FLFO – Chapter 74 – Cave Dungeon

I ignore the stares that gather on me when I enter the building and go to the receptionist .

“Can you give me some information about the dungeon?”

“Um..I see you’re an Immortal, but...”

“I’m here as an Outsider. There should be no particular problems.”

“I see. It’s a cave dungeon. Ten levels. Normally, you must be at least rank C to challenge the dungeon, but there are no restrictions for Outsiders.”

Specialties

Magic Iron and Lytium.

Traps

Arrows (poison, stun, paralysis, sleep, darkness, curse, bleeding)

Gas (poison, paralysis, sleep, silence, curse)

Slip-floors, pitfalls (slime, spears), rooms (magic blocking, monster house).

Treasure chest (mimic, poison, confusion, explosion, monster house).

Monsters

Level range 40-49, boss 53

Aquatic, magical creatures.

“We usually say that you need light and protection against abnormalities, but....”

“As an immortal I don’t need either.”

“Then you should...be careful of the dungeon-specific pitfalls, monster houses, magic blockers and slip floors.”

“What’s a magic blocker?”

“These are traps that prevent you from building up your magic. Specifically, it slows down your chanting, but it’s not that strong so you should be able to resist it.”

A trap that slows casting speed.

It’s only the first one, so it should not be a very strong version of it. Will the spear version of the pit be...an instant death trap?

“The pitfalls and monster houses are the main ones to watch out for. The next two are magic block and slip floor. Not to mention the spear, but the slime will do a lot of damage to your equipment. It will cost you a lot of money, and if your equipment is damaged, it will be more difficult to come back alive.”

So spear types are instant death after all. I’ll ignore the murmurings from behind me about “Erotic slimes..a man’s dream”. It won’t work on my equipment.

The pitfalls and slip-floors are apparently slightly different in colour.

“Oh, right. It’s your first time. The biggest difference between the field and the dungeon is that there are a lot more enemies. Unless you’re near the stairs, they’ll follow you everywhere, so we recommend killing them immediately. And be careful of the noise.”

So if you don’t have the minimum amount of firepower, you’ll be crushed. On the other hand, if you have the firepower, you can make money. It’s good that there are so many enemies. The dungeons sound like a good place to raise your level.

And the noise? Sound must also be an aggro condition. It’s pretty nasty, isn’t it?

“The enemies are golems, gargoyles, tortoises, and dolls. Be aware that some of them use magic or long range attacks.”

“Hmm....Oops, do they use light or holy?”

“No, only up to the secondary of the four main attributes.”

“So there’s no problem?”

” “Yes, yes.” “

If they don’t use darkness, then my absorption won’t come into play.

Let’s go and see it in person. After being told the way to the dungeon I thank the receptionist and check the request board. No subjugation quests, but delivery? The price of the goods is quite high. Well, I’ll just take it when I have something, so I’ll pass for now.

I’m leaving the Adventurers Union.

“So, what do we do now?”

“To the dungeon~!”

“I think I want to go to the dungeon, too.”

“Well, alright. Let’s go.”

Two of the three want to go to the dungeon. I have no reason to object, so it’s no problem. We leave from the south gate and summon the horses.

The east side has a high level range of 45-49, so we will go to the dungeon via the south.

After a short climb up the mountain we see a safety area, with a small hole in the rock wall. There are statues of Creall-sama and Stellura-sama placed inside.

These two statues seem to be the entrance to the dungeon.

“Princess, what should we do about servants?”

“Lich has a bonus to summoning?”

“Right.”

“Then should we have you make three of them, and me two? I’ll make one a worker.”

“Okay~”

I’m the leader of the party and Ske-san is summoning the servants. This seems to be the strongest setup, if we do not consider the capacity and skill experience.

I summon a worker and #1 as skeletons.

“We heard there are a lot of enemies coming up, so I’ll call one of them as an armour. Three tanks should be fine.”

“...I’m being counted, aren’t I?”

“Hahahaha. I’ll switch to firepower if you’re okay.”

“Okay. Let’s go.”

After summoning and checking our equipment I approach the statue.

<Would you like to enter the cave dungeon?>

<<The party “Dedicate your humanity”, led by Anastasia, has reached the dungeon. The dungeon will be added to the help section. >>

<You have fulfilled specific requirements and acquire “Title: Dungeon Discoverer”.>

Dungeon Discoverer

A title commemorating the first Outsider to arrive at a dungeon.

