CH 92

TL:     Yuki

ED:    Filip

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The next day, everyone woke up after hearing my stomach rumble. It looks like they started to consider my stomach as some sort of alarm clock.

「La Veil～It’s morning～it’s time～to～wake～up～」

「Muh～haaah～……good morning Arena. Master too, good morning」

「Hai, good morning. What are we having for breakfast?」

Arena wakes up La Veil who was rolled like a bagworm in her sleeping bag. After shaking her head a bit and stretching, then yawning, she greeted us. The other kids were also rubbing their eyes and yawning as I brought them together with Ashia.

「Ashia, as of today, we will be exploring the 20th floor which is full of traps, so don’t rush. We will be moving slowly, step by step, so be sure to share with everyone what you know about this place」

「Un, I will call to proceed when I can confirm that everything is alright」

Our high fighting power won’t be that much helpful on this floor. I also don’t want to needlessly use Fairy Magic because it would also cause a huge burden on me when in this dungeon. The time we have spent in this dungeon should be around a week now. It won’t really be a problem if we started to slow down our pace starting at this point.

On our way to this point, we have also encountered several traps in various areas, but most of them were based on the terrain so it was easy to spot. On the other hand, the structure of this place is very plain with similar arrangement of stone blocks in a regular manner, so detecting common traps was a bit hard to do. We could only rely on the children.

The moment we entered the 20th floor, we were greeted with a place that is made out of stone blocks with narrow roads and a lot of intersections. A trap infested maze. It also seemed like the entrance was moved so we don’t have any other way back. Isn’t this floor a little too high leveled all of a sudden?

And then,

「「「*Gichigichigichigichi!!」」」

Nameless Lv.101

Race: Tyrant Scorpion

HP　4986/4986

MP　1044/1044

ATK　   　 1120

DEF　　    2641

MATK　 　1655

MDEF　 　2473

INT　 　 70

SPD 　   500

Skills: Carapace（B+） Poison Needle（B）

Black Scorpions which were about half my size flooded this place in large numbers, coming out from all of the paths of the intersections. I wanted to erase them, but this is inside a dungeon. Their color and the way they move make me think of something which I wouldn’t ever want to see. Adding to that their poisonous tail will be problematic if they hit you. I have to make sure that something like that never happens.

「I could feel cold sweat running down my spine」

「If it’s only this much, can I incinerate them with fire」

「Hey, calm down, what are you trying to do!?」

「What are you planning to do Aidleー!?」

「Something like this. Wait, this wall…prevents usage of magic? Ah, this is bad」

Although we were following a straight road, it suddenly became very dangerous as we were being flooded by enemies along with lots of traps hindering our movement. That being the situation, we gathered the children and surrounded them. As for Fairy Magic……it was usable. It seems like only magic usage is completely blocked on this floor. I guess it can’t be helped if it’s like this.

「Alright, I will be in charge of the right, so can I leave the left side to you La Veil?」

「Master, if I transform for a bit, I would be able to block all sides as we move. Their attacks won’t do anything to me」

「Are you ok with that? Cielo will know, right?」

「Eh?」

「It can’t be helped. This is an emergency situation after all」

And so, with Aidle’s fairy magic and removing her earrings along with some cracking sounds the『Inhibit Recognition』 was also removed.

After watching the situation, La Veil’s real status was then reflected onto Cielo’s eyes.

「That, no way……Ancient Red Dragon…?」

『Hmm』

La Veil then transformed into her original form and almost completely blocked off the passage. All approaching Tyrant Scorpions targeted her but their attacks were easily blocked by her dragon scales. The first to attack were then crushed by the next wave of scorpions.

And of course, the children were frightened by the sudden appearance of the red dragon,

『Alright children!! Leave this to us and continue moving forward!!!』

Even so, with La Veil backing them, the children nodded and followed after her while disabling traps that remained. Yosh, this should be alright for now.

「Arena, I will take the front this time, so I ask you to grasp the whole area using 『S. A. T. Mode』, support me if you find it necessary. Mika, I’ll leave my back to you. Activate your Holy Sword if needed」

「Got it!………Leave this to me」

「All right. Don’t overdo it Aidleー?」

「Un, and then Cielo……Poi!」

「Aiya」

I sent a light chop to Cielo who was still stunned staring at La Veil.

「I know that you have a lot of things you wanted to hear about, but do that later when we get out of this place. Please help with healing if Mika is injured, Okay?」

「……Hai, I’ll be alright. I will do it right!」

「Alright. Then let’s proceed with this defensive battle」

I finally pulled out my sword after a long while and started moving on in the passage. Scorpions also tried to assault me, however I smacked each and every one of them that approached me like a batter hitting a baseball.

「Home Run!!」

*Gyakiiiiiiin!!!

My attacks were like the full swing of a bat. Receiving the full force of the magic sword’s flat area, their heads were crushed and sent straight back into the crowd of Tyrant Scorpions. Sending them flying was nice, however there were still more of the crowd waiting behind and they rustled straight into us. My status was back in its original state as I tried fighting properly this time……

「It’s been a while since I’ve been in a troublesome situation like this!」

「Gyiii!!」

Sword slashes were not my only means of attack. First, pick a target, kick its tail and split its head, second, a flash strike to the side, then third was kicking the corpse back to the horde. Fourth was jumping around dodging then splitting the target into two with my sword!!

「Arena!! Mika!!」

「Hoi, hoi!」

Mika and Arena dealt with others that were crawling on the walls. Arena was precisely slashing them with her dagger aiming at their joints, leaving behind paralyzed convulsing victims.

