Chapter 168

Chapter 168 – Ryouta’s Intuition

Proofread: Shiro

Teruru Dungeon, 19th floor .

After getting the information from Celeste, the first I went to was this floor .

Transportation used was the Teleportation Room .

Thanks to Eve, we have access to every single dungeon and floor in Shikuro .

Previously I was brought to this floor by Eve, but this time I actually came here for a reason .

There was a lively activity in this floor where the Dungeon Snow fell, and many adventurers were fighting inside this floor .

I mentally prepared myself before coming to this floor knowing that it would be a special floor, but it seemed rather normal to me which took me aback .

Then, right in front of me, a Slime appeared .

The Slime which was spawned just now was looking at me straight in the eyes . I know that look, it was the look that I have been targeted as its enemy .

Taking out my revolvers,  I would strike first—–was what I thought when suddenly the Slime split up .

It was rather common of this type of demon to asexually reproduce, but to have split into 3 Slimes, and they looked exactly the same as each other .

Pulling the trigger, I shot one of them first before letting it have a chance .

Bang! !

The sound of gunfire rang in my ear, then I felt a shock as if I was hit in the face .

My vision turned white, and everything was blurry .

I quickly crossed my arm and guarded, then the next attack came .

I felt something attacking my arms, and the feeling was similar to that of a Slime .

I didn’t sustain any damage thanks to my HP and Stamina being SS .

However, if this continues it’ll be bad, so I quickly used the Absolute Rock’s effect and turned into Invincible Mode .

After my sight gradually returned, I could see the three Slimes again .

The Slimes furiously attacked from every direction, and shuffled around its position everytime they attack .

I kinda figured out what’s happening as I looked around with my Invincible Mode active .

I was looking at how the others were fighting, and they had the same deal where the Slimes split up, but they carefully picked and defeated it .

Among the numbers that split up—–it could be from a range of 3 to 5 —–but once they defeated one of it, the rest would disappear, and a circular cabbage dropped .

The other adventurers normally defeated it, but I could see that it took a lot of cautiousness in order to defeat the right one .

Only one of the split Slime is the real one, and if you don’t find it you’ll never defeat it .

Switching to my Homing Bullets, I fired it and it flew right on top of the three Slimes .

The direction of the Homing Bullet immediately changed, moving towards the left Slime’s direction .

After hitting the Slime, the Cabbage dropped .

So I really have to defeat the real one .

Cancelling my Invincibility Mode, I encountered another Slime .

The Slime immediately split up, and this time it shuffled around first .

[… . . ] (Ryouta)

After the shuffling was completed, the three bodies came after me .

I used a normal bullet and fired at one of the bodies .

The Slime that was hit by my bullet died, and the cabbage dropped .

I understood how to find the right one .

As long as I focus when it splits, even if they shuffle around, all I have to do is focus at the real one and not lose sight of it .

Well, it wasn’t really moving that fast that could trick your eyes, so I’m sure it’s not at a level where it can trick a skilled adventurer .

But, it’s good training .

It’s good training for looking at the high speed shuffle and spotting the right one, so let’s do that for today .

Meeting a Slime, allow it to split, then focus on the right one, and attack .

I was pushing my Magic Cart while walking around the Dungeon while killing Slimes .

[……Un?] (Ryouta)

The Magic Cart was full, so I sent them off to the Mansion, and as I was sending it I noticed something .

I was half believing it, but can it be—-this feeling .

Needing to confirm my thoughts, I looked for another encounter and let it split up .

I can hear the sound, the sound of the Slime splitting up and shuffling around .

Then noticing that the sound has stopped, I opened my eyes .

This time, the amount that was in front of my eyes were 5 of them . My “luck” was good this time to have 5 of them .

I gazed at the 5 of them .

Then, I could see that out of the 5, one of them looked slightly different .

Something was off, or more like it looked troubled .

It was more of an intuition than anything .

I heard of this saying before, that intuition is like [having your instinct make the judgement first], or so it seemed .