“Well, that’s plain. Let’s go”

” “Yes.” “

It is still waiting for confirmation on whether to enter the dungeon, so I press ‘Yes’ and the field of view changes. We have been transferred inside.

“Yeah, I’d say it’s a cave.”

“It’s a cave..”

“It’s a cave..”

It’s simply a hole. A tunnel of soil and rock surfaces. It’s about the size of..a two-lane road. There is enough space for a single party to fight.

It’s not pitch black, but it’s quite dark. If you don’t have night vision you’ll need a light. One or the other. Torches for atmosphere.

The minimap is not working. This is probably the same as the dungeon added for the second batch.

The initial state is that you can’t see anything but the UI frame. What’s in your field of view, but not examined properly, is lightly marked. Then, once you see something up close, the colour becomes normal..

Since we just entered it only shows colour around me, after which it is faint.

“It looks like a safe area. Let’s go.”

“I think it’s to prevent fighting right after the transfer.”

“It’s awful to get hit right after the transition...”

It happens all the time, but when it happens in VR, it’s unbearable.

Oh, I forgot.

“Here, you two can have this.”

“Hmm? Cooking? Oh, we can eat this!”

“Oh, really.”

Alf-san will have the strength buff dish, and me and Ske-san will have the intelligence buff dish.

“Whoo! Yummy.”

“We can eat now too?”

“My ?Cook? and ?Alchemycraft? are both at 30. I read a book and it gave me an extra art.”

“Hmm.. That is quite challenging.”

There is no need to eat at the last minute, but I completely forgot about it. We couldn’t eat together until now.

“Anyway, Princess, your eyes are closed all the time, can you see?”

“Yes, I can. I’ve started to put into practice the rare skill I developed when I got the Silver Key. It’s taking some getting used to.”

“Sensing?”

“Hmm..Rather, I would call it mind’s eye? It’s a spatial awareness skill.”

“Oh, I somewhat get it.”

“Heading straight for Je*i.”

“But the attribute is the dark side. It’s a rare skill, so it’s a secret.”

” “Oh” “

Now that we have eaten, let’s turn our back on the two statues at the end of the road and move on.

Attacking the wall does not seem to do anything, so there is no need to worry about being buried alive. You can shoot explosions without worrying about it. The management here is very realistic in some strange ways, so I would have been concerned if I did not check it.

Each of us carries a weapon, and we can see the enemy in front of us.

“Is that a...Steel Tortoise?”

“It’s the same as the info said. I’ll take the lead.”

“Yes, yes.”

I’ll go a bit ahead of Alf-san. The tortoise is basically a magic attacker. It’s similar to my fighting style. Even when he gets close, he uses his defensive power to continue shooting magic. The only difference is that the tortoise is defensive and I’m parrying.

However, unless he has reflection or absorption, he’s a sitting duck for me. I reflect all the magic that comes at me, and I also shoot magic.

It seems that resistance increases through the levels of: resistance, invulnerability, reflection, and absorption. It seems that physical attacks only have resistance, invulnerability, and reflection. Reflection and absorption are said to be the highest levels.

The tortoise is probably resistant at best, so no problem there. If it’s invulnerable, there’s no point in returning the magic, but if it’s resistant, we return it because it’s not zero.

The tortoise notices us and turns towards us slowly. Of course we go straight for it.

As soon as we’re in range, a spear of earth appears around the tortoise, and I reflect it once it comes flying, while Ske-san and I cast spells. In the meantime, Alf-san approaches and attacks from the side.

It’s only one of them, so it’s an easy win.

“Hmmm... It’s tough. Steel.”

“Will this dungeon be too hard for melee?”

“I think it would be better to bring a blunt weapon...”

“Anti-magic is pretty easy when you can just send out Princess.”

“I suppose so.”

The drops are rotated as usual.

When we go a little further there is a fork in the road, but I can also see an enemy. It’s a human-sized, if slightly slimmer, golem. And it’s red.

“Elemental Goleman. What... Goleman.”

“It’s a golem man, isn’t it? It’s relatively humanoid for a golem.”

“A human man?”

