Volume 26 - CH 49

An orange glow illuminated the cave from below.

The sticky lava flowing in the center was moving slowly, occasionally popping bubbles.

「Is that the rock meltingt? It's kind of strange!」

「Strange~!」

Jouga and Lily looked down and said that, I don't think the locals have had a chance to see it on film, so they can't help but be distracted. It's not a problem, because the another world heroes like Serina and Saki are on the lookout for their surroundings.

「Whoa! Something just jumped at me!」

Jouga was the first to notice something was wrong, but there seemed to be a monster swimming and jumping through the lava. The red piranha-like creature turned its fangs at him, but Jouga reacted quickly and flipped it back with his sword, saving the day.

「It's the enemy, watch out your below!」

「「「Copy!」」」

No matter how much we say we have 【Fire Resistance】, our equipment is different. We can't just chase after the piranhas and dive into the lava below, because losing our equipment would mean a loss of combat capability.

「Take these! Oh, I failed to kill it! Geez!」

Seirina said regretfully, but these monsters have nothing to do with the trial. There's no need to force kill them down.

「Leave them alone. Let's move on.」

「I got it.」

Seirina hadn't forgotten our goal either, so she quickly changed her mind and hurried onward.

After going through the cave for a while, a river of lava crossed the path.

「Oh, there's no way to go on!」

Jouga said, but that won't be an obstacle for the 『Black Cat of the Wind』, right?

「Those who can fly should carry those who can't. Since this is the time, everyone should get the flying skill.」

「Ohhh! That's a good idea!」

Unfortunately, only about three of us were able to take flying skills, but the class change would change the skill candidates.

As I finished crossing the river of lava and proceeded further into the cave, I heard the regular rhythmic sound of something tapping from the other side.

「What was that?」

We were dubious, but it was probably the boss.

There is a giant, Kirks, in this cave.

The deepest part of the Flame Cave――

It is surprisingly lifelike and looks like a blacksmithing workshop.

The red-skinned giant Kirks seems to be wielding a lava mallet and forging swords.

「Damn you, heroes, you've locked me in this cramped cave! If this rock sword is completed, I will burn down the surrounding villages! Hmph!」

Kirks, who swings his mallet single-mindedly with bloodshot eyes, seems to have been beaten by one of the heroes in the past. Well, even the legends say that he had a tyrannical personality, and that way he could be defeated without worry.

「Kirks, you can fight me!」

I could have taken him by surprise, but I dared to call out.

This is the sixth trial. If I can't defeat this guy head on, it will be difficult to defeat the real boss, Emperor Gilan.

「You bastard, ohhh! With your black hair and black eyes, you're a hero!」

Maybe the hero who defeated this guy in the past and locked him up in here was also Japanese. Well, it doesn't matter.

「Indeed, I'm one of the heroes.」

「You've saved me the trouble of looking for you from here. Die!」

A giant who swung a lava mallet and jumped at me.

I decide that it's a reckless contest of strength, so I kick the rock and dodge.

「That was naive of you!」

With a boom and a roar, Kirks swung his mallet at me. He stepped in farther than I expected, and his mallet hit me as I jumped back.

「Guhh!」

「「「Alec!」」」

I was blown away with such force that I hit the wall of the cave, but his power was still tremendous. I'm going to use my 【Instantaneous Movement】 sparingly in the real fight with Emperor Gilan.

「I'll be your opponent next!」

Jouga slammed his sword into the giant's shin.

「Unuu, you insects!」

「Avoid them! Jouga!」

「Oops!」

「I'm next!」

Luka attacked the other leg, and yes, since we had the numbers, a coordinated attack would be good.

Deciding that we could fight like this, I gave orders to Serina.

「Serina, save your Starlight Attack for a while.」

「I got it. I'll try some other attacks.」

We fought a rampaging Giant. He was tough, so it took quite a while, but we won in the end. It's great that we were able to defeat the boss of the trials without Serina using her Starlight Attack.

「Hot! This mallet is giving off weird sparks!」

Lily, who was busy collecting the loot, screamed when she tried to touch Kirks' mallet.

Houh, so the heat is beyond 【Fire Resistance level 5】 can handle.

「Letty, can't you do something about this mallet?」

For the Giants, a mallet can be handled with one hand, but for us, there's no way we can use it as it is.

「I'll try.」

Letty cast a few spells, but they didn't seem to be able to disassemble the mallet.

「Tsk, I can't do that. It's an indestructible artifact. But I was able to recover the fire dust from the mallet. Maybe I can use it for something.」

Maybe I'll try sprinkling it on enemies that are immune to fire.

「All right, that's enough here. Let's head to the next trial.」

「「「Roger」」」