Episode 140 -- This Dungeon Is Being Unfair
The first enemy monsters we encountered in the densely forested 26th level were a dozen or so large praying-mantis-like creatures, over two metres long. When I Appraised them....
[Giant Killer Mantis]
B-rank monster.
Eh, just that, nothing more? Well, before I levelled up I'd only see the name of the monster using Appraisal so I supposed learning its rank was a bit more useful.
"What, not more small fry. Tsk..." Fer grumbled before blasting the Giant Killer Mantises to Kingdom Come with bursts of lightning magic. The dozen or so Giant Killer Mantises burned up and died almost before I had finished Appraising them.
".........Fer" I said reprovingly. He had just fired off his lightning magic without warning us or discussing how we were going to fight the monsters. Seeing the results it was clear The Giant Killer Mantises were no real opposition but still, it was rude of him not to consult with the rest of us or share the fighting effort.
"Hoi, big guy. Give the rest of us a chance to fight them, will ya?" Dora-chan complained.
"Fer-ojichan cheated-" Sui-chan added. Dora-chan and Sui-chan were obviously annoyed at Fer's high-handed actions.
"Is that kind of small fry really worth arguing about?" Fer tried to justify his selfishness. "There will be stronger monsters along real soon, I'm sure."
"It's no fun if only one of us does all the fighting, big guy. You're a meanie." Dora-chan said accusingly.
"Sui wants to fight too-. I'll pew-pew the Bad Guys and buzz them with Water Cutter and knock them down a lot-"
I couldn't understand why they were all battle maniacs, did they love the sight of blood so much? I needed to sort things out before they ended up arguing and getting in each other's way in a fight. I didn't want to see Dora-chan getting hit by one of Fer's Claw Slashes by accident or Sui-chan get hurt by Dora-chan's lightning magic.
"Right then, we'll do it the same as before. You can all take turns to fight, OK?" I pointed at Dora-chan. "You fight the next monsters we meet and then it will be Sui-chan's turn. Does that sound fair?"
Both Dora-chan and Sui-chan were reluctant to agree to this but soon acquiesced. Fer's attempt to interrupt and jump the queue were met by three harsh stares and he quickly backed down.
"Next time is me, the boss says so." Dora-chan said happily.
"If you say so, Aruji, Sui will wait because Sui is a good girl-" Sui-chan agreed.
Now that was settled I picked up the drops from the Giant Killer Mantises and we went deeper into the woods. By the way, the drop items were a small magic stone and the front-leg sickles from a Giant Killer Mantis.
The next monster we ran into in the woods was a Murder Grizzly. To me it seemed bigger than the one Fer had subjugated earlier on the surface. When I asked Fer about this afterwards he told me that monsters in a dungeon tended to be larger and stronger than the same kind of monsters outside in the surface world. It was something to do with the concentration of monsters down here and maybe the way the dungeon created them to fight Adventurers. Only the biggest and baddest would be suitable.
"Guaaaargh!" The Murder Grizzly spotted us and lumbered towards us, the big heavy monster moving deceptively quickly.
"Hey ho, here I go!" Dora-chan sang, flying straight into the Murder Grizzly's body like a small artillery sh.e.l.l. Dosh. The Murder Grizzly collapsed in a furry heap as Dora-chan erupted out its back in a spray of blood and organs. And that was that. I collected the drop, a Murder Grizzly fur and we moved on.
The next monsters we met were a flock of Paralyse b.u.t.terflies, according to my Appraisal. They were B-ranked monsters, b.u.t.terflies about one metre long with orange wings spotted with blue polka-dots. They usually flew around in groups making them more dangerous than individuals. There were maybe thirty or so b.u.t.terflies in the flock coming towards us. Since these were the first monsters of this type I'd ever encountered I quickly asked Fer about them. He explained that after sprinkling a paralytic poisonous dust on their targets and immobilizing their prey they sucked out their bodily fluids while they were still alive.
Sucking out someone's bodily fluids while they were still alive... I shuddered at the thought. This time it was Sui-chan's turn to deal with these horrible creatures and I wanted her to do a thorough job before the Paralyse b.u.t.terflies could get close to us.
"Sui, the bug-sans that are coming scatter a powder that makes your body stop moving. Don't let them get close, you should attack them from a distance. "
