CH 53

A few hours walk from Landward.

By the time we arrived at the crystal cave, it was completely dark and the golden moon was shining in the night sky.

“Judging by the moon’s position, we’re right on schedule.”

Keith tells us as he turns to us.

The plan we made was to break into the crystal cave late at night and rescue Luriel’s sister while Hydra was sleeping.

My goal is to get the skill, and Luriel’s goal is to rescue her sister.

In other words, there’s no need to risk fighting the Hydra.

Although this is not a fundamental solution to the problem, it is the first priority of the two.

“The Crystal Cave is not inhabited by many monsters, perhaps because of the Hydra’s glare. Hopefully we can reach the innermost part without encountering any.”

Luriel in her martial arts uniform also tells you so in a spirited tone of voice.

“I hope we can rescue her without incident. ……”

I learned a skill with a random skill just in case, but it was a skill that I had no use for, so I don’t think I can count on this one.

Combined with that, it’s best to be able to rescue without a single battle.

“Let’s go.”

I take the sword out of the item box too.

Then I gave a signal to them with my eyes and proceeded to the Crystal Cave.

◇

The Crystal Cave is no different from what is commonly called a cave as soon as you enter, surrounded by walls that look like a mixture of stone and earth.

Why it’s called the Crystal Cave, Luriel says, you’ll find out when you get to the innermost part.

We stayed alert and trudged deeper in, illuminated by the pale light of Keith’s torchlight.

The path was almost a straight one, and we didn’t get particularly lost, and as Luriel had said, we didn’t have any encounters at all.

It was said that the monstes were afraid of Hydra’s glare, but when I think that even they are that afraid of it, I can’t help but feel afraid too.

“Here we are.”

After about 20 minutes, we came to a dead end and found a large hole about 3 meters in diameter.

She stops in front of it and then says:

“The place down here is the innermost part. It’s the crystal room where Hydra nests.”

Apparently, this is the deepest part.

As Luriel had said, we never really encountered a single monster.

I look into the hole she’s pointing to.

“Are we jumping down here?”

Keith asks Luriel as he peers in with me.

You can see a blue light a little further in the darkness, which is probably the ground.

“That’s right. There’s a route from the front if you take a more circuitous route, but this is the most direct route.”

“All right.”

When he said that, Keith jumped into the hole without any hesitation at all.

“Hey!”

Before I could call him, Keith disappeared into the bottom of the hole.

No, no matter how much you think you know where you’re going to land, you needto be more careful …….

“Let’s go, Rox-san”

Luriel says that at me, too, and I jump into that hole after Keith.

Gosh, they’re all …….

I sighed heavily and jumped into that hole with a light helping hand.

A few seconds of free fall.

I can see the ground shimmering blue below me.

As I landed there, I looked around.

“Heck, …….”

There was a fantastic scene there, which had changed from the scenery of the cave so far.

The ground, the walls, and the entire surface are made of crystal, all of which have a dark blue glow to them.

I finally understood why they call it the Crystal Cave, and what Luriel said about finding it if you go to the deepest part yourself.

“Sister!”

While I’m distracted by the view, I hear Luriel’s uncanny voice.

When I turned to look in that direction, I saw Luriel running towards something.

Me and Keith also run in the direction Luriel is heading.

I’m wary of the area while running, but there is no sign that Hydra is around here.

I wonder if is is sleeping soundly now as planned.

Eventually, Luriel stops in front of a gray stone statue that is incongruous among these crystals.

“Rox-san. She’s my sister. ……”

She didn’t look back, she just stared at the stone statue in front of her and threw it at me.

I move to the side of Luriel and look at the stone statue.

She is her sister, and I thought she looked like Luriel.

I even though that maybe Luriel would become a woman with this kind of atmosphere when she grows up.

“Rox! Look at her left ear!”

Suddenly Keith turned to me and said.

I looked at her left ear, just as Keith had said, and there was an earring that looked exactly like the one Luriel was wearing, but somehow not petrified.

At the end of it is a small jewel that looks like it has been broken in half.

No doubt about it, that’s the other half of the Skill Crystal.

“Luriel. Can I borrow that thing in your right ear?”

I tell Luriel that, and she nods silently and removes her earrings.

“Please, …… Rox-san!”

I took it as she handed it to me and simply replied, “Oh.”

I then slowly walked over to the stone statue and attached the jewel on the end of the earring, the Skill Crystal, together so that they became one sphere.

Please ……, please …….

I hope so, and I remind myself of the Skill Crystal.

A moment later, a blue light was born from that skill crystal.

Then green, then red, and so on, and the variety of colors increases, and eventually they mix and change into rainbow-colored light.

Eventually, I felt something slip out of me, and at the same time, the light disappeared into me.

I quickly check my status.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

Ragnus Zweig..

“Rox, the light that just came on means that ……”

“Yeah, it worked.”

I tell them, and their faces become radiant.

“We have no time to lose. Let’s get Liriel-san back to normal as soon as possible and get out of here!”

In response to Keith’s words, I nodded and immediately activated the acquired skill toward the stone statue.

“Elixir!”

Then some kind of white light radiates from my hand and envelops the stone statue.

Then, with a cracking, snapping sound, cracks began to appear in the stone statue.

It went all over her body, and soon a loud crushing sound echoed through the crystal.

When I looked, I saw that she was a stone statue in front of me, but now she has regained her human form.

However, she has not regained consciousness, and she falls toward me as it is.

Hurriedly I holding her.

“Sister!”

Luriel sees this and runs over to me.

I laid her down on the ground for a moment and took her pulse from her wrist.

I feel her heart pounding, and I pat my chest.

“Don’t worry. She has a pulse.”

When I told Luriel, who was anxious, that she was relieved, she exhaled.

She has been petrified for a long time, though. We’d better see a doctor right away.

I thought, and as I was about to turn around to ask Keith to help me carry her, I noticed something strange.

My legs are …… not moving ……?

Why? I wondered and looked down at my feet and saw that from my knees down I had turned to stone.

I hurriedly checked my surroundings, but there was still no sign that Hydra had appeared.

Even if it did show up, I’m wearing the ‘Anti Petrification Ring’ right now.

It’s not supposed to be a petrification condition. ……

No, no way!

I hurriedly check the effects of the “Elixir”, regretting that I didn’t check it before using it.

＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝

Elixir

Remove all wounds and abnormalities from the target. The user takes over the removed wounds and abnormalities.

＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝

What’s with the skills ……?

The user will take over what is removed.

That means I’ll take damage for what I recover.

Fuck …….

I regretted my haste and lack of caution.

I thought the Anti Petrification Ring was supposed to prevent petrification?

Or does the disadvantage of the rainbow skill mean that it even nullifies the item’s potency?

I’ve been thinking about it a lot, but I can’t find any answers, and the petrification is eating away at my body more and more.

I look back towards Keith and Luriel with only my face, trying to tell the situation alone.

Then they both seemed to have already noticed my condition and were rapt.

“Sorry, Keith ……, Luriel …… it’s skill demerit.”

I manage to move my mouth, which is on the verge of petrification, and tell them.

“Please take care of the rest…”

Then my mouth completely stopped moving and my vision turned gray.