Evil Avalon - Volume 1 - Chapter 19

Chapter 19: A Brother’s Dignity

“Yes! I leveled up!” chirped Kano with delight, spinning in circles as she experienced the sensation of invincibility that came with raising her level. “I’ve got to be level 7 now, right?”

After three bridge-drops, Kano reached our target of level 7, and we could put the fifth floor behind us. We could have continued this until she’d reached level 8, but it was more efficient for two people to level up at the next place I had in mind.

While climbing down the ravine to gather our loot, I explained my plan, “Wargs start showing up from the sixth floor and down. They’re demon wolves, the monsters from which our armor’s pelts are from.”

“Wolves?” repeated Kano. “Awesome. Gotta be easier than fighting orcs.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say that. They’re pretty big and fast too,” I replied.

Demon wolves had plenty of stamina and a keen sense of smell, which let them detect one from great distances. Avoiding situations that could lead you to getting surrounded was vital to surviving against them. Once surrounded, escape wasn’t an option. Fortunately, that was less likely to happen since the sixth floor’s map had few open spaces.

Adventurers loved hunting demon wolves because they occasionally dropped demon wolf pelts and magic gems. These fetched a nice price in shops and the guild due to their firmness and fire resistant properties. General wisdom said that if you were good enough to hunt demon wolves, you were good enough to make a living as an adventurer.

We would skip the sixth floor and head to the seventh instead. There were level 7 demon wolves, one level higher than on the sixth floor. On rare occasions, a level 8 demon wolf leader would spawn. However, we would need to dispatch this monster as quickly as possible due to its Howl skill, which attracted nearby demon wolves to its location.

The seventh floor was also home to orc tamers, orcs that rode demon wolves and could control the beasts. These foes were challenging as you had to contend with the wolf bites and sword swings of the mounted orc. Orc tamers also raised the group fighting strength of the demon wolves they controlled. If an orc had a pack of wolves under its control, it became a higher priority than a demon wolf leader.

Moreover, there was poor visibility due to how it was a heavily forested area with tree coverage that increased the risk of getting surrounded. If you only wanted to gather pelts, raiding the sixth floor was a sensible choice. I did have a good reason to take us to the seventh floor, though.

“For now, let’s go to the seventh floor and test out fighting a demon wolf,” I said.

“I hope we get lots of pelts. Then I can use them to get armor for my legs,” responded Kano.

We wouldn’t need to gather pelts to do that. Our profits from the magic gems and other loot would be more than enough to buy more armor.

“So, we’re only going to test fighting the wolves,” I explained. “There’s somewhere else I want us to go...a hidden area.”

“There’s a hidden area?” asked Kano.

“Yep. Could be that we’ll be the first ones to find it.”

Kano’s eyes lit up as she asked, “Will there be treasure?!” She started singing her “I’m rich!” song again. I wished she would stop that since it was embarrassing.

By the time we finished talking, we’d picked up all of the loot and crossed several rope bridges to return to the fifth floor’s main street. We’d need to pass through the sixth floor first.

The main street connecting the floors was as busy as ever. Most adventurers traveling to the sixth floor and deeper were after demon wolf pelts, all wearing the same distinctive black armor.

“Everyone’s wearing demon wolf armor like me!” pointed out Kano. “I love it! It’s like I fit in with these awesome adventurers, even though this is my second-ever raid.”

“Yeah, well we did boost your level in one big move.”

Getting the orc lord all to ourselves was a big help. Otherwise, we would’ve gotten stuck on the fifth floor for longer.

Had the other DEC players not wanted to use the bridge-dropping trick? They could already be raiding deeper or hadn’t reached the fifth floor yet. In any case, I hadn’t run into anyone that I suspected of being a player while we were there.

After thirty minutes of walking, we reached the square with the stairs leading to the sixth floor. Like on the fifth floor, many adventurers passed through to use the food stands, shops, and stalls to trade magic gems and loot items. The only difference was the proportion of veteran parties. Although the fifth floor had an overwhelming majority of combat-role adventurers, it was common to see supporting adventurers with healing abilities and long-range fighters who used bows or magic on this floor. Everybody here looked like they knew what they were doing.

“Look!” exclaimed Kano. “That place sells takoyaki! And over there! It’s a cafeteria!”

“Remember, we’re not staying on the sixth floor,” I reminded her. “But... I suppose we could grab a bite before we go. What do you want?”

I realized Kano hadn’t seen the markets on the floors yet, as we’d used the gate room to enter and leave. She was probably the only adventurer around that had never gone through the entrance portal.

After we bought the takoyaki Kano had requested from a stall, we took a bathroom break and went to the seventh floor.

“I wonder how they pump the sewage out,” said Kano.

“They don’t need to,” I answered. “Everything left in the dungeon disappears after twelve hours. If you ever need to go, there’s nothing wrong with doing your business out in the open.”

