The Earth-san Has Leveled Up!

2-12. Sakura-san’s Gift and the Third Floor

There was no next gate, but for convenience, the exploration of the mountain dungeon, designated as the second layer, continued.

The structure, with its rows of vermilion torii gates, remained as beautiful as it was terrifying.

“Eeeeek, this way’s a dead end!”

“Damn it, if it’s a dead end, at least give us a treasure chest!”

“Oh my, this is the path we took earlier. It seems to connect here.”

“Really! If we’re going in circles, at least put a treasure chest along the way!”

The mountain dungeon was annoyingly designed.

Going one way led to a dead end, while another path brought you to a branch of a place you’d already been.

If it were a short distance, it wouldn’t be a problem, but after walking for 15 minutes, the sense of futility was overwhelming. Of course, enemies also appeared, so including combat time, it took even longer.

It seemed like we were being led toward the summit of the first mountain, but the dungeon was designed to make us go up and down repeatedly along the way.

With the exploration going like this, the number of battles kept increasing.

The enemies that appeared were, as expected, the Pestle Rabbits and the Checkered Dolls.

The Pestle Rabbits were now just cannon fodder, treated like bonus enemies.

A second Rabbit Ear Band dropped, and Sasara, who engages in close combat, equipped it. As expected, her Mana decreased by 1, while her agility slightly increased.

We had an excess of rabbit pelts, which was becoming a bit of a problem.

We also had a sewing kit, so we thought about turning them into cloaks, but that would have to wait until we reached a rest area. If we even find one. By the way, using [Synthesis Enhancement], we could even sew the pelts.

As for the Checkered Dolls, after fighting them a few times, we got much better at dealing with them.

The Checkered Dolls had exceptionally high evasion when in perfect condition.

However, they had a weakness: they would get knocked back when hit, so we used Lulu’s water arts to startle them and land the first hit.

Practice in battle is the best training, as they say, and everyone’s weapon handling and movement improved rapidly.

That said, the Checkered Dolls had a creepy tenacity, attacking even after losing half their limbs or face, so we couldn’t let our guard down. Plus, their faces were scary.

The Checkered Dolls often dropped broken katanas, which we synthesized into Lulu’s small sickle.

Somewhat rare drops were obi sashes and kimonos. They were all for dolls, so we couldn’t wear them, but they were of good quality, so we folded them and put them in our backpacks. We wrapped one obi around Meiko’s neck, just like Sasara and Lulu.

We still haven’t gotten any rare drops from them.

And the magic stones that dropped every time we defeated an enemy piled up.

Individually, they were small, but there were so many that they jingled a lot.

We divided the drops among the three of us and put them in our backpacks, but eventually, we’d have to figure something out. It seemed like we might have to resort to discarding some.

Amid all this, we found a treasure chest containing more coins.

This time, there were 10 silver coins.

In total, we now had 25 coins. We divided them among the three of us, with each getting 8 coins, except for Meiko, who got 9.

After many battles, taking breaks in particularly beautiful spots, we continued exploring for 6 hours.

This wasn’t a flat path like the Loli Labyrinth; it was the kind of exploration that would surely exhaust an ordinary 15-year-old girl.

However, thanks to her training, Meiko still had plenty of energy. Sasara and Lulu, having taken on close-combat roles, also had some energy to spare.

And then, the three of us reached the summit.

At the summit, there was only a large cherry tree, and nothing we had hoped for.

In other words, there was no return gate or safe zone.

On the bright side, there was no boss to fight, which was a relief.

The time was 11:30.

Since we had started early in the morning, we still had plenty of time, but we wanted to find a safe zone soon. Meiko thought there might be one somewhere on the mountainside, as there had been one before.

In any case, we were at the summit.

“Fwaaaaah, what a breathtaking view!”

“The clouds look like you could swim in them!”

“Lulu, no.”

“Sorry, hehe.”

As they said this, the three of them stood side by side, gazing at the sea of clouds surrounding the dungeon stretching to the horizon.

They say climbing a mountain with friends deepens bonds, and Meiko felt that.

The sense of accomplishment filled her chest—we had done it together.

