Otoko Nara Ikkokuichijou no Aruji o Mezasa Nakya, ne?

People Cannot Live On Bread Alone

Year 7447, Month 7, Day 11

"Fu..."

We arrived at the teleport crystal room in the center of the 11th floor.

It's something we figured out after getting closer but this pillar where the teleport crystal room is was just as expected a square which each side is about 50 meters just like the 8th, 9th, and 10th floors.

Over 5 hours have already passed since then.

It's completely morning.

I haven't slept in almost a full day.

Since we haven't been running it's still a bit easier than the time when we rescued {Black.Topaz} but somehow I remember the hard days exploring the dungeon with {Sun.Ray}.

Since there was a high chance that those altars were the source for the beams we went around destroying them in a hurry.

We destroyed over 20 of them in all.

According to Gwine and the altars are at fixed locations exactly 500 meters from the outer circumference lined up in a circle.

In other words, roughly 200 meters from the outer circumference is forest.

The next 200 meters or so from there is a grassland.

The cage of lightning bolts appeared around the border between the doughnut shaped forest and grassland or at most in the center of the grassland.

It was a huge cage that's over tens of times larger than the ones from the floors up until now.

Then after you pass through the grassland you enter a forest or thicket again but another 100 meters or so from there the altars are placed with a fixed distance of several hundred meters in a doughnut shape once again.

Therefore, the total length of the circular shape which the altars are placed along is around 28 kms. If we were to assume they're lined up with an average interval of 300 meters then there should be over 90 of them. I wanted to destroy at least 1/5th of them. Of course, it's believed there's a good chance the dungeons automatic repair would take effect but we still did it because we thought it would take a considerable amount of time for them to be repaired.

In any case, we went around destroying as many altars as we could in a hurry so that's why it took this much time. After all this is only the second time we've come to the 11th floor. Even though there's no hallways I didn't think we would defeat the floor guardian after just that amount of experience so the matter this time was really unexpected.

Judging from the things we saw last time we guessed that clearing the 11th floor would take far less time than every floor until now but I never thought it would be this time on just our second try.

It was a floor we were exploring for almost the first time and it's not like we could let our guard down regarding traps either.

As expected we're reaching the limits of our willpower for today.

I talk to everyone while biting a hardtack.

"Everyone, sorry when you're exhausted but endure for just a bit longer. Probably, the {Wyvern} that was the guardian should respawn around 20 hours after last time so, tomorrow, no, it should be around 10:00 today. There's already less than 5 hours remaining. Right after this we'll get some sleep. Zulu and Angela you two take turns keeping watch."

Sorry but you two be patient with just 2 hours or so of sleep.

You're slaves and can't use magic so you drew the unlucky lot.

Particularly Zulu who said, "This will increase masters reputation even more!" and cut off the {Wyvern}'s head then carried the damn heavy thing in shifts with Angela.

Even though I told them to stop because it would just add to the burden.

Everyone else agree with them so I just let them do as they like but isn't it fine if we have that many scales?

"In regards to the place the {Wyvern} will respawn but I can think of several patterns. First off is the case where it respawns over in front of that hall as if protecting it. In that case it'll be the easiest. Since it's fine if everyone just attacks it all at once.

It's got a huge body so once it's noticed us and we can use magic then we can attack without needing to worry about hitting each other. If it's magic a distance which you can punch then I'm sure those beams won't have the time to come flying and in terms of position the forest should act as a shield so I don't even think the beams will come flying in the first place."

Everyone's munching on hardtack and sipping dried meat soup while silently listening to me with exhaustion on their faces.

"It should be plenty possible to finish it off before the {Gorgons} come. In regards to the {Gorgons}, the surroundings of this pillar is nothing but wasteland and viability is good so I think we'll have a safe time fighting with magic or bow. Depending on the case we can just run into this room as well.

They most likely won't be able to enter the room just like up until now and even in the worst case they do the hall is narrow so it'll be one at a time. In that case~ it's fine if we just wait for them on both sides of the room."

Ah, even I'm having trouble thinking from fatigue. I'm glad I thought about it ahead of time.

"And in cases other than that. There was a protrusion way above this pillar right? If that's the {Wyvern}'s nest and it respawns up there then it'll be troublesome."

It started to get troublesome so I just dipped all three of my remaining hardtack into my soup.

"Nn~ I wonder about that?"

"I wonder if something like that will really happen?"

Miduchi and Bel brought up their doubts.

"What do you mean?"

Toris, Ralpha, and everyone else looked at the two of them curiously when I asked them.

"Certainly I agree if it ends up like Al-san said then it would be troublesome but if it's a floor guardian then in the first place shouldn't it respawn while protecting that entrance?"

"Yeah. I think so too. Though it'll probably move up above where it's easier to attack intruders afterwards."

Bel and Miduchi didn't just find this case doubtful but seem to have the same opinion.

"I see..Certainly that might be true."

Ralpha agreed with a self-satisfied look.

Hm~mm.

"If it were going to respawn in a place where it's at an advantage from the start then why do the Minotaur on the 9th floor all respawn gathered together? It wouldn't be strange for them to respawn separately all around the pillar right? Even the {Amber.Goliath} wouldn't it be best for it to be underground?"

Miduchi said things which all make sense.

Certainly that might the case hearing it said.

Not just myself but everyone else is nodding as well.

"Nn..That might be the case. But, for now I want to think of as many cases as possible. If it respawns above here then it's impossible to aim at it with magic because we can't see it and even if we could the distance is too far. Even if it were to come down since we'd have to aim the attack spells upwards those beams would be a problem.

Also, it's hard to imagine since it's called a guardian but it's possible it might not come down right away. They also say, "it's harder to see in the light" so it's even possible it might not see us right below it's feet for a short while."

I sip at my soup and swallow down the soggy hardtack together with it.

"In that case we'll test out everything we can and then return to the 10th floor. We'll restart from the beginning."

Depending on the case we might come to the 11th floor one more time but if the cage of lightning bolts is still in effect we'll give up advancing to anymore of floors after this. It seems like the amulet will sell pretty high and there's also a high chance that the {Wyvern}'s scales we obtained this time can be made into equipment that won't lose to that in price. We can still obtain quite a bit of treasure up to the 10th floor so if we just focus on nothing but earning for the next one or two years then I should be able save up plenty of money.

Though I say that, I'm sure that won't be the case.

That cage of lightning bolts should stop when either the challenger or guardian's life signs stop or they disappear. If that wasn't the case then it's just a matter of having it already activated from the start.