Okami Wa Nemuranai

Episode 17.8

"The catalog's got proviso on the next floors. What's that?"

"Floor 26 to floor 30 have the same structure as these floors but the spiders are laying in wait on their webs. Each web has one spider living on it. Most of those spiders stay put above the web, but they will come down if an intruder touches their web."

"Umu."

"These webs are problematic. Since the spiders won't come out if you don't touch their web, you can proceed ahead without engaging a fight so long you don't touch one. But there are some spots where you're left with no choice but to touch a web in order to proceed."

"Are those webs not sticky."

"They are. Carelessly touching them will get you bound, and tormented to death. Hitting a web with a stone will call the spider down, and the stickiness is gone once the spider is defeated then you gather the web. After which, you're free to proceed."

"I see. Are these spiders as strong as the ones before them?"

"No. From here on, the spiders get slightly bigger and stronger as we go deeper. They will shoot , , at you."

"Ah. Time to use that huh."

By that Lecan means tools to collect venom. A Sfarko fruit is attached to the tip of one such tool which sucks in venom, then you put it inside a bag intended for storing them. Per Heles's advice, they each bought a set of five.

"You can use them if you want, but if we're heading for floor 31 during this expedition, I'd suggest we wait until then. The venom there is more than ten times pricier."

From floor 31 below, the enemies are the lesser variant of Octular Great Spider. Their venom commands a higher price than that of giant variant of Spotted Spiders.

" is a magic attack. Its range is about 10 to 15 steps. The spider has to have a view on us to put us under but our side doesn't have to see them for the attack to work."

"What happens when you're put under ."

"It varies by person, but most go wild slashing at their comrades while screaming incorrigible words."

"That sounds bothersome."

"It is. You suffer from if you get hit by their claws. This one is apparently a type of curse. Thus, it's indispensable to have curse resistant equipment equipped. Or putting on hard protectors that prevent their claws reaching your skin."

Eda has got a curse resistant bracelet on her wrist. Not clear how effective it is, but it should suffice for the time being, and Lecan's got if push comes to shove anyway.

The deeper you go below in this dungeon, the stronger the curse assailing you. Obtaining before coming here was truly a windfall.

" is spit out of their mouth, this reaches about 20 steps away."

"Quite far."

"Their slanted upper part swells up when they're shooting from afar. The venom is black, the same color as the ceiling and rocks hanging down it, so it's very hard to distinguish. Not to mention we're in a dimly lit area. And sometimes the venom would hit rock creases and splash back at us. There is no way to avoid this."

"I see. Guess that about covers it. Let's get in."

Those spiders turned out to be nothing.

They would come down when Lecan threw firewood on their web. Since they were showing their back as they did that, they made for easy targets for Eda's arrows and Lecan's .

Their venom is indeed problematic, but dodging it is a simple matter to Lecan and those spiders don't shoot it often anyway, he had let one shoot it once before the march begun anew.

Since the spiders won't come to the edge of their web, swords cannot reach them. Going within a sword range would get you entangled in their web.

(I see now.)

(Would be handy with a spear.)

(The longer the better.)

(And you can block the venom with a shield.)

Lecan tried shooting a at a web.

It cut off a thread but that's it.

He tried as well, but it only created a hole on the hit spot, and nothing else.

The procedure on this floor was Lecan throwing firewood at the web and Eda shooting down the descending spiders. came into picture when the spiders were especially agile or shot their venom. The spiders are swift, but they don't move as erratically when they're coming down at the start. Lecan let Eda take care of them as practice. Fortunately the abdomen of these spiders are soft, thus all of her arrows pierced through it.

Some spiders also shot out from time to time, but none of Lecan's party suffered the curse.

Using the same procedure, they traversed through floor 27, 28, 29, and 30 before making a camp near the exit.

"We're running late. Should have made camp sooner."

"It's at Yellow Forg (Touza) moment now."

"What is that thing?"

