The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter - Chapter 67

Chapter 67

Translator: “Kell” Editor: ”Weasalopes”

「I wonder if the deeper I go in this hidden dungeon, the more rare items there are . 」

I was talking to myself, grinning . That had been the case so far . It was possible that S rank items will be more common in the deeper parts of the dungeon .

Uck-san already went ahead of me . I went after her, but as soon as I stepped out of the room and onto the path, I encountered a problem . What, you ask? All the doors were closed . You could’ve at least left the door open .

「Uck-san? Where are you?」

There were only two rooms left unexplored, left or right . I listened carefully for an answer . Did she fall for a trap again?

Worried, I opened the door to the left .

「No one’s here . 」

Uck-san wasn’t in the room . Heck, there wasn’t even anything inside . No items on the floor, nothing . Only four walls— No, I take that back .

There was something on the wall at the back; a hole too small for a full-sized adult to enter . I was extremely curious, but I closed the door to the room and tried for the other one . And there, an unbelievable scene unfolded before my eyes .

「Fancy meeting you here . Hahaha!」

I was at a loss for words . The hunk, Ack-san, was standing there with a knife at Uck-san’s throat . He was holding her hostage .

「You make it sound like it’s a coincidence, but you came here on purpose . 」

「You got me . That’s right, I followed you . 」

「Okay, but is there any reason you’re holding your friend hostage with a knife on her throat?」

「It’s all your fault . You didn’t choose me so I was so fuckin’ bored, okay?!」

「Go! Leave me! The guy’s crazy!」

Right, Hack-san did say something about how Ack loves excitement and he’d even betray his friends for the sake of a thrill . Maybe this is how it was set up by the dungeon: if you didn’t go with Ack, he’ll eventually do something like this . But that’s neither here nor there . Now what do I do?

「Why are you doing this?」

「No reason, really . 」

「What?」

「I said I don’t have any particular reason . But isn’t this interesting? You’d get mad, and I might even be able to cut Uck . Hell, this might even develop into something rousing later on . That’s why I’m doing this . 」

Sorry . I have no idea what you’re saying . There’s nothing scarier than a man who’s unpredictable and acts on impulse .

「Drop all your weapons for now . No funny business or I’ll cut her throat . 」

「You don’t have to listen to him! Just take him down— Ouch!」

「Zip it . 」

Ack cut Uck-san’s hand, grinning all the while . Red liquid dripped down to the floor .

「Okay . I’ll do what you want . Just don’t hurt her . 」

I removed my sword from my waist . He told me to kick it to him, so I did .

「There . I did what you asked . Now let her go . 」

「Not so fast . I know you’re a liar . 」

「What do you mean by that?」

「I told you to drop all your weapons . You have【Different Dimension Storage C】, right? You have more in there, don’t you?」

「Uh–?!」

Does he have【Appraisal】? I smiled wryly, and he cut Uck’s hand once again .

「Okay, okay! Just don’t hurt her . 」

Maybe I don’t need to save her . I could probably just ignore her and take him down . But I’ve begun to empathize with her . She had a much better personality than Hack or Ack . In addition to my sword, I placed my Hatchet of Divine Retribution, Piercing Spear, and Paralyzing Ball on the floor .

「Oh, those are some neat stuff . Don’t even think about attacking me with some emitter-type skill . If you do, I’ll cut her throat . 」

He’s too careful . I’ve been trying to look for an opening, but I couldn’t find any . Still, it’s not like I didn’t have any plan . There was a reason I took the Paralyzing Ball out .

「Are those weapons unique?」

「Most of them are rare . 」

「Explain how they work . If you lie to me…」

Yeah, yeah . I get it . Looks like he doesn’t have【Item Appraisal】at least .

「This hatchet is effective against wolves, while this spear has the skill Pierce . 」

「What about the ball?」

「It’s called a Paralyzing Ball . It can paralyze a target . 」

「That sounds fun . But then you can’t touch it, can you?」

「You can . It can’t paralyze unless you throw it at someone with enough force to inflict damage first . Do you want me to touch it for you to see?」

「Sounds good . Don’t throw it at me, though . 」

「Of course . 」

I took the ball on my hand . All right, here’s my chance! I’ll just throw it— Yeah, I’m not doing that . Even with my rank C【Throwing】skill, it would be difficult to hit a cautious target . Plus he was hiding behind his hostage . So I simply held the ball .

