Dragon Ball: Saiyan's Gourmet Journey

Chapter 648 Unparalleled Maze Adventure
Broly strolled leisurely through the shallow labyrinth of the dungeon, but because the walls of the dungeon were imbued with aura, he was unable to use his aura perception to accurately locate the monsters he needed to hunt.

Fortunately, the dungeon seems to have an instinct to resist foreign invaders, and every once in a while, those monsters will spawn in a place called the gap closest to the adventurer.

However, the monsters generated in the shallow dungeons are very weak. Levels 1 to 4 only contain earth spirits and goblins, which are so weak that even novice adventurers who have just entered the adventurer profession can defeat them without taking any damage as long as they are careful.

If Broly were to describe their strength, it would be that picking up the magic crystals they drop and the occasional loot they drop would probably take more effort than killing them.

During this time, Broly also tried to summon water elementals or white shadow ninjas to work and collect items, but he failed.

Even after trying to use the magic crystals they found, the water elemental and the white shadow ninja were not successfully summoned.

It's unclear whether this world doesn't allow the existence of summoned creatures, or if it's simply a matter of water elementals and the summoning of white shadow ninjas, requiring some modifications to align with the rules of this world.

But undoubtedly, all of this requires time and effort. Compared to bending down to pick things up himself, studying this seems to be more troublesome, so Broly can only accept the situation where he has no summoned creatures to help him.

As he killed monsters along the way and gradually ventured deeper into the fourth level of the dungeon labyrinth, he suddenly had a peculiar feeling after killing a goblin with a wooden club.

This feeling is like after undergoing a period of gravity training, you can sense your body becoming stronger after the gravity is removed.

But the question is, am I currently practicing gravity training?
the answer is negative.

Therefore, the abnormal increase in strength that I am experiencing now is probably an effect of divine grace.

After all, it already happened once last night.

This shouldn't be an upgrade; it's more like an increase in ability stats.

Broly looked at the wooden goblin that had vanished in his hand and whose neck he had casually snapped, and felt a little surprised.

After all, it's a bit too easy to achieve the same effect as gravity training in improving one's basic physical attributes simply by dealing with monsters that are much weaker than oneself.

Even though the improvement was much lower than when he was practicing gravity cultivation, it was only because he hadn't really unleashed his full power to kill the monsters in the dungeon.

Well, the main reason was that the dungeon environment itself had an aura, making it a little difficult for him to find the location of monsters with only a faint aura.

Of course, you can find it if you look carefully, but it's like reading a small book – tiring, and you might end up finding another incredibly weak new adventurer.

Perhaps killing adventurers has a similar boosting effect as killing dungeon monsters, but Broly isn't the kind of Saiyan who would intentionally kill someone if they hadn't provoked him.

Of course, situations where he unintentionally kills someone with an AOE energy blast are excluded from this category. In short, he does not indiscriminately kill innocent people unless absolutely necessary.

Therefore, he chose to continue exploring the underground labyrinth.

According to the information in the dungeon guidebook that the guild employee named Eina sent me last night.

The deeper you go into the dungeon, the higher the respawn rate of the dungeon monsters will be, and the more numerous and higher quality of monsters adventurers will encounter.

As long as I don't enter the thirteenth-floor dungeon, which is said to be safe only for adventurers of level 2 or higher, I shouldn't encounter any monsters that might allow me to level up suddenly by accidentally killing a few of them.

Broly entered the fifth floor, and the surrounding walls began to turn green, as if they were covered with moss, but they were not actually moss.

The color change seemed more like a result of a higher concentration of magic, and Broly also sensed an increased aura emanating from the surrounding walls.

Starting from the fifth floor, the monsters encountered were no longer just goblins and earth spirits, but also some monsters that were said to be troublesome and annoying.

For example, there's the purple moth that sprays poisonous powder everywhere, or the barbarian rabbit that's born with an axe and can use throwing axe techniques.

Even the goblins and earth spirits that appeared below had acquired some ranged attack methods, although they only picked up stones from the ground and threw them at people.

However, if an ordinary novice adventurer were to encounter this, they might become complacent because they had easily dealt with some monsters in the first four levels, and thus suffer an unexpected defeat.

You asked how Broly knew all this?
Yes, he heard the lesson firsthand from the novice adventurer he encountered on the fifth floor who had almost been killed by a monster and whom he had casually saved.

“Thank you, Mr. Broly. If it weren’t for your help, I might be dead here. The monsters on the first four levels were easy to deal with, which made me careless. I shouldn’t have been so arrogant; I should have been more cautious when entering the fifth level of the maze…”

The rescued adventurer is named Lorne Vick, a dwarf with orange hair from the Hermes Familia.

