Chapter 5

Chapter 5 The firstdungeon

Translator/Editor: Mana

Special Thanks: Rinkage

The first floor of the Dungeon of Puriff was a cave that looked like a dimly lit narrow path surrounded by rock walls. When I referred to the map in my brain I could see that this path branched many times, with no goal in sight. At the very least, it was over one kilometre wide.

It seems like Mapping is useable.

When I told the members of Arrivers that my skill could be used, they cheered happily. Force raised his hands for a high-five. In response, everyone else did too.

This kind of thing felt like I was really in a party, which made me happy. Since I never had such feelings of fulfilment in my half a year of mismatched parties, an honest smile made its way onto my face.

Because Mapping is a skill that automatically creates a map of 1000 metre radius in my brain, it usually applies those 1000 metres in a vertical direction too, but that didnt happen for this dungeon.

In the map in my head, the area above and below this cave was a complete blank. As if there was no space there.

Perhaps this was what they meant by outside the logic of this world. Every floor of this dungeon was separated as a different space. The proof of that was in the distinctive floating sensation of teleportation that happened when we passed through the door of the first floor. From what I heard from everyone else, every floor of the dungeon had a door like that to pass through.

However, if you touched the teleport crystal installed at the entrance, you could travel to and from any teleport crystal you have been to before. It seemed like there were more people who usually used that.

The cave-like dungeon had no sunlight, but thanks to the light blue crystals that scattered light over the walls near us, we could see a little further ahead.

Everyone, stop. There are enemies approaching from the right side of that fork in the path. My Enemy Search reacted. There are six enemies. They dont seem particularly strong, Jin suddenly put out his arm, ordering the party to stop.

No matter how many light sources there were in the dungeon, there was no way enemies that far away could be seen from here. In the first place, the right side of the fork that Jin mentioned was at right angle to the path we were walking down, making any direct line of sight impossible.

Thats why the reason Jin noticed the enemy was probably due to his Enemy Search art. As long as he had the Enemy Search art, he could grasp the whereabouts of nearby monsters.

Ive been greatly indebted to the Enemy Search art ever since my pickup group days. Everyone wanted at least one in a party.

The members of the Arrivers immediately grabbed their weapons and took on a fighting stance at Jins words.

Was what I would like to say, but they actually remained rather calm.

Umm is this really okay? Shouldnt we be preparing to fight?

Ah. The enemies on the first floor are no big deal Force said with ease, stepping forth coolly.

Ill take care of the enemies, so guys can just stand back, he declared, waving his arm as the weapon-wielding ogres appeared from around the corner of the path. There was exactly six of them. Each one held a sword, lance, or axe as a weapon and were a good deal larger than Force in size.

Force showed no sign of fear towards such fiendish beasts, casually walking towards them without his weapon ready. As if he was going for a walk. There was no way the ogres would look past something like that

Whoosh!

The sound of the six ogres&rsqu

o; perfectly synchronised ambush attack on Force cut through the air. To be more precise, it cut through the air where Force was.

However, Force was already on the other side of the ogres. The ogres had yet to realise that their backs were turned. That Force had evaded their perfect ambush attack with his weapon still sheathed.

If I was in his place, I surely would have been killed. In an instant.

A cold sweat broke out at my temples. At the horrors of the dungeon, and at Forces abilities over that.

Thats Forces skill, Minds Eye. He can see through all of his opponents attacks. And the other two skills he has are Magic Resistance Large and Swordcraft Master.

Swordcraft Master I unintentionally reacted to Jins words.

Master.

Like the Bowcraft Master skill that Miya had, it was a highest rank weaponry skill.

Here goes! he yelled, taking out the blade of one of the swords hanging at his waist.

The rest was over in a flash. All that remained was the light of his beautiful blade, and six fallen corpses.

Honestly, I never saw anything like it. Swordcraft of that level. That mastery. I instantly knew I could never reach that. His ability completely surpassed Miyas, who had the same Master class skill.

If her abilities were still under development, then Forces abilities were completed. I was completely drawn in. I yearned for that. I was jealous. I was frustrated. The feelings from one year ago, when I watched Miya fight, came bubbling back up.

Except for one difference. Unlike one year ago, I was used to it. To those feelings. To that despair.

Thats why I wasnt in shock.

My heart didnt break.

We walked for around an hour after that.

The members of the Arrivers and I had reached the boss room of the first floor. The party had smoothly progressed to the boss room without hesitating at any of the branched paths.

