珍しいな化け物の木

 

After deciding to leave the Forest Ruins I peeked at 41^st floor and realized again that I was really not completely ready for dungeon crawling. I was standing at the entrance in awe as the vast white spread across the whole floor. The plains, mountains, even the trees where white and if only this place did not give me the freezing effect with its chilling breeze, I would have loved to have kept on watching the scenery.

 

Right, I was now on a Snowy Field, snow was a bit new to me as the country I lived in had been in the equator, so snow did not fall there. So when I saw it, I was a bit mesmerized. To think the day that I would see my first snowy field would be on another world, the experience made me quite ecstatic.

 

But the freezing effect would probably turn me to icicle if I linger any further without proper gears so I need to leave to prepare for the field, namely extra clothing. Thankfully, boss monsters would need longer days to respawn and decided to head back to 39^th floor and hunt a few monsters for the clothing I need.

 

I was a bit hesitant to go there. What if the Dungeon Sweeper still lurks? But I needed to go back and prepare so got some courage to head there. Thankfully, it was no longer there. I think that since the individual that has stayed in the floor for 10 days is gone its reason for existence has also ceased to exist and so also left. Or so at least that is how I had made my conclusion.

 

Now back to my preparations. As some sort of precaution I made sure to only spend two days to get used to the setup both in combat and in lifestyle

 

First are the extra clothing, the cold in the next area is dangerous especially for me who is treading the snowy fields for the first time in life. Thinking about it, I might not die by the fangs of the monsters, the cold will. So I hunted for some ZOMBIES and NECROS in the area for their clothes.

 

Thankfully, although they are UNDEAD there is no stench as you’d expect on the dead, the blood stains also magically disappears together with them. Had it remained, I might have to rethink about going deeper.

 

Using some of the spider silk thread I have on the stock, I sewed some head gear from those clothing to provide heat on my head and ears. Some simple gloves should also provide me protection from the cold.

 

Second on the list is making sure to stack on food and water to ensure my survival. Although I saw some trees on my initial view on the snowy fields, I should expect that only a few of them are fruit bearing. I then used some of the dropped clothing to make clothing bags to hold my provisions.

 

Third are medicines, thankfully, I happen to have seen some LIZARDWOMEN took some medicinal plants that seem to also sprout here. Eucalyptus trees, cinnamon trees and other trees that have medicinal properties. I stock on them and place some of them on ‘The CABINET’.

 

Allow me to digress again for a bit, although I am not able to manually put things on the Detachment Room from the outside, it was quite different from the non-combat items I had place on it. When I used my arrows on the 35^th floor against the LICH, I tried to replenish them with the arrows the UNDEAD archers left behind and placed them on ‘the Arrow Basket’ without any problem. Thinking that, I was able to use the same principle on both ‘The Cabinet’ and ‘The Throwing Box’.

 

Now that my preparations should be complete, I then returned to the 41^st floor before I have to fight another ELDER LICH and its armies.

 

*****

 

The standard enemies that I should expect to fight on the 41^st to the 44^th floors are SNOW WOLVES, SNOW CAITS and POLAR GRIZZLIES. They were different, aside from their tier being four to five ranks the monsters here in the lower stratum are very aggressive.

 

SNOW WOLVES have the same builds as the GREWWOLVES but of course instead of grey furs, theirs are white as the snow, it was good for hunting as they can easily use it to camouflage themselves.

• TEEN SNOW WOLVES
• ADULT SNOW WOLVES
• RAVENOUS SNOW WOLVES
• ELDER SNOW WOLVES

 

The SNOW CAITS are much like the HUNTER CATS on the Island-Forest. The great difference is that when cornered these SNOW CAITS stand on their hind legs and fight off using some kind of cat martial arts.

