Level Down 10 (Patreon)

Volume 1 Chapter 10 - Making the Round on the Ogre King

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Recently, a certain rumor has been spreading among adventurers of Lilac City. Rumor that there is a mysterious person who is so powerful that he can traverse the Demon Dungeon on his own many times.

One said that that person sent a cyclops away with a single blow with his bare hands. Another said that he annihilated his enemies with magic so fast that it’s invisible to the naked eye. Another said that even though he was just standing there, his enemy fell down. Another said that if there is a dead monster left lying on the ground, it’s his doing, et cetera, et cetera.

The content of the rumors varies, and most adventurers don’t believe that all of them are true, but there is one thing the rumors have in common. That is...

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Allen's happy double life was going well. His night exploration of the Slime Dungeon was, frankly speaking, boring, so recently he started practicing attacking inconspicuously after collecting his quota of slime magic stones.

This is so that if Allen were to confront any fight trouble as a guild employee, he would be able to deal with it secretly without his ability being noticed.

He was at a loss as to how to do that, but after about a month of trial and error, he had decided on the simple method of flicking a pebble with his fingers. As long as he is not in a very special place, materials will be available, and even if they fell, it won’t be particularly strange.

At first, the pebble shattered into pieces when he fired it, but as a result of continued research applying his ingenuity, he discovered a way to cover the pebble with magic power to strengthen it, and he managed to make it fly without breaking.

While working as a guild employee, he continued to visit the Demon Dungeon every week as Nera. Although rather than continuing to visit, it would be more accurate to say that he defeats the ogre king every week.

This is not merely for money. Up until now, Allen had only accepted requests with a considerable margin of safety, and he was aware that he would end up using too much force when facing a powerful monster, based on his previous common sense at least.

Thanks to visiting every week, he can now defeat everything normally, except for the boss, the ogre king. When he faces the ogre king, he still gets scared somewhere in his heart and ends up overdoing it.

However, Allen had already fought the ogre king four times, and was confident that he had gotten used to its habits and movements. That's why he decided that the battle this time would be the stopping point.

The ogre king's club attacked Allen. He could have dodged this club easily if he wanted to, but Allen went out of his way to block it with his recently obtained stick, and was literally blown away by its force.

Allen managed to stop himself from hitting the wall by stabbing his stick into the ground, then he rolled forward to avoid the crushing blow of the ogre king that had charged toward him. At the same time, he hit its right foot, which was full of openings, as hard as he could with his stick.

A dull thud sounded, and the ogre king roared with rage in its face, but it was clear that the blow was not fatal. Covering his ears, Allen took some distance from it.

“Eat this, Waterball.” (Allen)

Five water balls about 30 centimeters in length appeared, and he launched them one after another. The water balls were aimed at the ogre king's right arm which was holding the club, and once hit by the five water balls, the arm let go of the club, and the club rolled away.

“UOoooOO!!” (Ogre King)

The ogre king who dropped its club, as if to clear away its irritation, ran towards Allen with all its might. Then, once a few meters in front of him, it jumped as hard as it could.

Allen just calmly watched the giant body of the ogre king that was coming to crush him. Then, he twirled his stick and aimed it at the ogre king.

Their crossing was instantaneous. A moment passed with Allen with his stick thrust into the air while the ogre king was kneeling on one knee on the ground.

Then, the giant body of the ogre king slowly fell to the ground. Allen looked down at its figure as he put his stick back.

“This’s good. No waste in my attack. Actual combat is important after all. I know I’ll be okay, but if I don't get used to it, I'll end up going overboard.” (Allen)

Allen muttered while remembering the battle this time. Then, as usual, he collected its horn and magic stone and waited a while to see if a treasure chest would appear.

Of the four times Allen had already conquered this Demon Dungeon, the time when a treasure chest appeared after the boss battle was only the first one was when the clothes appeared, and the third one when he got the stick he used in the previous battle.

By the way, the clothes doesn't have high defense power, but even if it gets torn, it automatically repairs itself and doesn't get dirty, making it a very pleasant piece of equipment for diving through  dungeons. Also, the stick has been able to withstand Allen's blows so far, so there is no doubt that it is a useful piece of equipment.

