"Why in the world would you think that we were playing rugby!?" - Breaker

"'Cause you all looked like you were having fun with throwing the remote around like that." - Scarecrow

"No, we weren't, you idiot!" - Breaker

The first one to snap out of the daze was the wheel-robot, Breaker. He must have experience with this kinda thing-is not what I should focus on! The explosives have been activated!

The bombs must be set with a timer since we're not blown sky-high already. Then I need to give these guys a slip and-!

*Dunk!* *Vrrrrr*

Before I noticed, Printerbot had transformed back into a printing press, with the addition of four wheels... a printing mobile!? Breaker and Scarecrow, as if having waited for this, jumped on top of Printerbot. Hey, they DID wait for this!

"So long, sucker!" - Scarecrow

"Don't you say anything else, or I-!" - Breaker

The figure of the bickering bots disappeared into the horizon. Man, that press is fast. And I have to run too! The closest exit of this floor... there go my dreams of a full house on the Chain Quest... *sniff*

---

The Black Baron's PoV:

"Roll my Spherebots, roll!! Ah-hahahahaha!" - Black Baron

The fast-talking diversion plan worked! As expected of me! There are some problems, such as the magician member of Percel's group having access to Ice magic and turned the floor into an ice rink, but no matter. Quantity beats quality! 

...Except that the only one on my team that does give some damage to the knights and the Floor Boss is Assault. I'll have to take the Spherebots back to the drawing board. 

The magicians and the thief are acting as support while the gloved knight and the spear-holder are crushing my poor Spherebots! I have to admit they've got talent in skating, but still! And that goodie two shoes Percel is busy fighting off both the Floor Boss and Assault at the same time in a three-way battle royal!

Eh? Wait... why's there nobody fighting me? Now I'm feeling lonely... not, sucker!

*Crack*

"Ha-ha! The Baron for the win." - Black Baron

Those idiots were too busy with my Machinerz to notice that I snuck off a branch of the final tree. Uh-oh. The boss glares at me now. Time go get outta this hell-hole. Where did I put my communicator...

"Hurry up! Burn that rubber!" - Scarecrow

"We wouldn't be in this situation if it was not for" - Breaker

A huge amount of noise came from the horizon. And why am I even surprised? The noise comes from Breaker and Scarecrow, riding on top of Printerbot in its vehicle mode. Those idiots! Who said they could leave their posts?

"Hey! Where are you three going?" - Black Baron

"Sir!? Well, ehm, you see..." - Breaker

"No time to talk boss! This place's gonna blow sky-high!!" - Scarecrow

Everyone present, be they monsters, humanoids, or Machinerz, stopped when they heard Scarecrow's shout. Don't tell me...

"...You little, useless, soon-to-be-placed-on-toilet-duty pieces of scraps! Did you activate the highly explosive Kaboomtonium bombs before I gave the okay-signal!?" - Black Baron

"Kaboomtonium!?" - Knights

"Oh yeah, that's illegal on every seven continents. A small mistake on my part. Please forget I said anything." - Black Baron

"No way, mister! Now I have the perfect excuse to throw you into jail..." - Percel

"Ehm, shouldn't we worry about that when we're not in the danger of being blown sky-high?" - Gauntlet-knight

The big-fisted guy's completely right. There's no time to waste here. I transformed the Hovermobile into a drive-mode, allowing it to use the four hoverdisks on the sides as wheels along with the hoverengine on the back for increased speed.

"Now hurry up, gear-brains! Your execution is delayed until we reach the exit!" - Black Baron

"Aw, but I wanna buy a souvenir..." - Scarecrow

Ignoring the idiot, I rushed up towards the Dungeon's entrance with the Machinerz in tow. The knights? Why do I need to care about them!? My own life's the most important here!

---

*-------!!!!!*

The explosion shook the nocturnal wasteland for several miles as if it was an earthquake. Even a Dungeon that is made with the power of the Chaos God himself can't withstand an explosion of over a hundred Kaboomtonium bombs at the same time. 

Good thing we managed to get a few kilometers away from the Dungeon. By luck, those knights should have been taken out along with the Dungeon!

Hah! That's what you get for trying to get in my way, knights! And you too Glavras, for trying to sneak away from your debt!

"--------" - Breaker

Oops. Forgot to remove the protector headphones. 

"What is it?" - Black Baron

"Sir, about that branch..." - Breaker

Oh yeah, forgot all about that one. 

