Chapter 367

Itai no wa Iya nanode Bōgyo-Ryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu 367

Defense Specialization and the 8th Layer – 4

In this way, each of them continued their search, and after collecting some parts, they gathered in the Guild Home.

Maple and Sally arrived first since they had been exploring closest to it, and quickly checked their results with Chrome and the others.

“Oh, we’ve managed to get quite a few of them! We’ve been exploring the sunken buildings, and we found one of them on almost every building we searched!”

“That’s right, to us here it felt like hunting for seashells on a sandy beach. The fierce competition makes this feel like a real challenge!”

Since this was similar to the release of the 4th Layer, it seemed that the amount they had collected so far wasn’t enough to allow them to dive to the deeper parts. Like Chrome said, they would have to work steadily in order to make any progress.

Finally, Iz and Kasumi finally arrived at the front door of the Guild Home riding their extremely conspicuous jet ski.

“Oh, looks like we’re the slowest of the bunch, huh?”

“A-And you were going so fast, too…”

“What’s that thing you were riding?”

“Well, it’s a boat, of course.”

“Just another one of those weird contraptions of yours…”

“It’s not like you have the DEX need to use it, Chrome.”

“Yeah, if I were to get on that boat thing, it’d flip over in an instant.”

“Umm, why don’t we leave it at that…? We’ve gathered quite a lot of parts!”

“Wow, you’ve got so many of them!”

Iz then showed the parts she and Kasumi had collected, which was more than what all of the others combined had gathered.

“Whoa! That’s Iz for you!”

“You’re amazing… If you can gather this many in such a short time…”

“We were the only ones out there. It does seem that you can get more parts the farther from the city you explore after all.”

The farther from the city you were, the farther you would be from the Guild Home, and the strongest the monsters would be. With that in mind, it was only natural that there would be more materials to find the more dangerous a spot was.

“So you were in a shoal far from the coast…?”

“More than a shoal, it was like a sunken mountain.”

“So maybe the normal surface of the ground is right at the bottom. In that case, we’re right now at the remaining surfacing mountaintops.”

“Then it makes sense to think that the real treasure would be at the very bottom.”

“If we go look for more parts a couple more times today, I think we should be able to get enough to upgrade one of our diving suits.”

There are several types of enhancements for diving suits to choose from. By increasing its attribute points, one could extend the amount of time allowed underwater while using it. There were also enhancements that allowed the user to dive deeper. Of course, enhancing a diving suit would be most effective when allocating as many parts as possible to a single type of enhancement.

“Searching the shallows is great and all, but how about we go a little farther away for a change?”

“Well… That doesn’t sound too bad.”

When it came to deciding on who to concentrate all their resources on, everyone seemed to share the same idea about who would be the most qualified member of the team to do so, as they all turned towards her at the same time.

“Me…?”

“Yeah! I think you’re our best bet, Sally!”

Everyone, including Izu, who had broken the ice with that comment, seemed to have the same opinion, and there were no objections.

“You have a high ability to explore underwater, and are very strong at individual combat. I’d say you’re more than qualified.”

“…Okay. If it’s okay for all of you to use your parts on my diving suit, then I’ll pay you back by searching as much as I can.”

As long as Sally was okay with the idea, it could be said that Maple Tree’s plan of action would be decided. If Sally could go explore deeper sections and get more parts there, it would also benefit the rest of the team. After all, the better items were always waiting to be found in more dangerous places.

“Ehehe, it’s a great responsibility, right, Sally?”

“Leave it to me. I’ll make sure that your collective efforts pay off.”

“Yeah, I can’t wait to see what’s hidden under the guild home.”

“That’s right. We won’t be able to go under its sunken section unless we upgrade our diving suits.”

“This is the first time I can’t enter some part of a guild home!”

“What do you guys think is there…?”

Their search on the 8th Layer had only started, and there were so many things they didn’t understand yet. Still, Maple and the others set out to find a yet unseen treasure as soon as possible.