The 36th floor resembled the floors between the 11th and the 15th. There were not a lot of dungeon monsters and I was easily able to collect the dungeon items on this floor.
The waterfall poured down incessantly from the ceiling into the basin below, though there was a spot where I could enjoy fishing safely.
Aside from the "Steel Scaled Arowana[1]" and the "Silver Scaled Pirarucu[2]" that I caught in the previous lakes, there were also fish like "Seven-Colored Loach[3]" and "Cherry Blossom Rainbow Trout[4]". It's possible to obtain these delicious ingredients and bake them covered in salt.
Because there are only a few people that come here, and the fish are not accustomed to be allured, they are quickly biting after I attached bait to my line and cast it.
They're biting at every cast. I only let the line set in for several seconds, before reeling it in and catching the fish. After pulling a few of them, the fish learned from it, and the amount of biting became worse up to a certain degree. I'll settle for now as I was able to catch a dozen of them.
In addition to the basin of the waterfall, there were places where the spring water came up to your ankles and a dense vegetation grew. I was able to obtain vegetables such as "Famous Spring Eggplant", "Golden Watermelon", "Red Emperor Tomato" and "White King Cabbage".
My personal favorite was above all the "Famous Spring Eggplant".
Even though it's so delicate that it can already get damaged by rubbing it lightly, its bright violet skin and plump appearance looked really delicious.
It really was delicious. When I took a bite, a large amount of juice overflowed from of my mouth, and it had the sweetness of an apple or a strawberry, even though it was an eggplant. Because the aftertaste was a little sour, it was hard for me to stop eating. Even though there were several, I had to put them away before I ate them all up in no time.
They're raw now. If you'd cook them, they'll be even more delicious.
The recovery speed of my body's magic increased just from eating them. Seeing as my physical strength recovered somewhat as well, this is a convenient item. I gathered them for as long as I could.
It normally takes a suitable period before new ones grow, but this a dungeon. I'll harvest them again when I return home.
I roughly explored the place and understood that instead of dungeon items, there's an abundance of ingredients here. Chests and metals seemed to be scarce.
Though delicious items are welcome, it's disappointing they only grew here.
Perhaps, if I didn't have any obligations, I would have likely stayed here for a while. It is a very comfortable floor.
A splendid air fills my lungs. You won't lose interest in the large number of first-rate ingredients and no matter how many of them you eat, you'll spontaneously come back. The temperature is being kept at a moderate, comfortable level. The overflowing clean water can be used in countless of ways. There's no boredom because there are a lot of noises coming from large dungeon monsters that you occasionally meet and try to kill each other. Ha, this is considerably good.
I guess it might not be bad to build a cottage near the safe fishing spot by adjusting the Skeleton Centipede in a few ways.
Well, I actually must go back because there are various things going on outside. This must be a dream.
Because of the characteristics of this floor, I advanced without any particular hardships and arrived at the depth of the 40th floor.
There's a huge waterfall in the center here, and a basin of a corresponding size spreads out. The temperature here is low because of the spray of the waterfall that is flying around along the way the wind blows.
The surroundings are encircled by a rocky mountainside, and the location is overgrown with plants. There are also marshes with high viscosity.
Because the ground is not as steady as it was before, you have to pay attention to your foothold in order to not lose your footing when push comes to shove.
On a battlefield that looked more or less the same as the one where I fought King Crab ・ Crysora, something lay in wait. It's a four-legged beast with a strange appearance that reminds me of either a dog or of a wolf.
Its long, thick forelegs seem to have developed in a way to catch prey. Each paw had four sharp claws. Its thick, powerful hind legs were smaller than its forelegs, but exhibited an excellent sense of stability no matter what the state of the ground below is.
Eight pairs of short, thick, transparent blue feelers grew on its back and were wriggling back and forth. Water charged with electricity dripped from the tips of the feelers.
Its tail was as thick as a tree and twice the length of a normal animal, with three claws on the tip that moved as skillfully as fingers. The sharp claws emit a light blue color, and it will likely use it to attack from a blind spot, using it as a fifth limb.
Its whole body is covered in silky, turquoise body hair that looked like it would feel good despite the fact that it can stiffen immediately like an armor of a countless number of blades upon impact. If you touch its body carelessly, that part of you will be cut and torn to pieces.
