Dungeon People (ダンジョンの中のひと)

Listen up, Clay.

When you head into a dungeon all on your own,

a single mistake can spell your death.

Never let your guard down.

Right!

For example-

Relaxing to blink could have cost you everything just now.

- Relaxing. - Do you understand?

Yes, sir.

Don't rely on your eyes.

You've got to feel their presence.

In many a dungeon, by the time you can see them,

it's too late.

Right!

- You'll find monsters and dungeons

with scales tougher than steel.

This should be easy for you to manage.

Right.

- If you want to be able to dodge traps in a dungeon,

you should be able to make it this far

in a single leap. - Right!

- We thieves don't have a warrior strength

and can't use magic like a wizard,

and yet monsters don't show any mercy.

Dodge 'til you take him down, attack 'til you win,

concentrate, and keep moving. - Right.

- You need to be able to fight

for 10 hours straight at minimum.

Ideally over 20. - Right. Got it.

My father was abnormally strong, and yet...

You've got it now.

Just 12 more hours.

Right.

I'm pretty sure he was an awful teacher.

My father.

Three years have passed now since he vanished

in the dungeon.

- According to the thieves guild I belong to,

the deepest the adventurers' guild has officially reached

in this dungeon of Antomurg is the seventh floor.

In other words, even the highest grade adventurers

who made it back alive didn't clear the seventh floor.

Just now I took down the eighth floor's floor guardian

all by myself,

and I'm preparing to challenge the ninth floor.

No getting tired.

Right.

- You've got 10 seconds to climb up here.

Right.

- If someone attacks you from behind,

you're as good as dead.

Right.

Thanks to what my father taught me.

I've continued training diligently

in the three years my father has been gone,

and yet I still don't feel like I've caught up to him.

Just how far down did my father go?

Dungeons follow their own unique set of rules.

For underground dungeons,

the monsters known as floor guardians protect the stairs

leading to that level.

They are roughly equal in strength

to the monsters wandering the following floor.

However, that only applies when they're on their own.

There they are.

After passing the fifth floor,

the monsters began forming parties and working together.

They possess intelligence.

Goblins, buff goblins.

I've never seen goblins with muscles like that before.

Okay, so we've got some buff goblins

and behind them that one's skinny.

So I'll call it a lanky goblin.

I'll start with the lanky one in the rear.

Huh?

Hmm.

- You can form parties, sure,

but you can also tear them apart.

Take them out from the rear.

At least that's where theory suggests I start.

- Nice. The paralysis is working.

Once you get this deep,

pretty much all of them start dropping gems.

Nice.

In this dungeon, monsters can turn into gems

when they die.

That trend grows stronger the deeper you go.

So a lot more adventurers aim for those

rather than wasting their time and energy

trying to find packed treasure chests.

If the goblins were placed there as a party,

then there's a good chance that...

there's a strong one

on the other side of that door.

I can't sense anything else in the area.

My healing items aren't running low

and I've got stamina to spare.

Would it be best to tackle it now

rather than putting it off for later

and risking additional hindrances then?

Oh!

Paralysis won't work on this one.

I see that it's not just big and powerful.

It's surprisingly fast too.

It's strong.

So why try to weaken me with the goblins first?

It's tough.

It probably has plenty of stamina too,

so this may take a while.

I'm glad it's on its own.

I'll start with the legs.

Or at least I'd like to.

Holy cow.

I hit that hard enough

to open up a hole in steel armor and yet,

so since the legs won't work,

I'll start with its dominant arm.

Okay, so it's even faster bare handed,

and it only needs brute force to take me down, huh?

The dungeon wall collapsed.

I didn't even know that could happen.

Seriously?

I've never heard of a wall collapsing before.

What am I doing?

- That monster's speaking?

- Well, hold on. There's no need for that.

Let's just call a timeout. Okay?

Timeout?

Seriously, do you think

that dungeon walls just crumble every day?

Because they don't.

This right here is a serious issue. Okay?

The administrator's gonna be here soon.

- It's true that his blood lust is gone.

Is he seriously asking me to stop?

- Take a look at that room there.

- Still, he sure is an eloquent talker.

What does it look like?

Uh, a hotel room

that's in a dungeon.

You're close.

It's a private room.

A private room?

But who's-

what is that?

I sense an abnormally massive power source.

Something's coming.

No.

- Oh, it really did collapse, didn't it?

Dungeon people.

Dungeon people.

Oh, it really did collapse, didn't it?

Oh, my apologies.

Please just hold on one moment.

Uh yeah. Okay.

Sorry for the trouble.

I'll handle the rest of it from here

so you can return to your post now.

Okay? - Mm-hmm.

Oh, you were talking with her.

Am I right about that?

Moo, moo moo.

He's acting like a cow?

I mean, it didn't seem like the two of you

were fighting at all,

and an explorer would never let their guard down

with a monster right in front of them

just because a wall collapsed.

I'm so ashamed. I'm sorry.

This girl's such a quick one

that I figured it'd be big trouble

if she ran off into that room.

- No worries. The wall falling down was my fault.

You're normally so much more careful than this, right?

- Of course! - That was a long pause.

Sorry for the wait.

- She just looks like an ordinary girl.

That intensity I felt, it came from her?

- I'd like to explain everything in detail.

So could you please accompany me?

Oh, okay.

Right this way, please.

Don't let your guard down.