Danma: Danganronpa, but Monster Hunter!

"Level 4, second-tier adventurer..."

"How did a superhuman end up here? And who is that person behind him?"

"The cloak also bears the symbol of the Loki Familia, so he must be a newcomer who has joined the Loki Familia."

"Newcomers are being looked after by second-tier adventurers? Damn it, the Loki Familia!!"

Feeling the gazes of the adventurers around him—some envious, some surprised, some fearful—Lie Yan's initially heavy mood gradually improved, and he even felt like laughing.

Alright, Loki's Familia is now confirmed to be the dominant force in Orario.

Following the path that had been carved out by the crowd, Flame followed Raul, whose expression remained unchanged, as if he had long been accustomed to this, and smoothly arrived at his final destination.

The first basement level of the Cretaceous Tower.

The hall, which is decorated in blue and white, is surrounded by black stone tablets inscribed with the names of many adventurers.

Thick, long marble columns, each equally spaced and intricately carved, support the colossal tower above. Their sheer number is astonishing; looking up along the direction supported by these columns, one sees a vast sky filling the entire ceiling. As if painted by a divine hand, this sky even seems to flow, as if a corner of the real sky has been transported here.

The world-famous underground city lies directly beneath this gigantic space, which resembles a temple and is ornately decorated.

In the very center of the space is a huge opening, with a massive spiral of silver stone steps leading into it. This is the entrance to the underground city. Once you reach the end of the steps, you will have entered a demonic realm far removed from the human world.

"Dungeon..."

The flames murmured to themselves.

Chapter Seventeen: Deep into the Underground City

"Gah——"

On the first floor of the dungeon, he wielded his one-handed sword, cruelly cleaving the small, humanoid goblin in two from head to toe. The goblin's flaming chest rose and fell slowly. Then, he slightly shifted the red-glowing shield in his right hand, deflecting a claw attacking from the side. His one-handed sword swept horizontally...

The sword, crackling with golden electricity, easily tore through the goblin's defenseless skin, creating a wound that nearly severed its body between its bloated belly and shriveled chest. Dark red blood spurted out, but was immediately blocked by the shield, not a drop landing on the flames.

The goblin screamed and vanished into smoke, leaving behind a magic stone about the size of a finger, along with a sharp, blackened fingernail, that fell to the ground.

Flame glanced down at the fingernails on the ground, remaining vigilant.

Unlike in the Hunter World, where materials can only be obtained by breaking parts of monsters or by carving them after a hunt, monsters killed in dungeons turn to ash in a very short time, dropping materia. Some monsters also have particularly strong parts that can remain even after they turn to ash, and these parts are what are known as dropped items.

Such magic stones and dropped items were scattered on the ground around Lieyan, shimmering with a special luster like stars in the night.

Steadily surveying the battlefield, Flame inspected the goblin corpses that hadn't yet turned to ash, finishing them off to prevent any from escaping while feigning death.

Seeing that no more monsters seemed to be spawning around them, Lieyan sheathed his sword and shield, and shook his head as he recalled the battle just now.

Too weak, I don't feel any threat at all.

Even as soon as he entered the dungeon, he could clearly feel as if he were being watched by something, and the surrounding walls began to crumble, giving birth to hideous monsters with glowing red eyes. It was terrifying in every sense of the word. If an ordinary adventurer had seen this, they probably would have run away as fast as their legs could carry them.

But for Blazing Flame, the goblin army that brought nightmares to countless novice adventurers was like sending a fighter pilot on a roller coaster ride.

After clearing out dozens of goblin hordes—enough to make a team of experienced adventurers scream and run for their lives—one by one with a single sword strike, Flame didn't even feel any loss of stamina.

In terms of both threat level and ability, these monsters are completely incomparable to the difficulties we have overcome in the past. It is no exaggeration to say that these goblins are not even worth a single hair of the wild boars we have hunted before.

At least a wild boar charge could cause unexpected trouble, while these goblins can't even wear down their stamina.

