In order to bring Claudia back to life, I need to earn 2000 SP in under 24 hours. To do that, I’ve gone to Bandol’s Dungeon.
“By the way, I haven’t introduced myself. My name’s Gray.”
The older man that was a former adventurer and is now acting as my guide raised his voice.
“Nice to meet you, Gray-san. My name is Yuzuki. Thank you for offering to be my guide.”
“I told you earlier but you don’t need to worry. First off, I suggest we aim to take out the boss on the first floor.”
“Straight to the boss?”
“To get to the next floor you must first defeat the boss of the previous floor.”
“I haven’t defeated it yet, but can’t we just go to the next floor if someone else has?”
If possible I’d like to get to the lower floors as quickly as possible. I had some hope that that would be possible but Gray just shook his head.
“You’ll receive a title when you defeat the boss. Those that don’t have that title are not allowed to skip floors.”
“Okay, I understand. Then, thank you for helping me fight the boss.”
“Yep, just leave it to me, but I’ll just be giving you tips on how to defeat it. It’s up to you to defeat the boss on your own.”
“Yes, I understand!”
I followed behind Gray for around an hour before arriving in a large, open room.
“This is the first floor boss room.”
“This is the boss room?”
At the opposite end of the room was a small door — this isn’t what I expected to see at all. It’s just a big empty room.
“The first floors are like this, but once you get deeper into the dungeon the boss rooms became increasingly more extravagant. Some boss rooms even seem to have their own gimmicks. Anyway, you need to first defeat this boss before we can continue.”
“I see…oh, something appeared.”
In the centre of the room, a monster appeared out of thin air.
“That is the boss of the first floor.”
“…that’s the boss?”
What appeared in the centre of the room was a horn rabbit that was much larger than the ones I fought previously. This one was maybe around 50 centimetres long.
The moment he noticed us, he jumped towards me and tried to stab me in the head with his horn.
I rolled to avoid the attack and, at the same time, I took out the sword I bought earlier in the day and slashed in the direction of the horn rabbit…and unintentionally killed it.
“…it was really weak.”
“That’s because it was only the first floor boss.”
“I see.”
That does make sense if I think about it.
Anyway, I managed to destroy the first floor boss — let me check my status window. The time right now is 21 o’clock and I have less than 23 hours left. My SP has increased by 53 and I’m currently at 59 total SP.
It seems the boss itself was worth 1 SP and the title I earned for killing it was worth 50 SP.
Of course, at this pace, I’ll never make it. However, the deeper I go into the dungeon the more SP I’ll earn; the more SP I earn the more efficient this will become. Basically, if I don’t go deeper into the dungeon I won’t be able to save Claudia.
“By the way, that title will allow you to travel from the entrance directly to the second floor and directly back to the entrance from the second floor.”
“That’s quite useful.”
“Yeah, if you forgot anything before entering the dungeon you can easily go back to retrieve it.”
“Alright, let’s move on to the second floor boss.”
“Of course. Let’s go.”
We pushed on to the next floor.
We cleared the second and third floor with ease.
And — with my rusty iron sword raised — I moved forward.
I deflected the attack of a Goblin Leader and brought that same rusty sword down on his head.
“Alright, that’s the fourth boss down.”
I put the bloodied sword back in its sheath.
You’d think that this would cause the sword to rust even more, but…as soon as the enemy is dead their body, and all traces of it, disappear. The only thing left behind is a manastone. I don’t need to bother wiping away the blood or fat.
I turned my eyes to the log window. I earned 50 SP for killing the boss and another 200 SP for the title.
In total, I have 823 SP and still need 1177 SP for Resurrection. It has only been 5 hours since I entered the dungeon. There are still 18 hours remaining so I should be able to get the remaining SP in time.
“Can I ask you to keep going to the fifth floor with me?”
“Of course. You only have 24 hours to save her. I’ll do whatever I can to help you so make sure you do everything you can to save your friend.”
“Thank you.”