“I will not do that!” she huffed defiantly despite bringing the topic up. “I’m a lady!”

Communication devices and other facilities in the break area would usually disappear. But a magic item built from the cores of low-ranking golems prevented the vanishing effect. Before this invention, only basic facilities had existed within the dungeon. I had learned this from a dungeon field guide I’d read through in the Adventurers’ Guild’s library, and remembering it kept my mind occupied as we advanced.

Many adventurers seeking to collect demon wolf pelts hunted on the sixth floor, meaning the main street was less busy than the prior floors. The crowd was sparse enough that we could probably run along the street.

“We’ll jog the rest of the way to save time,” I said.

“What?” complained Kano. “But I’ve just finished eating! Ugh...”

Reluctantly, Kano increased her pace to match mine. We weren’t the only party running, so we didn’t stick out too much. The light jog still felt great since our physical enhancements allowed us to reach a high enough speed without exerting ourselves.

***

“Phew, we made it to the seventh floor!” cheered Kano. “Wait, I swore there were more shops than this on the sixth floor.”

There weren’t as many amenities here, but the resting area still had several benches and food stands. The prices were more than double what they were in the outside world. A can of soda cost about three hundred yen here. Surprisingly, the empty cans in the trash bins showed people bought them.

I’m not paying for that, I thought as I passed through the square. Wait, can I exploit this? 

“Hold on!” called out Kano. “Let’s take a break! I wanna take a look at what that shop is selling!”

“There could be treasure in the hidden area,” I reminded her.

“Ah?!” blurted Kano. “W-Well, if you put it like that!”

Before we embarked toward the hidden area, I made a mental note in the little sister manual I kept: “The promise of treasure gets Kano to do what she’s told.”

Giant conifer forests obstructed visibility on the seventh floor. The trees weren’t suitable for lumber, as they’d vanish once cut down. The ceiling was staggeringly high up and had pale light, which I wondered if the trees used for photosynthesis. Probably not because they were objects, not real trees.

We encountered our first demon wolf a few minutes after splitting off from the main street leading to the eighth floor. The monster was two meters long, including the tail, and had long, dark-gray fur covering its sturdy body. I could feel the intellect behind its gaze.

“I doubt we’ll get a backstab on this one. It’ll hear our footsteps or smell us before we get close,” I said.

“Here it comes!” shouted Kano.

The demon wolf was alone but didn’t attack first, making me think it was being cautious. After a few seconds of growling, it suddenly darted toward us, more so at Kano. It lunged into the air just a couple meters away, its jaw wide open to ensnare Kano’s throat.

Kano effortlessly dodged and dug a knife into the monster’s side as it passed, tearing open a huge gash. The demon wolf whined and tried escaping but couldn’t get up. I immediately closed in and killed it, and it left behind a magic gem.

“I guess I can handle lone demon wolves. It wasn’t too fast for me, and I noticed everything it was doing,” said Kano.

“Looks like raising your level in one go hasn’t come with any problems,” I remarked.

Physical enhancements advanced at the same rate for all adventurers, even if that adventurer was a middle school girl. Yet Kano’s physical strength, high power output, and dynamic visual acuity surpassed the average adult. I’d worried whether she’d react properly in an actual fight, but that concern wasn’t necessary. She appeared in control of her body despite the sudden, extreme changes to her strength and didn’t get nervous or scared during fights. Rather, she enjoyed this and even played with her knives, slicing at an imaginary enemy.

She might enjoy fighting a bit too much, I thought as a bead of sweat rolled down my neck. The imaginary enemy she’s slashing... That’s, uh, not me, right?

We picked up the wolf’s magic gem and resumed traveling to the southeast part of the map. Then, we headed to an area added in the latest DLC, Dungeon Explorer Chronicle: Golem Heartbeats. If it existed in this world, it could shape the future of dungeon raids. I excitedly began explaining golems to Kano, broadening her knowledge of the dungeon and my game information when we weren’t fighting monsters.

“Golems?” asked Kano.

“Yep. If you get the Machinist job, you can make and control your golems,” I replied.

“No way!”

The devs had teased players with little reveals about Machinists before the release of Golem Heartbeats. Many players counted the days until the release date, excited to board their giant golems. But they blasted the DLC with negative reviews because golems were fragile and useless.

But the biggest issue was that golems had lopsided combat potential. Golems could only make physical attacks, severely limiting their scope because many monsters could reduce or entirely negate physical damage. Plus, they moved slowly. You could board and ride one around, but running was preferable because you wouldn’t get tired in the game.

Finally, Machinists could use a skill called Golem Castle to construct a building within enemy territory. Players inside these structures regained their HP and MP three times faster than normal and would also recover from all status effects. After an hour inside the structure, players also received a temporary five percent bonus to their strength and intelligence stats.

