CH 255

My friends and I arrived at the 4th  floor of the dungeon.

"Are we going to look for the Orichalcum today?"

"Yes, we are going to look for the shells ?"

I summoned B-rank Birds and we got on them.

I always summoned B-rank Birds on the place where we got transferred to by the cube, so other adventurers no longer got surprised.

They probably thought that one of us had a mysterious skill.

I wanted to find some Orichalcum to make a weapon for Kurena and Dogora.

Acquiring Orichalcum weapons would allow us to have more efficient strategies for Floor Bosses and defeating magical beasts.

I had decided to return to defeating Floor Bosses and Treasure Chests again only after finding some Orichalcum.

(Gembu, best of luck. If you find a shell, destroy it, but make sure there are no Orichalcum in it before doing so.)

I summoned 50 B-rank Fishes while on B-rank Bird's back and in the water.

I had all 50 B-rank Fish destroy shells that were several meters tall at the bottom of the ocean to see if there was anything inside.

I had learned a few things from my adventures in the dungeon.

One was that the dungeon was alive.

The leaf that Sophie's Salamander had burned previously was completely fixed the very next day.

Then, to my surprise, Ur told me that the whole dungeon was getting a little bigger each day.

The 1st floor of the dungeon was apparently slowly growing larger and larger every day, and the city was growing with it.

It was also the reason why the streets and buildings were built in a circle around the temple.

So, even the destroyed shells would be fixed by the next day.

"There are a lot of shells."

"Right, are we going to check them all?"

"No, today we're going to look for shells where Helmios said that they found an Orichalcum."

Due to the clear water, we could see all the way to the bottom of the ocean which appeared to be 100 meters deep.

We started destroying shells after finding out that they had a chance of containing treasure but they didn't seem to be the only place with treasure.

But that does not seem to be the only place where treasures lie.

At the ocean floor, I could see holes that looked like crab habitats or even a sunken ship-like object.

I was sure that there was a magical beast sleeping inside them.

Although I was interested in them, I decided to trust my information source and only look for Orichalcum in the shell for the moment.

Then half a day passed by.

Gembu had destroyed hundreds of shells but never found Orichalcum. They ignored the underwater magical beasts and continued to search extensively for the shells.

"It's not easy. I guess I'll have to ask Rosetta."

(There's no way we will find Orichalcum in a day or so. We'll have to change our methods a bit.)

I decided to ask for Rosetta's help after all.

"..."

Cecile didn't answer.

Cecile didn't seem to like the idea of asking Rosetta for help.

She didn't know what Rosetta would say to me in return for her help.

"Hmm?"

"What's wrong?"

"There's a big shell."

I saw a big shell from one of the B-rank Fish I was using ,Sharing> on.

The B-rank Fish tried to destroy the large shell but couldn't do so.

A B-rank Fish could defeat a B-rank magical beast but it couldn't destroy the shell.

The shell was clearly different from the other ones.

(Oh? Is this the one? Gather around, everyone.)

Concluding that the large shell that a B-rank Fish couldn't destroy was the one that contained a treasure, I called every B-rank Fish at that location.

My friends and I also moved towards that large shell.

"Here?"

We arrived above the surface of the water with no leaves nearby.

"Hmm... Ellie, go to the bottom of the ocean and pull it up."

"Yes."

We had reached the sky above the shell, but the B-rank Fish had yet to destroy the shell.

The shell was very sturdy, so we decided to pull it up and retrieve the whole giant shell.

Several B-rank Spirits dived to the bottom of the ocean.

It was then.

"Mm? It's an enemy. It's coming this way at great speed!"

(Hmm? What's with this crimson body?)

An E-rank Bird, which had been scouting the 4th floor, spotted a huge flock heading underwater towards the large shell.

"Enemy."

I raised my voice to warn my friends about the upcoming danger.

Cecile clutched her staff behind my back.

"The S-rank Floor Boss! The Crimson is coming!"

I knew that we were not facing a single magical beast as our enemy.

E-rank Bird saw a Crimson Dragon, called Crimson-Kaiser-Sea Serpent.

And surrounding it were Blue Dragons, a different color and one size smaller than the Crimson Dragons called the Kaiser Sea Serpent.

The S-rank Floor Boss of the 4th floor, commonly known as Crimson, was flowed by 10 A-rank high-tier magical beasts.

The B-rank Spirits and B-rank Fish, who were trying to pull the large shell up, were surrounded.

Every single one of them turned into a glowing bubble.

Underwater seemed to be Crimson's domain.

"The enemy is in the water. Let's reduce their numbers. Cecile, you attack with Ice Magic."

