I Am Not Goblin Slayer

Chapter 82: Going Down the Dungeon

Lawrence did not just learn about that Micro Dungeon in the past couple of days.

In fact, the timeline dated back to more than a week ago.

During this period, he had been preparing for the dungeon exploration, including but not limited to pre-arranged equipment and supply allocation.

Silver-plated weapons in case of undead creatures, crossbow bolts for ranged attacks, lighting tools, water, antidotes, food supplies, and so on.

Tools for special terrain, lockpicks, climbing ropes, detection tool kits, etc.

Next came the recruitment of personnel.

He contacted some old apprentice friends through letters, most of whom were quite capable.

The primary goal of this past week was to wait for the other members to gather.

After all, not everyone could free up their schedules at the same time, and time had to be reserved for others to wrap up their current commissions.

As usual, the first meeting point for this temporary Small Team preparing to explore the Micro Dungeon was set in a tavern.

Wormwood, Oak Barrel Tavern.

Perhaps due to local characteristics, even the taverns in Wormwood faintly carried a scent of fresh herbs.

This fragrance gave what should have been a rowdy place a hint of tranquility. To put it another way, the atmosphere somewhat resembled the quiet bars from Gauss's previous life.

Gauss pushed open the door and stepped into the hall, surveying the surroundings.

Finally, at a booth near the corner, he spotted Lawrence along with several unfamiliar men and women — they were likely his temporary teammates for this dungeon exploration.

“Let me introduce you all. This is the spellcaster Gauss. Quite formidable in strength.”

Lawrence pulled Gauss forward to introduce him first.

The others had already heard from Lawrence before Gauss arrived that an Apprentice Spellcaster would be joining the exploration.

Now seeing him in person, noticing his somewhat youthful appearance, they immediately concluded that he hadn’t been an Adventurer for long.

Any Adventurer with a few years under their belt would have spent years traveling, exposed to wind and sun, making it hard to maintain such fair and clean skin as his.

For a moment, several people exchanged glances, unable to suppress their suspicions.

Could this be one of Lawrence’s wealthy young friends, tagging along out of curiosity for dungeon exploration?

In truth, they had misunderstood Gauss.

Born as a Mountain Farm Boy, Gauss had not always possessed his current bearing. Just a month or two ago, he too was a dusty-faced, grubby little Karami.

Only in recent times had he started eating well and living well, making up for the long-lacking nutrition of his original body.

Moreover, with his physical attributes improving steadily, his overall demeanor had also become more distinguished, giving the vague impression of a complete transformation.

Gauss noticed the various gazes cast his way and could faintly sense the emotions behind them, but he didn’t falter.

Adventurers spoke with strength, after all. He believed his current abilities made it unlikely that any Low-level Adventurer could be stronger than him.

As such, he rarely cared about others' opinions.

He made eye contact with each of them and greeted them calmly.

This composed behavior earned him some favor.

Those who had been speculating quietly in their hearts also temporarily put aside their guesses.

They began introducing themselves one by one.

“I am…”

After all the introductions, Gauss gained some understanding of his fellow dungeon explorers.

Including himself and Lawrence,

There were seven people in total.

They were: two Warrior Apprentices — the human warrior Liam and the Half-Orc warrior Sork.

Rogue Apprentice Edith, the brawny Priest Apprentice Adrian, and Ranger Apprentice Bianca.

And of course, the Apprentice Spellcasters, Lawrence and Gauss.

Apart from Lawrence, who looked a bit weakened from indulgence, the rest were all strong individuals. Just their muscle tone alone revealed a lot.

This discovery made Gauss nod silently in approval.

He also hoped his teammates would be dependable.

The next day.

After a half-day team drill, Gauss quickly grew closer with the once-unfamiliar group.

The teammates fully acknowledged the capabilities Gauss demonstrated during training.

What did they see? A well-built, agile, offense-and-defense-balanced spellcaster who even wielded decent swordsmanship?

His versatility went far beyond what they thought possible for an apprentice.

They weren’t particularly curious about how Gauss trained — that had little to do with them. All they needed to know was that Gauss was a teammate participating in this expedition, and that was enough.

“Gauss, wanna go back to the tavern tonight for drinks?”

The Half-Orc warrior Sork threw an arm around Gauss’s shoulders with easy familiarity, speaking boisterously.

Most Half-Orcs were similarly straightforward — clear in love and hate, action before words, and devoted to strength.

Their thoughts often showed plainly on their faces.

