novelraw Chapter 166
Chapter 166
Chapter 166
One of the Norwegian Bakeneko serves as my cat taxi.
Another serves as the partner of Dark Knight, the general of the Black Fingertips.
Each of them serves under Team Finger Man.
I named my cat taxi Norn.
The one with Dark Knight is named Colon.
Even when riding Norn to conquer the dungeon, the first thing to do remains the same.
Using my black-rimmed glasses, the 'Labyrinth Conqueror', I update Today's Hunting Grounds.
Frequent updates on SNS are crucial.
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Red Tree kotoha:
Finger Man, you're in Kyoto!
Agent G:
No way......
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It's fun to get instant reactions.
As always, those two reply at the speed of sound.
Lately, I've started to suspect... is this Red Tree kotoha perhaps......
Pirorin
A message came in from my little sister.
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Kotoha: You're in Kyoto, right?
Take a picture of Finger Man for me.
No way: Akagi Hideo
That would bother Finger Man.
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I've confirmed it. That's my little sister.
Come to think of it, she was a hardcore Finger Man fan.
Now that I think about it, "Red Tree kotoha" is such an obvious alias, I can't help but laugh.
"Seriously, my foolish little sister..."
"Meow~n"
"Gii"
"Kyukyuu"
I put away my smartphone and begin the conquest.
With all 40 floors, and each floor said to be the size of an entire prefecture, this dungeon is on a different scale than anything before.
Well, for now, let's just give it a try.
"Woof woof"
I immediately encountered a dungeon French Bulldog.
I was about to use 'Super Catcher Lv4' to snag him and kick off another massive capture festival... but I still have thousands of dungeon dachshunds left over from the Chiba dungeon, so this time, rather than for XP, I plan on making some charred remains for another purpose.
You see, I've long been aware that I rely too much on the auto-aim skill. So I'll aim manually. During my fight with Shirokko, I learned that when the enemy uses evasion-type skills or skills that lower my accuracy, the difference becomes very clear.
This Finger Man won't fall for the same trap twice.
——32 hours since entering the dungeon
I've reached the 4th floor.
The Mugen High-Load is already stuffed tight with small crystals.
My manual aiming practice is going well.
Honestly, I think I might already have better accuracy without auto-aim than I did 30 hours ago.
"Meow~"
"Gii (Translation: My lord is constantly nourishing various abilities through the hardships of daily missions, so it seems he can learn things even faster than the Breakdancers.)"
"Kyukyuu! (Translation: As expected of the Hideo-dono I've acknowledged! Amazing-kyu, so cool-kyu!)"
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★Daily Mission★
Let's keep at it every day!
'Wobbly Aim Correction Week'
Manually aim and achieve One Snap One Kill
400/400
★Today's Daily Mission completed!★
Reward: 'Sword of the Tempest'
Streak: Day 143
Steady Rank: Platinum Multiplier 10.0x
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Today's Daily Mission was an easy one, thanks to Daily-kun, who has chosen to live alongside me.
I hope I can continue clearing daily missions peacefully like this.
The reward is the 'Sword of the Tempest'.
It's a weapon—an intimidating green-and-black double-edged straight sword.
I won't use it, so I'll supply it to the Black Fingertips.
"It's definitely spacious. I thought I was progressing pretty fast, though."
I sat on the stairs and ate the rice ball Jiu-san had made for me.
"......It's part of my duties as your secretary," she said, having also packed miso soup in a magic thermos, which I enjoyed while it was still hot. For the record, it's a literal magic thermos.
Delicious.
This gives me the energy to keep going.
To be honest, at this point I could probably go ten days without eating and it wouldn't be a big deal... but hey, eating is important for humans, right?
I took out my smartphone and synced it with the 3D map of the 'Labyrinth Conqueror'.
The 3D map lets me see the terrain of each floor, treasure chest locations, and various strange objects, but not the locations of the stairs to the next floor.
That's why I always have to find the stairway between floors on my own.
Looks like there's still a long way to go.
One trait of Abyss-type dungeons is that each floor is vertically thick.
In addition to the long stairways connecting the floors, there are also stairs within each floor with height differences. In Abyss dungeons, the difference in elevation within a floor is said to be around 60 meters. In contrast, typical labyrinth-type dungeons only have a vertical thickness of about 10 meters.
So exploration takes time.
Also, it's just plain huge.
That said, for this conquest I've deployed the 106-member army of the Black Fingertips, so relying on their abilities, I should be able to break through even a Class 5 potential.
——45 hours since entering the dungeon
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★Daily Mission★
Let's keep at it every day!
'Wobbly Aim Correction Week 2'
Manually aim and achieve One Snap One Kill
600/600
★Today's Daily Mission completed!★
Reward: 'Helm of the Tempest'
Streak: Day 144
Steady Rank: Platinum Multiplier 10.0x
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Daily missions have been really easy lately.