"It's a . This is the small portable version. It shows time when you pour mana in it. It's a very handy tool."

"That's an equipment issued to the royal knights, isn't it. Are you sure you could bring it with you?"

"Ah. Well, uh. Since I'm not a member of the royal knights, it should be all right."

Lecan had an interest in tools that could show time.

In his former world, every town has a bell hall that rings the bell on times measured by a machine.

But this world has sunrise split by three periods of Ring Snake (Muruja), sunset by three periods of Water Buffalo (Shootran), night by ten periods, and noon by ten periods. And naturally, these periods change by season.

In other word, time in his former world is unchanging regardless of seasons or regions, while it's relative in this world.

"Fumu. Is that Time Notifier adjusted by sunrise and sunset. Or does it show a fixed time unaffected by seasons and regions?

"Now this is a surprise. So Lecan-dono is also a scholar."

"At the place I come from, we have a Bell Hall in every town that rings the bell on times measured by machines."

"There's a country like that? But really, bells huh. I see, bells. That's interesting. But, Lecan-dono. How would that tell which time period it's at. Or perhaps, they ring different-sounding bells for each time period?"

"The numbers of ringing differ. The bell rings twice at Lesser Turtle (Fengel) moment, thrice at Halfbeak (Chichi) moment, essentially, just ring different numbers at every moment. Then you only ring the bell once at 2nd, 3rd, and 4th periods."

"What? But then... No, that's right. However... Umu. That's interesting. Lecan-dono. Truly interesting. Thanks for this story. I'll be sure to discuss this with my uncle once I get back to the capital. We've been trying to get machine-based time notification work at the capital with less than satisfying results, you see."

Which means, this world also has machine-based time measurements. Lecan simply didn't know. That said, it doesn't seem to be well known.

In reality, people start their daily lives as lights pour downs from heavens. As for works that can only start at night, establishing the rule has prevented quarrels between employers and employees from breaking out. Sunrise and sunset are made into periods to conform people's daily lives.

"But I still cannot believe how we managed to traverse through floor 21 to 30 in just one day. Just wow. And neither me or Arios-dono fought for real even. We merely had to pick up fallen magic stones."

Heles grilled salted jerky over the campfire as she said that.

"Ah, it's so nice. This is really nice. This so-called campfire. I can't go on without one now that I've seen the light."

She sipped down the soup Eda made.

"To think warm soup could be this sublime. This soup is far more delicious than the soup made by my family's head chef."

Naturally that's not the case, she's probably saying it as a way to express her excitement and gratitude for having these kinds of food inside a dungeon. Lecan refrained from telling her that didn't really work.

"We can enjoy this cuz we're staying the night inside the dungeon. Peeps who keep coming back outside can stay in an inn and all, but I'm wondering if the round trips alone don't tire them out."

"Eda."

"Un? Yes?"

"I usually took five days of break before I would go back to a dungeon after coming back from a dungeon expedition."

"You're really taking your sweet time."

"Your body and soul get extremely tense inside a dungeon. Doesn't matter if you fight or not. One or two days aren't enough to truly heal those tensions."

"So that's how it works."

"The folks here have their own ways of doing things, I won't question that. Just remember that. And when you're camping inside a dungeon, you've got to relax your body well all while never letting up."

"Un! I got you."

"Lecan-dono, you truly cherish Eda-dono, don't you. It's like I'm looking at father and daughter."

"Ehehe. I've got Lecan as my master for this entire year, you see."

"This entire year?"

"Un. I'll think about then when that time comes."

"Eda-dono, aren't you going to continue exploring dungeons after this?"

"Unn. Dungeons are fun, but I don't really feel like exploring one without Lecan around."

"Is that so."

This day they defeated a bit more than 90 magic beasts.

Six treasure chests popped up. Four had potions, two were shields.

They got some nice Graces, should fetch handsomely.

They also gathered some spider threads. Lecan didn't have the slightest idea just how much would it fetch.