"Is this really the way?"
Randy, carrying a burlap sack on his shoulder, looked up at the old clock tower in the royal capital. Its appearance was akin to a shorter version of Big Ben.
A historic structure said to have been built around the same time as the Church, the clock tower was surrounded by a famous park loved by citizens as a place of relaxation.
It seemed impossible that this spot could lead to the underground temple. Nevertheless, the ancient witch had spoken with absolute confidence.
(If this doesn't work, I guess I'll head to the nearest dungeon.)
Deciding it was worth a shot, Randy stole into the clock tower under the dark sky, evading the patrolling guards. He leapt to the top of the tower.
He examined the small turret above the clock face, but there wasn't any obvious way to entrer
"This should go here…"
Following instructions, Randy took out a magic stone imbued with Ellie's magic and held it against the wall. To his surprise, a portal-like doorway appeared out of thin air.
(Magical concealment?)
Though he didn't fully understand how it worked, Randy decided there was no point in overthinking it. He placed his foot on the ladder and quickly climbed down.
At the bottom, he found himself in a musty, confined space. Cleaning supplies and other miscellaneous tools were stored near the ladder, suggesting it was occasionally used by the clock tower's caretaker.
It looked like nothing more than a warehouse, but according to Ellie, there was a hidden door in one corner that led further down.
Randy began waving Ellie's magic stone around aimlessly until, sure enough, a door concealed among the cleaning supplies revealed itself. Pulling open the hidden door, Randy retrieved a lantern from his sack and lit it. The faint light illuminated a set of stairs leading into the darkness.
"The atmosphere just like out of horror movies," he muttered with a wry smile, gripping the lantern as he descended.
Following Ellie's instructions, Randy eventually arrived at a chamber and opened the door he found there. Before him lay a corridor, half-buried in rubble and dirt. According to Ellie, the clock tower and the temple were originally part of the same building.
For unknown reasons, the structure had been buried underground using magic. The reason dirt and sand flowing in was likely due to the weakening of the barrier protecting the temple.
By a series of coincidences, Randy had managed to access the dungeon—but his shoulders sagged in disappointment.
"A corridor… of course it's just a corridor."
The reason for Randy's dismay was simple. He had been drawn to the idea of an ancient underground temple and had high hopes when he arrived, but the reality didn't meet his expectations.
(I was expecting a grand underground temple…)
Instead of a massive temple and hidden sanctuary, he had found only a mundane corridor. It was hard to blame him for feeling let down.
Still, it was normal to think that since the church is built on top the ancient ruins, it would be impossible for the entire structure to be visible
"Guess I'll just get it over with."
Determined to finish the task, Randy moved through the rubble-filled corridor and opened the door at the end. Beyond it stretched another hallway, dim and ominous, practically screaming "dungeon."
"Well, let's see if I find monsters or treasure."
With a sigh, Randy stepped into the passageway and set his lantern down. Luckily, the dungeon's dim glow provided enough visibility to navigate without it.
Grateful to have a free hand, Randy pulled out a mapping tool from his sack. It was a compact drawing board of his own design, small enough to hang around his neck and allow for quick annotations. He planned to market it to the adventurer's guild one day.
Though he looked burdened with his sack and the board, Randy didn't seem to mind and proceeded down the hallway without hesitation.
At the first corner, he encountered something—a ghoul.
"It's not good enough to use ad cosmetic material."
Randy grimaced as his high kick sent the ghoul's head flying. Its bodily fluids and innards were clearly unsuitable as ingredients for lotion or cream.
Though the start of his venture wasn't promising, Randy decided to head in the opposite direction from where the ghoul had appeared.
He soon found himself at a dead end-another discouraging sign.
But his attention was caught by a faintly glowing longsword mounted on the wall.
"Now this feels more like a dungeon," he muttered, his spirits lifting.
Dungeons didn't often have obvious treasure chests like in games, but the thrill of uncovering items in unexpected places was the essence of exploration.
Taking the glowing longsword, Randy's first impression was dismissive: "Feels like a toy."
He gave it a few test swings, but its light weight made it seem impractical. Still, there was something intriguing about its faint glow.
"Weapons found in places like this are usually useful in dungeons," he reasoned.
Since he didn't fully understand the monsters here yet, Randy decided to keep the sword just in case. He turned back the way he came, now holding the longsword.
(If it's effective against the undead, that could be big help.)
Randy didn't have a particular weakness against the undead. After all, he'd just taken one out with a single kick.
But he knew that incorporeal types like wraiths and ghosts required weapons imbued with magic to be defeated. Given his average magical capacity, conserving mana was crucial for prolonged dungeon exploration.
As he swung the longsword idly while walking, his next opponent appeared: a wraith, floating ominously in the air.
"Perfect," Randy said with a grin.
Though stronger than ghosts, wraiths were still small fry in Randy's eyes. Before the creature even noticed him, Randy flung the glowing longsword straight at it.
The wraith let out a piercing scream as it disintegrated into mist, impaled by the weapon.
"Bingo! Effective against wraith!" Randy cheered, retrieving the sword with a satisfied grin.
But then he glanced back at where the wraith had been. "Nothing left behind!"
From a resource-gathering perspective, it was a complete failure. Still, Randy's curiosity about the dungeon spurred him to keep exploring.
With the anti-undead sword in hand, he sliced through ghouls, purified wraiths, and smashed the skulls of skeletal orcs.