• TEEN SNOW CAITS
• ADULT SNOW CAITS
• RAVENOUS SNOW CAITS
• ELDER SNOW CAITS

 

The POLAR GIRZZLIES are the troublesome of the three, not only are they agile, they also pack a lot of strength. Standing with an average height of 2.4 meters, these polar bear look-alike have claws that grow short and long depending on its aggression.

• TEEN POLAR GIRZZLIES
• ADULT POLAR GIRZZLIES
• RAVENOUS POLAR GIRZZLIES
• ELDER POLAR GIRZZLIES

 

Now unlike the monsters I have fought so far these guys hunted me even though I was quite a distance from their grazing grounds. I just happen to have one SNOW WOLF meet one in the eye and the whole pack started dashing towards me, and if that was not enough the other two origin being competitive started to head my way to have their way at me.

 

The monsters here are persistent too. They don’t leave you alone, even if you take out their alpha-like existence, as if saying mafia lines like ‘Yeah! More meat for me.’ or ‘I will take on the leadership now! You lot, follow me!’ or something like that and go after me without any hesitations what so ever.

 

Thankfully, they do not have some sort of alliance or non-aggression treaties with the other monsters packs, so when they get into contact with another pack, they simple change their target from me to the one near them. But that does not save me from the hunts though, while they are occupied with their small-pack-wars, another packs starts to come closer and hunt me.

 

My only safe haven is somehow in a form that I found a bit weird. Right, the place I am currently taking rest is a small area with trees. For some reason, whenever I am close to a grove of trees they stop on their tracks circle around for a bit and then run away.

 

At first I also raise my guard and try to hit the trees with the scabbard of my weapon, but nothing happens. But that does not mean I am completely safe, there must be a reason why those monsters do not like trees. So I only use these trees to take a breather and instantly locate the nearest mountain, once I see the target destination, I take a sprint and head for the caves.

 

Thankfully much like the mountains on the dry fields in the second area (11^th to the 20^th floors), the mountains here in this snowy fields also have springs… rare hot springs at that, how convenient.

 

*****

 

Just like it is my first time seeing snow this should also be my first time taking a bath in one. Well I made sure to scoop some water beforehand to leave it for a while to reduce its heat for my water consumption and dip my whole body to relax. It was so relaxing that I was sure that it is actually a trap to let you stay there.

 

But, I was not about to give up on my adventure and so had to move on. If this is the set-up, then I should make my way to other mountains to heat myself with the spring and eventually I will get to the mountain with entrance for next level.

 

But the annoying monster trio types were giving me a hard time. When I leave the mountain these three types of monsters instantly goes on a battle mode against me. But that is not the only thing that concerns me against them aside from their aggressiveness they are way stronger than previous monsters I have fought off during my stay on this dungeon.

 

I have to make sure to be very wary at my surroundings if I am not careful it could lead to my death. But as they say no matter your preparations you will never expect the unexpected and eventually got dragged in another ‘pack wars’ with some of these monsters.

 

While running away from the annoying packs, I decided to shoo them away and take a breather in snowy woodland and I found instantly the reason why the beast runs away from trees.

 

I guess the image of getting grabbed or whacked at by a bunch of trees was quite the traumatic experience for them. Thankfully, with my honed danger perception was able to create a barrage for sword slashes to cut off in coming branches and twigs coming my way.

 

The beasts which were chasing me however, were not so lucky and had their particles become nutrients, it was quite a gruesome scene minus the gore. I mean I just saw these trees killed beasts by tearing their bodies into two and poured the disintegrated particles in their roots. The images had me imagining my own body in half and have my blood poured in the roots and thus gave me the chills.

 

While I continue to defend myself from the attacks, I noticed that the branches and twigs I had cut were still in the ground… do they not disintegrate?

 

*****

 

Usually when a monster limbs get severed from the main body, it immediately disintegrates turning to particles, the death of the monsters would also have the same effect, and yet the branches and the twigs remain lying where they had dropped after they received my slashes.

