The breakfast menu consisted of hard bread and consommé soup.

Leah bemoaned its crudeness, but the journey through the dungeon was long. It's a long journey through the dungeon. I didn't want to start out with precious bacon or anything like that.

Couldn't you just go heavy at the beginning and then cut back?

And, in Leah's words, the motto of this party is "quality and robustness, better safe than sorry," I told him, and folded the camp and went straight down the hierarchy.

As Lunamaria pointed out, the second level is bigger than the first.

The first level is more like a stifling natural cave, but from the second level, there are some paved paths.

There's a lot of manpower involved, obviously.

Maybe it was a sanctuary for the ancients. Maybe it was a sanctuary for the ancients.

Lunamaría says, but that was just a guess. Before you can find out, the enemy will be upon you.

Kiki!" from a distance. And then came a group of big bats.

"Giant Bat!

Lunamaria exclaims.

"You're a big bat, aren't you?

"Yes. . is a classic dungeon monster.

The bats are often herbivorous, though.

"These guys are bloodsuckers.

Well, if it was as big as a mosquito, you could at least give it some blood, but if these guys sucked it off, it would dry up.

The size of a giant bat is about a hundred centimeters long. If I was bitten by that kind of person, it wouldn't be any less painful.
With that in mind, I took out my dagger and unleashed a flattening blow.

The mithril dagger quickly sliced through the giant bat, but killing one of them didn't seem to dampen their will to fight, or their appetite.

There's nothing to do but kill them all, and I kill the second one, but as I kill the second one, the third one and the fourth one appear.

I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to make the most of your time with us.

...... These guys aren't out for our blood, they're running away from something.

"Running away from something?

Leah is crushing the fifth giant bat with a flail.

I don't know, maybe there's something at the back of the dungeon.

And, from the lower levels, say
"Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
I heard the sound of a large beast screaming.

It sounded like a great beast screaming.

"Master Will's premonition is right. There's something lurking on the third level.

That was ridiculously loud. What a messy dungeon.

Leah let out a breath, but did not say, "Let's retreat here.

"Well, we've come this far, we have to finish. And I'm sure Will can defeat any demon.

Say it like it's a matter of course.

I see that Lunamaría has put her trust in me, too.

"I know that you will overcome any challenge.

He smiled.

It was nice to be relied upon, but fighting a monster that roared across the hierarchy was very nerve-racking indeed.

Being on the third level means that I'm probably not the guardian of this dungeon, and I wanted to avoid battle if at all possible.


In order to avoid the battle, I'm going to do some reconnaissance.

A military strategist called Songshi of another world has a saying: "Know your enemy and know yourself.


If you know your enemy and know yourself, you'll never be in danger in a hundred battles.


This means that when fighting the enemy, you must be vigilant in gathering information.

It's a simple and obvious exhortation, but surprisingly, there are many people who can't do it. Vandal, the god of magic, was saddened.

Will, you are one of the strongest, but dream on your guard. No matter what kind of hero you become, death will always be with you. A hero who defeated the demon king was killed by a slime on his way back. A hero who won a war with a neighboring country was killed by an assassin on his way home. The week after his mastery of the art of war, the best martial artist in the world caught a cold and died. There are too many such stories.

I respected both Sonshi and Vandal, so I respect their style. I will use it.

I'll cast the Invisible spell and search for the monster in the third level.

With a roar like that, it must be a big monster! I thought it wouldn't be hard to find it.

And sure enough, it won't be hard.

It will capture a large four-legged creature wandering the dungeon.
...... Is that a chimera?

A chimera in a dungeon is unusual.

A chimera is an artificial demon made up of multiple demons. They are usually created by wizards who have fallen into the dark, but they are not found in natural dungeons.

In other words, this dungeon is still man-made.

Perhaps an ancient sorcerer had placed them in place of a guard, or a modern sorcerer had built a testing ground in this dungeon.

I can't determine which, but I know that they are a powerful opponent.

That chimera is an orthodox type. Is it a lion for body and head, a scorpion for tail and a bat for wings?

A typical chimera that looks like something out of a witchcraft textbook, but those basic ones are stronger, in the words of the Vandal.

Things happen for a reason. Long spears and short axes are long for a reason. You wouldn't want your knife as long as your spear.

That's right! The strong body of the lion, the powerful scorpion venom, and the jet-black bat wings all stood to gain .


Realizing the folly of fighting the chimera from the front, I still decided to avoid fighting.