Just like the enthusiasm and friendliness now radiating from Sork’s expression.

Ironically, during their first meeting in the tavern the previous night, he had been the coldest one, leaning back in his chair.

「I’ll pass. We’re setting out tomorrow. Better not drink too much tonight.」

Gauss, now with Sork’s heavy arm over his shoulders and catching a strong whiff of his body odor, felt somewhat uneasy.

“Haha, fair enough!” Sork, rejected, wasn’t upset. On the contrary, he nodded in agreement with Gauss’s view.

This scene made Lawrence rub his forehead beside them.

Honestly, he wasn’t that familiar with Sork either. His impression of Sork was a brash man with blunt words who often offended others. He didn’t expect such a rugged guy to be so reasonable.

His gaze involuntarily shifted to Gauss.

Among the group, he was probably the most surprised.

After knowing Gauss for so many days, Lawrence thought he already understood him well. Yet that morning’s drill had revealed many previously hidden abilities.

At that moment, he couldn’t help but feel fortunate — inviting Gauss on this journey might have been the best decision.

Because the Micro Dungeon’s location was some distance from Wormwood,the dungeon exploration team gathered early.

After boarding the carriage from Lawrence’s medicinal herb shop, the group set off toward the dungeon site.

Inside the carriage, no one continued chatting much.

Everyone leaned back in their seats, resting with eyes closed.

As they moved further from the human settlements, the scenery outside the carriage grew increasingly desolate.

After traveling for some time, the group got off by the roadside and began walking the final leg of the journey with their packs.

In front of several stone pillars that jutted out abruptly from the wasteland like bamboo shoots, Lawrence, leading the group, came to a halt.

“This is the place.”

Gauss turned his head to observe the surroundings.

The scene here was indeed rather bizarre and eerie.

Some structures looked as though they had been forcibly squeezed out from the ground below.

But such a theory clearly defied common sense.

The group did not rush to begin the exploration. Instead, they set down their packs nearby to rest and recover their strength.

Before embarking on a proper adventure, the first priority was to restore oneself to peak condition.

Gauss also began eating the food he had brought with him in large bites.

The physical energy consumed during the walk earlier, as well as the Magical Energy spent on casting Mage Armor in advance, began to recover steadily with his meal, like a rising tide.

Once everyone was well-rested.

Rogue Apprentice Edith began her work, first scouting the surface area around the dungeon.

She confirmed whether there were any other monsters or beasts in the vicinity of the dungeon’s surface.

After a thorough inspection revealed no danger, the group finally turned their attention to the dungeon entrance itself.

Entrances like these were typically controlled by some kind of mechanism.

Lawrence pointed to a certain spot. Among the tightly aligned stone floor tiles, there was one tile slightly looser. After cautiously pulling it out—

「Kakakaka—」

With the sound of a mechanism activating, a crack slowly opened on the previously flat stone floor, eventually forming an underground entrance about two meters square.

The entrance sloped downward, extending into the depths. Due to the lack of light, it was impossible to see what lay within the tunnel.

「Cough cough!」

What emerged first from the thick, abyssal darkness was the muffled air.

“Let my little pet go in and scout first.”

Rogue Apprentice Edith pinched the scruff of a weasel, gently scratching its belly with her slender fingers, a gesture that seemed both soothing and a check on its condition.

After feeding it a small treat, Rogue Apprentice Edith placed the pet rodent on the ground at the entrance of the tunnel.

Pointing into the passage, she let out a sharp, mimicking sound.

Receiving its master’s command, the rodent cautiously peeked inside the tunnel, observing for a moment before finally venturing in.

「Eek eek!」

Not long after, a few short, high-pitched squeaks echoed faintly from within the passage.

Edith lay beside the entrance, seemingly understanding what she heard.

“I’ll go in first to check the situation. If there’s no danger, I’ll come back to notify you.”

Then her figure silently melted into the darkness.

Gauss patiently watched his teammate’s silhouette disappear.

Lawrence, concerned that Gauss might be nervous about his first dungeon dive, had already briefed him a few days earlier on the potential dangers and situations he might encounter upon entry.

Dungeons were relics crafted by the civilization of the Forgotten Realms, and nearly all of them contained various mechanisms and traps.

If one charged in rashly, relying solely on a bit of combat power and no preparation, one could die without ever knowing what happened.

Compared to visible monsters and guards, some silent traps were even more lethal.

The Rogue Apprentice Edith in their team was responsible for reconnaissance. She needed to use Stealth Skills early on to gather internal dungeon intelligence—trap and mechanism locations, enemy positions, and to map the terrain and routes, providing vital information to her teammates.

