Chapter Sixty Seven: Becoming A Merchant

I knew the dungeon was only going to get more difficult, but I didn’t think it would get difficult this early. In the nightmare forest, the freezer is said to be over level fifty. I thought that I wouldn’t have any trouble fighting monsters below that level but I was wrong.
I met a few good monsters there today. By good monsters I’m expecting everyone to know that I mean strength-wise. There’s no way a monster can be good in general.
Ten floors from the floor I made a save point the other day, which is the thirty fifth floor; I met monsters similar to mice. They were mice the same size as a ten year old. I thought it was strange for mice looking monsters to be on a high floor despite looking weak but they weren’t weak at all. So far, they had the most teamwork out of all the monsters I’ve fought.
I just naturally assumed that monsters are there only to be killed. But after fighting in the dungeon, I’m starting to think otherwise. The mice fought as though trying to protect something. It made me think that they had younger ones deeper in the cave they lived in just like the goblins.
They were far too agile and incredibly good at shooting arrows. Each of them was equipped with a high level marksmanship that no monster should be allowed to have. The arrows rained on me the second I set foot in their floor. They used the layout of the cave to their advantage hiding in the cracks and holes.
It was rather hard pinpointing their location and even when I did; they just slipped out like ninjas. The arrows seemed to be poisoned. Even though my barrier shielded me from their attacks, I still felt the pain when the arrows hit the barrier. It was much more painful than I thought it would be. If I had to guess, then the mice would be on the same level as the golden eagle. 
There were a lot of them from all directions. The cave didn’t have a very tall ceiling to accommodate flight but I still left the ground nonetheless.
They seemed to change positions after every single shot fired. Pinpointing them was not an easy task. I tried going deeper into the cave but they only got more active.
I needed to attack them at once. Going for a single one of them will leave me open for attacks. I continued dodging in midair while conjuring up a strategy.
That was when I thought of blowing everything up. 
“Clear light!!”
Using the light wave from the freezer, I aimed straight up and fired a shot. Its destructive power was great and the ceiling collapsed a whole lot.
Just as I thought, the surface was pretty normal. Mice live in the holes they dig so maybe that’s why the floor was also a cave. I dodged the falling rubles and made my way out from the hole I made.
There, I fired another clear light and collapsed the whole floor. The monsters got crushed by the rubles and they had no where to run anymore.
The rubles did some damage on them but that was obviously not enough to take down monsters of that level. I took my time cutting them up the minute they popped out of the rubles.
It took a while to finish with them. And when I did, a screeching sound of a beast echoed all over.
On that surface where I destroyed. A large shadow covered the ground. It was as though something incredibly big was falling down from the sky.
Finishing with the last mouse, it landed before I got the chance to look up.
“GAAAAAAAAMM!”
I… it’s big!
What landed was definitely the floor boss. A monster as big as a two storey building. Or should I say; a rat beast as big as a two storey building.
Its eyes were different from the small fries I killed. They were deep red with hate and murderous intent. Its fingers were incredibly long with claws just like swords and several tails stood up from its rear with a sharp pointy object attached to them.
“Wow……….” taken by its size and appearance, I found myself tightly grasped in its left hand.
“When…………!!” 
It gave me no room for questions when its right claws teared down on me like a sword attack.
It hurts!! 
It was more painful than anything in the dungeon so far. My barrier glowed dark. Each time it tried tearing open my barrier, I could feel some of my flesh being torn.
Nothing has changed. I still haven’t outgrown my barrier yet. 
Its grip on me was tight. I couldn’t move at all. It moved me close to its mouth and roared at me. Its smelly, evil and disgusting looking mouth was just a meter away. It was almost as though I was going to be swallowed.
“Hey let me go you freak! You stink!” I yelled at it.
As if I’ve provoked it, the grip on me tightened and the next thing I felt was a powerful punch coming from it’s right. The punch was strong enough to rip off my upper body if not for the barrier and body strengthening I have. It was still powerful enough to render me motionless for a few seconds.
What the hell? This is no joke! 
A few more of that and I’ll seriously receive major damage.
It pulled back it’s arm when I desperately tried to get loose.
You think I’ll just stay here and get crushed!? 
“KAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!” I released the eagle wave at it.All it did was stop it for mere seconds. It quickly regained it’s rage and punched at me without stop.
“Arrgh!!!” it was suffocating. 
My head vibrated each time a punch was delivered. After several consecutive punches, it threw me crashing into the ground.
I crashed “Gah!” and laid in the hole I made.
“GAM! GAM! GAM!” echoed all over.
It didn’t leave me a second's breathe when its giant legs made there way to me. They repeatedly stomped me like a molded flour.
My barrier glowed darker and darker as it got more and more dangerous.
This is bad!! 
I was going to be stomped to death if care was not taken.
“I know……… I said……. it felt blissful…….. when Lust killed me……. but I never said it was……… okay for a monster to do that!!” I forcefully stood myself the minute its right leg left my body.
“Spinning drill!!!” I rotated fiercely just when another leg returned. 
This time around my attack was stronger than the monster. Its leg was just about to stomp me when I jumped. I jumped digging a hole from its legs then made my way slowly up to the thighs. It all happened in an instant and all the flesh got scattered each time I passed through.
Making my way to the waist, I went straight up inside the innards up to the neck then the head. I was like a bullet eating away at everything I touched.
“Thud!!” the huge monster fell motionless. It was dead.
It immediately caught on fire and dropped a stone and claws. The weaker monsters dropped stones, bow and arrows they fought with.
Damn it was dangerous. I could have gotten crushed if I hadn’t become serious as well.

