Pioneering the Apocalyptic World - Chapter 30.2

Side chapter: Dungeon Trial : First

When Uru and the others went hunting in the past, no matter how dark the forest was, it was somewhat unnatural for a large orc to appear in this relatively peaceful region at the Creator God’s hour(Daylight).
Therefore, there is a high possibility that a ‘a certain thing’ is there.

?? A Dungeon.

A place where monsters are born at any time of the day.
They take various forms such as caves, deep forests and old castles.
What they have in common is the existence of a “Core” and the fact that the dungeonfication of the surroundings can be solved by removing the core and purifying it. By the way, the core becomes a high quality magic stone after being purified.

In the game era, It they are a source to obtain monster materials, so there were times when I dared to leave it alone to grow, but there is a sentence like this in the Core’s flavor text before the processing.

[It suck up the blessings of the land and invert it into the power of destruction.]

So, although I want the monster’s materials, When I think about the impact that it could have on The Creator God(world), I would like to actively crush them.

“Fumu, is this a dungeon?”

When I explored the forest with Uru as my guide, as expected I found a dungeon.
The appearance is a standard cave type. There is a hole in the ground that seems to be partially blocked by tree roots. Some of the roots that were torn off must have been because monsters coming out of there or something like that.
By the way, the reason why I can tell that this hole is a dungeon and not just a random hole in the ground is because a miko has the ability to perceive such things. In fact, even now, a unpleasant pressure is slowly drifting from the depths of the hole.

“It’s dark inside… Hey Uru, take this lantern. Holding it in your hand… will get in the way, so let’s tie it around your waist. Try to don’t break it as much as possible.”

“… I will try.”

Uru fearfully touches the lantern.……It might be reasonable to put a light on a helmet. While ignoring about the aparence and focusing only in the performance, I’m started to wondering if I should do it next time.

“Then, I will go first.”

“Yeah. Your feet, your head, the darkness where the light doesn’t reach… When starting to worry about the things there will be no end to it, but be careful.”

“Umu”

As expected from a place inside a forest, there are countless roots hanging down from above, and growing freely on the walls and around our feet, If we let our guard down, we likely will stumble on them and fall over.
Maybe because it’s damp, but are moss growing everywhere. I have to keep my atention on my feets to avoid slipping off.

“There’s nothing of importance here … Is this path really the right one?”

“I think it is.”

There were some side roads along the way, but since I prioritized searching for the core first, we are going straight to the direction where the core is supposed to be. I made that conclusion simply because it was the only one road with a gap that a large orc could pass through.
……In the game era, there were treasure chests and such type of things around, but……If it was an old castle type is one thing, but it probably doesn’t exist here in a natural cave……. But if I don’t search every corner, I will won’t be able to calm down, so if we have time on our way home, let’s make a detour by them and complete the map.

The monsters are attacking us, but since Uru is killing them instantly, there is no turn for me. I am just collecting materials dropped by them little by little.
The monsters that have appeared until now are in addition to the small-bodied orcs are, bats (mini bats), Moles (Rock Moles) and Cave spiders. Other than the spider silk being used as a material for clothes and traps, there is nothing special about them. ……But I still collect them all by force of habit!

“The scenery here is all similar, it seems that I will become lost here. Do you remember the path Rion?”

“Ah, it’s okay because I’ve marked the path.”

In my game days, I used torches or lanterns as landmarks, but the former was likely to burn the roots and cause a fire and the latter was a waste to throw away at present stage and there is no guarantee that monsters wouldn’t break them, so I decided to dig a block-shaped hole at the wall at each fork in the road. With this way, it’s easy to understand and it won’t be buried naturally or destroyed by the monsters.

“… Wasn’t that just the usual material recovery?”

“Ahaha, as expected, soil can be collected anywhere.”

But instead of throwing them away, I accumulate them.……There are times when it can be useful, like in the Battle with the Chimera.
Anyway, even if the landmark disappears, there is no difficulties in digging to the outside, so there is no reason to became worried.
Was Uru was relieved by my confident words? She resumed her advance.

“Mu?… Something smells awful.”

“That means… the core is close perhaps?”

Most of the time resident monsters are in guard to protect the core, so they may be crowded in front of it. If there were a lot of smelly guys in a place like this, with a bad airflow, that’s would cause the smell get worse… I don’t want to go near it.
Resident monsters——They were called guardians among the players, since the guardians continue to receive the effects of the core that they are nearby, they accumulate resources…in other words, they are stronger than normal monsters in most cases.
In note. The larger the dungeon, the stronger the Guardian. The larger dungeon = the larger the core and in correlation the guardians became stronger. However, the fact that the Guardians are strong means that the quality of the materials obtained when they are defeated is also good, so it is a case with both advantages and disadvantages.
This cave isn’t that big… or rather, it’s on the small side, so the Guardian won’t be strong either. Of course, I can’t be overconfident and let my guard down because of it.