"Ha-hahahaha! Now I'll get a [Water Resistance] Skill Scroll for every functional Spherebots that was present during the Quest! I'm gonna be rich-!" - Black Baron

"But sir, about those Spherebots-" - Breaker

"They went kablooey." - Scarecrow

Hahahahaha... huh? Wait, where's all the Spherebots? The only ones here are me, the two nincompoops, Assault, and Printerbot.

"THE LIKES OF SPHEREBOTS CAN NEVER CATCH UP TO MY SPEED." - Assault

That's because you are equipped with a jetpack!

...And the two idiots were riding Printerbot in its vehicle mode... and I was using the Hovermobile... oh damn.

The Spherebots were too slow to escape to the surface! Their only way of high-speed movement is through rolling, which was impossible because the Dungeon is underground! My plan of earning a fortune on [Water Resistance] scrolls is ruined! And it's all due to-

"Man, talk about an explosion. That must have finished off the spider." - Scarecrow

"Wait, what spider?" - Black Baron

"Huh? Oh! Yes, the spider. A spider-type demon assaulted us while we were waiting for your orders." - Breaker

"It webbed my face!" - Scarecrow

"Yes. It attacked poor Scarecrow out of nowhere. Printerbot tried to fight back, but the spider jumped on his fist and used that to creep closer-" - Breaker

"Wait a minute, you're telling me that a no-name spider demon managed to catch a ride on this guy's (pointing towards Printerbot) rocket punch?" - Black Baron

"It is difficult to believe, but yes. And it is not a 'no-name spider demon', but a Darkness attribute, named spider demon." - Breaker

... "Darkness attribute" and "named demon"...

 "I should have known it! That blasted goddess! Not only is she so impudent to try to make the great me, the Black Baron, into a simple pawn or 'Champion' or whatever just to win some kind of bet, now she's messing with my plans?!" - Black Baron

(I think we're safe for now.) - Breaker

(Sweet! Let's open a can of vintage oil back at the lair.) - Scarecrow

"Breaker!" - Black Baron

"Y-yes, sir!!" - Breaker

"You used [Identification] on that spider?" - Black Baron

"Yes, but why asking about that now?" - Breaker

"The spider's squashed under a bazillion tons of rocks now." - Scarecrow

"I know, but you can never be too certain with those Darkness attribute creeps. Be overjoyed Assault. You're going to have [Identification] installed into you. If you see anyone that matches Breakers data..." - Black Baron

"ANNIHILATE." - Assault

"Yes, you are right there. Hehehe... Hahaha... O-HOHOHOHOH-hrk?! *Cough, cough, cough*!" - Black Baron

"And that kids, is the reason not to laugh like a mad man in a dead-dry wasteland." - Scarecrow

---

Percel's PoV:

"*Spit, spit*, sand, bleargh. Are everyone alright?" - Percel

"WHAT? YOU NEED TO SPEAK LOUDER." - Wulf (Pugilist-knight)

The others gave similar answers. Guess they're alright?

I looked at the entrance of the Dungeon... completely caved-in. Even the illusion effects placed around the entrance have collapsed. Even so, my experience with Dungeons tells me that this one is still in one piece.

I placed my hand on the rubble that blocked the entrance. ...I see. It's faint, but I can still feel an aether pulse from the Dungeon. And from this feeling, the 'entrance' for the Dungeon has been replaced. 

The ruler of the Dungeon must have remade the Dungeon when they noticed the Black Baron's bombs, so it 'cut-off' the three first floors of the Dungeon, making the fourth floor essentially the entrance floor, and further improved the durability for the rest of the Dungeon with the aether that should have been used to maintain the cut-offed floors.

Still, this is a problem. We cannot expect that the Dungeon will remove all these boulders now since the three former floors aren't part of the Dungeon anymore. And removing several tons of stone in the middle of the wasteland is not what I would call "an easy task". 

"Yeah... further exploration of this place is going to wait for quite a while." - Percel

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Cent (Magician-knight)

We cannot do anything in our current situation anyway. And with this mess, I would say it would take more than half a year to clean this up. More than that when we consider the many dangers here, such as the local wildlife. 

I went away from the destroyed Dungeon entrance and turned my attention to our six helpers: the Floor Boss and his five friends. 

I thought I was going mad when these guys threw us on their backs and ran out of the Dungeon. They saved our lives. I have heard stories like this, stories about monsters that give a helping hand to humanoids, but this is the first time I have witnessed such a scene with my own eyes, let alone being the one being helped. No wonder the rest of the guys wanted to leave Avalar...