After saying this we walked towards the door at the back of the boss room and walked down the stairs leading to the fifth floor. Before actually entering each floor of the dungeon after the first, there’s a room with an altar that allows you to travel to and from the entrance.
“I’ll tell you this now, the fifth floor boss is quite strong.”
“Really?”
“There’s a huge difficulty spike after the fourth floor boss. You’ll be challenging a boss I was never able to defeat when I was a full-time adventurer. It’s an enemy I could never imagine a rookie defeating…it might be best for you to avoid fighting that boss for now.”
“I see….”
Thanks to my titles and talents I’m 37% better than the average adventurer. However, based off the brief glimpses I’ve had of Gray’s abilities, I can’t say I’m stronger than him.
If Gray wasn’t able to defeat this boss it might just be better for me to stop now.
“It would still be possible for you to learn that skill by defeating basic enemies on the fifth floor…if you wish to continue past that I won’t stop you. I’ll at least guide you to the boss room.”
“…alright. For the time being, I’ll think about it while fighting the enemies on this floor.”
Normally, I wouldn’t have to be afraid of dying, but I revived myself not long before Claudia died. If I died, I wouldn’t be able to revive until right before the time limit on Claudia ended. If that were to happen, I’d have no time to earn the SP I need.
So what I’m doing now isn’t unreasonable.
I have to do this in order to earn the required SP in time.
However, the only reason I’ve earned so much SP currently is due to the titles I’ve got for defeating the bosses.
I’m not sure how much I can earn by defeating the normal enemies on the fifth floor. It may take me the rest of the night or I might just be forced to challenge the fifth floor boss.
Anyway, I’ll decide after defeating some of the enemies on the fifth floor.
We entered the fifth floor.
The enemies on this floor are large wolf-like creatures called Garum.
Other dungeons will have a variety of enemies on each floor depending on the dungeon’s difficulty. This dungeon is meant for beginners so it’s a lot easier.
Not only did this enemy look like a wolf, it also behaved like one. It had extremely quick movements and a powerful bite attack.
Nevertheless, as long as I defend with my sword and am able to use Healing: F when bitten, I should be able to manage.
The wolf gave me 10 SP. After an hour of fighting these enemies, I was able to earn 200 SP.
So, in total, I’d be able to earn the remaining 977 SP in around five hours. I still have 17 hours remaining before the 24 hours are up. I should be able to resurrect Claudia in that time.
“Yuzuki, why do you look so hopeful?”
“Well…there’s a chance I’ll be able to resurrect Claudia.”
“– You were actually able to learn Resurrection!?”
“No, I haven’t learned it yet but I feel like I’m close to learning it.”
“…what do you mean?”
I didn’t intend on telling him that I’m able to use my SP to learn any skill I want, but he definitely won’t just drop the subject now.
I need to think about what I should tell him.
“I can’t really explain it, but I’m confident that I’ll be able to revive Claudia if we keep going at this pace.”
“…are you being serious or has the stress finally gotten to you?”
“I’m being serious…though I’m definitely not fighting at one hundred percent. I’ve been using Healing a lot and I’m getting tired. I don’t want to make any mistakes so I think I should take a break and return to the city for now.”
As I said this, Gray looked at me like I had just said something ridiculous. In fact, that would make sense under normal circumstances. As far as he knows, I need to continue killing these monsters to have even the slightest chance of learning Resurrection.
Obviously, he doesn’t know that I can learn that skill as long as I have the required SP.
“Even if you are feeling weak, that girl’s life is on the line. Shouldn’t you be giving your all even if it may cost you your life?”
“Absolutely not!”
I unintentionally raised my voice and I felt a little embarrassed. I cleared my throat and explained my reaction to Gray.
“I only just met Claudia but she’s an irreplaceable partner to me. I would never abandon her.”
“Then why are you taking a break?”
“If I were to die, there would be nobody left to help Claudia. The only way I can help her is if I’m alive. Even if I’d rather keep going, it’s better for me to take a break.”
