Chapter 42
On the deepest floor of the dungeon―――――
I look at the person in front of me again.
His clothes are too colourful. My eyes hurt.
This man suddenly appeared out of nowhere after the fissure.
…………Seriously, what is this situation?
Calm down.
It’s cool. Stay calm!
I need to figure out what’s going on here first.
Let’s see……
Arghh, I can’t think of anything.
What should I do……
「Hey, Jiryuu! Stop messing around and help me out here! My arm! My arm’s about to give up! It’s going numb! I can’t feel pain but it’s reaching its limit now! Quickly! Help me now! 」
I heard a cry for help from Elibel, who was desperately clinging to a rock.
『Hold on, I’m coming. 』
For some reason, he didn’t make any move yet.
Thanks to that, I can stay calm a bit.
I need to save her first.
「That’s unexpected……There’s also an Arc Skeleton here. And it can talk……Never knew it exists, but did you think I’m going to let you? 」
The man in front of me holds up the sacred sword.
This is bad!
I must dash right away after I save Elibel！
Pull yourself together now!
As I was about to take a step forward.
Since the ground is brittle.
The shaking from my movement is causing the ground to crack.――――
「Eh?」
「Huh？」
『Hm？』
With a bang, the rocky surface that Elibel was clinging to collapsed.
「NO WAAAAAAY!!!」
『ELIBEEEEELL!!!』
And just like that, Elibel fell head first on the ground.
Bonk! Her landing is so clean you could almost hear the sound.………
It was so unexpected that even the guy in front of me froze completely.
『…………』
「………」
He must not have expected this.
There’s an indescribable atmosphere in the air.
…………………What do I do now?
However, I had my thought cut short.
「Ha, let’s ignore that for now! Let us fight now. 」
Hyun, the sound of air being sliced.
He holds his sword horizontally, kicks the ground, and shortens the distance between us.
Slowly, an orange sacred sword looming before me.
On the middle floor of the dungeon―――――
「Ouch……」
Tres was in the middle floor of the dungeon, in the ruins of Elibel.
After Jiryuu went to the depth, she went with Pururu to train her magic.
And just when the new skill was finally about to be completed, the dungeon collapsed.
The area has turned into a pile of rubble.
「Phew. Thanks, for saving me, Pururu~」
「Puru！」
It was Pururu who saved Tres from the falling rocks.
As soon as the collapse occurred, Pururu expanded its body and protected Tres.
「But what is happening? There is one big soul above and below. What should we do, Pururu？」
「Purupupu~」
Pururu expands itself even more.
And slip into the gap between the rocks.
After a while, Pururu tentacles filled the gaps and tightly coated them.
「……Eh, you need to stay here to stop the dungeon from collapsing？」
「Purupupu！」
「……You don’t want your darling’s dungeon to break any more? Okay! But what should I do?」
Hmm, Tres felt troubled.
To begin with, she’s not good at thinking. She usually to take it easy and let her mind wander。
In a way, she’s strongly influenced by Jiryuu。
She was in distress when suddenly a voice called out to her from behind.
「Then……Haa……Haa……We need to go to the floor below.」
She looked behind.
A six-armed giant. It was Elibel’s subordinate, Berg.
There are injuries all over his body。
「The deepest floor……Your master and Miss Elibel are there……。I……Haa…Haa……I have to protect her……」
In a stagger, Berg speaks.
He’s already weak from fighting Tres and Pururu in the first place.
And the collapse makes it even worse.
「………Mister, is the skeleton really important to you？」
Tilting her head, Tres asks him.
「Definitely……To me……She’s everything……」
「I see~」
Tres takes out a magic stone from her pocket.
It’s an ultra-high-purity magic stone given to her by Jiryuu.
There’s only one left.
Tres offers it to Berg without hesitation.
「Me too – I love my dad. I love my sister Una, my brother Dos, Ann, the antlings, and all the golems. So I really understand how you feel.」
「…………Little girl」
「Puu！」
Then Pururu raises her voice.
Hey, what about me, she protests.
「Ahaha! Of course, Pururu is important, too. We’re the best of friends after all!」
「Puru！」
Pururu shakes her body with joy.
Smiling, Tres looks at Berg。
「So, mister, let’s go together, okayー？」
「……………Definitely！」
Berg eats the magic stone he received with a crunch!。
Slowly, his wounds heal.
He’s far from fully healed, but it’s enough to regain his strength. 。
「Now, let’s get going!」
「Un!」
And so the two of them begin their journey to the deepest floor.
To protect their precious master.
But that’s when it happened.
「Hey, look at this magic stone, it’s ridiculously pure! It’s a good thing we beat the knights to it！」
「Wow, this alone is worth a fortune! 」
「Oi, shut your mouth! Pick them up quickly! 」
A few vile, dirty laughs rang in Tres and Berg’s ears.
In the forest near the Boundary of Death. ―――
They were also running through the forest to protect the same important person.
Una and Dos.
They replaced the adventurer outfit with the áo dài made from the skin of the Earth Dragon.
Where did they keep their áo dài all this time, you wonder?
The answer is simple.
They had absorbed it into their own skin, and were wearing the adventurer outfit over it.
Originally made from the skin of the Earth Dragon, these Golem Homunculus have a very high affinity with this outfit.
They can unequip and assimilate it with their skin.
However, the performance is much lower in the skin state.
It is because it is perceived as a part of the body. However, the materials from the Earth Dragon show their true value when they are processed.
The skin is a good way to raise strength, even so, its performance is much different when used as an outfit.
Una sends her heartfelt thanks to Ann for advising her in case something should happen outside.
If I had gone out there without this gear, it would have taken me many times longer to get back.
They also put on another item that Ann gave them.
It’s a pure white mask.
They asked Ann for advice on how to use these clothes outside without revealing their identities in case of an unexpected event.
I can never think up of something like this。
Right after they lost connection with Jiryuu, Una and Dos immediately headed to the Eld Desert.
「At this rate, it will be at least another 20 minutes………I’ll increase the pace. Can you keep up, Dos？」
Dos didn’t answer.
This mask makes it much harder for me to see his face.
But Dos just nodded his head.
Which is enough for her.
「In that case―――――――Here we go!」
A large amount of magical power is poured into the Earth Dragon clothes.
We have to get to father as quickly as possible！
Thanks to the effect of the clothes that dramatically improved their performance, the two of them speed up further through the forest like a gust of wind.
And then, out of nowhere, they hear a voice.
「Hey, both of you. Stop. 」
A voice came from up ahead.
They both stopped out of reflex.
「Who’s there? 」
Una, who is in a hurry, doesn’t even try to hide her killing intent as she looks at the person in front of her.
And there she was, a woman.
A woman who looked to be in her early twenties, dressed in tight formal wear, like a secretary.
She opened her mouth as if she hadn’t been intimidated by both their appearance and their murderous intent.
「My name is Rias, and I’m the secretary to Lord Eclair, the Prime Minister of the Borhelic Kingdom. 」
The woman who introduced herself as Rias smiled, somewhat cat-like.
On the top floor of the dungeon――――
They confronted each other about the important person in their life.
Ann and Beldi.
Ann distance herself from Beldi after she dodged her first attack。
Even now, Ann is pouring magical power into the Earth Dragon’s sword and cloak to improve their abilities.
She was in a hurry.
She didn’t expect this to happen at all.
I must get to Jiryuu-sama quickly.
But I can’t just let the enemy go like this.
While paying attention to the female adventurer’s every move, Ann signals the antlings.
It was Beldi who broke the deadlock.
She readied her spear again and set it on Ann.
Her spear, “Gungnir the God-Killing Spear,” glowed.