Otoko Nara Ikkokuichijou no Aruji o Mezasa Nakya, ne? Chapter 303

Year 7447, Month 7, Day 10

I spent a short while contemplating while glaring at the altar.

"For the time being, let's try going to a different place."

It's not like we've seen any monsters. If we approach the altar then there's a high possibility that a monster will be summoned but it's not like we've actually seen it. This is different from fleeing. It's simply changing directions.
No, though it's fine even if we're running from monsters. Even up until now we've run from them a number of times.

For the time being I decided to move to the right along the gra.s.sland that's believed to be in the shape of a doughnut. The next time there's an opening in the forest I intend to go further inside from there.

After walking for a short while just as expected we arrived at an opening in the forest. It's about 10 meters wide and the trees of just that area has no trees growing almost like a hallway. After trying to look further inside and it seems to gently curve to the right. It seems like there's no traps either. Then, shall we try advancing from here?

After a distance of about 100 meters this time it curved to the left and then after another 100 meters we were surrounded by forest again almost like a dead end. After advancing a bit further while remaining cautious and this time Miduchi said "Wait" so we all stopped.

"That, it's an altar right?"

..Miduchi pointed her finger but even looking to the left the trees are too dense so I can't see anything.
After all the vegetation of the forest is thick so it seems it can't be seen other than from Miduchi's position.
I have her open up the place she's standing.

"It looks like an altar..But I can't see anything like gargoyles."

"Al-san. Show me as well.."

I switch places with Gwine.
We need her to properly remember the location.

After advancing a bit from there again and this time Angela discovered an altar in the opposite direction.

"That altar, it seems to be about 200 meters from the one we just saw."

Gwine said after confirming the location of the newly discovered altar.
Hm~mm.
Unexpectedly this is the third altar we've discovered today.
I wonder if there's such a high density of altars on this 11th floor...
I guess that means this hallway like opening in the forest pa.s.ses in between the altars?
It seems everyone else has the same questions as me.

Up until now all of the altars that have existed inside of this dungeon have been in what you could call monster rooms and they're enshrine together with statues of gargoyles inside a room with a decent area. If you step foot inside of that room then the gargoyle statues start to move as if they were given life and simultaneously the large magic circle like pattern in front of the altar floats up while giving off light before summoning a monster that could be called the guardian of the room.

If you defeat all of those then the door of the shrine installed on the top of the altar opens and if you're lucky you could obtain some kind of treasure. For adventurers who's goal is to obtain treasure other than this the only way is the magic items which room bosses are confirmed to be holding with a low probability once every couple of years. Other than that, it's possible to obtain valuable ores and gems from mining the walls and such below the 3rd floor, just that. After that is..I guess just the guardians?

That's why it's not limited to just us {Saviors} but normally it's absurd to overlook an altar you find. I think the only ones who would normal

ly overlook them are the {Butchers} and {Exterminators} when Kamu and Kimu are commanding them. If Kamu and Kimu hadn't said, "it's fine if it's a monster you can defeat without any casualties.." then I think they would have challenged it.

Even when it comes to them I heard they met with some firmly rooted opposition when they made the decision to overlook the altar and go around it.
There's a possibility of obtaining treasure worth that much from the altars in the dungeon after all.

Eh? It's something you can only say if you're alive?
That's right.
Shall we put it into an easy to understand example?
There's clearly a gap between you who normally neglects your health and an adventurer that's decently trained and used to fighting. Let's go easy on the opponent as well.

If you were to fight against a Tosa dog that does dog-fighting and if you win it's okay for you to roll some dice.

If you roll a decent number then you get several hundred million yen.
If you were told that depending on the roll of the dice you might be given something worth several billion yen, what would you do?

Of course, it's fine for you to bring allies as well. Though it's only up to 9 people other than yourself.
It's fine if you wear armor and it's even okay if you use a katana, spear, or bow as your weapon.
Though there's no guarantee that it'll only be one Tosa dog either.
But, judging from past precedents even at most there's rarely more than 5 of them.