「Leave the rest to me, activate Holy Sword!!」

Mika also activated her Holy Sword which raised her status 10 times. She easily dissected the scorpions that survived, finishing them off. With Mika around, the children’s defenses were perfect.

「This random block is a switch that activates if stepped on. We just need to put a stone in order to activate it. Where does the magical power come from though?」

「Ummm……Isn’t it from that. There are stones with higher concentration of magical power」

「I’ll take them off then」

「Wait, there’s an arrow trap next to it. Because the magic circle is weak and smaller, we should erase that first」

「Next is……A big ball trap isn’t it. There’s also one that makes the road a slope. …This one seems to activate if a certain amount of weight is in place」

「Using a knife, we could deactivate it by sticking it in the trigger. We could also not activate if we pass by one person at a time」

The children continued studying traps as we moved. Everyone combined their knowledge and experience, teaching each other with great attention. Behind us, I could still hear the continuous battles and if I didn’t move soon, that might have continued forever.

They did give us some delicious food(experience) though. We were here for only a few days but it’s been a lot of fun. I have also heard some really interesting stories. There was no way a single person would make it to this place using only their wisdom alone. Even the heroes didn’t break through this area at the time they explored. It’s one more reason why we want to get out of this place and reach the next level.

When a clear path was created for them, the children acted quickly.

（It should be about time……is everyone getting tired now. It’s a relief that our weapons are strong enough to last though）

The continuous battle was about to reach three hours now. I’ve been monitoring them for almost a week now, and it wouldn’t be strange if someone starts to break down at any moment. Normal adventures receiving that endless onslaught would have given up in just several minutes. Well, I am doing my best to not let anything pass by so it’s still alright.

「Aidle!! I’ll take over!!」

「Un, please do!!」

I tagged out and let Mika replace me as I went to the back. Ah, it’s been a while since I’ve done an endless battle like this.

「Aidle, are you alright?」

「I’m fine. Are you not tired yet, Arena?」

「I am still fine. Hora, come over here」

Hyo, I received a hug. Uwah～I’m being healedー……I’m still in battle mode, but my head feels like it’s going to melt.

「Wait a bit!! Don’t just go and start flirting over there!?」

「Oh, sorry, sorry. I’ll also be switching again in a bit」

Mika who still isn’t used to endless battles is already dropping out, though it wasn’t really that long yet. After tagging out again, I continued my endless massacre of scorpions again. I haven’t really confirmed the actual body count but it should have already reached 4 digits by now. If this doesn’t end soon, I’m afraid that we’d get buried in dead bodies instead.

（As I was thinking about what our next move would be……Nn, what’s that?）

I could finally see an opening from the back. Has the endless flow finally stopped? After defeating the remaining scorpions, a long silence finally arrived after a long time of fighting.

「……Is it finally over?」

「I wonder……Arena, did you hear any level up notice?」

「……ummm, nope, didn’t」

「Then the battle mode is still up」

Experience points would only pop up after a match is over. It would have been impossible otherwise for Mika and Arena to not level up after defeating that large amount of monsters.

「Is there something else incoming?」

Cielo grabbed Mika’s arm and showed a concerned face. She seems to be exhausted already. I guess, she was really tense this whole time after all. Oh,

「It looks like the next batch is about to arrive……And there seems to be different monsters」

Nameless 　Lv.167

Unique Race: Metal Scorpion

HP　9251/9251

MP　3875/3785

ATK　　 2400

DEF　　 8530

MATK　 　1853

MDEF　 　8479

INT　　 110

SPD 1500

Skills: Carapace（S）Poison Sting（A+）

Steel colored scorpions…and wait, aren’t they a bit too strong? My base attack could barely penetrate its defense. Not to mention that they are also about the same amount as the previous one.

「Uwah, this has to be a joke……」

「No……」

「Hey, it’s not the time to show despair yet you know. Mika still had a higher status than those things」

「That, that’s, I know, but that number is just impossible!?」

「I wonder」

I’ve been worried about my sword doing its best until now, but it would be impossible to use it this time……I wonder if I could use that instead? Alright, let’s give it a try. The children haven’t collected all of them yet anyway.

「It’s too early to give up yet. Let’s go with delaying tactics this time and not continuous annihilation. If they are blocked by corpses, they won’t be able to move easily」

Well though the strategy is a bit different, it’s still the same in a way.

『Master』

I then heard La Veil communicating to me directly

『What’s up? Are you reaching your limit?』

『No, that’s not it. I noticed earlier that something is wrong with Master’s sword』

『Something wrong?……Hmm?』

What is it……hmmm, wait, didn’t it look like it molted? This sword originally had a more earth like color, but now it’s a bit fleshy colored instead as if covered by some sort of skin. It’s also pulsating……is what I felt. I didn’t really notice it until mentioned.

『I guess I have to let it peel off some more. We’re about to resume the battle anyway』

『Your guts is too strong……』

I don’t know about that. However, I’m more curious about what’s going to happen to it.

「Soryaa!!」

When I slashed it to the ground with all my power, the skin-like coating broke off, and then a blade with a dull white color was revealed.

「Aidle, what’s that?」

Arena who was curious came closer to look. I’m not really sure myself. I’d like Mika to appraise it, but right now is not the time since the enemy is already close.

「Gishaaa!!」

They have more momentum than the previous batch. Their statuses are also much higher, 

「Take that!! Ooh!?」

Swinging my new sword at the first metal scorpion that arrived, it was sliced like tofu, without any resistance at all. Did it get sharper after molting? That’s really convenient. Well, this just makes the battle much easier.

Mika who probably used appraisal from a distance away was shocked, but because the cries of the scorpions were too loud, I was not able to hear it.

「Alright! It’s round 2 everyone!」