 

“I wonder if they are considered as objects instead of monsters.” I gave my speculations. So after the monsters were completely defeated by the monsters I took some of the twigs lying around and took out the MONOCLE of ITEM APPRAISAL to try and appraise it.

 

. MONOCLE of ITEM APPRAISAL {

• Mahogany Twigs x1
• Black Cherry Twigs x1
• Maple Tree Twigs x3

}

 

Feels like foraging in the forest, isn’t it Captain.

 

 

It was as Grim-chan had said. I had severed these off from the monster trees which really looked exactly the same and yet the twigs I have in my hands were now of different species. I must have been standing there for quite a bit trying to figure out my next move, when my DANGER PERCEPTION kicked in, I search for its source and what the heck, the trees were now casting a dangerous fire spell made of ball (FIREBALL) and hurled them towards my direction.

 

Wa! Captain you have received a small MANA attack from the FIRE TRENT That startled me.

 

I was able to fend it off though. But a tree, just casted a fire spell that could have burned itself… then again with the name FIRE TRENT, I guess it could should be able to defend itself against it. But that aside, I think I need to do a little farming… foraging some trees to make and replenish my diminished arrows.

 

So with my next move decided, I then started to forage. I also used these groves of TRENTS to ward off annoying beasts who constantly hunt me. While running around, I would then make it a habit to look for groves of trees. Some of them are normal trees though and leave them alone, the beasts seems to run away from them all the same though.

 

And after running around and hunting for TRENTs even diving into dangerous forest like places and collecting their tree drops here is a list of my Haul:

 

.MONOCLE of ITEM APPRAISAL {

• Mulberry Twigs x25
• Mulberry Branches x25
• Mulberry Barks x25
• Mulberry Trunk x25
• Mulberry Roots x25
• Mulberry Leaves x50
• Eucalyptus Twigs x25
• Eucalyptus Branches x25
• Eucalyptus Barks x25
• Eucalyptus Trunk x25
• Eucalyptus Roots x25
• Eucalyptus Leaves x50
• Persimmon Twigs x25
• Persimmon Branches x25
• Persimmon Barks x25
• Persimmon Trunk x25
• Persimmon Leaves x50
• Ash … x25 (leaves x50)
• Birch … x25 (leaves x50)
• Elm … x25 (leaves x50)
• Hickory … x25 (leaves x50)
• Mulberry Leaves x25 (leaves x50)
• Osage Orange … x25 (leaves x50)
• Pine … x25 (leaves x50)
• Plum … x25 (leaves x50)
• Red Oak … x25 (leaves x50)
• Walnut … x25 (leaves x50)
• White Oak … x25 (leaves x50)
• Apples … x25
• Avocadoes … x25
• Bananas … x25
• Cherimoya … x25
• Grapes … x25
• Mangoes … x25
• Melons … x25
• Oranges … x25
• Pears … x25
• Strawberries … x25
• Watermelons … x25
• Wild Berries … x25
• Yggdrasil Twigs x8
• Yggdrasil Branches x7
• Yggdrasil Barks x9
• Yggdrasil Trunks x4
• Yggdrasil Leaves x17
• Yggdrasil Seed x1

}

 

Nice haul, Captain

 

One of my greatest haul seems to be these Yggdrasil Trees and its parts, well aside from knowing that it is known as a mythical sacred tree in my world, the MONCLE of ITEM APPRAISAL only appraised its name and have ‘????’ in its descriptions. Since my MONCLE of ITEM APPRAISAL only appraises Item Rank A and below, then that would mean that the Yggdrasil Item Ranks are clearly above Rank A.

 

According to the Grim-chan’s telepathic message I seem to have defeated something called a SPIRITUAL TRENT, which should have given me the Ygdrassil spoils.

 

Maybe it’s a religious tree…

 

‘Grim-chan I think that is wrong’, it was a bit weird for her to use those words but I smiled none the less. Since I am satisfied with my haul and the fact that today is the 9^th day I decided to leave the 41^st for the 42^nd floor.