「So you were telling the truth . Now pass it to me in an underhand throw . Be gentle . 」

「Okay . 」

I did what he said . He successfully caught the ball with his free hand .

「What a neat little weapon . So if I threw this at you, you’ll be paralyzed . Hmm, what to do…」

It didn’t look like he wanted to throw it though . He simply examined the ball . His curiosity must’ve taken over .

【Burst】1000 LP

I wanted to create the skill . Not for me, of course . It might kill me, after all . That’s right . I only had one target in mind . I didn’t really want to destroy the item . I haven’t even tried using one before . But I had no other choice if I wanted to get through this .

I needed 1000 LP to grant it . It was quite a lot but I didn’t think twice and imbued it to the Paralyzing Ball .

Bam!

「Wha?!」

The ball burst all of a sudden on his hand . He was frozen in place, shocked . Without making a sound, I fired【Stone Bullet】at him . It’s not like I’m jealous of his good looks or anything, okay?

Ack rolled over backwards and collapsed . I immediately closed the distance to fire a second round but he was out cold so I stopped . I tied him up with the rope I had in my storage .

「I owe you another one . 」

「How’s your injury?」

「It’s just a scratch . 」

「That’s a relief . Let’s go to the next room for now . 」

We entered the fourth room, the one with the small hole on the wall . The hole was round and about twenty centimeters high . Too tiny for even a head to get through . I lay down on the floor to take a peek, and saw a small room with stairs going down .

「So this room’s connected to the 9th floor . 」

「I’m not really interested . But you’re going down, aren’t you?」

「I’d like to but I can’t get through . 」

「Then l’ll destroy it . I have to pay you back, after all . 」

Uck-san had a keen sense of responsibility . She began focusing all her attention on destroying the wall . I did the same using my Piercing Spear . I thought it would work but the wall was too tough . Using sword or magic didn’t do a thing either . I thought about imbuing it with a skill to destroy it but the required LP reached a mind-blowing six digits .

「Destroying it seems impossible . 」

「Even kids can’t get through in there . Maybe it’s for midgets 20cm tall or something . 」

「Midget, huh? Hmm… Ah!」

I recalled a scene from the past . That time when Emma’s huge cups turned into a washboard; courtesy of none other than me . I used【Tiny Breasts】on her back then . So I just had to use “Short Stature”, or anything that would describe a short person, on myself . No, wait . I don’t think 20cm still qualifies as short stature . Then how about this?

【Height minus 150cm】150 LP

Wow, that’s cheap! But using it on someone might require a lot of LP . I checked how much LP was needed to use it on Uck-san and the result was five digits .

Wait, I can use it to increase height too, right?

【Height plus 10cm】10,000 LP

Hmm… that’s a lot . It might be a while till I become a tall and handsome man . I gotta work on my face too . Emma and Laura-san say I’m good-looking but I’m sure they’re just being nice . But I digress . Right now, I needed 150 LP and ?? LP to destroy it after I get through . I had to use it once or I couldn’t edit it . I’m scared of the latter . Who knows how much I needed to destroy it?

「You seem to be pondering something . Is there anything I can help with? I’ll do anything . 」

「I, uhh… But…」

「Just tell me! I told you I’ll pay you back!」

「All right . To put it bluntly…」

Current LP

2,380 → 4,600

So you might be wondering what happened . If one asked, I’d just say that we performed a ritual to gain more LP .

When I asked her to make out with me, she simply obliged . We held hands at first, then hugged . We even kissed . And some other stuff… Just thinking about it made me feel hot, like I was boiling .

「Thanks for all your help . I, Noir Stalgia, am heading to the 9th floor . 」

「Bye! Take care!」

We said our goodbyes and I shrunk myself . I was surprised to see the view change . And by view, I mean Uck-san’s legs which were in front of me .

I easily made it through the tiny hole without even lowering my head .