Chapter 155 - (Chapter 220): Shape of 8th Floor

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Shape of the 8th Floor

Year 7445, Month 12, Day 21



In order to progress to the end of the year I decided to make from the 19th until the 27th, this 9 day period the last time we enter the dungeon this year, then from the 28th until January 6th of next year those 9 days would be the New Year holiday. And then, this time we entered the dungeon with the full members of the {Slaughterers} different from the past few months. I gave the {Butchers} and {Exterminators} a slightly early and long New Years holiday.

Of course, I said if they want to enter the dungeon during the holiday they're free to do so, I also said they have no need to pay a share to me for that time. However, I told them absolutely not to step foot past the 2nd floor and since they're entering the dungeon under my command they'll have to pay for the entry tax and food expenses on their own money. Also, it's only obvious but I don't intend to loan out my four combat slaves either. After saying that far and honestly speaking I don't think anyone will try to enter the dungeon during the holiday.

Though I say that, I thought someone would complain because their earnings were reduced and had thought up an excuse but no one said any complaints and rather raised cheers of joy. Since I found it a bit strange I tried asking Kamu about it and it seems including her everyone was a bit worn out.

Ever since the party changing test about two months ago, there's some members who have started running here and there so I was smiling over the delightful trend. However, not only does doing that consume quite a bit of stamina but there's also the consecutive battles on the 1st floor of the dungeon. They return to the surface completely exhausted, force the food down and are unable to dink any alcohol, then return to their inn to sleep like the dead. The next morning after waking up they do some running right away and then it's back to combat in the dungeon again.

In regards to income while they aren't obtaining any expensive magic items or precious gems or ores but from the roughly three times a month they entering the dungeon, their income is about 800,000 - 900,000 Z so they didn't have any complaints. Rather it's increased since their time in {Sun.Ray}.

The number of days they're entering the dungeon itself has increased but for the time being it's all day trips and counting in terms of months it's around 20 days. During their time in {Sun.Ray} they entered roughly twice, for a total of around 18 days so it's only increased by just a bit. In regards to the safety of it while they're experiencing consecutive battles where they have almost no time to let their guards down, since there's the reliable leaders dispatched from the {Slaughterers} their feelings are able to relax a bit knowing that there's no worry even if they get a bit injured.

That's the reason and everyone was just thinking about enjoying their own holiday and dedicating it to get some rest.
It seems they heard from the members of {Slaughterers} that were dispatched up until now that there's "always a long holiday at the end of the year" so they were secretly looking forward to it.

Both running and entering the dungeon during breaks aren't an obligation or anything else so if they don't want to do them there's no reason to do it. Though if you were to ask me, doing it increases our overall combat forces so I'm happier if they do it but as long as they do a proper job on the days that were for entering the dungeon then after that it's fine for everyone to do whatever they please.

In the first place I'm sure there was people who dedicated their days off to training and people who never did. Since people naturally lean towards the more comfortable direction, anyone who won't do it unless forced I'll just treat like that, and that's all there is to it. For example Rokko already knows he sucks at arithmetic(it's not particularly unusual. However, it's unusual for an adventurer who has a lot of occasions they need to calculate money) but it seems he has no intention of studying and no intention of changing I'm sure. It's the same for Jeru as well who can't read or write.

In comparison, recently it seems Zulu, Angela, and Giberuti are being taught to read and write by Basutoral and it seems starting with Catherine, John, Terry, and even Zulu's woman join in as well. I don't know who started it up but it's a good trend.

If it's necessary I taught Zulu and Angela numbers and some Kanji characters in Japanese as well as some Arabic numerals but that's it. I'm sure looking from their end they wanted to ask about more commonly used numbers and letters. I knew they were looking like they wanted to be taught but I guess they were showing restraint towards me, they never said anything so I didn't teach them either.