I’d never needed Golem Castle in the game since I always drank potions, so building a castle for getting some HP and MP back or setting up camp inside enemy territory was unnecessary. The castles had electricity, plumbing, refrigerators, baths, and toilets that were just decorative in the game.

But hold that thought! The castle’s value had done a one-eighty and now soared to the skies. With the castle, I could stay overnight in the dungeon and even live here! I wanted to get my hands on the Golem Castle skill more than anything!

I explained all this to my sister and told her we would investigate whether it would be possible.

“Whaaat...” she said, gasping. “Okay, we have to get that skill!”

“See?” I said. “That’s why we’re going to check if we can get the Machinist job. As a bonus, the hidden area is a great spot to level up quickly if it exists.”

Alongside new areas and jobs, Golem Heartbeats introduced several types of golems as new monsters.

Golems drew energy from their core, a ten-centimeter crystal figurine, and destroying the core would kill the golem. Those on deeper levels guarded their cores behind manasteel shielding while the golems on the seventh floor had exposed cores. Fighting monsters with such vulnerability made leveling up a breeze. Downed golems dropped their cores as loot when they died, which could be sold in dungeon stores or used as a catalyst by Machinists to summon their own golems.

While Golem Heartbeats had introduced several new map areas, the seventh floor was the earliest we would encounter one. I hadn’t yet been able to check if this world featured the DLC content.

“There’s a pitfall up ahead,” I explained. “If there’s a tunnel at the bottom of the hole, it should lead us to the hidden area.”

“Ooh,” hummed Kano.

We climbed a small hill in the forest, checked the ground near the top, and found the pitfall. The hole was five meters deep, which made it hard to discern if there was a tunnel without climbing in.

“I’ve brought some rope with me,” I said, pulling some climbing rope from my rucksack. “I’ll fix it to that tree.” Then, I successfully tied it to a nearby tree and tugged at it to ensure it wouldn’t loosen.

“Can I be the one to take a look?” asked Kano.

“Sure. If there’s a tunnel, let me know,” I replied.

“Will do!”

Without hesitation, Kano rappelled down the pitfall like a soldier to check for the tunnel.

I suppose we can explore this area for a bit if it’s not there, I thought.

“Let’s see... It’s here!” shouted Kano up at me. “I found the tunnel, bro!”

“Great, I’m coming down!”

As I held the rope, I heard the distinct distant howl of a demon wolf leader. Other adventurers were probably fighting one, but I ignored it for now.

I tried to rappel down as Kano had but had difficulty because of my weight, having my feet slip with about two meters left to go and landed on my ass. Thankfully, Kano was so focused on the tunnel that she probably hadn’t seen it. My dignity as her brother was intact...for the next second, anyway.

“Jeez, you’re such a klutz, bro. You have to be more careful,” she said.

Yep, she’d seen it.

We progressed through the tunnel at the bottom of the pitfall. Stone walls soon replaced the rough rock walls, showing that the tunnel wasn’t a natural formation.

It was pitch black, so I switched on my flashlight.

A cool breeze blew farther down the tunnel, so it had to lead somewhere. The once-cramped tunnel transitioned to a five-meter tall corridor in a matter of minutes. Coffins lined the corridor’s walls, like catacombs.

The corridor weaved and curved at every opportunity, playing havoc with my sense of direction. At times like this, I appreciated my terminal’s map function.

It was getting colder too, so I pulled up my hood. As I walked carefully to keep my footsteps quiet, I heard a rattling noise about a dozen meters ahead. Kano slowed her breathing and poked around the corner to sneakily check for any threats.

“There’s a monster, and it’s all bones,” she whispered.

“A skeleton, gotcha,” I whispered back. “I’ll handle it.”

As expected, skeletons were undead monsters resembling humans. They showed up a lot past the eleventh floor, where undead monsters became more common. The Golem Heartbeats DLC had introduced a weaker version of skeletons on the seventh floor.

Their skeletal makeup made them a poor target for stabbing knife attacks, so it was better if I got rid of it with my large sword. It hadn’t noticed us yet. I crept toward the skeleton, intending to slay it with my first attack without giving it a chance to fight back.

Even though I was behind it, the skeleton immediately noticed my presence, then turned and launched toward me. Perhaps it had an ability that let it detect enemies within a large radius.

The distance between us closed in a flash. Fearing that we’d take each other out, I cut my attack short to parry its diagonal slash with my sword and use the momentum to strike back. But the skeleton’s blow was powerful, and its force sent pain shooting down my arm.

“Argh...! Take this!”

I dislodged some of its ribs with a kick, so I swung my sword down on its skull with all my strength when it lost its balance. The skull shattered. Some of the skeleton’s bones continued to writhe and rattle for a time, but they soon stopped as the monster turned into a magic gem. Full-force toe kicks with steel-toe boots are no laughing matter.

“Phew. It was faster than I thought,” I said, sighing. “More powerful too... I think it has to be a level 8 monster.”

