Beyond the gate was a big room.

It has a size around that of Rin-chan’s room, around 20 tatami mats(329 square feet).

「It seems to be… a room」

「….A safe zone, probably. If we clear the dungeon we should be returned here」

「It is as you said. Drifter from another world」

Due to the sudden voice behind us, we reflexively turned around.

A nun who wasn’t present when we scanned the room, somehow appeared behind us.

The moment I put up a guard stance with my weapon, I notice that she’s someone I’m familiar with.

「Umm, navigator right?」

「Yes, it has been a while, Drifter Sukuna」

The nun smiled at my words. She’s the NPC who guided me through the settings calibration…If I remember correctly, she’s named Iris or something.

Aka, the NPC called the Navigator.

Since it’s only been 2 weeks since we met I still remembered her, but Rin-chan had to think a bit before remembering.

「This is the Interval of Tranquility. It’s an area for preparation before you challenge the dungeon」

「Even if you say to prepare, there’s nothing here you know?」

「That’s normal. The Interval of Tranquility is after all, an area where you unlock functions by paying with 《Stardust Fragments》 」

The answer to Rin-chan’s question is basically, to gather Stardust Fragments.

I see, this empty room is a safe zone you can customize.

「Aah….got it, understood. If we want to return to Fias, what do we need to do?」

「After gathering a certain number of Stardust Fragments, you can exchange them for a Return Scroll. This is a safety measure taken so that the monsters in this world will not appear in that world. I would be glad for your understanding」

「How do we exchange Stardust Fragments?」

「I will process the exchange, I handle all item exchanges here. If you need anything, please call for me」

According to the Navigator’s explanation, it seems the gate is a one way passage to prevent monsters from escaping. So that means if this passage is connected, there’s a chance monsters will invade the towns.

But in the first place, isn’t it because the gates are placed inside the towns?

If they’re placed somewhere remote, then they don’t really need to be a one way passage right?

I thought of that, but didn’t say it out loud.

If it’s something I can think of, there is no way that Rin-chan can’t come up with the same idea. Ignoring the placement of the gate, the reasoning for the one way passage is understandable.

「Well, if it’s like that then it’s fine. I assume the door over there is the dungeon entrance?」

「Yes. Please use it to enter the Stardust Labyrinth. Either you defeat the Master of the Labyrinth, or retrace the path you have taken to return here」

「Okay then. Let’s go, Nana」

「Roger~」

「May the fortune of battle be with you」

Waving my hands towards the Navigator who bowed, we passed through the dungeon entrance.

☆

After passing through the door, what we arrived at, was a prairie where you can see the starry skies. It’s a field that doesn’t feel like a dungeon.

「Fuun…Nana, can you throw with your all, at the sky?」

「Wait a bit….serya!」

Throwing straight up with my all. The steel ball that was thrown with a skill, didn’t travel past 100 meters before hitting 「Something」 as it rebounded.

“ZUDON!” echoing out as it landed on the ground. I collected the steel ball while Rin-chan observed.

「I see. So this place is 「Inside the dungeon」」

「Then, what I hit was the ceiling?」

「Most likely, It’s too open to be called a labyrinth but, it allows you to explore with a moderate pace, certainly it’s quite a convenient terrain」

Thanks to the moonlight and the stars, the surroundings are brighter than I would have imagined. The ceiling that creates this 「Night」 environment is still very dark.

But other than the woods here and there, this is a very even field.

If it’s such an open terrain, then I can see very far.

「Rin-chan, one km that way. It looks like there’s a hole in the wall」

「Good job Nana. I don’t know if it’s a stairway, but let’s go check it out」

From my words that I have found a widely opened hole in a wall, Rin-chan happily reacted.

It might not just be limited to WLO, but these things called dungeons, either have distinct layers or be one that lacks it.

For example, the scorching caverns that Touka-chan and I visited, there weren’t any layers, it was just the type where the insides of the caves expand deeper and deeper as you advance. If I were to forcefully explain, there’s a top floor, a middle floor and a lower floor. You can call this separation a type of dungeon.

The floor type dungeon is one where the enemies get stronger as you find stairs or when the environment changes.

This dungeon, the Stardust Labyrinth, is a dungeon released without any prior information.

So we don’t know what type of structure this dungeon has, and have no idea what might appear.

All we know is that this is a dungeon for players who have reached Fias or farther.

Most likely, Rin-chan is gathering clues around us at an amazing speed for a strategy.

Since this event is aimed for repetition, Rin-chan should be planning in that direction.

