Ch 132 -- Reunion in the Middle of a Dungeon

　　We moved into the dungeon, advancing quickly through a series of stone-walled pa.s.sageways. Monsters that appeared as we approached were dealt with by Fer and Dora-chan with no apparent effort. I felt the rate at which we were moving was a bit too fast, we should be more careful but Fer and Dora-chan wouldn't be dissuaded. I was proved right a moment later.

　　Hyun---. "Waah!" An arrow flew past my eyes, bouncing off Fer's Barrier. Some kind of dungeon trap?

　　"Oh, this dungeon has arrow traps." Dora-chan commented as he skilfully dodged around the deflected arrow in mid-flight. "The big guy's Barrier will come in useful after all."

　　"There's no problem with traps because that guy has Perfect Defence, he doesn't really need my Barrier." Fer said telepathically, continuing to sprint down the corridor. Huh? Can Perfect Defence protect me from inanimate traps? I thought Perfect Defence was 'a Skill that completely protects against physical attack and magical attack from hostile forces'. How could a trap be a 'hostile force'? I thought that meant some person or monster had to be hostile to me for the Skill to protect me.

　　"Ah, that's right. You're ignorant about dungeons and how they work." Fer said. Well, I had a vague idea about dungeons from the games I had played, if you defeat monsters you get valuable drops, there are treasure chests here and there, traps and pitfalls and the like. Fer went on to explain how dungeons worked in this world.

　　"A dungeon attracts people to enter them with drop items and treasure chests that can be obtained by defeating stronger monsters. Sometimes the people are killed by the traps and monsters. Those dead people are absorbed by the dungeon as nourishment and the dungeon grows." Another group of monsters fell to Fer's magic attacks, Kobolds? it happened in a blur and then we were around a corner before I could look back to check, and he continued his explanation. "Because of this, a dungeon is considered to be a living being. So, you see, a trap is a hostile attack by the dungeon creature and so Perfect Defence protects you from them."

　　Oh I see. Fer's explanation made it clear the dungeon really was a living thing. Fer went on to tell me about the dungeon's core. It was the heart of any dungeon and meant the dungeon would live and slowly grow unless the core was broken or captured whole and removed from its dungeon.

　　"If you break the dungeon core or remove it, what happens to the dungeon?" I asked as more unidentifiable monsters appeared before us, were dealt with and left far behind as Fer rushed through the dungeon. Dora-chan was flying alongside us and keeping up with no apparent difficulty.

　　"It means the dungeon dies. It becomes merely a hole in the ground that produces nothing, no monsters, no treasures. However the dungeon core is always moving around in the dungeon so it's almost impossible for most people to find it."

　　"When you say 'almost impossible' and 'most people', would you be able to find it, Fer? After all you have that monster-detecting ability of yours." I asked. Fer agreed that he could, with some difficulty and a lot of effort, find the dungeon core if he wanted to, but as he went on, "It would be stupid to kill an entertaining playground like this dungeon".

　　From then on I didn't worry about the traps we triggered in our rush through the dungeon pa.s.sageways. Arrows and spears bounced off Fer's Barrier and he jumped easily over the pitfalls that opened in our path. Each level's boss was dealt with in a pa.s.sing blow by Fer or Dora-chan and we didn't even slow down as we descended the stairs behind the dead monster. By the way, Sui-chan was fast asleep in her leather bag hanging from my shoulder as usual.