[Reberu] ga Arunara Agerudesho? Mobukyara ni Tensei Shita Ore wa Gēmu Chishiki o Ikashi, Hitasura Reberu o Age Tsudzukeru - CH 112

[Off-Campus Dungeons]

There are multiple dungeons in the game other than the academy dungeon.

Collectively called ‘off-campus dungeons’, they were designed to be able to be opened by progressing in the story and completing requests that could be received in the Adventurers Guild.

The ‘Matière Forest Cave’ that I’m now visiting is also one of the off-campus dungeons, and in the game, it is one of the top dungeons that would be opened by becoming an upper-ranked student.

The entrance to the ‘Matière Forest Cave’ is located on a hill that takes about 3 hours by horse from the academy and is pretty close to the outer wall.

On the side of the hill, which is no exaggeration to say that it is almost adjacent to the outer wall, there is a vermilion torii gate that stands alone and an old-fashioned money box, and next to them there is a gaping wide hole that leads to the underground. That is the entrance to ‘Matière Forest Cave’ dungeon.

In the game, you could instantly go here with just one command, but in this world where trains or cars doesn’t exist, you have to take the time to travel over here.

This time, beside to complete requests, I’ve come here because I can get items that don’t drop in the academy dungeon and the experience points of the enemies I can defeat is pretty decent, but a part of the reason why I usually dive into the academy dungeon only is because of the distance.

“But man, the academy dungeon is the same, but a forest spreading underground like this is truly the characteristic of fantasy, ain’t it?” (Sakurai)

“Hihiiin.”

“Hey, Sakurai, don’t tell me to ask for the permit and head off on your own.”

When I mutter while looking at the hole large enough for us to pass through even if I’m riding it, Horsie, aka Horsie the Pegasus who has been granted wings, neighs while tilting its head.

And the one who comes complaining with the permit required to enter this dungeon in her hand is an upper-ranked student, Higaki Ao.

The area where the ‘Matière Forest Cave’ is located is Higaki’s hometown, so I had her came with me to help me complete the requests as well as to show me the way.

“So, what are we looking for?” (Higaki)

“‘Over-ripened Apple’, ‘Immature Poisonous Banana’, and ‘Forest Wolf Head.” (Sakurai)

From the left, the item line-up is actually rotten, not edible, and unknown what to use for. The delivery destinations are all to the same person.

The possibility that the person is going to try a novel hunting style— a barbarian hunting style, in which the person wears Forest Wolf Head on their head and hunt preys by throwing them rotten apples and poisonous bananas comes to my mind, but it is simply an imagination, and it’s better not to think deeper upon it. By the way, ‘Forest Wolf Head’ is not an equipment item.

“In that case, it looks like we can complete the errands just by hunting in relatively shallow floors.” (Higaki)

“Eh, I wanna go kill the boss too, though. Let’s just look for them as we make our way over there.” (Sakurai)

“Thought so. But if we’re taking too long, I’ll drag you out, okay? Iris will be worried if we don’t make it back home by night.” (Higaki)

It’s been more than half a year including the time we spent in the Netherworld, and I think it’s about time for Iris to try making time to spend away from us, but… if we are to suddenly be away from her for extended period of time without prior notice, things may become a little troublesome, I think.

While thinking that it can’t be helped, at the same time, I realize that “In other words, Higaki will automatically tell me to stop even if I get absorbed in leveling, so I don’t have to keep the small details in mind, do I?”

Then I have no need to refrain or hold back, don’t I! ‘Aight~, today I’m gonna knock off Forest Wolves’ heads to my heart’s content~!

“I wonder why I feel anxious when you laugh.” (Higaki)

I wouldn’t know what to answer even if you asked me that. Don’t you feel that way daily? Not that I care, though.

Anyway, having emptied my mind and became relaxed, I get into ‘Matière Forest Cave’ while smiling and humming with Higaki and Horsie.

A forest spreading underground.

It in itself is fantasyesque, but if you look up in any floors of this dungeon, either the sun or the moon hangs in the ceiling.

Of the 6 floors, the odd-numbered ones are divided into daytime and the even-numbered ones are divided into night time. Matching that, the monsters that spawn here are divided into diurnal and nocturnal.

Also, even among the dungeons that would be opened by becoming an upper-ranked student, this one is considered a treasure trove of animal and plant materials that can be used to craft items, so it is a very useful place depending on your playstyle.

