The Earth-san Has Leveled Up! - Volume 2 Chapter 17
Entering the 4th Floor
The haze cleared as they verified their defenses, and Meiko and the others finally headed for the bridge.
Meiko told them about the possibility of a mid-boss at the bridge.
It was 100 meters to the other side of the river and halfway between two mountains, the perfect mid-boss location for a game.
They went under a big Torii gate and started to cross the bridge.
Sasara’s boots made a small thud against the wooden bridge.
But to the three of them, it sounded like a melody to lure their enemies, and it was scary.
Meiko shakes her head shakily, imagining a giant fish zapping out of the sea of clouds under the bridge.
However, they were able to pass the bridge without incident.
There was a safety zone nearby, and there was no way the bridge was a safety zone.
There were many strange places in this dungeon, even Sakura Square at the top of the first mountain.
If one was playing a video game, one would go round and round to see what one could find.
After all, Meiko thought, the title she had obtained last night was a hint.
Something would happen in these places in this dungeon when it was revealed in its true form.
Or simply, something would happen when they came here at night.
The three of them looked back at the bridge once and then began to climb the second mountain.
They stepped cautiously onto the 4th floor, where they were immediately confronted by new enemies.
To their surprise, there were three of them.
They were Pestle Rabbit, Japanese Doll, and Tanuki.
“That’s so cute!”
“I don’t know, but Tanuki is an enemy!”
Tanuki was a bipedal creature, about 70 centimeters long. It had a deformed, stocky body and was cute, except for the pissed-off look in its eyes. In fact, it’s rather cute in a subtle way, in the same vein as the Pestle Rabbit. But not you, Japanese Doll.
And, by the way, it is not equipped with a sack like a Tanuki in fantasy and not holding a sake bottle, which is critical.
The Tanuki immediately took action.
It started tapping its belly.
Then, Japanese Doll and Pestle Rabbit started glowing.
“Maybe it’s a buffer! They both might be enhanced enemies!”
As if to prove that Meiko’s warning had not been quick enough, the two creatures whose bodies were glowing increased their movement speed as they attacked.
Until now, they had been about as fast as a quick walk, but now they were about as fast as a short run.
The increased approach speed of the demons was a threat.
Meiko initiated to deal with the oncoming Japanese Doll.
The Doll was faster than usual, but Ruru was able to hit it firmly with a water trick.
Meiko immediately fired a fireball at the stiff Doll.
This was supposed to be the start of the usual combo, but the Doll barely avoided the fireball.
At that moment, Sasara jumped out from Meiko’s side and took a slash at it.
Unable to react to Sasara’s follow-up, Doll was knocked back by the slash.
Leaving this one to Sasara, Meiko turned to deal with Pestle Rabbit.
Pestle Rabbit would be within range of the pestle attack in another two seconds.
She immediately fired a water bullet, knocking the pestle out of Pestle Rabbit’s hand.
Ruru quickly moved in and struck with a ninja sword and a sickle.
Leaving Ruru to do the same, Meiko confronted Tanuki.
Meiko was mildly annoyed by Tanuki’s belly-flopping, and she fired a Water Bullet.
Tanuki, with a mouth full of glee, hit her in the abdomen with the Water Bullet.
Tanuki was knocked off her feet, rolled around on the cobblestones, and immediately started pom-poko.
But this time, it flicked its tail behind its back.
Three ping-pong ball-sized bullets of light appeared from the tip of his tail.
They were aimed at Meiko.
Meiko’s eyes could follow the speed of the projectiles, so she avoided them with a big sideways leap.
Technically, the speed was about 150 km/h. It was a little faster than the Water Bullet that was released from the Magic Book in her first encounter with it, but Meiko was able to follow it with her eyes.
However, it was difficult to avoid the three balls, and one managed to hit her in the side.
It was as painful as the time when she was hit in the side by a fastball thrown by a girl who was a member of the softball team at the last softball game in junior high school. It was a dead ball by the ace of the softball team, who got a little carried away at the ball game.
After that blow, Meiko made it out of the third shot.
Whatever that attack was, it wasn’t a blow that would have hampered the battle.
It was probably thanks to the Sakura garment that made it possible to take the attack in the first place.
