Part 3
The twelfth underground floor──
『Those who value their lives should leave』
Seeing the letters written on the gate, Rem gulped.
「……Up until here, even if it was a floor where high leveled monsters were deployed, the contents of the warning weren’t this direct. It would seem that a suitable amount of resolve is required.」
「Let’s go! Having come this far, there’s no way we can just go back!」
Shera’s way of thinking was plain and simple. Just as she said, they can’t feel timid at this point in time.
「……Naturally. However, it means that preparation and vigilance is needed.」
Lumachina nodded.
「I shall provide support with all of my strength. At this point, being anxious about you two would instead be impolite of me.」
「Thank you for believing us……Lumachina, we will bring you to the lowest floor. The item that will dispel the Marked Death Disease should be there……Besides, I am sure that Diablo and Horun will come as well. Let’s go on ahead and wait for the two of them there.」
「Yes.」
「Let’s do our best! Rem! Lumachina-chan!」
The three of them exchanged gazes with each other. They strengthened their resolve.
Rem placed her hands on the door.
She pushed it.
*Gou* Wind swirled, and there was some sort of sour smell.
It was a vast, spacious cave. The ceiling couldn’t be compared with the other floors, and continued on endlessly.
What could faintly be seen was……
──A blue sky?
By some chance, could this be a deep, gigantic pit, and did it continue on from the surface down to here?
Wouldn’t it have been faster if we just descended down into this pit? At the same time that Rem thought this, Diablo should have a reason why he didn’t do so──is what Rem thought.
The walls were grand and had become smooth as if they were polished. The ground under their feet was the same, and although it wasn’t level, not even weeds were growing there.
However, she wasn’t given any time to deepen her speculations.
It was because there was something coming at them from ahead.
A certain thing had just defeated a monster.
What had collapsed and lied on the floor was, a Humanoid-type monster. Rem had not seen it anywhere other than in books but……
Most likely, it was a 《Death Dancer》. It was a Skeleton that possessed several arms, and its killer technique called 《Bloody Dance》 would instantly cut Adventurers up into pieces.
The stern warning for it was that it was a “dreadful monster that you should definitely run away from if you come across one”.
That monster was defeated, and was changed into a mere corpse.
The man that defeated it was clad in blue armor.
He brushed up his long hair.
「Araa, were you behind me? Oh please, right when I was in a hurry to catch up to you, I ended up overtaking you -no nee.」
He spoke sounding like a woman, but he was unmistakably a man.
Lumachina shrank away.
「H, Holy Knight Geibalt……」
「Looks like we meet again -wa ne, Lumachina? Could you just hurry up and die already? Since I’ll be sending you to your beloved Kami-sama’s side, I would like it if you didn’t hold back -waa.」
Rem came forward so as to protect Lumachina.
「……You are the Holy Knight that attacked us on the ninth floor, aren’t you. I will not let you lay a hand on Lumachina!」
「That’s right!」
Shera also nocked an arrow on her bow.
Geibalt prepared his sword with one hand.
「N fu fu……I’ve seen that Elf’s thing -waa. An arrow that causes 《Petrify》, that’s a bit bad -wa nee. But, you’re no match for me, you know?」
He fired a crystal.
It was a Summoned Beast.
A countless number of small flying insects came flying out. They were 《Fire Bees》.
The fighting strength of them individually wasn’t high, but their affinity with Shera’s weapon was the worst. Even if she were to shoot at the swarm, it would only take down several of them.
It was the same for Rem’s Summoned Beasts. She hadn’t made a contract with a Summoned Beast that possessed an area attack.
「Kuh……In that case, we just have to defeat the Summoner! 《Aslau》!!」
She also threw out a crystal.
What was summoned was a gigantic three horned bull.
However, this alone probably wouldn’t work on a Holy Knight. She knew that. It was because it was easily crushed by a different Holy Knight called Sadraa in the past.
《Aslau》’s ability would be a match for a level 40 Warrior, but the Holy Knights’ levels were around 100. It would not be able to win against him alone.
Rem called forth even more Summoned Beasts.
「《Rock Wan》, as well as 《Dragonfly》, come out!」
《Rock Wan》 was a level 25 Earth attribute wolf. It was plain, but its bite was powerful and its charge attack was fast.
And then, 《Dragonfly》 had a flashy name, but in other words, it was a gigantic dragonfly. It was level 20 and of the Wind attribute. It was insufficient in terms of offense and defense, but it could fly and its movements were really fast.
Having summoned three of them at once, the MP burden staggering.
Rem wiped the sweat from her forehead and ordered them.
