Level-up Maniac, Level up in Modern Dungeons - Episode 63

“Phew… I managed to win.”

　Once the afterglow of the pleasure of leveling up had worn off, I returned to my original leaning position.

　Then I look down at my arms, which hurt like they had severe muscle pain.

　My arm twitches and spasms from time to time, causing intense pain and making it difficult to use any strength. It doesn’t seem like I’ve broken any bones, but… I probably won’t be able to move it properly for a while.

　Or rather, since my sword is broken, I guess I have no choice but to go home for today.

　As I was thinking like that, I heard the sound of something falling to the floor.

“Yeah?”

　I turn my gaze towards the direction of the sound.

　Suddenly, something fell in front of the wall the Holy Knight had been stuck in.

　Incidentally, the Holy Knight had turned into countless particles of light and had already disappeared.

“This is… a magic stone and… a sword?”

　Approaching the wall, I noticed a magic stone that looked like it had been dropped by a Holy Knight, and a long sword in an ornate sheath.

　The sword is probably the same one used by the Holy Knights.

　With his aching arm, he picked up the sword and somehow managed to pull it out of its sheath, and just as he had expected, a beautiful silvery-white blade appeared.

“I almost died suddenly… can I call this lucky?”

　I won’t know its exact performance until I submit it to the Association for appraisal, but I’m pretty sure it’s several levels better than the steel long sword I was using.

　I thought I’d have to replace my sword twice in such a short time, but it looks like I can use this sword instead.

“Yeah, okay… let’s rest here for about two hours, and if your arm seems to have recovered, we’ll resume our laps.”

　There are no broken bones, torn muscles, or torn tendons, so if I rest for a while, there’s a good chance I’ll recover. My self-healing abilities should be strengthened in the dungeon.

　With that decision in mind, I picked up the magic stone, went over to my backpack, which I had placed against the wall, and began to rest.

　Plus, the timing is just right, so we’ll have lunch there too.

　While eating the rice balls, sandwiches, and bread rolls that I had bought at the convenience store before coming to the dungeon, I was watching a video on my smartphone, and,

“Huh!?”

　I was a little surprised when the phone rang out of nowhere.

　Looking at the screen of my smartphone, however, the caller seemed to be an unregistered number. I frowned at the unfamiliar number.

“Scary… let’s not go out.”

　Without any hesitation, I decided not to answer the phone.

　No, because there are a lot of scam calls these days, and aren’t calls from unknown numbers scary?

　So, as a general rule, I ignore calls from numbers I don’t recognize.

“…This guy is so persistent.”

　However, this scam call (temporarily) was persistent. The call has been ringing for over a minute now.

　I was just about to hang up and set the call to be blocked when the call finally ended.

　It seems he’s finally given up.

　I felt relieved at that thought and tried to resume watching videos on YouTube, but the ringtone started ringing again, interrupting me.

「――――!!?」

　However, this time it wasn’t the same scam call (tentative) as before, but a caller who was properly registered in my phone book.

　The smartphone screen displayed the name of the caller as “Yakuzaniki.”

　I answered the phone immediately.

“Yes! Hello! It’s Takeo!”

“Why didn’t you answer my phone call?”

“–picture?”

　What I heard was not the handsome voice of a yakuza.

　A woman’s voice that seemed to carry some anger. It took me a few seconds to search through my memory for the owner of that voice.

“…………Are you, by any chance, Mito-san?”

“Possibly.”

“Um… perhaps, that phone call earlier was…”

“It’s probably me.”

“Oh, yes… I’m sorry. It was an unregistered number, so I got scared and ignored it.”

　I was honest and apologized.

『Haa… well, that’s fine.』

　Mito-san sighed and permitted me.

　But Mito-san called me… what on earth could it be about?

“By the way, Samejima-kun.”

“Yes.”

“Where are you now?”

“In the dungeon.”

“Is it in the monster room on the 4th floor of the Shinjuku Dungeon?”

“Eh, that’s scary… how do you know?”

“It’s a woman’s intuition.”

　Women’s intuition is scary.

“By the way, was there anything unusual in the monster room?”

“Is this abnormal…?”

　When asked, I thought about it. Then I answered.

“No, nothing in particular.”

“…Is that true? Please think back carefully. Was there something unusual?”

“Hmm… well, is there anything in particular that you would call abnormal?”

『Hmm… you see, something different from normal monsters has appeared.』

“Oh! Huh? How do you know? I’m sure it came out.”

“…But before that, why were you trying to hide it?”

“That? … Ah, you mean the strange monster that appeared?”

“That’s right.”

“No, it’s not that I was trying to hide it… I just didn’t think it was unusual.”

“…Are you out of your mind? Are you crazy? If that wasn’t abnormal, what did you think it was?”

“No, I think it’s a secret monster.”

“…What is that?”

“A rare monster that appears when certain conditions are met… right? You know, you know, there are games like that, right? I think that’s it.”

『…………』

“…………”

　What is it?

“…That’s what we call abnormal, normally.”

“Ohhh…! I see.”