Nevertheless, Meiko was hit in the side when she stayed in the air, causing her to lose her balance and to take an ungraceful passive stance.
Rolling around, she momentarily lost sight of the direction in which the enemy was located, but she quickly sprinted forward, relying on the sound of a tap on the stomach.
Tanuki was a buffer and long-range magic type.
Rather than fighting at a distance, he decided it would be better to get closer.
As Meiko approached, Tanuki again showed a gesture of generating light bullets.
Meiko, determined not to let that happen, hit Tanuki with a reloaded Water Bullet.
As before, Tanuki was knocked off his feet, but the light bullet was canceled.
When Meiko finally got close, Tanuki stopped buffing.
It seems that buffing and close combat are incompatible.
Tanuki struck a pose of a raging bear.
Meiko was a little intimidated by the animal’s threats after it screeched. However, despite trying to be imposing, only it’s eyes looking terrifying.
Meiko fought skillfully with two books of grimoire and a saber.
Not having [Technical Skills] like Sasara and the others, Meiko fought only with her swordsmanship, which she had honed through her own training.
She mainly focused on mid-range, striking with the Attack of the Fire Grimoire.
If the Tanuki approached her, she would immediately take up a slashing stance to prevent them from approaching her easily.
If the Tanuki moves away, however, she would immediately fire with a loaded Water Bullet.
The new martial art she had developed during her training was now about to blossom.
It would only work against an enemy as strong as Meiko because if the enemy was too strong, it would rush at her without a second thought.
However, it was effective enough against the Tanuki.
The Tanuki was not so strong in close combat.
Suddenly, a clicking sound came from behind Meiko.
At that moment, for some reason, flames spread on Tanuki’s back.
Then, the Tanuki, who had never been so strong in melee combat, began to release pressure that even Meiko could recognize.
Meiko, who thought this was a bad situation, immediately shot out a Water Bullet.
The Water Bullet hit Tanuki from diagonally above, and Tanuki bounced heavily on the cobblestone pavement.
The water that burst out extinguished the fire, and the pressure was suppressed along with the flames on the Tanuki’s back.
The Tanuki that rolled on the cobblestones was slashed from the right the next moment.
The Tanuki’s face, splattering blood, was mercilessly stabbed from the left this time.
Sasara and Ruru were staring at the fading Tanuki with eyes that were as cruel and cold as if they were looking at a bug.
The moment they turn to Meiko, their eyes change to a worried look.
“Meeko, Meeko, are you ok!?”
“You don’t have a stomach ache, do you?”
“Umm, yes. I’m fine. Thank you for helping me, Ruru, Sasara.”
“Nya, I’m sorry I’m late.”
“No need to apologize, we’re on this adventure together. I’m sorry that I’m not good at close combat, and I’m the one who’s putting all the work on Ruru and Sasara.”
“That’s not true! If Meiko-san hadn’t pulled us together, we would have lost.”
“That’s right! Without Meiko, it would have been impossible!”
“I see. I see. So, we’re even. Hmmm…”
Meiko, who had never been relied upon much in sports in the past, was glad to be relied upon in combat.
“But then again, what was that last thing?”
“The last thing, you mean?”
“Yeah, suddenly fire came out of Tanuki’s back, and he seemed to power up.”
“I did see him like that for a moment before I rushed over, but the fire was extinguished when I cut him down.”
“Yes, it seems to have been extinguished by the Water Bullet.”
“I also saw Pestle Rabbit doing something strange just before it disappeared.”
“Oh, Pestle Rabbit started something new after all this time?”
“Nya. He took out a stone from somewhere and started ticking it off.”
“”What?””
Meiko and Sasara looked at each other at Ruru’s comment.
The rabbit created sparks and the Tanuki’s back caught on fire.
“It’s Tick-Tock Mountain!”
“Kachi… that’s it!”
Meiko, defeated by Sasara’s reaction speed, moved her outward momentum from her mouth to her finger and pointed at Sasara with a snap. She still ended up late.
“Kachikachiyama, desu?”
Sasara, who had heard of the Japanese fairy tales before, told Ruru the story in a few sentences.
The story was about a rabbit who takes revenge on his grandfather’s shoulders and violently buries Tanuki.
“Fire, bad medicine, and drowning in a mud boat?”
