly nervous, I hold it together with 『Wooden Stick?』 ……Was I overthinking it? Nothing seems to be happening… Is this for real?



Certainly,『Parasitic Vine』also merged with it without slotting it, are they the same? And the number of『?』increased……This『Seven-Branched Sword』, is it that Seven-Branched Sword, the sword of seven scabbards? [2]



But entwined trees are the trees that had their branches tangled up with the branches of another tree to the point of merging, and becoming one, thus coming to be used as a metaphor for married couples, but with the involvement of『Parasitic Vine』it immediately became an unsightly love triangle, from which emerged『Seven-Branched Sword』, suspect of 6 timing, becoming a weapon with a soap opera-like love and hate relationships?



That is certainly an incredibly terrifying weapon.



I can already see『NTR』or『Inappropriate Relationship』popping up among the skills! I will run sooner than the enemies! Such offensive power is too heavy for a highschool boy, and what is more importantly, I don’t want to awaken to any fetish of that sort! Absolutely!



『Staff?』-san that keeps turning into something more and more inexplicable turned out to be『Staff of the World Tree』…………So not only were the skills lying to me, but equipment too! All this time it was only pretending to be a simple wooden stick, hiding in plain sight! How come all of my status is nothing but lies? What’s the point of looking at it then? It’s the root cause of all this confusion to begin with!　Well, I was suspecting it all this time, but it actually was deceiving me! Moreover, this deepened Villager A’s mystery even further. Then that 『Diary』is actually…



Well, let’s try it out, I probably won’t learn what I wanted to, but it might reveal something else.



But if even the 90th floor is not the last one, it’s pretty bad? This dungeon shouldn’t be that old.



[TL Note:

[1] As the saying goes, Totally unfounded rumors tend to die in 75 days, or less than three months.

[2] The Seven-Branched Sword is a sword of continental manufacture believed to be identical with the artifact of that name, a present of the king of Baekje that was granted upon a Yamato ruler as a present, which is mentioned in the Nihon Shoki in the fifty-second year of the reign of the semi-mythical Empress Jingū. Often pops up in fiction as a very powerful weapon, but its real life counterpart is likely a purely ceremonial weapon.