「Whoops! I should have seen that coming!」
Another room on the first floor of the dungeon.
Sensing a presence inside the room, Rei prodded the door with the shaft of his spear. But, as nothing happened, he judged there were unlikely to be any traps and decided to enter. The moment he did, he felt a presence attacking from above.
Reacting to the unexpected attack, Rei dashed forward to dodge the attacker dropping down.
As if waiting for that moment, two small, dog faced monsters lying in ambush ahead thrust out their spears.
Rei twisted his body to dodge the spears thrust towards him, closing the distance and swinging his own spear horizontally in an arc at the same time.
Through the spear, he felt the sensation of striking flesh and crushing bone. This was followed by the sound of wooden spear shaft snapping.
Clicking his tongue at the sensation, he turned his gaze to the left.
The monster Rei had struck had been on his right.
Since there were two monsters, the one on the left was naturally still there.
However, perhaps because Rei’s forward movement was faster than expected, the other monster had completely lost sight of Rei.
The broken spearhead spun through the air, flying off in a random direction, but Rei completely ignored it as he thrust the remains of his spear shaft towards the head of the monster that was still there.
The shaft of Rei’s spear was made of wood and the break had created a naturally jagged tip
That pointed edge pierced the monster’s head……specifically, its eye. Driven by Rei’s strength, the remains of the spear easily pierced into the monster’s brain, destroying it.
「Gyan!」
With the remains of the spear shaft still sticking out of its eye, the monster let out a short scream before being knocked back. It rolled on the ground and twitched a few times while letting out a faint whimper before dying.
Without even taking the time to watch it die, Rei pivoted on one foot. With his now empty right hand, he reached inside his Dragon Robe and activated the magic item equipped at his waist, Nebula’s Eye.
He flicked the arrowhead that was created in his right hand with his fingers, sending it flying.
「Gyan!」
A scream echoed from behind Rei.
Even so, the arrowhead created by Nebula’s Eye wasn’t enough to finish it off. The monster readied the spear in its hand while clutching its face and screaming.
At this point, Rei was finally able to observe the monster properly and he frowned slightly.
It was only natural. Standing before him was a small monster with the face of a dog. Its height was about the same as a Goblin, or perhaps slightly taller.
Rei naturally knew the name of the monster.
Although this was only his second time encountering it, it was a monster as famous as the Goblin.
The E rank monster, Kobold.
That was the name of the monster in Rei’s line of sight.
In terms of pure physical ability, it was only slightly better than a Goblin, but it was smarter than a Goblin and would attack in a coordinated manner like the three that had just attacked him.
They were also dextrous, capable of wielding weapons more proficiently than Goblins.
「Well, it’s still just an E rank monster in the end, though.」
He pulled the Death Scythe out from the Misty Ring and swung it in a horizontal strike.
His attack was so sharp that it took a few seconds after the swing before the Kobold’s torso finally split into two.
「Their materials and proof of subjugation parts fetch a higher price than a Goblin’s, but……even considering that, compared to the effort of dismantling them, it’s not really worth it. If only they were higher rank monsters, I could at least use their meat to feed Set.」
In the end, he didn’t store the Kobolds into the Misty Ring, leaving their corpses exactly where they lay.
Just like the Goblins, if he left them here, the Slimes would eventually take care of them.
He gave the Death Scythe a single swing to flick off the blood before storing it back into Misty Ring and taking out a spear similar to the one he had just broken.
The reason he didn’t use the Kobold’s spear was probably because it was of even worse quality.
It might have been fine to throw and use as a disposable weapon, but it was clearly unsuited to be used as a normal spear.
Ultimately, he decided that the Kobold’s spear could at least be used for throwing and stored it in his Misty Ring.
Having taken a moment to pause, Rei looked around the room.
「So, the stairs are……ah, there they are.」
Alone in the centre of the room were the stairs leading to the next floor.
