CH 474

Makris' [Freeze Cannon] and the Great Spirit Mouton's [Noxious Tsunami] collided, the ice cone vanishing inside the wave.

"W-wait, are we losing?"

Kiel looked tense. This was their first time in this dungeon, and they heard a group of 10000 people with Talents had died there before.

(Hm? Well, it is a Great Spirit after all.)

Allen did not feel like they were really losing though, and the wave was starting to freeze now.

'Gaha?!'

The ice cone pierced through the frozen wave and hit Mouton, freezing his body and sending him flying. That attack had defeated Ramonhamon, so hardly anything could resist it.

"Alright everyone, finish him."

"Of course!!"

After having most of his body frozen, Mouton's body became smaller and lost its momentum.

Cecile answered to Allen's order, and everyone attacked at once.

Mouton's body began to boil from the flames, becoming even smaller.

'D-damn you…'

It got to the size of a human, then even smaller, and he was about to be defeated.

'C-could you wait a moment? I'd like you to save Mouton…'

There was someone who was worried about how things were going, Fabre wanted them to stop.

"Hm? You know him, Fabre?"

In response, everyone stopped attacking.

'Hm? Did you say Fabre?'

Mouton also reacted to that voice, and even more to the name Fabre.

Everyone looked to the black weasel who stood with Luck behind everyone.

'...'

Fabre remained silent after that, simply looking at Mouton. After some silence, he spoke again.

'Why are you here?! D-do you realize just how many dark elves died here because of you?!!'

Mouton screamed angrily and rushed toward Fabre.

(Wait what, I don't get what's going on at all.)

"Woah there."

The Spirit King and Great Spirit seemed to know each other, but did not seem to be on friendly terms. Allen did not know their past, but he Mouton and glared at him ready to finish him off.

'It's fine Allen…this is something I caused.'

Fabre walked between Allen's legs and headed to the Great Spirit Mouton.

'Are you really back here with more people after everyone you already lost?!'

'...'

He sounded incredibly angry, shouting at Fabre, but she just looked away silently in pain.

'Why are you silent! I even lost my partner!!'

He continued screaming angrily, absorbing the nearby slime and mud to swell up in size.

'I won't tell you to contain your anger. I'm here with the dark elf prince, I'm just accompanying him.'

Fabre finally spoke.

'What!! You mean the king's son?!'

Now Luck looked confused, being thrown into the conversation so suddenly.

Mouton began to deflate hearing that Luck was there. The masks everyone was wearing hid their facial features so he could not recognize Luck before.

"Why are you saying all those mean things! Fabre did nothing wrong!!"

Luck stepped forward, trying to protect Fabre. Mouton just looked confounded now.

"Err…can I ask something? Great Spirit Mouton?"

'Hm?'

Allen finally stepped into the conversation.

"I realize we've been extremely rude to you, but could you tell us what happened between you?"

He apologized for having fought against him, and asked about the past between him and Fabre.

'Why should I tell you that?'

Mouton finally realized that Allen's group did not know what had happened in the past.

(I guess he wants Fabre to tell us instead.)

Allen felt like they were still at a standstill, but a magic circle appeared before he could speak.

Megadeth appeared from it, interposing himself between Allen and the Great Spirit Mouton.

It had been a while since he appeared like that, but apparently he had to intervene now.

(Hey, it's your fault that we have no way of knowing what's going on.)

The lack of communication everywhere had led to this situation.

'...Lord Megadeth, what do you need?'

Mouton did not seem to have much respect for Megadeth.

'I've been watching for a while, but you see, the Spirit King Fabre can't talk about anything.'

Her pact with the God of Time and Space impeded her from talking about the dungeon.

It seemed to be something to stop information about the trials of leaking out.

'A pact?'

'Yes, so the trials can remain fair. She can't talk about anything relating to the trials.'

Megadeth said sharply. Mouton closed his eyes and thought about it for a while.

'...'

Luck embraced Fabre, who remained silent.

"You haven't made a pact with the God of Time and Space, Great Spirit Mouton?"

Allen asked Mouton if he was also bound by a pact, though he assumed he did not.

'Why would I? I'm just helping Megadeth because he asked.'

Allen felt like he was taking that job a bit too seriously.

"Then could you explain this situation?"

'I see. So you want to know the reason why I'm here?'

Mouton answered, glaring at Fabre.

'Huh?! Wait!!'

Megadeth stopped Mouton from saying anything more.

'Isn't it fine though? They've gotten this far, and I don't know what lies ahead.'

(So the dark elves died before this, and Megadeth is only here to stop future information.)

Megadeth still did not look satisfied, but remained silent. It was fair for Mouton to talk.

"If there's no pact in place then, would you mind talking to us at our base?"

"I agree, we've gotten far enough for today."

The environment was too stinky so it was best to talk in a better location, Cecile agreed.

'That sounds good. Guide me there.'

The Great Spirit seemed quite grumpy, but at least Allen felt like they were getting somewhere.

They returned to the level's entrance, where Megadeth let them out of the gate.

Outside they went to Heavy User Island, to a room in Peromus' large mansion.

(It doesn't stink even with him around.)

Even though Mouton looked like a slime, he was odorless, so going indoors was fine.

'Hm? There's a lot of elves around here.'

Before they could talk, Mouton noticed Sophie and the other elves and dark elves on the island.

"Great Spirit Mouton, let me explain that."

'Hm? Alright. Aren't you a high elf? Elven royalty?'

"Yes, I'm the daughter of the queen."

Mouton looked nervous for a bit hearing that, but did not seem to harbor enmity.

"Okay Sophie, you can explain that to him then. I'll bring everyone else."

Allen went to bring the rest of the party that was in the S Rank Dungeon.

It was going to be an important conversation, so he wanted everyone to hear.

By the time he was back, Sophie was done explaining.

The Great Spirit Mouton stood in the center of a table and everyone surrounded the table.

The Spirit God and Spirit King were also placed on the table in front of Sophie and Luck.

The Spirit God had been there the entire time, but remained silent.

'I see, so that's what happened. The Demon King has been reborn.'

He kept repeating that, overwhelmed seeing elves and dark elves working together.

Allen had told Dogora and the rest everything that had happened when he picked them up.

Formar kept watching with a difficult face.

"Yes, that's right. Have you been inside there the entire time, Great Spirit Mouton?"

'Yes, I've been there for 3000 years. I stopped caring about the outside world after all.'

Mouton told how he used to be in a pact with dark elves when he was just a spirit.

After a long time he became a Great spirit.

"And the attempt at conquering the trials Megadeth mentioned was before those 3000 years?"

'Yes, before entering the gate I was fighting against elves. That's when the Hero Astel and Dragon King Matildora came to my fortification.'

"Elves? Was that the Battle of Praying Maidens?"

'Yes, let me tell you about the elves and dark elves of the time.'

The Great Spirit Mouton began telling an old story about dark elven history.