Tamer 15

BGM: Wuthering Waves 3.0 Ost(Opening)

Chapter 15: The 6th Floor

TL : Cnine

ED/PF :

Part 1

「Good morning, Kikyo-kun! You came back today as well? That honestly makes Sana so happy.」

「Ah, you're right.」

「Hey, hey! Look at this! What do you think of my hairstyle today? I’m pretty sure I nailed it!」

「Er, yes. It’s… Very nice.」

　The receptionist was strangely friendly today, far more than usual. And her outfit? Absolutely illegal.

　A dungeon receptionist dressed like a top-tier nightclub hostess, what kind of fantasy world is this? … Oh yeah. this world..

　For a brief, suicidal moment, I wondered: " Am I allowed to touch?"

　Then sanity dropkicked me.

　Hostesses are strictly no-touch territory. No exceptions. And yet she strolls in wearing a dress that practically invites disaster. Honestly, what a devilish woman.Dangling temptation right in front of a man who’s not allowed to act on it.

　That was a close call.

　Another second and my hand would’ve wandered, and she’d have pounced on that faster than a tax inspector forcing me to spill every last detail of my secret levelling method.

　She definitely thinks I’m some naïve kid who’s never seen the inside of a hostess club. Fair enough, I haven’t… But even I know the golden rule: no touching.

　And she still turned up in that outfit? Talk about a honey trap.

「Kikyo-kun, are you free after exploring? I’m done at 5 PM. You usually head home then, right? If you’d like, how about having a di--」

「Yeah, no thanks. I’ve got exploring to do, so I’m out.」

　I tore myself away from the receptionist’s shameless teasing and marched toward the dungeon entrance.

　If she even knows when I usually go home, then things are truly heading in a dangerous direction. She must have a strong suspicion, no proof maybe, but a solid gut feeling, that I’m growing stronger at a ridiculous speed.

　There was no room for leisurely progress anymore.

　If I didn’t ramp up my levelling, the Dungeon Association might actually get their hands on me.

※Author Note: He's seriously being delusional.

◇◇◇

「Tch… At this pace, I won’t make it in time at all.」

　This morning, I roamed the 4th floor nonstop, cutting down Ogre after Ogre without pause. By the time I was done, the tally had reached an impressive 243 ogre.

　Using the 20-PixWhip and the Quintuple Gob legs boosted my experience gain by thirty-one times, levelling was smoother than ever, yet still nowhere near the insane, explosive growth I’m aiming for.

「Status」

===

　Status

Name： Sakura Kikyo

Occupation： Monster Tamer

Lv：76　↑4

HP：307　↑21

MP：441　↑27

SP：10

Skill

Monster Taming54　Monster Recovery7　Monster Enhancement7　Monster Fusion　Monster Reborn

Monster Evolution

Tamed Monster

GoblinLv76×7　GoblinLv75×8

SlimeLv76×2　SlimeLv75×2

PixieLv56×35

EXP to next level: 66636

===

　My levelling pace isn’t bad at all. Honestly, it was pretty damn good.

「If only things were the same as before…」

　But with the way things are spiralling, it’s only a matter of time before the Dungeon Association dispatches their high-rank explorers. They’d surround me, close in like shadows, and take me away before I can even draw breath.

※Author Note: He's seriously being delusional.

　Before everything collapses around me, I must at least push my level to 150.

　I mean, this is Japan, no one is going to send a full military unit after me as they did for George Kennedy, the world’s greatest explorer. But high-rank explorers closing in from all sides? That’s a danger I could practically feel breathing down my neck.

※Author Note: He's seriously being delusional.

　There’s no turning back now. I had planned—quite sensibly—to wait until level 80 before setting foot on the 6th floor. But the clock was ticking, and hesitation would only kill me in the end.

　If the 6th floor didn’t break me, then perhaps… I’ll push on to the 7th floor.

　I really wanted to keep a nice fat safety margin… But getting nabbed by the Dungeon Association before I even finish levelling? Talk about tragic.

「“Well then… The 6th floor it is. Worst-case scenario, you lot will be my meat shield. Don’t fail me, okay?」

　The second I said, “You’re all gonna be my meat shields,” every goblin shut up at once.

　Sure, they could glare, sulk, or radiate disapproval all they want, but in the end, they were my tools. Monsters bound by a tamer’s command. A cheerful “leave it to us!” would’ve been nice, but apparently that was too much to ask.

