The Grass Lizard closed the distance slowly, letting out a menacing snarl. Saliva dripped from its jaws; it looked more than ready to sink its teeth into us.
"They seem eager enough," Yuji remarked.
"Well, they came all this way to find us," I replied. "Of course they're eager."
"You two, stop the chatter... Here they come," Hiiragi-san warned.
The Grass Lizard shifted its weight onto its front legs, a clear sign it was about to pounce. I certainly didn't have time for banter anymore. Yuji and I narrowed our eyes, focusing on reading the creature's first move.
"I’ll take the lizard on the right. Kokonoe-kun, Hirose-kun, please handle the one on the left."
"Got it. Do you need backup once we're done?"
"Not for this opponent. If you finish first, it would be more helpful if you kept a lookout to make sure no more enemies are lurking nearby."
"Understood. Be careful."
Following Hiiragi-san's suggestion, we shifted our positions slightly. We moved less than a single step, but it was enough to successfully split the monsters' focus. The lizards, which had both been fixated on Hiiragi-san, shifted so that one was now locked onto me.
The Grass Lizard pounced, and our first battle on the 30th floor began.
"Gyugyu!"
"Whoa! That’s disgusting!?"
I tried to lop off the lizard's head as I dodged its lunge, but a spray of saliva came flying toward me as it closed in, forcing me to leap back to avoid the mess. The charge itself was a perfectly ordinary, straight-line attack, but trying to strike while avoiding that spreading spray meant I had to dodge wide, which opened up the distance between us.
It was a bit of a nuisance... though not something I couldn't handle.
"Basically, if I just kill it before the spit flies, there’s no problem!"
"Gyu!?"
Having evaded the spray, I quickly took the Grass Lizard's head as it landed and tried to turn back toward me. The saliva was only a problem because it scattered; if I cut the source down before that happened, there was no issue at all.
Of course, even without going through such a hassle, dealing with them would be easy if I had some kind of long-range attack.
"..."
Having claimed the head, I kept my eyes on the corpse while remaining alert to our surroundings, waiting for it to begin its particleization. After all, it was a lizard—or a monster version of one. I doubted it could do much without a head, but I couldn't rule out some kind of "tail-dropping" trick or a powerful regeneration skill that bordered on resurrection. The odds of a monster on the 30th floor having such a powerful skill were likely slim, but caution was better than a surprise.
After waiting about a dozen seconds while staying on guard, the Grass Lizard's corpse finally began to dissolve into particles.
"...Alright, it's definitely dead."
Particleization was the ultimate proof of a monster's death. Since it had started, it seemed it didn't possess any specialized survival skills after all.
Still, if I had only cut off its tail, it might have been a different story.
"Hey, Daiki, you finished?"
"Yeah, just now. How about Hiiragi-san?"
"Hiiragi-san is..."
"I'm finished over here as well."
When I looked toward the voice, I saw Hiiragi-san purifying her weapon with her Cleansing skill. The Grass Lizard she had faced had already finished its particleization and vanished without leaving a drop item behind.
A shame—nothing for Hiiragi-san.
"I see. No injuries, then?"
"No, it wasn't particularly difficult. How about you, Kokonoe-kun?"
"No injuries here either. Though I think it’s best to use Cleansing just in case."
As I spoke, I used my own Cleansing skill to purify the weapon I'd used to decapitate the beast. I didn't think any of the fluid had actually touched me, but I didn't want any of that mysterious slime—which likely contained all sorts of pathogens—clinging to my gear.
In reality, I wouldn't know for sure without an analysis, but it was purely a matter of hygiene.
"More importantly, that's a shame, Hiiragi-san. No drop item this time."
"Yes, and after our first battle on the 30th floor, too... but I suppose it all comes down to luck. You don't always get what you want just because you hope for it. Sometimes it's important to just accept the results and move on."
"...I suppose you're right."
"But Kokonoe-kun, didn't you pull a jackpot?"
"...A jackpot, huh?"
I looked down at the drop item I'd obtained from the battle: lizard meat.
Honestly, even if I had it, I wasn't exactly thrilled about taking it home.
"Personally, it feels more like I pulled a dud."
"Really? But that's listed under the meat category on the Association's purchase list. If you bring it back, they’ll buy it for more than the price of a Core Crystal."
"Lizard meat, though..."
It probably wasn't inedible, but it was the kind of meat I wouldn't go out of my way to eat.
Still, if it was on the Association's list, there had to be a demand... I wondered who actually bought it.
"People who enjoy it... or those with a strong culinary curiosity. They’ll pick it up without hesitation if it's labeled as a 'rare delicacy.'"
"I guess so."
"That's how it is. So, leaving it behind is not an option, okay?"
"...Understood."
Prompted by Hiiragi-san, I reluctantly collected the lizard meat and tucked it into my Spatial Storage.
After confirming no other monsters were lurking nearby, we tidied up the traces of the battle. Yuji and I headed back into the camp screen to sleep. Between the midday brightness of the ceiling and the lingering adrenaline from the fight, it took a while to actually drift off.
