CH 35

The ground was getting closer.

But a part of me was relieved. I wondered if this trap in this dungeon would have a spear at the bottom of the pit. I hadn’t experienced being skewered yet, so I was a little scared.

“Goooooo!!”

The sound of impact echoed, and I managed to land successfully. I stepped on both feet, but I felt a shock from my feet to the top of my head. I looked at Sareha in my arms, but luckily he was not injured.

“My feet …… my feet…… hurt …….”

I knelt down on the spot because I couldn’t stand up. No bones were broken, and my shins didn’t pierce through my knees. But the impact was quite severe, and I took a fair amount of damage.

I looked up at the hole I had fallen through, but it was pitch black and I couldn’t see anything. It must have been a very deep fall.

I was horrified. The deeper the level of the dungeon, the more difficult it becomes. We were now at the second level, or maybe the third, or maybe even deeper.

“Are you okay…… Sareha?”

“Yes, somehow……. is nii-sama okay?”

“I can manage to walk, so it’s okay. Even so, we’ve fallen pretty deep. Let us proceed with caution.”

I searched through the item box, but there were no healing potions. There were only potions that were difficult to use. And the scrolls weren’t that useful for recovery either.

I got up, enduring the pain in my knees. Luckily, there were no enemies at the bottom. I had to keep an eye out for traps.

I used the [Sharp Sword Scroll] I picked up earlier. The weapon now glowed a little and had a +1 enhancement value.

“The only fun thing about dungeons is increasing the enhancement value. Isn’t it wonderful to be able to enhance…… equipment like this?”

Additionally, I explained the enhancement value to Sareha. There was no concept of enhancement value, at least not in the kingdom. It was unique to this dungeon.

“I don’t know, but I’m glad you’re happy.”

“You don’t get it? I would love to collect all the weapons I found in the dungeon and hang them on the wall.”

“Yeah…….”

He expressed his difficulty. Sareha is only 12 years old. I guess he doesn’t yet understand the romance of men.

We continued down the tunnel. Luckily, there were not many monsters, so we were able to explore the levels without fighting. I picked up items and hid behind the walls to avoid monsters that occasionally appeared.

As we proceeded, we noticed the peculiarity of this level. It wasn’t that there weren’t many monsters, but rather they were dying at some point. It meant that something or someone was killing them.

“Sareha, there’s someone else out here besides us.”

“What? But we’re in a dungeon!”

“Either the monsters are fighting each other or there’s another challenger.”

I ordered my people strictly not to enter this dungeon. If so, they’ve been in this dungeon since before I came to this territory.

I walked down the tunnel and peeked at the suspicious place. Sure enough, there was a monster that approached the place, but it died after a bursting sound.

“An explosion? No, it’s too quiet for that.”

The monster was bleeding from the brain. It must have died before it realized that it had died. There was no fear, no surprise, no emotion on its dead face.

” Let’s throw a rock and see what happens.”

“Yes. If it’s too dangerous, let’s run away.”

When I threw a stone at it, it rolled away with a thud. If it was a monster, it would have been furious and would have attacked it.

“Who is it! I’ll kill you!”

But what came back was a thick voice. The owner of the voice immediately found me and came running at me full of energy. He looked like an old man. His magnificent beard looked like that of a dwarf. He was also holding an unusual iron tube in his hand.

“Search and destroy all enemies! Die, die, die!”

The old man held the iron cylinder towards me and pulled the trigger. I hid Sareha behind my back, but nothing happened.

The old man looked at the end of the tube and tapped it, making a strange face.

“Wait, old man! We’re not monsters and we’re not hostile. Just listen to us!”

“The world will be destroyed! If I don’t kill you, the world will be destroyed!”

“No! You’re crazy!”

“The rain will fall! The rainbow falls! The wind of mana blows! Everything will perish and turn to ash! Oooohh!”

The old man was wielding an iron cylinder that was no longer of any use to him. After a little while, he ran out of energy and slumped down on the spot.

“Build a tower to avoid destruction……. to unite the world…….”

“…… Grandpa. Are you okay?”

Sareha helped the old man.

The old man’s cheeks broke into a smile and he patted Sareha’s head. His attitude was a little different than with me. It was true that Sareha gives off a more grandchild-like vibe, so maybe the old man was more receptive.

“My name is Sareha. This one is my brother Henry. Why are you in this dungeon, Grandpa?”

“Why not? Do you not know Sareha?”

“I don’t know. It’s not safe here.”

“The world is dying!”

The old man hugged his knees and started screaming again. His mind has become quite blurry. But I couldn’t leave him in this dangerous dungeon.

“What’s your name, old man?”

” Name?”

“Yes, that’s right. Your name.”

“…… Oken……. something.””

“You forgot your own name!? Well…… Oken-san. It’s not safe for you here, so please follow us.”

I reached out my hand to Oken and slowly pulled him up. I think I’ve heard the name “Oken” before, but I couldn’t remember it well.

“What is that iron cylinder? Is it a weapon?”

“It’s a gun. I hate these primitive weapons…….”

“A gun, a weapon that sometimes used by Dwarves? Are you a dwarf, Oken-san?”

“What’s a dwarf?”

I thought he might be a dwarf because of his short stature and beard, but he was not. Oken said that the bullets were all used, so he couldn’t use it anymore.

How long has Oken been in this dungeon? I tried to ask him, but he couldn’t give me the answer.

— I heard a buzzing sound. When I turned around, I saw a baby dragon, a Petite Thunder Dragon, with its mouth open, preparing to breathe. A yellow lightning bolt raged in its mouth and was about to be unleashed.

“! Get ready for battle!”

I set up my flail with Oaken at my back. With no shield or armor, I had bad luck meeting a dragon species. It also hurts that I was so distracted by our conversation that I didn’t notice the monster.

“Sareha! Use non-lightning magic!”

“Yes! I’m preparing to chant!”

Sareha held his hands in front of him and focused his mind. If it was just me, I could just attack the dragon directly. But if I did that, both Sareha and Oken would be caught in the breath.

“Come!”

With a sound that scorches the ground, a lightning bolt ran through the air. I took the breath without avoiding it.

Electricity ran through the skin of my body, and I almost lost consciousness from the pain and shock, but I endured. The dragon opened its mouth to breathe out the breath again.

“Aer (Chant), Stone (Stone), Wall (Wall)!”

As Sareha chanted, a stone wall rose out of the ground. The breath hit the wall and disappeared on the spot, making a sound.

I approached the dragon, which was exhausted from spitting out its breath, and swung down my flail. I hit it in the head a few times, and it fell, coughing up blood.

I kicked it and turned it onto its back. As I swung the flail down with all my might at the spot where the heart would be, there was a dull popping sound and the dragon died.

I turned around to see Sareha standing there breathing heavily. Is he about to run out of MP due to overuse of magic? He must be consuming MP inefficiently due to his inexperience in using magic.

“Are you okay?”

“Somehow….. but I think it’s going to be difficult to use a lot of magic in succession. After all, it’s difficult to use magic when you’re not used to it.”

In the dungeon, there were often a lot of continuous battles. If Sareha didn’t familiarize himself with magic, he wouldn’t be able to keep up with the long run of dungeons. I didn’t want to rush him, but he still needed to learn magic and improve his status.

“The monsters are roaming the dungeon and there is no time to rest. Let’s go, Sareha.”

I led the party down the tunnel. I suggested that Oken follow me, since he probably had nowhere else to go, and he obeyed.

We still had a long way to go.