Live Dungeon! Chapter 10

Translator: TipToe

Outside the black gate, a white beach sprawled out, such that it was bright enough to make you squint. There were small pond-like tidal pools, and some tall trees here and there, much like an oasis in the middle of the desert.

From the sands, two large front limbs emerged, and the shell crab appeared from below the beach, moving its legs with precision.

Its shell that glowed and shined in the sun was covered with strong minerals and seashells, and its two large front claws, differing in size, were jagged like saws. Faced with claws so large that they could easily hold a whole person, Tsutomu was a little scared, but he held onto the white cane and applied buffs to the other two people.

As soon as he noticed that he was buffed, the black-haired person moved quickly. And so, the shell crab began moving sideways, approaching underneath the three.

"Combat Cry!"

The shell crab swung at Garm with its right claw, prompting him to dodge to the side while activating a skill. Sand flew up at the location hit.

"Enchant: Earth."

Garm used his longsword with one hand, gathering the magic of the earth to increase the strength of the sword, aiming for one of the crab's four thin legs. However, it bounced off with a high-pitched sound, and he doesn't cut through, only displacing some minerals.

The shell crab kept swinging at Garm mindlessly, as he dodged and started his own counterattacks. Amy sprung from behind with her double swords.

"Rock-breaking Blade."

Amy placed two swords into the crab's back and swung in a frenzy, pulling in and out. Every time she swung, minerals on the crab's shell turned into powder.

The shell crab stopped abruptly and turned to face Amy. As she jumped off its back, thin waterlike spines shot out of its back and pierced her shins.

Water bullets that penetrate the human body have the potential to be fatal if they hit vital points. While Tsutomu's Heal wrapped around Amy's feet, Garm persisted, aiming at the joints of the crab's narrow legs with his longsword. 

Tsutomu, aiming at the two people who flew away from the shell crab, that was now spinning vigorously, applied protection to Garm, and applied protection and Haste to Amy.

"Focus more on your movement and lead it to the traps."

"Roger that."

Garm responds to Tsutomu's words, readjusting his shield. Amy already headed toward the shell crab with lightened footsteps from Haste.

Amy moved away from the swung down right claw and stepped into the sand to cut off the crab's eyestalks. There was a high impact sound as if hitting iron. Amy stopped a little in the air, under the cover of the left claw. Before being pinched by the right claw, she kicked the left claw with one foot and flew backward to reposition in midair. She headed to the shell crab again while running through the sand.

Garm also stabbed its narrow legs, avoiding the claws that were swung down one after another. The enemy was swept back by his shield, and the previously tight space he could afford grew bigger.

Amy, flying while being chased by claws, jumped on the claws to run past its front legs and towards its back.

The back of the shell crab was a place where its claws couldn't reach due to its body structure. When its eyestalks moved to try to see Amy, Garm poked the crab's thin leg joints. Tsutomu released Air Blades on its narrow legs while paying attention to aggro management and miscasting.

The shell of one of its narrow legs peeled off. You could now see a thin black surface underneath. Amy gradually stripped the shell off the crab's back, removing any carapace and ore.

The shell crab then made a shrill cry. And soon after Amy got off, she jumped onto the ground. Tsutomu took note of the crab's action, which he had not seen on the monitors while dodging the flying sand particles.

The shell crab jumped around so much that you'd wonder how it could fly so far with such thin legs. In anticipation of its momentum disappearing, the shell crab slowly did a half turn in the air, trying to crash into the ground while Amy was on its back.

Naturally, Amy pierced the crab with her double swords and kicking off the shell and leaving it. Tsutomu grew impatient, and thoughts flooded his head.

[Isn't that height fatal? Amy could fall off. Severe fractures could be fixed with high-level heals. Direct aggro to over here for the time being. The crab doesn't move quickly, even if you heal. Can you protect yourself only relying on Garm? Complete your attack. No potions, no potions, no way to reduce fractures, buffs…]

"Protect!"

While running under Amy, who was recovering in the air, he cast his skills. Attempting to reduce mana savings and increase aggro, he cast the skill with more mana than usual without changing the effect of the spell.

Amy confirmed that the dark earthen color covered her body while falling, and then landed on the sand from her feet with her long white hair flowing. She moved forward several times to get rid of the shock and stopped. Immediately, Tsutomu took a thin bottle from his belt and opened the lid.

"How are you!?"

"There don't seem to be any fractures. Thanks."

With the thud from the landing, dust rose up and flew quite far. Amy wiped the sand off her hair while still on one knee.

Amy, who gently stowed away the potion that Tsutomu gave, looked at the shell crab and stood up with a shriek of pain.

"No, you're clearly hurt."

"Oh, no, isn't this fine?"

"… please show me your legs if you're really okay."

