Merchant Crab-Chapter 224: Chalking a Path

“Hey, are you good, crab?” Jack asked, taking a step forward.

Balthazar turned slightly without taking his focus from the glowing text in his sight.

“Uhm, yes… I’m fine. I just realized one of you should be at the front instead of me.”

“Hah, is the brave merchant crab scared of the dark?” the swordsman said with a mischievous grin.

“He’s right,” Rye interjected, walking past the other two and giving the crab a quick glance. “I’ll take the front. I’m the closest to a scout we have, and also the one most likely to perceive something in the darkness ahead.”

“Alright, makes sense,” Jack said with a shrug. “I’ll follow second, to keep you covered.”

“Pfft, you can’t even keep yourself covered, Jack,” said Leah with a chuckle and a gesture to his naked legs and torso.

Her friend frowned. “Shut up, Leah!”

“Hey, Balthazar?” Rye whispered while the others were distracted. “Did something happen?”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it,” the merchant whispered back. “I’ll tell you later.”

The group continued on into the Halls of Semla at a cautious pace, pitch black darkness surrounding them from every direction, the speck of light from the tunnel’s exit now long gone. Balthazar walked at the center of the group, torch in pincer, his gaze still focused on the strange new message the system had presented the moment he set foot in the dungeon hall.

[Welcome back, Dungeon Manager]

[Run dungeon status report?]

Who is this dungeon manager, and why am I getting his message?

The crab’s immediate assumption was that the system was once again up to its nonsensical malfunctions and mixing things up.

Wait, malfunctions!

He recalled what had happened the last time he went inside those halls, how the system had prompted him to “link to the core” at one point—whatever that even meant.

But this thing said the connection had failed when I ran out of here. Something about aborting for being out of range?

Pieces began to snap together in the crab’s mind.

He had run out of there when the update was almost done, forcing it to terminate early, but that did not necessarily mean it hadn’t done something.

His eyestalks perked up slightly. Being a “manager” was certainly a befitting title for a prestigious crab like him—although he wasn’t too thrilled about the “dungeon” part.

The crab also had little clue what a dungeon status report implied, but he still enjoyed the idea of being given status reports on things, like someone important who was in charge of stuff.

Well, no point wondering forever. Best way to find out is by saying yes. Not like there’s anyone else around here more suited for the position anyway! Report to your manager, dungeon system!

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

With a press of his eyes, Balthazar selected “Yes” on the prompt.

[Unable to run status report]

Oh, that is just typical, isn’t it?!

[Running diagnosis…]

[Problem found]

[Halls of Semla: The floor’s Power Orb is missing]

[Other levels cannot be diagnosed until power has been restored on the current floor] freёwebnoѵel.com

That got my hopes up for nothing!

The crab huffed loudly as he continued walking forward, his attention still on the system text.

“Something wrong?” Leah asked, turning back to look at Balthazar.

“Huh? Oh, no, nothing. I think I just stepped on some skeletal snot. Carry on.”

She winced slightly, but after a quick shrug continued onward.

The crab stared at the system text a little longer, pondering.

So there are more floors to this place. And it looks like this one is missing something to work properly.

Balthazar rubbed his chin in thought as he walked. He had never seen or heard of a Power Orb before, but it seemed he would have to find one now. At least he knew one thing about it—it was probably round.

That doesn’t narrow it down much…

“Hey, guys?” the merchant said to the others. “Keep an eye out for anything orb-shaped that looks powerful, will you? I… need it for something.”

“Oh, sure,” said Jack mockingly. “We came into a dungeon to look for powerful and valuable loot, but if you hadn’t told us that just now we would totally have just ignored and walked past any orb of power we came across.”

Balthazar sneered at the swordsman and contemplated how easy it would be for him to snap a flimsy loincloth with his pincer.

***

After over an hour of careful exploring, the seven dungeon explorers had still not found anything aside from dust, a stone pillar here and there, and plenty more darkness.

Marching on in the same line formation, with the three humans at the front, the crab in the middle, Druma behind him followed close behind by Blue, and finally Bouldy covering the rear, the group was starting to slow down their pace. Not out of exhaustion, but simply out of frustration and boredom.

Glancing back, Balthazar saw Blue eyeing the crown of flowers sitting atop his shell again, something he had caught her doing multiple times since that morning.

“What?” the crab finally asked. “If you like it, I’m sure Bouldy or Druma would be happy to make you one too.”

The drake averted her gaze and pretended to be too fascinated by the ceiling to hear the merchant—despite it being too dark to see the ceiling of the hall at all.

Balthazar simply scoffed at her feigned disinterest. “Pff. Kids…”

“Urgh! Come oooon!” Jack suddenly groaned as he threw his arms out. “We’ve been walking forever and still haven’t found anything! Where’s all the loot?!”

“This place really must be massive,” said Rye. “We’ve seen plenty of support pillars, but not a single wall yet.”

“Maybe because of how dark it is we’ve been going around in circles over the same area?” Leah suggested.

“No, I’m pretty sure we haven’t,” said Balthazar as he pulled a stick of chalk out of his pack.

“Hey, I’ve noticed you using that every now and then,” the fighter said. “What are you doing with the chalk?”

“Markings,” the crab said as he scratched an arrow on the side of another stone pillar with the white stick in his pincer. “This way, if we need to retrace our way out of here, these will mark the way we came from.”

“Clever,” the adventurer said, nodding slowly. “What about the number you’re adding next to the arrow?”

“This place isn’t a maze, but it’s very confusing because of how dark it is and the lack of any walls or points of reference,” the merchant explained. “I’m adding a number every time I make an arrow. If we get turned around in here and aren’t sure if we’re going in circles following the same arrows, the number will tell us if we’re getting closer or further from the entrance.”

“Not bad, for a shell-head!” Jack exclaimed, crossing his arms and nodding. “But that still doesn’t get us any closer to the good stuff. I wanna find some loot, man!”

Balthazar rolled his eyestalks. “Hey, let’s look on the bright side—at least we’ve gotten this far without encountering any of those savage skeletons.”

Rye, who was at the front of the line, froze suddenly and raised his fist over his head in a halting gesture. A creepy sound of metal slowly dragging against the stone floor came from the darkness ahead.

Leah turned back to the crab and whispered, “You just had to go and jinx us, didn’t you?”

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