“It’s super speedy for a bunch of bones,” remarked Kano.

With only bones to carry around, the skeleton moved incredibly fast and somehow packed power into its attacks. The kinetic energy I felt when parrying its attack had been far stronger than I’d expected. Skeletons could force their limbs to move beyond an ordinary person’s range of motion, making it difficult to predict their attack patterns.

They also possessed a magical skill to detect enemies within a wide radius, so it hadn’t been easy to surprise them in the game’s early stages, where there had been no skills to deactivate magic. While DEC’s skeletons were formidable monsters, the strength of a real one surprised me when fighting it. That didn’t feel like I’d been fighting a level 8 monster.

I had wanted to hunt some skeletons while looking for golems, but now I thought I’d stick to the latter. Risking a fight with multiple skeletons would become grueling. So, I decided not to take on such a number of undead monsters with detection skills until I got a magic-blocking skill or a weapon with stat boosts against the undead.

We proceeded farther down the path, going slowly and checking the way ahead with the flashlight. Although flashlights were good for moving in the dark because you could point wherever you wanted, bringing a lamp that illuminated all directions would be helpful during combat.

Still, we followed the zigzagging corridor of the catacombs, fighting a few skeletons until we found a set of stairs leading up. I ascended carefully and quietly to check for monsters and saw that the stairs led to what looked like a chapel.

The chapel was dilapidated as part of the ceiling had collapsed, several pillars had broken, and wreckage covered the floor. Vines smothered the walls. Above an altar inside the building, there was a glass showcase. I wondered if it contained a religious relic... There were two small adjoining rooms and no monsters.

“Time for a break,” I declared. We’d been walking long enough to deserve one, yet we needed to stay alert for any noises. “Roll out the mat.”

“On it.”

As Kano prepared the mat, I pulled a flask and snacks from my rucksack. When I opened the bag of chips, most of them had crumbled from when the skeleton attacked me. Next time, I’d bring snacks that weren’t so fragile. I chugged my sports drink in one gulp and sighed heavily.

We’d reached an area from the Golem Heartbeats DLC. Therefore, this world featured the latest content in the game before my reincarnation. Because the level cap was 90, I would have to train as an all-rounder instead of focusing on either physical or magical attacks.

I’d better hurry and start getting the quest items and unique items* too, I thought.

*TIPS: Unique items are those that only one copy can exist in the game world at a time. Quests that reward players with unique items only trigger once, so players rush to be the first to complete them.

Quest items usually had powerful abilities, like the Static Sword that Akagi had picked up. I’d tried to set off the Static Sword questline to get one, but it hadn’t worked. This example showed that it was first come, first serve for unique items, so I’d have to contend with the other players to acquire them.

I’m glad I learned about the DLC, but it’s given me a lot to think about.

I watched my sister wandering the chapel, which filled her with wonder as she inspected the walls and the altar while munching on a candy bar. Suddenly, she waved at me to go with her because she had found something on one of the vine-covered walls.

“Hey, this weird squiggly thing is a gate, right?” she said.

I cut the vines down and gazed at the pattern. It was definitely the magic circle for a gate, and I said, “You’re right.”

Gates were on floors that were a multiple of five and occasionally on floors where special quests or events happened. That probably explained why there was one here.

When Golem Heartbeats came out, I’d already been at a high level and explored the new areas in the depths past the sixtieth floor. As such, I wasn’t too familiar with the seventh floor’s hidden area. We were lucky to have found it since the journey had taken two hours!

“I guess we should try registering our magic at this gate,” I said. “Actually, I’ll register mine. Keep yours set to the fifth floor, or we won’t be able to return.”

“Sounds good,” answered Kano. “That way, we can power level mom too.”

Once I repacked my rucksack and registered my magic at the gate, we left the chapel to explore the rest of the hidden area.

***

Upon leaving the chapel, we entered a ruinous area of sparse, dilapidated stone buildings. Green vines and trees smothered every surface as said buildings looked close to collapsing.

The sky was gloomy but bright enough for us to walk around unimpeded.

“So, will there be golems here?” asked Kano.

“They should be inside a building up ahead,” I replied. “But we need to be alert for other monsters that might jump out.”

As far as I could remember, only skeletons would spawn in this area that appeared as ruins on the map. I didn’t think any ghosts or wraiths would pop out, but I’d be ready to run if needed. Kano and I had no magical attacks, as the ghosts and wraiths were impervious to physical damage.

“Will I be able to use magic one day?” she asked.

“You will once you get a new job,” I replied. “Although, you can also inflict damage with enchanted weapons... Ah! Skeleton incoming. Shall we take it down together?”

“We’ll get him from both sides!”

The skeleton had a sword and shield, charging once it spotted us. I blocked its first attack while Kano slipped behind it and stabbed at the elbow of its shield-bearing arm with a backhand grip with her knife.

“The joints pop out easily,” remarked Kano.

