Chapter 37 - The beauty in front of the dungeon and Combat

“…Alright.”

Once the sun went down, I left the inn.

I checked the Status Board and I have a decent amount of Points and Crystals. If I use these, my battles with the monsters should go smoother, but I couldn’t bring myself to use them.

Of course, there’s also the reason of not wanting to stand out.

But more than that, I have the success story of managing to escape from the forest thanks to having Points remaining.

There’s a high chance that I will be able to overcome any eventualities if I have Points remaining.

Knowing this, I couldn’t bring myself to spend my Points.

I need a special reason to do it.

I walk from alleyway to alleyway, towards the center where the entrance of the dungeon is.

At the entrance, there’s the usual 4 soldiers on watch that look as if they have nothing to do, with their usual bonfire there.

And, there was one unusual person…

(Isn’t that yesterday’s…Rifreya, was it? What is she doing?) (Hikaru)

The one there was the Light Spirit User female warrior that I met yesterday.

She was completely ignoring the young soldiers that were peeking her way every now and then as if curious, and was facing straight forward, standing there as if she were protecting the entrance of the dungeon.

(Could it be that…she is waiting for me…?) (Hikaru)

I thought for a moment there, but got embarrassed right after for being so self-conscious there.

She must have a reason why she is there.

(Should I go talk to her and see if she is properly keeping my secret?) (Hikaru)

But I feel like that might backfire here.

There’s a chance she has forgotten about someone like me already. That development would be convenient too.

In the end, I ignored her, covered myself with darkness, and sneaked into the dungeon.

The inside of the dungeon was the same as usual.

You could say I even felt safe inside the darkness.

I didn’t pay heed to the newbie explorers fighting in the Dusk Hades Street, and hurried to the stairs of the 2nd Floor.

Skeletons have bad compatility with my abilities and weapon.

No, I am not really sure since I haven’t actually fought them, but I can’t help but feel like smashing them with a club would be better. I only have a cheap dagger with me.

And so, I arrived at the 2nd Floor -the Hungry Beasts Underground Prison.

“[Darkness Fog].” (Hikaru)

I hide in the darkness and search for a monster that’s alone.

While I was searching, I unsheathed my dagger and tried swinging it around.

(Heavy…and I suck.) (Hikaru)

That was my honest opinion after trying it out.

I didn’t even have to think about it. This was natural. I have never used a sword after all.

The dagger that I am holding is the mass produced cheap stuff.

An uneven blade that’s around only 40 cm in size. They are probably forcing the sharpness out, the blade is thin, and if you push it a bit too much, it would easily chip or break.

Something that would only serve as self-defense. I say that, but in this world where iron itself apparently goes for a decent sum of money, a dagger like this is by no means cheap.

Now that I think about it, if I wanted to buy a dagger like this in my world, it might have cost a decent amount.

You can’t buy it with a few hundred yen or thousand yen.

That’s obvious.

*Whoosh Whoosh!*

I swing around the dagger. The weight is around 1kg.

It was lacking in power and speed.

I feel like I have no choice but to deal fatal damage with one hit like the time with the Mantis.

I lack way too much physical strength to fight as a warrior.

(It is pretty tiring…) (Hikaru)

I was out of breath just from swinging the dagger around for a few minutes.

Who knows what would be of me if this were a longsword.

Just what in the world is Rifreya who has the strength to swing around a longsword 10 times the weight of this dagger?

(Oh well, let’s go for the weakest-looking monster I find.) (Hikaru)

The weakest in the 2nd Floor are goblins.

They are around 100cm in size, and act in groups.

Monsters are pretty crooked in terms of being ‘living beings’, and they wander around not really doing anything in particular.

They attack humans on sight, but I don’t really know why they are like that.

Is it another page in the weirdness of dungeons?

(There. Two of them, huh…) (Hikaru)

I walked for a while and found a pair of goblins.

Goblins can come in groups of 10 at most, so…stragglers are just fit for hunting.

Monsters tend to notice my presence if I get too close to them even if I use Darkness Fog.