Serrated teeth grew in the front of the wolf's mouth and extended forward, like those of an insect. A long tongue flickered from the opening, with a blue liquid covering the tip and dripping down from it.
The head had three transparent blue eyes and was firmly protected by a white exoskeleton resembling a mask. A pair of twisted horns extended from its temporal regions.
So the floor boss "Lethal Dead ・ Blood Eater ・ Pochi" raised a roar to indicate the start of the battle.
It was an overwhelming howl like the one from Minokichi-kun. As the shock rippled through the surroundings, it made my body shiver.
Right before the roar stopped ringing, a countless number of bulges appeared around Lethal Dead ・ Blood Eater ・ Pochi. Things jumped out of them as they split up. I recognized a countless amount of dungeon monsters coming out of the underground.
Four-sided Rebelling Mantis Shrimps, Blue Mermen Knights, War Helmet Octopus and Riot Sharks. All were dungeon monsters that I encountered while coming here, and there appeared to be around fifty.
However, they were not in their normal state.
Some had broken arms, others had crushed heads with their eyeballs hanging out. Some had missing body parts, others had their entrails hanging out.
The one thing in common they had, was that each one of them was dead. Were they so damaged up to the point that there wasn't even a drop of blood left?
Apparently Lethal Dead ・ Blood Eater ・ Pochi drains the blood of the prey it kills until its appetite is satisfied.
When eating, it can also bite off an extremely low amount of meat, with the majority being left.
Though normally it would be left as is, Lethal Dead ・ Blood Eater ・ Pochi uses [Parasite]to grow a parasite inside the beasts' body. It has the trait to make the corpse into a hotbed.
The parasite will absorb nutrients from the host's body in order to grow up until into a specific stage. It will act as a vanguard for Lethal Dead ・ Blood Eater ・ Pochi, who needs a large amount of blood. It manages the dead body for the sake of hunting, becoming somewhat like a partner.
Normally, it's my duty to purify the undead from this dungeon but seeing as these corpses are manipulated by a parasite, they're technically not undead. It's like that.
You could say that the technique of manipulating a corpse looks similar to that of a certain Shelled Insect Eiyuu.
The vanguard searched for the new prey, me, and the battlefield was immediately filled with wild excitement.
[Floor boss [Lethal Dead ・ Blood Eater ・ Pochi] successfully eliminated.]
[Achiever Yatendouji is permitted to proceed to the next floor, floor boss [Lethal Dead ・ Blood Eater ・ Pochi] can hereafter be passed without battle.]
[Achiever Yatendouji has been Awarded the [Behemoth's Collection of Manipulated Corpses] ]
[Achiever Yatendouji has been Assigned the Rare Skill [Master Manipulator – Water Intermediary] as a bonus for a solo kill.]
The bodies of the summoned dungeon monsters were used as sacrificial pawns, while Lethal Dead ・ Blood Eater ・ Pochi moved around silently and at high speed, using the gaps to attack with its sharp claws and the tentacles on its back.
A swing of its sharp claws creates a violent wind. The electrified water that's gushing from the tentacles can melt any skin it touches and burns the body from the inside with an electric shock.
Because of [Thunder Attack Nullification] the damage probably wouldn't be of such an extent that you could call it high, but I don't think I would want to be covered in that strong acidic liquid even when using it.
Aside from its individual ability, he was pretty troublesome because he was accompanied by its subordinates. Other floor bosses up to now didn't have those. In the end, I succeeded in subduing it.
The price for killing a myriad of dungeon monsters was that my halberd became almost useless, but I guess that was unavoidable.
I threw it into my item box because it's still in a state where it could potentially be repaired. In its stead, I take out my [Giant's Long-Lasting Carving Knife].
Even though it's pretty much a kitchen knife, this magic item temporarily becomes something like a long sword for someone of my physique. While this kind of sword is hardly any better than other long swords, but it was better than nothing and above all there's the advantage that it'd be easy to make fresh sashimi.
I decided to stick with this for a while. Nevertheless, while my abilities are now limited and I'm severely slowed, you might say that it was still up to a level that I'm able to manage somehow or another.
After collecting the treasure chest and the corpse, I pushed my feet forward to advance to the 41st floor.
On the 41st floor, there wasn't any land.