After learning that Okonneru and Garuhashu as well as Firenoto and Manzokki were being taught some basic addition and calculation as well. However, it seems that in addition to teaching them to read, write, and do arithmetic Basutoral is also teaching them some simple science and he was even teaching some basic agriculture as well. Since the four of them seemed to have some interest they'll probably join in as well eventually.

The start of the problem was that sometimes Zenom would join in there as well. Just it seems he was just joining in to listen (since Zenom was originally a commoner on top of the long period he was an adventurer it's only obvious Zenom can read, write, and do fundamental arithmetic) but he was having a hard struggle with division, fractions, and decimals.
And then, when he tried to confirm what he learned with Ralpha it was exposed that Ralpha can't sufficiently do fraction calculations either.

Hearing that Miduchi, Toris, Bel, Gwine, and I all laughed out loud but just in case we tried giving Gwine several problems as well and hers was faulty as well. Excluding Gwine the four of us exchanged glances as we turned pale and in a hurry we tried calling Rodrick to confirm everyone.

Up to algebra starting with myself, Miduchi, Toris, Bel, Basutoral, and Rodrick all had no problems but when it got to Trigonometry and Logarithms Miduchi, Bel, and Basutoral dropped out, and at differential and integral calculus Rodrick dropped out. When it got to complex numbers, vectors, and discrete numbers I was the only one remaining. Though I say that since mixing probabilities and prime numbers were a required subject for ciphers that was a bit unfair. In terms of the calculations themselves Toris was overwhelmingly faster than me after all.

I thought that the memories crammed in when you're young weren't so easy to forget but it's been long since Saturday was made into a day off as well. No, it's probably because the cramming method in my case was a bit unique as well. Since it was still barely within the Showa era when I entered Self-Defense university it seems I was made to learn in a unique way. Though I say that it's nothing particularly special. Under the policies of the battalion(in Self-Defense university they called each dorm a battalion) it was just a matter of those who had bad grades starting with sanctions of the fist were made to experience some extremely unreasonable corporal punishment pretty often.

The official stance for it was that since we're receiving a salary in the form of a student allowance paid through taxes studying is our occupation so we're not allowed to slack off even the slightest bit. In order to not cause trouble to the surroundings we had to spend our days desperately studying(putting it honestly and since each room definitely had an upper classmen you shared it with when you took the punishment it occurred as a unit with other people in your room so not only would there be the punishments from others but also from the upper classmen in your room as well). I remember studying together with my classmates in the same room countless times. Thanks to that even though a number of decades have passed I still remember quite a bit.

Putting aside complex numbers and vectors, fractions and decimals are necessary right. Since everyone agree we forced Ralpha and Gwine into the Basutoral class, while it goes against my policy a bit we decided to force them to learn it. Incidentally the individuals themselves were saying, "I can do it! I can properly do it! I just forgot it for a bit!", "I just made a small mistake in the math! It's alright, I can properly do it!" but at the point they couldn't do division between fractions no one was willing to believe them. If I remember correctly you learn it in elementary school right?

Right now, we're in the teleport crystal room on the 7th floor of the dungeon but under teacher Basutoral my three slaves are being taught basic arithmetic at the first year elementary school level. When that ends he'll teach a bit higher arithmetic to Zenom, Ralpha, and Gwine.

"It would have been good if I had you teach me sooner.."

Zenom said that. Ralpha and Gwine were making displeased faces.
Since it's gotten a bit pitiful I won't say anything more.

"We're going a bit further into the 8th floor starting tomorrow, so don't try to overwork yourself too hard."

Miduchi is saying something to them. The day before yesterday and yesterday we cleared up through the 6th floor. Since the magic stones from the 8th floor aren't all that high in value we spent just today defeating ogres on the 7th floor and gathered 35 magic stones from them. Since it was about a good time we moved to the teleport crystal room on the 7th floor and decided to prepare for tomorrow. Starting tomorrow for one week we'll be aiming for further into the 8th floor.




..................




Year 7445, Month 12, Day 27



One week has passed since we started exploring the 8th floor, today is the last day.