The Hermes Familia are well-known information dealers in Orario, and many of them are non-combatants who never go to the dungeons. The little man in front of us was one of them.

"However, I've fallen for a girl who says she likes powerful adventurers and will only marry a Level 2 adventurer in the future..."

"So, you, a non-combatant member of the Hermes Familia, have come down here to do the work of an exploration-type adventurer?"

"Ah."

The dwarf male nodded somewhat shyly. There may be many reasons to be an adventurer, but people like him who adventure for love are probably quite rare.

"Hey, Mr. Broly, where are you going?"

When Lorne saw the boy lift his foot to leave, he quickly asked.

"Of course I'm going to fight monsters, otherwise I'd still be here listening to the prequel about someone I have no connection with who almost died for love, and why you fell in love with that pig-woman girl?"

"Ah, then please at least tell me about your clan, so that I can find you after I return to Orario and repay your life-saving grace."

The orange-haired dwarf hurriedly said.

"I am a member of the Hestia Familia. As for repaying your life-saving grace, there is no need for that. I just happened to run into you while I was hunting monsters and saved you on the side."

Broly waved his hand.

“How can that be? For you, it might just be a simple matter, but for me, it was a real life-saving experience.”

"Are you an information broker?"

"Yes."

"Since you insist on repaying me, why don't you tell me which place in the dungeon has the largest number of monsters?"

Broly inquired, revealing that he spent far more time searching for monsters than dealing with them.

"There are places with lots of monsters, like the Food Depot, which is known as a monster granary, where you can always encounter a lot of monsters."

"Oh, where is the food storage area?"

Broly became interested and quickly pressed for more details.

"The nearest food storage is on the thirteenth floor of the dungeon labyrinth, located in the southwest corner."

Upon hearing this, the joy on Broly's face quickly faded.

"Mr. Broly, is there a problem?"

Lorne Vick noticed this and asked, somewhat puzzled.

"I have no intention of going to the thirteenth level of the labyrinth."

Broly replied.

"Uh……"

Lorne Vick paused, momentarily stunned. Having witnessed the monster's head being smashed by some mysterious means, he'd instinctively assumed the boy was a high-ranking adventurer. But now, hearing this, it seemed he wasn't. However, upon closer reflection, he realized he'd never heard of the Hestia Familia before; it was likely a newly formed family, and Broly, as a member, was probably a relatively new adventurer.

"In that case, if you want to encounter a large number of monsters in the shallow areas, you'll have to rely on items like [Monster Bait] that emit scents that attract monsters."

"I don't have this either. Do you have it?"

Lorne: "..."

Since experience can only be gained by defeating monsters of the same or higher level, adventurers rarely carry the item [Monster Bait].

The unpleasant smell is one thing, but if you accidentally break the odor-blocking bag while exploring a maze and fighting monsters, you could very well end up killing yourself.

"I don't have that either."

Lorne answered.

Just as Broly was considering whether to go back to the surface and buy a monster-luring item to speed up his monster-finding process, the orange-haired dwarf next to him provided another piece of information.

"It's not a big deal if you don't have [monster bait]. After the seventh floor of the dungeon, a monster called the Killer Ant will appear."

When those monsters are brought to the brink of death, they release pheromones to summon their companions. With your strength, Mr. Broly, as long as you're not surrounded by too many killer ants, you should be fine.

"The seventh level of killer ants, thanks. Be careful on your way back, I won't see you up."

Seeing Broly pull out a map, looking like he was about to head straight to the seventh floor to find the killer ants, Lorne Vick felt a little envious.

Even if the other party wasn't a Lv.2 adventurer, they were probably a Lv.1 adventurer who was about to upgrade to Lv.2. Common sense made this little human completely unaware that the Saiyan boy who saved him was an adventurer who had just registered as an Orario adventurer yesterday.

"The Hestia Familia, I remember. The one who saved me was Broly of the Hestia Familia."

Muttering these words to himself, Lorne Vic headed back the way he had come to the upper level. Staying on the fifth level while injured and out of potions would be suicidal. He needed to get back to the fourth level before any new monsters spawned in the dungeon.

. . . .

Following the dungeon map he had bought from the guild the night before, Broly went straight to the seventh floor of the dungeon.

Along the way, he encountered many monsters such as purple moths and barbarian rabbits, which would be troublesome for ordinary Lv.1 adventurers, but he dealt with them all with ease.

Whether it was the poisonous powder from the purple moth or the flying axe from the barbarian rabbit, Broly probably wouldn't have even needed to deploy his protective shield if he hadn't been worried about getting the leather armor Hestia had bought for him dirty.

