Volume 2 - CH 13.2

Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist

Chapter 12: Let’s Create a Beloved Dungeon, Part 2

「We have arrived, Sariha.」

Hearing the gentle voice of her father, Sariha’s consciousness immediately awakened.

「Really?!」

She gets up from the bed while shouting enthusiastically.

「Wow!」

Then she looked out the window of their cabin and became speechless at the spectacle before her, with the wind blowing into her navy-blue hair and forcing her to narrow her eyes.

Beyond the Annil River were a castle, a shrine, and the fort that shined with a golden light under the light of the strong sunlight. Everyone in the country knew what that magnificent structure was. It was the seat of the Sahara ruler, the pyramid.

However, it was rebuild and renovated only a few weeks ago.

Sariha was unaware of the details yet, but the new ruler, the one who defeated Uzermart, the previous emperor, didn’t look down on the people the way he did and decided to open the pyramid to the public.

「Father, father, come here, quickly!」

「Don’t jump around like that or you’ll fall.」

Laughing at his daughter who was crossing the jetty like a scared little fawn, Sariha’s father ordered his slaves to carry their luggage to the inn.

「Hey, father, look over here! This is amazing!」

On the way to the pyramid, various colorful stores and stalls were lined up, making the surroundings look really lively. It was also very crowded, almost like a festival or something.

But it was not to honor a God or any figure of importance. It was like that here every day.

「Well then sweetie, ready to go pay a visit to the pyramid already?」

「Umu!」

Excited, father and daughter headed towards the entrance to the pyramid. The stall had a number of exotic goods for sale on their counters, but all of that was apparently of little interest to Sariha.

「Welcome, brave explorer. Before you proceed any further, please pick your weapon of choice.」

After paying for the entrance, various kinds of weapons were presented to them: swords, spears, shields, clubs, axes and many more instruments of war they had no idea that even existed.

「Uhm, are we going to…. Fight with these?」

「Please rest easy, Sir, those are just replicas.」

The woman who looked like a guide explained that to the worried father as Sariha was wondering what kind of weapon she should take with her. She never held a real one in her hand before, but she understood that those were just copied made for the sake of entertainment.

Eventually, she ended up picking a double-edged sword. She also wanted to try out the sword that was taller than her entire height or a ridiculously oversized axe, but ultimately decided that a small weapon was better suited for combat in the pyramid’s narrow spaces.

「No go forward without fear, oh brave hero, defeat the monsters that dwell within this Dungeon, avoid countless traps along the way and beat the Lord of the Dungeon to save our king.」

「All right!」

Sariha raises her sword and responds eagerly. Her little chest was filled with all kinds of emotions: fear, tension, excitement, expectations, you name it, she felt it.

「………….!」

Right as she entered the Dungeon, a small demon attacked her. It was roughly half her size, but it was still pretty terrifying with its claws, fangs and wrinkled face.

「Ya…… yaaaaaaaaa!」

But Sariha was the one to strike the first blow against it. It was a laughable attack, slow and inaccurate, but as soon as it connected with the demon’s body it tore him to shreds and send its body back to the surrounding darkness.

And as soon as it vanished, a sound of a fanfare could be heard.

「What is it, what is it?」

『You have gained a level.』

It seemed like both the sound and the voice were coming from the sword, so Sariha stared intently at the weapon in her hand, waiting for it to say something more.

『You have acquired a Fireball spell.』

「Fire…ball?」

As she murmured the name of the spell, the blade in her hand shone brightly and released a ball of fire out of it.

「Wawawawawa!」

Sariha reflexively backed away, but the fireball disappeared into the ceiling without hurting her in any way.

「I see, so it’s not the real fire.」

She shoots the fireball a few more times to get herself acquainted with it. The flame ball that shot from the tip of the sword had no smell, and generated no heat, so she doesn’t have to worry about burning herself accidentally.

「….good, all set.」

A big smile rose on her face like a blooming flower.

「Stone Blast! Ice Wall! Lightning Strike!」

A giant boulder crashes against the monsters, wall of ice pushes them back, and from beyond the wall, lightning pierces tem.

「Hiiiiiya!」

With her small sword, Sariha cuts off the head of the monster that tried to attack her as his whole body burns down.

『You have gained a level. You have acquired Illusion magic.』

「Hooray!」

Sariha grips her fist tightly and raises it into the air along with the sound of the fanfare.

「Illusion!」

She immediately proceeded to check the new spell out, and when she did, a spitting image of herself appeared before her.

「So this is like a decoy… hmm, could prove really useful in battle.」

New magic was learned only during the level up procedure, and it only gave the name of the spell, figuring how to use it was the player’s job. That is how Sariha came up with the combination of those three spells earlier.

