Seeker 42

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Chapter 42. To the 5th Floor

It was the morning of the second day after a day off from the day we defeated the boss of the 4th floor and had a catastrophe party at Kodachi-san's house.

When I went to the bank in front of the dungeon, I came across the scene of Kodachi-san being hugged by someone from behind.

When I arrived at the spot, I gave the "someone" a jittery look.

"Hey, Yuzuki. What are you doing to Kodachi-san?"

"Kazane-san toyed with me the other day, so today I'm toying with her."

Saying this, Yuzuki patted Kodachi-san, who was taller than her, on the head.

Kodachi-san's cheeks turned bright red, and she looked very embarrassed.

"Oh, um, Hotaru-chan ......? In front of Rikusou-san, as expected ......."

"Oh? I'll show him. I'm sure aniki will be happy to see you. See, Kazane-san, I'll double-pay you back for what you did to me the other day. Here and there."

"No, ah ...... Hotaru-chan ...... really no good, stop it ...... nnnnnnnn!"

"Kukku, isn't it good, isn't it good──Ouch!"

I dropped my fist on Yuzuki's head.

Yuzuki let go of Kodachi-san, crouched down, and held her head.

"Ouch~! Se, senpai, it hurts! Your fist is terrible!"

"Sorry. I'm kind of annoyed."

"The day is near when you'll become a domestic violence husband."

"Don't worry, I won't become your husband by any chance."

"If things go wrong, why don't you just stay with me? Since when did you become such an extravagant, popular guy?"

"No, wait, there's a lot of things wrong with your story."

Isn't that the kind of thing someone who thinks she could be my wife would say?

Kodachi-san, on the other hand, seemed to be fidgeting with her shoulders and asking me how I looked.

It can't be helped since she showed such lascivious behavior the day before yesterday.

"Kodachi-san."

"Y-Yes...!"

"Shouldn't you stop drinking?"

"But... Drinking sake with Rikusou-san is delicious, and it's fun. Um, is that kind of thing a nuisance...?

"No, it's not so much that it's annoying..."

It's more like we'll never know when she makes a mistake.

Mainly me.

Let's try to be a bit unfair.

"And if Kodachi-san doesn't regret it no matter what happens, I won't stop him. But as I said before, you're too defenseless."

"That's, uh... ahaha..."

She laughed and misled me.

I wonder what she's trying to do.

Aside from that, we prepared to dive into the dungeon as usual.

Today is the 5th floor, our first time in this world.

We had done some preliminary research, but we would have to experience the dungeon to know for sure.

First of all, there is something we should do before going into the dungeon.

After putting on our gear in the locker room, we headed for the armory.

"Hey. You're talking about the 5th floor starting today. Do you know what items we'll need to dive into the forest floors?"

As we entered the store, the skinhead manager, the old man of the arms shop, smiled at us.

The store is called an arms store. It sells consumable items such as HP potions too.

I went to the consumable items section, picked up the item I wanted, and showed it to the old man.

"The antidote potion and the anti-paralyzing potion, right?"

"Oh, good answer. It looks like you've done your homework. Kodachi and that girl over there - Yuzuki, you say? Are you two okay with that?"

"Yes. I think I've done some preparation for the monsters on the forest floor."

"What,..? Oh, let's see... Of course! Hahahaha, oh my gosh, old man."

There's one person who didn't do any prep work.

Oyaji-san sighs heavily.

"Yuzuki no jou-chan, you're the type who would die if you dive into a dungeon alone?"

"Nyan da what?"

"Well, that onii-san and Kodachi-chan are solid in that area. Yuzuki no jou-chan will be fine as long as she sticks close to the two of them."

"If that's the case, I'll stick close to Rikusou-senpai and Kazane-san! I stuck to Kazane-san earlier, so I'll stick to you, senpai. Sticky!"

Saying that Yuzuki hugged me.

Oh well.

"Yeah, get away from me, it's hot. And if you call yourself a girl, be modest."

"What do you mean by a self-proclaimed girl? Generally, girls should be modest, and senpai is a fossil! Were you born in the Cretaceous Period?"

"No, I just mean don't hug me without restraint."

Sometimes I almost remember that she's a girl.

If that happens, we both get in trouble, don't we?

We finished our preparations and dove into the dungeon for the first time in two days.

We chose the 5th floor at the entrance to the dungeon and descended to the magic circle at the relay point, where we descended a flight of stairs.

We descended the stone spiral staircase and eventually arrived at the green landscape we had seen two days before.

The trees were thick and lush, the sun was gently filtering through the leaves, and the smell of fresh greenery was tantalizing to the nostrils.

The trees were strangely aligned and lined up in rows, quite blatantly forming a pathway.

The 5th floor, the forest floor.

I walk through the ground for the first time with Mr. Kodachi and Yumizuki.

As I did so, Yuzuki tugged at the hem of my dress from behind.

"Hey, senpai. Does this mean there will be monsters on this forest floor that attack with poison or paralysis?"

"Yes. I thought you didn't buy map strategy information in advance?"

"Yes, that's right. I was told I would die if I dived into a dungeon alone, and my pride as a gamer was hurt a little."

"So you had no choice but to change your mind."

"Yes."

"Well, it's not the kind of game where you can start over if you get hit by a first-time killer and get wiped out."

This is a kind of death game, in that you're using your own body to take on the challenge.

It doesn't feel that way at the moment, though, perhaps because the dungeon's kill ratio isn't that high.

Kodachi-san explains to Yuzuki from the side.

"According to the information, there two types of monsters appeared on this 5th floor, killer wasps and death spiders."

"The names are explicitly bee and spider-like. Both of them seem to attack with poison."

"Killer wasp is paralyzing, and death spider is poisonous. The paralyzing one slows down your body movements when you get hit, and it's cumulative if you get hit repeatedly. Eventually, you become completely immobilized."

"Sounds bad, right?

"Moreover, the monsters on the forest floor have incomparably higher basic stats than the small fry monsters on the cave floor.

"Really?

When I opened the [Mapping] skill and looked at it, the path I walked was displayed on the map as an explored area, just like when I was in the cave layer.

The map of the 5th floor was also very large, and we would have to spend several days exploring the entire area.

It must have been about 30 minutes of walking through the forest-like dungeon.

Kodachi-san reacted with a twitch and shouted a warning to Yuzuki and me.

"It's Hane. They are coming, the front!"

A few moments after we had prepared ourselves, a group of monsters appeared.