“Leave it to me. Actually, I was getting a little bored of it.”

“… Ahaha… I’ll leave them to you.”

She is quite belligerent, I thought that the guardians who are going to be dealt by her as a way to kill time are a little pitiful.

“Hahaha! This is the limit of powers of the so called Guardians!”

The sight I saw is, In a large hall for a underground place, there is a horde of?roughly counting?over thirty monsters. It’s a decent sized monster house.
Even though being surrounded by normal monsters would be considered a pinch (sometimes I died in the game), when the opponent are guardians It’s a even worse case.
The reason why I use a bow as my favorite weapon is because I often used it to attack while I ran away to avoid being surrounded. This time as well, I will use my bow to reduce the number little by little and……????

That’s what I thought, but with the help of Uru’s hands this became a simple work.
The Guardians, which should be strengthened monsters, are being blow away like they are a joke.
So the most that I can do is the simple job of being behind Uru to not to get caught up in the battle and shooting the Guardians who are in the corners and are avoiding Uru’s rampage.

After that, all what was left behind was a giant orc that could be considered the chief of the Guardians (the boss monster).

With about four meters high and four meters wide.
Although he has an obviously looking sluggish body, Judging from the gigantic club in his hand, he must be a power specialized monster. Like a sumo wrestler, there is a high possibility that there is a thick muscle layer underneath all that fat.
He was wearing only a loincloth and had no kind of armor, but it might take quite a bit of effort to conquer that thick wall of flesh.

Guuooooooooooon!

With a loud cry, the orc swings down its club as hard as it can to crush Uru.
It’s faster than it looks!

“Uru!”

It’s dangerous?? In the instant that I tried to continue my words.

“My scales are harder than this log!!!”

Gakiin!!

The Uru’s fist that was swing from below like an uppercut smashed the orc club into pieces.

…… Ahhh. You’re right~(monotone).
I’m became half enlightened (?) at it, but the orc, who saw a creature less than half its own size, that instead of avoiding a full-body blow from him, confronted the blow head-on and after not only winned on a power contest, it even broke his own weapon, became frozen in place.
And Uru-san will not miss that big gap.

“Hey, next is my turn!”

Uru used the momentum of the uppercut to make a full turn, and this time she hit the Orc’s crotch with a second uppercut.
…… No no no Uru-san! Maybe it can’t be helped to target that part because of the difference in size! But even though it’s over the loincloth, don’t touch that place!!!
While I was screaming such stupid things in my mind.

Crash!! Bang!

The orc flew up to the ceiling with its lower body in a smashed state and was slammed at the ceiling.
And with the impact of the fall caused him to burst even his head to bits… RIP.

“With just a single blow… Even If he was huge he couldn’t be considered big deal.”

……Well, from your point of view, he was a monster that is no big deal.

“I thought dungeons were more difficult than this.”

“Hmm… the starting point… forget it, Isn’t it because the Creator God is working hard?”

I inadvertently tried to respond ” Isn’t it because it’s near the starting point?”But Uru doesn’t show any particular reaction to my rephrasing and just replies “Is that so?”.
Well, I also think that the rephrased version is closer to truth than the game rules.

“Well, then.”

While leaving dismantling of the Guardians to after, I stepped closer to the Core, which was emitting a mysterious light behind the orc corpse.
It’s probably a coincidence, but the stones that are piled up under the Core look like a pedestal.
I poke it a few times, and after judging that it looks okay to touch it, I pick it up. My body felt tingly for just a moment, but there was no signs that I was poisoned or cursed.

“The purification… I wonder if holy water will do.”

Since the sacred flowers that can create the holy attribute items have not yet been re-grown, that’s all I have at the moment.
When I took it out of the item box and sprinkled it the core, the power of the core weakened a little, and I was relieved that I could do something about it with just the holy water.
No, really, I wonder what I would have done if the holy water didn’t work. There is also a limit to being impulsive and rush things.
By using it a few times repeatedly, it was safely purified and transformed into a normal magic stone.

However, my relief was short-lived.

With a crumbling sond something fell down from above.

The part of the ceiling where Uru slammed the orc in earlier broke.

“Rion!!!”

??Dobabababababa

And at the same time as Uru covered me with her body, a large amount of earth and sand fell with a loud roar.