Chapter 16: I’m the Type Who Looks at Guidebooks First
ㅤ”Beyond the maze on the first floor…… is a Monster House.”
ㅤ
ㅤThe Master said that, as if revealing a very important secret.
ㅤ
ㅤ”A Monster House? You mean a place teeming with monsters?”
ㅤ
ㅤI ask, interpreting it with my gamer brain.
ㅤ
ㅤ”Yeah. It’s an eternal mystery where and when monsters 『spawn』, but with Monster Houses, we know the principle. There’s a monster generator inside the house, and monsters spawn infinitely from it.”
ㅤ
ㅤ”Infinitely?”
ㅤ
ㅤ”Of course, there might be a limit, but there are plenty of stories where the generator was still active years after being discovered.”
ㅤ
ㅤ”Um, what should I do?”
ㅤ
ㅤ”The best thing to do is run away.”
ㅤ
ㅤThe Master says with a serious face.
ㅤ
ㅤ”Run away, report it to the guild, and have them form a raid party to destroy the generator.”
ㅤ
ㅤ”I see. Confronting it with a small group is suicidal.”
ㅤ
ㅤ”The monsters will desperately try to protect the generator. Thinking they’re the same as the normally disorganized monsters would be a huge mistake.”
ㅤ
ㅤ”So, you conquer it with a large number of people.
ㅤWait…… but a raid party hasn’t been formed yet, right?”
ㅤ
ㅤ”Because there’s a maze right before it. Apparently, part of the maze changes shape at regular intervals, so a large-scale raid party can’t get through.”
ㅤ
ㅤ”So, no one has ever gotten past the Monster House on the first floor?”
ㅤ
ㅤ”No, the adventurer who reported the Cockatrice habitat apparently forced their way through a corner of the generator and went deeper. I’m surprised they made it back alive. Half their party was wiped out, apparently.”
ㅤ
ㅤ”Hmm……”
ㅤ
ㅤThose people must have been exceptionally skilled or exceptionally lucky.
ㅤ
ㅤ”What kind of monsters are in the Monster House?”
ㅤ
ㅤ”Goblins, Orcs, Trolls. It was apparently a showcase of humanoid monsters.”
ㅤ
ㅤ”How is that, as far as Monster Houses go?”
ㅤ
ㅤ”They should be relatively easy to deal with. Compared to a pack of Wolf-type monsters, a Slime hell, or a Ghost House, anyway.”
ㅤ
ㅤ”You mean their behavior is predictable?”
ㅤ
ㅤ”Yeah. Because they have a bit of intelligence, they’re easier to lure with decoys and traps.
ㅤHowever, it would be disastrous if a female adventurer were captured by them. The adventurer who reported the Cockatrice also escaped with their life by using a female mage in their party as a decoy after she was caught.”
ㅤ
ㅤI remember Latifa-san.
ㅤWhat Latifa-san went through when she was taken to the Goblin nest.
ㅤ
ㅤ”Well, it’s harsh to blame them. When humans are desperate, they’ll do things like that. Everyone cherishes their own life.”
ㅤ
ㅤ”……That’s true.”
ㅤ
ㅤI know that humans are like that.
ㅤMy classmates, who were supposed to be my friends, were sucking up to the bullies.
ㅤ
ㅤ”What information is there about what lies beyond the Monster House?”
ㅤ
ㅤ”Hey, hey, you’re still going after hearing all that?
ㅤBut, I’ve already taken your information fee. It might be useful for something, so I’ll tell you what I know.”
ㅤ
ㅤ”Please.”
ㅤ
ㅤ”That said, there isn’t much information.
ㅤApparently, the party I mentioned was lucky enough to receive the 『Fairy’s Guidance』 after the Monster House, and they were able to get through the second floor almost in a straight line.”
ㅤ
ㅤ”Fairy’s Guidance?”
ㅤ
ㅤ”It happens rarely. When you’re in a pinch inside the dungeon, your consciousness suddenly becomes clear, and you can 『see』 the path forward. Adventurers call this the 『Fairy’s Guidance』.”
ㅤ
ㅤ”Something like that exists?”
ㅤ
ㅤThey escaped the Monster House by using their comrade as a decoy, and then they received the Fairy’s Guidance.
ㅤThat party really survived by the skin of their teeth.
ㅤ
ㅤ”Was there no option to go back using the Fairy’s Guidance?”
ㅤ
ㅤ”Because there was the Monster House. They probably thought they had a better chance of survival by going forward and looking for a safe zone. However, they couldn’t find a safe zone on the first or second floor, and when they went down to the third floor, they found a Cockatrice nest.”
ㅤ
ㅤ”Could it be a Cockatrice Monster House?”
ㅤ
ㅤ”That’s a possibility. But if that’s the case, it would be a new type of Monster House. The guild apparently has no record of a Cockatrice Monster House ever occurring before.”
ㅤ
ㅤ”So, those adventurers turned back there and barely escaped with their lives through the Monster House on the first floor.”
ㅤ
ㅤ”I’m amazed they made it back alive.”
ㅤ
ㅤIndeed.
ㅤ
ㅤ”What about the monsters on the second floor?”
ㅤ
ㅤ”Apparently, they only encountered Mummies and Cave Bats. Because they had the Fairy’s Guidance. They had a reasonably skilled male mage in the party, so they managed to deal with the Mummies. They’re a tough opponent for an unskilled warrior or thief.”
ㅤ
ㅤ”So, you can’t rule out the possibility of other monsters being there.”
ㅤ
ㅤ”That’s right. In extreme cases, it wouldn’t be strange even if there were Cockatrices mixed in on the second floor.”
ㅤ
ㅤ”They really did well to survive.”
ㅤ
ㅤI couldn’t help but be dumbfounded.
ㅤ
ㅤ（Is this what you call bad luck?）
ㅤ
ㅤAfter learning more details about the dungeon, I left the traveling tavern.
ㅤ
ㅤ”Ahaha…… Well, I guess I should go now.”
ㅤ
ㅤI finally resolved to dive into the dungeon.