Chapter 64

"Horen, get down!"

Seiki shouted and took a step back.

But the horde of monsters reacted to his voice.

They emerged in large numbers from the grass.

The horde of monsters rose like black smoke and attacked Seiki and the others all at once.

"---Hii!!"

---Thud!

Horen, who was behind Seiki, held her breath.

In stark contrast to Horen, Lea was already firing potato bullets at the horde of monsters.

The potato bullets, which did not deal a fatal blow to Chacha, now unleashed their power.

They scattered the monsters in mid-air as they appeared.

The monsters' defense was significantly lower compared to Chacha.

But they were highly agile.

When they leaped, even Seiki almost lost sight of them.

Lea's control over her shooting, hitting the monsters with pinpoint accuracy, was incredible.

The soft armor that could be easily penetrated by potato bullets.

The thick legs that allowed for agile movement.

The green body that camouflaged with the grass.

The monsters that appeared were,

"Locusts?"

They were giant locusts, about 50 to 70 centimeters long.

Perhaps the reason Lea made her leaves spiky was because locusts were her natural enemies.

But the locusts.

While slashing the locusts with his dagger, Seiki was frustrated by their sheer number.

He had hoped for a food floor, but... well, are they even food?

Locusts, also known as okaebi, were eaten as tsukudani in Nagano Prefecture.

"Locusts taste like shrimp---"

"Mr. Seiki, that's not good, it's not allowed!"

Horen, who was shooting lightning from the tip of her staff, let out a scream.

There was no need to show such a sense of crisis...

It was as if she thought she would be forced to eat the locusts.

Seiki chuckled at Horen's reaction.

Seiki swung his dagger, dealing with the locusts one by one.

Seiki had not checked the WIKI strategy data for the locust monsters.

He didn't even know if they were strong or weak.

They looked completely weak.

In fact, compared to Chacha on the 11th floor, only their agility was impressive. The rest was unremarkable.

Their armor was so fragile that Seiki could kill them with a single kick.

Horen's lightning strikes pierced through the locusts, branching out and electrocuting multiple locusts.

Their strength also felt low to Seiki, compared to the monsters on the 12th floor.

Could they push through?

Just as he thought this, Seiki was being pushed back by the horde of locusts.

The number was extraordinary.

There were so many that he couldn't even count them.

It was like a swarm of hornets.

Even with Seiki's dagger, Lea's potatoes, and Horen's lightning, they were being pushed back.

"Let's retreat for now!"

"Yes, yes."

At the signal, Seiki and the others ran towards the gate.

Fortunately, the locusts were quite fragile.

Since they could be killed with a single hit, it was easy to clear a path to retreat.

Seiki cut through the locusts blocking their escape route, clearing the way.

The locusts pursuing from behind were swept away by Lea's rapid fire and Horen's lightning.

Seiki and the others reached the gate safely.

By then, the horde of locusts had retreated back into the grass.

It felt like they had been chased by hornets.

"What was that...?"

"This floor is really terrible."

Horen looked as if she had already had enough.

Seiki could understand her feeling very well.

They had killed a lot of locusts, but he didn't feel any level-up dizziness.

It seemed that this floor was one where a large number of low-level monsters appeared.

Since their defense was weak and they fell apart easily, there was no hope for materials.

There was very little to gain.

Seiki decided to pass through this floor as quickly as possible.

---But how to pass through?

Seiki put his hand to his chin and stared intently at the plain.

Earlier, Seiki had advanced straight ahead without thinking.

The plain was covered with a large amount of grass.

In contrast, there was no grass near the dungeon walls.

There was a path along the wall, and the center was grass.

The layout was like a field where green manure crops were planted to prevent continuous cropping problems---a fallow field.

"Mr. Seiki, what should we do?"

"Hmm. Let's try advancing along the wall for now. If it doesn't work, we'll retreat."

Lea, who was still spiking the grass, was being calmed by Seiki as he advanced along the wall.

They continued to advance along the wall, always using their full detection power.

There were many locusts hiding in the grass.

But even when they got within 10 meters, the locusts did not attack Seiki and the others.

Were they afraid of the wall?

Seiki tried sticking a disassembly knife into the wall, careful not to be judged as an attack on the dungeon.

He scraped off about a centimeter and threw the sand at the locusts.

*Paaan!*

"---Ah"

He had miscalculated the force, and the locusts were shattered.

"Mr. Seiki, what are you doing?"

Horen's cold gaze pierced Seiki.

In contrast, Lea praised him, saying, "Good job, more killing!"

The locusts' armor was much weaker than the monsters on the 11th floor.

Even if he held back, the locusts would die.

Seiki scraped the dungeon wall again, made it into a ball, and threw it at the locusts.

This time, he threw it lightly, as if passing a ball to a child.

The ball fell in front of the locusts.

But the locusts only lightly avoided it and did not move much.

"---Hmm"

It became even more confusing.

