Akatsuki Translations

We descended the stairs we found on the second floor and arrived at the third floor. We only spotted a group of Goblin Riders out on reconnaissance there before returning to the second floor. The Goblin Riders on reconnaissance on the third floor are level 12.

We postponed fighting them for the same reason as on the second floor. We wanted to check the quest before fighting on the third floor. We returned to the second floor, easily killed the weaker Goblin Riders there, and created a safe zone.

All three of us opened our status screens.

Quest: Defeat the Floor Boss, Goblin Emperor, in a party at level 16 or below.

Weapons allowed: Sword-type weapons. Your own magic and skills. Mikamaru’s Flame Sword, Body Armor, and Gauntlets.

Prohibited: Guns and modern weapons. Other Mikamaru equipment.

Reward for success: Stone-grade 【Telepathy】

                    A-rank: +7 to Strength, Agility, Defense, and Dexterity.

                    S-rank: +14 to Strength, Agility, Defense, and Dexterity.

“As expected, it’s this,” I muttered, looking at the quest.

On the third floor, a floor boss appears that you can choose to defeat or not. There’s only one of them on the third floor. It’s a boss that appears when a party of three or more challenges it, and when you reach level 17, which is the level cap for the next floor, the conditions for its appearance are no longer met.

In other words, once you reach level 17, the Goblin Emperor will never appear again. Strangely, it only appears once, and a party only gets one chance to fight the Goblin Emperor.

And there are no goblins stronger than this one. Goblins don’t even appear on the fourth floor. That’s why it’s sometimes mockingly called the Last Goblin.

“This is a party quest for three people, right? Is that okay for Imari-chan?” Misuzu asked, showing concern.

Feeling relieved that Misuzu was thinking about this, I answered, “It’s fine. The Goblin Emperor only appears for parties of three or more. For solo players, there’s a completely different quest prepared. Well, I’m thinking we should absolutely avoid that situation, but there needs to be a way to replenish party members if someone drops out. Different conditions appear for times when you have to challenge alone.”

“The Goblin Emperor only appears for parties of up to five people,” Evie added. “If there are six or more, the quest doesn’t even come up, so you can’t do the quest at all.”

“They say that’s common for six or more people. The dungeon is basically harsh on humans, isn’t it?” Misuzu commented.

For example, if you challenge with a squad-sized military unit, the dungeon would be a breeze. Of course, this is limited to the Stone Area, but if you could do that, you’d level up without any trouble. If that was the system, it would be too easy. However, the dungeon’s system is the exact opposite.

The dungeon is designed with a system that seems to completely deny efficiency.

“That’s true,” I agreed. “In my opinion, I feel it’s natural to be strict since we’re gaining power beyond human wisdom.”

In the history of humanity, how many people have truly crossed the line between life and death? There must be countless people who have lived lives of desperate struggle. But none of them had ever gained power beyond human wisdom until the dungeon appeared.

And we can obtain that with just this much effort. It’s incredible. And twelve people in the world have gained the right to live for 1000 years. Rather, I think it’s amazing how much blessing the dungeon is giving to humanity.

“When you put it that way…” Misuzu mused.

“Misuzu, you know, there’s a lot of talk about the dungeon in society, but I think the dungeon is fair, and with its appearance, the world has become level again,” I said.

“Why? I think the dungeon is creating inequality, if anything,” she replied.

“But anyone can enter the dungeon. Moreover, you can’t enter if ordered by someone else. In other words, those in power can’t freely control it. In fact, do you know that the moment you become level 2 is the most amazing?”

“Well… I’ve heard about it. At that moment, it has the effect of an Elixir-class item, right?”

“That’s right. The dungeon welcomes anyone who challenges it. Whether you’re an old man or an old woman, if you can enter the dungeon and defeat 10 goblins, it even gives you a healthy body. There are stories of armless people growing arms. Don’t you think that’s incredible?”

“But can elderly people or armless people actually kill 10 goblins in the first place?”

The dungeon doesn’t reject challengers. So it gives a chance to any human. Kill 10 goblins. That fulfills the right to challenge the dungeon.

It’s said that if you can meet the dungeon’s conditions and kill 10 goblins, at the moment you reach level 2, it will heal all physical ailments.

Many people are skeptical of this because physically inferior people don’t usually challenge the dungeon, but I believed it to be true. The dungeon gives a chance even to those who are physically disadvantaged. Isn’t that why Yonezaki said,

“It’s a blessing given to humans by God”?