Probably, the fact that this happened is because of the countless experiences I have in the dungeon .

Using the normal bullet, I fired at the Slime that my intuition thought was the one .

It didn’t counter attack, and the rest of the Slime disappeared and the cabbage dropped .

Once won’t confirm anything, I’ll have to test it more .

Thus I continued to test it out .

[I hit it . ] (Ryouta)

Hitting the target with the Normal Bullet, the cabbage dropped .

[Ah I missed . ] (Ryouta)

After missing the right target, my eyes turned white and the attack was hit from all directions .

[Yes it was the right one . ] (Ryouta)

After failing, I fired at the Slime that I won’t know which is which anymore, and the cabbage dropped again .

After repeating that time and time again, I’ve confirmed it . And as such, every hit was correct .

Somehow, I knew which is the real one, and I memorized that [somehow] part into my body .

Accomplishing the task that I placed for coming to this floor, my chest was filled with overwhelming happiness .

Once I get back to the mansion, I better thank Celeste no matter what .

While thinking of it, something happened .

[Hm?] (Ryouta)

I noticed a man . And I felt something off about that man .

I immediately realized that uncomfortable feeling, as that adventurer did not push his Magic Cart which should be called an essential item of adventurers .

Looking at him closely, he doesn’t have any equipments at all .

It’s as if he was going on a pleasure jaunt, or more like a tourist kind of vibe .

What’s more, why is he sneaking around .

Without minding his surroundings, he walked up the stairs and disappeared .

[……So suspicious . ] (Ryouta)

He looked dubious, whatever he’s doing, it’s very suspicious .

I’ve seen adventurers moving about like this before, and especially in this world, it was easy to spot their behaviours based on their movements .

Being safe to go around is the first thing an adventurer would consider, so that is second nature for them .

And that guy just now had a completely different movement .

I thought for a moment as to whether I should chase after him, and ended up chasing after him .

The road was a straight line, and what’s more he was gone .

There were no adventurers around, neither was there any monster .

Nothing was around… . . and as I was about to leave…

As I wanted to return back to where I came .

I gazed at the dead end of the dungeon .

[What the… . . ?] (Ryouta)

I unknowingly mumbled .

This discomfort, something’s pulling me towards this discomfort .

It was just a dead end, however my feeling tells me that something bad is there .

I dare to say even the atmosphere has changed .

How I know exactly… . . the air around me felt nostalgic .

When I stared at it, it was just a dead end .

Even when I turned around, the surroundings didn’t change .

However, something was pulling me .

[Something is there . ] (Ryouta)

Again I mumbled to myself, and my suspicion was kicking in like crazy .

Over there… . . somethings there .

☆

[To be the representative of Shikuro… . . I shall give you my thanks again . ]

Inside the Dungeon’s Associations office, Cell was bowing down to me .

Even though I don’t know whether something is there, but when my intuition told me something is there, I couldn’t help but went out of the dungeon and met up with Cell .

After explaining to Cell what I felt, this was the result .

In between me and Cell, and on top of the table was a stone .

It was just a stone, no matter how you looked at it, it’s just a normal stone .

[After Satou-sama asked us to look at the location, this was what we found . ] (Cell)

[This is?] (Ryouta)

[It’s a Dungeon Debris . ] (Cell)

[So it’s just trash?] (Ryouta)

[No it isn’t, it’s the name of the Drop Item . ] (Cell)

[……Mu?] (Ryouta)

Even I who was furrowing my eyebrows knew what it was .

A Drop Item, which meant a monster dropped it .

With that logic, this could possibly be… . .

[This is the one and only Dungeon Master’s, The Grand Eater’s drop . ] (Cell)

[One…… . Dungeon Master… . . ] (Ryouta)

[Usually monsters would drop water, or air, and a third item which is dropped by unique monsters . ] (Cell)

[Aah . ] (Ryouta)

[Grand Eater is different where it doesn’t drop water and air, but that it only drops this stone . Just by itself, it’s just a regular stone, and there’s no difference with those pebbles you find . However, some researchers have found that it wasn’t just a stone . However… . ] (Cell)

[Because, it’s still a drop item… . . ] (Ryouta)

Cell heavily nodded .

