Chapter 15

“Purewhite, run along the wall, and after reaching behind the stonemen, immediately throw this grenade underneath the two stonemen!”

As I shouted that, I used 【Light Steps】and【Accelerate】, charging right up the walls of the dungeon.

And behind me, several stonemen were wildly waving their fists. The gigantic fists ruthlessly smashed into my earlier position, leaving shallow craters on the wall.

If I were to get hit by them, it totally won’t be funny at all.

While swiping of my cold sweat, I shot out a【Frozen Light】to the back.

But, so as to save up my MP, the【Frozen Light】I shot out were all aimed at the stonemen’s joints, fixating their bodies.

Why did I not exterminate them?

Are you joking? Do you know how many stonemen are chasing us? At least fifty of them!

Hard Clay Protector

LV 30 | Earth Element

Protector of the underground dungeon. Defense is their specialty.

Who the h.e.l.l said defense was their specialty? Their attack strength is evidently at the level of being capable of smashing me into smithereens!

And their specialty in defense is really too much, don’t you think?

At the start, only one of them appeared. We only managed to peel off its outer layer after knocking at it for a very long time, and then, it only stopped after I pierced its core with my 【Bloodmoon】.

However, after that, we saw a group of stonemen running towards us from all directions, and the two of us unanimously decided to turn and run.

Are you kidding me!? A b.a.s.t.a.r.d like this with such high defense is basically the nightmare of all dungeon crawlers. Even though it takes ten minutes to beat, it only gives about 200 EXP, and it’s such a waste of stamina to fight it.

There’s completely no need to fight it at all!

And the biggest problem is…

When this large number of enemies stand in a file, they are even able to directly fend off all of my attacks.

Hence, other than my Ice Magic spells that’s able to slow them down, the rest of my magic spells can be considered to be totally useless.

“Let’s go!”

Seeing Purewhite throwing the grenade over, I hurriedly used Charge and appeared right in front of her. Then, I pulled her hand and charged towards the next turning point.

Boooooom!

Other than seeing my EXP rising by 400 points, the only thing I could hear were the angry roars of those monsters.

“Master, it seems like that thing is really effective against those stonemen!”

Purewhite excitedly said.

“Even they’re effective, we can’t beat them…”

However, I helplessly shook my head.

“Why, master?”

“Because that was the last grenade I brought…”

That’s right, the grenades I brought out this time were already used up. It seems like I used them too often this time.

Initially, I did not think that I would encounter so many enemies, so, I simply brought along about twenty to thirty of them.

But, the number of enemies exceeded my expectations. It had only been a few days since we started our journey, but I only have a small number of convenient weapons and tools left.

d.a.m.n it, if I knew this would happen, I would have brought a few hundreds of them. They’re basically G.o.dly weapons here, urgh.

Seeing those stonemen approaching us, I hurriedly grabbed onto Purewhite and charged to the next intersection. Then, I cast a magic spell behind me.

“【Arcane – Empiric – Ice Royal Garden】!”

A gigantic ice wall instantly blocked our back, and the entire pa.s.sageway of the dungeon was completely sealed.

The ice wall went up all the way to the 10-meter ceiling on top, so it’s guaranteed that the enemies at the other hand will not be able to enter from there.

Of course, the enemies will not do something like that anyway. Because I can already hear them angrily knocking against the ice wall, wanting to charge into our side.

“Alright, we’re safe for now.”

Seeing that there were completely no traces of cracks appearing on the ice wall, I satisfyingly nodded my head.

“Hooray, I thought I was going to be disa.s.sembled.”

Purewhite held onto her chest and took a deep breath.

“But aren’t we sealing off the route on that side?”

“Don’t worry, in any case, that’s not the direction we’re heading. To be exact, the route leading to the east is this way.”

I pointed to the other side of the pa.s.sage.

“Although I’m not entirely sure if it’s a dead-end, at least, it looks rather normal.”

“Un, I will be following master forever anyway!”

“Alright, alright.”

I stroked her head. Un? Purewhite’s hair feels no different from real hair, huh. Just who made these Shikigamis? He’s actually capable of making them so realistic.

Could it be that dead Onmyouji?

Or could it be that Shikigamis are not created like those dolls in the first place, and are a different type of existences?

Well, I will probably find out once I reach the Eastern Continent, I guess.

Keeping close to the wall, we walked forward. Although we changed our directions many times, we actually did not meet any forked roads. However, the general direction we’re heading was definitely east.

I kind of feel like the dungeon is tricking my sense of direction. However, currently, I completely do not wish to once again break the walls to advance.

Because these walls can actually regenerate. Do you actually want me to be like a battering ram and smash my way through the entire dungeon? That’s a little too scary, you know.

I mean, just how many walls will I have to smash through before being able to complete this gigantic dungeon?

“Question!”

Unexpectedly, a toad made of stone suddenly popped out from the floor in front of us!

I instantly pulled out my Bloodmoon, but when I heard him carefully, I realized him crying out as such.

“Question! Question! Question! If you wish to pa.s.s through here, you have to answer my questions!”

“… What’s a thing like you doing here?”

“I’m not a ‘thing’, I’m the controller of this Dungeon of Death, Frog of the Deep Well.”

“……”

There are so many points I can make tsukkomis about, that I don’t know where to begin.

But seeing that he’s saying all that proudly, I kind of feel that it will be too harsh for him if I tell him the truth.

“Cough, cough. Well, what questions do you want me to answer?”

“Question! Question! In any case, I will give you questions to answer. If you answer one question correctly, you can leave this dungeon. If you answer two questions correctly, you will receive the right to fight the Guardian of the Dungeon of Death. If you answer three questions correctly, you will receive an unique reward. Are you ready? Question!”

This toad actually looked as though it was made out of rocks. It’s entire body was brown in color, and the rocky skin on its outer layer was constantly trembling.

What was even more frightening, was the very unique symbol beside its name.

Frog of the Deep Well

Faction: Dungeon of Death

Unique Attribute: Indestructible

Oh my G.o.d, it’s actually even indestructible. Is the rules of this place starting to become strange?

But, whatever. It’s just answering questions. Piece of cake.

“Alright, ask away.”

“What has four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and thr…”

“Three in the night, the answer is human! You b.a.s.t.a.r.d, you’re actually plagiarizing the Sphinx’s riddle!”

“What!? How did you know the answer!? Who’s Sphinx? Question, question! Even though the rest of the people that had entered this dungeon turned into stonemen because of this question, how did you know of the answer!? Question, question!”

“Whatever the case, I answered it right. Next question!”

Hahaha, to think it’s actually questions like these. This is too easy.

“Please state one of the components of air. Question, question!”

“Oxygen?”

“Question, question!!! How did you know about that!? Just who are you!? Could it be that the intellect of humans are actually already this high!?”

“……”

Are you kidding me? Questions like these…

Are you trying to imply that my Chemistry knowledge was taught by a PE teacher?

“Then! Next question! You will definitely not know the answer to this one! Question, question! Please state the actual age of the girl, Pryn Snowmystel, who is being sealed in ice at the imperial capital of the Ice Empire, starting from the time she was born. Question, question! Now, you can’t answer this one, right!?”

“168 plus 665… 833 years old, right?”

“… Question?”

The toad was evidently stunned.

“You… How is it possible… Question!”

“I’m sorry, Snow White, she… can be considered as my summoned being?”

“Su-su-summoned being!?”

The toad was completely stunned.

“Alright, what’s my reward?”

“This is impossible! This is impossible!”

That toad actually cried out as he turned and ran!

“Purewhite! Chase after it!”

“Yes, master!”