Did the person in charge change? If so, I'm thrilled.
Feels like they're trying to get me to collect the whole Tempest series.
'Helm of the Tempest'—a menacing green-and-black headgear that looks like something a demon lord's general would wear.
It's not my style, so I'll issue it to the Black Fingertips.
For the record, I'm currently on the 7th floor.
Still a long way to go.
——60 hours since entering the dungeon
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★Daily Mission★
Let's keep at it every day and stay steady!
'Aim Correction Week 3'
Achieve One Snap One Kill manually
800/800
★Today's Daily Mission completed!★
Reward: 'Gauntlets of the Tempestbreaker'
Consecutive days: Day 145
Steady Rank: Platinum Multiplier 10.0x
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Acquired the arm armor from the Tempestbreaker series.
It's radiating a sinister black-and-green aura.
This one's also going to the Black Fingertips—or rather, I don't need it, so I'm giving it away.
Come to think of it, what kind of gear is it?
Guess I'll take a look before I toss it sloppily into the Mugen High-Load.
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'Gauntlets of the Tempestbreaker'
Armor once worn by heroes who challenged the heavens
It's steeped in the breath of mythic battles
Grants the power of divine might to the wearer
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Looks kinda strong (small-brain take)
My gut tells me equipping this on the Dark Knight would create a total monster.
——72 hours since entering the dungeon
After finishing a full search of the 10th floor, I found a white mist deep within the three-dimensional labyrinth.
"Bingo"
"Nyuu~"
"Gii"
"Kyukyu!"
When it comes to white mist in a labyrinth, yeah, that's definitely a boss room.
A heavy, black-rusted door—with the boss beyond it.
Until now, I'd never taken the lead in a dungeon conquest.
Which is why I've never seen it myself, but apparently, every 10 floors there's a powerful monster called a floor boss.
The reason there's only one stairway between floors every 10 floors is because of that.
Most likely, this door and white mist in front of me mark the floor boss's boss room.
In front of the floor boss room, a bunch of Black Fingertips were waiting.
There were exactly 106 of them.
Seems they all reached the boss room before me.
I kept going back to the EXP factory to eat and nap, so naturally, those who went in straight and explored efficiently got here first.
"Kept you waiting, huh (cool voice)"
Using the low voice my mother and father gave me to cover up my tardiness, I stepped toward the boss mist.
The Black Fingertips knelt and respectfully cleared a path for me.
Am I some kind of demon king?
Written in white letters on the mist: 'Floor Boss: Novelist of the Abyss'
I traced the white letters. Like ink dropped into water, the color turned black, the mist cleared, and the gate could be pushed open.
Just as expected, a dome-shaped space spread out inside.
At the center of the vast area filled with the Abyss, a spotlight shone.
In the only light stood a gaunt-cheeked woman at a desk.
She continuously typed on a typewriter.
Clack clack clack clack. Clack clack clack clack.
Clack clack clack clack clack clack—ding.
"Did you write a good piece?"
I asked as I approached.
The woman stopped typing and slowly turned toward me.
Clack clack, clack clack clackatat, clack clack clack clack..
Clack clack clack clack, clack clack.
Clack clack clack clack. Clack clack clack clack.
The keys were struck like mad.
A black haze formed near the woman, gradually taking shape.
The vague form that could only be imagined at first gained more clarity with each word, acquiring contours, color, scent, even ambient sound——.
The black haze eventually became a monster with devilishly twisted horns.
"Great expressiveness. Too bad it's going to be charred remains."
I said as I snapped my fingers.
——Snap
A light sound rang out.
Like a marble dropped into the void of space, a dignified silence spread.
Beautiful only at the beginning. Graceful and well-behaved only at the start.
An instant later, destruction gushed from the crack in the void and incinerated everything.
Novelist of the Abyss, defeated.
"Let's keep it up."
The Black Fingertips proceeded deeper into the boss room and resumed their exploration.
I retrieved a Large Crystal from the boss's ashes, and also collected the anomalous substance buried in the ash.
It was the typewriter the boss had been using.
The item name is 'Save Point', huh?
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'Save Point'
By writing down the records of the world, it drives in a stake
As long as the stake remains, you can restart from that point as many times as you like
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I don't really get this anomalous substance.
"Gii (Translation: It seems to be an item that can deliberately trigger a time loop by recording all data constructing the world at that point in time.)"
That's our Gii. Your comprehension's on another level.
"Gii (Translation: There's no real danger since humans can't possibly control it. Let's just synthesize it and take the power.)"
"Kyukyu (Translation: What a mysterious item, kyuu~)"
Well then, let's proceed to the 11th floor.