Earth Dungeon 43.1

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Chapter 43.1. Silver Chest

Sakimori destroyed all of Mothman Queen's eggs, and Shizuku defeated the main body. With the battle over and silence returning to the battlefield, Sakimori frantically ran through the grass. 

"Are you okay, Shizuku?"

Shizuku, covered in wounds, fell to the ground weakly. Sakimori hurriedly approached and lifted her petite body, his face pale. 

"You've gone too far. You're all beaten up. It ruins your lovely appearance."

"I..."

"I?"

"Please tell me I don't have the 'glasses' attribute."

She seemed fine.

"You're not wearing glasses, are you?"

Relieved, I gently patted my chest at her calm response. 

Despite being covered in wounds and bloodied, with a large hole in her shoulder, she still seemed composed.

"Next time, I'll wear glasses before the fight... I think I've reached my limit, so I'll go back."

Shizuku deactivated the [Summon All Units] ability she had been using to defeat Mothman Queen. Her physical body returned to the dimensional space, and she appeared as a spirit. 

She was too energetic. I couldn't help but smile wryly, thinking she had come dangerously close to death. 

But this girl worried me too much. She assumed she could push her body to its limits and recover.

"There was also the option of continuously shooting with a rifle."

I glared at Shizuku, eyebrows furrowed in a scolding manner.

If she had continued shooting from her revived position, there was a high chance she would have gone unnoticed by the enemy. It wouldn't have had the luxury to look around, and even if it did notice, if she immediately shot it down, it wouldn't have had time to lay eggs. While she did that, I could have destroyed the other eggs and defeated her more safely.

[But that would have wasted bullets. My goal here was to clear it with just one magazine.]

I sighed as I responded to Shizuku, who maintained a calm expression.

"I'm worried about you. If we call ourselves a couple, please take better care of your body. It hurts to watch my partner get injured."

[Did I make you go dere? Hehe... But I operate efficiently and rationally, so I can't promise to choose the safest strategy. I also consider the cost when fighting.]

Sakimori sensed a strong will in the depths of the delicate smile of the girl.

I was convinced she would continue to choose dangerous options just as she said. She was such a troublesome partner.

"In that case, I'll become stronger so you can choose a safer strategy."

He smirked, and Shizuku blushed and floated up into the sky. She rarely showed embarrassment.

"Geez, Sakimori-san. Well then, let's acquire a means to become stronger. We defeated Mothman Queen, and I received status points too."

Shizuku returned with puffed cheeks, trying to hide her embarrassment.

When we opened the status screen, she had gained an additional 200 points. She was quite powerful. It was satisfactory.

Amano Sakimori

Mana 300 → 500

Stamina 30

Strength 30

Dexterity 40

Magic 250

Amano Shizuku

Mana 100 → 200

Stamina 100 → 150

Strength 100 → 150

Dexterity 300

Magic 50

I took a bold move and went all-in on Mana. Shizuku evenly distributed her stat points. It seems Shizuku thought I needed more Mana to unleash consecutive battles. Five times my strength, huh...

While searching for the Mothman Queen's eggs, I used [Shadow Thread] and [Shadow Eyes] to explore the grassy area in this battle. 

Turns out, there were a whopping 28 eggs hidden there. I attached a [Flame Arrow] to each egg and burned them all. 

Fortunately, the eggs weren't strong enough to withstand [Flame Arrow].

It was also fortunate that increasing my Magic power resulted in higher magic attack strength.

Using [Shadow Thread] and [Flame Arrow], I consumed about 240 Mana. Indeed, the amount of Mana is a matter of life or death for me.

"Now that we've powered up to some extent... Oh, here comes the dungeon core."

When a magic circle appeared, a black crystal about two meters tall emerged from within. 

It was the dungeon core. I wonder what that light inside is for. It seems meaningful.

Time to absorb it.

When I touched the dungeon core, a smooth and cold sensation returned, transforming into black particles that were absorbed into my body. Into the Equivalent Exchange Store exactly.

-Obtained Dungeon Core D. Stored in the store-

Alright, no problems. Feeling relieved that I could safely store the dungeon core in the store, I realized that I had successfully conquered it as the surroundings warped into a rainbow-colored scene.

Rare dungeon cores are valuable, so I'll store them in the store before the dungeon disappears. 

I wouldn't stop crying if they were stolen or something. I can't let my guard down.

Soon, the surroundings shifted, and it became a place resembling a vacant space in the middle of a forest. Under the strong sunlight, the trees resounded with the buzzing of cicadas, and the ground was covered with grass that seemed inviting for a nap. 

It had transformed into a peaceful scenery where it was hard to believe there was a dungeon.

"There was supposed to be a cave here, but there's no trace of it. No matter how many times I see it, I can't get used to it."

Feeling the heat, I dispelled the [Shadow Figure] and looked around while murmuring. 

As rewards for conquering the dungeon, there were numerous piles of cores and treasure chests made of wooden boxes scattered around.

"Hmm? What's this?"

Approaching a shining object among them, it turned out to be a polished silver box, glistening in the sunlight.

[Hmm? A silver box, huh? It's rare to see this rank... Maybe it appeared when we defeated Mothman Queen.]

Shizuku also approached, intrigued by the unusual item, and brought her face closer to the silver box. Is it really that rare?

"A silver box... I wonder if the contents vary depending on the rank, as usual."