Live Dungeon!

Tsutomu’s Shell Crab trapping strategy, which he had come up with back when he teamed up with Garm and Amy, had been spread around by the news outlets. It was a ground-breaking introduction to the scene, as it eliminated a team’s need for the Attacker role to defeat the Shell Crab. The story had since been adopted and further improved by many Clans, mostly in the mid-tiers.

Previously, those with Tank Jobs would hire Attackers with money and have them help kill the Shell Crab, which was what Xeno had done after much convincing from his wife. This method was costly, however, so many Tank-type Explorers of mid-tier Clans struggled financially and got stuck with the level cap of 60 as a result.

Thanks to this trapping strategy, and given enough time, Tanks could now kill the Shell Crab, going over the wall that was the Dungeon’s fiftieth layer. More and more promising Tanks had appeared in the scene since then. Additionally, Tsutomu’s teachings of the three-role team composition, which he had done to improve the well-being of himself and other Healers, had also given the Tanks a tailwind, enabling them to be evaluated fairly for their strengths.

[There we go.]

Daryl spread a bunch of poisoned Potion Fish, which he had bought from a stop that advertised it as the best Shell Crab bait, around a nesting spot. Then he set off to find the final nesting spot, which was supposed to be on some sand dunes near the beach.

The bait selection for the Shell Crab had been researched by the mid-tier Clans, and at first, it had been found that the best choice was the relatively inexpensive and chewy lobsters. And so hundreds of teams started hunting the Shell Crab, waiting for it to eat the poisoned lobsters that had been set around its nests before going in for all-out attacks. Afterward, they found that in addition to poison, paralytic toxins were effective as well.

However, after the mid-tier Clans hunted the Shell Crab in excess for some time, things changed. First, the monster stopped eating lobsters, and it developed resistance to paralytic toxins.

In this world, layer bosses that were hunted with the same method over and over again would develop resistance or come up with some sort of countermeasure to certain effects. This had also been observed to happen with the Queen Spider, the boss on layer thirty. Before, the Queen Spider could be defeated quickly and easily by burning its threads with fire, but after a while, its silk became fire-resistant.

The Shell Crab had gained its resistance to paralytic toxins in a similar fashion. Fortunately, though, its nesting locations stayed the same, as it still would take baits as long as it was not lobster. As such, the popular bait now was the combination of Potion Fish and the swamp poison that Tsutomu had used. What Daryl had prepared, too, was the same as Tsutomu.

[All right, here it is.]

Finding the spot on the sand dunes near the beach, he used a shovel to dig a hole and check if any Potion Fish and shells had been buried there. Then, upon finding them, he began to replace them with the poisoned ones.

This switching method was not foolproof, though. If the poisoned Potion Fish were not fresh, the Shell Crab would be able to see through the trap, so Explorers had to make sure to buy the fish from a reputable seller. If possible, it was best to procure Potion Fish right from the Dungeon’s seas and use them on the same day.

Most of the market’s Potion Fish were procured by Guild staff members, but the lower-tier teams of Ealdred Crow had also managed to catch quite a decent amount. There were also some fisherman-ish Explorers who stored boat parts in their Magic Bags and assembled their boats once in the Dungeon to catch fish with nets. Net fishing also yielded seafood and materials other than Potion Fish, which they would wholesale to various restaurants as ingredients.

There was a great variety in the Dungeon City’s cuisine, with some of the biggest reasons being the relative cheapness and high availability of magic tools in the market, and the abundance and variety of ingredients. God’s Dungeon’s Grasslands and Forests offered a variety of vegetables for the picking, while the Swamps contained high-quality mushrooms and herbs, and the Beaches were abundant with seafood.

As such, Explorers made a living not only from selling Magic Stones, but also by collecting materials. It would be difficult for one to tell the various materials apart, however, so they had to rely on more experienced, more knowledgeable Explorers. Garm had also bombarded Daryl with heaps upon heaps of knowledge during his training, so he was quite well-informed for a relatively new arrival in the dungeoneering scene.