"...Do you six want to come along?" - Percel

I mean, they cannot enter the Dungeon anymore. I do not have [Identification] or similar skills, but the "aura" of a Floor Boss has disappeared from the evolved dinosaur. Not to forget that they saved our lives, despite being the guardians of the Dungeon. That, and I miss having a ride.

"Oh yeah! Good job boss!" - Wulf (Pugilist-knight)

"It's nice to finally have mounts again." - Herman (Spear-knight)

"I want this one. Its hiding skills are almost as good as mine." - Emel (Thief-knight)

"Then the ones with identification abilities are ours then?" - Dan (Priest-knight)

"Not that there are any other choices left." - Cent (Magician-knight)

...You guys sure picked a good time to regain your hearing...

*Pat*

The former Floor Boss patted me on my shoulder. I-I do not need any sympathy here... but you five are going to regret this during our next training session!

---

Garami's PoV:

...The rumbles have subsided... *Bonk!*

Ouch! Okay, now they've subsided. Stupid rock...

I'm currently on Floor 4. My idea was that those explosions would damage the upper floors more than the lower ones, so I thought that escaping to this floor would save me from the explosion. I mean, bunkers are underground, and the floors are pretty far apart from each other... I'm just glad the whole place didn't collapse on me. Think I've used up all my luck for the rest of my life this time around.

To be safe, I made some sharp turns in the many tunnels to get as far away from the blast as possible. I didn't even have the time to look out for enemies! It's a good thing they must have fled from the imminent explosion. You can't diss animal instincts... or is it "monster instincts"?

And a Skill Scroll appeared before me all of a sudden along with what appears to be a treasure chest.

Wait, didn't the Quest fail? The related floor was blown to smitheries and all... did some other guy save the last needed branch before the explosion or something?

Well, I'm not gonna... and here came another "Quest Cleared" announcement... along with another set of scrolls and a treasure chest. Yes, yes... what?

Hey, what's going on here!? Ehm, to clear this thing, I need to... crush some water pipes? When did I... oh. That time when I wanted to give the roaches some payback. To think you can clear the conditions for a Quest even before they're released...

But hey, if they're gonna give me skills just like that, then I'll take them! No complaints here.

And then to these treasure chests... or potion chests? The Quest descriptions did call them "Lusalki's Approved Poison Set" and "Lusalki's Approved Medicine Set". Give a minute to sort things out... there. The content of the poison chest is as follows:

Poison Chest:

• Vial of Weak Poison Mixture *30
• Vial of Snake Venom Mixture *20
• Vial of Spider Venom Mixture *20
• Vial of Paralyze Poison Mixture *5
• Vial of Sleep Poison Mixture *5
• Confusion Poison Mixture *5
• Rage Poison Mixture *5
• High-grade Poison Mixture *5
• Lavellan Poison *4
• Lernaean Hydra Poison *1

A total of 100 vials of poisons of different kinds. The weak ones seem to be weaker than my own [Poison Bite] or the venomous abilities of [Aura of Darkness]. The snake- and spider poisons are better than those, with the snake focusing on the potency of the poison, and the spider kind has a long time of effect.

The ailment-type poisons don't poison the targets at all. Instead, they inflict the status ailment that's described, meaning Paralyze, Sleep, Confusion, and Rage. I think it would be safe to obtain the Resistance Skills for all those before thinking about experimenting with them... or getting an amazing slingshot. 

The high-grade wares are easy to get how they work, so I'll skip them for now. Then there are the two non-mixture vials. These guys are so potent, they don't need to be a part of a mixture like the rest, so they can be used straight away, despite being "material items".Yikes.

The "Lavellan" poison originates from a racial rank B rat monster that goes by that name. Maybe it's the Greycave Rats' super evolution? This thing's extremely deadly according to the description, so I'm not sure if I'll ever get into a situation that will be good to use this thing. And I have four of them...

But the last guy's even worse. A Lernaean Hydra is an evolution of the Hydra monster. You know, the many-headed, very dangerous, very poisonous snake that was one of Hercules's twelve labors? Yeah, that one. 

In this world, the Hydra is a racial rank A dragon monster... but the Lernaean Hydra's a rank S! S, I tell you! The "vial" is simply the size of containing a few drops of the poison, but even then, I think it's too much. The description of this thing is telling me it could destroy a continent if not treated carefully. So yeah, this thing's gonna be stored in [Spatial Storage] indefinitely. 

Is this a reward or the gods' way of throwing their trash onto me? The chest itself also has some values, as it's called a "Royal Potion Chest" that can securely store potion items without the risk of being stolen, as only the owner (me) can open the box.

Let's hope the medicines are better...