But this was still just a midpoint.

There was a descending path different from the one we had taken up.

And there was the presence of the neighboring mountain, which we hadn’t set foot on yet.

Under normal circumstances, we shouldn’t have felt such a sense of accomplishment, but the summit made it happen.

So, for now, let’s enjoy this feeling.

The three of us took countless picturesque photos in the stunning scenery.

Fortunately, no enemies appeared, and we were able to rest thoroughly.

It was also just the right time for lunch, so we ate.

When it was time to move on, the three of us stood side by side at the base of the cherry tree.

“It’s an amazing tree, let’s pray to it.”

“Yes, it seems like a powerful tree.”

“Nyau! Does Japan have gods for everything? Nyaororozu, right?”

“If you’re going to say that, it’s ‘Yaoyorozu’.”

“Yaororozu?”

“That’s too many ‘ro’s.”

“I don’t want to hear that from you, Shara.”

“Hey!”

“Nyaoyoyoju!”

“Yaororozu, no. Yaoyoyo… Nyao… Nnuun! Come on, Lulu, let’s pray!”

Meiko smiled at their banter.

Then, the three of them joined their hands together.

“Please let us escape the dungeon safely!”

“I’ll go on a grand adventure with Meiko! Please watch over us!”

“Please, watch over us.”

Then, something unexpected happened.

The base of the cherry tree glowed, and a treasure chest appeared.

“A hidden feature!”

“Ma! A gift from Sakura-san!”

“My, how thoughtful of Sakura-san!”

Ah, I messed up!

Meiko felt ashamed of her game-like comment in response to her pure-hearted companions. This is the difference in girl power!

In any case, a treasure chest.

Meiko, the treasure chest junkie, opened the lid.

Inside was a 20-centimeter-long blue crystal.

Upon closer inspection, there was a single cherry blossom inside.

Even as a decorative item, it was lovely, but Meiko, wondering what it was, suddenly had a realization.

According to her insight, this crystal could become a weapon.

It would transform into the type of weapon desired by the person who activated it, but it couldn’t produce a weapon outside of that person’s job class. If the person didn’t have a job class, they couldn’t use it.

Additionally, the rarity of the equipment that appeared depended on the number of items inside the crystal. In this case, the rarity was one star.

Meiko shared her knowledge with the other two and suggested that Sasara should have it.

Lulu agreed.

After all, Sasara was still using the Pestle Sword.

Curious, Meiko tried appraising the crystal for synthesis, but it was E/E.

It was the first time she’d seen such a notation, but it seemed the crystal couldn’t be enhanced.

“Are you sure it’s okay?”

Sasara hesitated while holding the crystal, but the other two smiled and gave their approval.

Accepting that she would use it, Sasara furrowed her beautiful brow in thought.

“Alright!”

With that, she activated the crystal.

Her hand holding the crystal was enveloped in a blue light, and a weapon materialized.

What appeared was a saber.

There was a teacher for this type of weapon outside the dungeon, and it also exuded elegance.

The blade was about 80 centimeters long, slightly curved, resembling a Meiji-era military sword that incorporated traditional sword techniques, and it looked sharp.

The knuckle guard was an elegant design inspired by cherry branches, and the scabbard also reflected this motif.

With Sasara now armed, Meiko and Lulu crowded around her. They were weapon enthusiasts, if not history buffs.

For now, they enhanced the saber a bit.

Satisfied, the three thanked the giant cherry tree and began their descent, shifting their focus.

By this point, Sasara and Lulu had gotten used to the dungeon, so Meiko handed over map-drawing duties.

Soon, enemies appeared.

This time, however, we encountered two at once.

Two Pestle Rabbits.

Meiko immediately fired a water bullet, disarming Pestle Rabbit A.

“Wait! Let’s take out the one that gets close first!”

The two, about to rush forward, stopped at Meiko’s command.

If two enemies were approaching, focusing on Pestle Rabbit A risked Pestle Rabbit B providing backup, potentially attacking from behind. That would be a terrible move.

Meiko quickly reloaded and fired another water bullet, disarming Pestle Rabbit B, which had gotten close.