　Well, couldn’t be bothered to care.

「If some freakishly powerful monster turns up, you lot will jump in front and take the hit. And if I need to make a run for it, a few of you should explode yourselves to buy me time.」

「Gya-gya! Gya!」

　No clue what that means, but I’ll take it as “aye aye, captain.” Mostly because I’m not accepting anything else.

「Yes, that's right. Explode.」

　… Never mind that I’ve absolutely no idea whether they can even explode in the first place.

「Well then. Time to begin our exploration of the 6th floor.」

　Armed with the 20-PixWhip and the Quintuple Gob-legs, then summoned the leftover five goblins, four slimes, and fifteen fluttering pixies to serve as my escort. With that ridiculous entourage behind me, I set off into the depths.

　The 6th floor was nothing like the ones before it. The oppressive corridors gave way to an open expanse, a vast grassland spreading as far as the eye could see.

　A grassland inside a dungeon? The thought lingered, but dungeons were still riddled with mysteries beyond understanding. There was no point trying to make sense of it now.

　For now, it was best to stay alert, ready for packs of carnivorous monsters to come charging out of the grass at any moment.

「No sign of monsters huh?」

　At present, nothing but an endless stretch of grass lay ahead. Perhaps if I ventured a little further, something would finally appear.

　If things continued like this, levelling up would be impossible. Even if monsters did show themselves eventually, this pace was far too inefficient to be worth it.

　Wouldn’t it be better to find the stairs to the 7th floor as quickly as possible and push through this area without wasting time?

　Exploring with that thought in mind, I eventually reached a place where several magic circles had been etched into the ground.

「Magic circle huh.」

　They twisted in tight spirals, coiling round and round like frozen whirlpools.

「So it's basically a spiral magic cir— Wait a second. Why are they glowing?!」

　That was a close call.

　Good thing I didn’t say anything stupid and wander around carelessly.

「So it’s a monster-spawning trap, then…」

　There were five magic circles, and standing atop each one was a summoned monster.

「Ghoul huh.」

　Ghould was an undead monster.

　Basically upgraded zombies. Normal zombies just shuffle around like they’ve got a hangover. These guys run, claw, and bite like they’ve had way too much caffeine. Way more lively than your average zombie.

　Being this lively even after dying, what are they thinking? Are they idiots?

「Oi, goblins. Hold the ghouls down. Pixies, help restrain them. Slimes…」

　Yeah, slimes are useless.

「Slimes, just stay there and wobble.」

　At my command, the monsters charged the five ghouls all at once.

　I’d been told that ghouls normally appear on the 2nd or the 3rd floor.

　So I’d assumed that if they appeared on the 6th floor, they wouldn’t be weak. Instead, they were pinned down with surprising ease by my monsters, left completely unable to move.

　The pixies restraining the ghouls wore visibly revolted expressions, but since I wasn’t the one touching them, it didn’t concern me in the slightest.

　I swung my 20 PixWhip and struck one of the ghouls.

　Smack! One hit and poof, one ghoul sent to its maker.

　It dropped the largest magic stone I’d seen so far, and the experience reward was an absurd 3,100 EXP.

　At my current 31x EXP efficiency, that meant a single ghoul normally gave around 100 EXP.

　It was disgustingly good source of EXP.

　The 20 PixWhip cracked again and again, and each strike erased a ghoul from existence with ridiculous ease. One by one, they vanished, leaving behind nothing but rewards.

　And just like that, I got a whopping 15500 EXP. so effortlessly. It was enough to make my feet itch with the urge to dance.

　The pixie bound to the tip of the whip clutched her head, wincing and shaking it furiously, clearly in pain. I ignored her completely.

　I would heal her afterwards. Until then, she could endure being a weapon.

「Right then, what kind of monster is going to be summoned next?」

　Come on. I was ready to keep going, ready to turn whatever appeared next into sweet, sweet EXP.

　Granted, if something terrifying showed up, I’d happily toss a few monsters in its path and retreat at top speed. No shame in survival.

「…Nothing’s coming.」

　Why? The magic circles showed no sign of glowing again, no hint of another summoning.

　Isn’t this supposed to be the bit where monsters keep popping out nonstop? That’s dungeon etiquette. You can’t just stop like this. Did it read read the wrong script?