As she progressed further into the dungeon, the enemies were getting bigger and stronger. Being hit by their attacks never hurt her, but instead it drained her HP (Hit Points) up. If their number reaches zero, it will probably be game over for her.

When she entered the next room with the altar in the middle of it, something in the back of her mind was telling her that the last battle was coming up. And then, the whole chamber got filled with dark smoke that swirled and danced around until it formed itself into a shape of a dragon with long head filled with rows of razor sharp teeth, iron scales and wings that send small hurricanes further whenever he flapped them.

It was Sariha’s first time seeing something like that, but instinctively she knew that this enemy was probably disgustingly strong.

「Fireball! Fireball! Fireball!」

She ran towards it while spewing one fireball after another. Since it was the first spell that she learned it was relatively weak, but had a good range and short casting time, allowing for shooting in rapid succession. Normal monsters could have avoided it, but a feat like that was impossible with such a huge body.

All the fireballs hit the dragon right in the kisser, making explosions bloom all over it.

「All right!」

When she tried to get closer to give him a taste of the lightning strike, he suddenly protruded his head from the smoke and opened his gaping mouth.

And in the next moment, Sariha’s vision was dyed completely red.

『Damage taken: 40. Total Hit Points remaining: 60.』

「You’ve got to be kidding me!」

She screams, not even knowing what exactly happened. When she was taking hits form Minotaurs or stone golems, the damage she received was ten at best. And here she suddenly received four times that damage. If that attack hits her one more time, it will be all over for her for sure.

「Ah, that right! Illusion!」

She cast her newest spell that she just received to create a duplicate of herself in the other corner of the room. When the dragon saw it, it bended it’s long neck in that direction and marched towards it.

「And now… Restoration.」

『Hit Points recovered: 10. Total Hit Points remaining: 70.』

She heard a voice when she used healing magic with the sword put to her chest. Unfortunately, healing magic could not be used time after time, but its cooldown was low enough to allow frequent usage.

Just as she was finished, the dragon approached her phantom and breathed a large amounts of fire from its mouth at it. Now she finally knew what hit her earlier.

「I, Illusion!」

Preventing such an AoE attack was likely out of the question, so her only option was to avoid it altogether. Using another phantom as a decoy, she climbed onto its head.

「Lightning Strike!」

Her spell connected, hitting the beast on the nose. That was the first time she managed to inflict some damage onto him.

「All right, let’s keep it coming! Stone blast! Wind Blades! Fireball! Explosion…. Gyaaaaaa!」

Using a brief gap between her spells, the dragon swung its tail towards Sariha, knocking her back onto the ground.

『Damage taken: 30. Total Hit Points remaining: 40.』

The attack didn’t hurt or paralyze her, but instead took another chunk out of her HP. At the same time, the dragon turned its attention towards her again.

「R, Restoration!」

『Hit Points recovered: 10. Total Hit Points remaining: 50.』

『Damage taken: 40. Total Hit Points remaining: 10.』

Immediately after finishing her spell, Sariha’s field of vision was dyed red again. The voices signaling recovery and damage sounded at almost the same time.

「Hiiiya!」

She was exhausted and the next healing spell won’t be ready in time. Realizing that there was nothing else she could do, the girl threw her sword at the dragon just as he was preparing his next breath attack.

『Critical Hit.』

The dragon raised a scream as the voice from the sword announced.

As it was thrashing around and stomped its legs, it soon fell to the ground and faded away into nothingness.

「I…I did it!」

Shouting excitedly, Sariha picked up her sword and headed for the altar in the middle of the chamber.

「Waaah, amazing! You’re the first one to ever clear my Dungeon! Congratulations!」

But when she approached it, suddenly a green haired girl jumped at her out of it. She looked like she was the same age as Sariha, maybe slightly older.

「Are you… a God?」

Unlike the monsters she met until now, this girl felt incredibly real. But something was telling Sariha that she wasn’t just a simple child.

「That’s right, I am Sofia, the God responsible for this Dungeon… and the current king of this land for the time being I guess.」

Sofia puffed out her chest confidently.

「Oh, the king…. Ah, forgive my rudeness, Your Majesty!」

Realizing that, Sariha kneeled hurriedly. She wasn’t expecting to meet the ruler of the entire country in such entertainment facility in the first place.

「Oh, there’s no need for such formality. What’s your name?」

「I am Sariha, Your Highness.」

「Is that so? Well then Sariha, I guess I should give you a reward for clearing the entire Dungeon in such a splendid fashion!」

「Huh?」

Reward? As soon as Sofia finished speaking, the floor beneath them opened up, revealing a pitfall.

She does not even have the time to scream. But strangely enough, her body never hits the floor. Instead, she slides into a strange looking room.

「What is it?」

And in that room, there was a man with Amber hair.