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Chapter 154: Floor 1 Phantom Castle

After completing the exterior, I teleported to the 1st floor of the labyrinth. This area is under the supervision of Drake and Irs.

As soon as I teleported there, I saw a scenery that made me mistakenly think that I was in another world.

Clear blue sky stretched out all around. Islands the size of which could be called plateaus were floating around. Just counting roughly, there were seven of them.

The “floating islands” were connected by large bridges. It seems to be a type of dungeon where you advance by challenging the floating islands in order. That means that the boss is waiting on the final island.

「Ah, bro! Did you come to see the progress?」

「Yeah! This is an amazing space, Drake. I couldn’t have come up with this idea.」

「I actually came up with this idea as soon as you entrusted me with this floor, bro. And I had Irs-san help.me create it.」

「Seems like there are no monsters yet. What are you planning to summon?」

「I have already decided on the monsters to some extent! I’m thinking of placing monsters that can fly like wyverns and harpies, and monsters with excellent defensive power like golems and cyclops in a well-balanced manner!」

「That sounds insanely good! A floor suitable for a super-difficulty dungeon!」

This is a pretty good concept. In addition to monsters with high defense and high firepower that take a long time to simply subjugate, there are also wyverns and harpies that will attack from the sky when they see an opening. A floor that doesn’t just force three-dimensional battles, but also to constantly choose which monster to prioritize and continue at a stable pace. Otherwise your party will soon collapse.

What’s more, Cyclops is a lower S-rank monster. And not only does it possess physical and magic defenses commensurate with its size, it also possesses powerful long-range attacks such as firing a beam from its eye.

With multiple such troublesome monsters roaming around, this first floor can be rephrased as a place where the rearguard who should be protected within the party is always targeted.

If we want to make this floor even more difficult…

「If we add a quartz scorpion to the ground monsters, wouldn’t it become an even more heinous floor?」

「Quartz Scorpion?」

「Yeah. It’s a lower A-rank monster. In addition to its high defensive power, it launches paralysis and poison status ailments. Imagine if on this floor, where mages and healers have difficulty to function, the tank is inflicted with a status ailment…」

「That would be… annihilation.」

「And the boss is waiting at the final point of this floor, right?」

「Yes. I’m thinking of placing Hecatoncheir and Owlbear in the boss area.」

Oh! That’s a pretty good choice.

Hecatoncheir is an S-ranked monster, and is simply an enhanced version of Cyclops. Not only does it have long-range magic attacks, but it is also difficult to predict the melee attacks that it unleashes from its 8 arms. Furthermore, if we equip it with weapons, it will have a variety of attacks in addition to its high defense. It is a monster most suitable to be a floor boss of the Phantom Castle Dungeon.

In addition, the Owl Bear is a lower S-rank. A monster with an owl-like head and wings, and a bear-like body. This monster shoulders this floor’s concept of attacks from the sky.

Although it’s easy to be deceived by its bear-like body, this monster actually specializes in magic, and fires a series of high-powered magic one-sidedly from the sky, where it is difficult to counterattack. In addition, it is a troublesome monster that uses support magic and healing magic to strengthen nearby monsters.

If the Owlbear were alone, it would be possible to counterattack with magic or a bow by forcing it to run out of mana, but the Hecatoncheir on the ground would not allow that.

Moreover, the synergistic effect is immeasurable when the S-rank Hecatoncheir is strengthened by the Owlbear. Perhaps he received some advice from Irs, but I got a glimpse of Drake’s sense of floor construction from this choice.

「It’s an amazing combination. You seem to be getting more familiar with monsters now, Drake!」

「I learned from watching you, bro, I understand that having information on monsters can give you an advantage in battle. I have even been reading monster encyclopedias whenever I have free time, and it’s been really fun. I have been thinking since back then about what kind of monsters I would place if I was ever entrusted with a floor.」

「The monster encyclopedia is fun no matter how many times you read it, right! By the way, do you think you’ll have enough dungeon points? Investing in a floor as large as this requires a certain number of monsters to summon, right?」

「That’s the thing, it’s not enough at all… I was thinking of talking to you about it.」

「Hmm… The renovation of Plainevelt is also undergoing, so I can’t really give out more than the points I gave to everyone.」

「I see…」

「But since you’re going to such great lengths, I’d like for you to complete your concept as well. That’s why I’ll tell Irs to give you more points regularly from now on. Please use those points wisely to increase the number of monsters little by little.」

「Are you sure? Thank you!!」

「Yeah! I’m looking forward to what you’ll create!」

「Understood! Please look forward to it!」

Alright, then. It looks like it’ll be fine if I leave the first floor to Drake. So next is the 2nd floor, Nelfie and Barbaru’s floor.