Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyusoukyoku (WN) - Volume 2 - Chapter 9

Chapter 9: 9

2-9 . Labyrinth of Demon (2)

Satou's here . I've given up on the idea that this is a dream, but now I'm thinking that this might not be a reality but inside a game instead, I'm having such doubt after being bewildered . If it's like that I would have preferred the world of eroge instead, Satou .

It's just my luck to have a cricket as the first enemy in the labyrinth, although I hope it makes getting out of the labyrinth alive easier .

Without attracting attention that is .

◇

"What is magic core?"

"Magic core can become money . If you give the things from a monster to a peddler, you can get various things . "

Liza's answer isn't exactly wrong, but not what I wanted to hear, I guess expecting the jack-of-all-trades Nadi-san's bell-like reply is impossible .

Liza takes out a ball covered with green blood dirt from the monster . It's a red ball about half the size of a fist . Since the color is dull red, it's probably unusable as jewelries .

When she comes back, I pass a pouch from the bag to Liza . I also give her a bit dirty remaining cloth to wipe the clotted blood .

"Put the magic core inside this pouch . Also, use this spear . "

I give the pouch to Pochi, and pass the cricket spear to Liza . The dagger which Liza had is handed over to Tama .

Exchanging equipments, truly RPG'stic huh~ .

"Liza, for the next magic core retrieval, Tama and Pochi will help you, so teach them how to do it . "

"Yes, I understand . "

"Okay, nano desu . "

"Ay~"

"Oh yeah, Pochi . "

"Yes, nano desu . "

"You don't have to force yourself to say nanodesu okay?"

"If I don't say it, I'll get spanked, nano desu . "

I see, she was instilled to do it huh . . . Since I'm just a temporary master anyway, there's no need to correct it .

"Okay then, but I won't get mad even if you don't use it, so don't force yourself . "

"Yes . . . nano desu . "

We pray for whoever was the victim of the cricket and get out of the room . I wrote the name of the corpse in the memo .

I compared the girls' status before and after the battle, but beside their stamina, nothing has changed .

So they won't get experience just by being together?

Then, how do supply troops or priest raise their levels?

If I can raise the three's level then even if we meet more people in the way, it'd be no problem, however it's not that easy after all .

Since this world is game-like anyway, should I try a game-like approach?

"Tama, if you see a stone about as big as the magic core earlier on the ground pick it up . "

"Ay!"

◇

We progress forward smoothly until the passage divides into branches .

They all lead to the same room, but one of the path has another room in the middle of the way . Either of them contains monster but the middle room has two level 10 caterpillar monster . And, there are also human there . . . . Let's help them .

"The road is branching~, nyan . "

Just as the junction comes into our view, a report come in from Tama . You don't have to add strange words to establish your character, I said . . .

I praise Tama while patting her head . She seems ticklish .

Since Pochi looks at us enviously, I also pat her head gently .

Since both of them are about as tall as my chest, they're easy to pat . Are they about 120cm? Liza is a bit taller than me . . . around 165cm then .

"Let's go to the right passage . "

We proceed further . There's something appearing in the radar but what is it?

"There are bugs up there~ nano desu . "

Tama warned . This time she's imitating Pochi huh?

Now then, how do we beat invisible enemies?

Since I can grasp its rough position from radar, I look there .

I keep staring there .

AR display pops up with the monster's name and level .

I indiscriminately and repeatedly shoot at the place where the AR is .

Phew phew phew . Bota .

It seems that one of the shot hit, the caterpillar fall onto the ground .

"Tama, hit it with the stone . "

Tama hits it for about 3 times . After two hit, the body of the caterpillar repels the stone . It seems that only one of the hit gives damage .

The caterpillar is approaching .

"Pochi, Tama, get back . Liza, come here . Hit it once from behind my back . "

While holding back as much as I can, I kicked the caterpillar which was ramming here to gain time .

Liza attacks with the spear during that chance! The caterpillar's HP decreases for about 10% .

After confirming that, I shoot it twice until it die .

"Liza, Tama, I'll leave the recovery of the magic core to you . Pochi, follow me, there's another monster over there . "

Tama hands over some stones to Pochi . How many did she pick?

There's the same caterpillar as earlier inside the room .

Furthermore, there are corpses of a young woman and a boy that looks like a slave on the ground . Unlike with the cricket earlier, they're not eaten .

"Pochi, when we get into the room, throw the stone at the monster from my side . When you run out of the stone, go back to Liza's place . "

I casually enter the room and shoot the magic gun . As instructed, Pochi throw 2 stones from close range .

The caterpillar who got hit by the stone turn toward Pochi, spitting venom . In the nick of time, I kick the caterpillar's head shifting the direction . The caterpillar dies with just that kick .

Pochi who has finished throwing the stones runs back to the passage .

To the opposite passage that is .

Did she get flustered and mistook the way?

"Pochi, stop!"

I immediately chase after her . Detouring the caterpillar's corpse, I was a bit late .

"Uwa~~~ don't come, don't come here~~~!"

Huh? Who's that? It's not Pochi's voice . It's the man on passage!

I look at the radar . The position is dangerous .

"Pochi, stop!"

Okay, she can hear me properly now . Pochi is coming back here .

The man from earlier has disappeared from the radar .

Still, why did that young man run away?

Did he mistook Pochi for a monster?

Or did he feel guilty for leaving the two people in the earlier as sacrifices . . .

"Master! Are you alright?"

"You okay?"

Liza and Tama are coming here running .

"Ah, I'm okay . Let's go back to the room earlier to collect the magic core . "

"I'm sorry, nano desu . "

Pochi is apologizing with her ears falling flat . Her tail is also curling between her thigh .

"Pochi, it's fine to run away . But panicking is not okay . Do you understand?"

" . . . Yes . "

I pat Pochi's head like, pom-pom .

When we got to the room, Liza and Tama are dismantling the caterpillar .

I write the two corpses name on the memo, I wonder if there's anything useful . . . I ask Pochi to examine them .

. . . Since well, you don't usually want to touch corpses, do you?

"Should I strip the clothes?"

Pochi asked, but we don't exactly need their clothes . I've only noticed just now, but the beastkin girls aren't wearing shoes .

"Take the footwears . Leave the clothes as it is . "

Pochi passes over the collected things . The slave boy doesn't have anything, but the woman has a purse and jewelries like ring and necklaces . I create a folder in the storage and named it memento, then I put the mementos there . I will give it to the deceased's family later . I just got an idea to cut the hair of the two and put it in the memento folder .

The sandals are for Pochi and Tama to wear .

Liza, the biggest child, has to wait for her turn later . In the next room with the giant caterpillar, there should be shoes of the young man from earlier, so she wouldn't have to wait for long .

◇

The experiment to attack, however the damage, is apparently successful . Tama and Liza are raised by one level, Pochi by two .

Apparently one automatically learn skill if they level up, Pochi got throwing skill, Tama got collecting skill, and Liza got dismantling skill .

But I don't have dismantling skill . . . I should try cutting fish later .

Wait, there's something strange with Liza's skills .

The dismantling skill is grayed out even though the spear skill is white . Pochi's and Tama's skills are also grayed out .

I wonder if they aren't activated yet . They would be strengthened if I activate it but . . .

Their attribute values have also increased, but for example, STR is written as 15(18), so it doesn't seem like it instantly rises .

There are still around 100 room before the exit anyway, let's solve it until then!

I lead the beastkin girls (Tama-Pochi-Liza) out of the room .

>Title [Trainer (Tamer)] Acquired