"If there are skeleton orcs, that means there might be regular orcs around too," he mused aloud.
Descending to the lower floor, Randy's prediction came true. He encountered a group of orcs, likely bred within the dungeon. Relieved to see something other than undead, Randy felt a bizarre urge to embrace one of the creatures.
But his opponents were monsters.
The orcs snarled, their pig-like faces contorting as they charged at him in unison.
Facing the oncoming horde, Randy tossed the glowing longsword into the air. With his now free hand, he reached into his magic pouch and grabbed the hilt of his beloved greatsword.
In a single motion, he drew the massive blade and unleashed a sweeping strike.
The orcs were pulverized, their bodies shattered into meat and bone fragments. Blood and viscera sprayed across the floor, staining it a deep blue-black.
Randy flicked the blood off the blade and drove it into the ground just as the glowing longsword, tossed earlier, landed neatly in his right hand.
Stowing the longsword back into his magic pouch, Randy grabbed the greatsword again.
"Time to finish this in one go."
With a ferocious grin, he slung the burlap sack off his shoulder and surged forward, cutting through the orc horde like a storm.
By the time he was done, the area was a sea of blood. Not a single orc, not even the higher-ranking ones in the group, had survived Randy's whirlwind of strikes.
The thick scent of blood permeating the air was a testament to just how many beasts had been in the area.
(Orcs are known for their high birth rates and rapid growth, after all.)
Randy scavenged through the remains of the orcs, looking for anything useful, but most of what was left was just meat. Orc meat, similar to pork, was a highly valued ingredient in this world.
However, there was no way he could carry the meat back with him. Hoping for something more promising, he made his way to the room where the orcs had emerged. It turned out to be a sort of pantry for the creatures.
As he rummaged through the contents, Randy's eyes lit up at an interesting discovery.
"This… it's a scroll, isn't it?"
As expected of a dungeon, he'd stumbled upon an ancient magical scroll. And the spell inscribed on it was…
"Spatial Storage (Mini)? Oh, this is it!"
A grin spread across Randy's face. It was, in other words, an "item box." He was eager to use it right away, but after a moment of thought, he decided to stash the scroll in his burlap sack instead.
After weighing his options, Randy concluded that it would be more useful for Liz to have it. Increasing the number of storage spaces would likely create new tabs in the system panel.
That could make crafting through the item box more efficient, and since Liz relied on crafting more than he did, she'd make better use of it.
With this discovery alone, Randy felt the dungeon trip was already worth it. He left the orc pantry feeling triumphant and resumed his exploration.
Even the undead he encountered along the way almost seemed to be congratulating him—though, of course, this was just his imagination.
He cut down undead, crushed the occasional beast that appeared, and eventually found himself in an open terrace-like area.
The terrace overlooked what seemed to be a courtyard, though it was shrouded in an ominous atmosphere.
(A courtyard underground?) Randy thought, glancing upward. Above the open courtyard loomed a massive rock, seemingly wedged in place or held there by some kind of barrier. For now, at least, the courtyard seemed intact.
Jumping down into the courtyard, Randy's attention was drawn to a single staff emitting a purplish-black aura.
"What's with this staff?"
Randy, feeling overly confident from his recent successes, had completely forgotten Ellie's parting advice:
"If you find any suspicious staves, pour the holy water I made on them first."
The staff was clearly suspicious, but Randy ignored the holy water hidden in his sack and recklessly reached out to grab it.
"What the—?" he exclaimed as the purplish-black aura clung to his arm. Worse, his hand became stuck to the staff, no matter how hard he tried to let go.
"Hey, come on, seriously?!" Randy struggled, but his hand refused to budge. It felt as if it no longer belonged to his body.
Before he could figure out what was happening, a massive scythe swung down toward him, forcing him to duck.
"Whoa, hold up! This wasn't part of the deal!"
Standing before him was a beast-like creature, laughing maniacally—a lich, its skeletal form radiating malice.
Randy, unable to let go of the staff, found himself dodging the lich's relentless attacks as it swung its scythe with deadly intent.
"Hey, wait! Let's talk this out!" Randy pleaded as he narrowly avoided each swing. His words, however, were met only with the lich's mocking laughter.
As the situation dragged on, a vein bulged in Randy's temple.
"Alright, fine. I tried being nice."
Channeling all his strength, Randy attempted to yank the staff free. It didn't budge, but he refused to give up.
Enveloping himself in magic, he pulled harder until a cracking sound echoed through the courtyard.
With a loud "BOOM", Randy wrenched the staff free—along with the massive rock it had been embedded in.
Now holding what looked like a hammer with a staff for a handle and a giant rock for a head, Randy couldn't help but grin. Even the lich's triumphant laughter seemed to falter at the sight.
"You brought this on yourself," Randy said, pulling out the bottle of holy water from his sack.
He tossed the bottle into the air and, with a swing of his improvised rock hammer, smashed it mid-flight. The holy water splattered everywhere, forcing the lich to retreat upward in panic.
But Randy was already one step ahead. Leaping into the air, he brought the rock hammer down on the lich with all his might.
"You idiot. Die already."
The lich dissolved into mist, leaving Randy to sneer.
"Well, I guess it was already dead," he muttered, wrinkling his nose.
Though the danger had passed, Randy looked at the staff still stuck to his hand and let out an exasperated sigh.
"Guess I've got no choice but to bring this thing back with me."