Chapter 80

After passing through the gate, we found ourselves in a room of considerable size.

The room was about the same size as Rin-chan's, so it must be at least 20 tatami mats.

"It's a room... I guess."

"...Maybe it's a safe point. We might be sent back here after clearing it."

"That's right. Stranger traveler."

We turned around at the unexpected voice from behind.

A nun who was definitely not there when we looked around the room a moment ago was now standing behind us.

Just as we were about to raise our weapons in caution, we recognized her face.

"Um, you're the Navigator, right?"

"Yes, it's been a while, traveler Sukuna."

The nun, who smiled at my words, was the NPC—Ilis, I think—who guided us during the initial setup. She was known as the Navigator.

I remembered her because we had only met two weeks ago, but it took Rin-chan a moment to recognize her.

"This is the Chamber of Tranquility. It's a space for preparing before challenging the dungeon."

"But there's nothing here, is there?"

"That's only natural. The Chamber of Tranquility is a space where many functions can be unlocked by paying with Star Dust Fragments."

Rin-chan's question was essentially answered with the message to collect Star Dust Fragments.

I see, this empty room is a customizable safe point.

"Ah... I get it. So, how do we return to Fieas?"

"You can exchange a Return Ticket by collecting a certain number of Star Dust Fragments. This is a measure to prevent monsters from crossing from this world to the other. I hope you understand."

"How do we exchange them?"

"Regardless of the item, I will handle all exchanges. Please let me know if you need anything."

From the Navigator's words, it seemed that the gate was one-way. To prevent monsters from crossing, it made sense that the path was one-way.

However, I wondered if the very act of placing the gate in the city was the root cause.

If it were placed in a more remote area, it might not need to be one-way.

I thought this but didn't say it out loud. I knew Rin-chan would have thought of it too, and the reason for the one-way path was reasonable.

"Alright, if that's the case, it's fine. Is that door over there the entrance to the dungeon?"

"Yes. Please use that path to enter the Star Dust Labyrinth. You can reach this space by defeating the master of the labyrinth or retracing your steps."

"Got it. Let's go, Nana."

"Roger that."

"Good luck."

We waved to the bowing Navigator and slipped through the door to the dungeon.

☆

After passing through the door, we found ourselves on a grassy plain under a starry sky. It was a field that didn't seem like a dungeon at all.

"Hmm... Nana, can you throw the iron ball as far as you can towards the sky?"

"Wait a moment... Here goes!"

She threw the iron ball with all her might, even using a skill. The iron ball hit something and bounced back before it had traveled 100 meters.

As I retrieved the iron ball, which had embedded itself in the ground with a thud, Rin-chan spoke.

"I see. This is also 'inside the dungeon.'"

"So, what we hit was the ceiling?"

"Probably. It's too open to be called a labyrinth, but it's a convenient terrain for exploration over time."

The surroundings were illuminated more brightly than expected by the moonlight and starlight, but the ceiling seemed to create a "night" environment, making it dark.

Still, the field was very flat except for some forests here and there.

With such good visibility, it was sufficient.

"Rin-chan, there's a hole in the wall about a kilometer away in that direction."

"Good job, Nana. We don't know if it's a staircase, but let's go check it out."

At my words about finding a large hole in the wall, Rin-chan reacted with enthusiasm.

In dungeons, some have clear levels, while others do not.

For example, the Scorching Rock Cave I went to with Toka had no levels, but the cave gradually sloped downward. It could be considered a dungeon with upper, middle, and lower levels.

Level-type dungeons, on the other hand, change in enemy strength and environment with each floor.

The Star Dust Labyrinth, the event dungeon we were in, was a dungeon we entered without any prior information.

Therefore, we didn't know the structure of the dungeon or what would appear.

The only thing we knew was that it was a dungeon for players after Fieas.

Rin-chan was likely piecing together information for the strategy at an incredible speed.

Since this event was designed for repeated runs, Rin-chan was probably thinking along those lines.

