Chapter 91
After finishing a delicious breakfast, Haruto felt completely refreshed. He packed his belongings and set out once again.
This time, he intended to reach the dungeon’s fourth floor as quickly as possible.
Useful ingredients were simply too scarce on the third floor.
Most of the monsters he had encountered were Skeletons, Ghouls, and other creatures with no culinary value.
Finding Living Armor, Treasure Insects, and a Mimic had already been remarkably fortunate.
Even then, those were his only worthwhile gains after spending half a day exploring.
When he thought about it, the reason was not difficult to understand.
The dungeon possessed its own ecosystem.
The third floor lay within the Golden Castle, where sunlight never reached and sources of food were extremely limited.
Golems were practically the only things capable of producing anything edible there.
Such conditions were unsuitable for most living creatures.
On the other hand, monsters that preferred darkness and had no need to eat—such as Skeletons, Ghouls, and Ghosts—could thrive without difficulty.
Rather than wasting more time there, Haruto was better off heading to the fourth floor, where ingredients were far more plentiful.
Following his map, he soon arrived at an enormous open courtyard.
Looking down, he saw layer after layer of galleries extending into the darkness below.
The entrance to the fourth floor lay at the very bottom.
An ordinary adventuring party would have to follow the galleries all the way down.
Since several staircases had collapsed, they would also need to take lengthy detours, making the journey last at least half a day.
For Haruto, it was much simpler.
He walked to the edge of the courtyard and looked down.
The depths below were shrouded in darkness, but the light from his torch allowed him to make out the railing of the next level.
Without hesitation, Haruto climbed over the barrier and dropped.
As he passed the railing below, one hand shot out and caught its edge, stopping his descent while the other continued holding the torch steadily.
After a brief pause, he released his grip and dropped again.
Repeating this process, Haruto reached the bottom of the courtyard in less than ten minutes.
He dusted off his hands and was about to take out the map when he faintly heard movement somewhere above.
Haruto paid it no attention.
Whether it was an adventurer or a monster had nothing to do with him.
He unfolded the map, carefully checked the location of the passage to the fourth floor, and quickly identified the correct direction.
After a moment of thought, however, he could not resist searching the surrounding area first.
There might still be something worth collecting.
While investigating a descending passage, Haruto noticed that its stone walls were unusually damp.
That made him suspect it might also lead toward the fourth floor.
Unfortunately, the corridor was covered in Tentacles of countless shapes and sizes, creating a sight unpleasant enough to make anyone’s skin crawl.
The humid environment was clearly ideal for them.
Tentacles came in many varieties, with wildly different appearances.
Most grew silently like ordinary plants, surviving on moisture and decaying organic matter in their surroundings.
Some variants, however, were extremely aggressive.
Despite being classified as Tentacles, they attacked living creatures much like Man-Eating Plants.
More dangerously, they were cnidarians. The moment one of their tendrils touched exposed skin, it released venomous stingers that paralyzed the victim.
Haruto drew his longsword and cut off one of the tendrils.
After protecting his hand with Nen, he picked it up and examined the severed end.
His brows furrowed.
A large amount of thick, pale-green fluid seeped from the wound, carrying a faint fishy stench.
A brief inspection was enough to confirm that it had no value as food.
"Useless."
Haruto shook his head and tossed the severed tendril aside.
Just as he prepared to leave, a rapid rustling sound came from above.
He immediately looked up.
Several thick tendrils shot out of the darkness overhead and lashed toward him.
Haruto reacted instantly.
His longsword flashed several times, slicing through every attacking tendril.
He then retreated several steps beyond their reach before looking upward again.
A massive Ivy Tentacle clung to the ceiling of the passage, its numerous thick appendages twisting and writhing.
"An aggressive Ivy Tentacle."
Haruto raised an eyebrow, pleasantly surprised.
Unlike most other Tentacles, an Ivy Tentacle could be eaten once its outer skin was removed.
In other words, it was an ingredient.
Now that he had found one, he naturally had no intention of letting it escape.
Haruto activated En and began examining the monster.
He quickly located the position of its root.
Once the target was confirmed, Haruto tested the weight of the longsword in his hand and wrapped the blade in Nen.
The otherwise ordinary iron sword instantly became exceptionally sharp!
His arm snapped forward.
The longsword left his hand like an arrow, releasing a sharp whistle as it tore through the air toward the Ivy Tentacle’s root.
With a wet slicing sound, the blade struck precisely and severed it.
The mass of thrashing tendrils immediately went limp and crashed heavily onto the ground.
Haruto walked over, pulled the sword free, and flicked the fluid from its blade.
After carefully inspecting the dead Ivy Tentacle and confirming that he had identified it correctly, he cut off the tendrils one by one and stored them inside Gourmet Restaurant.
He also collected the appendages he had severed earlier.
Haruto looked deeper into the Tentacle-filled corridor and hesitated briefly before deciding against exploring it any farther.
He left the passage, searched the surrounding area once more, and only after confirming there was nothing else worth collecting did he prepare to head for the fourth floor.
As he passed through the courtyard again, a startled shout suddenly came from above.
Haruto instinctively looked up.
A small dark object was falling through the air, heading directly toward him.
He shifted slightly to the side and extended one hand, catching it with ease.
The object felt surprisingly heavy.... it was a bulging cloth bag.
"A bag?"
Haruto untied the cord with a puzzled expression.
A dazzling flash of gold immediately filled his vision.
The bag contained numerous gold coins along with colorful, glittering jewels.
"Treasure Insects?"
Still uncertain, Haruto picked up one of the coins.
Its weight and texture felt completely different from the Treasure Insects he had collected earlier.
He bent it slightly between his fingers.
Though the metal was soft, it was unmistakably different from any living creature.
"These are real gold coins."
Haruto stared for a moment before laughing softly.
"Does this count as treasure falling from the sky?"
He had no idea who had dropped the small bag, but now that it had landed in his hands, it naturally belonged to him.
Haruto felt as though he might have forgotten something, but he quickly dismissed the thought.
It could not have been anything important.
For now, reaching the dungeon’s fourth floor took priority.