Once Daryl finished setting up the traps at all locations, he focused his dog ears to confirm the sounds of the fight, and headed in that direction to reunite with the others.

Back to the team, he saw that the three combatants were fighting without any particular difficulties. Korinna clasped her hands together and channeled her blessings, Xeno defended and parried the Shell Crab’s attacks with excessively stylish maneuvers, and Diniel attacked at a controlled pace like usual.

“I’m done!”

“Welcome back, boy,” Diniel said, glancing in Daryl’s direction as she kept on shooting.

The monster’s defenses, which were primarily constructed of seashells and ore that had been stuck together, had almost all been destroyed, and its own shell, as well as the shells of all ten of its limbs, were all fractured.

“Sir Xeno! I’m ready to switch whenever!”

“Is that so? I’m counting on you, then.”

Xeno swiped his sweat-drenched silver hair and stepped back. Daryl used <<Warrior Howl>> to vibrate his shield, then hit the Shell Crab with a <<Taunt Swing>>. This bread-and-butter skill combo, very often used by those of the Knight-type Jobs, enabled its user to gain a considerable amount of aggro in a short time.

By the time Daryl successfully pulled the monster’s aggro away from Xeno, he felt his VIT increase as the <<Blessing of Protection>> took effect. Diniel, confirming that, prepared a bundle of stronger arrows.

“One…”

Diniel’s arrow landed dead center on one of the Shell Crab’s little legs, shattering the leg’s cracked shell.

“Two, three…”

In contrast to her non-serious voice, every arrow she shot packed quite a punch. One after another, they pierced the cracked shells of the Shell Crab’s legs, each time causing the monster to scream.

“<<Double Arrow>>.”

Then, after she shattered all of the monster’s little legs, she proceeded to work on destroying its gigantic pincers. Satisfying-sounding snaps echoed from two different spots, but then only a single streak of silver light flew off Diniel’s black bow. She had used <<Double Arrow>> so much that she could shoot so quickly, it looked like a single shot instead of two.

The two shots passed by Daryl and pierced into the center of the Shell Crab’s right pincer. Receiving the attack, the monster flinched, its antennae swinging around.

“<<Power Arrow>>.”

Then she let loose another shot for good measure. The arrow twisted the air around it as it flew, and landed a direct hit on the target’s right pincer. The previous two shots had weakened the center of the pincer, causing sharp shards of the shell to pop off upon impact.

“…Wow.”

Each of the shots was so strong that even Daryl would not be willing to Tank against them. Daryl thought he had already known how powerful Diniel was, but unlike Hannah, he had never observed her in action this closely before. While he was utterly terrified by the sheer power exhibited right before his eyes, Diniel gave him the signal to fall back, so he did.

<<Stream Arrow>>.

Before the team had come down here, Tsutomu had tasked Diniel with trying to maximize damage output, which did mean no limits on the number of arrows she could use… which in turn meant she did not have to deal with Ollie constantly asking about her arrow supply.

The arrow Diniel was readying to shoot now had been fitted with a Lighting Magic Stone, one of the rarest among the elemental Magic Stones. Then, after she shot it up to the sky, lightning arrows rained down on the Shell Crab like a thunderstorm.

The Shell Crab, despite its resistance to paralytic toxins, could still be paralyzed by lightning — Now it was unable to move. Diniel used <<Stream Arrow>> a couple more times, mercilessly whittling down the monsters. Then, after drinking a vial of Blue Potion to restore her mental energy, she shot a <<Power Arrow>> at the immobilized Shell Crab’s face, past its lowered pincers.

The arrow landed accurately in the monster’s mouth. Diniel continued to shoot some arrows normally, but all her hits were still powerful and just as severe for the Shell Crab.

In the aftermath of the rain of arrows, the Shell Crab collapsed and dispersed into light particles, having exhausted its strength.

“Ah,” Diniel blurted out, seemingly surprised.

She turned around to Daryl, who had been on standby behind her.

“Sorry. I killed it early.”