After all, Saiyans have strong resistance to poison, and whether the barbarian rabbit's throwing axe can even hit him is another matter. Even if it does hit him, it will probably be a case of zero damage and no penetration of his defenses.

"These must be killer ants."

Broly quickly found a killer ant on the seventh floor. This ant was entirely fiery red, and it was called a killer ant because of its unique ability to summon its own kind to help it when it was about to die. It had killed many adventurers who had not done their homework or understood their habits.

In response, Broly, who had just found the killer ant, snapped his fingers through the air and broke the ant's limbs before it could even react.

The ant-like monster, the size of an adult goat, was on the verge of death and soon released a unique scent. Broly smelled it but made no attempt to stop it.

Soon, a rustling sound rang out, and one after another, fiery red killer ants crawled out from the several passages connecting this cave space and the surrounding area.

There were so many of them, they looked so dense, that they blocked all the paths Broly could take to leave.

"Ah, it's killer ants, let's run!"

"With so many, it must be because some incompetent newbie failed to finish off the dying ants in time, which caused this."

From the passageway beside them came the voices of two unfamiliar adventurers, who were probably just passing by.

Those who were passing by had no intention of rushing in to save the seemingly foolish newcomer.

He left in a hurry, somewhat indifferent, but Broly was satisfied.

If they rush in to rescue him, he also needs to be careful not to kill them along with him.

Now, that concern is gone.

Broly drew his short sword from his waist. As for why he didn't use air bullets or aura-stealing methods to deal with the ant-like monsters, it was mainly because he was worried about destroying or absorbing the magic crystals inside these killer ants.

After all, his main purpose in going into the dungeon was to make money, and the idea of ​​improving his abilities only came to him after he discovered that killing monsters could achieve this.

Now we can do both at the same time. We just need to be careful to avoid the parts of these ants that contain magic crystals when we slash at them.

Broly's sword was fast. Although the short sword he used was only an excellent beginner's sword, it was still imbued with his own aura.

The Saiyan's powerful ki transformed this short sword, which was at most a good beginner's weapon, into a terrifying killing machine.

The killer ant's hard carapace, which it prides itself on among low-level monsters, is like tofu in front of the short sword imbued with energy, and it is easily cut in two.

As more and more killer ants were attracted, Broly got a little annoyed and directly used the Water God Style Secret Technique [Stripping Sword Realm] to temporarily turn this cave space into a monster-slaying ground where anyone who moves dies.

Of course, Broly deliberately left behind some bait ants that were only dying, specifically to attract more killer ants and release pheromones.

This one-sided massacre lasted for nearly two hours, with killer ants crawling on the sword and attacking the enemy.

Broly only finished off the monster-slaying activity with a single move, the Light Blade's Draw Slash, after the killer ants were killed and their corpses turned to ash, leaving behind black ash that hadn't yet dissipated. This ash almost completely blocked the entrance to the cave.

Of course, it wasn't that he couldn't cut them anymore, it's just that the ant corpses in the cave were so black and gray that they were about to drown him.

"Drink~"

Broly sheathed his sword and drank, the resulting gust of air directly dislodging a large amount of light, floating black ash.

The cave floor was covered with magic crystals slightly larger than a fingernail, as well as an equally impressive amount of extra loot, such as mandibles, formic acid glands, and carapaces of killer ants.

Broly gathered his spoils, while he searched for killer ants, lured more killer ants over, killed them, waited for new killer ants to arrive, killed them again, and lured them back, repeating this process until the very end, all in just two hours.

However, it took him twice as long to collect his spoils from the ashes, and by the time he emerged from the dungeon, it was already afternoon.

Having neither eaten breakfast nor lunch, Broly's stomach began to rumble. He first went to the fourth floor of the tower to have a meal before heading to the Adventurers' Guild.

Although there was a money exchange in Babel Tower, it was packed with adventurers who had come out of the dungeon with some loot. Broly had a lot of magic crystals and extra drops to exchange, so he decided to go to the guild staff member in charge of him and ask if he could use the fast track.

. . . .

The afternoon at the guild is a relatively quiet time of day, because only a small portion of the adventurers leave the dungeon at this time. Those adventurers will prioritize exchanging the magic crystals and drops they have obtained for money at the nearby Babel Tower money exchange.

One or two hours later, a large number of adventurers would leave the dungeon and come to the guild to exchange their day's earnings.

Eina lay on her desk, taking a short nap at this time every day to recharge for the busy work ahead.

However, she couldn't sleep tonight. Every time she closed her eyes, she would think of the boy—no, the young man—who had been brought here by the gods last night and whom she had been responsible for registering as a new adventurer.

"That boy is going on a dungeon adventure today. I hope he can successfully complete his first adventure."

(End of this chapter)