The information that George Rombert the First is said to have left behind (the one about only being able to think it's a number of places overlapping) was denied on the second day. At the same time it was identified that George Rombert the First most likely didn't have a Unique Ability like Gwine's {Mapping} or Ralpha's {Spatial Understanding}.

After we teleported into the 8th floor, it was the same moving through the cave-like passage until there was a split path. However, most of the passages were dead ends and in those dead ends there's a new teleport crystal and pedestal enshrined.

On December 22nd (the first day) we decided not to touch those teleport crystals and just returned the way we came and the entire day ended in teleporting back and forth between the 7th and 8th floors. In the end we came to the conclusion that the 8th floor was a gathering of small areas and we decided to start investigating where the teleport crystals in the dead end passages teleport us.

On December 23rd (the second day), we gathered our resolve and tried grabbing the teleport crystal while chanting the incantation and proceeded to the next area. The place we teleported into was just another cave-like passage the same as the others. And then, ahead of that we discovered another teleport crystal but we weren't surprised. It's because we had already predicted it. Gwine's Unique Ability can only see one area at a time. When we tried teleporting using the same crystal it returned us to the original teleport crystal we came from. Of course the incantation wasn't the same.

However, while we were in the process of repeating teleport countless times Ralpha's Unique Ability leveled up. It's because every time we teleported she had to use {Spatial Understanding} to confirm the direction. When it first leveled up, Ralpha suddenly showed symptoms of confusion.

Previously, I thought Ralpha's Unique Ability would level up pretty soon but it got stupid trying to count it every time so I had left it alone. However, I don't know if her Unique Ability is unique but it seems she noticed the maximum level expanded ability right away.

It seems she even managed to perceive the equipment we were holding. It seems she suddenly felt a variety of mixed items floating in the space near her and her head got mixed up unable to keep up with the processing.
It wasn't after things entered from outside the effective range but the moment she used her ability she could feel everyone's equipment as if it was floating in the air and she ended up feeling sick.

The moment I heard that I realized her {Spatial Understanding} had leveled up and when I used {Identify} on Ralpha down to the sub-windows there was some new info added.

【...The MAX level expansion ability makes it possible for the user to be able to recognize all unnatural inanimate objects that exist within the effective range. It's possible to recognize them even when they already existed within the effective range before using the ability. Furthermore, even if the user leaves the effective range they'll still be able to perceive the objects within the effective range until the duration ends.】

Shortly after that, since Ralpha had to go to the bathroom she and the other women of the party teleported using the teleport crystal we had just used. While making a bitter smile as we watched the women disappear to go to the bathroom we started confirming the safety of our surroundings. We only just teleported here a moment ago so we were already able to guess it's not immediately dangerous. Before long when the women returned and joined us again Ralpha was extremely excited.

It seems while enduring her urge to go to the bathroom Ralpha left the other women to be cautious in the area of the teleport crystal as she moved about 20 meters away but on that occasion it seems she able to feel the fact that they left the range of her {Spatial Understanding}. However, even after she left the range of it she could still perceive the other men and I wandering around in the effective range even after that and near the far upper edge of the effective range she could also feel the boots of the women being cautious of the surroundings.

Thanks to that Ralpha was able to recognize that the origin point of the teleportation and the destination weren't all that far away in distance and furthermore in terms of position they were almost on top of each other. Hearing this the words, "almost like places that are overlapping" left from Rombert the First's life story made sense to everyone. Up until now we thought that the teleporting was just taking place in the 8th floor but we thought of the possibility that we teleporting across floors.

Of course, just like matching up puzzle pieces together, eventually we would have realized it by matching up the areas of the map that Gwine is producing. However, it's a godsend we were able to notice it on the second day. Since there was no difference in the monsters we encountered in the halls I could have sworn it was still the 8th floor(obviously it's hard to imagine that a distance of just 40-50 meters above or below is the difference between the 8th and 9th floors but you could say it's a big harvest we were able to think up the possibility).