“…Well, it does mean we won, though, so I’d say it’s all good.”

“I mean, sorry you had to run all over the place.”

“W-why are you trying to touch me?”

Daryl stepped away from Diniel as the latter reached out her hand to his head. Diniel closed her eyes, spending a brief moment to think before proceeding to say,

“I thought you could use a little consolation, why?”

“…You made that reason up just now, didn’t you?”

“I’ll be honest, then. Let me touch your fur.”

“Uh, you know that being honest won’t do anything to help your chances, right!?”

“Tch,” Diniel clicked her tongue… with an otherwise straight face. She proceeded to pull on her bow’s string to check its condition.

Daryl, unable to comprehend Diniel’s actions, dropped his shoulders, and then collected the Lare Colorless Magic Stone that the boss monster had dropped.

“That was quite impressive,” Melchor said, smiling cheerfully as he approached Diniel.

“Nowhere as much as you, I’m sure.”

“Oh, that’s not true — Aren’t you still quite young, as far as Elves go? Truly, it’s scary to think how much more growth and improvement you can achieve.”

Diniel opened her eyes slightly wider in response to Melchor’s remark.

“No, you’re the scary one — Last year, you even defeated a 350-year-old Elf Boxer in a tournament. That’s the person I’m second most interested in, after Tsutomu.”

“You are interested in that young man? How so? Could it be… love?”

“Even you must have been intimidated by the Devourer Dragon back then.”

“…I was, indeed,” Melchor said, stroking his white mustache.

During the seven years since the emergence of the God’s Dungeon, Explorers and civilians alike had been so focused on it that they neglected the thinning out of the other Dungeons. As a result, a certain monster appeared to devour the monsters of the large-scale Stampede, becoming immensely powerful. Even Melchor had been taken aback by its unprecedented appearance, and if he had not been responsible for safeguarding the royalty, he most likely would have jumped at the first chance to fight it.

“That monster… it could destroy House Babenberg’s barrier. But, Tsutomu still kept calm when he faced it. If it was you, maybe I would understand, but him… he’s totally not normal. There must be a secret to him, and that’s why I’m interested.”

“Hmm. Well, I suppose I am interested, too. Even the nobility’s intelligence network could barely find out anything about him. He knew about the Devourer Dragon beforehand, too… As you said, indeed, he must have some sort of secret.”

“Oh, is that so? As I’ve been told by Sir Garm, Sir Tsutomu was supposed to be a normal orphan, though…”

“If ‘normal’ orphans were that educated, humans would have been way above all the other humanoid races by now.”

The literacy rate in Dungeon City was high by this world’s standard, but it was still much lower than in Japan. As such, all a person needed to be considered educated was the ability to read and write decently. Tsutomu understood this world’s language, and thus could read and write perfectly, due to having been summoned from another world by God. Moreover, Diniel had confirmed that he had been managing the Clan’s finances before he hired Ollie, so she knew that he was more educated than the average person.

“Oh, now that you mention it, that’s true.”

“You’re a smart boy, Daryl, so why don’t you think for yourself? Surely you can figure that out easily enough.”

“I-I’m sorry…?”

“Hey, I was just asking. No need to apologize.”

Diniel’s expression was mostly serious, so he naturally felt like she was scolding him. As it turned out, though, she was not particularly angry, and was simply stating the truth. Daryl looked up at her, his dog ears perking up.

“Should I ask Sir Tsutomu about it the next chance I get, then?”

“It doesn’t look like he likes talking about his past.”

“Well, that’s true…”

It was true that Daryl had rarely heard Tsutomu talk about himself. Moreover, he felt an air of mystery about Tsutomu, albeit not to the same degree of mysteriousness as Diniel’s.

“We shouldn’t pry too much. I’m still curious, though.”

“…Maybe I should ask Sir Garm next time I meet him, then?”

Daryl was hesitant to ask Tsutomu about it directly, so in the end, he decided to rely on Garm again.

After the conversation, the team proceeded down to layer fifty-one and called it a day.