According to Jin, the first six floors of the Dungeon of Puriff were completely explored through, with almost perfect maps created. From the seventh floor onward there were maps of the shortest route to the boss room that predecessors had created, as well as maps created by individual parties, but most of them were incomplete.

I had them show me one of the maps of the Dungeon of Puriff that was in regular circulation, but there wasnt much difference to the map drawn in my head by the Mapping skill.

The only difference was that the map drawn by Mapping were perfectly to scale, so the lengths of the roads and the sizes of the rooms were completely accurate too. Compared to the maps in circulation, it was much easier to look at and understand.

I could finally feel how useful this trash skill could be, in this dungeon where World Map and Area Map didnt work.

When Force tried to open the door to the boss room, the mage Erin stopped him.

Force! Are you going to defeat the boss alone too? Youre taking all the good parts! Let us fight too!

Erins complaint was understandable.

All of the monsters up until now were instantly slaughtered by Force. Thanks to that, I was more than well aware of Forces swordcraft prowess, but I had no idea what the other members strengths were.

I also want to see everyone elses abilities I supported Erins words, and Force seemed to reluctantly accept it.

Alright Do what you want. I wont lay a hand at all he said, and retreated to the back. Force went straight to Neme, the little priestess and said Im bored, lets playshiritori! but was rejected nonchalantly with a I dont want to

When Erin opened the door, there was one large ogre, over ten small ogres, and a number of horned demons with wings waiting inside. There were ogres and demons that appeared on the way here, but the ones in the boss room were bigger. The large ogre that exuded boss status had not appeared before.

After everyone entered the room, the door closed and Erin began activating a spell to strike first.

Black Lightning!

Erin released a roaring bolt of black lightning from the end of her staff with a wave. At the same time, a pitch black strike of lightning burned the ogres and demons to a crisp.

Erin had released the strongest spell I had ever seen with my bare eyes in no time at all.

However, even she could not annihilate all the monsters in one go, and through the gaps in the lightning, the demons glided closer as the ogres sneaked towards her.

Eh? Wait, someone stop them! For some reason, Erin was panicking. I completely forgot there was no tank! Crap, Ill die

Even as she made a commotion, Erin carefully shot down the approaching monsters one by one.

Sorry, Erin. Im a man of my word I wont lay a hand Force smacked the floor in a show of exaggerated vexation.

You dont have to show your manliness in a place like this! A weak girl is in a pinch here, turning your back on her would make you more of a failure as a man! Erin snapped back, as she effortlessly disposed of the monsters. Despite what they say to each other, they seem like they get along. These two.

But Erins efforts were in vain, as two winged demons came within range of Erin. Erin burned one of them with a spell, but the other

Was torn to pieces by a jet black shadow.

It took me a couple of seconds to realise that it was Jin, who was next to me just moments ago.

Jin smoothly ran towards the large ogre, as if his movements were flowing. It was like a black snake had reached the feet of the large ogre in an instant. The large ogre immediately reacted, swinging its club at Jin. Rather than a swing, the force behind it was more like an explosion

Jin parried it easily with the small black dagger he held in his right hand. I thought I heard a sound like the whistle of wind

Just now did Jins dagger move?

I verbally questioned the sight before me that I couldnt understand. It almost looked like his dagger moved of its own accord and deflected the attack of the large ogre.

Force laughed as he answered my question. Its his skill. Its a skill called Shapeshifting Mineral that allows him to change the shape of any substance made of minerals. With that, Jin can freely control his sword to his will

He can do such a thing?

Shapeshifting type skills were better suited for crafting jobs. To put it bluntly, they were considered trash skills on a battlefront.

Even while I questioned Force, that black bladethat jet black darknessdodged the continuous blows of the large ogre, weaving through the gaps between each attack and tearing the giant body up. As if it were alive

Unlike me, Erin, or Neme, Jin doesnt have particularly strong skills. But he has experienced numerous situations. He tops us all in the number of deadly places hes dived into. Thats how he consciously transformed a crafting type skill into a first-class battle skill. He might be the most amazing one in this party

Though the large ogre had more health than the surrounding monsters, it was over in a moment in Jins hands. The corpse of the large ogre laid there, torn to pieces.

Force said that Jins ability was created through his experience and the number of deadly places hes walked through.

If so, I wondered how many experiences, situations, and certain deaths I needed to avoid to get as good as Jin

I couldnt imagine the answer at all.