Other than that, there was nothing in particular, it was just an empty room.
Well, aside from the corpses of three Kobolds lying on the ground.
「It would have been nice if Ogres or something were here instead. ……Wait, maybe it left this room because it was empty?」
While feeling somewhat doubtful, Rei headed towards the stairs……
「Gyagya.」
「Gyogyogyaa!」
Hearing those voices coming from the bottom of the stairs, he frowned in displeasure.
「Again? Seriously, there are way too many Goblins coming out.」
He sighed, wondering how many Goblins he had encountered today. Readying his spear, he dashed forward to launch a surprise attack on the Goblins who hadn’t spotted him yet.
Rei rapidly closed the distance to the Goblins.
However, the two Goblins at the front showed no signs of noticing Rei’s approach as they peered up the stairs.
(There are probably more of them down there.)
Thinking that it was going to be slightly troublesome, he thrust his spear forward sharply, piercing the head of one Goblin. Before that Goblin had even collapsed onto the stone floor, he pulled the spear back and thrust again, piercing the head of the second Goblin.
Two Goblins were killed in an instant, but a third Goblin who hadn’t noticed what happened poked its head out from the stairs, just as Rei expected…… The next moment, Rei’s spear shot out again, piercing its head and killing it just like the two before.
He waited just in case, but there was no sign of a fourth or fifth Goblin showing up.
「Well, I guess that’s it.」
He watched the headless Goblin corpses slide down the stairs and looked around the room one last time, just to be sure.
Confirming that there were only Goblin and Kobold corpses and absolutely nothing else of value, he went down the stairs.
「If I remember correctly, the second floor is supposed to be like a cave?」
Muttering to himself as he descended the stairs, he stepped over the Goblin corpses and exited the small room at the bottom of the stairs. Before him was a cave like environment, exactly as he had been told.
Unlike the stone pavement of the first floor, the ground was made of dirt, and small rocks were scattered everywhere.
Stalactites resembling faintly glowing icicles hung from the ceiling, illuminating what would normally be a dark corridor just enough that visibility wasn’t an issue.
However, the width of the corridor was barely different from the first floor, leaving very little space for combat, just like the information Rei had gathered in Gilm suggested.
「It really is a nasty corridor in various ways. If a party challenged this, the number of people who could actually fight would be very small. Well, it might be fine if they brought a lot of archers. ……But in that case, they’d end up operating at a loss.」
The monsters that appeared were basically only low rank monsters.
Even the Ogre Rei had fought was clearly weaker than the one he had fought before.
If so, it would be difficult to even recover the cost of the arrows consumed in battle.
If they were lucky, they might be able to retrieve the arrows, but the chances were low; they could hit a rock and break, the arrowheads could chip, or they could become useless from monster bodily fluids.
「Thinking about it that way, my Nebula’s Eye seems pretty convenient since it can mass-produce arrowheads, which is the most expensive part of an arrow. ……Well, they disappear pretty quickly, though.」
He continued down the path, thinking about the difficulties of using the magic item on his waist.
If he were an archer, maybe the unmodified Nebula’s Eye would have been an incredibly useful item.
……It was a strange thing to be realising now, but from the very beginning, Rei had no intention of using a bow as a weapon.
If he was going to attack with a bow, he might as well just throw the spears stored in his Misty Ring.
That was the thought process behind it.
「A bow, huh. In my case, I have the Misty Ring, so even if I used one, I probably wouldn’t have any trouble with the number of arrows. ……Whether they would hit or not is another story.」
Given his physical abilities, and the fact that his five senses and even his sixth sense were extremely sharp, he thought he might actually have a high aptitude for bows……but once the Death Scythe appeared through the Magic Beast Art, not using it was never an option.
「Whoops, I was too distracted thinking about things.」
Hearing a monster’s cry from down the single path, Rei understood an enemy was approaching and readied his spear so he could attack at any moment…… At that moment, he realised there wasn’t really a reason to wait for the monster to get close before he attacked.
