Read Novel Full Chapter 48, Immeasurable
Chapter 48, Immeasurable
Translator: Barnnn
The day after their first indulgent Jasted Eat-All-You-Can Tour, Ize and Hal set off for the Dungeon, sticking to their plan.
Nine days remained before their rendezvous with Fieda. In the meantime, they decided on a routine: two days exploring the Dungeon, followed by one day of rest. But there was another goal in mind — testing whether the two of them, without backup, could reliably hunt a Blood Bear on the fifteenth floor.
As they approached the Portal Room on the first floor, Hal turned to Ize with a grin.
“Listen, Ize. For now, forget about eels and chestnuts. Our priority is confirming we can reach the fifteenth floor. BUT… if we happen to stumble across something tasty on the way, well, that’s different.”
“Right. If something delicious just happens to appear right in front of us, we can’t help it,” Ize agreed with comical seriousness.
“Exactly. That’s not on us.”
“Understood.”
Their words carried the veneer of practicality, but beneath it, their shared gluttony simmered.
Still, they were both clear on today’s mission — get to the tenth floor and register at the next checkpoint. Once that was done, future trips would start from there, saving them time and effort.
Hal gave a reassuring nod. “From here on, combat might take longer. If I think my stamina’s about to run out, I’ll say so right away.”
“…Sounds like you’re pretty confident you’ll be the first to run out of steam.”
“I’m just playing it safe,” Hal said with a shrug. “Well, we’re here. All hail the Portal Room!”
“All hail the Portal Room!”
The Portal before them activated, and in an instant, they were whisked from the first-floor room to the fifth. As they stepped out, they found themselves facing a staircase descending to the sixth floor.
Beyond that threshold waited bipedal Mystic Beasts: Goblins and Kobolds. These floors were an ideal place to hone their combat skills.
They shared a quick glance before turning toward the stairs and beginning their cautious descent.
◆
The sixth floor, unfortunately, seemed quite unpopular due to it being a Goblin haven. The bipedal creatures wandered the grassy expanse aimlessly, their crude weapons clanking noisily as they moved. Worse still, the air was thick with their stench — a rancid blend of unwashed bodies and rotting leather.
Ize wrinkled her nose. “Hal, I’m officially opting out of close combat.”
“Same here!”
Hal’s hand shot up, and with a quick incantation, a gust of wind tore through the closest Goblin horde, cutting them down in a single sweep.
Their shrieks faded into silence, but the smell lingered. Hal promptly cast another wind spell to clear the air.
Once the worst of the smell dissipated, Ize hurried toward where the Goblins had fallen, collecting the Magicites they had dropped.
“Hal, if the next group has three or fewer, I’ll handle them,” she called over her shoulder.
“You sure about that?”
“As long as I use Fleet Foot, I’ll be fine. Let’s just hope my body enhancements don’t make my sense of smell any sharper.”
“Oof…” Hal winced. “Amen to that.”
Upon encountering the next group of Goblins, Ize activated Fleet Foot, her body surging with enhanced speed, and darted toward them. Before the creatures could react — and before she could catch a whiff of their odor — she dispatched them with quick, clean strikes.
She sheathed her knife and crouched to collect the Magicites scattered at her feet. Her gaze flicked around, searching for any other items of value.
As expected, there were a few scraps: rusty swords and tattered loincloths — but nothing worth keeping. The Guild had no use for junk like that. Left behind, the items would eventually dissolve back into the Dungeon’s energy reserve.
Still, in Dungeons on the verge of a Deluge, adventurers were required to take everything, no matter how worthless it seemed, to prevent the Dungeon from stockpiling resources.
Just imagining those filthy scraps mingling with her precious food supplies in her Magic Bag made Ize shudder. She had sworn never to enter a near-Deluge Dungeon just because of that alone.
Shaking off the thought, she returned to Hal’s side, carefully avoiding the loincloths littering the grass.
◆
The seventh floor brought Kobolds into the mix alongside Goblins, but their appearance posed little trouble. The only noticeable difference was that the air, already tainted by the stench of unwashed Goblins, now carried the pungent musk of rain-soaked dogs.