A normal sized one would be a little too big, so a hindrance in a cave. It’s elemental and red, so it’s probably fire. It’s not a spirit, so going by it’s appearance..it’s more correct to say it’s a golem made of fire metal.

It’s all red metal, with a fire-like effect as a pattern.

“Don’t look at me.”

“It’s coming.”

The Goleman looked at me and then came dashing as fast as it could.

Alf-san takes his place and receives the shoulder tackle head-on. Metal collides with metal, making a loud noise.

Since #1 has the magic red iron, it is not suitable for this. Should I prepare all attributes? ..I think it might be better to quietly take ?Grant Magic?

He cannot hit the elemental weakness for now, but it’s still an attack.

“This guy is fighting bare-handed, so he’s a ?Martial Arts? type. It attacks fast.”

“Doesn’t he use magic?”

“He doesn’t look like the type to use magic...So probably not.”

“Ske-san, we’ve got wolf reinforcements.”

“Mm, I’ll take the aggro.”

I can see the Steel Golem Wolf running towards us on the 3D map in my brain. It was probably attracted by the sound.

The armour summoned by Ske-san will take the aggro and we will hit the Goleman that Alf-san is holding first.

“There seems to be continuous damage near this enemy.”

“That type..it doesn’t matter!”

Do I still need to use my eyes?

When I open my eyes, I see that the elemental part of the pattern has started to spew fire, and the surroundings are blurred due to the high temperature. Is it environmental damage from the heat or a burning condition?

It’s not a problem for those of us with automatic healing, but other players might have a hard time with it.

We make use of [Critical Control] and [Six-Fold Chanting] to defeat it quickly.

After defeating the Goleman, we start to attack the Steel Golem Wolf. This one is just a wolf shaped golem, so it’s easy.

“Hmm, Alf-san. A Goleman is dashing towards you.”

“It’s a busy dungeon.”

“At this level, there’s no problem with firepower.”

“It’s the MP that’s gonna be the problem.”

“Yeah. But you can’t save it.”

I’ve improved my MP recovery skills, but I’m still spending a lot. If you take too long to try and save it, enemies will come to you and you won’t be able to handle them.

It would be easier if I had Ame-san and Thorin-san, both in terms of experience and firepower, but I’m not sure if they’re a high enough level yet.

The next Goleman seems to be blue. I opened my eyes to check the colour. Is it water this time? Not that it really matters.

The Steel Golem Wolf is very aggressive, kicking off walls to move around.

“Oh, there’s a tortoise coming from behind.”

“Did it respawn behind us?”

I’ll switch places with Ske-san.

In the dungeon, it would be better to put Alf-san and armour in front, with Ske-san in the middle and me behind.

The tortoise arrives just as I’m about to kill the Wolf, so I adjust my position and reflect the spell, while I cast magic at the Goleman.

Use my reflection and keep the aggro while we kill the Goleman. He’s the most annoying. Or rather, the loudest. The turtle is probably the quietest.

The enemy’s body is metal, so it’s noisy while using a large shield to defend against it. And Goleman is bare-handed, so he’s beating against it. It’s unbearable.

After defeating the Goleman and the tortoise, we’re done.

“This isn’t an instance, is it?”

“It seems like you can meet other parties in here.”

“The ones you killed earlier respawn, then get aggroed by the sound..it’s quite tough.”

“Doing it solo will be pretty painful.. I think dungeon parties are gonna get formed in the wild.”

It does make it fairly efficient for raising your level, however. Even if you don’t move, just fight and the enemies will come to you. You need to be strong enough to handle them without problems though. If you don’t, you will be crushed.

The minimum qualifications that adventurers need for dungeons. If you are strong enough to avoid being crushed, or can take measures to prevent it, and can find and disarm traps...then you should be okay.

The rank requirement for entering the dungeon was C. In other words, after becoming a full-fledged adventurer. The dungeons are so dangerous that you have to be able to cope with the unexpected or you will die quickly.

Being an adventurer is a dream, but in real life, it would be a job to be avoided. It’s not like a game where you’re guaranteed to get stronger and not to die.

It’s a hard world.

“I’ll move while trying to keep an eye on the MP of you two...”

“If possible, I’d like to secure some items for escape, but..that’s just luck.”

“It seems to be a drop..”

The dungeon escape items are dropped by the enemies in the dungeon, and when you use them, your party will be transported out of the dungeon.

