CH 101

On the next day, we got up after a peaceful night and headed over to the boss.

As far as I predict, the boss is going to be a huge version of a salamander or a flame dragon. Or possibly Akantor!

Going by the patterns so far, it’s going to be a huge salamander, though…

Still, the enemies have been clearly becoming stronger, and thus the magma floors have been coming at us for real.

Even Sword said that they’d be tough to solo for him and that it’d be impossible without him returning to the surface once to resupply before charging onto those floors.

I wonder how it’d be for me? Well, I guess I’d cope one way or another, but it’d be no fun, definitely. Since I’d undoubtedly run out of magic stones, it’d probably result in me rushing through these floors on Ryoku’s back.

Ugh, that sounds so boring. Where’s the point in entering a dungeon if you do stuff like that?

“‘Sup?”

“Well, I was just speculating whether it’d be a huge salamander or a flame dragon next.”

Sword stared at me.

“So you think a dragon is goin’ to come out after all?”

I nodded, “If it does, next will be an ice and snow zone with an ice dragon as boss. And below that should be the final floor of the dungeon, I think. If it’s a huge salamander, I feel like the dungeon is going to continue for a long time to come.”

Sword scratched his head, “Hmm, so neither would be a welcome outcome, huh?”

I looked up to him, “Well, it might continue all the way to 1000 floors or it might be soon over after a dragon comes out. We’ll very soon know which of both applies. If we get tired of it, we can also hop into Char and just race through the whole lot.”

After casting a sidelong glance at me, Sword ruffled my hair.

“I’m countin’ on you, partner.”

……Hmm?

……I feel like he said something weird.

“……You’d be able to finish off a dragon yourself, wouldn’t you? I mean, even without me here, you’d actually be able to clear this place, and yet…”

…you’re saying something like that?

Sword laughed, “Why are you actin’ all bashful? In reality your able to clear a dungeon yourself as well, no?”

“Isn’t that suuuuuuuuuper boring? I definitely lack magic stones to do it myself. And climbing on Ryoku and running through all of it; what kind of penalty game is that supposed to be?”

This time Sword broke out in loud, bright laughter.

“Whoa, sure sounds borin’. It’d be a dungeon clearin’ without a sliver of thrill.”

“……That’s why, I also, umm… ……No, forget it.”

I was grabbed by his iron claw!

“Gyaaa! Why!?”

“Don’t stop mid-sentence.”

And that’s the reason for you using an iron claw on me!? Isn’t that way too irrational!?

“I-I just thought that it was great that you called out to me back then!”

He let go of my head.

“Alright, well said,” he praised me and then caressed my head.

……Wouldn’t anyone consider him to be at the age of a Dad if he does stuff like that? It kinda smells like an old man, doesn’t it? He’s really lacking youthfulness.

“Gyaaa!”

He used his iron claw on me, once again!!

“You just thought some weird shit again, didn’t you?”

This guy is 100% an esper!!!!

＊

We charged into the boss room.

“So it’s gonna be the last floor very soon,” muttered Sword.

Pretty clearly the boss was no salamander, but a huge lizard with magnificent scales. Apparently a flame dragon.

Since it looked like it’d roar any second, I cast my soundproof spell! And just as predicted, it roared nicely. But I gotta admit, it was an incredible roar I could hear even through my soundproofed ears.

“Did you do somethin’?”

“I cast a soundproofing spell. But even so, its roar was still amazing. Even high-class earplugs wouldn’t be able to block this.”

“…The hell are those? Are you gonna create another magic tool ‘gain?” Sword asked loudly while rolling his eyes.

“They’re necessary for you.”

After grinning at him, I faced the dragon. For starters I went with a flash of my sword as a preliminary test.

“…Oohhh!”

It was repelled with a clang.

This means I need to get serious!

“Did you see, Sword? This guy seems to be strong!”

“Whoa, I really respect you for rejoicin’ over that,” answered Sword while running up to the dragon as well, and unleashing a flash of his sword.

Ah! Sword hurt it!

The dragon thrashed around while screaming in agony. Sword breathed out.

“…Looks like it’ll work one way or ‘nother.”

Alright, I gotta do my best as well!

Just when I psyched myself up and tried to attack after gathering Mr. Fluff, the dragon did a certain motion.

Ah, this is…

“Indra! It’s gonna breathe fire! Watch out!”

The instant Sword finished shouting…

Kabooom.

Sword felt dumbfounded by the unexpected explosion.

“Oki, it seems like this is going to fly.”

The dragon’s head had become a bloody mess.

“……What did you do?”

“It’s just an educated guess, but a dragon’s fire breath can’t be blocked by vacuum magic. It’s effective for extinguishing fire that continues to burn, but since a dragon also spits out fuel alongside its flames, a vacuum has no effect on it. That’s why I gathered air at its head while creating a vacuum around it so that the air would catch fire and blow up right before the dragon spit out its breath.”

Sword appeared to be dumbstruck with his mouth being agape, but he immediately pulled himself together.

“Well, I s’pose it’s fine as long as you’ve got a countermeasure. Means we don’t need to pay any attention to its breath any longer.”

Carelessness is your greatest enemy, you know?

＊

Unable to breathe its fire, the dragon went berserk, apparently having become quite angry. It tried to trample us underfoot and slap us with its tail, but it was simply too slow.

Should I say that famous line of “If it doesn’t hit…and so on” here? No, since it looks like I’d die if I got hit by any of those attacks in the first place, I think it’s better to leave it unsaid.

――Sword laboriously added small cut on small cut while I chose to look for openings to land big techniques.

“…Eat this! Dragon Cutter!!”

I managed to cut off its tail. I’m stripping it off its raw materials!

“Fuhahaha, Dragon Cutter! Cut through the battlefield and turn everything to ash!”

I laughed loudly while admiring my wooden sword.

“No, look, that thing’s a wooden sword, ‘kay?”

Sword gave me a retort even at a time like this. And then the tail turned into particles!

“Oooooooh? The tail became particles and vanished!?”

So it wasn’t possible to obtain it as material!?

Getting really pissed after having its tail cut off, the flame dragon increased its rampage and roared all over the place. This thing…rather than being like Akantor, it’s more like a Tiger Rex.

In the end, Sword found an opening and neck chopped it. The dragon turned into particles and disappeared.

“Now then, I wonder whether we’ll get a reward for destroying a part.”

“There existed a high-score-rule for cutting the tail? That’d be news to me, you know?”

Sword ground my temples even though it was obviously a joke.

We opened the treasure chest and peeked in together.

“Oohh, that’s amazin’.”

It was stuffed with so much stuff that it earned Sword’s admiration.

I was…dumbfounded. Gems…cut gemstones were in there, but how does that work?

“……Just a sec. I’d still understand if it contained gem ores, but for the gems to have already been cut and polished… What’s going on here!? Someone tell meeee: who processed these!?”

Sword rolled his eyes at me, “You know, whenever you get upset, you start talkin’ like some ill-bred woman.”

That’s what he told me, but I am a woman.

“Now, now, isn’t it just fine? Sir Dungeon Core splurged for us, right? These are worth quite a lot of money.”

Humph. But, Sword and I aren’t short for money, so it’s nothing that auspicious, is it?

“It’s worth quite a bit of money, but that alone shows how rare it is. On top of that, the chest also contains loads of dragon materials, and those can be used for all kinds of stuff, right?”

“I see!”

I might be able to use them for new magic tools and materials for the Ryokus and Chars!

Sword looked at me and laughed. And then he stroked my head.