An Old Man Restaurant Owner Is Unparalleled by Relying on His Old Tricks. It Turns Out, He’s the Legendary Dungeon Conqueror. - 18

Chapter 18: A Top Idol in the Making

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“Oh, I think I found something good.”

While exploring the 14th floor and searching for a teleportation trap, I came across something that made me stop in my tracks.

“Huh, what is it?”

“A hole, a hole.”

“….A hole? Wha-what’s a hole doing in a place like this…”

In the vast underground space, there was a giant hole gaping wide open in the middle of nowhere. Even when I peered inside I could only see pitch-black darkness. It was impossible to tell how deep the hole was.

〈Creepy.〉

〈It’s hidden by the vegetation. You could easily fall into it if you’re not careful.〉

〈And yet, Nishida looks so excited.〉

〈Could it be…?〉

“Nice. This hole probably connects to a much deeper floor.”

I said while gazing into the hole.

“Umm… Ken-san…? I think I have a bad feeling about this…”

“If you feel scared, just close your eyes. Everything will be fine.”

“I knew it! You’re going to jump into this hole, aren’t you?! No! It’s scary! It’s terrifying!!”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. If I were alone, I would just jump right in. But I will take it slow for you.”

〈He’d jump in if he were alone?〉

〈I’d like to see that to be honest.〉

〈No, but, won’t he die?〉

〈If anyone could do it, it’d be Nishida. That’s just who Nishida is.〉

I channeled my magic power inside my body to cast wind magic. Miku Kanamoto and Reika Kaga’s bodies began to float in the air.

“You can use wind magic…?”

“Yeah. I’m not that good at it, but well~ I can still make you guys flying at least.”

“…Using wind magic to fly is supposed to be extremely difficult… And yet, you can make other people float too?”

〈Kaga-san is right.〉

〈Nishida’s common sense is always off.〉

〈Not that good = actually really good.〉

〈A real life ‘I… Did I just do something amazing?’ moment〉

“Alright. Let’s get to the bottom of the hole.”

And so, the three of us dived into the pitch-black darkness together.

““Hiiiiiiiii～～!!!””

I used wind magic to make sure we wouldn’t go down that fast, but maybe this amount of speed was still a bit too fast for them?

“Ca-Can I at least turn on a light!?”

Miku Kanamoto said before she used magic to create light, making the surroundings visible. The cliff walls of the hole seemed to stretch on endlessly.

“GRAAAHHH!!”

“A monster?!”

〈A dragon!?〉

〈No, it’s a wyvern!〉

〈So scaryyyyy!〉

〈There’s something like that flying around in the hole!?〉

But the wyvern’s head was swiftly severed before it could reach us.

〈Instant kill, just like usual.〉

〈Poor wyvern.〉

〈It picked the wrong old man to fight.〉

〈I really can’t imagine Nishida struggling against anything.〉

“A-Ahahaha!”

I was a bit taken aback when Miku Kanamoto suddenly started laughing out loud.

“A-Are you okay? Were you really that scared…? Maybe I need to slow down a bit.”

“No! It’s not that I lost my mind from fear! It’s actually the opposite! I’m starting to have fun! I’ve always been the type who enjoys thrill rides!”

It turned out she was just getting excited, not turning mad like what I had feared.

〈Miku-chan’s got nerves of steel.〉

〈Of course. You have to if you want to be an idol.〉

〈A top idol in the making.〉

〈Miku-chan has abandoned her humanity.〉

Just when I thought it would be okay to maintain our current speed…

“Abababab…”

“Hm?”

Thud. Reika Kaga had fainted with foam bubbling from her mouth.

“Kaga-saaaaaaan!!”

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“My apologies… Actually, I have a fear of heights.”

“You should’ve told us that…!”

“I didn’t want to ruin the fun unnecessarily, especially when I’m just a manager…”

We had reached the bottom of the hole. Reika Kaga, who had fainted along the way, had regained consciousness and seemed much calmer. The color of her face finally returned to normal.

〈It’s not everyday we get to see Manager Kaga looking like that.〉

〈She’s usually the cool beauty type after all.〉

〈I think I like her even more after today.〉

〈I got super excited seeing Manager Kaga roll her eyes back and I can see the whites of her eyes… Haaahaaah.〉

〈There’s always one creepy person in the chat.〉

“My bad. I should’ve asked if you’re okay with it before I decided to jump in.”

“I-I guess I shouldn’t have gotten all excited either…”

Anyway, that hole really saved us a lot of time.

“Judging by the density of the magic in the air, this is probably the 20th floor.”

“…!! So this is the deepest floor of the Tachihi Dungeon…!”

“Looks like it. As you can see, most of the area is submerged in water.”

The bottom of the hole we had fallen through turned out to be a floor with an underground lake. We landed on a rocky island. After scouting the area, it seemed that there were large monsters swimming around the island. 

“Getting into the water is too dangerous for us. Let’s proceed by jumping from island to island.”

By the way, I thought the water was fresh water, but I was wrong. I tasted the water and it tasted salty, like seawater.

“Are you okay if we fly this high?”

“Yes, this much is fine. Besides, there’s water below.”

“Alright. Don’t push yourself, okay? Tell me if you start feeling unwell.”

While remaining cautious about how high we flew, we continued exploring the 20th floor. After about an hour of flying from island to island while defeating monsters that occasionally leaped out of the water, we finally arrived at a new area.

“It’s a sandy beach area.”

“Yeah. I can see a door leading to the boss room over there by the rocks.”

“Oh, you’re right!”

〈They found the boss room.〉

〈They reached the boss room this easily…〉

〈If I remember correctly, Tachihi Dungeon has only been cleared for about 5 times, right?〉

〈If this were an RTA game, Nishida is going to be a record winner.〉

〈To think we get to see lower level boss fight on a livestream…〉

〈This is gonna be amazing.〉

〈I wonder what the boss is like?〉

The comment section was buzzing with excitement as I opened the door to the boss room.

“The boss of the Tachihi Dungeon is a King Death Crab. Please look forward to some delicious crab based dishes I will make after the boss fight.”

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T/N: Ken-san, master of speedrun.