Allen knew that he might be able to find out more about their other abilities if he had an appraiser from the Adventurers' Guild or the Merchant's Guild examine them, but if he did that, it seems like it’ll turn troublesome, so he was satisfied with the status quo for now. He was dissatisfied with their design, though.

“Oh, my luck is good. Another treasure chest, huh?” (Allen)

Since this is the third time, Allen had gotten used to it, so he examined it thoroughly and opened the lid without hesitation. What was inside was...

“A bag?” (Allen)

Allen took out a polka-dot patterned drawstring-sized bag from the treasure chest. Then he opened its closed mouth and thrust his hand into it, and casually pulled out something that was inside.

What came out was a red ball about 10 centimeters in diameter.

Allen placed the ball that had a unique feel like a hardened slime on the ground. Then he noticed that there was still a bulge in the drawstring pouch that looked like there was a ball in it, so he put his hand into it again. The next thing that came out was a yellow ball.

Allen continued the process of putting his hand into the pouch and pulling out balls for a while, but after the first few attempts he noticed that there were clearly more balls than the pouch had capacity for.

Allen thought of one possibility and tried to stuff the tools he had brought into the pouch, but they couldn’t get in at all. The only thing that went in was the balls he took out.

“A bag that can take out and put in a lot of balls? Why only things like this...” (Allen)

Allen slumped his shoulders and let out a sigh.

What Allen wished was something called a magic bag, it was a treasure that could hold more stuff than it looked. Although it is a very famous treasure due to its usefulness, it is rarely discovered, and only the true first-class adventurers possess it.

It was an item that Allen would definitely want if he were to continue diving into dungeons alone in the future, but there was no way things would work out that way.

Allen was disappointed, but when he saw the balls of all colors rolling in front of him, he thought of something.

Allen himself had seen clowns juggling with balls and other objects in the plaza. How much would he be able to do if he tried it now? That kind of interest welled up within him.

Wanting to change his mood was probably part of it, though.

“Yo, ho, ha.” (Allen)

Allen threw the balls that were on the ground into the air one after another and started juggling them.

Three, four, five, and so on, the number of balls in the air increased. As the number of balls increased, the time they had to be in the air to make up for it also became longer, and sweat began to pour from Allen's forehead due to the greater difficulty than he had imagined.

“Fourteen, fifteen, ah!” (Allen)

The moment Allen was about to throw the 16th ball, a red ball and a blue ball collided in the air. Just as he grimaced, something unbelievable happened. The red ball and blue ball that collided turned into a single purple ball.

Allen had an indescribably bad feeling about the falling purple ball and lightly kicked it away. The purple ball flew towards the wall while drawing a parabola, and when it collided with the wall, it cracked with a popping sound, releasing a pungent odor all around with the sound of something melting.

“UOooOh! This is definitely a bad one if you get hit by this.” (Allen)

Allen rubs his leg many times, thinking, ‘I’m glad it didn't break when I kicked it away’. Then, he started putting the balls away one by one in the bag, determined never to play with the tool that makes such dangerous items again.

As a matter of fact, Allen was a little scared to even touch the balls, but they didn't seem like they would break at all when he touched them.

After a while, Allen finished collecting all the balls and then let out a breath while taking a pose of wiping sweat from his forehead, he wasn’t sweating though.

“Well, I'll do the investigation of this dangerous object later, but it looks like I should be okay with the Demon Dungeon for now. Now, what should I do next?” (Allen)

While saying that, Allen got on the magic circle and was teleported to the first floor, and left the dungeon after which, he went to the Guild's branch office, and as usual, handed over the ogre king's magic stones and horns to the guild employee who looked like he was thinking ‘how troublesome’, and applied for consignment sale.

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Allen doesn't know. That Allen's Nera disguise had gained an alias before he knew it. And that, rumors are spreading that there is a weirdo who explores dungeons alone while dressed as a clown.

Teardrop Nera.

That the tears may not be due to the design of the mask, but is shed by the guild employee at the branch office over his hardship at dealing with Nera.

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