"As expected, Mr. Flame's fighting style and methods are quite sophisticated, and he is quite accustomed to fighting."

Raul, who had been watching from a distance, came over and, like a supporter, took the initiative to help Flame gather up the magic stones and dropped items on the ground.

"It's alright. Although there are more monsters in the dungeon than in any of my previous battles, their individual strength is far inferior."

Flame opened the package, and Raul poured the goblin's magic stone and dropped items into it.

Although Raul and Flame weren't particularly interested in the goblin's magic stones and loot, every little bit counts, and they could still exchange them for some money for drinks at the guild window.

Furthermore, adventurers have an obligation to clean up magic stones.

If magic stones are carelessly discarded, dungeon monsters may absorb them to enhance their power. Individuals strengthened in this way will possess greater potential for growth and intelligence than ordinary monsters, posing an extremely high risk.

Some abnormal individuals are even subject to bounties from the guild, requiring high-level adventurers to eliminate them. In fact, some particularly troublesome enhanced species are so dangerous that even high-level adventurers are unwilling to take them on.

"So what's our next move?" Raul asked after cleaning up the battlefield.

"...?"

Blazing Flame tilted his head. "Something's not right. I'm a newbie, and you're asking me this question? I don't even know which monsters are on each floor of the dungeon."

"Uh, no, I mean, Mr. Flame, would you like to try going to a deeper floor?"

Stared at by the fiery, questioning gaze, Lauer, realizing he had spoken out of turn, immediately lost his composure.

"Going to deeper floors is not impossible, but remember, don't be greedy and reckless. Although it's good to have your help, I still want to know how far I can go in this underground city with my own abilities."

"clear."

Completely unaware that his role had been reversed, Raul smiled somewhat embarrassedly and offered professional guidance.

"Judging from the battle just now, the monsters on the upper level should not be a match for you, Mr. Flame. Although I really want to suggest going straight to the middle level... but to be on the safe side, let's go to the sixth level first. There, you'll encounter humanoid monsters with even greater overall strength, the War Shadows. In the dungeons defined as the upper level, from the first to the twelfth level, the War Shadows are second to none. They are basically the most difficult for novice adventurers to deal with. Furthermore, the places where the War Shadows appear are also very likely to experience a 'monster feast,' which means a large number of dungeon monsters will appear."

"Just do as you say."

Flame nodded, agreeing with Raul's words.

Then--

Looking at the cloak with a tear in it, the twenty-second battle shadow lying in front of him, the one-eyed giant frog called Archer Frog and the giant lizard called Dungeon Lizard that had inexplicably appeared, and feeling his slightly depleted strength, Flame fell silent.

Upon entering the sixth level, he sensed that the malice directed at him had intensified. Then, as if confirming his suspicions, the walls on either side of him cracked, revealing two shadowy figures, their bodies entirely black, as if they had been submerged in paint and coated with color.

In the ensuing battle, Flame personally experienced the strength of the War Shadow. Overall, it was indeed much stronger than the goblins. After fighting more than twenty goblins in succession, it even managed to tear a hole in his cloak. However, it seemed to have only evolved from a boar bristle into its true boar form. Its individual strength was even inferior to the Kamaitachi Dragon. Nevertheless, its appearance was certainly quite intimidating.

Most adventurers would probably feel intimidated just seeing the shadowy figure, resembling a human, struggling to break free from the labyrinth walls.

"Mr. Blazing Flame...do you want to continue deeper into the dungeon?"

"it is good."

Chapter 18: This kid is probably unlucky...

After a moment's thought, Blaze agreed with Raul's idea. The two quickly gathered up the magic stones and dropped items from War Shadow, quickened their pace, and headed deeper into the dungeon.

Starting from the fifth level of the dungeon, the frequency of monster spawns will increase significantly.

On these floors, although the variety of monsters has increased, including creatures like silverback apes, little devils, and armored rats,

Overall, however, the monsters' strength has not increased significantly. If they can handle the Shadow of War, they are more than capable of dealing with any ordinary monsters that may appear in the remaining upper levels of the environment.