Tsutomu approached Amy, who was on her knees with an expression that wouldn't tell him if she used the potion. He took off her boots and gently removed her socks so as not to [stimulate] as much as possible. Her ankle was purple and bruised.

Tsutomu placed a potion into the sand after seeing it and made a bitter expression.

"Heal can't be used for you because I have to use it for Garm."

"No, using this much is wasteful… isn't it better to just heal me after the dungeon?"

"I've been thinking about it for a long time, but this really isn't worth arguing about … I won't allow you not to drink it."

Amy disagreed with Tsutomu and ran off without saying anything, leaving tsutomu unable to tell whether she was guilty or not of something. He looked at the potion in the sand.

[Normally, the opposite is true]

Amy was told that people wouldn't forgive if she used a potion because of an injury that only caused pain when she walked, but Amy had never been told that someone wouldn't forgive her for not drinking it.

In the first place, it was strange to carry potions. Even Amy, who doesn't know his refusal of this norm, didn't drink potions that were bought for. As she suspected that she would be billed later, she refrained from using potions worth as much as a medium-quality stone.

[Even if we don't get much money, I'll still have to hand over some stones…]

Amy took a small bottle from the sand and drank the contents. It was a little bitter but not bitter enough to cause nausea. As an elf potion, it eased the pain of both feet while its taste wrapped around the tongue.

While Amy was recovering with the potion, Garm continued to hesitate to attack the shell crab. While Garm's breath is constant, the shell crab never slowed down either. Rather, it gained more momentum than before, even with Amy's double swords in its back.

Moving its thin legs quickly as if playing the piano, it walked sideways and approached Garm, shaking its claws. Garm was forced to step where he couldn't move comfortably and was deprived of his physical strength.

If you don't take the initiative to attack, you won't be able to hit your opponent. However, Garm's physical strength was its limit. Fatigue dulled his movement and made his judgment cloudy. Garm moved away from the shell crab while he was attacked due to the feeling that his armor was hot and that he wanted to take it off.

"Heal. Medic."

The green spells wrapped around Garm's body in the sand. Garm's breath settled down a little with the feeling that his body gradually cooled down.

Garm stood up, with a longsword in the ground as a pivot, and attacked the shell club. It hit the right claw, and the left claw attacked Garm. Garm is blown away, parrying the hit with his silver shield.

Amy, who had now recovered, climbed the shell crab's back and pierced it with her double swords. The shell crab jumped around in a rampage. Amy landed back on the sand as if playing.

Blue blood overflowed from the place where the double swords were pulled out. While hitting both claws against the sand, the shell crab quickly moved its eyestalks and screamed.

"I'll set up traps. For the time being, please use as many potions as you need."

"Roger."

"Alri~ght."

The two responded to the situation, and Tsutomu turned away from the battlefield. The shell crab, fixated on Tsutomu, tried to pursue him, but Garm used Combat Cry and directed the crab towards at the two others.

Tsutomu periodically looked back and confirmed that the shell crab isn't following him. He took signposts out of the magic bag and marked the sand while looking for the shell crab's nest.

[The coconut tree and the three rocks. After that, the elevated ground near the seaside, so I should be able to find it soon.]

While running along the beach and placing signposts, Tsutomu recalled his knowledge from the game. Then he ran for about 15 minutes and found a short and a tall palm tree.

Then, Tsutomu took out the food of the shell crab. Scattering spotted fish that Amy had caught in the sea, he buried it in the sand. Some fish's bellies were cut to spread the scent, and the smell of fresh fish filled the area.

The spotted fish, which makes up most of the shell crab's diet, is a potion ingredient and is what it uses to recover.

While injecting needles containing the poison collected from the swamp into some of the fish, the effort went back to where he came from, praying as he did.

Things brought in from outside the dungeon disappear as particles in about thirty minutes from usage. Therefore, the signposts become particles after thirty minutes and cannot be used.

So while placing signposts on the way, Tsutomu tried to find landmarks around. He then discovered the three rocks, so signposts were only placed there.

After that, he wanted to find a landmark near the seaside, but he decided to go back for a while due to the limitations the signposts had. Even if this didn't work, he could still use the remaining ones next time.

The dungeon often differed in terrain from the game, but it still had similar features. Safe points where monsters don't go were near large trees that can be seen from a distance in the forest. The way to distinguish between regular swamps and bottomless swamps is whether the swamp is dark. Even if the terrain changes, there are constants that don't change on each level.

Therefore, the features and knowledge of each level are useful to have. Since the seaside location was mapped out live through the monitor, Tsutomu was relieved that results were showing.

Tsutomu looked around the seaside on the way back and replaces the signposts that have disappeared, leaving only a few holes.

And so, Tsutomu followed the signposts and returned to the two fighting the shell crab.

Chapter end