There are two types of these items. One is limited to the inside of the dungeon, and disappears when you leave the dungeon. The other is an item that stays with you even if you leave the dungeon.

The latter are bought by the Adventurer’s Union as insurance. They try to keep the price stable and eliminate counterfeits.

Veterans of the dungeons are sure to have them for emergency escapes. They are pricey, but if they can buy the life of a party, they are worth it. They are disposable but do not expire. If you’re in danger of using it every time, you’re not fit for the dungeon and should stop before you die.

We Outsiders should use the former, which are easier to find, and sell the latter to the Union, for a good income. We haven’t found either one yet, though.

“With the strength of these enemies, if we trigger a monster house, we’ll die.”

“It’s delicious if you can handle it, but if you can’t, you’ll die.”

“I don’t want to spend a lot of MP at once. I’d prefer to avoid them”

A room full of enemies...A monster house. It’s a rather common type of trap. A room with a treasure chest which, when opened, blocks the door and spawns a lot of monsters. Or you can open a door and see a lot of monsters.

For the Residents, it’s the worst trap, but for us, it’s delicious. It’s a good trap that saves you the effort of searching for enemies.

But it’s not very efficient, because the enemy is not only the same level, but can also be higher. If you die, you have to pay for the death penalty and movement, so it’s best not to. Even if you don’t get wiped out, considering that you don’t get any experience while you’re dead..it’s still not very good.

“Oops..”

A click by my feet, and an arrow comes flying.

“I can’t detect all the traps.”

“No matter.”

“I couldn’t see any of them from the beginning.”

“You have to some kind of skill for it.”

“Maybe it will level up while hunting?”

There could be dungeon specific skills.

“Whoa.”

“Pfft.”

“Slip floor?”

“It’s a real pain in the ass in combat...”

It’s not easy to move while trying not to step on the trap. It’s better to have more people for hunting, but if you have too many it makes it more likely someone will step on the trap.

However, for us, traps are a nuisance at best, so we prefer to have more people.

“A Goleman and a Murder Gargoyle?”

“Yellow this time. Earth.”

“What’s with this earth type..”

“I’ll take the Gargoyle.”

“Yeah.”

The gargoyle, which had been flying at us, shifts to a gliding state and rushes towards us. The armour holds back the attack, and sure enough, it makes a loud noise, so it looks like reinforcements are coming.

And speaking of the Goleman..

“What?”

“What’s with that motion?”

Then he jumps and stomps..and ripples spread from his landing point.

“Stomp!”

“Oh, geez, that’s so annoying!”

“Isn’t the earth type the most annoying one so far?”

” “Definitely.” “

Now we have to jump while fighting other enemies.

“In short, just don’t let them jump...When their movement slows down, bind them.”

“Oh, I see.”

Instead of a slow restraint speed, we can use [Shadow Bind], which is a chain type with a long effect duration and strong restraint power.

Leave the Gargoyle for now, let’s focus on the Goleman first.

I am in charge of the binding, since the binding will be strengthened by the [Space Reinforcement] of ?Spatial Magic?, and ?Spatial Magic? itself has been strengthened by the Silver Key.

Abnormal conditions against enemies work the normal way, in that their resistance increases each time they are hit with it. They become less likely to be affected, and the effect duration decreases. So let’s hit them quickly.

“Mu, another Goleman.”

“This time it’s... green! Wind!”

The yellow Goleman is killed before the first bind is broken. That’s an impressive restraint duration.

Then we leave the Gargoyle alone and watch out for the green Goleman, which we’ve never seen before.

“What was the condition caused by wind?”

“What was it?”

“Uh... I think it’s faint?”

“..Leave wind and water out of it.”

The wind Goleman is fast, isn’t it? Also...wind is blowing.

“Wait, wait a minute. Just being near it causes a knockback!? Yikes!”

“Oh, I’m not changing.”

“I want it to stop because it is blowing my hair about, but there is no particular problem. A weight judgement?”

“Put some meat on your bones.”

“I wouldn’t be a skeleton anymore!”

You’re absolutely right.

Ske-san is firing off magic while sliding backwards in the wind. Why not make your equipment heavier, like mine? Not that I wanted to.

The problem is that others will be sliding away too. If they jump to avoid a yellow’s stomp, they will be blown away.