They quickly met their quota of five enemies each and wasted no time heading down to the eighth floor.
“The eighth floor has Brown Boars, right?” Hal asked as they descended the stairs. “From what I’ve heard, they’re fast and hit hard when they charge. We should proceed cautiously.”
Ize nodded. “Mm-hmm. I’ll let you know as soon as my Perception detects one.”
The grassy plains stretched out before them, dotted with sparse trees. Ize activated her Perception skill, scanning the area as they advanced toward the next set of stairs. Soon, a blip appeared on the edge of her Perception Map.
“Hal, there’s an enemy about a kilometer ahead.”
“Any other adventurers nearby?”
“None.”
“Good. Let’s move.”
They slipped into Stealth, moving swiftly but silently across the open field.
When they were about halfway to their target, a large, round shadow emerged in the distance — a beast roughly the size of a big dog. Ize had Hal use his Eye of Appraisal to confirm it.
“Yup, that’s a Brown Boar. Once we get closer, drop your Stealth, and I’ll hit it with a water spell before it can charge.”
“Got it.”
They crept closer, positioning themselves at an angle to the Boar’s side.
Hal glanced at Ize and began a silent countdown with his fingers — three, two, one. At zero, Hal released a high-pressure blast of water. The spell cut through the air with a sharp hiss and struck the Boar square in its flank.
For a moment, they both waited, bracing for retaliation — but the Boar’s presence blinked out of existence entirely.
“Huh?” Hal frowned, lowering his hand. “Did that kill it?”
“Looks like it,” Ize sighed, shaking her head. “But Hal… thanks to your overpowered attack, we didn’t get to measure the Boar’s actual strength.”
“Oh, so it’s MY fault, huh?” Hal shot back, crossing his arms.
“Well, let’s check for loot. I’m hoping for some meat…”
Ignoring Hal’s grumbling, Ize approached the area where the creature had fallen.
“No meat,” she muttered, brushing dirt off a small Magicite shard. “Better luck next time.”
Scanning her surroundings again, the eighth floor turned out to be sparsely populated with Brown Boars, each encounter separated by several kilometers. Unlike the Goblin-infested sixth and seventh floors, there were no swarms here — just lone beasts roaming the grass.
Pausing to reassess, Ize realized that it was going to be tough to hit their quota of ten Boars — five for each of them — if the beasts were this spread out. Consulting with Hal, they opted to stick to their initial plan and prioritize advancing floors.
They pressed on, defeating six Boars in total — three each. Only two of them yielded meat, but the hefty chunks weighed in at around ten kilograms apiece, more than enough to last them for days.
◆
“And so the strength of the Brown Boar remains unmeasured…” Ize mused as they sat by the staircase leading to the ninth floor, bringing out fried pastry and honey-infused tea for a short break.
“Still, Ize, you handled them well. You weren’t even using magic — just that knife. Does that mean you’ve gotten used to close combat?”
Ize brushed a stray strand of hair from her face. “I think so. At least I can manage.”
“We’ve been practicing the same techniques we used against the Blood Bear, and they’ve held up so far.”
“Yes, though my knife didn’t even scratch that Bear… I guess Boars are a step down. But then again, it feels like we’re bound to run into something tougher. It’s only a matter of time before our attacks aren’t enough.”
Hal nodded. “If you’re going to be on the front lines, we’ll need to focus on upgrading your firepower.”
“Let’s bring it up during the sixty-first skill selection meeting.”
“Sure thing.”
From the sixth to the eighth floor, they had been at this for four hours already.
And, unsurprisingly, each floor had taken longer than the last.
“At the rate we’re going, clearing the deeper floors might take us an entire day,” Ize remarked, brushing crumbs from her gloves.
“Probably. And registering progress on those levels would mean spending a full week down here, easily.”
“I can’t imagine going that long without a bath.”
Hal chuckled. “Thankfully, we don’t have to. We’re not planning to stay down here for days at a time anyway.”
“True.”
Ize popped the last piece of pastry into her mouth, savoring the crunch before washing it down with a sip of tea.
