Earth Dungeon 38.1

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Chapter 38.1. Fields

Midsummer. The abnormal weather of the past once called a mirage, has become a distant illusion, and Japan has returned to a time of clearly defined seasons.

It's a season of refreshing spring, scorching summer, autumn foliage, and heavy snow in winter. I can't think of a good phrase for summer alone. Well, the rainy season and the arrival of typhoons become a thing of the past, a climate even older than ancient Edo, as proclaimed by a prominent scientist on TV more than ten years ago when the government erected the walls.

According to him, the dungeons are the Earth's defense mechanism.

I can't agree with that. If that's the case, why does it have game-like mechanics? It made monsters appear, gave humans skills, and the new system controlled people. There's no way that can be a defense mechanism.

However, it's undeniable that the dungeons are responsible for the Earth's environmental recovery. I won't argue against that. The polluted water has disappeared, it can consume plastic, and the ozone layer seems to have recovered. That was the situation a few years after the dungeons first appeared, so it should have improved even more by now.

"It's hot."

Today, the hard-boiled old man is taking a break. It's mid-July, and the sunlight is intense. Even when I fan my face with my hand. A warm breeze hits me. I can't wear all-black attire in this heat.

Drenched in sweat and wearing black clothes, I'm more of a gag character than a hard-boiled guy.

"It looks hot, Sakimori?"

"It's damn hot. Shingen, are you a pervert? You'll get heatstroke, you know?"

I give a sharp glare at Shingen, who approached me. Today, he's wearing a simple outfit of a shirt and jeans.

We're at the planned site for fields surrounding the dungeon.

"I'm hot too. Can you make some ice for me?"

"Don't mess around! Take off that armor, now!"

Shingen, drenched in sweat, is still wearing his samurai armor as usual. What an idiot.

"But hey, this is a dangerous area, you know? We don't know when enemies will approach."

Shingen furrows his brow and looks around. The people around him share his concern, as they're all wearing long-sleeved shirts and thick clothing, panting and sweating.

Indeed, Sakimori also furrows his brow and looks around. The grass is overgrown up to waist height, and it's an unknown place where you don't know what might be lurking.

The road pavement has curled up and is now barely recognizable. The buildings consist of charred pillars, with only a few remnants remaining. The ground is exposed, even though it used to be the city's heart. Or rather, there is no asphalt.

Nearby, there is evidence of a dungeon in the form of a forest that has formed, and beyond that, a cave protrudes like a hill.

"Environmental recovery, huh? Where did the asphalt go?"

"Around here, a swarm of worms appeared and blew away the asphalt with their bombardment. They swim through the ground like water and devour both people and asphalt."

"Oh yeah, I remember something like that. Did this whole area disappear because of it?"

I remembered. They were monstrous worms, albeit small, with bodies measuring at least 10 meters. Their skin was flexible, making it difficult to defeat them. I think it was before the government built the walls. The government got criticized because they couldn't handle the situation without blowing up a district's section. Is this the site of that incident?

"When dungeons first appeared, there were a lot of powerful monsters, right? Why did only high-ranking monsters appear back then?"

Indeed, in the past, dragons, chimeras, wyverns, and cyclopes were the ones that appeared. Then, about 5 years later, low-level monsters like the ones we see everywhere started to appear.

There were already low-level dungeons, but suddenly, the dungeons shifted their strategy to overwhelm with quantity rather than quality.

"Dungeons are the Earth's defense mechanism, so they must have thinned out the human population to some extent and weakened the momentum."

"Dungeons are the Earth's defense mechanism, so they probably thinned out humanity to some extent and weakened their forces."

"No one believes such a stupid theory, Sakimori. And this area has become a region where weak monster groups appear. It's scary to cut the grass here."

I understand what you're trying to say. I also tried to avoid coming here as much as possible.

"But this is the most suitable place for fields and crops, so there's no help for it."

I threw a small stone at the grass at my feet. The grass rustled and trembled. Grass blades extended like spears and attacked the stone. With a metallic sound, the stone got repelled, and the roots of the extended grass emerged from the soil, examining the stone. After staring at the stone, seemingly losing interest, the roots retreated into the ground.

Those grasses had roots resembling human-like carrots.

"They're Mandragora. Even if you pull them out of the soil, they don't scream like they're dying, but those plants are as sharp as knives. They can cut through thick clothing."

A frustrated expression appeared on Shingen's face as he stared at the submerged Mandragoras. They had completely concealed themselves within the grass, making them indistinguishable from other plants.

[Lesser Mandragoras can mimic the surrounding leaves. They are F-rank monsters that reside underground, making them difficult to defeat. They're troublesome opponents.]

[If you knew the Lesser Mandragoras lurking underground, you're already in trouble.]

Floating Shizuku shows me the monster encyclopedia, but it's not just the Lesser Mandragoras. 

A squirming, meter-long caterpillar-like creature emerges from the grass, drawn by the sound of the pebbles. It appears to be a caterpillar, but its movements are as fast as a full-speed sprint by an adult. It has densely packed, needle-like bristles on its toxic purple skin. Touching its skin would result in poisoning.

[Worm. An E-rank monster. It spits viscous threads to immobilize its enemies, paralyzes them with its venomous bite, and devours them. Additionally, there is a high possibility of the presence of the Mothman near the Worm.]

The caterpillar-like monster is called a Worm. When it evolves, it transforms into the giant moth Mothman, which has an emaciated and withered human-like body shape. Mothman can use wind magic, and their wing scales release a more potent paralyzing toxin than the Worm. It's also considerably fast. It gets classified as a D-rank monster.

[Insects are tough foes... They can be quite troublesome.]

In general, insects have dulled pain receptors. Goblins, for example, can withstand a blow that would make them flinch. If you shoot arrows into them until they resemble hedgehogs, they won't get defeated easily. 

And, if the Mothman appears, the battle situation will change drastically. Mothman moves faster than a helicopter, and due to its dulled pain receptors, it's tough. It can even slice through thin iron plates with its wind magic.

[If there were two of me, we might have managed somehow. Mothmaaan, Mothmaaan!]

For some reason, Shizuku starts raising her hand, swaying her body, and dancing. Ignoring her foolish yet adorable behavior, I turn to Shingen and speak.