We moved our steps into the interior of the ruins.
To be honest, I wonder if there’s any meaning in distinguishing between interior and exterior in ruins where the ceiling has flown away and walls have collapsed, but anyway, it was an area that belonged to the interior in terms of location.
Judging by the long fragments of walls on both sides, perhaps it was a corridor-like place before it collapsed?
The floor, which might have once been covered with marble, was now full of broken stone pieces and weeds, with animal droppings and grass insects scattered all over.
After walking like that for about forty seconds, beyond the corridor that was close to debris, a suddenly widened space greeted us.
It was a space no different from ruins, just like the corridor.
Except that the stone floor area was several times wider than the corridor, and there was a black hole gaping in the middle of the floor leading underground.
An unnaturally gaping hole. It was the entrance to the underground dungeon generated beneath the ruins.
“It’s there. Remnants of magical power are flowing out from down there.”
Amy, who was following a few steps behind me, said, pointing her staff at the entrance of the hole.
“There’s definitely something down there.”
A voice full of anticipation and excitement. Given the value of grimoires, it was a natural reaction.
Even mass-produced grimoires sold by the Magic Tower were outrageously expensive despite being just mass-produced items.
Magicians without money had no choice but to either take out loans to buy grimoires or devote themselves to dungeon exploration to find grimoires themselves.
Once a grimoire was discovered, not only could they use it themselves, but they could also receive a reward by revealing its contents to the Magic Tower.
“Let’s go down. Everyone get ready.”
We lightly warmed up our bodies to prepare for battle, then lined up one by one to descend into the gaping hole.
* * *
Dungeons are generally cold. It’s the inevitable fate of gloomy underground spaces where not a single ray of sunlight enters.
It changes a bit when you get to mid-level or deep-level dungeons, but low-level dungeons with less than 5 floors were, frankly speaking, not much different from naturally occurring caves.
In that they were cold, damp, and even the air was terribly stuffy.
However, the northern kingdom of Hervor was an exception.
While the dungeons here, like those in other countries, didn’t receive a single ray of sunlight, the interior of the dungeon was surprisingly much warmer than the outside.
It should be called relative warmth.
Just being able to escape the bitterly cold winds that blow all year round made the dungeon interior feel much warmer compared to the outside.
Of course, for me, who was naturally resistant to cold, it didn’t matter either way, but for Kikel, it seemed to make a huge difference.
“Kachak! Kachak! I’m alive, finally!”
Judging by how he’s been in a good mood since entering the dungeon.
“It’s quite dark, though…”
Bolton shared a brief impression while looking around. Not that he could see anything by doing so.
The underground dungeon we had finally entered was dark without a single light. To the extent that we couldn’t even see properly a foot in front of us.
Since even monster bastards need to see to live, they usually create some kind of lighting using crude torches or luminous mushrooms or something…
…But there’s nothing.
It seemed that the monsters here were the type that had developed other senses instead of vision. Like hearing or smell.
“Miss Amy, could I ask you for some light?”
“Leave it to me.”
Amy nodded and took out a book from her bosom and opened it.
The Adventure Book, a mass-produced grimoire sold by the Magic Tower.
It was a mass-produced grimoire containing magic spells that would be helpful for novice adventurers.
“Sphaera Lucis.”
Amy, holding the Adventure Book open, raised her staff in her right hand into the air and muttered incomprehensible words.
Then, a stream of magical light burst out from the open grimoire, soon becoming a dazzling sphere of light that floated above our heads.
『Light Sphere』
It was a basic magic spell that creates a sphere of light, a versatile lighting magic that could be used as a lantern, torch… or even as a flash grenade depending on the output control.
With Amy’s capacity, I believe she said she could use it about six times a day.
Considering we should save one for potential emergencies, it meant we had about four uses of this magic lantern left.
“Oh, bright! Like morning!”
Kikel looked at the light sphere, shaking his neck as if interested. He looked like a cat chasing a laser pointer.
Of course, since what was on top of his neck was not a cat face but a lizard’s mug, it was more funny than cute.
Anyway, having secured lighting like this, we began to explore the dungeon interior relying on the magical light.
* * *
A slightly bumpy dirt floor with a ceiling full of stalactites. And stone walls covered with moss.
Unlike the ground above which was a broken and collapsed ruins area, the dungeon interior was closer to a naturally occurring earth cave environment. At least the first floor was.
Though it was a bit wider than a typical earth cave.
I moved forward at the front along with Kikel, with my senses sharply honed, while Bolton and Amy followed closely behind.
We didn’t need a warrior to guard the rear. Unlike archers, magicians and priests could manifest defensive wall-type magic or holy miracles.
So, unless they were killed in one hit, they could sufficiently respond to most ambushes.
We walked like that for about 20-30 minutes.
“Sniff, sniff. I smell something. Rotten meat. It’s goblins.”
Kikel, who had been advancing while glaring into the darkness beyond the light’s reach, stopped his steps and warned us while twitching his nostrils.
Being a different species, he seemed to have a good sense of smell.
“Goblins, is it. How many?”
I asked while drawing my longsword. The distance must have been quite far, as my senses hadn’t picked up anything yet.
“Of course I don’t know. All the smells are mixed.”
Kikel looked down at me, twitching his tail as if to say, ‘What kind of question is that?’ Saying how could he distinguish that with just smell, not sight or hearing.
It seems his sense of smell wasn’t at the level of beastkin, even if it was good.
Well, while we have the metaphor ‘dog’s nose,’ I’ve never heard a metaphor like ‘lizard’s nose’ in my entire life.
What would be the reason for that? Isn’t it because even if a lizard’s sense of smell is good, it’s inferior compared to a dog’s?