「Summoned Beasts, go forth! Shera, do it now!」
「Un!」
She had the three high speed Summoned Beasts charge at the Holy Knight. On top of that, the real attack was Shera’s bow.
He shouldn’t be able to cope with all of that with a single sword.
Geibalt curved his rouged lips.
「Ahan, the desperate faces of weak women……It let’s me bask in a sense of superiority -waa. I・can’t・get・enough・of・it!」
The enemy summoned even more.
What appeared was a green vine. Red roses bloomed, and concealed his figure.
It repelled both Rem’s Summoned Beasts and Shera’s arrow.
「Wha!?」
「What’s going on!?」
Geibalt expressed a smile full of pride, and acted flirtatiously.
「Fufufu, this is a rare Summoned Beast──a 《Rose Prison》, you know? Although I cannot move around, your attacks won’t get through -wa. By becoming a spectator here, all that’s left is for my little 《Fire Bees》 to take care of you.」
Summoned Beasts whose individual fighting strength was low but formed a swarm, and an unmoving Summoned Beast that specializes in defense──Even though each one clearly had their faults, when put together, there was no weak spot.
──Strong!
Rem gritted her teeth.
It was because she was a Summoner as well, she keenly felt the difference in their strength.
「……Holy Knight, despite having that much power, why did you choose such a vicious path!?」
「Fufufu……Isn’t it the other way around? Why would you live foolishly honest even though you have power? I don’t get the meaning to that. Now then, the talking ends here──I’ll kill you all!」
The swarm of 《Fire Bees》 plunged in.
Rem put herself on guard, but she couldn’t come up with a means of opposing them.
At that time, a wind blew.
Strong.
Due to the sudden gust, the Summoned Beast Bees were blown away. They hit the ground, and turned back into a crystal.
「My 《Fire Bees》!?」
Geibalt raised his voice.
──Wind attribute magic!?
By some chance, could it be Diablo!? That hope of Rem’s, was quickly crushed.
The source of the strong wind that seemed like it could send even a person flying was due to something with a large build descending from the sky.
With the sky as the backlight, its silhouette could be seen.
Similarly looking at the sky, Shera’s eyes went wide open.
「What? Eh……A Dragon?」
Lined with black scales.
From its head that grew a lot of horns, to the tip of its hard looking tail, it was probably about 30 meters.
Rem’s lips trembled.
「……A Large……Black Dragon.」
There were many varieties that were called “Dragon”, and there were some classified as Demonic Beasts, as well as those that were not.
Black Dragons were not Demonic Beasts (their corpses did not vanish when defeated) and were generally classified as wild animals.
However, there were many that were treated as a third tribe that was neither the people of the Races nor Demonic Beings──they were treated as the Dragon Tribe.
As for why, they……
『I shall equally bestow death upon the small ones that invade my land!』
A voice resounded within their heads.
It was telepathy.
Although they cannot pronounce words, they understand human speech. Not knowing how they learned it, they are said to have a good command of human speech.
Shera started trembling.
「Wh-wh-what do we do, Rem!?」
It seems that the one that made the twelfth underground floor its stronghold wasn’t the 《Death Dancer》, but the 《Large Black Dragon》.
「Kuh……If you value your life, immediately running away would be the wise thing to do. However……」
If they don’t break through here, they won’t obtain the treasured article that will dispel the Marked Death Disease.
「Looks like we have no choice but to fight, right!?」
Gritting her teeth, Shera readied her bow.
She fired an arrow.
Her arrow broke the Dragon’s scale.
However, 《Petrification》 didn’t occur.
Shera’s eyes went round.
「Why……!?」
『Hou, to think that I would feel the Demon King’s power from a small one’s arms, how interesting. However, it is not enough to get through to me.』
Rem wiped the sweat from her forehead.
「……Most likely, you can’t get through the Dragon’s Magic Resistance with the magic power that Krum bestowed on your weapon.」
Dragons were ranked by their size. When it came to the Large-class, it was the king of Dragons in this region.
With the magical power that Krum bestowed for the sake of self-protection, it was only natural that it wouldn’t bring it down.
The Dragon that descended from the sky slowly landed.
『O small ones! If you oppose me, then wield that strength of yours! You shall sink into despair, until you accept death!』
Around the center of the cave, the Holy Knight was there.
「Don’t joke around with me -wa yoo!」
He called off the summoning of the 《Rose Prison》, and hurriedly tried to run away from being close to the Dragon. He evacuated to close to the wall.
