Chapter 216: Lowest Floor
Link: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n7583de/
Author: Hirukuma
Translated by Zzonkedd
Edited by Gumihou
Hopeless drunks lay sprawled across the ground.
Men and women alike crawled grimly towards me, groaning and moaning like a horde of zombies.
“Gimme… that hangover fix… thing…”
“N-nooo… I’m dying…”
The first to reach me was Karious, followed closely by the Director of the Dark Forest Floor. I was surprised to find out that the shadowy director could actually suffer from hangovers with that kind of shadowy, amorphous body.
Let’s see, the best things for hangovers would be sports drinks, because alcohol has a diuretic effect, leading to dehydration. Let’s also offer some canned Miso Soup with Clams so that these poor zombies can choose their hangover cure of choice.
Some people swear that the fizzy sting of carbonation clears their stomach and head. So I set out three choices for the zombies before me: sports drink, canned miso soup and plain carbonated water.
“Look at this field of corpses. You lot should really work on drinking responsibly,” said Director Bear.
“My, my, do recover soon~ I look forward to seeing you at the bar again today~” Shirley said with a sweet smile.
Both looked perfectly sober.
Hold on, didn’t these two drink way more than the ones lying around me?
They don’t seem the least bit hungover.
“No way… They drank several times more than we did!”
“So it’s really impossible to get Shirley drunk, huh?!”
The men groaned in frustrated defeat. So, to think that the drinking last night was really saturated with ulterior motives. Well, seeing how the men around Shirley sank to the ground one by one was amusing at least.
In the end, Shirley was the only one upright. Toasting her drink to the night sky as she continued to drink. It was quite the sight.
“Once you’re done nursing these fools, do head over to the Everlasting Floor,” said Director Bear, ever the very image of politeness.
“Welcome”
Looks like the time has come to challenge what was most likely to be the lowest and deepest floor of this dungeon. The Everlasting Floor.
From what I had heard, it would take about one way to travel down one of the paths. So, everyone joining the expedition had already prepared themselves for a long journey.
The only confirmed account we had was that one hunter who had ‘conquered’ the right-hand path, and it took him a full year to reach the end of it. Since he was a mid-rank hunter, one could imagine just how long it would take if we tried to travel down the road at a regular pace.
“Hakkoooonnnn, gimme something refreshinggggg. Hurryyyy…”
Let’s worry about these things later. First, I should do something about this pile of groaning bodies.
After tending to the fallen drunkards, I was whisked off to the teleportation array. The people participating in the Everlasting Floor challenge had already assembled. I looked around once more at everyone’s faces.
Ramis, Hyurumi, Pitee, Shui, Mishael, and Hevoy. Yup, it looks like this would be our fixed travelling companions from now on.
Both the Scorching Sand Director and Dark Forest Director wanted to come along but were unanimously refused. Spending just an hour in their presence was already a pain; spending an entire year would be nothing short of torture.
Yeah, no thanks.
Not that they could actually accompany us anyway, being Directors and all. The Scorching Sand Chairman, especially, would have to return to his own floor and guard the place after what had happened at Clearflow Lake.
“Well then, shall we head for Everlasting Floor?”
“After all that partying yesterday, there’s no need for a teary farewell, right?”
“Yeah, it’s not like we’re going on a suicide mission or anything.”
“Indeed, the journey would only take a year or two. So, let’s not be too gloomy.”
“Yes… I’m happy to… be with… Hakkon…”
“I’m happy to be travelling with Master Hakkon, too!”
Everyone was in higher spirits than expected, which was a good sign.
With this crew, we could probably travel together for years without getting bored.
“Right, activating the teleportation circle,” said Hyurumi.
As always, it was fascinating to see her hand practically flying over the controls. Not long after that, a brilliant blue light enveloped our party.
It was a familiar sight.
As for the Everlasting Floor being the lowest dungeon floor… Well, this was still speculation until we saw it for ourselves.
Since I can’t move my body, I might as well make use of my brain and do some critical thinking for the team.
When the light receded, I found myself surrounded by darkness.
To be clear, it was not complete darkness. There were a few structures here and there that were illuminated by torches or magic lamps. The lights looked like floating islands in a black void. However, their illumination was not enough to show anything beyond their immediate surroundings.
The ground below us was firm, packed dirt. That much I could tell from the light emitting from my own body.