My role was to gather information using my senses and relay it to Rin-chan.

"Hmm... Rin-chan, two fairly fast monsters are coming from the diagonal rear."

Without using the detection skill, I perceived the approach of the monsters by the sound of their footsteps.

When I reported this to Rin-chan, I was about to draw my sword but was stopped by her hand.

"Two wolf-type monsters."

The black wolves, blending into the night, approached us.

Without even raising her staff, Rin-chan began to draw characters in the air with her fingertips, enveloped in magic power.

"Lightning, strike! *Puchi Bolt*"

*Puchi Bolt* is a spell that paralyzes the target for a short time. Rin-chan hit the closer wolf with it and immediately began to chant again, without stopping her fingers from drawing characters in the air.

"Lightning, strike! *Puchi Bolt*"

The second *Puchi Bolt* hit the other wolf, and the characters in the air glowed intensely.

"Lightning Bolt"

A bolt of lightning that split the sky scorched the two wolves. A powerful area-of-effect spell, likely of intermediate or higher power, dealt significant damage to the two wolves.

Despite the powerful spell, both wolves were still alive, though they were paralyzed and unable to attack.

"Thunderball"

The two wolves were pierced by the初级雷魔法，很快就死了。

"毕竟，从第一层开始不会太难。"

Rin-chan 说完，放下举起的手，微笑着。

“你刚才做了什么？”

“魔法的多重发动……不，应该说是并行等待。这个游戏里，咏唱和其他发动方法是可以同时进行的。”

看着 Rin-chan 的战斗，我完全不知道她在做什么，于是坦率地问了她。

根据 Rin-chan 的解释，魔法除了咏唱外还有几种不同的发动方法。

例如，她使用的笔画魔法、使用乐器的奏乐魔法、使用物品的阵魔法等。

在咏唱的同时准备强大的魔法，然后在咏唱魔法制造的空隙中发动这些魔法，或者反过来，在咏唱强大魔法的同时用其他魔法保护自己。

她说这相当于“弹钢琴的难度”。虽然我也会弹钢琴，但我不认为自己能同时处理多个魔法。

“那么……刚才我们得到了8个星尘碎片。不知道一个星尘碎片的价值是多少呢。”

“效率也让人在意。如果 Boss 很强，说不定反复挑战 Trillia 更划算。”

“我希望不至于那么糟糕。”

例如，一个需要2小时才能完成，但能获得10个星尘碎片的迷宫，和一个只需要10分钟就能完成，但只能获得1个星尘碎片的迷宫，后者效率更高。

虽然差距很小，但如果连续挑战七天，这种差距就会累积。

不过，实际的效率差距还不清楚。

也许 Fieas 的效率最高，或者难度差异并不明显。

“总之，我们先去刚才的洞穴。地形我会全部记住，Nana 你负责侦察。”

“希望不是随机生成的。”

“即使随机生成，也有一定的模式。我们今天先熟悉一下。”

Rin-chan 能理所当然地说“全部记住”，是有原因的。

Rin-chan 能保持近80小时的集中力，可能是因为她醒着的时候大部分时间都在集中精力，所以记忆力远超常人。

Rin-chan 在学习和兴趣爱好上取得压倒性成绩的原因之一就是她对事物的集中力不同。

因此，Rin-chan 基本上不会忘记她“想记住”的事情。

不过，她对“不想记住”的事情记忆模糊。

刚才忘记 Navigator 的脸，可能是因为她认为不会再见到那个 NPC。

“啊，是普通的楼梯。”

“先下去吧。反正要反复挑战，探索可以慢慢来。尽量节省体力，直接去 Boss。”

“好的。”

我们一边走下宽而低的楼梯，一边向星尘迷宫的第二层进发。

由于每天的直播都在讲述 Nana 的事情，Rinne 的听众反而对“Sukuna”不太熟悉。因此，Rinne 也叫 Nana，因为她们是好朋友，所以也没办法。