“Gurururu!”

“Kyan!?”

“Yesss, get in line. I’ll turn you guys into experience points in order~.” (Sakurai)

In the third floor of the underground forest, the one that are attacking me are the representative monsters of this dungeon, ‘Forest Wolves’, which have deep green fur and golden shining eyes.

They are monsters that always act in packs of 5 to attack their prey, and I’m cutting them down one after another and leaving them behind.

The Forest Wolves who are heading towards the scene of their friends dying one after another without running away already lost their rationality. After all, the concentrated Monster-Luring Perfume that I poured on myself from the top of my head has already robbed them of their normal judgment.

“Gau! Gau!”

The power of the perfume sure is great. Even if I keep killing them, a pack of Forest Wolves will also keep coming one after another.

Then, as soon as they spotted me, one of the wolves that seems to be the leader of the pack barks, and the remaining four under its lead then begin to run around me in response.

Their aim is to make their enemy become confused by moving around them, to mislead the enemy so that they don’t know from where they will attack. Then, when they are distracted, they will attack and eat the enemy’s flesh.

However, I won’t be confused by them. After all, I’ve seen their movement patterns many times in the original game.

“Two barks while its right foot in front, I see.” (Sakurai)

First of all, their attack pattern is determined whether the leader Forest Wolf is barking with its right foot or left foot in front, and how many times it barks.

The leader informs its friends from which position to start attacking by the number of its barking based on the pattern of ‘back, left, right, front’ when its right foot in front and ‘left, back, front, right’ when its left foot in front.

This time, it barked twice with its right foot in front. In other words, based on ‘back, left, right, front’ pattern, they will start attacking from the second position, that is ‘left’. Therefore, the directions from which their attack will come are ‘left, right, front, back’.

In the game, if you press the button at the right time according to the enemies’ actions, the game will automatically handle the body movement and the likes, so you can just relax and press the buttons rhythmically, but in reality, even if you know their attack patterns, you have to think and move to deal with them.

“Flame Sword, ‘Touka Otoshi’.” (Sakurai)

Exactly because I know the direction of their attack, I focus there and when I feel their presences, I swing Flame Sword at the right timing.

After slashing the first wolf that pounce in from the left with my sword that suddenly accelerated due to the explosion of the flames it cladded in, I follow the momentum and turn my body, slashing upward at the Forest Wolf that comes in from the right.

“‘Firefall’.” (Sakurai)

With my sword held upright, I turn my body and kill the third Forest Wolf that attacks from the front.

Then, I relax my knees and lower my body, and drag the tip of sword that I had swung across the ground to the back.

Then, the flame cladding my sword propagates from the ground, creating a reverse-flowing pillar of flame right under the Forest Wolf that came attacking from behind me and sending it to the air.

The Forest Wolf that got hit directly by something like that naturally becomes charred, falls and rolls on the ground.

“‘Inabi Kari’.” (Sakurai)

After that, I release ‘Inabi Kari’, a fire snake that flies in straight line at high speed, and burn the stunned leader, ending the fight.

Unlike in the game, the difficulty of this reality lies in the fact that I have to move and deal with the enemies myself.

But on the other hand, its beauty lies in the fact it is not turn based. That means I can counter when attack comes my way.

“Wonderfully done.” (Higaki)

“Unlike humans, the movements of monsters are fixed. Anyone can do the same once they remember them.” (Sakurai)

“Just how many times do you need to see the movements to get to that point… no, ‘reincarnated people’ must’ve done so through the ‘game’ or something.” (Higaki)

“I don’t think there are many people who remember them in all particulars, though.” (Sakurai)

I’m the rare one for still remembering even 15 years after I was reincarnated. What do you think? I’m amazing, right?

Well, that’s why I’m weak in combat against people, who have no set movements pattern, but… I wonder if all the people in the world have become lazy, relying on their skills.

“5 level 61 Forest Wolves gave 733 experience points… is it calculated in groups rather than per wolf because it’s not divisible? Since when the trend of experience points you get from lower levelled monsters decrease as your level goes up became the norm? How sad.” (Sakurai)

It’s natural, of course, but to think I, who used to get 1300 experience points from the boss ‘Goblin Leader’ in the first floor of the academy dungeon, would only get such a pitiful amount of experience points from hunting level 61 monsters.