(Well, I was just thinking about throwing spears, so it’s only natural I’d realise it now.)
Muttering to himself, he leaned the spear he was holding against the wall and took out the poor quality spear he had just taken from the Kobold earlier.
(I didn’t expect the spear I took from the Kobold to get its turn so quickly.)
Since it was literally disposable and he didn’t care if it broke, Rei readied the spear……and directed a sharp gaze down the corridor.
No matter how much illumination stalactites on the ceiling provided, it still couldn’t be as bright as daytime.
Since that was the case, pinpointing the enemy’s location based on sensing their presence was more reliable than relying on sight.
The voice drawing closer was clearly a monster’s cry. The moment he was certain it wasn’t an adventurer, he took a few running steps before throwing the spear, adding the force of twisting his body into the throw.
The spear flew through the air, tearing through the wind as it flew straight ahead……
「Bumoh!」
That scream reached Rei’s ears.
「Judging from that presence and cry, it’s not a Goblin. This is……heh.」
Recognising the monster, Rei’s mouth formed a smile. He grabbed the spear leaning against the wall before dashing foward.
Unlike the stone pavement of the first floor, the dirt ground of the second floor, with rocks scattered around, didn’t allow Rei to fully utilize his leg strength.
But even so, it was an overwhelming speed compared to how fast ordinary adventurers could move at. In the blink of an eye, the figure of a monster with the head of a pig crouching on the ground came into view.
It was a D rank monster, by no means a high rank monster, but for a D rank monster, its meat was quite delicious.
Rei still had a fair amount of the meat obtained from the previous raid on the Orc settlement stored in his Misty Ring.
It was a meat that both Rei and Set liked, and because of that, he had been hoping to restock if possible…… However, despite having its abdomen pierced by the spear Rei threw, the Orc in his path was still trying to stand up.
In addition, there was a second Orc next to it, just staring at its companion, seemingly unable to comprehend what had happened.
It was in such a daze that it still didn’t come to its senses even when it heard Rei’s approaching footsteps.
Rei’s thrust aimed at the throat of the Orc he had already injured with his spear throw, destroying its neck. Only when its head rolled onto the ground did the remaining Orc finally realise it was under attack and raised the club in its hand towards Rei.
But there was no way Rei would wait around leisurely for that. Before the club could swing down, his spear shot out swiftly.
Three times, almost simultaneously.
The thrusts instantly pierced the Orc’s belly.
Although the Orc’s body was protected by thick fat and muscle, it apparently couldn’t completely kill the momentum of the spear thrusts powered by Rei’s strength and collapsed to the ground.
Its limbs were still twitching slightly, proof that the Orc wasn’t completely dead yet.
Blood flowed from the spots pierced by the spear, staining the dirt ground.
Watching this, Rei readied the spear in his hand……and delivered a final blow to its head, snuffing out the Orc’s life.
「Are the Orcs weaker than the ones I fought before too……?」
Rei muttered while looking at the corpses of the two Orcs.
Though, that might just be because he was currently stronger than when he had previously fought Orcs.
But what Rei was actually worried about wasn’t the Orc’s strength, but the quality of the Orc’s meat.
Since he had gone through the trouble of restocking his Orc meat, it was only natural to hope that, regardless of their strength, the taste of the meat hadn’t changed.
He stored the Orc corpses lying on the ground and their weapons into his Misty Ring before continuing to walk.
Rei proceeded down the only pathway.
Continuing straight ahead, he eventually arrived at a junction where the path split left and right.
Unlike the first floor, it wasn’t a T junction, but a Y junction.
「Now then, which way should I go……」
On the first floor, the corridors had ended up circling the room with the stairs leading to the second floor, but he wondered if this Y-junction would lead to the same result.
With that thought in mind, Rei followed his intuition and stepped onto the path leading to the right.