Now that I think about it, the lights appeared to be set in a circle. Aside from the few structures within the circle, everything outside looked like… nothing. As though there was nothing beyond the circle but an endless abyss.
“This place is smaller than I expected, Master Hakkon.”
“Ye–es” I agreed.
“There’s only an inn, a general store, and a Hunter Association here. Pretty much like the other dungeon floors with just the absolute bare essentials. There are no monsters here and no enemies, just an endless path ahead. So it made sense to keep things down to a minimum,” explained Hyurumi.
Still, since it was the lowest floor, it was kind of plain…
“Um, so, we should check in with the Hunter Association, right?” asked Ramis.
Hyurumi dipped her head briefly at Ramis’s question. As agreed, Hyurumi would be our de facto leader for the team, but Hevoy would take command during battle.
“Right, let’s head over to the Hunter Association office.”
With only three, clearly marked buildings, there was no way of getting lost.
The building was a simple wooden structure. Inside was a pudgy middle-aged man in Hunter Association uniform, who was chatting idly with an equally plump middle-aged woman in the same uniform.
“So, what should we do today?”
“How about simmering the stew until it practically dissolves?”
Their words oozed boredom. Both had so much free time on their hands that they had lost all energy for life. Well, it was understandable if you spent all day, every day, in a dim, monsterless place like this.
“Excuse me, this is the Hunter Association, right?”
“Oh my? Customers?”
“Ah, are you the ones the Clearflow Lake Director mentioned? You’re here to clear the floor?”
It looked like they were expecting us, but their lack of motivation actually made them forget about our pending arrival. Being here must have leeched them of any enthusiasm for their jobs.
“Yeah, that’s us. Can you tell us the current progress of this floor?”
“Sure, sure. The records should be right… uh, wasn’t it here? No, maybe that shelf—”
“That’s not it, it’s on that other shelf. I think?”
After a few more false starts, they finally found the relevant documents and handed it to us. Hyurumi looked through the thin bundle quickly.
“Up until a few years ago, hunters used to visit frequently. But after reports from that one hunter who cleared the right-hand path, the number of visitors stopped. A few ambitious ones would challenge it now and then, but most return within a month.”
“Are there any who never came back?”
“Yes, roughly one in ten never returned. The hunter who cleared the right-hand path reported finding the belongings of hunters who had starved to death along the way. It looked like most people stopped challenging this floor because of this.”
So, the main cause of death really was starvation, huh?
Further study of the documents found no monster attack at all.
Of the three paths, the middle and left paths had been explored for six months each, but neither group ever reached the end.
Hunters who challenged the paths were required to mark their furthest point by sticking a thin red metal rod into the ground to record their progress. We received our own set of rods.
“In short, these rods mark the furthest point a hunter has reached, right?”
“We’ll reach all the way to the end anyway, so there’s no need to stick this rod in!”
“Well, that’s to be expected, yeah?”
“Yes… even if it takes… years…”
The ladies did not seem fazed by the report at all; if anything, they looked even more fired up. In fact, they looked like they were about to embark on an exciting journey.
“Feels like our greatest enemy would be boredom.”
“If our bodies grow dull, we’ll just train. Right, Master Hakkon?”
The men seemed to be in their usual good spirits, too.
Since everyone had already made up their minds, there was no need for me to say anything more, right?
“Excuse me,” the male staff member interrupted us apologetically. “Would you like to collect the cart that the Director of Clearflow Lake has left for you?”
“Ah, that’s right. I believe he did say something about a cart. Though… I must have been engrossed with my meal to pay attention,” said Ramis.
“Well, I had been listening carefully,” said Hyurumi. “Anyway, I guess the Director thinks there’s a limit to how far we can get on foot. I’m sure he had also left a fine unasus for us.”
Everyone else nodded at Hyurumi’s conclusion.
Then, we all followed the male staff out of the Hunter’s Association office towards a nearby storage shed. Inside was the promised cart, but no unasus.
“Hm? Where’s the unasus?” Ramis asked, as she looked around the small shed.
“According to the Director, there was no need for a unasus,” said the male staff. “He told us that we should leave everything to a certain Mister Hakkon.”
All eyes turned towards me.
Fufufufu~ At last, the time has come for me to show off my new power.
With all the points I have saved and the ones I have earned during the Clearflow Lake chaos, I have surpassed 3 million points.
It’s now time to unveil my Level 3 Skill!
[Gumihou: I wonder what kind of skill it could be~?]
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