[It’s different from the pebbles, when placed at a location where no humans are within its radius, it’ll hatched into a rogue monster . And by itself, the Grand Eater is already a challenging monster . Problem is, once you leave it there alone……] (Cell)

[… . . No one else can find it?] (Ryouta)

[Correct, besides it just being a pebble, it’ll turn into a rogue monster once left alone . ] (Cell)

Is that why I could feel it .

A drop item which would hatch into a rogue monster . It’s a familiar atmosphere .

For this world’s people, these things are supposed to be avoided, but because it has merits for me, I needed a space to hatch these rogue monsters, so I had an underground basement beneath my mansion just for that .

I’m sure I’m the first person that had seen a rogue monster being hatched .

Hence why I would know about the existence of this pebble .

[Why would there be something like this laying around?] (Ryouta)

[It’s to kill the dungeon . ] (Cell)

[Eh?] (Cell)

[The Grand Eater, there’s another special name that others call it . ] (Cell)

[Another name?] (Ryouta)

[Yes, some call it the Dungeon Eater . Normally, a Dungeon Master that is in a Dungeon would change the ecosystem of a dungeon, but this would straight up eat the dungeon, and destroy it in the process . Luckily we managed to stop that before it happens by finding it . ] (Cell)

[Killing dungeons… . . ] (Ryouta)

[Since the culprit is using it, so it’s only a speculation, but Shikuro has been making leaps and bounds, and there have been an increase of dungeons . So I’m sure someone out there is doing it on purpose . ] (Cell)

[So it kills the dungeon, and the dungeon would be born at a different place… . . ?] (Ryouta)

Cell nodded .

So there’s something like that… .

[But the heavens are on our side . Fortunately, Satou-sama found it before that happened . The area of human distance for the Grand Eater is wide, so it needs to be at a floor where there is absolutely nobody for it to hatch . I think their aim was to place it there, and wait for when a Dungeon Master spawns inside Teruru Dungeon which is a perfect time where no one would be inside which would lead it to hatch . ] (Cell)

[I see . ] (Ryouta)

[If a Dungeon Master doesn’t appear, then adventurers wouldn’t disappear from the dungeon . I’ll hire people to slowly and carefully search for other Dungeon Debris . ] (Cell)

[I see, well then—–] (Ryouta)

For a second, there was a chill from my back .

After the conversation was over, I suddenly felt it .

[What’s wrong, Satou-sama . ] (Cell)

[… . . This is bad!] (Ryouta)

I clearly understood this chill coming, as I immediately ran out .

Running out from the Dungeon Association’s building, I ran passed the crowd from within the streets .

Going out of Shikuro, I went to a dungeon .

That dungeon, Nihonium .

Since even water or air doesn’t drop, this dungeon is practically a dead dungeon .

Since there’s no dungeon——it’s easy to hatch rogue monsters .

I used my momentum to run into the dungeon, and I was relieved .

I thought I didn’t make it in time, but I did .

The air around the dungeon changed, it was the feeling I get when a Dungeon Master is around .

However, Skeletons are still there, which is a monster that lives inside Nihonium .

When a Dungeon Master appears, the monsters that inhabits that dungeon would not spawn .

So right now, there was a different Dungeon Master inside Nihonium .

I couldn’t make it in time to prevent the rogue monster from hatching, but I’ve made it before it destroys the entire dungeon .

When I look closely, there was a small figure beside me .

It was the half-transparent spirit woman wearing a traditional dress .

Her expression was showing that she was troubled .

[Don’t worry about it, I’ll get rid of it . ] (Ryouta)

As I said that, the woman disappeared with a relieved face .

Well then, shall I get on with it .