Chapter 28 Monster House
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
……Day 10 of Tester Life. Test Dungeon, Floor 1, My Room. Sanada Yakumo……
The morning after defeating the guardian of the third floor.
As usual, I woke up feeling good. My body was fresh, with no tiredness from the day before.
In my head, though—well, I was still stuck in a closed dungeon. Feeling a bit down is just part of being locked away like this.
I lived for years inside the walls of a Child Soldier Training Center¹, so I can handle it, but it must be very hard for the students.
There is the stress of fighting for your life and the stress of being trapped. When you add a body made strong by Mana Capacity², it would not be strange if someone just snapped.
I got out of bed and used the Magic Crystal³ to check my Mana Capacity.
It was still at E-plus. I thought it would be, since the rank just went up recently.
Most other testers are still hanging around the first floor. That means they are stuck at G-plus or F-rank at best.
Yuki and her group will not tell the others where the first floor guardian is, so being E-plus keeps me ahead of the game.
Still, even if they are only F-rank, I do not know what would happen if fifty of them came at me at once. It would be worse if many of them learned magic.
”I need to go further. I have to raise my Mana Capacity rank even higher.”
I need to make a big gap in strength and gear before the students go totally wild. I have to be ready to fight them off whenever they attack.
I thought about these things while I showered and shaved my beard. After I was dry, I put on my clothes and went to the Magic Crystal.
I opened the Shop⁴ to buy breakfast like I always do, and that was when I saw it.
”What? The breakfast set is 100 DP⁵?” I asked, shocked.
The price of the breakfast set had doubled.
Lunch boxes were now 140 DP and dinner sets were 200 DP. Everything was much more expensive.
I looked at the other items fast, but the price for drinks, snacks, and Potions had not changed.
I felt a bit better, but I knew people would be screaming outside.
”‘Fight faster, and go deeper’—is that what they want?” I muttered.
It seems the Succubus Queen⁶ does not like the people who just hide or stay on the first floor.
It has been ten days, but only Yuki’s group and I have gone to the next floors.
The people hiding in their rooms have to fight now. The first floor is going to get very crowded.
It will be harder for other testers to earn points, and their ranks will stop going up.
Also, there is no promise that prices will stay here. Since it happened on the tenth day, it might happen again on the twentieth.
If that happens, groups on the first floor will only earn enough to buy food. To put it simply: if they do not move soon, they will not be able to call the Wall-Hole service.
With Mana Capacity going up and libidos getting stronger, losing the Wall-Hole is a disaster. Your ‘tool’ would get so hard at night that you could not sleep from the pain.
Even if you tried to do it yourself with your right hand, doing it five or six times with just your mind is hard. There are no adult books for sale. Unless you can finish with just the panty-shots in kids’ comics.
Most of all, once a man knows the real warmth of a woman through the Wall-Hole, a hand might help the body, but the mind will still be hungry.
The guys who were being careful will start looking for the stairs like crazy now.
I bought two breakfast sets for 100 DP each.
I ate the meal—two rice balls and some fried fish. It was not fancy even though the price was high. I felt a bit annoyed.
After eating, I put on my guard uniform and my leather armor. I put on my gauntlets and leg guards, then took my iron shield. I checked the throwing knives hidden behind the shield. I had not used them in a real fight yet, so I made sure they worked.
Finally, I put my black iron Machete and a knife on my belt and left My Room.
I left the robe behind because it makes it hard to run and it is too hot. I did not use the leather hat I found before, either. It just makes me look like a kamikaze pilot.
When I walked into the plaza, it was very loud and busy, just like I thought.
The guys who can actually earn points were already geared up and talking. They looked serious. They were probably planning to find the next stairs before the first floor got too full of people.
But there was one group making a lot of noise.
A crowd of about eighty people—the ones who always hide—had gathered.
These people used to ignore the teachers, but now they were swarming them and begging for help.
”Idiots.”
I just sighed at them for asking for help so late.
They were not asking how to fight. They were begging to be saved.
They are not desperate enough yet. They probably will not fight until they have been hungry for days. Some people might even die from hunger at this rate.
I have no plans to help. If you want to live, fight. If you do not want to fight, then starve.
That is the result of your own choices. If you want to be mad, be mad at your own bad choices when you die.
I walked past the noisy plaza and went straight to the dungeon.
* * *
For the next three days, I kept looking at the fourth floor, but I could not find the guardian’s room.
……Day 12 of Tester Life. Test Dungeon, Floor 4. Sanada Yakumo……
”Something is wrong.”
I checked every side path, but there was no way to the guardian’s room.
I found the third floor’s room in two days, but I still had not found this one after three days of looking.
Actually, I had finished looking at all the main paths and side paths by the second day. Today, the third day, I was just checking the same places again.
I looked for hidden walls, but I did not find any.
I found five Monster Houses and looked inside, but they were not paths. They were just full of Kobolds.
”Monster Houses, huh…”
They are the only places I have not fully checked yet.
”On the third floor, the boss was in a fake Monster House. Is it in a real one this time?” I thought.
I did not see any black gates when I looked in earlier. A big gate like that would be easy to see.
That means there might be a hidden path inside the Monster House.
”It could be true.”
My Mana Capacity was… about twenty-five percent back. That is enough to clear one house.
I finally hit Mana Capacity Rank D this morning. I used about half of it and realized how much I have now. I think I can use Physical Reinforcement⁷ about twenty-five times. For Wind Cutter⁸ or Fireball⁹, that is fifty shots.