"Yes."

Deciding that fire wouldn't be effective enough, I asked Cecile to use Ice Magic.

We prioritized defeating the various Blue Dragons surrounding Crimson than defeating Crimson itself.

(Well, Helmios told me to run the moment we see Crimson, but I wonder how strong it is.)

Helmios had told me that he had never defeated Crimson.

So we had to find a way to do so ourselves.

Kurena and Dogora also attacked the Blue Dragons which had emerged from the water to eat us who were above the water.

My friends had already gotten strong enough after multiple Talent changes to be able to handle evn high-tier A-rank magical beasts.

Slowly, the number of Blue Dragons started to decrease one by one.

"GAAAAAASSS!!!!"

Crimson cried loudly from under the water.

Its cry, loud enough to be heard even above the water and to vibrate the surface of the water, was transmitted over a wide area like a shockwave.

(Oh? Could this be? What Helmios was talking about?)

And soon, out of nowhere, came Blue Dragons in numbers equal to the number that we had defeated.

"This guy called for help!"

"We're back to square one, aren't we? Oh, look out!"

Cecile exclaimed, but Crimson and the others didn't want to give her the time to do so.

From underwater, they shot water cannons like rays of light.

Crimson and his team began to use Water Magic to target us, who were in the sky.

The column of water created by the water cannon reached several hundred meters into the air.

They began to shoot the water cannons without regard to where we were.

It was no longer safe to approach the surface of the water.

(We should retreat for now and come to pick it up once they are gone.)

Defeating Crimson was not our goal.

Instead of bothering to continue the never-ending battle, I was thinking about retreating.

Then, once Crimson would retreat with his force, we could retrieve the large shell.

"Aah!"

"Lady Sophiarone!"

Sophie screamed as she was hit by a water cannon that reached the rear guard's position, which was quite high up in the air.

After confirming that Formar was safe, Kiel quickly used Recovery Magic.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, thank you."

(Oh no. The attack reaches the rear guard. The only option we have here is to run away.)

I decided to retreat.

While I was thinking about retreating, Kelpie, an Infant Water Spirit, rubbed her face anxiously against Sophie's body.

"It's okay," Sophie said, patting Kelpie and trying to reassure her.

As if to shake off Sophie's hand, Kelpie moved her head, glared at Crimson, and let out a loud cry.

"Cu-cu-cu!"

"Kelpie, don't..."

"Lady Sophiarone!"

I could only say so much.

Sophie lost all mana from her body.

It seemed that even her HP had been sucked out of her.

Kelpie, the Infant Water Spirit, went out of control in a way that everyone could understand.

"Oh, come on, you've got to be kidding me. What is this? How the hell did you do this?""

"Hey, we're all getting caught up! Retreat!"

The water level began to rise extensively.

I shouted for Dogora to get away from the water, as he was the closest to the surface of the water.

I couldn't believe what happened next.

"GAAAAASSSHHHHHH!"

Crimson and the others shouted, but that didn't matter.

The water where the Crimson and his force was located was lifted entirely from the ocean floor.

As if a transparent jelly had been hollowed out only at the center, 11 Dragons rose into the air, still contained within the giant ball of water.

(Hey, hey, I can see the bare bottom of more than 100 meters of water?)

I didn't know what forces were at work, but even when the water was lifted, the surrounding water didn't intrude upon the empty space.

There was a huge hole cupped in the surface of the water.

"Haha. I guess even Allen can be surprised."

"What? Infant Spirits have this kind of power?"

Spirit God Rosen seemed happy to see that I was surprised.

"The power of an Infant Spirit? Kelpie is undoubtedly a descendent of Water God Aqua, you know? Of course she is strong even now. Also this place is especially helpful for Water Magic. It is quite surprising that Kelie was able to do this much by only consuming all of Sophie's man and half of her health. Haha."

Spirit God Rosen boasted Kelpie, the Infant Water Spirit's power.

(I see, so the terrain effect made this so much stronger.)

The Dragons sealed inside the giant water bubble tried to escape from it. A kind of crack develops on the surface of the bubble.

I didn't have time to analyze what it was properly.

"Ellie, pull it up, quick!"

"Yes!"

I summoned 3 B-rank Spirits and had them salvage the large shell from the bottom of the ocean where there was no water.

My friends and I, along with the 3 B-rank Spirit with the shell hurriedly left the place.

Not long after we left, a tremendous earth-shaking sound came from behind us.

It was the sound of the water bubble bursting and the captured Dragons fell.

My friends and I ran away without even looking back.

Thus, Allen and his friends succeeded in obtaining one large shell.