I think challengers would appear at a decent rate.

Even if you're thinking, "there's no way I could do something so frightening", there's at least one person around you who would be delighted to aim for a gamble that could turn around their life in a single go right?
The adventurers who enter the dungeon are people like that.

Kamu and Kimu said they struggled quite a bit to hold everyone back.
I can tell that even those two are antic.i.p.ating it every time they look at the altar because they have powerful allies with them right now.
Though as expected they have at least enough judgement to not bring up challenging the altar when it's a floor in the depths of the dungeon and almost our first time here.
Well, we can anytime after all.

"Hmm..It's still early so let's head back and check out some other areas."

Somehow I feel a bit hesitant to advance just like this so I decided to start searching from the beginning again.

In the end we spent all morning and explored around 3 km of the interior perimeter of the gra.s.sland.
We discovered altars in a total of 7 places.
Obviously we just took a glance at them from the distance.
We didn't approach even a single one to check it out.
The distance between each of the altars was between 200 meters and 1 km or so.

There's some things that can't be seen because of the angle so I'm sure we overlooked several of them.
Somehow I feel like they're all lined up in a circle centering around the teleport crystal pillar in the center of the room.
Though as expected I don't think they're at fixed intervals.

After lunch we gathered our resolve and decided to approach the first altar we discovered.

...................................

It's clearly different from the altars we've found in the dungeon up until now.
First off, it doesn't have any black flames.
Or rather, in the first place it doesn't have something like a torch for flames to burn.
Other than that the shape appears to be a bit different as well.
Furthermore, what appeared to be the shrine from the distance doesn't have any doors.
And, there's no gargoyles and there didn't seem to be any summoning of monsters.

It was hard to even call it anticlimactic.
Even though everyone was on guard and we approached it carefully all we could do in the end was make confused expressions.
It was the same for the other altars we found as well.

I have an endless number of questions while standing in front of the moss-covered altar sitting silently in forest buried by trees but in the end we decided to take a look even further inside of the forest.

After advancing past the densely overgrown branches and stepping on the broad-leaf undergrowth and the forest ended leading into a wasteland with no vegetation growing at all. At longest it's probably about 50 meters, a bit of a plaza with no trees growing.

"How far have we advanced?"

After asking Gwine and she said our current location is about 800 meters from the outer circ.u.mference.
There's no traps and we still haven't seen any monsters.
Even after approaching the altars there's nothing at all.

"If nothing happens just like this then it doesn't seem like it'll take much time at all to get over to there.."

Miduchi whispered while looking up at the pillar.
Lead by her I looked up at the long and thin pillar stretching out from above the trees as well.
It's still far away so I can't tell what's going on with the surface of it but thinking about things up until now wouldn't it be close to an exact square?
I guess the surface would be rough almost like it's carved from dirt or rock?
Or maybe it's smooth almost like something man-made?
I can't really tell from here.
The pillar stretches far into the clouds in the sky but whether they're clouds or fog they seem to be slowly moving.
How mysterious~

Putting that aside, it's certainly true if we continue like this it'll take us quite a bit longer than a level ground because we need to duck below branches and such. However, even then it's 5 km. Taking into consideration how there's occasionally openings in the forest with vacant land like this and it should take about 1.5 hours at our speed if nothing happens.

"What time is it right now?"

Bel asked Ralpha and the answer that came back was 2:00pm.

"What should we do?"

Toris asked me.
If it's from here then we could return to the teleport crystal we came in using within 15 minutes if we felt like it.
If we run across the gra.s.slands along the way then probably even faster.

"Let's proceed a bit further."

.................................

After pa.s.sing through the wasteland and we stepped foot on a thicket-like area with a bit of light vegetation.
The formation is {Trail} with Ralpha at the lead.
I'm in the center focused on the right.