So I shouldn’t criticize him for not being able to distinguish numbers. It’s not his fault he was born less sensitive than a dog.
“Can’t be helped if you don’t know. Well, if it’s just goblins, it shouldn’t be a big deal, so we’ll handle it ourselves.”
I lightly loosened my shoulders and instructed the two in the back row to stay put.
Unlike warriors who could keep fighting as long as their stamina held out, magicians and priests had a limited number of magic spells and holy miracles they could cast.
It would be a waste to use them on mere goblins when they might only be able to use them a few times at iron token level, whether for attack or defense.
“Right!”
“That sounds good. I’ll leave it to you.”
“Got it.”
My party members nodded without objection, seeming to share my thoughts.
After that, we walked for another thirty seconds or so.
Swoosh!
With a sound of air being cut, something flew in from beyond the darkness.
“Kyaak!”
Kikel raised his shield to block something that was flying in.
Then, with a thud, a long branch grew on his shield.
It was a crude arrow.
“Kishaaaaah!”
Kikel let out a beast-like roar like a snake that had been hit and charged towards the direction the arrow had come from.
His movements were dull compared to mine, but with a 2m tall muscular lizard charging like that, it was no different from a tank.
“Amy! Light, please!”
I dashed forward following Kikel. Behind us, Amy used her staff to move the position of the light sphere further forward.
“Kyaak! Kyaaak!”
The figures of enemies hidden in the darkness were fully revealed.
They looked like a combination of a bald boy targeting his friend’s mother and an ugly witch’s face from a fairy tale book, with half-rotten green juice poured all over.
They wore scraps of cloth so dirty that the original color couldn’t be discerned over their short bodies, and in their hands they gripped rusty metal pieces or wooden clubs covered in filth.
As Kikel had said, they were goblins.
“Keruk! Keruru…!”
Was it because of the sudden light, or because of the lizardman charging with a battle cry? They were shouting in confusion with their eyes wide open.
Ten in total. Two were archers and there were no higher species.
In other words, it was like a warm-up exercise. I kicked off the dirt floor hard and sprinted after Kikel.
“Kerururuk!”
Excited by the fresh smell of a female knight, the goblins split into two groups and lunged towards me and Kikel.
“I’ll take the archers! You handle the rest!”
Kikel shouted loudly without even looking back at me, then charged forward like a brake-less bulldozer with his shield raised to cover his head.
“Keek!”
“Kejyaak!”
Two goblins rushed to stop him, swinging their wooden clubs.
It was a futile struggle.
Bang! Crash!
A goblin hit by the shield bounced off like a ball and smashed its head into the dungeon ceiling. Almost like a child hit by a truck.
Crack!
The head stuck in the rocky ceiling burst open entirely, turning him into the most handsome goblin.
The fate of the other one wasn’t much different.
Kikel swung his shield to strike down one goblin while simultaneously swinging his tail in the opposite direction, and the goblin hit by his tail was flattened and ended its resentful life.
“Kagakachak!”
The lizard’s laughter.
Having dealt with two in an instant, Kikel threw his harpoon at a goblin archer, skewering it to the wall, then approached the remaining one and tore it to shreds with his claws.
Indeed, as the receptionist girl had guaranteed, his skills were quite good.
It was actually mostly due to his class advantage, but among those of similar level, isn’t class advantage the same as skill?
At that level, he would be considered one of the top skilled individuals among iron tokens.
What was I doing during this time, you ask?
Isn’t it obvious?
“Ke, kereerek…”
A goblin with its heart pierced by my longsword convulses, uttering its death throes.
I kick its belly to send it flying, then swing my sword in the air to shake off the blood.
That makes five.
While Kikel was running towards the goblin archer skewered to the wall, I mercilessly slaughtered the remaining five goblins.
It was as easy as breathing. If I just swung as my body led me, one goblin was cut down with each strike.
It was several times more troublesome to wipe the blood off the sword than to kill them.
* * *
Even after that, goblin groups would pop out whenever we started to forget about them and paint the dungeon walls red.
“It’s just goblins keep popping out. Are there no other creatures…?”
Amy, who was yawning from boredom, muttered like that.
Perhaps because the enemies were too weak for a dungeon where magical power had been detected? She had a somewhat disappointed expression.
“We’re still on the first floor. We don’t know what we’ll find when we go down.”
I said, as if to comfort her.
It wasn’t a lie. The monsters on the first floor of a low-level dungeon are usually not the original inhabitants of the dungeon, but wandering monsters that have flowed in from somewhere.
This place was probably the same.
Seeing goblins everywhere, wild goblins had probably snuck into the dungeon and formed a lair.
However, things could be different from this floor on.
Once wandering monsters took over one floor, they tended to busy themselves with eating, living, and breeding on that floor rather than coveting other floors.
In other words, it meant that the real dungeon exploration would start from this floor.
* * *
It was actually like that.
At the end of the goblin-filled earth cave that we had advanced through, we finally reached stone stairs leading downwards.
The entrance leading to the second underground floor.
After a brief rest and preparation in front of it, we walked down the stairs.
Unlike the first underground floor which was an earth cave, the second underground floor was a maze-like space covered with well-trimmed bricks.
It felt like a catacomb, a communal tomb built underground.
There, we finally encountered new monsters.
Kigigik…!
Skeletons approaching with rusty spears and swords, accompanied by creaking noises.
…For some reason, it felt like we should burst out with an exclamation of ‘Wow!’
“Haa. Of all things, undead. Talk about bad luck, really.”
Amy frowned and let out a soft sigh.
“Undead…!”
Bolton, standing next to her, lit up his eyes and burned with fighting spirit.
The extreme contrast in their reactions was quite entertaining to watch.