I haven’t approached them to such an extent since I am scared to, but it is not like Spirit Abilities are all-powerful.

More so when there’s two. When I defeat one, the other will definitely notice me. The problem is what do I do when that happens.

I have seen a lot of parties fight, but I haven’t seen one that uses Dark Spirit Abilities.

I have no choice but to think about it myself and put it into action.

(Testing in actual combat, huh…) (Hikaru)

Thanks to Night Vision and Dark Vision, I can see even inside Darkness Fog. It is as if I am in broad daylight.

Even without that, Darkness Fog is my own ability, so I don’t think it would create a situation where the user themselves is blinded along with it.

I increase the darkness to its highest output.

The Tier 4 Darkness Fog can cover a radius of 10 meters in darkness.

The goblins that were suddenly enveloped in darkness began to raise a ruckus.

I try to kill the sound of my footsteps, hold my breath, and move to the back of the goblins.

An attack to their defenseless cervical vertebrae.

The swung down deadly blade gouged out the nape of the goblin’s neck as if it had been sucked into it, and it shortly fell to the floor with a pang…changing into a small transparent spirit stone.

(Next.) (Hikaru)

The remaining goblin couldn’t even understand that situation, and was still going gya gya.

It isn’t even swinging around its weapon or running away.

I calmly and silently moved to its back, and swung down my dagger to that same spot.

Once things were done, it really was anti-climatic.

They were completely defeated with only Darkness Fog.

I didn’t even need to use my other abilities.

(Ooh… This feeling again.) (Hikaru)

The feeling of Spirit Energy entering my body as if becoming one like the time when I defeated the Mantis. It is minuscule compared to the other time, but what’s this?

I should ask the black market old man eventually.

After that, I would find suitable monsters, would check them thoroughly, and then fight them.

When it is a group of around 5 goblins, I could defeat them with just [Summon: Night Bugs].

Summon Night Bugs are like dark insects of around 10 cm in size, with around 10 attacking the monsters. The proficiency is still low, but as I raise it, this would be the one ability that I can anticipate will have the highest direct attack power.

With my current proficiency in Shadow Bind, I can only stop them for around 10 seconds at most, and on top of that, they can still move their arms to a certain extent, so it isn’t that reliable.

It was decently useful against the Mantis, so I guess it depends on how you use it.

It only works on one target per use, so I would have to use it consecutively if I want to bind several targets.

It will become a more useful ability once the proficiency increases…I guess.

When I make the Shadow Runner run, orcs and goblins get angered and would chase after it to attack it.

If I am showing myself, it would only distract them a bit, or if it is close, it would attack it. I have to increase my proficiency even more, or it will stay as an ability that only creates slight openings.

…Well, those ‘slight openings’ can be big in battles to the very limit though.

If I use Shade Shift, the chances of being hit are halved, but I am not fighting as a warrior, so I don’t have much use of it.

And most of all…Darkness Fog is way too strong.

Revelation of Darkness is fearsome.

As if saying it is the basic yet the ultimate technique, inside the pitch black darkness, goblins and orcs become practically powerless.

It seems like the monsters here have enough night vision to act in the darkness of the dungeon, but Darkness Fog is pitch black darkness where not a single bit of light is present.

Inside of it, monsters panic, and end up being unable to do anything.

I just have to silently approach them from the back and take their life.

It is simple yet powerful to the point that there’s no opportunity for other abilities to shine.

I could at least defeat goblins and orcs completely with only Darkness Fog.

But when it comes to monsters of higher class than that…like ogres and the mantis, I wouldn’t have the confidence.

If the other party notices me and they swing their weapon randomly, there’s a chance I would die instantly with just one hit.

It is better to not get too overconfident here.

Me only fighting goblins and orcs is because even if they were to fight back, I wouldn’t be dying in one hit.

Well, this is my first day fighting monsters. I have plenty of time.

It is fine to take it slow.

In the end, I just hunted weak monsters today.

I got 20 transparent Spirit Stones and 4 colored ones.