The Dangerously Cute Dungeon [A Dungeon Core LitRPG]

1.38 The Trapless Dungeon

Mirabella glanced at her brother with concern. He was completely soaking wet and his clothes were sticking to his skin while water constantly dripped off of him. She hoped he wouldn't catch a cold from this. If Tobias caught a cold, it would likely set them back for several days and they'd run the risk of upsetting their employer.

Matthias was a powerful elementalist, but he would rarely step in to help complete challenges. He mostly just saved his energy for dispatching enemies and making pessimistic remarks. Thodin Bharrum was more cooperative, but his berserker class was more suited for taking on hordes of enemies than solving puzzles. He'd occasionally help out with puzzles and challenges, but he refused to do anything that required him to remove his armor since he never knew when he'd go mad from his class and he'd rather not get so caught up in his bloodlust without proper protection and end up bleeding to death on the floor.

"Looks like we have another challenge here."

Tobias called out and Mirabella focused on the system message that had now popped up for her as well.

"This one doesn't sound so bad. Capturing slimes should be easy enough, they aren't particularly dangerous."

Matthias scowled as he replied to Mirabella's optimism with pessimism

"This could be a [Trap]! Why else would the dungeon have one path that is easier than the other?!"

Tobias shook his head as he replied

"It doesn't matter if it is a [Trap]. We'll get this done and then continue forward. If you're that worried about danger, you can keep an eye out and let the rest of us know if you notice any [Traps]."

Matthias just nodded, grumbling as he watched the other party members fan out to look for the slimes. He knew he was lucky to have such understanding party members who didn't just dismiss his concerns and put up with his refusal to participate in these challenges. Matthias didn't exactly want to be difficult, he just knew that he didn't have the stamina and health stats that warrior classes did. If he didn't conserve strength where he could, he'd not only end up slowing his party down, but he'd also be putting everyone's lives in more danger when he couldn't play his part during combat.

Thodin grumbled as he failed to capture the third slime he had come across. They were proving to be quite tricky to capture. Their slimy nature made it easy for them to slip away and they kept hopping into the rabbit holes, which meant that he'd have to wait for them to come back out before he could try to capture them again. Of course, camping the hole he'd last seen them disappear down wasn't having much luck either. Thodin wasn't sure if the slimes were smart enough to stay in hiding until he left the area or if they were leaving through one of the other rabbit holes in the room.

Tobias sighed as he threaded his hand through his now mostly dry hair. This was taking too long and they'd have to leave soon. If they didn't move on now, then they were unlikely to see the rest of the dungeon before they had to leave.

"Alright, everyone, let's call it for now. We will just have to return on another day. There's still the rest of the dungeon to check out and we can't stay all day without upsetting the Dungeon Master. We don't want to do that since we still need to finish these challenges."

A rather tired Mirabella and Thodin nodded in agreement as they shuffled over, preparing to move on. It likely wasn't a good idea to have exhausted themselves so much before moving on either. They were starting to feel like Matthias might have been right about it being a [Trap]. Adventurers wearing themselves down trying to complete a challenge like this was a good way to make a [Trap] later on more successful.

"Which way should we go? There is a side door that way, near the beginning of the river. Otherwise, we can keep going straight."

Mirabella checked her map before answering her brother's question.