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Volume 10 Chapter 3 Part 7

「I see.」

「But to think that you have already advanced to the thirty-third floor even though you were only on the twenty-second floor before. As expected of Lord Michio. The speed of your progression is truly astounding.」

Come to think of it, when I met the Duke last time, I was exploring the twenty-second floor of the Labyrinth that he introduced me to where we were fighting the monster native to the twenty-second floor, which was Mabream, after he forbade me from going to the Labyrinth of Nordselm.

Is the thirty-third floor going to be too advanced for us?

But still.

「Going from the twenty-third floor to the thirty third floor wasn’t all that bad, especially since we had the maps with us.」

「I see. That’s how it was?」

「We also manager to obtain some good equipment, which proved to be a very good match for us.」
I hope that’s going to convince him.

「Even so, that is still quite the achievement. Once you enter the thirty-fourth floor, be sure to visit me at the castle again. I’ll be looking forward to it.」

Have I gotten myself in more trouble?

Well, even if it adds to my doubts, there’s just a little bit more for me to go before I become an Adventurer. Once that happens, I’ll be able to do many more things more freely, so instead of worrying, let me interpret it positively as having received a grace period until I’ll be able to acquire the Adventurer Job.

It also means that I need to make sure that our advancement to the thirty-fourth floor won’t be put off for too long.

「Of course.」

「Well then…」

The Duke and his Party then left the place on foot.

The Adventurers from the Knight Order of Hartz Duchy are most likely assigned to explore Tare’s Labyrinth now, since that Labyrinth is well within walking distance from the Bode’s castle.

I added the Duke’s Explorer into my Party and then had him guide us to the thirty-third, thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth floors of Tare’s Labyrinth respectively. To tell you the truth, the only place where we needed him to guide us to the thirty-third floor, but since he also offered to take us to the other two, then we gladly accepted that offer.

After he finished guiding us and we fought on the thirty-third floor twice, we then returned back home.

Many of the monsters present on the thirty-third floor of Bode’s Labyrinth are weak against Fire Magic, so if I use 「Firestorm」to fight against them, the battle should be over faster than when we were fighting against the Rock Birds on the thirty-second floor of Quratar’s Labyrinth. Because of that, we should have no problems fighting against the enemies here.

For dinner that day, we had some sauteed Whole Fish and then we all took a bath after I got everyone’s approval.

From the next day onwards, we started the exploration of the thirty-third floor in earnest. Because I can deal with most of the enemies simply by using 「Fire Storm」, I would dare saying that things are going pretty good so far.

In fact, things are going so well that the number of monsters that Miria manages to petrify actually decreases. I can’t be helped, since that is a natural consequence of the battle time becoming shorter.

The monster native to the thirty-third floor of Bode’s Labyrinth is a Cape Carp, a monster that is weak to Fire Magic. That’s why I’m defeating them one after another.

When all of the Carps disappeared in smoke, what remained after them was something that looked like a parasitic worm or something. To be completely honest, it reminds me of an earthworm. It seems that it could be used as a kind of a fertilizer and the means of improving the soil in the fields if it was scattered there. In that sense, I guess it really is an earthworm.

「Identify」revealed that it is really called Parasitic Worm, but whether it is parasitic on only monsters or humans as well is unknown.

Since I was able to place it in the Item Box that can only house Drop Items from monsters, then I guess that Parasitic Worms are also classified as Drop Items, or in other words, they are a part of monsters.

Due to the mystery of how it became parasitic and thus a part of monsters in the first place, it can be said that the Parasitic Worm is a pretty mysterious creature.

Or maybe its simply a small monster that parasites on other larger monsters?

The darkness that surrounds the monsters is a pretty deep one.
Meanwhile, some of the Cape Carps left behind the Drop Items that were not Parasitic Worms. Is it going to be a cod roe, or worms other than the Parasitic Worms?

When I identified the Drop Item in question, it turned out to be a Cape Carp Liver.

「A liver, right? Is this an ingredient or something?」

「It seems to be a rare item, but it’s definitely not an ingredient. It is said that if a liver is thrown at a monster, it transforms into a Drive Dragon, or so I’ve heard.」

Sherry informs me.

So it’s a rare drop that’s not an ingredient. I’ve defeated dozens of these enemies in Quratar’s Labyrinth, but they never left an item like that. That is how rare of a Drop Item it apparently is.

Well, we were going higher and higher on a daily basis, and even then we were focusing mainly on Floor Boss battles. Does that mean that there are Cape Carps that are not going to have these Parasitic Worms in them? And are Cape Carps the only monsters capable of evolving into dragons?

It is said that if a carp ascends through the Dragon Gate, at the top of the waterfall on the Yellow River, then it’ll evolve into a dragon or something like that.

That’s the legend of the carp’s ascension.

I wonder if the carp in this world can evolve into dragons, too?

Well, there’s no use racking my brain over it. It’s a monster, after all. And one that swims in the air, no less. Is there even any need for them to ascend up the waterfall then?

「When a monster transforms into a dragon, doesn’t it mean that it’ll become stronger?」

「It’s used mainly against the Floor Bosses and the high-ranked monsters. However, the ease of the transformation depends on the monster’s strength. If a monster is strong, then it won’t become a Drive Dragon as easily. But as far as the Bosses of the lower floor are concerned, then they should turn into Drive Dragons quite easily.

If a Boss or a high-ranked monster transforms into a Drive Dragon, does it become weak?

After the Drive Dragon comes its Floor Boss variant, and after that there’ll surely be other high-ranked dragons.

If they get transformed into a Drive Dragon, then they would surely be weakened.

「So you use it like that, huh?」

「Thereafter, the Drive Dragon has to be killed before its body reverts back to its original state.」
「Why does it have to be taken out before its body reverts back?」

「A Drive Dragon leaves Dragon Skin behind as a Drop Item upon defeat, which is said to be plump, tender and delicious. Also, it’s said that if you add it to the soup, its taste is going to become one or even two ranks better. Also, supposedly it’s going to make the skin of whoever eats it more beautiful.」

Don’t tell me that the Drive Dragon Drop Item is the same as a chicken skin! I would also like to question its beautifying effects on the skin. Still, if it means that the soup’s taste is going to get amplified, then maybe I should try it sometimes?

After that, we continued with the exploration of the thirty-third floor of Bode’s Labyrinth. And not just on that day either.

The next day, the day after tomorrow and two days later, we were entering just Bode’s Labyrinth. Unfortunately, we had not much luck when it comes to the Cape Carp Liver. We’re only getting like one per day, and that’s when we’re extremely lucky.

I would have expected something like that to happen in the Labyrinth of Quratar since we were climbing through it in a hurry, but since we’re not going at the one floor per day pace here, we might still have a chance of seeing it.

I would also like Roxanne to try enjoying going at such slower pace, but that’s probably going to be impossible.

Also, now that we’ve come straight to the Bode Labyrinth’s thirty-third floor, it was relatively easy for us to level up.