A few hours later, Yuji and I were woken by the alarm we had set. We didn't strictly need one, but it served as a useful signal to distinguish between morning and night in a place that never got dark. I stopped the alarm and sat up.
"...Morning."
"...Yeah, morning."
Perhaps because I'd slept at an odd hour, my brain felt sluggish. I stretched my arms and tried to work out the kinks in my muscles, letting out a massive yawn, but the grogginess lingered. I wondered if it was fatigue from the fight, but I hadn't sustained any injuries... I was probably just tired.
After doing some light stretches until I felt somewhat human again, Yuji and I tidied up the beds and stepped out of the camp screen.
Morning.
"Morning, Kokonoe-kun, Hirose-kun."
Hiiragi-san, looking as though she was finally glad her watch was over, returned our greeting. It seemed she’d been bored out of her mind since no other enemies had appeared after the initial attack.
"How was it? Any signs of enemies approaching after that?"
"None. Either they're wary of us because we repelled the first group without a scratch, or those two were special..."
"I see."
If there hadn't been another attack or even an approach since then... were those guys expulsion monsters? Their role might have been to push explorers forward if they stayed in the safe zone of the staircase plaza for too long. That would explain why they’d abandoned their advantageous positions to attack us in the open.
In video games, there are often mechanics where a powerful enemy appears if the player stays still for too long. Maybe this was a new element added to this floor.
"Maybe they came to kick our butts because we weren't moving from the plaza."
"Do you think so too, Yuji?"
"Yeah. Those things didn't seem like the type to actively seek out a fight. With their camouflage and low profile, they're built for ambushes in the tall grass. It makes more sense for them to be a push mechanic."
Hearing Yuji's deduction, Hiiragi-san nodded in agreement.
It did feel like the most natural explanation... which meant...
"...Should we try to verify the timing of when the expulsion monsters appear?"
"It would be good to know, but if the time limit is different for every floor, verifying it would take way too much time."
"Well, you're right. If the limit was, say, every twelve hours..."
Indeed, verifying just one floor would result in a massive loss of time. Since it was a verification, we'd need to measure it multiple times to be sure. It wasn't something we could do alone; this kind of research was the sort of thing multiple parties usually collaborated on.
"True. In that case... I guess we have no choice but to rest while staying alert, assuming there will be enemy attacks."
"That's probably all we can do..."
"Yes. But that's essentially what we've been doing all along, isn't it?"
...Yeah, I guess so.
In the end, our actual routine wouldn't change. But resting while guarding against attacks to move forward... as I thought about our future plans for multi-day expeditions, I realized once again that it was going to be tough unless we increased our party size. I felt the necessity of adding more members more strongly than ever.
After a brief silence, I spoke up to change the mood.
"...Anyway, shall we have breakfast?"
"Right, let's do that."
"Yes, sounds good."
We packed up the camp screen and began preparing our meal. Since open flames were prohibited here, preparations were finished quickly; we just took out items that didn't require heating, like bread and rice balls, from my Spatial Storage.
This morning's menu consisted of convenience store rice balls. Since we had bread for dinner yesterday, I wanted a change. Honestly, I really missed miso soup.
"Thanks for the meal. Now then, what's the plan? We'll explore the 30th floor as scheduled, but as for what's beyond..."
"I want to say we should go on, but I'm not sure. If the next floor has the same layout as this one, I think it's fine to proceed, but..."
"If it's different, we'll have to verify its properties first."
There was no guarantee the next floor wouldn't have something even more hazardous than flammable grass. For instance, if there were plants that caused rashes upon contact, we'd be forced to explore while enduring intense itching. That would be a nightmare.
Taking those possibilities into account, we couldn't just rush ahead blindly. Fortunately, my Appraisal Analysis skill allowed us to skip some of the guesswork, but things like "expulsion monster" timers still required physical observation. We weren't entirely at an advantage.
"Then for now, we'll clear the 30th floor and see how the next one looks before deciding."
"Yeah, I think that's for the best. If it looks too troublesome, we can just turn back."
"Personally, since we've come all the way to the 30th floor, I'd like to expand our range a bit deeper... but safety first."
Direct combat with monsters wasn't the issue yet, but when you included the environment, we couldn't just charge ahead. If we didn't grasp the rules of the floor, we'd fall into a trap eventually.
The Association had some preliminary information released, so it was best to proceed cautiously using that as a guide.
"Well, yeah. According to the data, this kind of field continues for a few floors... but it was only a summary, not a detailed report."
"It's a blessing just to have a summary in advance, though."
"Really, it is just a summary. We need to cross-check it with our own findings, just like we did with the grass on this floor."
I understood Hiiragi-san's frustration, but as Yuji said, a summary was better than nothing. "A prairie with blue sky and tall grass" was a start. The reporters were likely corporate explorers, so the details were probably considered trade secrets. Even if the information lost its value over time, it was profitable right now while there was little competition. We should be grateful they reported anything at all.
With our course of action decided, we finished packing the beds and equipment.
"Alright, shall we head out? Everything packed?"
"Yep, all good."
"I'm ready too."
"Then let's go. First goal: find the stairs to the 31st floor. Let’s move!"
And so, we began our full exploration of the 30th floor and its dangerous, flammable grass.