Volume 4 Chapter 4: The old man challenges the last trial.

The next morning, after clearing our campsite we continued to move deeper into the dungeon, clearing the fourth floor within the hour. Currently, we were on the fifth floor which appeared to be a catacomb as we came across several graveyards in a tunnel illuminated by the torches on the wall.
[Yuuya, this place smells. Everything smells rotten here. Luna wants to leave now.] (Luna)
Since Luna had a keen sense of smell, the smell was much more damaging to her than it was for us.
[Clearing this floor shouldn’t take too long however we’ll still have to watch for traps here.] (Yuuya)
[Yuuya, there are red stains all around the ceiling. It looks like there’s a trap ahead.] (Luna)
Just as I gave a warning to Luna, we encountered a trap in the dungeon. Even though we hadn’t touched the trap, another trap was activated causing a hidden door back at the entrance to open, releasing a wave of zombie-esque monsters made of soil, Ground Ghouls into the tunnel. They had low attacking power and were extremely slow, however just like a horde of zombies they were tough and resilient, making them difficult to deal with in a horde.
[Yuuya-ojisama, it’s impossible for us to fight against that many monsters. Let’s escape.] (Selene)
[That’s impossible, we won’t have enough time to disarm the trap. Other the other hand if we activate it we’ll be wiped out too.] (Yuuya)
This was an amazing and at the same time a dangerous combination of traps including the Ground Ghouls. The fact that Presence Detection didn’t detect the monsters hidden meant that they were only spawned the moment we activated the trap.
It’ll be suicide for us to fight that horde head on. Sensing the danger, Erik immediately activated his Blessing of the Dragon.
[Phil, Til, don’t fire any arrows until I give the signal. Ground Ghouls are highly resistant against physical attacks.] (Yuuya)
Their bodies were made of soil causing their bodies to be resistant against physical attacks. Furthermore, monsters made of the earth were resistant against the Lightning attribute. My Napalm strike could be useful here, however that would be too difficult. However, there is something else that I could do right here.
[Ice Age!] (Yuuya)
As the Ghouls were extremely slow, it gave me enough time to achieve my goal which wasn’t inflicting damage but to freeze all of them.
[Now!] (Yuuya)
Phil and TIl fired their arrows in response as the ghouls who lost their physical resistance after being frozen began crumbling one by one. Meanwhile, I grabbed one of the frozen Ground Ghouls and threw them towards the trap ahead. The flying ghoul was detected by a sensor as a liquid began pouring out from the ceiling, appearing to be acid as the zombie melted after coming in contact with it.
Getting surprised by the horde of Ground Ghouls behind, rushing to your death underneath a rain of acid or mustering up the courage to battle the physically resistant monsters whether the trap was noticed or not and dying in battle or melted by the rain after retreating.
This was the advanced leveled dungeon displaying its difficulty.
[I’ve heard of many dangerous traps including acid-types but it’s even worse looking at it in person.] (Selene)
[And it’ll be even worse if you managed to survive the trap once caught in it.] (Yuuya)
Selene and Phil covered their mouths in shock watching the Ground Ghoul melt in front of them.
[However, so long as you’re observant you can see the way out. There will be instances where you are forced to get caught within a trap and monster combination in the dungeon. So long as you can see it, I’m sure there is a way out.] (Yuuya)
Knowledge and experience are what defines an adventurer’s which is why only strong adventurers are able to avoid falling prey to dungeons. With knowledge, you can prevent unnecessary risks and dangers towards you while having experience and ability allows you to overcome situations with your own power.
[Looks like we won’t have enough time for a break.] (Yuuya)
When the acid rain stopped falling, two zombies holding a sword rushed towards us at a high speed.
[It’s conceited for mere zombies to use a weapon!] (Til)
Til fired an arrow towards the Zombie Swordsman however it is not an ordinary zombie as its name implies. It was capable of basic swordsmanship, with a fairly good status and this zombie displayed it as it struck down the arrow Til fired, running towards her.
[What kind of monster is this, to strike down my arrow?] (TIl)
[Til, let me give you a demonstration. Remember how firing three shots at once was just acrobatics?] (Phil)
[Uhn. I asked you to teach me because it looked cool!] (Til)
[It is effective though for this kind of opponent.] (Phil)
Just as she finished her sentence, Phil fired three arrows towards the zombie as the first arrow gets struck down. However, the remaining two arrows proceeded to penetrate where the throat and heart of the zombie should be as the zombie stops moving. Without missing a beat, she fired another arrow directly into its forehead, defeating it.