At Rank E, I could only do it ten times. At E-plus, it was fifteen. Just like I thought, moving up a letter grade gives a much bigger boost.
My stamina, strength, and eyes were much better now. I felt like I could beat up a bear with my fists.
Yesterday, deep on the fourth floor where Kobolds come in groups of four, I got tired unless I killed them from far away first. I ran out of Mana and had to drink a potion.
Today, I can fight while saving my magic, and I still have plenty of Mana without using potions.
”I have enough Mana for six Physical Reinforcements left. I will try to clear one house on my way back.”
That is like twelve Fireballs. If I blast them from the outside first, then go in with Physical Reinforcement, I can kill them all.
I looked at my map to find a Monster House on the way home.
I went to a Monster House about two hours away.
* * *
’Fireball!’
”Fireba—wait, really?” I shouted.
At the Monster House, I shot a spell into the crack that was chest-high.
I was going to shoot again, but I stopped when I saw the first shot hit a wall at the entrance and bounce off.
My aim was good. The fire was going right into the crack.
But when the fire tried to go in, it was stopped by an invisible wall.
I walked up and put my arm in. It went in just fine.
”A magic-negation barrier?” I asked.
So the dungeon will not let me kill them from far away with magic.
”What a pain.”
Magic is expensive, so I wanted things to be a bit easier.
”Sigh… okay, let’s do this.”
My Mana had come back a bit while walking, so I could still use magic ten more times.
But inside, I did not think I could use Fireball much because it takes a long time to cast.
I decided to put two shots’ worth of Mana into one big blast.
I grabbed my Machete, turned on Physical Reinforcement, and jumped into the crack—the Kobold nest.
Inside the crack was a room twenty meters big, with a low ceiling.
It was full of about twenty Kobolds.
I shot three Fireballs—each with double Mana—into three parts of the room.
’Fireball!’ ‘Fireball!’ ‘Fireball!’
I was going to shoot a fourth, but three Kobolds jumped at me from the fire.
’Wind Cutter!’ ‘Wind Cutter!’
I hit two of them fast with Wind Cutter.
The last one came from the front. Two more were behind it, and three more were coming from the right. They survived the fire and were all coming at me.
I moved to the side to dodge the first one’s claws and cut its throat with my Machete as I passed.
I shot a normal Fireball at the two behind me. Boom. They became torches. I looked at the three on the right. They were burned but still moving toward me.
My Mana was almost gone. I grabbed a knife from my shield and threw it at the middle one. It hit right in the chest.
I ran in fast and cut the other two with my Machete while they were shocked by the knife.
I put my back to the wall and looked around for any more enemies.
The room was a sea of fire.
Burned Kobolds were all over the floor. Some were still on fire and screaming.
No more enemies were standing up to fight.
I checked my Mana. I had just enough for one more spell.
I thought maybe I should have used a potion before going in.
”Well, I hit four with one shot.”
It worked because they were surprised and packed so close together.
It is strange that fast monsters would pack into a small space like that.
Anyway, Fireball is great for killing a lot of enemies at once. It is the best tool for a Monster House.
I wondered if the Fireball book I found before was put there just for this.
Without it, I might have been killed by so many monsters.
If this was planned, then a hidden path must be in one of these houses.
When the fire died down, I went around and killed the dying survivors.
In the back of the room, I saw three wooden treasure chests.
”Three wooden chests for all that work?” I muttered.
It was not a good reward. Risking my life for wooden chests felt like a bad deal.
I opened them and found copper coins, a wooden shield, and a Grade 5 Mana Capacity Recovery Potion.
It was the same loot you find in normal paths.
”Haaaaaaaaa.”
I let out a big, tired sigh and put the potion and coins away. I tied the shield to my pack.
I picked up the Magic Stones¹⁰ on the floor and looked for a secret door.
But the walls were just stone. I found nothing.
”A dud, I guess.”
This Monster House was a waste of time.
I do not know if there is a ‘winner’ house, but I have to check them all since they are the only places left.
”I will clear every single one tomorrow.”
I used more Mana than I thought I would. Tomorrow, I will have to drink potions while I fight.
I started the long walk back home.
—
Summary:
Yakumo finds out that prices in the dungeon shop have doubled, making life hard for those who won’t fight. He searches the 4th floor for days but finds no boss room, so he starts checking Monster Houses. He clears one using Fireball but finds no secret path and only poor rewards, so he plans to clear them all tomorrow.
—
Character Insight:
Yakumo shows he does not care about the weak students, believing they deserve to starve if they won’t fight. His history as a child soldier makes him very cold and focused only on his own survival. He is smart enough to see that the dungeon is trying to force people to move forward by making things more expensive.
—
Behind the Scene:
The ‘Monster House’ is a common thing in Japanese games where a room is full of enemies. The ‘magic wall’ at the door is there to stop players from just shooting into the room from safety, forcing them to fight inside.
—
T/L:
Notes:
• Yakumo – A 25-year-old human male. He has facial scars, stab wounds, and gunshot scars from his time in a war zone. He works as a school guard.
• Yuki – A third-year high school student and leader of the Battle Sports Club. He is a national champion in medieval-style combat using swords and spears. He has a severe sister complex. He has hawk-like eyes and a polite but determined demeanor.
• Succubus Queen – The sovereign of the Succubus race and servant to the Demon God Zazard. She possesses a voice described as蛊惑的 (alluring/bewitching) and maintains a stance of absolute superiority over humanity.
Please bookmark this series and rate ☆☆☆☆☆ on here!
Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
Leave a Reply