Traps

「Yamikage, are you really okay?」

We had all started exploring the inside of the ship, but she was clearly scared.

Even Alto is worried about Yamikage, it must be quite bad.

Well, her feelings are understandable.

The interior of the ghost ship has poor visibility, and the areas that can be seen have an eerie blue-white color.

Moreover, touching the wooden walls makes them feel cold and slimy, more like a haunted house than a ship.

Come to think of it, aren’t ghost ships and haunted houses quite similar?

「I-I’m okay.」

「You can just follow along, you know? It’s better than forcing yourself to fight and getting scared.」

「That won’t do. I’m the party’s magic user.」

Yamikage does care about her friends, in her own way.

That unexpectedly moved me a little, despite her usual demeanor.

Alright, Yamikage. I’ll take care of any ghosts that try to attack you.

As I breathe out and look ahead, Shouko is at the front, keeping watch.

Tsumugi, 一 is at the very back.

The corridor is too narrow for us to spread out and fight.

So we’ve divided our party between the front and back to prepare for any situation.

「Still, we’ve walked quite a bit, but there aren’t many monsters showing up.」

「Yeah, you’d normally expect enemies to be swarming in dungeons like this.」

「The map isn’t filling out much either.」

「…It’s like a maze.」

When you put it that way, the word maze does seem fitting.

The strangely spacious interior of the ship. And the narrow corridor.

Given that ship combat skills are functioning, it’s certainly a ship, but…

The map is extensive and hard to understand, if it were cobblestone, it wouldn’t be strange to mistake it for an underground maze.

As we chat idly while moving forward, Shouko notices a door up ahead.

「Everyone, there’s a door here. I don’t know what’s beyond it, so please be careful.」

Heeding her warning, we all nod, open the door, and immediately move to the side.

It’s not like we’re going to get suddenly shot at, so that’s a bit too cautious.

After a few seconds pass with no enemies or attacks forthcoming, I peek through the doorway to check ahead.

A dining area?

I don’t know the details of ship layouts, but there were chairs that could seat a large number of people and a long table. Naturally, everything was decrepit, but it had an unmistakable horror atmosphere.

Shouko, Sheryl, and Alto entered in that order, and then I was about to enter as well.

Batan!

The door suddenly slams shut.

I try to force it open, but it won’t budge.

「Hey! Are you okay?!」

I shout towards the inside and pound on the door.

「We’re okay! There’s an ene一」

Shouko’s voice cuts off, and no matter how much I yell, there’s no response.

I can’t imagine Shouko and Sheryl would be caught off guard by monster-like enemies, but…

This trap is likely meant to separate the players.

If the party gets scattered in this large dungeon, it’ll put a strain on our fighting strength.

It must be based on the order we entered.

「Onii-chan, can’t you just send them a chat message?」

「Good thinking, Tsumugi. But is that allowed in the game?」

But it’s a good idea.

I bring up the chat window from the menu cursor and try sending Shouko a message.

But it doesn’t go through.

Maybe this is set as a chat-restricted area or something.

Still, they really went all out with the ghost ship theme.

「Shouko is over there. She said she’s okay herself, so let’s trust her.」

After waiting a few minutes by the door for it to open, there was no sign of it happening, or any sign of it opening at all.

It’s possible they got warped somewhere else, depending on the structure.

In that case, just waiting here silently isn’t the best course of action.

Let’s believe Alto will convey the situation to Shouko and Sheryl.

He’s surprisingly knowledgeable about games, so they’re probably okay.

「Anyway, shall we look for another path?」

「O-okay.」

「Yup!」

Yamikage is still scared, while Tsumugi is cheerful.

A contrasting pair remains.

To be honest, it’s a dangerously mismatched duo.

Well, whatever. For now, I’ll just focus on reuniting with the other three.

「There’s a path over there, but it’s dark since our numbers decreased.」

「It seems the light spell doesn’t work.」

「C-could it be the ghosts’ doing?」

「No, it’s probably just set that way. Let’s see…」

My gaze fell on the fishing rod equipped with a Shining Lure.

Can I use this?

I take it out for an experiment and cast the lure.

「Oh, I can see it.」

Well, only the lure part gives off a faint light, like a boomerang light.

Still, it has quite a long range…

Kotsun!

Along with that sound, I feel something hit the Shining Lure through the line.

Not a wall, but some bone-like object, I think.

On a ghost ship, if we’re talking about monsters, it’s obviously that, right?

「Yamikage, Tsumugi! Something’s here. Be careful!」

「Mmph!」

「I-I-I’m okay!」

Hmm… Doesn’t sound too convincing, but I’ll have to trust them.

I reel the lure back in and take out my Silver Glass Key.

It’s a weapon ranked up from my previous one, so it should be reliable.

A rattling sound like wood and something colliding comes from ahead.

And the source of that noise soon becomes clear.

As expected, a monster.

A skeleton wearing a bandana… a Pirate Skeleton.

「…Hey, for pirates, their clothes look kind of off, don’t they?」

「Do they?」

「I don’t know! Maybe that’s just the design?」

When they put it that way, I suppose.

Rather than tattered outlaw clothing, the Pirate Skeletons are wearing something more akin to tattered gentleman’s attire, conveying a bit more dignity.

I may be overthinking it, but I only realized they were Pirate Skeletons after seeing the monster name.

「Whoa!」

As I lost in thought, the Pirate Skeleton swung its cutlass at me. I barely managed to avoid the attack. Ship combat skills are certainly handy.

But now is not the time to be thinking about that.

Reuniting with Shouko and the others and understanding how this dungeon works takes priority.

More importantly, Tsumugi’s ship combat skills are low.

So as the vanguard, if I don’t keep the enemies off us, we’re in trouble.

「Slicing!」

The second attack skill of the basic dismantling skills.

As opposed to the Cleaver’s powerful single strikes, this one focuses on slashing attacks. It’s not particularly effective against skeletal physical attackers, but it’s better than nothing.

「Eh?」

The Pirate Skeleton, hit by the glowing red Slicing, simply crumpled.

I cast a doubtful look at its motionless corpse, but it doesn’t move.

No, that’s just silly.

Objectively analyzed, I’m the second weakest after Alto.

Of course, comparing me to Alto, who prioritized his business, is unreasonable in itself, but in this party, my focus is on dismantling skills and fishing for food procurement.

Isn’t it a bit strange that it would die just by taking one hit from a dismantling weapon attack skill?

「I took them all down~!」

「It wasn’t as scary as I thought!」

「I see… Was it just my imagination…?」

Well, whatever.

In any case, the three of us have started exploring the interior of the ghost ship.

Pervious chapter