「C, could you wait a second! I’ll leave immediately -wa! To begin with, I have no interest in the dungeon! Those girls that are around the entrance were just in my way -nano yoo!」
The Dragon’s gigantic eyeball turned towards the Holy Knight.
『If you will not oppose me……Then you shall be slaughtered by this single attack!』
Rem remembered a description from a book.
Black Dragons use Acid Breath. In other words, it was acid. Whether it was a sword or armor, even if it was a person, it would melt it.
The Holy Knight threw out new crystal.
「TSK! Don’t go and get carried away -wa yo, you lizard bastard!! I’ll turn you into grilled lizard with this -wa! Come forth, 《Ifrit》!!」
Rem received a shock. It was a Summoned Beast of the highest grade that she had only learned of by hearsay and had actually never seen herself.
She felt that there were large problems with the personalities of the Holy Knights, but their abilities were without mistake close to the limits of the Races.
That crystal that shined in a rainbow color broke.
A pillar of flames stretched out to the heavens.
It felt like they would be blown away by the hot winds.
It was a Majin of bright red flames. It looked as if lava had taken a human form. In terms of height, there wasn’t much of a difference from the Dragon. The area under its feet melted due to the heat.
Rem held her hands up, and protected her face from the blowing heat.
「……Kuh……That Holy Knight……So he was hiding a trump card like this.」
If he summoned Ifrit from the beginning, Rem’s group would have been killed in an instant.
Why didn’t he use it?
The reason was simple.
Geibalt placed a hand on his own chest, and was breathing roughly and repeatedly wheezed. It seemed that even for a person as strong as him, summoning Ifrit had a burden that wasn’t normal.
Shera looked at the two of them, and was all shaken up.
「Uwaawaa……Wh, which one should I be rooting for, Rem!?」
「……The Large Black Dragon intends to kill us. If Ifrit is defeated, then there is no mistake that our turn will be next.」
「That’s true! Then, for right now, we should root for that Holy Knight person, right!?」
「……However, if Ifrit remains, it will also be our turn next.」
「Hii!?」
「……If it’s either a draw, or something close to that, then it will be convenient for us. Let’s assist the one that is at the disadvantage.」
Rem held a crystal in her hand, and waited for a chance to take advantage of.
Shera nodded.
「L, let’s do our best!」
Lumachina put both of her hands together.
「Kami-sama……I beg of you, please protect us……」
Part 3
The twelfth underground floor──
『Those who value their lives should leave』
Seeing the letters written on the gate, Rem gulped.
「……Up until here, even if it was a floor where high leveled monsters were deployed, the contents of the warning weren’t this direct. It would seem that a suitable amount of resolve is required.」
「Let’s go! Having come this far, there’s no way we can just go back!」
Shera’s way of thinking was plain and simple. Just as she said, they can’t feel timid at this point in time.
「……Naturally. However, it means that preparation and vigilance is needed.」
Lumachina nodded.
「I shall provide support with all of my strength. At this point, being anxious about you two would instead be impolite of me.」
「Thank you for believing us……Lumachina, we will bring you to the lowest floor. The item that will dispel the Marked Death Disease should be there……Besides, I am sure that Diablo and Horun will come as well. Let’s go on ahead and wait for the two of them there.」
「Yes.」
「Let’s do our best! Rem! Lumachina-chan!」
The three of them exchanged gazes with each other. They strengthened their resolve.
Rem placed her hands on the door.
She pushed it.
*Gou* Wind swirled, and there was some sort of sour smell.
It was a vast, spacious cave. The ceiling couldn’t be compared with the other floors, and continued on endlessly.
What could faintly be seen was……
──A blue sky?
By some chance, could this be a deep, gigantic pit, and did it continue on from the surface down to here?
Wouldn’t it have been faster if we just descended down into this pit? At the same time that Rem thought this, Diablo should have a reason why he didn’t do so──is what Rem thought.
The walls were grand and had become smooth as if they were polished. The ground under their feet was the same, and although it wasn’t level, not even weeds were growing there.
However, she wasn’t given any time to deepen her speculations.
It was because there was something coming at them from ahead.
A certain thing had just defeated a monster.
What had collapsed and lied on the floor was, a Humanoid-type monster. Rem had not seen it anywhere other than in books but……
Most likely, it was a 《Death Dancer》. It was a Skeleton that possessed several arms, and its killer technique called 《Bloody Dance》 would instantly cut Adventurers up into pieces.
The stern warning for it was that it was a “dreadful monster that you should definitely run away from if you come across one”.
That monster was defeated, and was changed into a mere corpse.
The man that defeated it was clad in blue armor.
He brushed up his long hair.
