Chapter 278

Dungeon Fourth Floor: Exploration of the Ruins Floor
As planned, we finished exploring the Forest Floor and moved on to the next floor.
On the way, we encountered the floor guardian protecting the stairs, but like before, it was dealt with instantly.
Now, what’s the next floor like?
I decided to ask Melanie.

“The next floor is the Ruins Area.”

“Ruins Area?”

“Yes, it consists of a decayed village and its surroundings. Many undead monsters appear here, and there are also poisonous swamps.”

“Are there treasure chests too?”

“They can be found under the eaves of ruined houses, on the second floors, and in basements. However, most adventurers are more interested in the monsters here, so the treasure chests are often ignored.”

I see, so this is another chance to gather treasure chests.
When we actually explored the village, treasure chests turned up in abundance.
However, from this floor onward, many of the chests were trapped.
If you don’t disarm the traps first, it can lead to trouble.
In my case, I have Talat’s protection, so I was fine.
Still, I don’t want to rely on Talat every time.

With that in mind, I left the task of disarming traps to a maid specializing in such work.
I accompanied the maid, Akumi, to learn the methods, studying how to disable traps from her.
Apparently, the disarming method varies depending on the type of trap, and the first step is identifying the kind of trap.
If it were up to me, I’d probably just try to grab the chest without thinking, which would be risky.

Because of the traps, collecting each chest took time, but we managed to gather 18 chests by the end of the day.
It seems most of the treasure chests are concentrated in the ruined village, but since there aren’t that many buildings, even a thorough search yielded only this amount.
I’ve heard that treasure chests don’t respawn for several days, so this is likely the only day we’ll spend treasure hunting inside the village.

“Well then, what will we do tomorrow?”

After hearing my plan, Plum asked for clarification.
True, we’ve thoroughly searched the village, so there’s little reason to stay here any longer.
Still, there might be something outside the village worth exploring, so I suggested we check the surrounding areas.

“Alright. Tomorrow we’ll explore the surroundings of the ruined village.”

“Yes, please.”

“Understood. The monsters around here aren’t too strong. Melanie, what about the monsters on the fifth floor?”

“Well, they wouldn’t be much of a problem for all of you. There are enemies like Metal Skeletons and Metal Giants, which aren’t very affected by regular physical attacks, but you have magic and… your weapons aren’t exactly ordinary, are they?”

Well, that’s true—nothing about us is ordinary.

By the way, no Skill Crystals came from today’s treasure chests.
Even though we found three copper chests, it was a bit disappointing.
Let’s hope for better luck tomorrow.

What do you think about this chapter?