DCFM – Chapter 037: The beauty in front of the dungeon and Combat

“…Alright.” 

Once the sun went down, I left the inn.

I checked the Status Board and I have a decent amount of Points and Crystals. If I use these, my battles with the monsters should go smoother, but I couldn’t bring myself to use them.

Of course, there’s also the reason of not wanting to stand out.

But more than that, I have the success story of managing to escape from the forest thanks to having Points remaining.

There’s a high chance that I will be able to overcome any eventualities if I have Points remaining.

Knowing this, I couldn’t bring myself to spend my Points. 

I need a special reason to do it. 

I walk from alleyway to alleyway, towards the center where the entrance of the dungeon is.

At the entrance, there’s the usual 4 soldiers on watch that look as if they have nothing to do, with their usual bonfire there.

And, there was one unusual person…

(Isn’t that yesterday’s…Rifreya, was it? What is she doing?) (Hikaru)

The one there was the Light Spirit User female warrior that I met yesterday. 

She was completely ignoring the young soldiers that were peeking her way every now and then as if curious, and was facing straight forward, standing there as if she were protecting the entrance of the dungeon.

(Could it be that…she is waiting for me…?) (Hikaru)

I thought for a moment there, but got embarrassed right after for being so self-conscious there.

She must have a reason why she is there.

(Should I go talk to her and see if she is properly keeping my secret?) (Hikaru)

But I feel like that might backfire here.

There’s a chance she has forgotten about someone like me already. That development would be convenient too.

In the end, I ignored her, covered myself with darkness, and sneaked into the dungeon.

The inside of the dungeon was the same as usual.

You could say I even felt safe inside the darkness.

I didn’t pay heed to the newbie explorers fighting in the Dusk Hades Street, and hurried to the stairs of the 2nd Floor.

Skeletons have bad compatility with my abilities and weapon.

No, I am not really sure since I haven’t actually fought them, but I can’t help but feel like smashing them with a club would be better. I only have a cheap dagger with me. 

And so, I arrived at the 2nd Floor -the Hungry Beasts Underground Prison.

“[Darkness Fog].” (Hikaru)

I hide in the darkness and search for a monster that’s alone.

While I was searching, I unsheathed my dagger and tried swinging it around.

(Heavy…and I suck.) (Hikaru)

That was my honest opinion after trying it out.

I didn’t even have to think about it. This was natural. I have never used a sword after all.

The dagger that I am holding is the mass produced cheap stuff.

An uneven blade that’s around only 40 cm in size. They are probably forcing the sharpness out, the blade is thin, and if you push it a bit too much, it would easily chip or break.

Something that would only serve as self-defense. I say that, but in this world where iron itself apparently goes for a decent sum of money, a dagger like this is by no means cheap.

Now that I think about it, if I wanted to buy a dagger like this in my world, it might have cost a decent amount.

You can’t buy it with a few hundred yen or thousand yen.

That’s obvious.

*Whoosh Whoosh!*

I swing around the dagger. The weight is around 1kg.

It was lacking in power and speed.

I feel like I have no choice but to deal fatal damage with one hit like the time with the Mantis.

I lack way too much physical strength to fight as a warrior.

(It is pretty tiring…) (Hikaru)

I was out of breath just from swinging the dagger around for a few minutes.

Who knows what would be of me if this were a longsword.

Just what in the world is Rifreya who has the strength to swing around a longsword 10 times the weight of this dagger?

(Oh well, let’s go for the weakest-looking monster I find.) (Hikaru)

The weakest in the 2nd Floor are goblins.

They are around 100cm in size, and act in groups.

Monsters are pretty crooked in terms of being ‘living beings’, and they wander around not really doing anything in particular.

They attack humans on sight, but I don’t really know why they are like that.

Is it another page in the weirdness of dungeons?

(There. Two of them, huh…) (Hikaru)

I walked for a while and found a pair of goblins. 

Goblins can come in groups of 10 at most, so…stragglers are just fit for hunting.

Monsters tend to notice my presence if I get too close to them even if I use Darkness Fog.

I haven’t approached them to such an extent since I am scared to, but it is not like Spirit Abilities are all-powerful.

More so when there’s two. When I defeat one, the other will definitely notice me. The problem is what do I do when that happens.

I have seen a lot of parties fight, but I haven’t seen one that uses Dark Spirit Abilities.

I have no choice but to think about it myself and put it into action.

(Testing in actual combat, huh…) (Hikaru)

Thanks to Night Vision and Dark Vision, I can see even inside Darkness Fog. It is as if I am in broad daylight.