[For opponents like this, it’s important to strike their brain, throat, and heart. So long as one of them hits, you’ll either be able to defeat it outright or restrict their movements for a moment. Then, it’ll be a matter of taking out its conscientiousness by taking out its brain.] (Phil)
[I can’t do something like that you know! It’s difficult to hit three arrows at the same time let alone aim them at key points!] (Til)
[You’ll just have to work hard. It’s fine since you have much more talent with the bow than I do. For now, even if you don’t hit the three points you can focus on firing three arrows at the same time. Now then, the second swordsman is rushing over here, please go ahead.] (Phil)
Even while teary-eyed, Til fired three arrows towards the zombie swordsman right on target, however since they weren’t fired towards the crucial points the zombie swordsman continues moving forward without being paralyzed.
[KYUU]
Erik jumped from Luna’s head, releasing a breath of blue wind towards the zombie. It was an ability called Stun Breath, it was capable of stunning a monster for a moment even if it was a boss. Since it was Erik’s skill, it was extremely useful however since we couldn’t control its timing it is relatively ineffective but it has great potential.
[Thank you, Erik. Yosh, I can do this. This time I’ll do it] (Til)
Til tried again and managed to land another two arrows onto the zombie as it turned into blue particles.
[Uuww. As expected it’s impossible. But I’ll catch up eventually!] (Til)
[Yes, I’m looking forward to it but training will be difficult for that end.] (Phil)
[Although the training is already difficult!?[ (Til)
[Well, you’ll be able to do it when the time comes.] (Phil)
It seems that Phil was quite spartan-like in some way. Thanks to that, Til’s archery skills were becoming much better. Surely she’ll overtake Phil in the future.
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Afterward, the path to the exit was smooth as we arrived on the seventh floor.
The seventh floor looked like a gigantic pit filled with magma while a temple was floating on the surface of the magma.
As one would expect, the temple at the entrance of the dungeon was merely a display whereas this was the actual Temple of the Primal Flame.
[We’ve finally arrived. In that temple we’ll find the torch holding the Primal Flame.] (Yuuya)
[Hurray! Yuuya, let’s hurry up and retrieve the torch and go home!] (Luna)
[Uhn uhn. I thought that this was impossible however we’ve finally achieved our goal.] (Til)
We finally arrived at our goal at the cost of all of our resources as we’ve used up all of our recovery potions. The war against the horde of ghouls earlier was the main culprit as the fifth and sixth floor mainly consisted of riddles and problem-solving gimmicks making the trip here smooth aside. Furthermore what made this dungeon exhausting was battling consecutive battles against powerful monsters while being on the watch for dangerous traps as moving forward in an advanced dungeon ignorantly causes you to suffer the consequences.
If we had to challenge another floor before arriving at the temple, I would have backed out without any hesitation.
Stone scaffolding floated on the surface towards the temple from the edge of the lake as we walked carefully towards the temple. Of course, one misstep meant it was over. The path was risk-free as we arrived at the temple and I placed my hand on the door.
However, I hesitated at that moment without opening the door.
The main purpose of the dungeon was to provide trials for the attempting adventurers, testing a different aspect of their personalities. For example, the endless labyrinth on the fourth floor tested the person’s wisdom while the fifth floor tested the person’s courage. This floor’s main theme was to test the adventurer’s strength. After clearing the monsters in this floor, each of them would drop a material needed to create a dagger and combining all of the materials would be sufficient to craft the dagger.
This was a special test which could be the easiest or worst test depending on the parties. And there could even be no end to the test depending on what happens. There is no advice or instruction I could give to the girls for this trial.
[Yuuya, what’s wrong?] (Luna)
Luna looked up towards me in concern.
[Yuuya-niisan, what’s wrong? Are you afraid of the final test or are you relieved that we’re finally here? Cause I’m relieved you know.] (Til)
[Could it be that Yuuya-ojisama is worried about us? Don’t worry as we’ve been trained by you personally all this time. There’s no way we’ll be defeated in this trial now that we’ve come this far.] (Selene)
I let out a slight smile as I was worrying too much. Selene was right. There was no way they would lose after being single handed trained by me. I’ve made sure to train them and honed their true strength. Furthermore, they’ve also put in a lot of effort to keep up with my expectations.
[You’re right. Let’s go then!] (Yuuya)
Believing in their spirits, let’s challenge the final trial and finish this!

<End of Chapter>