「Araa, were you behind me? Oh please, right when I was in a hurry to catch up to you, I ended up overtaking you -no nee.」
He spoke sounding like a woman, but he was unmistakably a man.
Lumachina shrank away.
「H, Holy Knight Geibalt……」
「Looks like we meet again -wa ne, Lumachina? Could you just hurry up and die already? Since I’ll be sending you to your beloved Kami-sama’s side, I would like it if you didn’t hold back -waa.」
Rem came forward so as to protect Lumachina.
「……You are the Holy Knight that attacked us on the ninth floor, aren’t you. I will not let you lay a hand on Lumachina!」
「That’s right!」
Shera also nocked an arrow on her bow.
Geibalt prepared his sword with one hand.
「N fu fu……I’ve seen that Elf’s thing -waa. An arrow that causes 《Petrify》, that’s a bit bad -wa nee. But, you’re no match for me, you know?」
He fired a crystal.
It was a Summoned Beast.
A countless number of small flying insects came flying out. They were 《Fire Bees》.
The fighting strength of them individually wasn’t high, but their affinity with Shera’s weapon was the worst. Even if she were to shoot at the swarm, it would only take down several of them.
It was the same for Rem’s Summoned Beasts. She hadn’t made a contract with a Summoned Beast that possessed an area attack.
「Kuh……In that case, we just have to defeat the Summoner! 《Aslau》!!」
She also threw out a crystal.
What was summoned was a gigantic three horned bull.
However, this alone probably wouldn’t work on a Holy Knight. She knew that. It was because it was easily crushed by a different Holy Knight called Sadraa in the past.
《Aslau》’s ability would be a match for a level 40 Warrior, but the Holy Knights’ levels were around 100. It would not be able to win against him alone.
Rem called forth even more Summoned Beasts.
「《Rock Wan》, as well as 《Dragonfly》, come out!」
《Rock Wan》 was a level 25 Earth attribute wolf. It was plain, but its bite was powerful and its charge attack was fast.
And then, 《Dragonfly》 had a flashy name, but in other words, it was a gigantic dragonfly. It was level 20 and of the Wind attribute. It was insufficient in terms of offense and defense, but it could fly and its movements were really fast.
Having summoned three of them at once, the MP burden staggering.
Rem wiped the sweat from her forehead and ordered them.
「Summoned Beasts, go forth! Shera, do it now!」
「Un!」
She had the three high speed Summoned Beasts charge at the Holy Knight. On top of that, the real attack was Shera’s bow.
He shouldn’t be able to cope with all of that with a single sword.
Geibalt curved his rouged lips.
「Ahan, the desperate faces of weak women……It let’s me bask in a sense of superiority -waa. I・can’t・get・enough・of・it!」
The enemy summoned even more.
What appeared was a green vine. Red roses bloomed, and concealed his figure.
It repelled both Rem’s Summoned Beasts and Shera’s arrow.
「Wha!?」
「What’s going on!?」
Geibalt expressed a smile full of pride, and acted flirtatiously.
「Fufufu, this is a rare Summoned Beast──a 《Rose Prison》, you know? Although I cannot move around, your attacks won’t get through -wa. By becoming a spectator here, all that’s left is for my little 《Fire Bees》 to take care of you.」
Summoned Beasts whose individual fighting strength was low but formed a swarm, and an unmoving Summoned Beast that specializes in defense──Even though each one clearly had their faults, when put together, there was no weak spot.
──Strong!
Rem gritted her teeth.
It was because she was a Summoner as well, she keenly felt the difference in their strength.
「……Holy Knight, despite having that much power, why did you choose such a vicious path!?」
「Fufufu……Isn’t it the other way around? Why would you live foolishly honest even though you have power? I don’t get the meaning to that. Now then, the talking ends here──I’ll kill you all!」
The swarm of 《Fire Bees》 plunged in.
Rem put herself on guard, but she couldn’t come up with a means of opposing them.
At that time, a wind blew.
Strong.
Due to the sudden gust, the Summoned Beast Bees were blown away. They hit the ground, and turned back into a crystal.
「My 《Fire Bees》!?」
Geibalt raised his voice.
──Wind attribute magic!?
By some chance, could it be Diablo!? That hope of Rem’s, was quickly crushed.
The source of the strong wind that seemed like it could send even a person flying was due to something with a large build descending from the sky.
With the sky as the backlight, its silhouette could be seen.
Similarly looking at the sky, Shera’s eyes went wide open.
「What? Eh……A Dragon?」
Lined with black scales.
From its head that grew a lot of horns, to the tip of its hard looking tail, it was probably about 30 meters.
