An Old Man Restaurant Owner Is Unparalleled by Relying on His Old Tricks. It Turns Out, He’s the Legendary Dungeon Conqueror. - 75

Chapter 75: As Soft as Tofu

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We finally made it to the 43rd floor after using the teleportation traps method repeatedly to save time.

“It took us only four hours to get this far… The speed of our exploration is simply unbelievable…”

Voice of admiration could be heard from the drone. It seemed we were making some pretty impressive progress on our way to the deepest floor. 

“But still… What a breathtaking view.”

Captivated by the sight of the 43rd floor, Iijima-san murmured in wonder. The members of Mercys also nodded in agreement. 

“The view is incredibly magical, isn’t it?”

“Are all of these crystals? They’re so beautiful…”

“So this is what the deep level of Kabukicho Dungeon looks like…”

Before us, there were countless crystals scattered about, complete with towering crystals towers. 

“The deeper we go, the larger the crystals.”

Crystal towers of several tens meters tall were the standard on the 43rd floor. Some crystal towers could even reach several hundred meters.

〈Those crystals are pretty expensive, right? We could’ve make a decent money if we just mined some of those crystal and took them back to the surface.〉

〈Well, apparently, dungeons like this exist all over the world, so crystal prices have plummeted.〉

〈I see, haha.〉

We advanced through the 43rd floor, weaving between the towering crystal pillars. Indeed, the scenery was simply breathtaking, but at the same time, the monsters had grown more ferocious too.

“””GROAAAAAAARRR!!”””

Multiple shadows leaping out from behind the crystals, roaring as they made their entrance. They were wolves with transparent, colorless bodies—Crystal Wolves. Although Crystal Wolves were only around 3 meters long, which wasn’t particularly big for monsters appearing on floors below the 40th, but they were incredibly troublesome. They blended perfectly within this crystal forest and they were very fast too. Their impeccable pack coordination made them a real nightmare for explorers alike. 

“Darn it! The heck with their bodies?! It’s so hard!”

“It’s because their bodies are made of pure crystal.”

“So it’s not just that they’re transparent?! They’re actually made of crystal?!”

Even S-rank explorer, Nana Tendou, was screaming in frustration since she couldn’t inflict any significant damage on the wolves. 

〈Meanwhile, Nishida is cutting through them with an ordinary kitchen knife.〉

〈Classic Nishida. LOLLL〉

〈But the wolves are still coming.〉

“””AWOOOOOOOOHH!!”””

What made Crystal Wolves especially troublesome was their ability to call in reinforcements. If left unchecked, these wolves could easily swarm us with hundreds of wolves. 

“Leave it to me~”

With her usual nonchalant tone, Ryoko Hongan cast a defense-down debuff on the Crystal Wolves. 

“Alright! Our attacks can actually deal some damage to them!”

“Yelp!”””

Nana Tendou’s sword easily slashed through the body of a Crystal Wolf. 

“Indeed. They’re as soft as tofu now.”

“No, no, they’re not that soft! Definitely not!”

“””AWOOOOOOOOOOOOHHH!!!”””

The wolves let out a synchronized howl as if the wolves were giving signals to each other. Then, they leapt straight at Ryoko Hongan. 

〈The wolves decided to take Ryoko Hongan out first.〉

〈They’re incredibly smart.〉

〈As expected from wolves.〉

〈The monsters from the deep levels are terrifying.〉

“They’re targeting Ryoko-san!!”

“Ugh! We’re not going to make it in time…!”

The members of Mercys rushed to help, but the wolves were faster. 

“Don’t worry~ There’s no need to panic.”

Despite being surrounded by the translucent wolves, Ryoko herself stayed calm. She raised her staff, gripping it firmly, and swung it with impressive force.

“””Yelp!?”””

The wolves were all sent flying in one powerful strike.

〈She’s insanely strong!〉

〈Wait, I thought she’s a healer?〉

〈The heck with that power?!〉

〈And those wolves aren’t exactly small either…〉

“Fufufu, I’m not an S-Rank explorer for nothing! Ryoko-chan can handle close combat just fine!”

Ryoko Hongan boasted proudly, clearly pleased with herself. It seemed she had cast multiple physical enhancement buffs on herself. The Crystal Wolves surrounding her scattered in fear as a heavy, rhythmic thud sound began echoing around us. Something massive was approaching us. The ground was shaking with each step and then, a giant emerged from behind a huge crystal tower. This monster was easily over 20 meters tall. 

〈Huge!〉

〈Is that a giant race?〉

〈No, that’s a Cyclops.〉

“OOOOOOOOOHHH!!”

“””-?!”””

The Cyclops let out a deafening roar, causing Iijima-san and the members of Mercys to fall to the ground in shock. 

“A-Ah….”

“Ugh…”

“M-My body…”

Taking Cyclops’ roar head-on could cause a temporary ‘fear’ status condition. If the Cyclops was much stronger than the explorer, the explorer might get completely paralyzed. In any case, this abnormal status condition could weaken an explorer’s status point significantly, which was really annoying. 

“Tch. My body feels so heavy.”

“What an annoying monster.”

“I see. The status effect that messes with your mind can’t be dispelled with magic, huh?”

Even the other S-rank explorers were suffering from the impact of the Cyclops’ roar. Without giving us any opportunity to retaliate, the Cyclops leaped forward.

〈Huh?〉

〈It jumped?〉

〈With that huge body?〉

〈It’s going to crush them all!!〉

The ones standing at the landing spot of the Cyclops jump were the members of Mercys. 

“E-EVERYONE, DODGEEEEEEE!!”

“””ARGHHHH!!!”””

BAM!!

“H-Huh…?”

“We’re… Still alive…?”

“It’s kinda dark though… What?!”

The massive foot of the Cyclops had landed on the barrier that I cast within the last second. 

〈That’s Nishida’s barrier magic, right?〉

〈The barrier didn’t budge for a bit, even after being jumped on by something that big. 〉

〈What an incredible durability.〉

〈But where’s Nishida?〉

〈Up there!〉

I jumped into the air and found myself staring right at the Cyclops’ eye. The Cyclops’ weak spot was its single eye. I thrusted my kitchen knife straight into its eyeball, piercing all the way through to its brain. 

“AAAAAARGHHH!!”

Scream of agony echoed, followed by the Cyclops’ giant body crashing to the ground. 

〈A one hit kill?〉

〈…Right. Nishida is on a whole different level after all.〉

〈This is the 43rd floor, you know? Even an S-rank explorer would have a hard time in here…〉

“Tha-Thank you for helping us…”

“But still, it only took Nishida-san one hit to kill it…”

“Nishida-san is too strong after all. I’m confident we can face anything coming our way with Nishida-san around.”

The members of Mercys expressed their gratitude to me. It seemed they were finally freed from the ‘fear’ abnormal status condition.

〈There’s no doubt about it. They definitely just fell in love with Nishida.〉

〈By ‘they’, do you mean the two women?〉

〈And the three men too.〉

〈Even the guys too? LOL〉

〈Understandable. I’m a guy too, but I’d fall for Nishida for sure.〉

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T/N: Crystal becomes as soft as tofu. Nishida too OP (TᴖT)