What a day……….. or should I say ‘what an adventure.’ I never dreamed that I would fight a giant rat of all things. And I never as hell imagined that my first major fight in the dungeon would be a rat. Rats should be in the first floor not the higher ones. It’s just not right!
I picked up all the loots I gained and loaded them into my bag. It’s such a pain that I cant use Dauka efficiently. Because I cleared ten floors in one day, the amount of loots was astonishing. I had to use two bags. And both bags were bigger than my size

The bags don’t require magic. They get big and big the more stuff you put inside. Thanks to the arrows and other horns I got from the other floors, the bags got too big for comfort. I’m sure a lot of people will pay needless attention to me seeing as I’m carrying too much load.
And that is just what happened. I met a lot of adventurers outside the dungeon. Some of them were going in while the others were coming out. Two different parties became the spotlight for everyone’s attention on the staircase. The were badly injured and some of them were dead. 
They were already being attended to by experts. I took the chance to walk away quietly like it didn’t disturb me. I’ll only get myself in trouble for interfering. Besides, I don’t have healing abilities.
It was on the last staircase where Duddul was patiently waiting for me where I met him. A slim tall elf with long green hair was standing next to Duddul waiting for his master.
“H-Hi……………” he greeted politely.
“Figlo………. good timing.” the elf I sent on an errand the other day.
“Help me put these bags in the Dauka.” I dropped the bag in my hands next to Duddul then removed the Dauka from my pocket. It was a yellow color this time around. I asked Meila to get several of them for me when I sent her shopping. 
They come in all sizes. The one I had with me was big enough to cover a small bed. 
“Huh?” Figlo looked surprised.

He let go of his surprise and quickly took the Dauka from my hand. He then held the edges in both hands and flapped it up and down. To my surprise, the Dauka which was just the size of a handkerchief spread out all over. It became the size of a bed sheet or more than that.
“Wow!” was the reaction I gave.
Just like in magic shows, Figlo proceeded to cover the two bags when I dropped the other one. Quite a few people stared at us as he did that. 
‘They must think he’s good at using Dauka’ is what I thought. But anyone can use it like that. That is how big items are hidden.
The bags disappeared when he uncovered the Dauka from them. 
“We really shouldn’t have done that here. Now everyone knows you have so much items with you.”
So that’s why they were staring? I thought it was strange. 
Maybe they are jealous because they cant make as many kills as I can.“Oh yeah! Before I forget, here is the money of the items I took to your friend. He asked me to thank you greatly for what you did.”
I told Figlo to hold onto the money for a while. Since he is going to become a merchant, I’m going to help him gear up with anything he might need. Not that I’m obligated to, it’s just something I want to do.
Apparently, he just got back to the capital an hour ago. He thought that I would be in the dungeon since he has no means of finding me otherwise so he came straight here. And when he saw Duddul waiting for me, he knew that I had to be inside.
It was in the late afternoon when I met him. He rode a horse to the dungeon to meet me. I know I’ve seen a few cows here and there, but I haven't seen many horses. When I asked him about his horse, he said that only poor people ride horses and that people in the capital don’t want them. They are only popular in the other states.
I cunningly asked him to show me the place where merchants meet. I pretended as though I was interested in becoming one. And after I received the yellow Dauka from him, he rode on his horse and I rode on Duddul to the merchant heaven. It’s a place said to have everything the world has to offer.
A long distance north of the sacred land, a large market stood at the end of the city. 
We talked about a lot of things on our way there. He asked how many weeks it took me to gather all those items and I told him just a few hours. He almost fell of his horse before he took it as a joke. I didn’t say anything to do that. If he wants to believe me then fine. And if he doesn’t……………………
The market was incredibly big. I saw a lot of things I never thought existed or were possible to make in there.
Using the money he brought back, we procured a coach that is the talk of town. We then went around gathering other things including the dragons that will draw it. 
A certain good caught my eye while Figlo was heckling for a cheaper price for the items we bought. It was a staff with the head of a bat.
When I asked figlo about it, he said that it makes a person invisible when he needs to run away from things like monsters. All you have to do is infuse magic at it periodically and it will allow you to become invisible for a certain time period.
I bought it immediately even though I had no use for it. Going invisible is awesome!!
Figlo is really good at heckling and is smart. As to be expected of an aspiring merchant. He got all the goods we wanted at a rather cheap price compared to what the sellers told us.
It was all but good until we finished shopping and Figlo excitedly yelled “You and I will become the best merchants this world has ever seen!”
“Eh?”
I did say I was going to help him, but I never promised on becoming a merchant!