In order of trouble, it would be water < wind < fire < earth. For us, it’s water < fire < wind < earth.

“The enemies in the dungeon are for gamers, aren’t they?

“It’s definitely for players who enjoy combat.”

“Well, dungeons are all about fighting, aren’t they?”

“That’s true. The Union information was a bit lacking, though.”

“I think they care more about the world in the Union, don’t they? The dungeon seems to be a common type of different dimension, so you have to take proper measures.”

It seems that the conditions are unknown, but for some reason a dungeon naturally occurs, and in order to stabilise it, two statues are placed.

If the dungeon is too dangerous or not good enough, the statues are removed and the army and adventurers monitor it until it disappears naturally.

So, if you find a dungeon, don’t carelessly enter it, but contact a nearby Union first. They will take the statues to fix it and investigate inside. If they succeed in fixing and stabilising the dungeon you get rewarded with something that was obtained during the investigation.

If you don’t do this, you can enter the dungeon before it is fixed, but there’s a good chance you’ll go bye-bye. Before the statue is placed the dungeon entrance is not fixed in place, so we don’t know what will happen if it disappears. The risk is too high, so when you find a distortion, you should dash for the Union.

New dungeon investigations are commissioned to high rank adventurers, and they are paid extremely well. This is because they are also paid by the country. Some dungeons produce materials that are very tasty in many ways.

So it seems that dungeons vary a lot from one aspect to another, so you have to adapt your strategy to each dungeon.

“Okay, I made you wait, Gargoyle!”

“The wind has finally died down!”

“We’ve got more.”

“Oh no, not again... And it’s yellow!”

And a blue one too. The blue and yellow Goleman and the Gargoyle that’s been there since the beginning? The Gargoyle is still left alone...and the blue is given to Alf-san, while the yellow is bound.

“[Bind] .... [Nox Pillar]”

The bound yellow is swallowed by the pillar of darkness. It’s hard to use it against moving enemies because it’s ground-based, but so far the pillar is the most powerful when every tick of damage hits. You can’t miss if you bind them first.

And [Nox Mine] will hit even when you parry. It is very good for dealing damage while saving MP.

While working with Ske-san to hit them with magic, we let #1 and the others attack and kill it quickly.

“Which should I choose?”

“Gargoyles are more annoying, aren’t they?”

Leaving Alf-san’s blue behind, I join Ske-san’s armour and hit the Gargoyle, whose HP is decreasing steadily.

Gargo-san, the Gargoyle, is obviously flying by magic, so no ?Spatial Magic?. Even though the Silver Key has reduced it, it still eats up a lot of MP..

“It’s not easy to hit the Gargo, is it?”

“It’s moving in a troublesome way. It might be best to use missiles.”

“In the end, I think it will consume less...”

It’s not very powerful, but it’s guided, so it can hit most enemies. I will whittle it down with magic missiles.

It’s easier to deviate when the movement is linear. Gargoyles have a lot of up and down movement with their flapping wings, and they also wander from side to side.

“Oh, right. You can shoot them at an unavoidable distance.”

“Well, yeah.”

The farther away you are, the more adjustments you have to make, but the closer you can shoot from, the better. Unlike Ske-san, I have no problem going to the front, so let’s do it. Depending on the distance, I could even use a shot spell.

After killing the gargoyle, it’s time for the Goleman.

<Your Race Level has increased.>

“Oh, it went up. That’s good.”

“It’d be even better if we could call the twins, but they’re not quite there yet, are they?”

“It’s not too late, is it? They’ll be here soon.”

The amount of experience we’d each get will drop as it’s shared further, but we’ll also earn more as a whole with the twins in the party. Either way, the dungeons are delicious.

<< The party “I will..not be the Pirate King, degozaru!”, led by Musasabi, has reached the Southern Continent. From now on, voyage to the Southern Continent events will be weakened. >>

“””Oh!”””

“So Musasabi-san was the first to arrive.”historical

“That group has a penchant for throwing weapons after all..”

“Don’t want to be stealthy at all, huh.”

“Well, they’re slayers, no matter how you look at it.”

“That....nwaaah!”

Ske-san, who was walking ahead of me, fell down.

“Kya~ Slime~”

“Cut it out.”

Alf-san cuts off Ske-san’s girlish cries. Where does his voice come from anyway. The bones?

