Novel Bin Chapter 20: Dungeon Attack!
Chapter 20: Dungeon Attack!
The requests weve accepted is the collection of a fruit with medical properties, the Ria, and the collection of the similarly medicinal Mufla grass. Both of them can be harvested from the place called The Abyssal Forest that stretches out at Motsi Citys western side. Looking from outside, The Abyssal Forest looks just like a normal forest but going inside its a vast Dungeon that spreads out and seems to have turned into a separate dimension. Naturally, its filled with monsters, and if you dont have the ability to beat them down, you cant enter The Abyssal Forest.
Every year, many adventurers have challenged The Abyssal Forest without ever coming back. The deeper you go, the stronger the monsters get. Furthermore, life-threatening traps and difficult to escape mazes await deeper inside. As its name implies, a vast forest spreads in The Abyssal Forest, and of course, fruits, herbs, and other vegetation grow wildly inside.
Compared to other places, the Dungeon has far more of whats called Mana inside, and compared to other harvesting spots, it seems like the plants here have stronger medical effects. For that reason, the collection requests are constantly available, so without the need to force themselves to fight, beginners like me can do requests in peace. Also, the Dungeons entrance and exit are controlled by the Guild, so only the D Rank adventurers and above are allowed to enter it. Since Urania and I are both D Rank, theres really no problem at all.
What do we need? Its a day trip, so we dont need food. Just Potions maybe? I can use Healing Magecraft, you know? Just that, is dangerous. Youll run out of Magic Power, and stuff.
Ah, I see. While it is practically impossible, its true that if I ever run out of Magic Power, itll get pretty dangerous since I cant use Healing Magic and such. And on top of that, its not like Im always at a state where I can use Healing Magic immediately, so well need to have some just in case, huh.
Thus, we bought a few bottles of Potions and, just in case, food. After that, we bought a simple map. The map was a rip-off, costing three silver coins with barely anything on it, but having this or not still makes a big difference. At least locations of the exit and the things that can be treated as landmarks are drawn on it, so even if we get lost, we can probably still find the exit.
Hey? Arent we being watched? Its always, like this. But, theres, probably more?
To enter The Abyssal Forest, we were waiting for admission at the Guilds established entrance, but it feels like were attracting attention. I cant be sure if its just that two girls really attract a lot of attention, or that maybe the rumors about me ended up causing us a lot of attention, but as expected, it feels like theres quite a lot of vulgar gazes from the crowd.
Well, if theyre just looking then even if its a bit unpleasant, its not like theyre doing me any harm, so its probably fine to just leave it be. If they do plan on doing something, then that time itll be fine to just handle them with no mercy. Just like earlier in the guild.
Having a D Rank Adventurer Card, we entered the Abyssal Forest with no particular problems. Still, the guild staff holding out their hand, asking Can I shake your hands? really surprised me. Do rumors really spread that fast in just one day? Well if its just a handshake, then I dont have any reason to refuse them, so its fine.
Its really wide. Also, a lot brighter than I expected. Its still the outer layer. The deeper you progress, the darker it gets.
On the Dungeons entrance is a five-meter wall made by joining logs together, and the whole area beyond the gate is the Dungeon, The Abyssal Forest. At the place that we entered, sunlight can be seen here and there, making it much brighter than I imagined. Our targets, the Ria fruit and Mufla herb, seem to be located in the outer layer, so it looks like we dont need to worry about visibility while the suns still up.
Still, we went out before noon, and since it took us about two hours of walking to arrive, its already well past noon. Theres not that much time before sunset, so there is a need to hurry, but it looks like Urania has some kind of plan.
Well then, Urania. What should I do? Nn, just wait a bit. Ill just, find its scent. Find its scent?
Saying so, Urania closed her eyes and started concentrating. So I dont get in her way, I took vigilance and watched the surrounding area. While inside the Dungeon, monsters usually just wander about, it looks like there are times where monsters just suddenly appear. The Dungeons situation hasnt been really clarified, so I dont know the details, but it seems that when the dense Mana inside the Dungeon gathers and gets condensed, it becomes a monsters core, a Magic Core. And then the Magic Core once again converges the surrounding Mana and takes the form of a monster, it seems.
Since a Magic Core is just a lump of Mana, its possible to convert it into high-quality Magic Power, the Guild buys it up for a high price. The small ones are used even by the common household since there are Magic Items run on Magic Power. Its something like a battery in my past life.
Found it. Oh? Thats pretty fast. Nn, I have confidence in my nose. Its here.
It still hasnt been three minutes since Urania started concentrating. It seems like she really found it in that short amount of time, Urania steps deeper into the forest without any hesitation. Thereafter I see a tree with a yellow fruit growing on it. Urania nimbly climbed the tree, eventually plucking a fruit, and throwing it towards me.VIsit n0(v)eLb(i)n.𝘤𝑜𝓂 for the best novel reading experience
Whoops, got it. So this is a Ria, huh? Yeah, take a bite. A high-quality Ria has a strong sweet taste. Heh~ Mmmm, youre right. The first bites really sweet.
As Urania told me, I took a big bite at the Ria in my hand. Still, even if I call it big, my mouths pretty small so I just ended up looking like a hamster. I can only describe its flavor as sweet. If its just a mouthful then its fine, but eating a whole fruit feels like its going to give me heartburn.
Nn, we got more than I expected. We were lucky. Its usually just about a third of this. We really were lucky, huh. Do you already know where the Mufla grass is? Leave it to me.
While I cram a few dozen Ria into the Dream Storage, Urania started concentrating once again. This time it took a bit longer, but it seems like she found it. However, it seems like theres a little bit of trouble.
Found it, but But? Theres a monster nearby. What do we do?
It seems like theres a monster near the Mufla grass. We discussed for a while, but since its a good chance, were going to take look at the enemys condition and try taking them out. I dont know much about the Dungeons monsters, but since we have my Magic, we probably wont fall into some life-threatening danger. This way, I can also measure Uranias fighting strength, so weve decided to fight this one time.