Around 5 minutes or so since we started advancing we came out to more vacant land just like the last area.
Though this time it wasn't a wasteland but was covered in short gra.s.s.
It's a gra.s.sland.

"We're about 1 km away from the outer circ.u.mference."

I nod at Gwine's words and look at our surroundings.
There's no birds, animals, or monsters, nothing at all.

"If things continue like this then it seems like we'll be able to pa.s.s through all at once."

Hearing Kimu's words everyone made expressions as if saying, "I guess so."

"Hn? Somehow it seems to be protruding outwards?"

Miduchi who was looking up at the pillar without getting bored said something strange.
The direction she was pointing was far above the pillar around where it enters the fog or the clouds or whatever.
It should be right around where it cuts into the clouds.
After hearing it said and it certainly seems to have a bit of a protrusion or rather it feels like there's a part of it that's expanded outwards.

It was at that moment.
A loud ear-splitting noise sounded out.
This sound is, the one made when the cage of lightning bolts activates!
Simultaneously I felt the sensation of Miduchi's {Party-ization} losing effect.
In a panic we all looked around at each other.
The intensity of the light increased and the surroundings became almost like daytime.

The cage of lightning bolts is far in the distance and seems to have occurred along the outer circ.u.mference surrounding the entirety of the 11th floor.

And then, far in the distance in terms of kilometers I can see several pillars made of seven-colored light rising into the sky.
Trying to count them and there's two in both directions ahead of us and two more in both directions even further inside for a total of four of them.

I have no idea what's going on but for the time being I can at least say this.

"Run into the forest!"

Everyone scattered in different directions running into the forest.
It's the proof of veteran adventurers that they don't run in the same direction clumped together even when not told.
If we were to gather up again it's best to do it inside of the forest where visibility is blocked off.

However, even then if it were to be mentioned everyone seems to have primarily run into the forest that we just came from.
It's definitely seems safer so it can't be helped.

I ran off after creating a dirt hill in the center of the plaza.
If there's any monsters nearby then we can use it as a shield.
Even if they aren't nearby I'm sure they'll head over here so if they think the hill is suspicious and show signs of approaching to investigate it then it'd be fortunate.
But, rather than something like that I needed to test whether or not we could use magic.
After all, the fact that the cage of lightning bolts activated means that the guardian has already detected us.

As the last one to run into the forest, I turned around once just before and looked in every direction.
For the time being there doesn't seem to be anything particularly different.

"Al-san, over here."

I heard Toris whispering.
After looking over there and other than Toris, Gwine and Kamu were by his side.

I guess they regrouped after entering the forest.

"Where's everyone else?"

"I saw Bel and Maruso run in over there."
"Miduchi-san and Kimu both ran in that direction as well."

Toris and Kamu both replied while pointing towards the right of the plaza but it seems that Gwine didn't have enough composure to pay attention to anything else.

"What about Ralpha and Zulu?"

"I don't know."

"Maybe over there?"

After looking to the left while saying and I saw a glimpse of golden hair over there.

"There they are. Gwine, go and call Ralpha and Zulu over. Toris you go and call for Miduchi and the others. After regrouping if you encounter any monsters then you don't need to forcefully try and make it back. If it seems strong then use your voice or magic or anything else to try and call me. I'll hit them with attack spells when I find them as well."

After giving out those instructions Kamu and I hid in the shadow of a tree that's hard to see from the plaza.

Shortly after Gwine came back along with Ralpha and Zulu.
They seemed to be trying their best to move quietly without making a sound but Zulu's banded-mail makes quite a bit of noise.

"Where's everyone?"

It was just as I replied, "Over there. I sent Toris to get them." to Ralpha in a whisper.

"What..is that!?"

Kamu raised her voice and pointed upwards.
Lead by that everyone tried following where she was pointing.

I can see something that's still as small as a grain of rice flying over here.

Eh? Is that...
Could it be!?