“Well done,” I said.

The skeleton’s forearm and shield clattered to the floor when dislodged from the elbow joint. Now off-balance, the skeleton registered my sister as a major threat. It swiveled around and swung its sword at her, leaving its back vulnerable. Then, I destroyed the skeleton’s upper body with a horizontal slash.

“The bones are still rattling around,” I commented.

My sister approached the monster. “Away you go!” she said, kicking the skeleton’s skull like a soccer ball. The monster stopped moving and turned into a magic gem.

“Umm, Kano, my sweet sister... You’re way too good at combat... What gives?”

“You think so? Might be all the period dramas I watch.”

That made sense. Watching sword fights in period dramas translated to better discipline... Wait, it didn’t! It might apply to experts who train and study daily. Had Kano been practicing in secret? I remembered her mentioning attending a combat school.

I knew she liked to be active, but it still surprised me. How could this cute, energetic girl be related to a lazy, ugly guy like Piggy?

We traveled south through the ruins and fought more skeletons until we found a large wall atop a slight hill. The walls were about ten meters tall but carried on for over a hundred meters. At the base of the hill, we glimpsed the buildings beyond the wall, the fortress I’d been looking for.

From the bits of story I knew of, this land had fallen into ruin after something happened to the lord that ruled here, a golem researcher.

I’d need to find a quest item inside the fortress if I wanted to become a Machinist. Unfortunately, I had no experience of this from the game as I hadn’t expressed an interest in that job.

What’s it like inside? I wondered.

“That’s massive!” marveled Kano. “What is it, a fort? A castle?”

“It’s a fortress,” I told her. “The golems spawn inside. Here’s our plan...”

The monster that spawned inside the fortress was a Wood Golem, which had a monster level of 9 and was like a mid-boss. It respawned five minutes after it died, making it a great monster to hunt for experience points if you could secure a spot for yourself.

Even if we kept attacking it to immobilize it, it had a staggering amount of HP despite being made of relatively soft wood. But that method would take ages and be exhausting. It would go quicker if we could use fire attacks, but we had no magic skills.

“The golem’s core?” asked Kano as I explained my plan.

“That’s right. The great thing about golems is that they go down if you break their core.”

Each golem had a crystal core on its back. If we could extract the core intact, we’d receive the Wood Golem’s Core quest item necessary to become a Machinist. That would be tough, so I explained to Kano that destroying it was our best option.

Golems moved around slowly and could spin at lightning speed. And this made fighting golems solo extremely difficult because you couldn’t get behind them. When you were with another person, they could backstab the monster to turn a formidable enemy into a pushover.

“Can we sell the core if we get one?” asked Kano.

“On the tenth floor, yeah. Don’t worry about that. We can return to extract a core when we’ve leveled up more.”

Kano had a bad habit of getting distracted by money... That said, my wallet was feeling empty too. I decided our first goal would be to look for treasure.

“Let’s search for a treasure chest before going against the golem,” I suggested. “It should still be inside if we’re the first ones here.”

“Ooh!” chirped Kano. “What’s inside the chest?”

“We’ll see, won’t we?”

Kano began singing her “I’m Rich” song again as we climbed the path toward the fortress.

A gigantic door barred the entrance to the fortress. The door was already open, so we passed straight through. Inside was an open-air garden with a golem in the center. We headed for the fortress’s manor without getting too close to the golem.

Flat stones formed the walls of the fortress, and the building looked in okay condition. Part of the wall had collapsed, and a few holes had rotted away in the wooden floor. The building was well-ventilated, so it didn’t smell musty.

The glassless windows were small and only let a trace of light in, so we had to tread carefully when venturing into the building.

“Could there be a trap in the chest?” asked Kano.

“Nope,” I replied. “Rigged treasure chests don’t show up until the eleventh floor, and it should be safe to open it. Just be careful not to make any loud noises.”

“Gotcha.”

I remembered that there would be skeletons inside the manor and wanted to get the drop on them if possible. We continued through the corridor, exploring the small adjoining rooms, when Kano stopped.

“Look, over there,” she whispered. “Two skeletons.”

“We’ll get the first with a surprise attack and finish the second normally,” I whispered back.

These monsters patrolled a predetermined route. The skeleton’s magic detection couldn’t penetrate walls, so we planned to wait behind a corner and launch our attack. After we figured out their patrol route, we hid as agreed and waited until we heard their rattling draw near.

“Take this!” I yelled, crushing the skull of the first skeleton that carried a sword and a shield.

The second skeleton raised its hatchet and charged at us after hearing the noise.

“Here comes the other one!” shouted Kano.

We jumped out from where we were to attack. The skeleton attacked my sister, so I circled behind it and slashed. But the damn thing blocked my blow with its hatchet. Had it predicted my move?

When Kano noticed the skeleton targeted me, she immediately went on the offensive.

“V Slash!”