“Those who can do it, can do it. In fact, there’s a rumor that Komori of the Millennium Tree was a 90-year-old grandmother,” I said.

“Is that really true? I mean, Komori is said to have the highest Charm stat among the Twelve Heroes. That means she’s the most beautiful person in the world, right?” Misuzu questioned.

“Well, Komori has never publicly shown her real face, so we don’t really know,” Evie interjected, unable to stay quiet when the topic of beauty came up.

We knew we were getting into quite a tangential discussion. But we just couldn’t help enjoying these kinds of conversations.

“Let’s get back on track,” I said. “Anyway, it’s said that the Goblin Emperor appears when 3 to 5 humans at level 16 or below can annihilate a goblin settlement. In other words, we don’t have to worry about it appearing until then. So, trying to wipe out the goblin settlement before reaching level 16 would be suicidal.”

“The Goblin Emperor is level 30, right?” Misuzu asked.

“That’s right. And it has three special abilities: 【Great Strength】, 【Roar】, and 【Acceleration】. These are all considered quite useful skills if an explorer acquires them,” I explained.

“They say the Goblin Emperor is so insanely strong that most parties don’t challenge it and just go down to the next floor, right?” Evie added.

“Yeah,” I nodded.

“Yuuta, of course-” Misuzu started.

“We’ll challenge it,” I interrupted.

“I thought you’d say that,” she sighed.

“Misuzu, for now, let’s focus on killing the Goblin Riders. We’ll kill the level 12 Goblin Riders on reconnaissance and level up to 10. That’s our next step,” I suggested.

“Understood. There’s no point in overthinking it,” Misuzu agreed.

I looked at Evie. She seemed quite tired and deep in thought.

“Evie, are you okay? If you’re tired, we can rest before continuing. I heard from Mark. You’ve been working non-stop even during your break, right?” I asked, concerned.

“Well, yeah. It’s infuriating how they push us,” she replied.

“Doesn’t your boss let you rest even on your days off?” Misuzu inquired.

“It’s more like they think level 10 is enough. Beyond that, we become harder to control, and the risk of death increases. But don’t worry. Compared to being in the dungeon, work is easy,” Evie explained.

“If you say so,” I said, not entirely convinced.

Apparently, Evie had only returned from America this morning. We didn’t see her until just before entering the dungeon. She looked tired, so I asked if she wanted to rest before entering the dungeon.

However, delaying would mean more people gathering around the dungeon entrance. Evie insisted she was fine, so we went in as planned.

There was one thing that bothered me. On the third floor, we always move as a group of three. Unlike the second floor, there’s no time for solo actions. It’s too dangerous. But this means I won’t have any time alone with Evie.

That’s why I thought we could have spent some time together during the break, but Evie seemed to avoid that by going to America. If that was the case, I wanted to talk to her properly. At the same time, I was afraid of clearly being rejected by Evie.

“My habit of fearing people is almost like a disease…” I muttered to myself.

Anyway, now wasn’t the time to think about unnecessary things.

Even Evie couldn’t afford to think about me in a dungeon where we could die at any moment. I decided to clear my head of romantic thoughts.

Side Misuzu

They say that becoming an explorer extends your lifespan, but dying here would certainly make for a short life. I, Kiriyama Misuzu, decided to follow the man I love anyway. A man who had firmly etched feelings of love into my heart, when I thought I would never fall in love.

Rokujou Yuuta.

After the detestable Nagumo kidnapped Yuuta, I couldn’t contact him. Until we met this morning, he had apparently been dragged around by Nagumo. I can’t complain to that person, but honestly, I was dissatisfied that Yuuta couldn’t contact me even once during that time.

Well, I’m relieved that Ikemoto seems to have died while we weren’t involved.

I remembered the phone call from Koharu.

“Misuzu, Kazuya died,” she had said.

“Kazuya?”

“Yeah, Ikemoto. We’ve been keeping it secret, but we were dating. He could be forceful, and honestly, I’d been thinking about breaking up with him recently, but in the end, he died protecting me.”

Koharu was crying. Did that guy have enough spirit to protect the woman he loved? Still, I felt relieved when I heard he was dead. Honestly, it was quite creepy that a level 15 person was saying he wanted to kill Yuuta.