At that moment, Lulu pounced as if she’d been waiting for this. The rabbit trying to retrieve its Pestle looked like it was in a ‘run, rabbit, run’ situation.

Leaving that one to Lulu, Meiko and Sasara dealt with Pestle Rabbit A, which had retrieved its Pestle.

Meiko hit Pestle Rabbit A with another water bullet, disarming it again, and Sasara charged in.

With the saber equipped, Sasara’s attack power had increased significantly, and she quickly turned the rabbit into light.

However, since she was using a blade, like Lulu, she also saw a lot of blood, which dampened her spirits.

The two Pestle Rabbits vanished into light.

Sasara looked up at the sky, bit her lower lip, and swallowed the lump in her throat.

Then, she exhaled and smiled at Meiko and Lulu.

Ah, my friends are both strong.

Meiko truly felt grateful that these two were the ones who had fallen into the dungeon with her.

If it had been someone who relied solely on Meiko’s reputation and did nothing, Meiko would surely be dead by now.

Watching her friends, Sasara’s words about how a lady’s soul should be came back to Meiko.

After the battle, we had a debriefing.

The main topic was Meiko’s increased magic consumption.

“If it’s just a coincidence that two appeared at once, it’s fine, but if this happens frequently, it could be a problem.”

Meiko’s current Mana was 72.

If she kept using three water bullets like this, she’d slowly run out.

“We’ll take out the rabbits up close!”

“That’s right. I’ve got a sword now.”

“Hmm, I know our attack power is more than enough, but we’ve never seen the Pestle Rabbits attack. Still, we might not have the luxury of worrying about that.”

We wanted to play it safe, but the situation was becoming too dire for such luxuries.

Meiko considered this the third layer of the mountain dungeon.

Given the clean break of reaching the summit and turning back, she guessed that encountering two enemies at once wasn’t a coincidence.

If there had been a safe zone, we could have spent a few hours training like yesterday, but today we were still searching for that safe zone.

Incidentally, there wasn’t one near the summit.

We had no choice but to quickly take out one enemy and engage the second in close combat.

Then, the next enemies to appear were a Pestle Rabbit and a Checkered Doll.

“Seriously? Sasara and Lulu, take the doll! I’ll handle the rabbit!”

If one of these monsters had been faster, we could have dealt with them one at a time, but unfortunately, both moved at the same speed. It wasn’t teamwork; they were just naturally that fast. Of course, one moved on the ground and the other in the air.

Moreover, these two types had different winning patterns we’d established, making them particularly troublesome when they appeared together.

Meiko fired a water bullet, disarming the Pestle Rabbit.

“Nin nin!”

At the same time, Lulu startled the Checkered Doll with her water arts, and Sasara slashed it with her Slash Sword.

“Lulu, help Meiko!”

“Nyau!”

Lulu, who had followed up with her sickle on the knocked-back doll, received instructions from Sasara.

Sasara herself closed in on the doll and began close combat with her saber.

Meanwhile, Meiko used her grimoire to smack the Pestle Rabbit in the head as it chased its Pestle.

Lulu, using her high-speed movement, rushed in and slashed the defenseless rabbit’s throat with her sickle.

The effect of Lulu’s skill [Stand Out] made the slash sparkle. It must have been a solid hit.

Seeing this, Meiko changed her role.

She immediately turned and joined Sasara’s fight.

Positioned behind the Checkered Doll, Meiko timed her grimoire attack with Sasara’s strikes, smashing the doll’s head from above.

This slammed the doll into the stone pavement, and the rest was a beatdown.

After thoroughly beating the doll into light, Meiko looked over to see Lulu had already finished her fight and was keeping watch.

We all gathered the drops and regrouped.

“Think we can manage?”

“But if we’re not careful, we might get hit.”

At Sasara’s honest assessment, Meiko nodded.

Still, the enemies would keep coming, and we had no choice but to fight.

To conserve magic, the girls needed to sharpen their coordination even further.

And Meiko gazed at the neighboring mountain.

With no return gate in sight and only a safe zone to find, how long would this exploration continue?