“Hahahaha, are you finally returning to the earth?”

“I’m afraid not!”

“This is because we’re not in a line like in some RPG’s!”

“Tough.”

Who cares if a skeleton falls into a pit? And it’s only Ske-san.

We wait for him to crawl out and move on. I think the biggest problem with equipment is if Alf-san falls.

“Hmmm...should I get ?Fall Resistance??”

“Don’t fall in the first place.”

“Do you have any trap detection skills?”

“Hmm.... Oh?”

“Yeah?”

<You have fulfilled specific conditions, ?Mapmaking? was unlocked.>

Oh?

?Mapmaking?

Enhance the mapping function in dungeons.

Hidden doors and traps that are discovered will be marked and shared with your party.

“?Mapmaking?, ?Trap Detection? and ?Trap Disarming? have all grown up.”

“I’ve only grown ?Mapmaking?”

“Only ?Mapmaking? here too.”

“?Trap Detection? and ?Trap Disarming? are..exactly what they say.”

“They appeared at the same time?”

“Looks like it.”

Trap disarming. It seems like it unlocked by triggering traps. If you don’t die from them, it’s cheap to do. We can just happily charge through most of them because the conditions don’t affect us.

By the way, the condition to unlock ?Mapmaking? is the time you are in the dungeon, so all three of us got it at the same time.

“Is it okay if only one person in the party has them? I’m a little concerned..”

“I wonder if I should get them too..? The disarming is probably a dexterity judgement, and detection is likely from spotting them with the ?Detection? skill..”

“You want to go first, Princess?”

“Right. I’d like to unlock the skills too.”

“Then let’s change.”

Alf-san and I will switch positions so I can learn the ?Trap Detection? and ?Trap Disarming? skills. In other words.... step through the traps!

The arrows are flicked away and the gas we just walk through. Slip floors and pitfalls are a pain.

“Ah, you...Yamamoto!”

“Unreasonable resentment.”

“People hold grudges in places they don’t even know exist.”

“It’s a hard world we live in.”

“”Hey!””

While defeating enemies and ensuring safety, I step through the traps.

<You have fulfilled specific conditions, ?Trap Detection? was unlocked.>

<You have fulfilled specific conditions, ?Trap Disarming? was unlocked.>

“Oh, it’s unlocked.”

“Where’s Pitfall-san when you need him~?”

“So it will drop the bones, but not Princess.”

“That’s just how it is.”

“I have to just let it go...?”

Ske-san, armour, Alf-san and I will proceed in that order.

“Hey, trap....spears!”

“He fell down.”

“It stings more than you think.”

“It’s only ten or twenty spears.”

“The quintessential stab resistance.”

“Rather, it’s the mental attack of the spears at the end of the fall that is worst.”

Ah I see. It certainly looks scary.

I mean, it took a lot of HP. It’s 30%, even after lightness and piercing resistance. A normal person will probably die.

While waiting for him to crawl back out, I will take the three dungeon skills.

3SP each, for a total of 9. That’s okay.

Forward again.

There’s a Goleman in front of us.

<?Spatial Magic? reached level 40. “2” Skill Points acquired.>

<?Spatial Magic?’s [Gravitas Umkehren] and [Restriction Barrier] were acquired.>

Oh, it went up now? I guess that’s from experience earned with ?Spatial Awareness Ability Expansion?.

“Geez, it’s yellow and green.”

“The existence of yellow is unacceptable.”

I’ll have to check them out later.

The yellow one is tanked by Ske-san’s armor, bound, then hit with pillars and mines. The wind will be taken by Alf-san.

“Wolf reinforcements.. Oh, and here comes another Goleman.”

“Yellow again!”

“[Quick Change]! #1, take the Wolf. I’ll take care of the Goleman.”

I’ll switch the worker to armour and let it hold the Steel Wolf Golem.

The first yellow can be killed before the yellow reinforcement arrives. The wolf will come quickly and start playing with #1.

“Oh, more reinforcements.”

“What?”

“Red and blue! This is like some kind of sentai squad thing..”

“Ske-san, prepare a pillar with maximum firepower. I’ll get ’em.”

“Seriously?”

“Alf-san, use the warcry as soon as you’re in range so they don’t bounce around.”

“Alright.”

“Where should I put it?”

>

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