Chapter 142 Strongest Sage, Looks for Monster
writer:Shinkoshoto      update:2022-08-15 15:08
  A few minutes after we parted ways with the adventurers who warned us.

  We entered the ninth floor of the dungeon.

  So far, I didn't sense any reaction from a strong monster at all.

  "Well, guess it's not on this floor."

  "Looks like it hasn't gone up here…"

  I shot magic at a nearby monster, defeating it.

  Right now, Iris and of course Alma too, could easily defeat monsters in this area.

  Ruli is acting as Alma's support like the usual, but since there wasn't much need of arrows, her role didn't come up much.

  The ninth floor is already nothing for them.

  "I'd prefer if it stays like this and the monster doesn't show up…"

  "In that case… We'll keep going down until the monster does show up."

  "Eeh! Then, monster-san, please come out quick!"

  We've got enough leeway to have such conversations while fighting.

  The fact that Ruli and Alma are watching the surrounding mana reaction even during that might be a testament of them getting used to fighting.

  Iris's detection is very poor… but that's due to the injury on her wings, and it's not like she'd get a scratch from surprise attacks anyway, thus it's not really a problem.

  That said, from my observation, we probably can only descend this calmly until the floor 18.

  Beyond that, we probably have to raise our battle experience and magical capability first.

  Well, those stuff should go up by themselves as long as we keep fighting in the dungeon.

  We kept descending the dungeon while I was thinking that, but…


  "No strong monster in sight…"

  "It's not showing up… I don't sense any through mana detection either."

  The monster in question isn't showing itself.

  Even if there are cases of monsters climbing up the floors, they rarely ever go down.

  I thought there was 90% chance the monster was in floor 11 or 10… But I don't sense any presence that points to that at all even after coming to floor 11.

  Of course there are differences in the mana size of each monsters… But there's no mana reaction strong enough to warrant a subjugation quest by the entire adventurers of the dungeon city.

  Ruli speaks up in that situation.

  "Mathi-kun, don't you think the monster reaction over there seems big?"

  Ruli pointed diagonally after saying that.

  The direction where she pointed at… True, that mana reaction is the strongest on this floor.

  However, it's not at a level that warrants a large-scale subjugation effort.

  They should be able to defeat it without much preparation.

  "True, it's the most decent monster around here. I don't think it's our target, but… wanna have a go at it?"

  "Can we, don't we need to preserve our mana?"

  Ruli asked a question.

  However… It should be fine.

  Not like we need to consume much mana nor prepare to fight this monster.

  "No problem. We can beat a monster of this level with our usual style. That said, you still cannot let your guard down."

  I calculate the dungeon structure with detection magic and proceed toward the monster through the shortest route.

  And the one waiting there was… A huge bird monster two times larger than the monsters on this floor.

  "I-it's huge…"

  "It's about as big as a smallish dragon!"

  "Huge… Can we really fight it?"

  The girls gave their impressions of the monster.

  However, the fact that none of them tried to run from it must mean that they knew by intuition that this monster isn't that strong.

  "Hmm… It's big alright… but it doesn't look that strong."

  It's on the bigger side of a monster.

  However, judging from its mana reaction, it's neither sturdy or agile.

  I should be able to kill it in one hit if I fight seriously.

  …Okay, let's use this guy as a practice stand.

  "Alright then, you three, try defeating this monster without me!"

  "Without Mathi-kun!?"

  "That's impossible… or not, I think. I kinda feel like we could if we gave it our all! Mind if we think up a plan for a bit?"

  "How about we try punching it once!"

  The three began their strategy meeting (Iris isn't really helping though).

  …Now then. Show me what you've got, girls.