Even without that, Darkness Fog is my own ability, so I don’t think it would create a situation where the user themselves is blinded along with it. 

I increase the darkness to its highest output. 

The Tier 4 Darkness Fog can cover a radius of 10 meters in darkness. 

The goblins that were suddenly enveloped in darkness began to raise a ruckus.

I try to kill the sound of my footsteps, hold my breath, and move to the back of  the goblins.

An attack to their defenseless cervical vertebrae.

The swung down deadly blade gouged out the nape of the goblin’s neck as if it had been sucked into it, and it shortly fell to the floor with a pang…changing into a small transparent spirit stone.

(Next.) (Hikaru)

The remaining goblin couldn’t even understand that situation, and was still going gya gya.

It isn’t even swinging around its weapon or running away.

I calmly and silently moved to its back, and swung down my dagger to that same spot. 

Once things were done, it really was anti-climatic.

They were completely defeated with only Darkness Fog.

I didn’t even need to use my other abilities.

(Ooh… This feeling again.) (Hikaru)

The feeling of Spirit Energy entering my body as if becoming one like the time when I defeated the Mantis. It is minuscule compared to the other time, but what’s this?

I should ask the black market old man eventually. 

After that, I would find suitable monsters, would check them thoroughly, and then fight them.

When it is a group of around 5 goblins, I could defeat them with just [Summon: Night Bugs].

Summon Night Bugs are like dark insects of around 10 cm in size, with around 10 attacking the monsters. The proficiency is still low, but as I raise it, this would be the one ability that I can anticipate will have the highest direct attack power.

With my current proficiency in Shadow Bind, I can only stop them for around 10 seconds at most, and on top of that, they can still move their arms to a certain extent, so it isn’t that reliable.

It was decently useful against the Mantis, so I guess it depends on how you use it. 

It only works on one target per use, so I would have to use it consecutively if I want to bind several targets. 

It will become a more useful ability once the proficiency increases…I guess.

When I make the Shadow Runner run, orcs and goblins get angered and would chase after it to attack it. 

If I am showing myself, it would only distract them a bit, or if it is close, it would attack it. I have to increase my proficiency even more, or it will stay as an ability that only creates slight openings.

…Well, those ‘slight openings’ can be big in battles to the very limit though.

If I use Shade Shift, the chances of being hit are halved, but I am not fighting as a warrior, so I don’t have much use of it. 

And most of all…Darkness Fog is way too strong.

Revelation of Darkness is fearsome.

As if saying it is the basic yet the ultimate technique, inside the pitch black darkness, goblins and orcs become practically powerless.

It seems like the monsters here have enough night vision to act in the darkness of the dungeon, but Darkness Fog is pitch black darkness where not a single bit of light is present. 

Inside of it, monsters panic, and end up being unable to do anything.

I just have to silently approach them from the back and take their life.

It is simple yet powerful to the point that there’s no opportunity for other abilities to shine.

I could at least defeat goblins and orcs completely with only Darkness Fog.

But when it comes to monsters of higher class than that…like ogres and the mantis, I wouldn’t have the confidence.

If the other party notices me and they swing their weapon randomly, there’s a chance I would die instantly with just one hit. 

It is better to not get too overconfident here.

Me only fighting goblins and orcs is because even if they were to fight back, I wouldn’t be dying in one hit.

Well, this is my first day fighting monsters. I have plenty of time.

It is fine to take it slow. 

In the end, I just hunted weak monsters today.

I got 20 transparent Spirit Stones and 4 colored ones.

Previous Chapter l Next Chapter

Support my translations or commission me to translate a chapter of any series on Patreon!
Become a patron at Patreon!

46 thoughts on “DCFM – Chapter 037: The beauty in front of the dungeon and Combat”

    1. yes but he not want to spend points or convert crystals into points to spend. maybe if he gathers enough he will be temped to buying some perk.

  5. Wth, 24 is a lot for a solo hunt. Even if it’s just goblins.
    Disclaimer: Orcblog wouldn’t approve of saying ‘just goblins’ though.

  16. So he’s trying to be the opposite of Kousuke. He wants people to not notice him and have a really faint and thin presence.

    Anyways it’s actually kinda adorable that Rifreya is just waiting in front of the dungeon like she’s some sorta puppy waiting for their master to return. She’s probably going to get fed up of waiting for him outside and start to actively search for him inside the dungeon eventually.