So I couldn’t feel an ounce of sympathy. Instead, I thought that if there was a god, they had killed Ikemoto to prevent him from bothering Yuuta.

“Still, Koharu is already level 7. And getting an S-rank on her quest, how cheeky. I can’t lose to her,” I thought to myself.

The strategy for the third floor wasn’t particularly complicated. The weakest creatures on this floor are Goblin Riders, and there are five types of goblins here, not just one. Among them, Goblin Riders are the weakest.

The third floor is noticeably hotter than the second. It’s also very humid. Soon, even my underwear was soaked with sweat. I worry that Yuuta might think I smell bad. But that time, Yuuta seemed to like my scent unexpectedly.

No good. I’m about to grin again, remembering that dreamlike time.

Even though we’re used to Goblin Riders, they’re far stronger than those on the second floor. They’re level 12. They move in groups of 15 to 20, just like on the second floor. On this floor, Goblin Riders are errand runners, with their main purpose being hunting, and their secondary purpose being to discover enemies like explorers.

That’s why they’re always wandering around.

Their territorial consciousness extends to the entire goblin settlement, so even if we annihilate one group, that area doesn’t become completely safe. And when they reach around level 12, goblins become quite intelligent and employ tactical actions.

When they discover explorers, one rider separates to report back to the settlement.

Once they receive the report, a Goblin General immediately leads an army of 50 to 100 riders towards us. They try to kill explorers while they’re still at a low level. Only in the case of female explorers, they kidnap them to the settlement.

Women kidnapped by goblins are subjected to various… things. Apparently, they do all sorts of things that women would least want to experience.

“I heard they’re restrained so they can’t commit suicide, force-fed, and put in a living hell. It’s terrifying. Recently, they rescued a woman who had been living with goblins for five years after being kidnapped in the early days of the dungeon’s appearance,” I explained, trying to mask my trembling feelings.

“Scared. Not good,” Lean said, crouching low beside me.

“Yes, yes. But please, if the worst happens…” I started.

“Understood. Lean also ask same,” she replied.

“O-okay,” I hesitated, thrown off by her childlike appearance.

It’s a promise we made to kill each other if the worst happens. That’s how much we want to avoid being kidnapped by the goblin settlement as women.

After descending to the third floor, we had already spotted a group of Goblin Riders. The Goblin Riders weren’t galloping, but slowly walking their mounted lions.

According to the eccentric explorer and monster enthusiast Yonezaki, who studied goblin ecology, Goblin Riders on the third floor only mate with the lions they ride.

Even if they capture humans, they don’t try to breed with them, remaining faithful only to their lions.

“When we brought a human woman close, they tried to attack her normally. This suggests that it’s not that they’re not interested in human women, but rather that they’re the weakest in the settlement and never get a turn,” Yonezaki had said during one of his occasional TV appearances.

While he’s a controversial figure, there are very few scholars who have surpassed level 100. In fact, he’s quite sharp-minded, and when he appears on TV, he seems to know about most things and gives keen opinions based on accurate data, more so than other commentators. Moreover, he speaks without regard for taboos about explorers.

Because of this, while many people see Yonezaki as problematic, he’s also quite popular.

“I need to focus,” I told myself, slapping my cheeks. This wasn’t the time to remember unnecessary things. The distance between us and the Goblin Riders was steadily decreasing. I always get terribly nervous when fighting a new type of monster for the first time.

I could feel my hands were drenched in sweat. We crouched low, approaching until we were within 200 meters, my current range at level 7.

“I’m counting on you,” Yuuta said.

“Got it,” Evie replied.

Evie mounted Rai, and Yuuta cast his acceleration skill on himself before dashing forward. He approached at almost the same speed as Rai. The enemy noticed us. At that moment, I used my skill and loosed an arrow.

“【Sturdy Bow】 【Precision Double Shot】!”

While feeling frustrated that I’m not always the one by Yuuta’s side until the end, I didn’t miss the Goblin Rider designated as the messenger. I shot my bow. Two arrows traced their paths.

They simultaneously pierced the heads of the goblin and the lion of the messenger Goblin Rider. Goblin Riders don’t have skills. That’s why explorers who have managed to level up this far can defeat this group.

“Well, from now on they’ll start dodging!” I shouted.

Stay still and keep being targets. Wishing this, I chanted my skill and loosed more arrows.