Even more so since we didn't use a teleport crystal in the center of the dungeon so you could say it's only obvious.
Up until now unless you used the special teleport crystal in the center of the dungeon, there was no moving between floors. The only exception was the teleport pitfall trap that I fell into in the past.

Here the opinion that teleport traps on the 6th floor as well were in fact not actually traps came out as well but since they're fundamentally different from the teleport crystals which only teleport you if you actively chant the incantation, that opinion was rejected.

Also, it seems it's only obvious that the previous teleport crystals are at the very least over 50 meters apart from the teleport destination, so you could say it's only thanks to good luck that Ralpha noticed from one of the very few "short range teleportation" areas.

Starting from December 24th (the third day), in any case we started clearing through the caves, we started to focus only on arriving at new teleport crystals. During the two days up until then all of the areas on the 8th floor we teleported into had been ones Gwine already had mapped so we chose some new teleport crystals. However, when it came to that there were dead ends as well and times when we had no choice but to spend time going back down the passages we just came as well.

In order to avoid that, whenever we came across a new teleport crystal we would immediately start teleporting over and over. While in the process of that we discovered several routes that lead to teleport areas we had been to in the past. If we think about producing a perfect map then we'll have to properly walk all of the distance over again but it's certainly true the amount of distance we traveled increased by quite a bit.

And then today, December 27th (the sixth day) on the last day we were finally able to arrive close to something like a monster room. Tension ran through everyone. Slowly, very slowly, we moved closer to the room. I remembered back to the time we first stepped foot in the dungeon of Baldukk and approached the room with a {Scavenger Crawler} in it.
I hold back the bitter smile I had been making before noticing it and with the bayonet in my right hand and my left hand ready to use attack spells a any moment we approached the entrance of the room.




................




It appeared.



【】
【Male/15/11/6924.Troll Race】
【State: Normal】
【Age: 521 Years Old】
【Level: 7】
【HP: 722(722) MP: 1(1)】
【Strength: 52】
【Speed: 23】
【Dexterity: 12】
【Endurance: 37】
【Special Skill: Dark Vision】
【Special Skill: Super.Regeneration Type III】

Things in regards to 【Dark Vision】 are fine. I can somehow guess. I'm sure it can see right now almost as if it was during the day or something like that. However, 【Super.Regeneration Type III】, it says?

【Special Skill: Super.Regeneration Type III; All damage other than burns suffered will be recovered at a rate of 1 HP every 5 seconds. Body tissue that was lost during that process will be replaced as well. Furthermore, the functionality of internal organs that have suffered damage will recover as well. In the case that a portion of the body such as an arm or leg is lost, if the lost portion is nearby it's possible for the wounds to reconnect in about 5 seconds. In the case that the lost portions aren't connected together but regeneration, it will take around 1 day to regenerate 1 liter of the volume of flesh.】

It's long hair is moving almost as if wet from the grease it's covered in.
It's skin is deep green and covered in bumps and warts almost as if it has a skin disease.
With long sharp and slightly dropping nose.
A large split mouth that almost reaches to it's ears.
There's two large deeply sunk in holes almost as if they look to be open, though whether or not it actually has eyeballs can't be seen for sure.
The wrinkles of it face give off an overall impression like that of an ill-tempered dead tree like old person.
It has thick and strong looking nails with a black luster on it's large hands and long arms that almost seem unbalanced for it's body size.
It's just a bit tall and thin and it's rib cage sticks out of it's body.
It's spine is sticking out almost as if it was a dorsal fin that degenerated.
The surface of it's skin is dirty the same as usual but the muscles on it's legs are tightened giving a good idea of it's strength.
The only thing it's wearing on it's body is something like a loincloth.

In my past life, it's a completely different existence from the heartwarming creature drawn in the books by Tove.Jansson that I was engrossed with in my childhood.

You could quite literally call it an atrocious monster beyond even that of an ogre.

Two of those were facing each other crouched down biting into the soft stomach of a Giant Mantis.

I heard the sound of somehow hold their breath behind me.