Kano slashed with her two knives down to a central point, forming the letter V, while screaming what sounded like the name of an attack from a tokusatsu television show.

The skeleton’s rib cage shattered as its ribs clunked to the ground, which was an oddly satisfying sound. With the skeleton thrown off-balance, the two of us struck at it relentlessly until it turned into a magic gem.

At the end of the corridor was an extravagant door—that had seen better days—most likely leading to the room of the fortress’s lord.

“This should be the fortress lord’s room. There might be a monster inside,” I said.

“The treasure will be here if there’s any, right?” asked Kano.

She had a point in taking note of this. I quietly pushed the door open slightly and looked through the crack to see inside. Unlike the neglected rooms we’d encountered, I could see an expensive red carpet and furniture here. A skeleton was sitting on a luxurious armchair in the back of the room.

“That’s...a rare monster. It doesn’t look like a human skeleton,” I whispered.

The skeletons we’d encountered had been that of humans with no armor and level 8. This skeleton wore metal armor from head to toe and had a straight horn protruding from its forehead. It wasn’t like any fiend or demon that I recognized from DEC. What the hell was it? The monster probably had a higher level than eight, and I didn’t want to risk fighting it.

“Bro! Look, by its feet!” whispered Kano.

A metal treasure chest with embossed symbols stood by the monster’s feet.

Players often found treasure chests in the game’s dungeon and uncovered armor, raw materials, magic items, and dungeon coins. Sometimes, you could get rare items found only within treasure chests, so players had to compete for them.

Treasure chests followed a few simple patterns: They disappeared and reappeared in another location a fixed amount of time after opening one. Also, treasure chests had a rarity* score, and going deeper into the dungeon increased said rarity. Thirdly, some treasure chests needed a key to unlock them, and others contained traps.

*TIPS: The material treasure chests are made from indicates their rarity. From least to greatest, the rarities are wood, copper, silver, gold, mithril, orichalcum, and adamantite. Most treasure chests on the first twenty floors consist of wood.

Only wooden treasure chests appeared in the early section of the dungeon, and these never required keys. The treasure chests in the middle section were more dangerous to open, as they could explode when you tried to open them or transform into mimics just as strong as some floor bosses. In the dungeon’s depths, traps inside chests could kill you instantly. The worst ones caused a massive explosion that could wipe out everyone nearby. You’d need keys and special skills to unlock them, so only a few players could loot their contents.

Back to our present predicament.

Treasure chests wouldn’t usually spawn on the seventh floor, but I knew of new DLC areas that contained a few. I looked back at the sleeping skeleton sitting behind the treasure chest.

Something’s not right, I thought.

This area should only spawn wooden treasure chests. However, the one in the room was constructed from shiny metal with a relief embossed on it.

The skeleton was also strange, seeing that the ones we faced had worn no armor and carried a weapon and a shield. This one, though, wore a helmet and full-body chain mail decorated with elaborate accessories. Another aspect distinguishing it from other skeletons was that it had a horn, and its horn was black. It was probably a named monster*. Besides its horn, its appearance was like the chaos soldiers we’d seen on the televised raid.

*TIPS: Named monsters can only exist an instance at a time in the game world. These monsters are usually as strong as bosses, and they each have their own name.

It was perfectly still and must have been resting, so I couldn’t gauge its strength. I would’ve liked to know its name, at least. But if I used Basic Appraisal, it might notice me and attack. I didn’t want that because it might use weapon skills, which would be dangerous against my sister because she had no knowledge from the game.

“That thing looks to be stronger than level 9,” I whispered. “We should leave it alone and go back to fight the golem and level up instead.”

“But!” blurted Kano. She was like a horse with a carrot dangled in front of its nose. “But what if the treasure goes away?”

“Treasure chests won’t disappear until someone opens them,” I explained.

The only problem was that other adventurers might get the treasure first. But I doubted anyone else would jump into the pitfall and search hidden tunnels. If anyone else opened the chest, it would still reappear. The treasure wasn’t worth risking our lives over.

I needed to be extremely careful when combating monsters I didn’t recognize from the game. That went double for named monsters, which might be floor bosses.

“Ugh,” whined Kano, still whispering. “We’re gonna come back to get it, right?”

“When we’ve leveled up enough,” I shot back. “For now, be patient.”

Kano reluctantly accepted my argument, and we returned to the garden to fight the golem. She kept peering back longingly at the room, but our safety came first to guarantee we could try again another day.

On the way, I glanced out of one of the small windows in the corridor and spotted the Wood Golem in the garden. Although a few patches of weeds had sprouted, the garden still looked pretty. But this wasn’t the handiwork of a gardener; the area would naturally maintain this state. The golem was two and a half meters tall, with thick arms and legs, and it might have weighed around a ton. It trudged through the garden, dragging its feet across the ground.

We observed the golem through a pair of binoculars that Kano had brought.