On the other hand, the amount of experience I need to reach the next level of 83 is about 210 million more. If I want to raise my level by hunting Forest Wolves, I will need to hunt 785 packs a day for a year.

Assuming that my body keeps moving day and night for a year, I should be able to meet the quota by destroying 33 packs per hour every day.

Since there are 5 wolves per packs, about 4000 Forest Wolves will become sacrifices every day. If it continues for a year, the total number will reach about 1.4 million, which is a number that would make them go extinct rather than just endangering them.

And this is based on the premise that there will be 33 packs per hour day and night for a year.

Since this is reality, I also need to sleep and eat, as you’d normally expect. If my condition turns bad, the number of experience points I can farm will decrease sharply as well.

Also, the monsters spawn rate in this dungeon is lower than in the academy dungeon, so it can be said that ‘destroying 33 packs per hour’ is very unrealistic.

(Well, places with really good experience points gain efficiency is in the lower floors of the academy dungeon or outside the wall, after all.)

In the first place, ‘Matière Forest Cave’ is a place where people such as alchemists come in search for materials to create items, and although the drop rate of items is high, this dungeon is around bottom of the middle in terms of experience points gain efficiency.

There aren’t any particularly rare and useful items for me here, so once I’m done with the errands, I probably won’t come back again.

Putting that aside, it is courtesy as an adventurer to kill the boss once they enter a dungeon, and because earning experience points is obligatory, I will do the capture properly by killing all the monsters I meet on the way, since I’m already here.

“But seriously, it sure has become easier to carry luggage with Horsie around.” (Sakurai)

“It’s rare for them to bring them all the way into dungeons, but there are some among adventurers who have horses to accompany them in their travels. But they have to cover the costs of feeding the horses and hiring escorts to protect them, so they need to make a decent amount of money to do so.” (Higaki)

“Hihiin.”

By the way, the work of taking care of Horsie is split between Higaki and Iris.

If you ask me what do I then, what I do is raising my level and selling the materials I brought back to cover the costs of taking care of him.

“Collection time, collection time~.” (Sakurai)

The effect of Monster-Luring Perfume has just worn off, so it’s time to collect the drop items while taking a break.

To get ‘Forest Wolf Head’, I put my hand inside their bodies and take out the object inside it.

I get fist-sized pelts from inside two of the five wolves, while the other two crumbled down into dust as soon as I take my hand out, and from the last one comes out a ‘Forest Wolf Head’.

“It had a head attached on its body, yet another head simply came out of its stomach— it sure is kinda horror.” (Sakurai)

“Hm? What’s wrong, Sakurai?” (Higaki)

“Nope, nothing.” (Sakurai)

The monsters in the ‘Netherworld’s’ gods-created dungeon turn into dust when killed and left items on the spot, but the monsters in the world of the living don’t disappear into dust when killed.

That is because – although there are some exceptions – most monsters are creatures with blood and flesh, so even if you’ve killed them like this, they won’t turn into dust and their corpses will remain.

And monsters may create an item in its body the moment they are killed, which corresponds to a drop item in the game.

It seems that all monsters have such property or characteristic.

(Monsters themselves are like treasure chests that contain random items, aren’t they?)

And adventurers can get the content of the treasure chests by releasing (killing) the trap called ‘monsters’ that protect them.

Monsters with blood and flesh creates an item in their bodies upon death, and monsters without drops an item on the spot and disappears upon killed.

That’s the reason why I could take out ‘Forest Wolf Head’ and pelts from the bodies of the Forest Wolves that I’ve killed.

Moreover, the mysterious phenomenon where their blood and flesh don’t stick to the items that are taken out is recognized as a matter of course in this world.

Of course, according to the values in my previous life, something like this doesn’t make sense neither physically nor realistically.

However, it happened right in front of me. Yet the residents of this world, including Higaki, never even think of questioning it.

“Whether the game comes first or the world comes first… they’re distorted either way. Well, thinking about it will only get me nowhere.” (Sakurai)

I mutter and put the items I have taken out in the bag attached to Horsie and used a new perfume to invite the next preys.

And the corpses of the Forest Wolves that I have defeated earlier will probably melt and disappears after a while without leaving any stains.

That, too, is a natural phenomenon in this world.