Pioneering the Apocalyptic World - Chapter 69

Chapter 04: It can’t be helped because it’s a Miko’s nature

In the end, I didn’t make a helmet with a light because it seemed like it would put a strain on my neck.
I want to make night vision goggles and eye drops someday. It’s easy to get surprise attacks from monsters because we stand out when there’s light… Although it still within the range that can be covered by Uru’s enemy search ability.

“But, Its the underground again, huh…”

Uru frowns and mutters. Well, dungeons are often found underground, in ruins, in mountains, and so on, they are in a lot of places that are likely to collapse easily.
…… If there is a monster that Uru has no choice but to use her full power, we should run away in that case. Even I don’t want to be buried alive every time.

“Then, do you want me and Regulus to do our best here?”

“Oh? Oh, please leave it to me!”

Regulus, who had the talk suddenly shifted to him, was puzzled for a moment, but willingly agreed. It could be that’s part of his training, but it can also be said he has the propensity to be a battle junkie.
… I could just leave it to Regulus… No, no, if I don’t get enough combat experience, I’ll always be dragging Uru’s feet, so I shouldn’t take the easy way.

“Except for emergencies, is better to Uru be watching…… But well, thinking again, Uru you should try your try to learn how to limit your strength.”

“Umu… I-I gonna try….”

It’s extravagant to me say that when I’m always helped by Uru, but I think it’s better for her to learn how to control her own power.
Maybe it will reduce the number of things being broken?
Well, I didn’t think that she would even break an iron axe… Hahaha.
I’m glad it was within the scope of repairing it, but Uru’s was about to cry again… I wonder when I’ll be able to create a tool that Uru can handle.

“Then, Regulus is on the front, and Uru is on the back. Ah, Regulus, try searching for the enemy too. Uru doesn’t have to do anything unless a strong enemy appears.”

“Umu”

“Understood!”

Me? I’ll keep an eye out for materials… Cough. I will be helping Regulus.

“Phew… Just being underground really makes monsters spawn fast. The sun is still out, isn’t it?”

When the number of monster attacks exceeded double digits, even Regulus was getting tired, wiping the sweat from his forehead he asked me.
The repertoire of monsters this time, In addition to the Long Worms mentioned earlier, includes Rock Moles that similarly emerge from the ground and set traps that open holes, Hard Ants that have hard shells, and Caterpillars that shoot mucus that has an action-inhibiting effect. There is even the classical?Goblin that we encounter everywhere.
It’s easy to lose SP in battle, so my stomach clock isn’t accurate, but if my sense of time is correct, it shouldn’t be more than an hour since we entered the dungeon.

“That’s right. But it’s just that the place we’ve been in is peaceful. From now on, we’ll have to be careful of monsters appearing outdoors even during the day.”

“Ugh…”

As if saying how dangerous that sounds, Regulus shivered his body.
It’s a good thing to be calm even inside a dungeon, but his sense of danger may be a bit lacking.
I quickly readied my bow and pointed it at Regulus.

“Regulus, your scouting is a little lacking.”

“Eh?”

I shoot an arrow and it passes right next to Regulus’s face??And it shoots through the head of a Soil Lizard that was crawling along the wall and tried to turn its fangs at Regulus.

“Uh!?”

“And there’s one up too.”

This time, I shot an arrow toward the ceiling, and another Soil Lizard fell with a scream.

“I’m sorry Rion, thank you for your help. I didn’t notice because their colors were the same as the cave…”

As the name suggests, the Soil lizard is a lizard whose whole body is earthy colored, and it would certainly be difficult to be discovered if it is in a cave type dungeon. It’s all more so difficult because the light doesn’t reach everywhere.
Still, there are some points that serve as hints to look for. This time, I noticed that the light from the lantern was slightly reflected by their scales.
In other monsters cases, it could be movement of course, but also sounds, smells, footprints, watermarks, and in some cases mana.
Well, I also have experience beforehand in the game??Well, It had almost no sense of smell at that time?so I can’t say anything too bossy to Regulus.
Even so, it must be a valuable opinion for Regulus, who has little experience, since a while ago, he is nodding while saying”I see!” in response to my explanation.
…… Speaking of searching for enemies, there was a professional here.

“How does Uru notice monsters?”

“Mu? In my case, I have the feeling that ‘something is there’.”

Ooh, I got an answer that I don’t quite understand… I wonder It is a search skill that the player doesn’t had or something like that…? Or maybe it’s just her wild intuition…

After taking a short break, we proceed to the deeps again.
It is troublesome that there are quite a lot of branching paths and many dead ends. Much better than being in a maze, though.
No well, it was really hard to create a three-dimensional mental map with the on-parade of branching roads with differences in elevation… If you make a mistake in how to mark it, it become a confusing mess in an instant. Well, you can use return stones or simply dig up, so it was almost impossible to not get out.
By the way, I added “almost” because it was not uncommon to die inside the dungeon. Gununu.
For the time being, this time as well, I’m advancing while cutting out a square in the wall as a mark.

“There was nothing on this road…”

If there is no particular reason to leave a dead end, I block the whole path with stones. By doing this, we eliminate the possibility of entering it again and have the effect of reducing the attack from behind the monster a little.
Because you never know when they’ll spawn. Since It is a path that you already passed, you become relieved that there’s nothing there and let your guard down, they spawn from behind and attack you… sometimes happens.

“Is dungeon exploration always this hard?”

“Hmm? This is still at the easy level.”

Regulus is making a face like “Are you serious…”, but I’m serious.
It’s not a maze, and it doesn’t have gimmicks such as traps or hidden doors. It’s not underwater, it’s also not like there’s lava flowing nearby.

“… Being a Miko sounds tough…”

“Ahaha. But it becomes fun when I think that there are new materials ahead of overcoming these.”

When I answered honestly, not only Regulus but also Uru looked at me.

[What are you talking about…?]

As if to saying that, they reacted as though they had found something strange ……Huh?

“Huh? It’s a material? Depending on the situation, you can make new items, right?”

“… Sorry, I haven’t reached that level yet…”

“… Maybe it’s because you have such a spirit that Rion was chosen as a miko…”

Regulus had a sour look on his face, and Uru looked at me with a more lukewarm and watchful look.

“Well, Rion, didn’t you say something like, you have to go to the dungeon to purify the core?”

“That’s that and this is this. In any case, not just me, but also the Creator God becomes happy at it, so it’s like killing two birds with one stone, isn’t it? ”

“… Oh, yeah. That’s right…”

Yeah, yeah, I’m happy Regulus seems to have agreed with me.
Wait a minute, Uru-san. Why are you telling Regulus to “give up”?