The chest is called a "Potion Chest". It goes on the same concept as the Royal Potion Chest, but the difference is that the former can only store 50 items compared to the latter one that can store 100 items. 

And now, the contents. First, we have blood-red, deep blue, and striking yellow potions. Five of each. They are respectively... High Potions,  High Mana Potions, and High Stamina Potions.

Sweet! So sweet, I think I'm getting a toothache. The effect of this stuff is way more than my total HP, MP, and SP. Is there a way to dilute one of each?

Then we have an emerald green potion that's called an All Ailment Restoration Potions... in other words, a Full Heal. Works on any type of non-special ailments. There are three of them... oh! And there's 3 of each ailment from the poison reward! Poison, Paralyze, Sleep, Confusion, Rage... yup. That's them all. Why did I get more poison than antidotes? 

Onward to the next batch. Guh, this one's not useful for me right now. A High-grade Repair Potion. Five of them. Only usable on items. It looks like fluid silver inside the bottle, but even so... I can't use weapons. Damn...

Then this one... why's there a rainbow in the bottle? Let's see... "Potion of Skill Growth"? Increases the skill levels of a certain amount of skills, plus granting a random amount of Skill Points?! And there's three of them!? This must be the best until now!

The only bad part is that I can't control which skill gets improved... let's stop obtaining new skills without any thoughts and focus on increasing the levels of the ones I have now. The higher the level, the more work is needed to increase it. And I should evolve before taking this potion. The "random amount" could be based on the number of points you get due to your racial rank.

41 down, 9 more to go. There are 3 different types of potions left. 5 of them are of the same type, a purplish potion called "Reversal Attribute Potion". A few drops of this can reverse the effect of any other different types of potions, as long as it's of a lower rank than this one. Medicine will become poison and vice versa. Kinda useful, but it won't help me to safely get rid of the too dangerous poisons.

Then there are 3... Tears of the Phoenix!? These are classified as material items, but their effects are equal to all three of the high-grade potions from the beginning, plus the All Ailment Restoration Potion... just what is this supposed to be "material" for... ignore that last part. I solved the mystery.

The tears HAVE to be related to this thing. Heck, if I only need a single drop to bring back someone dead, then I can revive 30 people with the content of this bottle.

Alright, to summarize, sorting after the rarity ranks, I've got:

• Normal rarity:
  • Poison Antidote *3
  • Paralyze Antidote *3
  • Sleep Antidote *3
  • Confusion Antidote *3
  • Rage Antidote *3 
  • Weak Poison Mixture *30
  • Paralyze Poison Mixture *5
  • Sleep Poison Mixture *5
  • Confusion Poison Mixture *5
  • Rage Poison Mixture *5
• Rare rarity:
  • Potion Chest *1
  • Snake Venom Mixture *20
  • Spider Venom Mixture *20
• Epic rarity:
  • Royal Potion Chest *1
  • High Life Potion *5
  • High Mana Potion *5
  • High Stamina Potion *5
  • All Ailment Restoration Potion *3
  • High-grade Repair Potion *5
  • Reversal Attribute Potion *5
  • High-grade Poison Mixture *5
• Legendary rarity:
  • Potion of Skill Growth *3
  • Tears of the Phoenix *3
  • Lavellan Poison *4
• Godly rarity:
  • Elixir *1
  • Lernaean Hydra Poison *1

...The theory of the poison set being something that the gods made just to get rid of the rotten stuff has gotten some serious backing. The Elixir must be included in case I make some trouble with the Lernaean Hydra Poison. Bet that the next Quest won't have something that crazy as a reward... 

It's gonna take some time for the Dungeon to clean up the mess from the bombs, so why not focus on the Quest on Floor 5? I mean, by the current trend, the fifth Quest should be on the fifth floor, right?

Another Potion of Skill Growth? I'm in! But yeah, the extra reward has shrunk to a simple Skill Scroll. Wonder what it does... nah. It's better not to know. In case of the Quest being impossible to fulfill, then it's better to not know what you have missed, right?

Alright then, time to map this floor! Because I hope with my whole heart and soul that the entrance isn't on Floor 6!

---

Hi, it's me again. The mapping has gone smoothly. I think I've covered 40% of the upper tunnels of this floor already. Praise me! And I've yet to encounter any monsters that could spell problems. Just your regular Greycave Rats and Pond Frogs. 

There's just a tiny little problem: The lower tunnels are flooded. And the reason for it is the pipeline I broke back then. Whoops. Does anyone have an ark nearby? Or a submarine? It doesn't even need to be yellow.

...What now?