All I can do, is use my five senses to gather information and pass it on to Rin-chan.

「Nn…Rin-chan, diagonally behind us, two monsters are coming at us fast」

Even without activating a searching skill, I can perceive the movements of monsters from the sound they make traveling through grass.

Reporting to Rin-chan, I was about to bring out Kagenui but Rin-chan stopped me with her hand.

「So two wolf type monsters」

Running toward us were two black furred wolves blending into the darkness of the night.

Rin-chan didn’t raise her staff, she wrapped her fingertips with magic and drew something in the air.

「Run Oh lightning , 《Puchi Volt》」

《Puchi Bolt》 is a binding type magic that paralyzes the opponent for a short moment. Rin-chan bound the closer wolf with it and without a delay, she started chanting again.

Her fingertips continued to draw runes, most likely for activating some sort of magic.

「Run Oh lightning , 《Puchi Volt》」

Once again she activated a puchi volt targeting the other wolf. The runes in the air started to flicker with light.

「《Lightning Bolt》」

The thunder striking from above grilled the two wolves. This is most likely an AOE magic with an intermediate level of power, it dealt the two wolves a massive amount of damage.

It’s a powerful attack magic dealing around 80% hp damage to the two wolves. Though alive, it seems that they’re paralyzed and can’t move. There is no indication of them launching an attack.

「《Thunder Ball》」

The two wolves were pierced through by the elementary level thunder magic Rin-chan cast and died.

「Well, obviously the first floor won’t be too difficult」

Rin-chan stretched her arms out and grinned.

「Just what was that right now?」

「Magic’s multi-cast… no, maybe you can call it parallel cast. In this game, besides chanting there are other ways to cast magic, and they can be combined efficiently」

Watching Rin-chan’s battle, I have no idea what happened. So I honestly asked for an explanation.

According to Rin-chan, besides chanting, it seems there are different methods of casting magic.

For example, the Rune Magic that Rin-chan used, or a musical magic cast by a musical instrument, or a formation magic requiring an item.

While chanting you can simultaneously prepare a high tier magic, and use the opening created by the chanting magic to release it in. Or maybe in reverse, chanting a high tier magic while protecting yourself with a different casting method.

Basically, 「It is as difficult as playing a piano」. I can play the piano, but I don’t feel like I can handle a technique where you use parallel cast.

「Well, eight Stardust Fragments just dropped. I wonder what sort of value a fragment holds?」

「I’m also curious about the drop efficiency. If the boss is strong, then It might be more advantageous to run this at Tria」

「I don’t want to consider things up to that point」

For example a dungeon where you can get ten Stardust Fragments a run, but takes two hours to complete… or a dungeon where you get one Stardust Fragment per run, but only needs ten minutes. The latter is more efficient.

The difference might be miniscule, but considering that this event will continue for seven days. The slight difference will pile up.

Though, the difference in efficiency is unknown.

Fias might have a great efficiency different from the other towns, or maybe the GMs unexpectedly balanced each town’s efficiency.

「Anyway, let’s travel to the hole first. I’ll memorize all the little terrain details, so Nana, focus only on detecting monsters. 」

「It would be great if they’re not randomly spawned」

「Even if so, there will still be a pattern. For today, let’s grasp the feeling」

Naturally, there is a reason why Rin-chan can declare that she can 「memorize all」.

Rin-chan can continuously maintain her concentration for nearly 80 hours. Maybe it’s because whenever she’s awake, she mostly passes time with concentration practice. Her memory ability highly exceeds that of an ordinary person.

This is one of the reasons why Rin-chan can achieve unbelievable results and accomplishments in her studies. Basically, her concentration power is just that amazing.

That’s why, if Rin-chan focused on 「memorizing it」, she won’t forget.

Though in exchange, for things that she doesn’t need to remember, she has a tendency to only vaguely recall it.

I think the reason she forgot about the Navigator was because she probably thought she’d never meet the NPC again.

「Oh, looks like its just stairs」

「Let’s head down. Since we’re going to repeat this, we don’t need to explore for now. Let’s avoid exhaustion and target the boss.」

「Yes ma’am」

With stairs of a pointlessly wide width and small step height, we descended to the second floor of the Stardust Labyrinth.

———————————————————–

uter nuuts:

Rinne from her everyday streams who talks about Nana, a mysterious phenomenon where the watchers aren’t that used to her calling her 「Sukuna」 is there!! and because of that Rinne is calling her Nana. Since they get all after all, it can’t be helped.