　However, having a high-level explorer like Mito-san preach common sense at me… I somehow feel like it’s hard to accept.

“Fuu…!! Is that okay? There’s always a reason why monsters like that appear. Maybe they were behaving in a way that was out of the ordinary. …You have an idea, right? “

“That comes to mind….Ah!”

　Could this be the condition for secret monsters to appear?

　Of course, I have an idea. I was constantly thinking about what triggered the flag while watching the video.

“Maybe it’s because I’ve been going around the room a lot? Honestly, I think if you go around the monster room hundreds of times in a certain period, it will appear.”

“No.”

“Eh, seriously?”

“Any other thoughts on there?”

“No, nothing else in particular.”

『……Magic stone』

“Picture?”

『Did you properly pick up the magic stones? Did you leave them lying around?』

“O-oh…! How did you know? Perhaps you saw it?”

　I looked around the monster room, but of course, Mito was nowhere to be seen.

“I haven’t seen it. It’s a woman’s intuition.”

　Seriously? Women’s intuition is more like a supernatural power.

“Is it okay, Samejima-kun? Listen carefully.”

“Yes”

“If you leave magic stones in the monster room and let them continue to be absorbed by the dungeon, it can sometimes result in the birth of special monsters like the one you encountered this time.”

“Oh! That’s how it was!”

　I’m shocked. I never thought that leaving the magic stone behind would be the cause.

　But if that’s the case, does that mean that if I leave the magic stone and keep going around, I’ll be able to fight the Holy Knight again?

　No, I don’t want to fight anymore.

　I indeed got a ton of experience points, but hunting multiple monsters of a suitable strength is more efficient for leveling up.

　By the way, I gained 40,000 experience points by defeating the Holy Knight.

　This should have been doubled by Goblin Genocider, so the Holy Knight’s original experience points should be 20,000.

　Well, that’s still an incredible amount of experience points, but… it still doesn’t seem like the effort it took to defeat it was worth the experience points.

　I would really like to avoid a rematch if possible, but…if I keep going around, it feels like a rematch will be inevitable.

　I think that the next time we fight, I’ll be able to win more easily than this time… But as I was mulling over these thoughts, Mito-san spoke in a strong tone.

『Is that okay? That’s why, from now on, please don’t leave magic stones lying around.』

“Picture?”

“Don’t even think about having a rematch.”

“…………”

“The types and strengths of monsters that appear are not fixed. You may have been lucky enough to win this time, but there’s no guarantee you’ll win again next time. Don’t get too cocky. Do you understand?”

“…Yes, I understand.”

　Seriously? Can’t you just leave the magic stones there?

　That would decrease the efficiency of the trip.

　…No, they probably won’t find out anyway, so it won’t matter if I leave it alone in the future…

“By the way, if you leave the magic stones lying around again without picking them up, I’ll find out. If you disobey my orders and leave a large amount of magic stones lying around… I’ll punish you, you know?”

　Eh?! …I just felt a chill run down my spine.

“…By the way, may I ask how you know…?”

“It’s a woman’s intuition.”

　…Is it a skill called “Woman’s Intuition”?

　No, I don’t think he has that kind of skill.

“Hmm… is that okay? I don’t care if you ignore my advice and die. But what do you think will happen if the special monster that appeared because of you gets outside the monster room?”

“…Are you going outside?”

“I will. That’s why I’m saying it.”

“I see… I understand. I won’t leave magic stones lying around again. I promise.”

　I nodded firmly.

　Although the efficiency of the trip would decrease, I couldn’t expose the other explorers to great danger because of my selfish actions. That would be extremely irresponsible.

“I’m glad that you understood.”

“No, thank you for your advice.”

　There are many mysteries, such as how he knows that the Holy Knight (tentative) has appeared… but even if I asked, he probably wouldn’t answer…

“No, no. Also, Samejima-kun, we need to warn the other explorers about what happened this time.”

“Um, so that other investigators don’t do the same thing to me?”

“Yes, that’s right. So, Samejima-kun, please return to the surface now and report this incident to the Association. When you do, you will probably be asked to release the video data you have taken, so please do not refuse. I will also notify the Shinjuku Association branch just in case.”

　So just starting now… That means today’s leveling is almost over.

　I sighed so Mito-san couldn’t hear me and agreed. I don’t know why, but Mito-san seemed to be in a bad mood today, and it was a bit scary, so I decided to just go along with it.

“I understand. Well then, I’ll be heading back to the surface now.”

“Yes, I look forward to working with you. Well then.”

　So we wrapped up our activities for the day and returned to the ground.

　When I returned from the dungeon and passed through the gate, an association staff member was waiting for me, as Mito had already contacted me, so I followed him and explained the situation to him and he asked me a lot of questions.

　At that time, the appraisal of the long sword dropped by the Holy Knight was also given priority as it was related to the current incident, but…the appraisal results caused a bit of an uproar at the Shinjuku Association branch.

　Wow, even though it was a special monster, I never thought that a monster on the 4th floor would drop something like a “Holy Mythril Sword”. I’m surprised!