After My House Burned Down, My Life Became Meaningless, so I Bought a Dark Elf S*ave With the Little Money I Had Left - Chapter 16
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- After My House Burned Down, My Life Became Meaningless, so I Bought a Dark Elf S*ave With the Little Money I Had Left
- Chapter 16 - The Monster of the Deep Layers
Chapter 16 – The Monster of the Deep Layers
※※※※
It had been a week since the incident with the Napole Trading Company.
(I’ve figured out the target amount. Now, all that’s left is to save up the money…)
For the past week, Ati and I had been continuously venturing into the labyrinth.
Every day, we focused on the shallow layers.
We stuck with our original method: Ati sniping monsters while I gathered materials.
Our earnings over the week came to roughly 170,000 rob.
After subtracting living expenses and other costs, about 120,000 rob remained as profit.
Combined with our unused funds, that totaled just under 600,000 rob in all.
(…Hmm. This pace is unsettling.)
Earning 120,000 rob in one week means roughly 500,000 rob per month.
At this rate, saving the remaining 4,500,000 rob would take about nine months—over half a year.
I can’t afford to be so leisurely.
There are two reasons I want to set out as soon as possible.
First, the Northeastern Continent is not a comfortable place for Ati.
Second, Imperial soldiers had previously advanced eastward.
Those are the two reasons.
I couldn’t shake off an inexplicable feeling of unease about it.
Maybe I should consider entering the middle layers.
I have a feeling the time has come for that.
Of course, I won’t compromise on my safety-first principle.
It’s precisely because I intended to stick to that principle that I spent this week getting accustomed to the labyrinth.
Though it was only a short week, I also upgraded my gear.
I purchased a backpack to make gathering materials easier, and I picked up various other small portable supplies.
I’ll be relying on Ati quite a bit, but I hope she’ll forgive me for that.
“――It’s about time we try heading into the middle layers. Do you think it’ll be okay?”
After finishing today’s labyrinth exploration and returning to the cabin, I asked Ati.
She nodded without hesitation.
“I think it’ll be fine. As I mentioned earlier, I can handle situations up to a certain point.”
That was reassuring.
Hearing that, I decided to enter the middle layers.
At that moment, I never imagined I’d have to resort to my trump card…
※※※※
With our preparations thoroughly completed, we entered the labyrinth and ventured deeper and deeper inside.
We still had no idea where the middle layers began.
However, according to Ati, it becomes unmistakably clear.
It seems that when you descend stairs or similar passageways, at a certain floor the labyrinth’s atmosphere suddenly changes.
They say it’s so palpable that anyone can sense it without fail.
That change is what has led to the labels 【middle layers】, 【lower layers】, and 【deep layers】.
(Atmosphere, huh? That’s such a soft, airy way to put it…)
Well, no matter how much you agonize over it, nothing can be done.
It’s a sensation you can only truly understand by experiencing it firsthand.
After we began walking through the labyrinth, some time passed.
During that time, we didn’t encounter a single monster.
Judging by the lightness of Ati’s footsteps, she seemed to be deliberately avoiding them.
That was something only someone with Ati’s keen senses could manage.
Then, after descending several floors, Ati’s footsteps halted abruptly.
“What’s wrong?”
“Something feels off…”
“You mean the atmosphere? Could it be that we’re already in the middle layers?”
“No, not that. It’s that something is approaching.”
I couldn’t figure it out.
But when Ati suggested we hide in the shadows of a side passage, I followed her lead.
Then, gradually.
It happened gradually.
A tense, crackling vibration began to reverberate through the labyrinth, eventually swelling into a rumble reminiscent of an earthquake––
“Gyaaaaaan! Aaaahhhhn!”
――A gigantic body, spanning the entire width of the labyrinth corridor, raced away while emitting an eerie, bizarre cry and scraping against the wall with a grating sound.
Once the area fell silent, I muttered, “What on earth was that?”
“…It’s a deep-layer monster. Probably some kind of earth ‘dragon’,”
Ati added.
Apparently, that was indeed a deep-layer monster. And to top it off, it turned out to be an earth “dragon.”
(What the hell…)
I had heard from the guards about the possibility of deep-layer monsters appearing.
So I thought I was somewhat prepared.
But I had underestimated it a bit.
That thing wasn’t something you could easily handle.
“…I’m sorry. An ordinary gun won’t even leave a scratch on it. It’s incredibly tough.”
Ati’s expression turned grim as her brows furrowed.
It seemed the opponent was particularly formidable—one of those monsters for which retreat is advised.
“…Let’s go home. I want to venture into the middle layers, but there’s no way we can have something like that around.”
I quickly decided to retreat.
With a threat like that, continuing forward would be nothing but sheer stupidity.
Honestly—I even considered using my trump card, since that would make future explorations much easier.
But using it would leave me completely battered, and I’d likely lose consciousness.
I just couldn’t bring myself to risk that inside the labyrinth.
Our expressions were indescribable as we began packing up to leave.
Then, at that moment, a human voice—not the earth dragon’s bizarre cry—rang out.
“—H-help meeeee!”
I blinked in confusion, wondering what had happened, when a panting man turned to us and shouted:
“Deep-layer monster! A deep-layer monster has appeared! H-help me—anyone will do! I have four comrades! We were hiding in a crevice, waiting it out, but we got discovered! I was out scouting, and when I returned, this had happened! That monster was just sitting there, waiting for my comrades to come out of the crevice! Please—”
Suddenly, our eyes met.
I felt as though I had seen this man before—and then I remembered.
It was on the day Ati and I first entered the labyrinth.
He was one of the five who tried to pick a fight at the entrance.