    Well it’s good that he’s leveling up but I think he should start to practice more direct combat too. I mean what he’s doing is a safe way of leveling up but he’s not really learning how to fight. You can’t always expect you’ll have the initiative to attack from stealth for an ambush one-hit kill. At least learning a little bit about how to fight normally would be helpful.

  18. Hikaru is like a guilty boyfriend avoiding his girlfriend. Why isn’t Rifreya here with her servants though, if she is really a princess? Did she think he would be more likely to approach her alone, rather than when surrounded by others? How did she explain her survival to them? They must have thought that she did it herself, or she must have said something along those lines. Still, if she truly is a princess or some high ranking noble, I am wondering if she’ll truly be left without a guard in front of a dangerous place like the dungeon? If Hikaru keeps avoiding her, will she attempt to ambush him in the dungeon itself? She probably can’t continuously cast Light like Hikaru can cast Darkness Fog, so she’ll need a lot of luck. How is she going to be able to meet Hikaru again, at this rate?

    So many questions, so little answers. Normally, the girl would somehow find the MC and pull him out of his miserable loner life, but it is clear now that the author is very much in control and not falling for the standard tropes, developing the relationship between Hikaru and Rifreya realistically. With how secretive Hikaru is, it makes sense also that Rifreya (even if she has her servants searching for a boy of Hikaru’s age and description) won’t be able to find him that quickly.

    Hikaru’s fighting style was exactly what I thought it’d be like this entire time. He is following the footsteps of our dear Makoto the Goblin Cleaner. He took longer than expected to overcome his initial fear to fight, but that is probably normal. I think a large factor of why he doesn’t connect this to the trauma of Nanami and himself dying is because the monsters just disappear when they die, making it very game-like. Even the dead people’s equipment that he farms are just that. Equipment. He doesn’t see corpses and stuff like that. Which makes me think that once he actually sees a real person die in front of him or just an intact corpse, something might happen.

    That’s done with my thoughts. Now, onto some things I found noteworthy.

    >(Should I go talk to her and see if she is properly keeping me a secret?) (Hikaru)
    >But I feel like I might be screwing myself there.
    >Maybe she has forgotten about someone like me already. That would be convenient for me.

    (Should I go ask her if she is properly keeping my secret?) (Hikaru)
    But I feel like that might backfire here.
    There is a chance she has already forgotten about me already. That development would be convenient too.

    Thoughts: At first I was a bit confused since the flow was hard to grasp. Then I realised that because of his low self-esteem, he did not believe that something as significant as saving her would make it impossible for her to forget him, not to mention how she used her Light to ensure that she could see him. While one (or both) of his sisters have said him to be dense here, in this case it is probably not that, but actually his reluctance to change, of getting out of his comfortable darkness so quickly. Not to mention he is an introvert who’d rather not initiate conversations on his own unless absolutely necessary. So, he just entertained the thought and went on his way while avoiding her. So, using that as a basis, I tried to word it from his point of view.

    >Skeletons don’t have that much of a good affinity against my abilities and weapon.
    Skeletons have bad compatibility with my abilities and weapon.

    Thoughts: I just made it sound better in English while keeping the meaning as much as possible.

  25. “With my current proficiency in Shadow Bind, I can only stop them for around 10 seconds at most, and on top of that, they can still move their arms to a certain extent, so it isn’t that reliable.”
    So Hykaru doesnt know about games? Root for 10 seconds in pvp or pve is broken.
    Cast root to a mele class shoot with a bow shoot shoot root shoot shoot ……….. the target is dead. And doesnt sound like it have CD so wtf. If he uses a bow is lterally capable to kill high lvl monsters and farm a lot of spirit escence(exp points?) without risk even.
    Thanks for the chapter.
    I remember see arenas where support classes that just give buff kill meele class with that shit of combo.

  27. It kind of feels too relaxed and easy at this point, as if something bad was about to happen that pressures him out of his attitude. While I wouldn’t mind that development, I actually find it a little refreshing for now, even though it’s basically the same goblin hunting that Takatsuki did. Except that it’s darkness instead of fog.

  29. Well his stream sounds like it’s got a lot more entertaining all of a sudden. There’s no way he’s going to become an obscure channel.

    Thanks for the chapter!

    1. I dont want MC to become like another isekai in which for 300 years, she only kills slime and gain max level.
      For MC, i dont want him to have insane amount of time killing goblins while activating different branch and nodes of darkness skills.

    1. — In the end, I just hunted weak monsters today.
      Nice start, from here he can slowly increase the number or the level of the target…
      :3…

Leave a Reply