Rem’s lips trembled.
「……A Large……Black Dragon.」
There were many varieties that were called “Dragon”, and there were some classified as Demonic Beasts, as well as those that were not.
Black Dragons were not Demonic Beasts (their corpses did not vanish when defeated) and were generally classified as wild animals.
However, there were many that were treated as a third tribe that was neither the people of the Races nor Demonic Beings──they were treated as the Dragon Tribe.
As for why, they……
『I shall equally bestow death upon the small ones that invade my land!』
A voice resounded within their heads.
It was telepathy.
Although they cannot pronounce words, they understand human speech. Not knowing how they learned it, they are said to have a good command of human speech.
Shera started trembling.
「Wh-wh-what do we do, Rem!?」
It seems that the one that made the twelfth underground floor its stronghold wasn’t the 《Death Dancer》, but the 《Large Black Dragon》.
「Kuh……If you value your life, immediately running away would be the wise thing to do. However……」
If they don’t break through here, they won’t obtain the treasured article that will dispel the Marked Death Disease.
「Looks like we have no choice but to fight, right!?」
Gritting her teeth, Shera readied her bow.
She fired an arrow.
Her arrow broke the Dragon’s scale.
However, 《Petrification》 didn’t occur.
Shera’s eyes went round.
「Why……!?」
『Hou, to think that I would feel the Demon King’s power from a small one’s arms, how interesting. However, it is not enough to get through to me.』
Rem wiped the sweat from her forehead.
「……Most likely, you can’t get through the Dragon’s Magic Resistance with the magic power that Krum bestowed on your weapon.」
Dragons were ranked by their size. When it came to the Large-class, it was the king of Dragons in this region.
With the magical power that Krum bestowed for the sake of self-protection, it was only natural that it wouldn’t bring it down.
The Dragon that descended from the sky slowly landed.
『O small ones! If you oppose me, then wield that strength of yours! You shall sink into despair, until you accept death!』
Around the center of the cave, the Holy Knight was there.
「Don’t joke around with me -wa yoo!」
He called off the summoning of the 《Rose Prison》, and hurriedly tried to run away from being close to the Dragon. He evacuated to close to the wall.
「C, could you wait a second! I’ll leave immediately -wa! To begin with, I have no interest in the dungeon! Those girls that are around the entrance were just in my way -nano yoo!」
The Dragon’s gigantic eyeball turned towards the Holy Knight.
『If you will not oppose me……Then you shall be slaughtered by this single attack!』
Rem remembered a description from a book.
Black Dragons use Acid Breath. In other words, it was acid. Whether it was a sword or armor, even if it was a person, it would melt it.
The Holy Knight threw out new crystal.
「TSK! Don’t go and get carried away -wa yo, you lizard bastard!! I’ll turn you into grilled lizard with this -wa! Come forth, 《Ifrit》!!」
Rem received a shock. It was a Summoned Beast of the highest grade that she had only learned of by hearsay and had actually never seen herself.
She felt that there were large problems with the personalities of the Holy Knights, but their abilities were without mistake close to the limits of the Races.
That crystal that shined in a rainbow color broke.
A pillar of flames stretched out to the heavens.
It felt like they would be blown away by the hot winds.
It was a Majin of bright red flames. It looked as if lava had taken a human form. In terms of height, there wasn’t much of a difference from the Dragon. The area under its feet melted due to the heat.
Rem held her hands up, and protected her face from the blowing heat.
「……Kuh……That Holy Knight……So he was hiding a trump card like this.」
If he summoned Ifrit from the beginning, Rem’s group would have been killed in an instant.
Why didn’t he use it?
The reason was simple.
Geibalt placed a hand on his own chest, and was breathing roughly and repeatedly wheezed. It seemed that even for a person as strong as him, summoning Ifrit had a burden that wasn’t normal.
Shera looked at the two of them, and was all shaken up.
「Uwaawaa……Wh, which one should I be rooting for, Rem!?」
「……The Large Black Dragon intends to kill us. If Ifrit is defeated, then there is no mistake that our turn will be next.」
「That’s true! Then, for right now, we should root for that Holy Knight person, right!?」
「……However, if Ifrit remains, it will also be our turn next.」
「Hii!?」
「……If it’s either a draw, or something close to that, then it will be convenient for us. Let’s assist the one that is at the disadvantage.」
Rem held a crystal in her hand, and waited for a chance to take advantage of.
Shera nodded.
「L, let’s do our best!」
Lumachina put both of her hands together.
「Kami-sama……I beg of you, please protect us……」