It could be said that in a dungeon expedition, anyone else could be missing, but a seasoned Rogue was indispensable.

This was also why Gauss had only taken on simple tasks after returning to his solo state.

Until his combat power reached a qualitative leap, relying solely on his own strength was insufficient—and such limitations became even more apparent in complex environments and mission scenarios.

After waiting a while.

Edith returned, carrying a hand-drawn Kraft Paper map, and began explaining the layout and environment of the dungeon’s first section to everyone.

As Gauss studied the map, a clear image of the underground space formed in his mind.

This dungeon’s interior was composed of individual rooms, each connected by narrow corridors, laid out in a tree-like structure.

Each enlarged node represented a dungeon room.

Edith had only scouted the area around the entrance tunnel.

Further exploration still required the team to continue venturing inside together.

“So this is a Micro Dungeon?”

A trace of surprise appeared on Gauss’s face.

When Lawrence first said “micro,” he had imagined something like a small basement of maybe a few dozen to a hundred square meters.

But now, with the map before him, he realized it was far more complex than he had anticipated.

The dungeon was not a single cohesive space; every small room in the intricate network might conceal enemies or traps. It looked like it would take a while to explore.

After double-checking their equipment and weapons, they entered the dungeon tunnel one after another.

Gauss walked in the middle of the team.

After coordinating with his teammates, he cast a Light Cantrip on the shield of the Half-Orc warrior Sork.

The Light Cantrip did not consume even a sliver of his Magical Energy.

That was because the Bone Wand had a strange affinity for the Light Cantrip. It allowed him to store five uses in advance.

As for other spells, he had tested them too, but unfortunately, they didn’t work.

“Thanks.”

Once the Light Cantrip was released, the tunnel instantly brightened.

The pure white glow emanating from Sork’s shield seemed to possess a calming power, and even the sinister atmosphere of the surrounding darkness felt subdued by the light.

Lawrence turned his head and glanced at Gauss.

For some reason, walking within the glow of Gauss’s Light Cantrip gave him an inexplicable discomfort.

It wasn’t as though he had never encountered Light Cantrip before—it was one of the more common Cantrips—but none had ever felt like this.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that Gauss’s Light Cantrip was different from those of other Apprentice Spellcasters.

But since they were in the middle of an expedition, he couldn’t ask, so he buried his confusion for now.

“Careful. Don’t step on this tile—there’s a pressure plate inside, linked to the mechanism beside it.”

As they descended, Edith would occasionally speak up, warning the team about certain traps.

The group navigated around them with great caution.

They continued in silence, moving deeper downward.

Gauss estimated they had walked over a hundred meters, with a straight-line depth from the surface of around thirty to forty meters, before the descending staircase finally came to an end.

What came into view was a space resembling an entrance hall.

Of course, it wasn’t particularly large—about twenty square meters in size. The ceiling above was just over two meters high, making the space feel a bit cramped and oppressive.

「Kakaka!」

Perhaps the effect of the Light Cantrip was too prominent.

A few skeletons that had been scattered across the ground slowly stood up, letting out hoarse roars from their mouths.

“I’ll handle it.”

Gauss stopped the teammate who was about to act and charged forward with his sword.

In a quick flurry, he effortlessly dispatched the five skeletons.

Skeletons that even ordinary farmers could deal with naturally posed no trouble for him.

「Killed Regular Skeleton *5」

「Total Monster Kills: 110」

That felt good.

Gauss looked at the skeletons, now completely devoid of any glow, and sheathed his rapier.

In recent days, the number of entries in the Monster Encyclopedia had stalled due to his focus on training Mage Armor, but now it began to accumulate once again.

Staring at the pitch-black, deep corridors stretching out ahead, he couldn’t help but feel a rush of anticipation.

Hopefully, this Micro Dungeon would contain more weak enemies like regular skeletons.

After all, the Adventurer’s Handbook’s Monster Encyclopedia did not discriminate based on monster strength.

Even something as weak as a regular skeleton still contributed to the overall kill count like any other monster.

With some luck, he might just rack up enough kills in this dungeon.

At the same time—

Lawrence, watching Gauss take the lead, executing smooth and fluid movements to slay all the enemies in just a few strikes, couldn’t help but be stunned, even though he knew they were merely weak skeletons.

Is this how we spellcasters are supposed to fight?

Something in his heart seemed to shatter silently into pieces.