It's too far away so it's outside of the valid range for {Identify}.
Obviously it's out of range for magic as well.
If I were to pour in quite a bit of mana I wonder if it would reach?

And while I was thinking that it was steadily approaching us.
It became about the size of a grain of wheat.
It appears to be a lizard-like reptile with wings like a bat growing from it.
The color is..it's still too far so it looks pitch black.

"Hie!!?"

Kamu let out a small stifled scream in fear.

"Dr..{Dragon}?"

Zulu said in a daze.

"It's my first time seeing one!"
"It's cool!"

Ralpha and Gwine are saying absurd things.

However, a dragon huh?
If that's the case then I've heard about it from Miduchi.
Even I know about it.
It should breathe fire.
Though depending on the type it could be acid, poison, or ice..I feel like there was one more thing as well...

"Don't move, don't talk."

In a hurry I touched each person in order and used the spells {Resist.Earth}, {Resist.Water}, {Resist.Fire}, and {Resist.Air} on them. I'm glad I practiced them seriously...

The duration of the effect is 1,000 seconds so it should last for over 15 minutes.
..Finally on myself as well..Alright.

"{Spread}!"

At the same time as I pointed towards the left and gave out the order I lowered by body and ran towards the right.

I took a glance up into the sky.

I can see a lizard flying through the sky from the gaps in the trees.
The dragon which was the size of a grain of wheat is already pretty big.
Around the size of a small marble I guess?
It's head is almost like a slightly thin alligator.
What in the world is that?
A horn?
There seems to be several horns growing stretched out towards the back of it's head.

It's body seems to be stretched out and streamline.
Growing from it's back are what appear to be the wings of a bat from a glance.
In the center of the wings it seems to even have a frightening looking claw grown out.

s.h.i.t, these branches are in the way!

I maintain my posture as low as possible and run as if crawling along the ground.
There they are!
Miduchi and the others were moving towards us from a bit further in the forest with Toris at the lead.

After adjusting my direction towards them and it seems they noticed it right away.

"Did something come out!?"

Miduchi asked cautiously in a low voice.
Why are you all acting so carefree!
Have you not noticed it!?

"It's a {Dragon}!"

Everyone's facial color changed.
It seems they didn't notice it.

"I'll cast {Resistance} spells on you!"

After saying that first I used the {Resist} spells on Miduchi.
She can use all varieties of the {Resist} spells as well but Miduchi's mana is the next most precious attack method after mine.
I want to preserve it for as long as possible.
Following that I cast the {Resist} spells on everyone else.

I turned around for just a moment and tried looking into the sky but the trees are in the way so I can't see.
I guess it's not unreasonable for them not to notice it like this.

"That is!!?"

The first one I used the spells on, Miduchi, looked up into the sky while approaching the plaza.
Angela who was a bit behind her had a stiff expression on her face just like Miduchi while looking up at the sky.

It seems they've finally noticed it.

"Spread out in that direction!! I'll shoot it down after it enters range just like this!"

In a hurry I pa.s.sed by Miduchi's side while giving out orders to everyone.
Angela ran off with her body held low as if she were being pulled.

"{Dragon}..it's not?"

Stop clattering around!
It's already about the size of a large marble!

{Identify}..Obviously it's still impossible.
But, if I use an attack spell while extending the range then it should already reach.
It's not good that we're gathered together at the firing point.

"Hurry up and go!!!"

I yelled at Miduchi who was casually squinting her eyes while looking up at the sky.
Simultaneously I stretched my left hand out aimed at the {Dragon}.

"It's a {Wyvern}!"

Anything is fine!
I fired a {Stone Cannon Missile}.

A super large telephone pole was launched from in front of my left arm.
If there's this much distance between us then it's plenty for it to accelerate.

The crystallization of my mana went flying towards the flying lizard with extreme speed!
In order to make it easier to see the lizard after firing it I shifted the trajectory slightly.
I don't know if it's a {Dragon} or whatever but as long as this lands a direct hit!

..Whatt..!!?