Chapter 34

Chapter 34 Strongest Sage, Catches Monster Bare-handed

Dungeons are cave-like places where mana essence gathers, places of which monsters are easier to occur .

A cave that has turned into a dungeon changes its terrain by itself, there are even cases where it behaves like a living creature depending on the quantity and quality of the mana essence . . . .

Looks like the outer layer of this dungeon doesn't have such a characteristic . It's hard for mana to pass through dungeon walls, so I cannot detect the deeper layer of this dungeon with my current search ability .

"Oh, found a monster . "

I found a reaction from monster right after we stepped into the dungeon .

There's a hermit crab-like monster beyond an intersection straight ahead .

"Eh? I don't see anything resembling monster, has my search skill gotten bad? I should have good eyes for once though . . . . "

"I can't see any monster either . "

"Ah . You can't see it yet . It's beyond an intersection over there . "

Guess I should teach them 【Passive Detection】 and stuff before we start the exploration for real .

There's a huge difference between someone who can and cannot use it .

Though well, it can be easily obstructed with concealment, so relying on it too much isn't a good idea either .

"By the way, what kind of monster is it?"

"It looks like a hermit crab . I'll go catch it real quick . "

I said that and dashed off, after that I caught the hermit crab monster beyond the intersection and went back .

Of course, I've bound its claws and arms with magic to prevent accidents .

It's a very weak monster, I can probably beat it by hitting it with a physical reinforced fist .

Even this hermit crab can easily cut off human fingers if it can use its claws though .

"No matter how weak a monster is, they're still far stronger than common animals . It's not unusual for casualties to appear even with this monster, so you need to be careful . . . . Or so I'd like to say, but watching Mathias-kun catching one bare-handed like that makes you think there's no need for that . . . . You two, don't imitate him okay . "

"Yes!"

"Not like we could even if we wanted . . . . "

The two girls replied the teacher .

Well it's important to be careful .

There's a possibility of not being able to concentrate at the crucial parts if you're too focused on a weak opponent, thus moderately loosing your strain at the right parts is also important . . . . Well, they'll probably get used to it as they battle on .

Staying focused to their limit at all times should be a good lesson for beginners .

"Well, that's that, for now let's use this thing as a practice board . "

I picked up the hermit crab while saying that .

"Alma, try to shoot an arrow at this monster . "

"That monster is covered in shell isn't it? No matter how strong this bow is, I don't think it could break through the shell . . . . "

"Yeah . It's just for confirming something . You don't need to mind me, I can manage even if your aim veers off a bit . Hurry, the other monsters would come if we don't do this quick . "

I know that no monster will come here for a while with 【Passive Detection】 though .

"I really don't want to shoot a target someone's holding . . . . Well, I guess Mathi-kun will be fine . Ei!"

Fwoosh, the arrow let loose with that sound and hit the hermit crab right in the shell even without my interference .

However, it couldn't break through the shell . Monster shell isn't soft enough to be broken by a bow of this level .

"Then try to shoot it after putting your mana on the arrow . Do it just like how you usually shoot a magic . "

"Err . . . Like this?"

Alma successfully put her mana into the arrow along with her words . She has quite the sense .

"Try to shoot that arrow . "

"Okay . Here it goes! Ei!"

The arrow this time smashed the shell and went deep into the hermit crab's body .

Once its shell is broken, the hermit crab that doesn't have much life force to begin with dies just like that .

"Eh, no way . . . . "

"That was a kind of augment magic, 【Simple Magic Enchant】 . It's the most basic magic of arrow enchant, you'll have to use it often to get used to it . "

Saying that, I took out additional arrows from storage magic and handed them to Alma .

" . . . . Huh? Where did the arrows come from just now?"

"Storage magic . "

"Don't tell me that's a space-type storage magic . . . . ? Isn't that a stuff of legend . . . . "

"It exists in reality . Since your maximum mana will decrease when you store heavy things, it's an unexpectedly inconvenient magic though . "

"Heavy things?"

"Yeah . Half of my mana was taken away when I used it to store a War Tiger I beat in my trip to the royal capital . "

I nearly burned the materials thanks to it .

Or rather I would have definitely done it if the merchant didn't tell me . No doubt about it .

"Isn't War Tiger a calamity class monster . . . . "

"Un, sorry . My mistake for wanting common sense from Mathi-kun . "

"Do I really even need to accompany this party . . . . . I have to since it's the rule though . . . . "

"You'll be able to beat something like War Tiger soon enough . . . . Now then, let's keep at it . It seems there's a lot monsters over there . Judging from the mana flow, it's in the same direction as the path to the next floor . "

Most dungeons have a multilayered structure called 『Floors』 .

Each floor is connected by stairs-like terrain like cliff and waterfall, the strength of monsters located in the same floor usually aren't that different .

In that sense, exploring a dungeon might be more stable than outside a dungeon . Because unlike in seas or forests, enemies with hugely different combat capabilities don't often suddenly appear out of nowhere .

Though well, even if that's often the case, that doesn't mean that it never happens .

"Then, you two, try to advance ahead while searching for the enemy from here on . I'll be sure to step forward if it looks dangerous though . "

"Really, I don't know who's accompanying who here . . . . "

We continued ahead in the dungeon while having that conversation .