After finishing their break, they packed away the table and chairs, and then surveyed their surroundings. Satisfied that no threats loomed nearby, they started their descent down the next staircase.
Halfway down, Ize broke the silence. “You know, everything’s fine now, but sooner or later, we’ll need a solution for… bathroom issues.”
Hal grimaced. “Yeah. I’d be glad to have one, especially if we ever take on longer journeys.”
“Think we should ask Miss Etta if she knows a good artisan?”
“Or we could place an order through the Crafters’ Guild. Bezbaro might know someone who can help.”
“That sounds simpler. A visit to the Guild on our next rest day, then?”
“Yeah, let’s do that. Let’s make a list of what we need ahead of time.”
“Mm-hmm.”
Their conversation continued as they reached the bottom of the stairs and stepped out onto the ninth floor. Almost immediately, a low, ominous buzzing reached their ears — a sound that set both of them on edge.
“Ugh. That’s a sound I really don’t like,” Hal muttered.
“This floor’s got Rainbees,” Ize said. “Their weakness is heat, right?”
“Right. I’ll just hit them with wind for now.”
Hal leaned cautiously out from the stairwell and extended his hand. A sharp current of wind swirled, transforming into dozens of razor-thin blades. He unleashed the spell toward the buzzing sound, then quickly retreated.
A moment later, Ize checked her Perception Map. “Their presence is gone.”
“Nice. Let’s move.”
They stepped out into the woods that made up the ninth floor. About ten meters ahead, several small, honey-colored objects lay scattered across the ground. Ize crouched to pick one up and held it out to Hal.
“This isn’t Magicite… and there’s quite a lot of them.”
He examined it with a curious tilt of his head. “Let’s see… Huh. They’re called Rain Drops. Basically hardened starch syrup. No special effects, just candy.”
“These were just lying on the ground. Is it safe to eat them?”
“We’re already picking up meat from dead monsters. What’s the difference?”
“Meat gets cooked,” Ize shot back. “But these candies… they go straight into our mouths.”
“Fair point. But I’m sure it’s fine.”
“That’s… reassuring,” Ize muttered, unconvinced.
Still, after dusting off the surface, she popped the Rain Drop into her mouth. The candy melted slowly on her tongue, releasing a gentle sweetness that reminded her of chestnut syrup. She turned to Hal with a mischievous glint in her eye and lobbed another one straight into his mouth.
“Death won’t do us apart!” Ize declared dramatically. “If it kills, it kills us BOTH.”
“Bro, don’t say it like THAT!” Hal spluttered through a laugh, nearly choking on the candy.
Their banter echoed through the forest as they continued forward, the dense canopy above casting dappled shadows along the narrow path.
The Rainbees were relentless. Swarms of them darted from the treetops, each one the size of a human hand, their wings producing a constant, grating buzz.
“You know, Ize, your Perception’s really coming in handy,” Hal noted.
“Oh, you know I’m ALWAYS reliable.” Ize grinned as she kept a wary eye on her Perception Map.
Flying Mystic Beasts were trickier to deal with than their grounded counterparts. Rainbees, especially, often attacked in swarms of ten or more. Without Ize’s Perception skill to track them, the two would’ve been caught off guard more than once — and without Hal’s magic, their progression wouldn’t have been so smooth.
“You can hear them coming, so it’s manageable,” Ize said as they pressed deeper into the forest, “But these things would be a real headache otherwise.”
Hal nodded. “With some improvisation, we COULD blast them with fire, but… setting the whole forest on fire would be a bad idea.”
After clearing several more swarms, they paused to collect the Magicite and other loot left behind. Ize continued scanning the area for threats while Hal handled most of the battles.
“Oh, there are a few people up ahead,” Ize said, peering at her Map. “Let’s go left and avoid them.”
“Got it.”
They adjusted their path, steering clear of the group. It was the first time they’d encountered other adventurers since the Goblin floor, and they weren’t in the mood for unnecessary interactions.
But just as they were about to move away–
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Aaahhh!”
–The sharp crack of explosions rang out, followed by the unmistakable sound of panicked screams.