“The rabbit is already dead, and that it doesn’t just catch fire? It would be like the rabbit powering up the Tanuki right before it dies.”
“That’s possible. At any rate, it seems to be extinguished by a Water Bullet, but let’s be careful about this.”
At Meiko’s words, the two men nodded mysteriously.
After asking the two to collect the drop, Meiko checked her status.
She was hit earlier by a single light bullet.
Was that really thanks to the Sakura garment?
She opened the title column and looked at the effect of [1 Floor Treader, Solo].
It was still not grayed out.
Perhaps Tanuki was more of a buffer, after all.
Or perhaps the Sakura robe was strong.
Incidentally, they know that when the benefits of the title are used, the description is grayed out.
According to the professor, all the people who entered the class D dungeon were those who had the same solo treading title as Meiko. So, they made such a team.
They lost this perk and came back in tatters, and they all had grayed out descriptions of their effectiveness.
So, Meiko’s benefit was still active.
She was relieved because if she was going to use it, she didn’t want it to be used for a trivial mistake.
Meiko then wondered why a tick-tack looking demon had appeared.
Could it be that dungeons model their demons after human creations?
Meiko had no information about other dungeon demons.
On the ground, they were already well-known…
Meiko jotted down this new guess in her notebook, imagining the professor praising her for what might be a great discovery.
“Nya! Nu, nusun chu desu!”
Ruru suddenly shouted.
Meiko looked at Ruru, wondering if this was a new Location(EN) Kismia word.
She looked to where Ruru was pointing, and saw a fat snake about to swallow the Pestle Rabbit’s magic stone that Ruru had just defeated.
“Meeko, Shara! King Cobra no Nusunchu desu!”
“No, no, Ruru-san, that’s Tsuchinoko!”
“Tsuchinoko. Then it’s Tsuchinoko no Nusunchu desu!”
The snake with the chunky body, it was indeed Tsuchinoko.
Meiko wondered at Ruru, who was saying “Nusunchu-nusunchu-nusunchu,” but she continued to prepare for the battle.
And then, when it was time to unleash her magic…
“Bwah!”
Ruru’s words intersect with the thief-like behavior as it steals Pestle Rabbit’s magic stone that someone else has defeated.
Nusunchu…
This is not Location(EN) Kismia language!
And what’s a king cobra?
But Meiko was a Dungeon pro.
She invigorates her twitching cheeks and fired a Water Bullet at Tsuchinoko.
Miss!
Meiko, who was quite confident in the accuracy of her magic, was now weakened by the mental attacks of her companions.
Tsuchinoko, startled by the blow, jumped up and down and then ran away at once.
For now, the crisis was over.
“Nusunchu!”
Meiko tapped the angry Ruru on the shoulder.
“Ruru, the thief is not Nusunchu.”
“Eh. But the people of the sea are uminchu desu…?”
“Ugh, I don’t get it! “
Meiko was confused. Okinawans might say that a thief is a nusunchu.
Incidentally, the Okinawan dialect for thief is nusurah.
“Uminchu… nusunchu… manhanchu… desu?”
“Kuha!”
“Kufusu!”
Ruru’s confusion caused not only Meiko but also Sasara to gasp.
At any rate, Meiko thought this conversation was no good.
This was no good. No, it was already getting worse.
When I get out of the dungeon, maybe they could teach Ruru some kanji.
Ruru seemed to know quite a bit, but she seemed to have this weird way of remembering some things.
Meiko pledged as she felt relieved that the battle was over for now.
The Tanuki dropped fur, a bit larger than Pestle Rabbit’s. The fur looked great and might be a Rare Drop, so she put it in her backpack for now.
The doll dropped a piece of katana and the Pestle Rabbit is its fur.
The magic stone was stored in the magic stone case I bought yesterday.
Meiko had already used it during the second half of yesterday’s hunt, so it was very convenient.
When she opened the cap and put the magic stone close to her mouth, it went right in. The mechanism showed me how much was in the case by displaying a memo on the side.
Although inserting the magic stone only required doing this, the tool required 5 Magic Power when taking it out. The magic stone inside could then be taken out as much as desired.
The case did not cling to the stone, and it weighed only as much as the case itself, which was really nice. It was truly a magical item.
After confirming everything, Meiko and her team began their search of the 4th Floor.