“I can see a stone sticking out of its back,” remarked Kano. “That’s the core, right?”

It was easy to underestimate golems due to their slow movement speed, though their greatest asset was their power.

“Yep,” I replied. “If it attacks you, dodge. Don’t block the blow because it packs a heavy punch.”

“I’ll be fine!” insisted Kano. “You worry too much. Let’s get this over with and level up!”

Even if you tried to sneak up behind one, golems were a type of monster that could detect* life-forms in all directions, so it would discover you the moment you got close enough. Surprise attacks were off the table.

*TIPS: Some monsters can detect life-forms in all directions, although they can’t perceive entities like the undead that aren’t technically alive. Most monsters can only detect entities in their line of sight.

“I’ll go in and distract it, then you get the core,” I said.

“I just have to pluck the core from its back, right?”

“No, we’ll extract a core later when we’re stronger,” I reminded Kano. “Keep an eye on its movements and destroy the core when you have an opening.”

Her responses didn’t fill me with confidence, but it was time to implement our plan.

I readied my weapon and advanced until there were thirty meters between me and the golem. It spun around, and I heard the low rumbling of a motor running. From the sound, I half-expected it to sprout a set of wheels.

“Come at me, big guy!” I shouted.

Wood Golems were level 9 monsters much slower than skeletons, until they got close. When it attacked, its punch had a greater reach than I’d expected and was fast.

“Whoa! That’s a fast punch!” I yelled.

My stomach churned with each punch the golem threw at me because there was a thunderous crack in the air. This attack pattern was why it was vital that I not let my guard down for even a second.

“I’ll be taking this!” declared Kano. “Ughhhh, come out!”

She had climbed onto the golem, planted her feet on its back, and was unsuccessfully trying to pry the core free and getting swung around by the golem. Yet, the core stayed in place.

“Smack it with your weapon!” I yelled. “And... Whoa, that was close! Hit it where it attaches to the golem! Wait, no, just break the damn thing!”

“But!” protested Kano. “That’s such a waste!”

My heart shrank every time I dodged one of the golem’s thunderous punches. I was drenched in cold sweat and wished Kano would hurry. For the next minute, I continued dodging the punches and sweating profusely.

Kano struck the golem’s core with the back of her knife over and over, until it finally snapped. The golem crumpled to the ground and turned into a magic gem.

Golems here had short respawn timers, so we needed to get away quickly to take a break. Otherwise, we’d have to face it again.

“I almost died!” I said, panting. “You took too long trying to extract the core!”

“But look!” said Kano cheerfully, staring down at the golem core she was cradling in her hands. “How much do you think we’ll get for it?”

Despite my orders, the promise of treasure had been too alluring for my sister. I told her I would allow her thirty seconds to extract the core in our next fight. If that didn’t work, she had to destroy it.

“Boo!” she complained.

“Don’t ‘boo’ me!” I spat. “Tell you what, once you turn level 8, you can be the decoy.”

“If you say so, ha ha.”

Her frivolous attitude made me want to smack her on the head, but upsetting her would slow down the raid.

While we were talking, a black cloud formed on the ground. Golems were quest monsters, so the black clouds they spawned from emerged differently to other monsters.

We took a ten-minute break since dodging the first golem’s rapid punches had worn me out. Kano had figured out how to remove the core, so she managed to extract the second golem’s core and defeated it in thirty seconds. And we could run away quickly if we needed to do so.

“We should’ve brought a hatchet with us,” said Kano. “Knives are great for cutting, but it’s hard using the right amount of force to break things.”

Her knives hadn’t worked well against the skeletons either. Kano was quite strong now, and it might be a good idea to give her a heavier weapon to try Dual Wielding.

***

We slew five more Wood Golems between our long breaks, and Kano reached level 8. These golems were worth more experience points than usual because they were quest monsters. She had received bonus experience points since they were at a higher level than her, meaning leveling up didn’t take long.

“Yay!” Kano cheered. “Should we take it in turns now?”

“Kano,” I said, panting even more. “Your...brother’s...tired. Let’s go...home.”

“Ugh!” fussed Kano. “Okay. But we’re coming back tomorrow!”

Golems were a great choice of enemy to hunt as there was a surefire way to kill them when you had a friend to help. It was common knowledge in DEC that golems were an easy way to level up, which also applied to this world.

Still, it surprised me how quickly Kano was adapting to the dungeon. At this pace, we could reach level fifteen in two months. I could accomplish my diet by leveling up in the dungeon like this and keeping my meals small, making me keen to keep up the good work.

***

After regular lessons had ended for the day, Murai conducted homeroom and blandly recited school updates. He likely knew there were problems in Class E but walked out of the classroom door without mentioning them, pretending not to have noticed.

At the end of homeroom, some Class D students entered the room to pick up a few of my classmates to do work for their club activities. They didn’t bother with me, though. Apparently, I was too much of a loser who was inept for menial tasks. I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry about that. After all, I planned to hunt more golems with my sister and appreciated that they wouldn’t put me to work.