First, it didn't seem that the dungeon wall contained any components that the locusts were afraid of.

From the fact that they lightly avoided it, it was clear that they had noticed the ball.

But why didn't they attack Seiki, who had thrown the ball?

Earlier, they had attacked in large numbers...

"Maybe it's the grass?"

Could the grass be the territory of the locusts?

Or perhaps their range of movement was limited to the grass.

With this hypothesis, Seiki advanced quickly along the path by the wall.

Was there a path leading to the center?

As he searched, he found one.

The grass split, and a path led to the center.

"Doesn't this look like a trap?"

"Yeah, it looks like a trap."

On both sides were grasslands where locusts lived.

A narrow path cut through the center.

There was no protection.

If they were attacked, they wouldn't even be able to escape.

"Maybe we should check the WIKI for strategies on dealing with locusts."

There might be information on dealing with locust monsters in the blog.

They should check the internet and come back.

Just as he thought this, Seiki's detection sensed the presence of a battle.

The battle was taking place beyond the narrow path.

"Is someone there?"

But who?

Straining his eyes, he saw a large horde of locusts on the other side of the path.

The locusts were flying in the air, darkening the sky.

Fighting the locusts was a golden plant.

"That's---!!"

As soon as he realized it, Seiki's body moved unconsciously.

His blood surged through his body.

His heartbeat made his body hot.

"Mr. Seiki, what's wrong!?"

"Horen, Lea, full power. Kill all the locusts with full power!!"

On this day, Seiki made a clear decision to purify the monsters with a clear intent to kill.

Lea, on his back, nodded strongly at Seiki's command.

Because the golden plant fighting the locusts was rice!

The soul of a farmer burned in Seiki's eyes.

Wait, Silver Rice!

I'm coming to save you!

***

"---So, do you have anything to say?"

"No. I'm sorry."

After the battle ended, Seiki was made to sit in seiza in front of Horen, who was standing like a guardian deity.

...No, he sat in seiza voluntarily.

Anyone would sit in seiza when they saw Horen standing with the gods of wind and thunder summoned behind her, smiling.

If there was someone who didn't sit in seiza, they would be lacking in survival instinct.

Seiki, who had burst in with a burning passion, had interrupted a battle between locusts and rice.

It was more like a war.

The locusts were flying in the air, trying to eat the rice,

and the rice was firing rice bullets to protect itself.

Seiki, who had jumped into the war between the two species, avoided the rice bullets while exterminating the locusts.

He had jumped into the fray without any preparation.

It was inevitable that he would be attacked.

Naturally, Seiki was hit by rice bullets and the locusts' charges.

But thanks to the scale armor dropped by the lizardman, Seiki was not injured at all.

Lea, clinging to Seiki's body, dodged the rice bullets and responded to the locusts' attacks with potato stones coated with plenty of malice.

Horen had a tough time.

Horen, who had stepped into the battlefield where rice and locusts were flying, was almost in tears as she exterminated the locusts with lightning magic.

Horen's attacks were not enough.

She was saved by Lea, who, like Seiki, had gone berserk.

Lea even knocked down the locusts that were approaching Horen.

Fortunately, the hostility of the locusts and the rice did not shift to Seiki and the others.

Their mutual hatred remained unchanged even when Seiki and the others burst in.

If even a little of that hatred had shifted to Seiki and the others, they would have been in a dire situation.

"What if you had lost your life?"

"I'm really, really sorry..."

Seiki put his hands together and bowed deeply.

Horen's anger was justified.

Seiki had succumbed to the temptation of rice and put her in danger.

It was entirely his fault.

But rice had appeared before his eyes.

He hadn't eaten rice in a long time.

It was understandable that Seiki had lost control.

Most Japanese people would probably show leniency towards Seiki.

Rice appears in other dungeons as well.

The most famous is Niigata.

Because rice monsters appear in the upper floors, a certain amount of rice is supplied to the market in Niigata.

But in Hokkaido, they mainly appear in the middle floors.

Currently, rice appears in Asahikawa from the 15th floor.

In the garage dungeon, it's the 12th floor, which is also a middle floor.

Since only intermediate adventurers can go to harvest, it's impossible to supply a large amount.

The current situation is that even if you want to eat it, you can't.

"I will pass judgment."

"Yes."

"When we return to the surface, Mr. Seiki will cook rice for me."

"Yes... Yes?"

"I will forgive you. Of course, side dishes to go with the rice are mandatory."

"......I'll do it!"

Seiki clenched his fist and stood up.

He would do his best to fulfill Horen's request!

If he could be forgiven for this, it was a cheap price to pay.

Seiki used his disassembly knife to harvest the fallen rice.

He also reached out to the locusts,

"Mr. Seiki, no tsukudani!"

"But they taste like shrimp---"

"No tsukudani!"

Seiki shuddered at Horen's smiling face and retracted his hand.

Locusts appearing just before the rice harvest.

...Absolutely not.