Chapter 820: They Want To Go Past Floor Five
You know I said that the Dungeon dive was going to be easy, right?
Ahh… Yeah…
It really was easy.
These boys were actually quite talented and I didn't even need to operate as a support for them since they weren't even getting hit by the monsters.
The only things I've done so far was to teach them how to extract the Mana Crystal and also how to dissect one of the monsters which happened to be a String Caterpillar.
That monster had glands and internal organs that could be used for making potions so I showed them how to extract and preserve them.
Which in my case was to shove them into my Pack of Folding. Find adventures at m_v l|e'm-p| y r
Obviously I did tell them the proper way of storing them in case they don't have a Pack of Folding like I did which was to wrap the parts up properly in specially prepared bundles and storing them away.
Also, depending on the parts, you might even need to leave the Dungeon as soon as you can to maintain the 'freshness' of the parts unless you have a way to preserve its state.
Aside from that… I didn't really do much aside from following behind them and they had already reached the fifth floor on their own without needing my help.
Heck, they managed to get all the way here even without drawing a map, which I suppose worked for them since they didn't need to backtrack this entire time.
We did come across a few other parties on our way here but we chose to keep to ourselves instead of joining up with them.
On the fifth floor, it seems like the staple monster here were goblins though most of them were the low level ones that were just using makeshift tools as weapons instead of being properly equipped.
And right now, the boys were facing a group of five goblins so their numbers were evenly matched.
Unfortunately for the goblins though, it was clear that the level of skill and abilities between the two parties were completely different.
Haddock alone could have already dealt with this entire group by himself but he was most likely allowing his companions to fight alongside him so he let each of the boys fight against one goblin each.
I watched as the last goblin that was wielding a wooden club had his arm cut off at the elbow by one of the boys before his body was stabbed in the chest by the very same blade, finishing him off.
"Alright, let's quickly take out their Mana Crystals and move on," Haddock ordered.
The group had already grown accustomed to this so they went ahead to start cutting open the goblins without hesitation, most of them managing to dig it out within five minutes.
I would say that was pretty average for a Dungeoneer though I admit I may have been a little biassed considering my Shadow Guards and Katsuki could do that in under thirty seconds.
Haddock gathered the Mana Crystals into a pouch he was carrying before we headed forward again.
We turned around the corner and… Oh, there's the stairs that lead to the next floor.
Well, we're supposed to only remain in the top five floors so we should be ignoring it and moving along--
"Let's go," Haddock called out, walking in the direction of the stairs.
I frowned, "Hold on… The task was to stay in the top five floors. We are already on the fifth floor so we should not be going any deeper."
Haddock stopped in his tracks to turn to me, "You've already seen what we're capable of, haven't you? We can handle this Dungeon."
I crossed my arms under my chest, "You know that's usually how overconfident Dungeoneers die in the Dungeons they dive in, right? They did warn us that the top five floors are ranked F in terms of difficulty but once you go further, the difficulty would start ramping up."
He scoffed at me, "Hmph! If you're scared to go, then just say so. I bet that dragonslayer title of yours was also just a fluke. You've been riding on Big sister Odeta's tail this entire time."
But… Odeta doesn't have a tail… Whatever.
"If you don't know, I am a D ranked Dungeoneer which means I have completed a D ranked Dungeon before."
"You completed it in a party, didn't you? And I bet Big Sis Odeta was part of the party too."
"... Yes."
I mean to be fair, I could probably go back and solo that Dungeon now but it is indeed a fact that I did complete the Dungeon in a party with Odeta being one of my party members too…
But I have no doubt that if I were to tell them that I could complete one on my own now… They would just call me a liar.
Nevertheless, that's not the point now.
"I'm currently acting as your guardian and the rules for this dive is that we stick to the first five floors. Are you disobeying Instructor Henry now?"
"Oh please, Aster. We're not learning anything by staying up here where the monsters are so much weaker than us. We've already finished five floors when most of the others are probably still stuck in the first or second floor.
Even though we aren't as strong as Big Sis Odeta, you can rest assured that we can at least still protect you from the monsters here so you can just follow along without worry."
That isn't… Ughh… I don't even want to argue with him.
Whatever…
It is true that this group does have some skill so I think they could most likely clear an E ranked Dungeon relatively easily and I doubt we would get to the D ranked arts of this Dungeon by today.
Anyway, even if things get dangerous, I should be able to bail them out so I guess we can just see how the next floor is like first.
"Fine. We'll go to the next floor but if the monsters there are stronger than we thought, we're retreating immediately. Got it?"
"Hmph… that's for me to decide. You're just the guardian here. Did you forget that Instructor Henry said to have minimal interference?"
This guy…
I'm gonna spank him when I see the chance.
He led the way down the stairs and the rest of us followed behind him, only to realise that the next floor was a Dungeon boss.
We peeked inside past the threshold and a single Dungeon Minotaur was standing there with a double bladed axe resting beside him.
Hmm… It's definitely a few levels stronger than the goblins we fought above so it's quite a big jump in difficulty… But with Haddock's stats, this should still be a fight that he can win.
Ah well… I guess he can handle this.
And looking at the grin on his face as well as the rest of his party, I guess they were also thinking of fighting the boss as well.
In fact, they didn't even ask for my thoughts and immediately ran into the boss room.
Tsk…
I managed to run in after them just as the Dungeon Minotaur grabbed his axe and let out a roar of challenge.
Haddock stood his ground fearlessly even as the monster that was at least three times his size charged towards him with his axe raised overhead.
Haddock waited until the axe was almost on top of him before he slashed his sword in an arc, parrying the large weapon away from him to crash into the ground instead.
Two of his boys immediately rushed towards the minotaur and slashed at his legs, cutting open deep gashes on the minotaur's legs.
The monster let out a loud roar as it fell onto his knees, which was the perfect height for Haddock to attempt a thrust towards the minotaur's chest.
The monster managed to raise his arm to protect himself, letting the blade stab his arm instead of his chest.
The blade got stuck in his arm but Haddock didn't panic as he kicked at the larger monster's abdomen, shoving himself back and also freeing his weapon at the same time.
The other two boys ran up to the monster as well and slashed their swords at the monster, scoring slashes across the minotaur's face and blinding him.
I had to cover my ears to block out the scream that the minotaur let out after that but thankfully that was silenced when Haddock lunged forward to stab his sword into the minotaur's throat, which was quickly followed by the rest of his party also stabbing the floor boss with their own swords.
There was a tense moment of silence before the minotaur's hands slowly dropped to his sides, signalling its death.
Haddock pulled out his sword and smirked at me, "How was that, Aster? Better than what you can do, right? Still have doubts about us?"
…
Boy, you are really raising flags for yourself right now aren't you?