So what are the difficulties in navigating the dungeons further down?

It refers to quantity.

After venturing deeper into the fifth level and below, the individual monsters that used to appear frequently have mostly transformed into small groups of monsters.

In other words, after the fifth floor, the chances of adventurers fighting monsters one-on-one will be greatly reduced.

Instead,

It is a battle of attack and defense against a small number or a large number of the same kind of monsters.

In terms of scale, the Shadow Swarm and monster intrusion that Blaze has cleared on the sixth floor can be considered the highest level of lineup that adventurers can encounter in the entire upper level. If they are not careful, even adventurers of level 2 may perish here.

Blazing Flame single-handedly wiped out the large group of monsters. Except for the initial slashing of his cloak due to his inability to adapt to the sharp fingers of the Shadow Warrior, he was not hit even once. Even the sneak attacks from the archer frogs ambushing in the shadows and the dungeon lizards crawling down from the ceiling failed to touch him. He defended against them all.

If someone else witnessed this battle, they might assume it was a high-level adventurer in a bad mood slaughtering a high-level monster, and would simply walk away...

Given the current situation, it's pointless for Mr. Flame to stay in the upper level any longer. If he continues to stay there, even his attribute growth will be affected.

No, it's not that it will be affected, it's more accurate to say that it won't grow at all, because Mr. Lieyan dealt with monsters far too easily.

Raul thought to himself.

This is also a major characteristic of the growth of adventurers in the DanMachi world.

The experience points adventurers accumulate aren't the kind that simply accumulate enough to rank up. The Sword God of Ten Mile Slope doesn't exist in the DanMachi world.

Because an adventurer's body's thirst for experience will grow ever stronger.

The best way to gain experience points is to go on adventures, explore the unknown, and defeat powerful enemies.

Now, Mr. Flame has easily passed the highest level of difficulty test, so based on his own judgment, Raul has made a decision.

They were heading to the middle level.

Although there are powerful and rare monsters called "Young Dragons" roaming the eleventh and twelfth floors in the upper levels, the number of Young Dragons truly lives up to their rare status. Generally, only about five Young Dragons exist in the vast two-level dungeon. Finding them would take an immeasurable amount of time, and there's also the risk that they might have already been hunted down by others.

Furthermore, Raul didn't believe the baby dragon posed any threat to the Blazing Flame... Although the baby dragon itself had a LV·2 rating and a record of wiping out groups of novice adventurers, in the upper levels without the "Lone King of the Labyrinth," such a little dragon was practically the floor master...

But after all, Mr. Flame is a natural expert when it comes to dealing with dragons...

Therefore, it's better to go to the middle level.

Compared to the elusive young dragons, the middle levels, starting from the thirteenth floor of the dungeon, are much more lucrative targets.

It has a much larger area, and the structure of the underground city is also different.

Most importantly, some of the monsters in it are rated as LV.2.

For example, the most famous one is the Minotaur.

Heading to the middle level will fully demonstrate Mr. Blazing Flame's abilities, and it's also within the range that a Level 4 adventurer like him can handle.

Perfect.

"But there is a problem. Since we didn't plan to go to the middle level before coming to the dungeon, our supplies are not complete. We didn't bring the fireproof item [Fire Spirit Cloth], which is especially important for conquering the middle level."

Raul was troubled. He felt like he was witnessing history. On one hand, he was looking forward to Flame reaching the middle level on his first adventure. On the other hand, he was also worried about how he would explain to Finn if Flame got injured because of such a rash act.

But in the end, he convinced himself.

If it's Mr. Flame, there shouldn't be any problem.

With that in mind, Raul took the lead and entered the middle level of the dungeon.

◇

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Lieyan raised his head and looked at the suddenly changed scenery around him. Unlike the desolate forest in the upper level that resembled a misty forest, the scene of the first test of entering the middle level, also known as the first death line, was imprinted in Lieyan's eyes.

My first impression is...