Chapter 34: Our First Dungeon Experiences

POV Ansgar

We stood in front of the dungeon the next morning. I had imagined it to be more impressive. In the end it was just a dark archway that you couldn't see through. Two soldiers and a wizard accompanied us, but stayed behind so they didn't counted as our party and took some of the EXP. We looked at each other and nodded. Then we entered our first dungeon in our new lives as heroes. Inside it looks different than expected. Instead of long, branching corridors in which the monsters cavorted, we saw a large, wide plain covered in grass. Above us there was a blue sky with no visible sun. In the distance we saw small hills and a few scattered trees. I grabbed my ax and prepared myself in case any monsters appeared. The two soldiers and the magician were not with us. They must have appeared somewhere else on this level.

The first thing I saw was a small puddle moving towards us. As it got closer, it formed into a bluish ball. So that was a slime. I hit it, but the slime just flowed around my axe. Javier cast a fire arrow and vaporized the slime. Annoying that the first thing we encountered in our first dungeon was a monster that I couldn't fight. Frustrated, I followed the others. Cornelius decided that we went straight to the next floor. We walked for a long time across the plain until we saw an archway in the distance. This was the portal to the next level. Javier kills all the slimes along the way.

Floor 2 was significantly better. It too was a large grassy plain with more trees than before. I could kill the bumper beetles on this level, so I did. I needed to let out the frustration that had been building up in them, so I charged out and killed every beetle I came across. I didn't even notice that I was leaving the others behind me. Then I stood in front of a hill in which there was a single cave. Inside there was a chest. Great, a treasure chest in a dungeon, just as it should be. And I had found her. I opened it straight away and looked inside. Inside was a club, some boots and some coins. It's all junk, but we were only on floor 2. We'll find much better things on the lower floors.

Behind me I heard the others approaching and turned around. The look Cornelius gave me was angry. I didn't understand why.

“You idiot, just storming off alone like that. You're lucky the bugs are weak, but what do you do when you're surrounded? We are a group and should stick together. Separating in a dungeon always leads to problems, you know that.” <Cornelius>

“Yes, yes, I understand it too. But the slimes were frustrating and I just had to fight something. It won’t happen again.” <Ansgar>

“Javier, just take a look. Was he hurt?” <Cornelius>

“Hmm, give me a second. Yes, he is slightly injured. He lost almost 20 HP.” <Javier>

“I will heal him quickly. Wait a minute. Easy healing.” <Eleonore>

"Thanks. Can we continue? There is nothing more than a boring chest here.” <Ansgar>

We continued exploring floor 2 and defeated a lot of bugs. Apparently there were only these beetles on this level. We didn't find any more chests, but that wasn't a big deal. It was just rubbish anyway. We returned to the city in the evening and were in good spirits for the next few days. The next day we closed the beetle floor. Eleonore was particularly happy about this because she hated vermin. Surprisingly, she got along much better with spiders we met on floor 3. Unfortunately, we only made slow progress on this floor. The spiders were a real pest. Not only did they hide behind their webs in trees, they were also quite fast on their long legs. There were now larger areas in which many trees grew. They were the ideal hiding place for the spiders. Their poison particularly bothered us. It wasn't very strong, but it took a toll on our strength. In addition, the spiders always managed to find an unprotected area and thereby transmit their poison with their bite. Eleonore was just healing nonstop. Unfortunately, she ran out of MP quite quickly, so we had to go back early.

Over the next few days we stayed with the spiders. We could take the easy route and find the exit to floor 4 as quickly as possible, but Cornelius was against it. Firstly, we had to learn to survive against these monsters. Secondly, he appealed to our role-playing hearts that we could only call ourselves real dungeon conquerors if we conquered all the floors. We noticed that on some days parts of the floor had no spiders. We just found a lot of dead ones. We knew the adventurers mostly avoided this floor. The dead spiders indicated that those who defeated them had no interest in the monster parts. Every monster had parts that could be sold. In the case of spiders, it was the venom sacs. Each monster also had a core that could be exploited. However, among the monsters of the first floor, it was so small that it was either impossible to find or difficult to retrieve. Whoever defeated the spiders simply left the bodies lying there. However, we never got a glimpse of these adventurers. On other days, only the direct route to the next floor was cleared. We didn't find a single body here. Very strange.

But I was happy when we didn't meet any other adventurers. Either they were submissive and tried to ingratiate themselves with us. Or they didn't know who we were and didn't treat us with the respect we deserve. Sometimes we met pretty girls and young women who fell into Cornelius' prey scheme and were mercilessly hit on by him. He always had the same stitch. First he put on a smile. Then he flattered her beauty and praised her grace. Now he told them how great he was and what heroic deeds he would do sometime in the future. He then invited them into his harem and if they declined, he once again praised their beauty and that they should reconsider. One or two didn't seem to mind joining his harem, but he could have killed at least one other with their looks.

Then we went to floor 4. We found out beforehand that there were goblins on this floor. A classic role-playing enemy and much better than the animals we've encountered so far. I was looking forward to the hordes getting to know my ax.