“Hey, Akagi!” called out a Class D student. “Don’t just sit there. You’re gonna come and do some work for us!”

“S-Sure,” replied Akagi as the student grabbed his collar and dragged him out of the room.

This treatment was clearly bullying, but the teachers didn’t care. More than a few Class E students recoiled at the sight of these Class D students, fearing making eye contact as their will to resist had broken. Kariya had trounced Akagi, the supposedly strongest student in Class E, in a one-sided fight. All this had cast a dark shadow on Class E now that they understood how much of an advantage three extra years of experience in the dungeon was.

I could not say anything to fix that mood. The only course of action available to me would be to find and beat down the student pulling Kariya’s strings, because Kariya himself was no more than a puppet. Class B’s ringleader was the one who called the shots.

Regardless, Akagi’s eyes still burned with passion as they dragged him away. He probably wanted to keep raiding the dungeon until he was strong enough to get payback. But he’d be all right since he had Sanjou, Kaoru, and Tachigi by his side.

A couple of Class D students stayed behind in the classroom after Akagi had left, acting like they owned the place.

“Oh, did I tell you my brother got an invite from one of Colors’ subsidiary clans?” one of them said.

The others just showered him with praise.

“From Colors?! No way!”

“Your brother’s in Soleil, right, Manaka?”

“That’s so cool!”

Oh, so his name’s Manaka? I thought. He was the one who had punched Kiku by the school gate. I was glad I knew his name, as I’d been planning to learn it.

Manaka continued to boast loudly about his brother, so I listened attentively. It appeared his brother had joined a party that belonged to a clan under the Colors’ umbrella, and several big names in the adventuring scene were joining.

Colors was an Assault Clan whose popularity had risen after their televised victory against the lich. Soleil was a subsidiary clan of another clan of Colors, making it two steps removed from the main clan. Anyway, Soleil had many graduates of Adventurers’ High and other accomplished adventurers among their ranks. They were more distinguished than the average run-of-the-mill clan... Or so Manaka explained, gesturing animatedly.

Adventurers had to join a subsidiary clan and get stronger since they couldn’t join frontline Assault Clans directly. They could then rise to a higher-ranked clan if they made a name for themselves. You had to pass through multiple levels of subsidiary clans on the way. In exceptional cases, you could transfer from one top-ranked clan to another. But this only happened rarely because Assault Clans liked to keep their raiding strategies a secret.

“Tasato and the others in Colors were awesome to watch in that raid,” another Class D student commented.

“I probably watched the recording a hundred times,” added a third. “You gotta love Samurai. They have the most powerful job.”

“I heard the government only lets people become Samurai if they create a clan that does well enough to get national recognition.”

Colors certainly displayed plenty of spirit in their lich fight. I still shivered when I remembered watching them charge in, putting everything on the line. But I understood the allure of idolizing top adventurers.

Most students at Adventurers’ High aspired to graduate from Adventurers’ University and land a job in the government or could fall back on a regular university. If a student who had flunked the entrance exam to Adventurers’ University received offers from a famous clan, they would take it. Even being part of a subsidiary clan would be enough to excite people based on the parent clan’s name. As proof, the Class E students listened intently to the Class D kids’ conversation.

As for me, I’d already attended university in my world and wasn’t interested in going to Adventurers’ University. I’d probably stop further education and go straight to adventuring because I liked thinking about finding trustworthy friends to form a clan once I got stronger. Seeing this wasn’t the game, I didn’t know how far down the dungeon I could make it but imagined I’d have a trick or two for taking down floor bosses.

I headed to Class D’s classroom to carry out basic chores for them, like cleaning up or throwing out the trash. While there, I drew up plans on how to form my clan. I got the tasks done quickly and left.

Next, I headed to the factories. I wanted to rent a few new weapons to make the golem fights easier.

They made most weapons of regular steel while others were resistant, stainless steel. Other weapons were softer titanium and hard to manufacture, which led to few in stock and little variety. Dungeon materials were equally difficult to use in manufacturing, but they resulted in sharper and more durable weapons. These qualities made factories not see the point in making stainless steel or titanium weapons.

But weapons created from dungeon materials like magic metals or the claws or fangs of strong monsters sold for millions of yen. This price hike applied even at cheaper venues like online shopping, auctions, and the Adventurers’ Guild shops. They were too expensive to rent out, so the factory almost exclusively stocked steel weapons.

Steel weapons would work fine for the monsters on the first ten floors of the dungeon, but Kano and I would reach the tenth floor soon. I’d need to either buy a better weapon or collect the materials to make one. I knew I couldn’t skimp on weapons and armor when my life depended on them. As a broke high schooler, I needed a way to raise funds.

I had a few ideas, yet I had to lay the groundwork to reach that point.